“Enlightening beings contemplate interdependent origination in these ten patterns, forward and backward: that is, in terms of the interconnection of the elements of becoming, in terms of being all together in one mind, in terms of differentiation of one’s own action, in terms of inseparability, in terms of the procession of the three courses of affliction, action, and suffering, in terms of the connection of past, present, and future, in terms of accumulation of the three kinds of suffering, in terms of production by causes, in terms of attachment to origination and annihilation, and in terms of contemplation of becoming and annihilation.
“Enlightening beings thus contemplate interdependent origination in ten patterns; because of contemplating it in terms of being without self, without being, without soul, without person, inherently empty, without doer or subject, the door of emptiness and liberation becomes manifest to them. Because of the nullity of own-being of these elements of becoming, being in the presence of ultimate liberation, no sign of any thing occurs to them. In those who have thus entered into emptiness and signlessness, no desire whatsoever arises, except, led by great compassion, for the full development of sentient beings: thus the door of liberation of wishlessness becomes manifest to them. Causing these three doors of liberation to become manifest, they leave behind the ideas of self and other, of agent and perceiver, of being and nonbeing. All the more, filled with compassion, they work to perfectly attain the elements of enlightenment which they have not yet attained.
“The enlightening beings think, ‘That which is fabricated goes on because of linkage—without linkage it does not proceed; the fabricated goes on because of assemblage—without assemblage it does not go on. Having recognized the many ills and bad effects of the fabricated states of conditioning, we should cut off this linkage, this assemblage. But we should not go to the ultimate cessation of the created, for the sake of the full development of sentient beings.’ This abode of transcendent wisdom, encountered by enlightening beings examining the many ills of fabricated conditioned states, by nature without inherent existence, unborn and not annihilated, is called the presence of unattached knowledge; it is realized by undertaking great compassion and not abandoning duty to living beings, by merging with its light. Endowed with such knowledge, illumined by transcendent wisdom, they bring together the cooperating causes conducive to the elements of enlightenment, but they do not abide in the created state. They also observe the essential nullity of conditioned states, but they do not settle down in that, because they have not yet completely fulfilled the elements of enlightenment.
“The enlightening beings in this stage, the stage of Presence, realize the concentration of enlightening beings called ‘entry into emptiness.’ They attain absorption in emptiness of inherent nature, emptiness of ultimate reality, supreme emptiness, great emptiness, emptiness of union, emptiness of production, nonconceptual emptiness according to reality, emptiness of concern, emptiness of disconnection and nondisconnection. With these ten doors of concentration on emptiness in the forefront, a hundred thousand doors of concentration on emptiness become manifest to them, and so do a hundred thousand doors of concentration on signlessness and a hundred thousand doors of concentration on wishlessness.
“Furthermore, the enlightening beings in this stage of Presence fully develop unbreakable intent, certain intent, good intent, profound intent, unretreating intent, unrelenting intent, pure intent, endless intent, intent to seek knowledge, intent to perfectly unite means and wisdom. These ten intents of enlightening beings lead to the enlightenment of buddhas; the enlightening beings become courageous and do not retreat before verbal opposition; they enter the stage of knowledge; they give up the stages of listeners and individual illuminates, being wholly directed toward buddha-knowledge. They also become immune to the doings of demons and afflictions, and become firmly established in the light of enlightening beings. They also become fully imbued with the practices of the principles of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, and they become one with the contemplations of means and wisdom, and they become filled with the elements of enlightenment.
“In the enlightening beings in this stage of Presence, the abode of transcendent wisdom becomes paramount, and they attain the third acceptance of these principles, that of keen accord, by following them without opposition.
“To the enlightening beings in this stage many buddhas become visible, by great vision and willpower—many hundreds of buddhas, many thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, trillions of buddhas. Having seen these buddhas, with great zeal they pay honor and respect to them, providing them with offerings of food, clothing, bedding, medicines, and other furnishings, and also bring comforts for enlightening beings, and also honor the religious community. They dedicate all these roots of goodness to perfect enlightenment. They also attend those buddhas and listen to their teachings in person with great respect and appreciation of their rarity, taking up the teachings and remembering them. Having heard the teachings, they practice them by means of true application, wisdom, knowledge, and illumination, and effectively preserve them in action. They reach further into the store of teachings of the enlightened.
“The roots of goodness of the enlightening beings in this stage of Presence become more and more radiant over many eons, over hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions of eons. Just as gold covered with jewels becomes even more radiant, so do the roots of goodness of enlightening beings in this stage, cultivated by expedient means and wisdom, become all the more radiant. They also become more and more tranquil and imperturbable. Just as moonlight refreshes and delights people and cannot be diverted by the four winds, in the same way those roots of goodness of enlightening beings in the stage of Presence quench the fires of afflictions of countless beings and make them refreshed and happy, and those roots of goodness cannot be diverted by the four demons.
“Among the ten transcendent ways, transcendent wisdom is paramount in these enlightening beings, but they also practice the others as best they can. This is a brief summary of the sixth stage of enlightening beings, called the stage of Presence, most of the enlightening beings in which are masters of emanation, expert and powerful in stopping people’s conceit, skilled in drawing people away from the conditions of pride and arrogance. They cannot be distracted by the interrogations of all listeners. They are skilled in introducing beings into interdependent origination. Whatever actions they undertake, whether by giving, or by kind speech, or by beneficial action, or by cooperation, all of it is never apart from thoughts of Buddha, the Teaching, the Community, enlightening beings, the practice of enlightening beings, the transcendent ways, the stages, the powers, expertise, and unique qualities of buddhas, including omniscience complete in all respects. Why? To become the best of beings, unexcelled leaders and guides, and ultimately omniscient refuges.
“Those who seek to be thus undertake the appropriate effort, by which exertion they instantly attain a hundred trillion concentrations, see a hundred trillion buddhas and recognize their power, shake a hundred trillion worlds, go to a hundred trillion lands, illumine a hundred trillion worlds, mature a hundred trillion beings, remain for a hundred trillion eons, penetrate a hundred trillion eons past and future, contemplate a hundred trillion doctrines, manifest a hundred trillion bodies, each body manifesting a company of a hundred trillion enlightening beings. Beyond that, enlightening beings with the power of vows perform, by the excellence of their vows, countless transfigurations of body, aura, mystic powers, vision, sphere of operation, voice, conduct, adornment, power, resolution, and performance.”
Then the great enlightening being Diamond Matrix uttered these verses describing this stage:
Having fulfilled the practice of the path of the fifth stage,
Realizing knowledge of the signlessness, formlessness, and birthlessness of things,
Knowledge of their nonorigination, primordial purity, and inexpressibility,
Thus enlightening beings enter the sixth stage.
The objective e
ye tracing phenomena consistently
Without rejection or attachment, without false ideas,
Knowing them to be of the nature of illusion, apart from being and nonbeing,
Enlightening beings enter the higher sixth stage.
Stable in keen accord, full of knowledge and power,
They observe becoming and decay in all worlds.
The becoming of the world is in essence the becoming of the dark of delusion;
When that delusion is destroyed, becoming is nonexistent.
They contemplate conditional creation, ultimately empty,
Without contradicting the causal relations of action or the function of names;
Knowing in truth action has no agent,
They look upon the fabricated as like dense clouds, without will.
Not knowing the truth in the highest sense is ignorance;
Action and consciousness are the results thereof;
Then, born together based on consciousness are name and form;
Thus all come into being, the whole mass of suffering.
They realize the three realms are only mind—
And the twelve elements of becoming are in one mind,
Born of desire and produced by the mind;
Thus extinction and becoming, too, are distinctions of the mind.
The function of ignorance is dual; it creates delusion,
And in delusion also provides a cause for sensations;
And so on, up to old age, degeneration, and death—
The production of all suffering from this has no end.
It cannot be cut off under conditions of ignorance,
But having stopped this continuous production, all ceases completely—
Delusion, craving, and grasping are the courses of affliction;
Action and becoming are conditionings, the rest are suffering.
From delusion to the sense mediums is suffering due to conditionality,
Contact and the development of sensation are suffering due to painfulness,
The rest of the elements are suffering due to degeneration;
If their development is stopped, that suffering has no self.
The forerunners are ignorance and conditioning;
Consciousness and sensation operate in the present;
Craving, becoming, and suffering take place in the future:
Those who observe unattached cut off their inception and progress.
The condition of delusion creates bondage;
The end of bondage is the extinction of conditions.
The production of result by cause does not happen without cause:
Enlightened knowledge sees it as void of inherent existence.
Following delusion is the cause and force of becoming;
Opposing it, all becoming is cut off by the annulment of the cause.
Those with unattached minds observe in ten ways
The profound interrelation of one thing and another.
Intention, the elements of becoming, and the locus of action
Are inseparable in the forefront of the three courses:
Unoriginated and unperishing is the procession of conditions,
The cause and destruction of the three forms of suffering, origin and extinction.
Thus do enlightening beings comprehend interdependent origination—
Like illusion, unreal, without knowing or doing,
Like a dream, like a reflection, void of intrinsic being,
Like the mirage of the ignorant and deluded.
Whoever meditates thus rests in the emptiness of the wise;
They realize this signlessness of conditions:
Knowing they’re completely unreal, they have no wishes,
But they go on living out of compassion for beings.
Thus having accomplished this door of liberation, the great beings
Are even more compassionate in mind and seek the qualities of buddhahood.
Observing the fabricated is a matter of conjunction,
They become more diligent, replete with many virtues.
Having fulfilled myriad concentrations in emptiness,
As well as signless and wishless liberation,
Their wisdom and conformative acceptance increase,
And their freedom and knowledge mature.
They also serve many buddhas resolutely
And practice the Way in the buddhas’ tutelage.
Attaining the treasury of Buddha teachings, they propagate roots of goodness
Like gold encrusted with jewels.
As moonlight refreshes the minds of people in the world
Undeflected by the four winds,
The light of enlightening beings, overcoming the path of demons,
Quenches the burning of afflictions of those suffering from pain.
Having reached this stage, they become celestial monarchs,
Adept at emanation, destroyers of conceit.
Whatever they do on the path of knowledge
Is insuperable, steadfast, beyond the path of listeners.
Seeking, the enlightening beings, imbued with vigor,
Having attained a hundred trillion consummate concentrations,
See in an instant the buddhas in the ten directions
Blazing like the sun in the midsummer sky.
“Here I have told of the sixth stage of great beings, the stage of Presence, which is profound, hard to see, hard for listeners and self-conquerors to know.”
Now the crowd of celestials, exhilarated, showered clouds of various lights and uttered sweet words full of supreme pure joy, praising the supremely acute mind, master of knowledge, imbued with a hundred virtues, excellent in conduct, blissful, benefactor of the world, one of the lotuses of humanity. The great gods traversing the sky showered sublime immeasurable light on the best of humans, and clouds of fragrance of supreme beauty, to destroy afflictions. The host of celestials spoke in sweet, pleasing, beautiful voices of how they had gained supreme benefit on hearing the explanation of this stage. The goddesses, delighted, playing sweet music, spoke in praise of this eminent practice, by the power of Buddha:
Best in conduct among the wise,
Tamers of the tamed, benefactors of the world,
Having transcended the world,
They act in the world, showing the subtle.
They manifest various bodies,
All the bodies one with the essence of things;
Peaceful, uncontentious,
They speak without the idea of having said even a syllable.
They go to a hundred lands and pay respect to the Guides,
Those who are most worthy of honor,
Having given up their concept of a land,
Being masters of knowledge.
They fully develop beings,
Yet have no concept of self or other,
They accumulate highest goodness,
Yet have no attachment to accumulation of good.
Having seen the world burning
With desire, hatred, and delusion,
They get rid of all concepts
And out of compassion undertake higher efforts.
The gods and goddesses, having offered their splendid song, became silent, enraptured, all gazing at Buddha. “This assembly is calm,” they said to the enlightening being; “tell us the features of the seventh stage, abode of virtues.”
The enlightening being Diamond Matrix said, “Any enlightening beings who have thoroughly fulfilled the course of the sixth stage come to the seventh stage. They gain access to the seventh stage by means of ten kinds of special undertaking in the Path which are accomplished by skill in means, transcendent wisdom, and knowledge. What are these ten? They develop a mind well trained in focus on emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, yet they collect great provisions of virtue and knowledge. They enter into the selflessness, absence of being, absence of soul, absence of individuality, and absence of personality in all things, yet they do not give up the pr
oduction of the four immeasurables—immeasurable kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. They perform transcendent practices to increase virtuous ways, yet they do not cling to anything. They become detached from everything in the world, yet they produce arrays of adornments for the world. They become ultimately calm and tranquil due to removal from the fires of afflictions, yet they undertake to accomplish the extinction of the flames of afflictions of lust, hatred, and delusion of all beings. They realize the nonduality of essence of being and nonbeing, all things being like illusions, mirages, dreams, reflections, echoes, apparitions, yet they put into effect resolution in innumerable different deeds and works. They have cultivated the perception that all lands and paths are equal to space, yet they undertake the adornment of buddha-lands. They arrive at the nature of all buddhas as being fundamentally and essentially the reality-body, yet they undertake the production of the adornments of the marks of distinction and embellishments of the physical body of a buddha. They grant that the voice of the buddha is unutterable, free from sound, and by nature ultimately silent, yet they undertake the production of pure arrays of all different tones to communicate with all beings. In a single instant they enter buddhas’ awareness of past, present, and future, yet they enter into distinctions of various appearances, ages, and reckonings by discernment of beings’ minds. By these ten kinds of special undertaking on the Path, accomplished by skill in means, wisdom, and knowledge, enlightening beings enter the seventh stage; and they are said to be in this stage by virtue of the manifestation of the practice of these undertakings.
“Enlightening beings in this seventh stage penetrate infinite realms of beings, unlimited acts of guidance by which buddhas develop beings, infinite networks of worlds, infinite purification of buddha-lands by the enlightened ones, the infinite variety of phenomena, the infinite realization of knowledge of buddhas, the unlimited methods of calculating ages, the buddhas’ immeasurable awareness of past, present, and future, the infinite differences in beings’ interests, the infinite variety of manifestations of the material body of buddhas, the infinite variety of mental dispositions and faculties of beings, the infinite gladdening of the stream of beings by the utterances of the buddhas, the infinite variety of mental actions of beings, the buddhas’ infinite following of the progress of knowledge, the infinite variety of application to the way of emancipation of the vehicle of listeners, the infinite manifestations of teachings of the Path of the buddhas, the infinite consummation of the attainment of the vehicle of individual illuminates, the infinite teachings of ways of ingress into the profound knowledge of the buddhas, the infinite application of enlightening beings to the conduct of enlightening beings, and the buddhas’ infinite teachings of entry into the assembly of the Great Vehicle.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 97