Furthermore, this book on the way into the teaching of assembly of the practices of enlightening beings and accumulation of the qualities of omniscience cannot be heard by those who have not planted roots of goodness.
The enlightening being Moon of Liberation said, “With how much virtue do they become imbued who hear the book on the way into the teaching of accumulation of the qualities of omniscience?”
The enlightening being Diamond Matrix said, “As much as derives from omniscience, that much would the quantity of virtue be, owing to the objective embraced by the determination for omniscience. As much virtue as accrues from the objective embraced by determination for omniscience, that much virtue would be attained by turning to this teaching. Why? None but enlightening beings can hear this book on the way into the teaching of accumulation of the qualities of omniscience, or devote themselves to it, or take to it, or take it up, or hold it, or preserve it, much less cultivate it, act on it, apply it, foster it, or attain it. Thus it is those who follow the way to omniscience that can preserve it, those who hear this book on the way to accumulate the qualities of omniscience, and, having heard it, devote themselves to it, preserve it, and apply it in practice.”
Then, by the spiritual power of Buddha, and as a result of the natural order, the worlds of the ten directions, as many worlds as atoms in a hundred million buddha-lands, quaked in six ways, with eighteen characteristics—they trembled, trembled intensely, trembled everywhere intensely, shook, shook intensely, shook everywhere intensely, quaked, quaked intensely, quaked everywhere intensely, resounded, resounded intensely, resounded everywhere intensely, stirred, stirred intensely, stirred everywhere intensely, roared, roared intensely, roared everywhere intensely. By the power of Buddha, and by the natural order, celestial clouds of flowers and garlands, robes, parasols, jewels, ornaments, banners, and pennants showered. Also magnificent high celestial clouds of solar orb jewels rained, and magnificent high clouds of musical jewels and clouds of pure gold orbs showered, and celestial music and singing was heard. Also clouds of songs of praise of the stage of omniscience, surpassing the celestials, were heard.
As in this world, in the heaven of control of others’ emanations, in the palace of the chief god, on the jewel mine seat this teaching was spoken, so it was also throughout all worlds in the ten directions. By the power of Buddha, and by the natural order, from the ten directions, from beyond as many worlds as atoms in a hundred million buddha-lands, there came and assembled as many enlightening beings as atoms in a hundred million buddha-lands; having arrived, pervading the ten directions, they said, “It is very good, Offspring of Buddha, how well you express the true nature of enlightening beings. We also have the same name, Diamond Matrix, and have come here from worlds called Diamond Splendor, from the presence of buddhas called Diamond Banner; in all of those worlds this teaching is also carried on, by the empowerment of the buddhas, in assemblies like this, with the same phrasing and expression driving at the same meaning, with no decrease or increase. We have come here as your witnesses by the power of the buddhas. Just as we have arrived in this world, so have we arrived at the jewel mine throne in the palace of the god king in the heaven of control of others’ emanations in the four continents of each and every world in the ten directions.”
Then the enlightening being Diamond Matrix, having looked over the ten directions and the congregations everywhere, observing the cosmos, by way of praising the determination for omniscience, revealing the sphere of enlightening beings, purifying the power of practice, expounding the absorption of omniscience, removing all the defilements of the world, presenting omniscient knowledge, showing the crest of inconceivable knowledge, and revealing the qualities of enlightening beings, spoke these verses by the power of Buddha, describing the meaning of the stages:
Listen to the excellent practices of enlightening beings,
Who practice calmness and self-control, are tranquil and peaceful in mind,
Who are like the sky, similar to space,
Who have shed all defilement and abide in knowledge of the Way.
Having cultivated good for countless eons
And served hundreds of thousands of buddhas
And honored many self-conquerors and saints,
The will for enlightenment is born for the good of the world.
Born is the will for enlightenment, equal to the Enlightened,
In those refined by discipline and austerity, who have reached ultimate patience,
Who act with modesty and dignity, born of virtue and knowledge,
Who are broad-minded and intent on enlightened knowledge.
To honor all the buddhas of past, present, and future,
Purify all lands throughout space,
Truly comprehend all truths and liberate beings,
The will for enlightenment is born.
To do good for all is the will for enlightenment born
In the joyful and benevolent who practice giving,
Who are always determined to benefit all beings,
Who apply the virtues of buddhas and pledge to protect the living.
Born is the will for enlightenment, for the weal of all beings,
In those divorced from evil, whose conduct is pure,
Who practice self-control, whose senses are calm and cool,
Who have taken refuge in Buddha, intent on enlightening practice.
Born is the will for enlightenment, for the benefit of all,
In those who practice good, vessels of patience and coolness,
Who know the flavor of virtue, have abandoned arrogance and insolence,
With minds detached and pure, calm and cool.
Initiating pure action, enduring with firmness and vigor,
Human lions striving for the welfare of all people,
Having conquered afflictions by persistence in virtue,
In this state of mind the will for enlightenment is born.
With well-concentrated minds, the darkness of delusion dissolved,
Arrogance gone, they have abandoned defiled paths;
Enjoying the bliss of peace, they have given up attachments to routine life—
In this state of mind the will for enlightenment is born.
With minds clear as the sky, with knowledge, abstract and applied,
Having killed the demons, dropped afflictions and conceit,
Abiding in the refuge of Buddha, finding the truth, their desire,
In this state of mind their will for enlightenment is born.
Firm in means and intelligence to achieve liberation from the realms of being,
Endowed with technique, science, and spiritual power to escape the force of evil,
Seeking the qualities of buddhas, desirous of virtue,
In this state of mind their will for enlightenment is born.
Wishing all beings well, having fulfilled the provisions for enlightenment,
With determined minds, they do even what may be difficult,
Enlightening beings never giving up their intent to do good;
In this state of mind their will for enlightenment is born.
Thus they should carry out enlightenment practices of multifold virtues;
Vowing to follow Buddha’s footsteps, they should attain truth and spiritual power;
Having purified the three realms of being, they should attain the will for enlightenment;
Having purified the three refuges, they should become enlightening beings.
This will be reiterated in sum, so listen;
When the will for enlightenment is attained, those who practice giving
Then, having reached Extreme Joy, will become lords of the land.
There, protecting beings by providing what they require,
Having established their own giving, they can get others to do so.
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected giving;
By following this principle they will arrive at discipline.
Having achieved right conduct, they will become well behaved;
Thence having reached Purity, they will become lords of four continents.
Stationed there, protecting beings by stopping evil,
Abiding in their own moral conduct, they can get others to do so too.
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected morality;
By maturation of this practice, they will come to the practice of forbearance.
Maintaining the practice of right forbearance, they will become good bearers of patience;
Thence having reached Refulgence, they will become lords of the thirty-three heavens.
There, protecting beings by stopping the courses of afflictions,
Abiding in their own practice of forbearance, they can get others to do so too.
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected patience;
By maturation of this virtue, they will come to the practice of vigor.
Having concentrated right energy, they will become good at maintaining vigor;
Thence having reached Blazing, they will become lords of the heaven of timely portion.
There protecting beings by stopping wrong views,
They will establish right insight and foster enlightenment by effort.
Stable in their own practice of vigor, they can exhort others as well;
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected vigor.
By the results of this virtue they will come to the practice of meditation;
Having conquered all afflictions they will become stabilized in concentration.
Having concentrated on right meditation, they will become skilled in concentration;
Thence having reached the Difficult to Conquer, they will become lords of the heaven of the satisfied,
There protecting beings by stopping wrong paths,
Having established right teaching and fostered enlightenment by effort.
Abiding in their own practice of meditation, they can urge others to do so too;
Having established all in enlightenment, they will have perfected meditation.
By the results of this virtue they will come to the practice of wisdom;
Having conquered all demons, they will possess wisdom, higher knowledge, and spiritual power.
Having accomplished true wisdom, they will become skilled in mystic knowledge;
Having thence attained Presence, they will become lords of the heaven of pleasant emanations,
There protecting beings by stopping conceit,
Having settled them in emptiness and fostered enlightenment diligently.
Abiding in their own practice of wisdom, they can induce others to do so too;
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected wisdom.
By the results of this virtue they will practice right means;
Having conquered all views, they will be skilled in right teaching.
By the exercise of right means they will lead beings into enlightenment;
Thence having reached Far-Going, they will become lords of the heaven of control,
There protecting beings by awakening realization,
Enlightening them after having set them in the way of enlightening beings.
Abiding in their own skill in means, they will also exhort others;
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected means.
By the powers of this virtue they will come to good vows;
Having conquered false views, they will be wise, having attained right insight.
Settled in true enlightenment by a rightly resolved mind,
Thence having attained Immovability, they will become Brahma lords of a thousand worlds,
There protecting beings by teaching the Three Vehicles,
Enlightening them by establishing them in comprehension of the world.
Abiding by their own vows, they can also induce others;
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected commitment.
By the power of this virtue, they will come to the practice of power,
Certain of perfect enlightenment, once all views are conquered.
By the combined exertions of right power, they will overcome all those in error;
Thence having attained Good Mind, they will become Great Brahmas, powerful.
There they will protect beings by teaching the Buddha Vehicle,
Enlightening them by establishing them in the knowledge of beings’ minds.
Steadfast in their own power, they can also induce others;
Having settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected power.
By the results of this virtue they will come to the practice of knowledge,
Enlightening beings, mines of virtue, having conquered the four demons.
Having attained right knowledge, they will be skilled in true teaching;
Having thence reached Cloud of Teaching, they will become great lords, adept.
There they will protect beings by enlightening them in all ways,
Enlightening them by establishing them in highest omniscience.
Stable in their own knowledge, they will also guide others;
When they have settled all in enlightenment, they will have perfected knowledge.
By the powers of this virtue, they will be victors, lords of the ten powers,
Imbued with all virtues, omniscient, in the course of nature.
Having contemplated this, the noble should practice with concentrated minds,
To attain the state of perfect enlightenment, having fulfilled the ten ways of transcendence.
Thus having attained enlightenment and liberation, and conquered the four demons,
Having settled all in enlightenment, you will attain perfect peace.
Having heard this and thoroughly known the means and accomplishment of enlightening beings,
You will attain unobstructed enlightenment, the state of the Felicitous.
“This has been a summary exposition of the ten stages of enlightening beings, to be seen in accord with omniscience complete in all aspects.”
At that point the billion-world universe quaked in six ways, all kinds of flowers rained steadily, celestial and human music played, and the intoxicating sound was heard to the very summit of existence.
Then the Buddha said, addressing Moon of Liberation and all the other enlightening beings, “Good people, this complete perfect enlightenment, developed over countless eons, I commend to you, entrusting it to you, with the ultimate charge that you will yourselves hold this teaching and also fully elucidate it for others. To put it succinctly, if the Buddha were to remain alive for an eon expounding the glories of this teaching day and night, neither would the glory of this teaching be ended nor would the eloquence of the Buddha be exhausted. Just as the Buddha’s conduct, concentration, wisdom, liberation, knowledge, and vision are measureless and endless, likewise is the case of those who will take up this teaching, preserve it, recite it, write it down, cause it to be written down, master it, put it into action, and fully expound it in the community, who will tell it to people faithfully and respectfully with consideration of how these people might attain the lofty teaching, and get them to reflect on it reasonably, who will write it down in a book and have it kept, respected, taken seriously, and honored in the home, who will tell the glories of this teaching without envy and speak it so it may be written, told, recited, honored, and revealed: their virtue also has no end.”
Then the Buddha, to again make the bequest of this teaching, spoke these verses:
If the beings I see by my enlightened vision
Were saints equal to Shariputra,
And one should honor them for millions of ages,
As many as the sands of the Ganges River;
And if someone honored an individual illuminate
Day and night, cheerful,
With the finest garlands and such,
And thereby create
d excellent virtue;
And if all were individual illuminates,
If one honored them diligently
With flowers and incense, food and drink,
For many eons,
Still if one made even one bow to one buddha
And with a pure mind declared obeisance,
The virtue would be greater than all that.
If all beings were to become buddhas,
And someone would honor them as mentioned before,
With celestial and human flowers of many kinds for many eons,
One who, at the time of the extinction of the true teaching,
Having relinquished body and life, would give this scripture, day and night,
Would be superior in virtue.
Whoever wants to honor the buddhas,
Or individual illuminates or Buddhist disciples,
Should rouse firm determination for enlightenment
And always give this lofty scripture.
For this is the king of all good messages;
It has emerged from all the buddhas.
The Buddha is in the house
Where this scripture-jewel is placed.
Who passes on even one line from this scripture
Will attain pure and endless light;
One who gives this scripture to others
Will not be deprived of a syllable, of a meaning.
Supreme is that one among guides of humanity;
No being can be found like this one;
Having heard and accomplished this teaching,
One will be inexhaustible as the ocean.
When the Buddha said this, Moon of Liberation and all the enlightening beings, the celestials, the disciples and other people, and the whole assembly were all transported with joy at the Buddha approving what Diamond Matrix said.
BOOK TWENTY-SEVEN
The Ten Concentrations
AT THAT TIME the World Honored One was at the site of enlightenment in a forest in the country of Magadha, having just attained perfect enlightenment; in the hall of universal light he entered the buddhas’ concentration on the absolute instant, and by the inherent spiritual power of universal knowledge manifested the body of a realized buddha, pure and untrammeled, not relying on anything, with no clinging to objects, abiding in the ultimate tranquillity of cessation, endowed with great power, without any attachments, able to cause all beholders to gain awakening, appearing as appropriate, in accord with the time, always abiding in one form, which is no form.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 105