The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  “What is the great enlightening being’s practice of giving joy? Here the enlightening beings are magnanimous givers, bestowing whatever they have with an equanimous mind, without regret, without hoping for reward, without seeking honor, without coveting material benefits, but only to rescue and safeguard all living beings, to include all living beings in their care, to benefit all living beings, and to emulate the original practice of all Buddhas, recall the original practice of all Buddhas, delight in the original practice of all Buddhas, purify the original practice of all Buddhas, further develop the original practice of all Buddhas, make manifest the original practice of all Buddhas, and expound the original practice of all Buddhas, to cause all sentient beings to be relieved of pain and suffering and attain comfort and happiness.

  “When great enlightening beings cultivate this practice, they cause all living beings joy and delight. In any place there is poverty and want, they go there by the power of will to be born noble and wealthy, so that even if every single moment countless beings come to the enlightening beings and say, ‘O benevolent one, we are poor and in need, without sustenance, hungry and weak, worn out and miserable, on the brink of death; please pity us and give us your flesh to eat so that we may live,’ the enlightening beings would immediately give it to them, to gladden and satisfy them. Even should countless hundreds of thousands of beings come begging this way, the enlightening beings would not shrink back, but would rather increase even more in kindness and compassion. Indeed, because sentient beings all come seeking, the enlightening beings, seeing them, would become more joyful, and think, ‘I have gained a fine boon; these beings are my field of blessings, they are my good friends and benefactors—without my asking them, they come to cause me to enter into the Buddha’s teaching. I should now cultivate learning in this way, not controverting the wishes of sentient beings.’ They also form this thought: ‘May all the good that I have done, do, and will do, cause me in the future, in all worlds, among all beings, to receive an immense body, so as to satisfy all starving beings with the flesh of this body, and may I not die so long as even a single tiny creature is still not filled, and may the flesh I cut off be inexhaustible. By this virtue may I attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, and experience great nirvana; and may those who eat my flesh also attain perfect enlightenment, attain impartial knowledge, fulfill all Buddha teachings, extensively perform Buddha work until entering extinction without remainder. If the heart of even one sentient being is unfulfilled, I will not attain unexcelled perfect enlightenment.’

  “Thus do enlightening beings benefit the living, yet without any concept of self or any concept of sentient beings, or any concept of existence, or any concept of life, without various concepts—no concept of personality, no concept of person, no concept of human being, no concept of doer or receiver—they only observe the infinity of the realm of reality and the realm of sentient beings, their emptiness, absence of existents, signlessness, insubstantiality, indeterminacy, nondependence, and noncreation.

  “When they perform this contemplation, they do not see themselves, they do not see anything given, they do not see a receiver, they do not see a field of blessings, they do not see a deed, they do not see any reward, they do not see any result, they do not see a great result, they do not see a small result.

  “Then the enlightening beings observe that all the bodies taken on by living beings in the past, future, and present eventually perish; then they form this thought: ‘How remarkable it is how foolish and ignorant sentient beings are; within birth and death they receive countless bodies, which are perishable and transient, soon returning to decay and extinction: having already passed away, now passing away, and yet to pass away, they still cannot use the destructible body to seek the indestructible body. I should learn all that the Buddhas learn, to realize omniscience, know all truths, and explain to sentient beings the indestructible nature of reality, which is equal in past, present, and future, and which accords with utmost tranquility and serenity, to cause them to permanently attain peace and happiness.’

  “This is called the great enlightening beings’ first practice, of giving joy.

  “What is the great enlightening beings’ beneficial practice? Here enlightening beings maintain pure self-control, and their minds have no attachment to color or form, sound, fragrance, flavor, or feeling. Also they preach this to sentient beings. They do not seek power, social status, wealth, appearance, or dominions. They have no attachment to anything, but just firmly uphold pure conduct, thinking, ‘As I maintain pure discipline, I shall surely get rid of all bondage, the torment of craving, oppression, slander, and disturbance, and will attain the impartial truth praised by the Buddhas.’

  “When enlightening beings maintain pure discipline in this way, even if countless devils should come to them in a single day, each bringing countless goddesses all well versed in the arts of pleasure, beautiful and alluring, with various amusing things, in order to disturb the enlightening beings’ attention on the Way, the enlightening beings think, ‘These desires are hindrances to the Way and obstruct unexcelled enlightenment.’ Therefore they do not conceive even a single thought of lust; their minds are as pure as Buddha. The only exception is in terms of expedient means to teach and transform sentient beings—yet they still do not relinquish the determination for omniscience.

  “Enlightening beings do not afflict a single sentient being in pursuit of their own desires; they would rather die themselves than to do anything which would afflict a single being.

  “After enlightening beings have gotten to see the Buddha, they never arouse a single thought of desire, much less act upon desire.

  “At this point, enlightening beings think, ‘All sentient beings, throughout the long night of ignorance, think of desires, pursue desires, and are attached to desires; their minds are set in their ways and they are addicted to desires, whirling along with them, not having any freedom. I should cause these devils and these goddesses, and all sentient beings, to abide by the unexcelled precepts; once they abide in pure discipline, their minds will never turn back from the direction of universal knowledge, and eventually they will attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, and finally enter complete extinction with no remainder. Why? This is the work we ought to do. We should follow the Buddhas in cultivating this learning, and having done so, divorce all bad actions and get rid of the ignorance of the idea of self, enter all Buddha-teachings by means of knowledge, and explain them to sentient beings, to rid them of delusion, all the while knowing, however, that there is no delusion apart from sentient beings and there are no sentient beings apart from delusion, that there are no sentient beings within delusion and no delusion within sentient beings, and also that it is not that delusion is sentient beings or that sentient beings are a delusion—delusion is not something inside or outside, and sentient beings are not something inside or outside. They know all things are unreal, suddenly arising and suddenly perishing, having no solidity or stability, like dreams, like reflections, like phantoms, like illusions, fooling the ignorant. Those who understand in this way will be able to comprehend all actions, to master birth and death as well as nirvana, to realize enlightenment, to save themselves and cause others to gain salvation, to liberate themselves and enable others to gain liberation, to conquer themselves and cause others to be tamed, to become tranquil themselves and enable others to become tranquil, to be secure themselves and enable others to be secure, to be free from defilement themselves and cause others to be free from defilement, to be pure themselves and cause others to be pure, to be dispassionate themselves and cause others to be dispassionate, to be happy themselves and cause others to be happy.

  “Here enlightening beings also form this thought: ‘I should follow all the enlightened ones, detach from all worldly actions, fulfill all qualities of buddhahood, abide in supreme equanimity, be impartial toward all beings, clearly understand the objective realm, get rid of all error, cut off all conceptualizations, abandon all a
ttachments, and skillfully engineer emancipation, to ever abide mentally in unexcelled, inexplicable, independent, immutable, measureless, boundless, inexhaustible, formless, most profound wisdom.’

  “This is called the great enlightening beings’ second practice, of beneficial action.

  “What is the great enlightening beings’ practice of nonopposition? Here enlightening beings always practice tolerance and forbearance, being humble and respectful, not harming self, others, or both; not stealing or causing others to steal, not being attached to themselves, to others, or to both; not seeking fame or profit. They only think, ‘I should always expound the Teaching to sentient beings, to cause them to divorce all evils, to cut off greed, anger, folly, pride, hypocrisy, stinginess, jealousy, obsequiousness, and dishonesty, and cause them to always abide peacefully in forbearance and harmony.’

  “When enlightening beings achieve this forbearance, even if countless beings should come to them and each being should produce countless mouths and utter countless words—unpleasant words, unwholesome words, displeasing words, undesirable words, words which are not those of the benevolent or the virtuous, words which are not those of wisdom, words which are not in accord with sagacity, words which sages do not approach, detestable words, and unbearable words—even if they abuse and revile the enlightening beings with such speech, and, furthermore, if they all had countless hands, bearing countless cudgels, with which they attacked and injured the enlightening beings, without relenting, for immeasurable eons, should enlightening beings encounter such torture, their hair standing on end, their life about to end, they form this thought: ‘If my mind is disturbed by this suffering, then I have not mastered myself, I am not self-possessed, I do not understand myself, I am uncultivated, I am not properly stabilized, I am not at peace, I am careless, I give rise to attachments—how can I enable others to attain purity of mind?’

  “Then the enlightening beings also think, ‘Since beginningless time I have dwelt in birth and death and experienced its pains and vexations,’ and thus reflecting, they redouble their efforts, purify their minds, and attain joy. They skillfully tune and concentrate themselves, and, themselves able to abide in the Buddha-teaching, they also enable sentient beings to attain the same condition. They further reflect, ‘This body is empty and null, it has no self or possessions, it has no reality—it is void by nature, with no duality. Neither pain nor pleasure has any existence, because all things are empty. I should expound this teaching for people, to enable all sentient beings to do away with their views. Therefore, though I meet with suffering today, I should accept it with patience, out of compassion for beings, to benefit beings, to pacify beings, out of pity for beings, to take care of beings and not abandon them, to attain enlightenment myself and also to enable others to attain enlightenment, so that my mind will never regress, and so that I may progress on the wav of Buddhahood.’

  “This is called the enlightening beings’ third practice, of nonopposition.

  “What is great enlightening beings’ practice of indomitability? Here the enlightening beings cultivate various forms of energy—foremost energy, great energy, excellent energy, outstanding energy, supreme energy, sublime energy, exalted energy, unsurpassed energy, unequalled energy, comprehensive energy. They become naturally free from the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion, naturally free from pride and conceit, naturally not hypocritical, naturally not stingy or jealous, naturally not deceitful, naturally conscientious. Ultimately they do not make any effort that would afflict a single living being. They only make efforts to cut off all afflictions, to pull out the roots of all confusion, to get rid of all force of habit, to know all realms of living beings, to know where all beings die and are born, to know the afflictions of all sentient beings, to know the inclinations of all sentient beings, to know the perspectives of all sentient beings, to know the superiority and inferiority of faculties of all sentient beings, to know the mental activities of all sentient beings, to know all realms of phenomena, to know the basic nature of all Buddha qualities, to know the equal nature of all Buddha qualities, to know the equal nature of all time frames, to attain the light of knowledge of all Buddha-teachings, to experience the knowledge of all Buddha-teachings, to know the unique true character of all Buddha-teachings, to know the infinity of all Buddha-teachings, to attain far-reaching decisive knowledge of techniques of all Buddha-teachings, and to attain the knowledge to analyze and expound the expressions and meanings of all Buddha-teachings.

  Once enlightening beings have perfected these practices of energetic effort, if someone should say to them, ‘Can you pass countless eons enduring the pains of uninterrupted hell for the sake of each and every being in countless worlds, cause those beings to each meet countless Buddhas in the world, and through seeing Buddhas attain felicity and finally enter extinction without remainder, after which you yourself attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment?’ They would answer I can. Then again if someone should say, ‘There are countless oceans—you should drain them drop by drop with a hairtip; there are countless worlds—you should shatter them to atoms, and count each and every drop of the oceans and atoms of the worlds, and for that number of eons endure incessant suffering for the sake of living beings,’ the enlightening beings would not have a moment of regret or resentment on hearing such words—they would only be more joyful, feeling profoundly happy and fortunate that they had attained such a great benefit that they could by their power enable sentient beings to be forever liberated from suffering. Enlightening beings, by these means which they employ, enable all beings in all worlds to eventually reach ultimate release without remainder.

  “This is called the enlightening beings’ practice of indomitability.

  “What is great enlightening beings’ practice of nonconfusion? Here enlightening beings perfect right mindfulness, their minds free from distraction and disturbance, firm and imperturbable, consummately pure, immeasurably vast, without any delusion or confusion. By virtue of this right mindfulness they well understand all worldly speech and are able to remember the verbal explanations of transmundane laws. That is to say, they can remember the explanations of material and immaterial phenomena; they can remember the explanations of the definition of the intrinsic nature of sensation, perception, conditioning, and consciousness, without any confusion in their minds. In the world they die in one place and are born in another without confusion in their minds. They enter the womb and leave the womb without confusion in their minds. They arouse the will for enlightenment without confusion in their minds. They attend teachers without confusion in their minds. They earnestly practice the Buddhas’ teachings without confusion in their minds. They notice the doings of demons without confusion in their minds. They divorce demonic activity without confusion in their minds. They cultivate enlightening practice for countless eons without confusion in their minds. The enlightening beings, having developed this immeasurable right mindfulness, spend countless eons listening to truthful teachings from enlightened and enlightening guides—profound teachings relating to emptiness, vast teachings relating to activity in the relative world, teachings relating to adornment by virtuous qualities, teachings of all kinds of arrays of the qualities of the cosmos, all interrelated, teachings expounding various bodies of words, phrases, and sentences, teachings of the embellishments of enlightening beings, teachings of the supremacy of the spiritual power and radiance of the Buddhas, teachings of the purity of correct seeking of certain understanding, teachings of nonattachment to any world, teachings which define all worlds, teachings of extremely broad scope, teachings of removing the blinders of ignorance and understanding all beings, teachings of what is common and what is not, teachings of the excellence of enlightening knowledge, teachings of the independence of omniscience.

  “Having heard these teachings, enlightening beings keep them constantly in mind for an incalculable period of time. Why? When great enlightening beings cultivate practices over countless eons, they never afflict a single s
entient being, which would cause loss of right mindfulness; they do not ruin the right teaching, and do not cut off roots of goodness—their minds are always expanding knowledge. Furthermore, these enlightening beings cannot be confused or disturbed by any kind of sound—loud sounds, coarse and garbled sounds, terrifying sounds, pleasing sounds, displeasing sounds, ear-shattering sounds, sense-debilitating sounds. When the enlightenings hear such countless good or bad sounds, even though the sounds fill countless worlds, they are never disturbed or distracted for a moment. That is to say, their right mindfulness is undisturbed, their state is undisturbed, their concentration is undisturbed, their entry into emptiness is undisturbed, their practice of enlightening acts is undisturbed, their determination for enlightenment is undisturbed, their recollection of the Buddhas is undisturbed, their contemplation of truth is undisturbed, their knowledge to civilize sentient beings is undisturbed, their knowledge to purify sentient beings is undisturbed, their certain understanding of the meaning of profundity is undisturbed.

  Because they do no evil, they have no obstruction of evil habits; because they do not produce afflictions, they have no obstruction by afflictions; because they do not slight the teaching, they have no barrier to the teaching; because they do not slander and repudiate the truth, they have no obstruction by retribution.

  Even if the aforementioned sounds should each fill countless worlds ceaselessly for countless eons, each able to devastate the faculties, bodies and minds of sentient beings, they still could not damage the minds of these enlightening beings. Enlightening beings enter concentration, abide in the teaching of the Sage, and meditate on and investigate all sounds, becoming thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of origin, existence,’ and disappearance of all sounds, and come to know the nature of the origin, existence, and disappearance of all sounds: having heard them, they do not give rise to covetousness or aversion, and don’t lose mindfulness—they apprehend their characteristics precisely without being influenced by or attached to them. They know all sounds have no existence and are in reality ungraspable, that they have no creator and no origin, that they are equal to nirvana and have no differentiations.