“Enlightening beings dedicate their unattached, unbound, liberated minds, without forming arbitrary notions of worlds or worldly things, of enlightenment or enlightening beings, of the practices of enlightening beings or the paths of emancipation, of Buddhas or Buddha teachings, of taming or not taming sentient beings, of roots of goodness or dedication, of self or others, of gifts or recipients, of practices of enlightening beings or true enlightenment, of truth or knowledge.
“Great enlightening beings dedicate those roots of goodness in this way: that minds be unattached, unbound, liberated; that bodies be unattached, unbound, liberated; that speech be unattached, unbound, liberated; that actions be unattached, unbound, liberated; that rewards be unattached, unbound, liberated; that worlds be free from attachment and bondage and be liberated; that buddha-lands be free from attachment and bondage and be liberated; that sentient beings be free from attachments and bondage and be liberated; that laws be free from attachment and bondage and be liberated; that knowledge be free from attachment and bondage and be liberated.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, they do so as the Buddhas of past, present, and future during their enlightening: they study the dedication of Buddhas of the past, make the dedication of Buddhas of the future, and live by the dedication of Buddhas of the present; they remain on the path of dedication of the Buddhas of the past, do not give up the path of dedication of the Buddhas of the future, and follow the path of dedication of the Buddhas of the present; they diligently practice the teachings of the Buddhas of the past, accomplish the teachings of the Buddhas of the future, and know the teachings of the Buddhas of the present; they fulfill the equanimity of the Buddhas of the past, achieve the equanimity of the Buddhas of the future, and abide in the equanimity of the Buddhas of the present; they traverse the ranges of the Buddhas of the past, abide in the ranges of the Buddhas of the future, and equal the ranges of the Buddhas of the present; they attain the roots of goodness of the Buddhas of past, present, and future, are endowed with the essential nature of all Buddhas of past, present, and future, abide in the sphere of action of all Buddhas of past, present, and future, and accord with the realm of all Buddhas of past, present, and future.
“This is great enlightening beings’ ninth dedication, dedication with unattached, unbound, liberated mind. When great enlightening beings live by this dedication, they cannot be broken down even by adamantine mountains; their physical characteristics are supreme among all sentient beings; they can destroy all the evildoing of demons; they appear in all worlds in the ten directions, cultivating the practices of enlightening beings; because they want to enlighten all sentient beings, they expound the Buddha-teachings to them in appropriate ways; attaining great knowledge and wisdom, they have no confusion in their minds about the teachings of the Buddhas; wherever they live, whether they go or stay, they always encounter incorruptible company; they are able to absorb and retain the teachings expounded by the Buddhas of all times by means of pure mindfulness; they cultivate the practice of enlightening beings forever and ever, never ceasing, developing and fulfilling the practical vows of Universal Good, attaining universal knowledge, disbursing it as buddha-work, perfecting the autonomous spiritual powers of enlightening beings.”
Then the enlightening being Diamond Banner, spiritually empowered by Buddha, looked over the ten directions and said in verse,
The peerless honored ones of the ten directions
Have never had a thought of pride;
Whatever virtuous works they perform,
They are still respectful and reverent.
All the virtues they cultivate
Are not for themselves or others;
Always, with a mind of supreme resolve,
They dedicate them to the benefit of all the living.
They have never developed pride or conceit,
Yet they are not self-demeaning;
The actions of the enlightened ones
They inquire into and earnestly practice.
The various roots of goodness they cultivate
Are all for the benefit of conscious creatures;
They abide in profound will and broad understanding,
Dedicated to the most honorable, virtuous human state.
The various skills and marvels
There are in the world, beyond measure,
Crude and fine, broad and deep,
They practice and master all.
All the various bodies in the world
They enter by equality of bodies;
Cultivating this, they attain understanding
And accomplish nonregression in the door of wisdom.
The lands in the worlds, innumerable kinds,
Minute, immense, with different orientations,
Enlightening beings can, via the door of knowledge,
See all in a single pore.
Sentient beings’ mental activities, without measure,
They can cause to equally enter one mind:
Through the door of knowledge they understand all,
And do not regress in their practice.
Sentient beings’ faculties and inclinations,
Superior, middling, and inferior, are each unalike;
All are profoundly hard to know:
But enlightening beings can comprehend them in accord with their fundamental nature.
Sentient beings’ various actions,
Superior, middling, and inferior, are each different:
Enlightening beings, deeply entering enlightened power,
Clearly see all through the door of knowledge.
Inconceivably innumerable eons
They can cause to equally enter one instant;
Thus having seen, throughout the ten directions
They cultivate all pure actions.
Past, future, and present—
They know their characteristics, each different,
Yet without deviating from the principle of equality—
This is the great mind’s practice of clear comprehension.
The actions of the sentient beings of the world are not the same—
Sometimes apparent, sometimes hidden, there are innumerable kinds:
Enlightening beings know all their different forms,
And know too their forms are formless.
The autonomous spiritual power manifested
By all Buddhas in the worlds in the ten directions,
Vast, extensive, inconceivable,
Enlightening beings are able to distinctly know.
The naturally enlightened Human Lions
In the Tushita heavens of all worlds,
Their virtues great, pure, beyond compare,
All their features the enlightening can see.
Sometimes they manifest spiritual descent into the mother’s womb,
Or innumerable autonomous miraculous displays—
Attaining Buddhahood, teaching, showing extinction,
Throughout the world, unceasingly.
When the Human Lions are first born,
All those of superior knowledge serve them:
The gods, such as Indra and Brahma,
All respectfully attend to them.
In the infinite, boundless realms
Throughout the ten directions,
Without beginning or end, far or near,
They manifest the powers of the enlightened.
After the Honored Human Leaders manifest birth,
They walk seven steps in each direction:
Wishing to enlighten the living by the wondrous truth,
The Buddhas therefore observe all.
They see sentient beings sunk in the sea of cravings,
Veiled by blindness and folly:
The Free Humans show a smile
And reflect that they should save beings from suffering.
The great Lion’s Roar emits a wondrous voice:
“I am most honored in the world;
I should li
ght the lamp of clear pure knowledge
And destroy the darkness of ignorance and folly in birth and death.”
When the Human Lion Kings appear in the world
They radiate infinite great beams of light
Causing an end to the courses of misery
And extinguishing the sufferings of the world.
Sometimes they manifest life in a royal palace,
Sometimes they manifest leaving home and cultivating enlightenment;
Because they want to benefit sentient beings
They demonstrate such powers of freedom.
When the Buddhas first sit on the enlightenment site,
The whole earth trembles;
All worlds in the ten directions are bathed in light,
And beings in all states are relieved of pain.
Shaking the palaces of all demons,
Awakening the minds of all sentient beings,
Those who received the teaching and practiced it in the past
They cause to know the true meaning.
All the lands in the ten directions
Completely enter a pore;
The lands in all pores are boundless:
Therein they manifest spiritual powers.
Enlightening beings understand the innumerable methods
Expounded by all the Buddhas;
Even those the Buddhas have not explained
They understand and diligently practice.
All the demon armies create conflicts
Filling all worlds of the universe;
The infinite varied ills they create
Unhindered knowledge can all destroy.
The Enlightened may be in buddha-fields,
Or may appear to be in celestial palaces.
Sometimes they manifest their bodies in Brahma’s palace—
Enlightening beings see all without obstruction.
Buddha manifests infinite, various bodies,
Turning the wheel of the pure teaching;
No bounds to this can ever be found,
Even throughout all times.
Jeweled thrones, high and wide, without compare,
Fill the infinite worlds of the ten directions,
Adorned with various wondrous forms:
Buddhas sit on them, inconceivable,
Surrounded by crowds of enlightening beings
Filling the whole of the cosmos,
Revealing infinite practices for enlightenment,
The paths followed by all the Buddhas.
The appropriate acts of the Buddhas
Are infinite, boundless as the cosmos;
The wise are able, by one technique,
To know them all entirely.
The Buddha’s spiritual powers
Manifest all kinds of bodies:
They may show infinite lives in all states of being,
Or may appear surrounded by concubines,
Or else they may in countless worlds
Manifest leaving home and attaining buddhahood,
Add on the final demise,
Distribution of relics and setting up of shrines.
By these boundless varied actions
The guides explain the abode of buddhahood;
The great virtues of the World Honored
Enlightening beings vow to cultivate and achieve.
When they dedicate those roots of goodness
They abide in such expedient means,
Thus cultivating enlightening practice,
Their minds never wearied or lazy.
The great spiritual powers of the Buddhas
As well as their boundless supreme virtues
And also wise acts in the mundane world:
All they know exhaustively.
Thus all lordly humans
In whatever realms they may be
Understand all at once
Yet don’t give up enlightenment practice.
The subtle, refined practices of the Buddhas
And the various laws of all fields,
They are able to know as they encounter them,
Ultimately dedicating them to transcendence.
Finite or infinite, all ages
Enlightening beings know are the same as one instant:
Herein they enter enlightenment practice,
Always cultivating it diligently, never regressing.
All the lands in the ten directions,
Some polluted, some pure,
And all the Buddhas there
Enlightening beings can distinguish and know.
In every moment they clearly see
Inconceivably many eons;
Thus, throughout all times,
They cultivate enlightening practice.
Into all minds they penetrate,
And penetrate all things equally too,
The same for all buddha-fields throughout space,
Comprehending all their excellent practices.
They produce all kinds of knowledge
Of sentient beings and phenomena
As well as spiritual powers of enlightening beings:
All of this inexhaustible.
Knowledge of all minute details, each distinct,
Enlightening beings thoroughly absorb:
Similar and different aspects they all know well,
Thus cultivating far-reaching practice.
Innumerable are the sentient beings in each
Of the innumerable buddha-lands in the ten directions:
Their conditions and types are variously different—
By the power of their practice enlightening beings can know them all.
All the guides there are
In past, present, and future worlds—
If one has knowledge and dedication like them,
One’s practice is equal to those Buddhas.
If people can practice this dedication,
This is learning the path of the Buddhas:
They’ll attain the virtues of all Buddhas,
And the knowledge and wisdom of Buddhas.
Invulnerable to all worldlings,
Accomplishing all that is to be learned,
They’ll always be able to recollect all Buddhas
And see all the Lamps of the World.
Enlightening beings’ excellent practices are immeasurable,
And so are their virtuous qualities:
Once living by the unexcelled practice of the Enlightened,
They know all the spiritual powers of the Buddhas.
“What is great enlightening beings’ boundless dedication equal to the cosmos? Here they wrap their heads with the turban of nondefilement, dwell in the position of a teacher of truth, and extensively carry out the giving of teaching, with great kindness and compassion establishing sentient beings in the aspiration for enlightenment. Always practicing charity, by the determination for enlightenment they nurture roots of goodness. Being directors for sentient beings, they point out to them the path of universal knowledge. Being suns of truth for sentient beings, the light of their roots of goodness illumines all. Their minds are impartial toward all sentient beings. They practice good works without rest. Their hearts are pure, free from stain, and their knowledge and wisdom are free. They never give up good works, and, acting as wise caravan leaders for sentient beings, they bring them all into the right path of peace. Being leaders and guides for sentient beings, they have them cultivate the practices of all roots of goodness. Being incorruptible, steadfast, good friends to sentient beings, they cause their roots of goodness to develop and mature.
“These great enlightening beings make giving of teaching principal; developing all pure, good qualities, they embody the mind directed toward universal knowledge, their supreme will power ultimately enduring, developing, and growing. They are endowed with great powers and virtues. They trust good spiritual friends, their minds have no deceitfulness. They contemplate and examine the boundless realms of the way into universal knowledge.
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��These roots of goodness they dedicate in this way: they vow to become able to cultivate, perfect, and increase all perspectives of universal nonobstruction; they vow to become able to absorb retain, and expound whatever they hear of the true teaching of the Buddhas, even a single line or verse; they vow to become able to recollect all the Buddhas, past, future, and present, of all worlds, innumerable, boundless, equal to the cosmos, and, having remembered them, to cultivate enlightening practices; they also vow to cultivate enlightening practice for one being in one world forever by this root of goodness of remembrance of Buddhas, and as in one world, so in all worlds, throughout the space of the cosmos, and as for one being so for all sentient beings, in each case being eternally adorned with great vows for their sake, eradicating any thought of separation from the Buddhas and spiritual friends, always seeing the Buddhas before them, able to draw near to every Buddha that appears in the world. The pure religious practices extolled and expounded by all Buddhas and enlightening beings they vow to cultivate and completely fulfill—religious practice of unbroken morality, flawless morality, unalloyed morality, spotless morality, impeccable morality; religious practice that cannot be shrouded, religious practice lauded by Buddhas, religious practice of nonreliance, religious practice of nonacquisitveness, religious practice of increasing the purity of the enlightening being, religious practice as carried out by the Buddhas of all times, religious practice of nonobstruction, religious practice of nonattachment, religious practice of noncontention, religious practice without extinction, religious practice of stabilization of good will, religious practice of incomparable compassion, religious practice of immutable joy, religious practice of undisturbed equanimity, religious practice of freedom from anger.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 85