The Flower Ornament Scripture
Page 70
“Great enlightening beings also dedicate roots of goodness in this way: ‘May all the buddha-lands I cultivate be filled with great enlightening beings who are truly genuine, with comprehensive knowledge, able to distinguish all worlds and sentient beings, to enter deeply into the realm of reality as well as the realm of space, who cast off folly and perfect the recollection of the Buddhas, recollection of the truth of the teaching, recollection of the infinity of the community, omnipresent everywhere, and who also remember equanimity, their sun of truth full and round, their light of knowledge illumining everywhere, seeing without obstruction, born from nonacquisition, producing all aspects of Buddhahood, possessed of myriad supreme roots of goodness, engendering the determination of unexcelled enlightenment, abiding in the powers of Buddhas, heading for omniscience, destroying the works of demons, purifying the realm of sentient beings, entering deeply into the essential nature of things, forever getting rid of delusion, bringing all roots of goodness and great vows to fruition—may such enlightening beings fill those lands, born in such places, having such virtues, always performing the work of buddhahood, attaining the pure light of complete enlightenment, possessed of knowledge of the realm of reality, manifesting the power of spiritual faculties, filling all realms with one body, attaining great knowledge and wisdom, entering the sphere of omniscience, able to distinguish infinite, boundless expressions and meanings of realms of phenomena and principles, having no attachments in any land, yet able to appear in all buddha-lands, their minds like space, not relying on anything, yet able to distinguish all realms of phenomena and principles, able to enter and emerge from inconceivable profound concentrations, intent on omniscience, dwelling in the buddha-fields, attaining the power of buddhahood, expounding countless truths without fear, conforming to the roots of goodness of Buddhas of all times, totally illumining the cosmos of truth of all enlightened ones, able to accept and hold all Buddhas’ teachings, knowing countless ways of speaking, able to enunciate inconceivably many different sounds, entering the unsurpassed stage of freedom of the Buddhas, traveling throughout all worlds in the ten directions without hindrance, practicing noncontention and nonreliance, not falsely discriminating anything, cultivating, practicing, and enlarging the determination for enlightenment, attaining knowledge of skill in means, of expression and meanings, able to explain and expound them step-by-step. I vow to cause such enlightening beings to adorn those lands, distributed throughout, living in peace and accord, well cultivated, extremely well cultivated, pure, extremely pure, calm and serene. May there be, in each and every region of one buddha-land infinitely many such great enlightening beings filling it, and may all buddha-lands throughout space, throughout the cosmos, all be filled with great enlightening beings in the same way.’
“Great enlightening beings expediently dedicate all roots of goodness to all buddha-lands, to all enlightening beings, to all Buddhas, to the enlightenment of all Buddhas, to all great vows, to all essential ways of emancipation, to purifying all realms of sentient beings, to always seeing the Buddhas appear in all worlds, to always seeing the life of the enlightened ones as infinite, and to always seeing the Buddhas pervading the cosmos turning the unimpeded, nonregressing wheel of teaching.
“When great enlightening beings dedicate roots of goodness in this way, because they enter all buddha-lands, all buddha-lands are purified; because they reach all realms of sentient beings, all enlightening beings are purified; because they will the appearance of Buddhas in all buddha-lands, in all buddha-lands in all universes the embodiments of the enlightened transcendentally manifest.
“By means of such peerless dedication great enlightening beings proceed toward omniscience, their minds broad and vast as space, without any limitations; entering inconceivability, they know all actions and the resulting consequences are null, so their minds are always equanimous. Having no bounds, they are able to enter all realms of reality.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, they do not conceive of self or possessions, do not conceive of Buddha or Buddha teaching, do not conceive of lands or adornment, do not conceive of sentient beings or civilization, do not conceive of action or results of action; they do not cling to thought or what is produced by thought, they do not deny cause and effect, they do not grasp things, they do not grasp principles, they do not say birth and death has mentation, they do not say nirvana is eternal tranquility, they do not say the enlightened realize buddhahood—there is not the slightest thing that coexists with reality.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, they give all roots of goodness over to sentient beings, to assure their development of maturation, teaching and edifying them impartially, without mental images, without objectification, without assessment, without falsehood, avoiding all vain discrimination and conceptual clinging.
“Once great enlightening beings have made this dedication, they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness: that is, they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they keep all enlightening beings in mind; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they purify the buddha-lands; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they purify all realms of sentient beings; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they delve deeply into the realm of reality; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they cultivate immeasurable minds equal to the realm of space; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they profoundly understand the realm of all Buddhas; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they diligently cultivate the work of enlightening beings; they attain inexhaustible roots of goodness because they comprehend the past, present, and future.
“When great enlightening beings dedicate all roots of goodness in this way, they understand that all realms of sentient beings have no sentient beings; they understand that all things have no life; they know that all things have no creator; they realize all things have no personality; they comprehend that all things have no conflict; they see that all things come from conditions and have no abode; they know all things have no basis; they know all lands have no location; they observe that enlightening beings’ practices also have no locus; they see that all objects have no existence.
“When great enlightening beings practice such dedication, their eyes ultimately never see impure buddha-lands, nor do they see sentient beings of differing characteristics; there is not the slightest thing entered by knowledge, nor the slightest knowledge entering things. They understand the body of the Enlightened is not like empty space, because it is perfected by all virtues and infinite sublime qualities, and because in all places it causes sentient beings to accumulate a sufficiency of roots of goodness.
“These great enlightening beings moment to moment attain unspeakably unspeakable numbers of stages of the ten powers, are filled with all virtues, fully develop pure roots of goodness, and are fields of blessings for all sentient beings. These great enlightening beings develop treasuries of virtues like wish-fulfilling jewels, obtaining all comforts as needed, able to adorn all lands wherever they go, purifying untold numbers of sentient beings wherever they go, because of embracing virtue, cultivating and mastering the practices.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, they cultivate the practices of all enlightening beings, their virtues are extraordinary, their appearance is incomparable, their spiritual force and radiance surpass all worldlings, so that demons and demonic people cannot look upon them. Their roots of goodness are complete, their great vows are accomplished, their minds ever broadening, equal to the omniscient. In a single moment of attention they can pervade innumerable buddha-lands. The power of their knowledge is immeasurable, and they have arrived at the sphere of all Buddhas. They have profound faith in all Buddhas, and abide in boundless knowledge, the power of their will for enlightenment as vast as the cosmos, as ultimate as space.
“When great enlightening beings abide in this dedication, they attain ten inexhaustible treasur
ies: they attain an inexhaustible treasury of seeing Buddhas, because in a single pore they see countless Buddhas appearing in the world; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of entry into truth, because by the power of Buddha-knowledge they see all things in one truth; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of memory, because they retain the teachings expounded by all Buddhas without forgetting any; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of certain wisdom, because they know the secret techniques in the teachings expounded by all Buddhas; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of understanding meaning and intent, because they know the distinctions of principles of the teachings; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of boundless realization, because they comprehend all things of all times by means of spacelike knowledge; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of felicitous virtues, because they satisfy the wishes of all sentient beings without end; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of intrepid knowledge and awareness, because they are able to remove and destroy all sentient beings’ blinders of ignorance and folly; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of definitive powers of elucidation, because they expound the impartial teaching of all Buddhas so that all sentient beings understand; they attain an inexhaustible treasury of the ten powers and four fearlessnesses, because they fulfill all practices of enlightening beings, wrap their heads in the turban of nondefilement, and arrive at an unobstructed omniscience. When great enlightening beings dedicate all roots of goodness, they attain these ten inexhaustible treasuries.”
Then the enlightening being Diamond Banner looked over the ten directions and said in verse,
Enlightening beings perfect profound mental power,
Attaining mastery of all the teachings;
The blessings of their petitions and appreciation
They dedicate by unimpeded means.
The enlightened ones of past, present, and future
Beautify buddha-lands throughout the cosmos:
Enlightening beings, fulfilling all virtues,
Dedicate them to purify lands the same way.
The teachings of Buddhas of all times
Enlightening beings ponder carefully,
Taking them all into their minds,
Thereby adorning the buddha-lands.
Be the virtues of all buddha-lands extolled
Throughout all eons of past, present, and future,
The eons of all time may be exhausted
But the virtues of buddha-lands have no end.
All such buddha-lands
Do enlightening beings see:
Therewith is adorned one buddha-land
And all buddha-lands, this way.
There are Buddha-children whose minds are pure,
All born by transformation from the enlightening teaching,
With all virtues adorning their minds,
Who fill all buddha-lands.
Those enlightening beings all are endowed
With bodies adorned with infinite signs of greatness;
With powers of clarification their teaching fills the world,
Inexhaustible as the ocean.
Enlightening beings sojourn in many concentrations
And have fulfilled all necessary practices;
Their minds are pure beyond compare
And their light illumines all worlds.
Thus are all buddha-lands
Filled with such enlightening beings:
They’ve never thought of the listeners’ vehicle
Or sought the individual illuminates’ way.
Thus are enlightening beings pure of heart,
Dedicating virtues to all living beings,
Wanting to cause all to become truly enlightened
And fully know the Buddha’s truths.
All demons and enemies in the ten directions
The enlightening beings’ awesome power subdues;
Their intrepid knowledge and wisdom are invincible
As they practice with certainty the ultimate way.
Due to enlightening beings’ great will power
Their dedications cannot be hindered;
They enter the inexhaustible treasury of virtue
Which is forever endless, throughout all time.
Enlightening beings observe all conditioned things
And understand their nature is not independent;
Thus knowing the nature of things is like this
They don’t wrongly grasp acts or results.
There are no things with form, nor formless things;
Nor are there concepts of being or nonbeing;
Existence and nonexistence—neither exist;
They realize all are ungraspable.
All things are born of causes and conditions—
Their essential nature is neither existent or nonexistent;
And in causes and conditions, what they produce
They ultimately have no attachments at all.
Of what all sentient beings say
They ultimately don’t grasp anything;
They know names and signs are all mentation
And clearly understand things are identityless.
As the nature of sentient beings is fundamentally null,
So do they know all things are null;
All things in past, present, and future,
Lands and deeds—all are equal.
Such knowledge do they dedicate,
Virtous action born according to their understanding:
The signs of these virtues too they understand thus,
That there’s nothing to grasp therein.
Thus their mind of dedication’s unsullied;
Never calculating the nature of things,
Comprehending their nature is not a nature,
They do not dwell in the world yet do not leave it.
The good works which they do
They dedicate to all living beings,
Not failing to realize their true nature,
Abandoning discrimination.
All the false views there are
They abandon entirely;
Free from inflaming afflictions, always cool,
They abide in the unobstructed state of liberation.
Enlightening beings do not destroy anything
Or annihilate the nature of things:
They understand all things are like echoes
And have no attachment to them at all.
They know all sentient beings of all times
Come from combinations of causes and conditions:
They also know their inclinations and habits
And never annihilate anything.
They realize the nature of actions is not action
And yet do not contradict the characteristics of things,
And they do not destroy the results of deeds,
But explain the nature of things as conditional.
They understand sentient beings have no birth
And there are no sentient beings to transmigrate:
There are no real sentient beings to speak to,
But according to conventional norms they provisionally teach.
“What is great enlightening beings’ dedication causing all roots of goodness to endure? Here the enlightening beings may be rulers of great nations, their virtue extending to all, their fame shaking the world; their enemies all submit to them, and their commands are all based on correct principles. They hold a single canopy that gives shade to all quarters, and travel everywhere as leaders of the land, unobstructed wherever they turn, tying on the turban of nondefilement. They are sovereign masters of the law, and all who see them submit. They do not torture or punish people, yet all obey, moved by their virtue. They deal with sentient beings with liberality, kind words, beneficial actions, and cooperation; as universal rulers, they provide for everyone.