They produce the jewels of the path of knowledge.
In one land unmoving, detached in all lands,
Reaching all worlds like the cool light of the moon,
Their minds have ceased all thought of sound;
Their utterances are like echoes from the mountains.
To those who are weak-minded and prone to dejection
They teach the practice of listeners.
Those of keen mind inclined to analyze conditions
They show the knowledge of the way of individual illuminates.
Those who incline to benevolence, for the good of all,
They show the practice of enlightening beings.
To those of foremost wisdom
They show the peerless body of Buddha.
Like magicians performing magic, they show millions of different bodies
For the benefit of sentient beings, all of them without real existence.
Thus do enlightening beings, involved in the magic of knowledge,
Show all practices, all without real existence.
Having uttered these sweet words of what they’d heard, the goddesses, seeing the Buddha, became silent.
“This assembly is calm and clear,” said Moon of Liberation; “speak of the practice beyond the eighth stage, of the kings of the true teaching.”
Diamond Matrix said, “Enlightening beings who, by means of the mind which has thus reflected on the infinite possibilities of knowledge, are intent upon yet higher tranquillities and liberations, thinking of consummate attainment of yet higher enlightened knowledge, entering into the secret of the buddhas, ascertaining the greatness of inconceivable knowledge, purifying the ascertainment of spell-concentration, extending mystic knowledge, acting in accord with the differences in worlds, cultivating the insuperability of the powers, expertise, and unique qualities of buddhas, following the might of the turning of the wheel of Teaching of buddhas, not abandoning the attainment of empowerment of great compassion, thus come to the ninth stage of enlightening beings.
“Enlightening beings in this stage of the Good Mind accurately know the performance of good, bad, and neutral things, the performance of mundane and transmundane things, the performance of conceivable and inconceivable things, the performance of tainted and untainted things, the performance of regular and irregular things, the performance of things listeners and individual illuminates do, the performance of things enlightening beings do, the performance of things pertaining to buddha-hood, and the performance of fabricated and unfabricated things—all these they know as they really are.
“By means of this knowing awareness, they know accurately how all beings get into entanglement of mind, how they get into entanglement in afflictions, entanglement in acts, entanglement in senses, entanglement in resolutions, entanglement in dispositions, entanglement in inclinations and propensities, entanglement in birth, entanglement in the continuation of habit energies, and how they get into entanglement in the definition of what is beneficial, what is not beneficial, and what is neither beneficial nor unbeneficial—all this they know as it really is.
“They also know the compartmentalization of mind of sentient beings—they accurately know their complexity of mind, the dissolution and nondissolution in instantaneous action of mind, the incorporeality of mind, the endless, ubiquitous all-pervasiveness of mind, the luminosity of mind, the defilement or nondefilement of mind, the bondage or liberation of mind, the creation by illusion of mind, the manifestation of mind according to the state of being; they accurately know hundreds of thousands of differences of mind.
“They also know accurately how far-reaching afflictions are, the endlessness of their applications, their inseparable simultaneity, their being the sole cause of the appearance of propensities, their interconnection and disconnection with the mind, their appearance according to the state of being in the continuity of births, their distinction of being in the realm of desire, form, or formlessness, the great blameworthiness of pride stuck with craving ignorance and views, the continuity of the causality of physical, verbal, and mental actions; in sum, they accurately know the pervasiveness of activities of up to eighty-four thousand afflictions.
“They also accurately know the goodness, badness, or neutrality of actions; whether they are evident or not; their inextricable coexistence with mind; their continuity of fruition through accumulation in spite of their own essence instantly disintegrating; whether or not they have developments; the variety of differences in rewards of pure, impure, and mixed actions; the infinity of the field of action; the difference in holiness and mundanity; how what is produced in the present state is experienced another time around; whether or not actions are a means of release; and whether or not they are sure—in sum, they accurately know as many as eighty-four thousand different aspects of action, as well as how to skillfully ascertain their differences.
“They also know accurately the weakness, mediocrity, and strength of faculties; their disjunction or continuity past to future; their superiority, mediocrity, and inferiority; their inextricable coexistence with afflictions; whether or not they are vehicles of liberation, sure or unsure; their suitability for guidance, according to maturity or immaturity; their nature as grasping of appearances in the rapid disintegration repeated in the net of faculties; the invincibility of the overlordship of faculties; the difference in regressing and nonregressing faculties; their various differences of extent and concurrence—in sum, they accurately know as many as eighty-four thousand different aspects of faculties.
“They also know the weakness, mediocrity, and strength of intentions; their disjunction or continuity past to future; their superiority, mediocrity, and inferiority; their coexistence with afflictions; whether they are vehicles of liberation, sure or not; their nature as grasping of appearances in the rapid disintegration repeated in the net of intentions; the invincibility of the overlordship of intent; the difference in regressing and nonregressing intent; differences in extent and concurrence—in sum, they know as many as eighty-four thousand various aspects of intent.
“They also accurately know the weakness, mediocrity, or strength of dispositions; their disjunction or continuity past and future; their superiority, mediocrity, or inferiority; their concurrence with afflictions; their qualities of being vehicles of liberation or not, sure or not; the certainty or uncertainty of their maturation; their nature of being grasping of appearances in the swift dissolution repeated in the net of dispositions; the invincibility of overlordship of disposition; their persistence and differentiation; differences in extent and concurrence—in sum, they know accurately as many as eighty-four thousand different aspects of inclinations and thousands of various aspects of dispositions.
“They also accurately know the weakness, mediocrity, or strength of wills; their disjunction or continuity past to future; their superiority, mediocrity, or inferiority; their concurrence with afflictions; their quality of being vehicles of liberation or not, sure or not; their certainty or uncertainty of maturity; their being grasping of appearances in the swift dissolution repeated in the net of wills; the invincibility of the overlord-ship of will; their persistence and variety; their extent and concurrence—they accurately know as many as eighty-four thousand different aspects of will as well as thousands of ways of thinking.
“They know accurately how propensities are born together with intent and mind; their connection with mind; their disconnection, division, and extent; their never having been uprooted and cast out since beginningless time; their being incompatible with all meditations, liberations, concentrations, trances, and mystic knowledges; their binding of the continuity of existence in the world; their activity of binding the mind since beginningless time; their nature of manifestation of accretions in the realms of sense; their being something to be quelled; their presence or absence in the states of the stages of enlightening; their being extracted only by the path of sages—all this enlightening beings know accurately.
“They also acc
urately know the variety of births; birth according to actions; the differentiation of hells, animal, ghost, and titan realms, humans and celestials; birth in the realms of form and formlessness; birth in realms with thought and without thought; the sprouting of future becoming from the field of action, the moisture of craving, the darkness of ignorance, and the seeds of consciousness; the concurrence of name and form; continuity due to ignorant craving for becoming; the beginninglessness and endlessness of desire for enjoyment, desire for existence, and the likes of sentient beings; and how birth is brought forth by grasping for things of the world—all this they know as it really is.
“They also know whether or not habit energies are active; infusion by impressions according to involvements; habituation according to activities of beings; habituation according to acts, afflictions, and customs; habituation to good, bad, and neutral customs; habituation dominating future courses of existence; habituation gradually becoming dominant; habituation in which there persist aberrations producing long-lasting affliction; substantial and insubstantial habituation; and permeation by impressions of seeing and hearing Buddhist practitioners, individual illuminates, enlightening beings, and buddhas—all these they know as they are.
“They also know accurately the correct stabilization, incorrect stabilization, and correct and incorrect stabilization of groups of people; their correct stabilization by correct views, their incorrect stabilization by incorrect views, their nonstabilization without either, their incorrect stabilization by one of the five hellish deeds that bring immediate consequence, their correct stabilization by the five religious faculties, their lack of stability without either, their incorrect stabilization in the eight deviations, their correct stabilization in the eightfold right path, their lack of further involvement with either, their indeterminacy without either, their incorrect stabilization on unrelenting envy, jealousy, and lack of sympathy, their stabilization in correctness of practice of the supreme Path of sages, and the indeterminacy of groups apart from both of these—they know all these as they really are. Enlightening beings who have attained such knowledge are said to be established in the ninth stage, Good Mind.
“Enlightening beings in this stage of Good Mind, knowing the differences in sentient beings’ conduct, undertake to effect their liberation accordingly. They truly know the maturity of sentient beings as well as their discipline; they truly know the teachings of the vehicle of listeners, the teachings of the vehicle of individual illuminates, the teachings of the vehicle of enlightening beings, and the teachings of the stage of buddhahood.
“Knowing all this, they expound teachings to beings so they may realize Thusness. They expound teachings according to differences in mental dispositions, according to differences in propensities, according to differences in faculties, according to differences in inclinations, through approaching knowledge according to differences in spheres of action, through proceeding according to knowledge of all spheres of action, through proceeding according to tendencies toward entanglement according to disposition, through adaptation to the afflictions, actions, and habits of the various states of being, through going along with the structures of groups, according to the application of whatever means by which liberation may be attained, by appearing in endless forms, by appearing in all worlds in ways congenial to the beings there, by knowing how to say everything, and by skill in ascertainment of all specific knowledge necessary for elucidation of the teachings.
“Enlightening beings established in the stage of Good Mind act as preachers of the Teaching and preserve the treasury of teaching of the Enlightened. In these enlightening beings the unadulterated four special knowledges of enlightening beings are always operative. What are the four? They are the special knowledge of principles, of meanings, of expression, and of elocution. By the knowledge of principles they know the specific characteristics of principles; by knowledge of meanings they know the differentiations of principles; by knowledge of expression they know the unconfused teaching of principles; by knowledge of elocution they know the interrelated continuity of principles.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles they know the nonexistent body of things. By specific knowledge of meanings, they know the beginning and end of things. By specific knowledge of expression they expound the Teaching by means of interconnected representations of all things. By specific knowledge of elocution they can expound the Teaching boundlessly without destroying representations as they are.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles they know the present differentiation of things. By specific knowledge of meanings they know the past and future differentiation of things. By specific knowledge of expression they expound the Teaching without mixup of past, future, and present. By specific knowledge of elocution they expound the Teaching in each of the past, future, and present by the beginningless and endless light of truth.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles they know the variety of phenomena and principles. By specific knowledge of meanings they know the variety of meanings. By specific knowledge of expression they expound the Teaching according to the local language. By specific knowledge of elocution they expound the Teaching according to mental dispositions and knowledge.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles they know the skill of differentiation of direct knowledge of things without mixup. By specific knowledge of meanings they know the arrangement of suchness by inductive knowledge. By specific knowledge of expression they teach by demonstration of conventional knowledge without mixup. By knowledge of elocution they expound the Teaching by familiarity with knowledge of ultimate truth.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles, they know one indestructible principle in all things. By specific knowledge of meanings, they enter into realization of familiarity with the interdependent origination of matter and mind, senses, sense data, and sense consciousnesses, and the truths. By specific knowledge of expression they teach in words pleasing and easy to understand for all beings. By specific knowledge of elocution they teach by more and more endless illumination of the Teaching.
“Also, by specific knowledge of principles they know the variety of entries into the One Vehicle. By specific knowledge of meanings they know the distinctions of different vehicles. By the specific knowledge of expression they teach without confusing all vehicles. By specific knowledge of elocution they teach each vehicle with endless illumination of principles.
“Also, by the specific knowledge of principles they enter into action in accord with all practices of enlightening beings, practice of knowledge and practice of principles. By the specific knowledge of meanings they comprehend the differentiations of the teaching of the arrangement of the ten stages. By the specific knowledge of expressions they teach by presenting the path without confusion according to the stage. By specific knowledge of elocution they teach each stage in terms of its endless aspects.
“Also, by the specific knowledge of principles they comprehend all buddhas’ attaining enlightenment in an instant. By specific knowledge of meaning they know accord with various differences in times, phenomena, and characteristics. By knowledge of expression they teach by different utterances according to attainment of correct enlightenment. By knowledge of elocution they expound each phrase of the Teaching continuously for endless eons.
“Also, by knowledge of principle they know action in accord with all buddhas’ speech, powers, expertises, qualities of buddhahood, great compassion, analytic knowledge, application, teaching, and omniscient knowledge. By knowledge of meaning they know the eighty-four thousand utterances of buddhas according to sentient beings’ mental dispositions, faculties, and different inclinations. By knowledge of expression they teach the buddhas’ sayings according to the differences in actions of all beings. By knowledge of elocution they expound the Teaching by focus on the sphere of practice reflecting the knowledge of the enlightened.
“The enlightening beings who are thus skillful in effectuation of the science of these specific analy
tic knowledges, having reached the ninth stage, having attained the treasury of teachings of the enlightened, acting as great preachers of the Teaching, come to attain the concentration spell containing meanings, the concentration spell containing principles, the concentration spell containing evocation of knowledge, the concentration spell containing illumination, the concentration spell of good intellect, the concentration spell containing treasures, the concentration spell containing vital energy, the concentration spell leading into nonattachment and nonobstruction, the concentration spell of infinity, and the concentration spell containing a store of various meanings. They attain countless millions of kinds of concentration spells filled by such spell formulae as these. They expound the Teaching by countless millions of skillfully adapted utterances and unlimited adaptive means of eloquent analysis. By means of these countless millions of concentration spells as doors of access, they listen to the Teaching directly from innumerable buddhas of the ten directions and, having heard the Teaching, do not forget it, and also expound it, with innumerable differentiations, as they have heard it. They completely learn teachings from one buddha through the mediums of countless millions of concentration spells, and as from one, so too from endless buddhas, by measure of their will, to a yet greater extent do they receive the light of the means of access to the Teaching, such as cannot be attained by the retentive power of greatly learned disciples who take up and hold what they learn, even in a hundred thousand eons.
“Thus having attained mental command through concentration spells, having attained eloquence, sitting on the seat of teaching, they pervade a billion worlds and expound the Teaching to beings according to the differences in the mentalities of the beings. As they sit on the seat of teaching, their seat of teaching has immeasurably greater splendor than any except those of the buddhas and the enlightening beings who have reached the stage of coronation. Sitting on the seat of teaching, at will they make one utterance causing all congregations to perceive it as various different utterances. At will they convey knowledge by various different utterances and nuances. At will they draw forth ways of entry into the Teaching by emanating beams of light. At will they emit voices from all their pores. At will they bring forth voices of teaching from all forms manifest in the universe. At will they convey knowledge of all phenomena by means of one utterance. At will they make all sounds into the sound of the Teaching. At will they bring forth the voice of the Teaching from the song and music of all worldly realms. At will they draw forth all the different expressions of the Teaching from a single syllable. At will they draw forth untold ways of entry into the Teaching from each and every atom in the clusters of elements of earth, water, fire, and wind in untold worlds.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 101