The Flower Ornament Scripture
Page 116
“When great enlightening beings comprehend all things by the knowledge that recognizes and accepts their spacelike nature, they acquire spacelike bodies, spacelike physical action, spacelike speech, spacelike minds, and spacelike mental action. Just as space, the harbor of all things, is not born and does not perish, so also are all the bodies of realities of great enlightening beings unborn and imperishable. Just as space is indestructible, similarly are the powers of knowledge of great enlightening beings indestructible; just as all worlds rest in space while space rests on nothing, similarly all true teachings rest on great enlightening beings while they rest on nothing. Just as space, without any origin or destruction, can hold the origin and destruction of all worlds, similarly great enlightening beings, without aim or attainment, can show aim and attainment, causing all worldlings to cultivate purity. Just as space, without direction or angles, can manifest innumerable directions and angles, similarly great enlightening beings, without actions or consequences, are able to show all kinds of actions and consequences. Just as space is not walking or standing yet can reveal all kinds of postures and movements, similarly great enlightening beings are not walking or standing yet can differentiate all movements. Just as space is not form and not not form, yet can reveal all kinds of forms, similarly great enlightening beings are not mundane corporeality or transmundane corporeality, yet can manifest all forms. Just as space is not old or new, yet can perdure, revealing all things, similarly great enlightening beings are not ancient or recent, but can perdure, revealing the practices carried out by enlightening beings. Just as space is not clean or dirty, yet is not apart from cleanness and pollution, similarly great enlightening beings are not obstructed or unobstructed, yet are not apart from obstruction and nonobstruction. Just as all worlds appear to space while space does not appear to all worlds, similarly all things appear to great enlightening beings while great enlightening beings do not appear to all things. Just as space penetrates everywhere, without boundaries, similarly great enlightening beings penetrate all things, yet their minds have no boundaries.
“Why is this? Because enlightening beings’ doings are like space. That is to say, all their practices, all their purifications, and all their accomplishments are all impartial, of one substance, one flavor, one essence, of the same measure as space, pure and all-pervasive. Thus do they witness and know all things without fabricated notions of things, purify all buddha-lands, perfect all supporting bodies, comprehend all realms without confusion, embody all powers, which are indestructible, fulfill all virtues, which are boundless, arrive at the realm of all profound truths, master the paths of all ways of transcendence, sit on all adamantine seats of enlightenment everywhere, utter all voices adapting to all species, and operate the cycles of the Teaching for all worlds according to proper timing. This is called great enlightening beings’ acceptance of being spacelike.
“When great enlightening beings attain these acceptances, they acquire a body that does not come from anywhere because it does not go anywhere; they acquire a birthless body, having no extinction; they acquire a motionless body, having no disintegration; they acquire an insubstantial body, being beyond falsehood; they acquire a uniform body, being formless; they acquire an infinite body, the power of buddhahood being infinite; they acquire an impartial body, being the same characteristic of Thusness; they acquire an undifferentiated body, seeing past, present, and future as equal; they acquire a body that reaches everywhere, their pure eye perceiving equally, without obstruction; they acquire a body free from the realm of desire, knowing that all phenomena neither form nor dissolve; they acquire a body as boundless as space, their store of virtue being as inexhaustible as space; they acquire a body of endless knowledge of the equality of the nature of things, knowing the forms of all things are one form and their nature is natureless, like space; they acquire a body of infinite, unobstructed sound, being unopposed and unobstructed like space; they acquire a body of pure action of enlightening beings endowed with all skills, being unhindered in all places, like space; they acquire a body of continuity of succession of the oceans of all Buddha teachings, because like space they cannot be brought to an end; they acquire a body manifesting infinite buddha-lands within all buddha-lands, being free from greed and attachment, unbounded as space; they acquire a body ceaselessly manifesting all aspects of miraculous power, being boundless as the sky and ocean; they acquire a body of indestructible durable strength, sustaining all worlds like space; they acquire a body with all senses clear and sharp, indestructible as adamant, because like space they cannot be burned by the fires that end an eon; they acquire a body of power to hold all worlds, their power of knowledge being like space.
“These are called the ten acceptances of enlightening beings.”
Then the great enlightening being Universally Good, in order to restate this teaching, spoke these verses:
Just as people of the world
Hearing of a mine of jewels
Become glad at heart
Because they can obtain them,
So enlightening beings,
Endowed with great wisdom,
Hearing the buddhas’ teaching,
The most profound character of nullity,
Become calm at heart
When they hear this teaching.
They are not startled or frightened,
Nor are they overawed;
Great beings seeking enlightenment,
Hearing this grandiose message,
Minds pure, able to accept,
Have no doubt about it.
Thinking to themselves that by hearing this
Exceedingly profound and subtle teaching
They will become omniscient
Guides of heaven and earth,
Enlightening beings, hearing this message,
Are very glad at heart.
Producing steadfast determination,
Vowing to seek the buddhas’ truths,
Because they incline to enlightenment
Their minds are gradually tamed.
It causes their faith to grow,
Not repudiating truth—
Therefore, hearing this message,
Their minds are able to accept it.
Immutable, stable,
They cultivate enlightening practice;
In their quest for enlightenment,
They proceed wholeheartedly toward that path.
Diligent, vigorous, never turning back,
They do not cast off the yoke of virtues.
Because they seek enlightenment,
Their minds are without fear;
Hearing the truth, they become yet braver
And serve the buddhas, gaining rapport with them.
As someone of great fortune
Who has found a treasure of gold
Makes whatever ornaments
Are suitable to wear,
So do enlightening beings,
Hearing this most profound doctrine,
Think and increase the ocean of knowledge,
Thereby cultivating conformity to the teaching.
The existence of things they know accordingly,
The nonexistence of things they also know accordingly;
As the truth of the teaching is thus,
Thus do they know all things.
Achieving a pure mind,
Thoroughly clear, full of joy,
They know things arise from conditions
And vigorously cultivate practice;
They see all things impartially
And comprehend their inherent nature.
Not straying from the Buddha’s teaching,
They are aware of all things;
Their determination is always firm
As they purify enlightenment.
Immovable as mountains,
Single-mindedly seeking true awakening,
With a mind inspired to effort
They also cultivate the path of concentration,
Practicing diligently fo
r countless eons,
With never any regression or digression.
The principles enlightening beings enter
Are the sphere of action of buddhas;
Able to know them thoroughly,
Their minds without aversion or sloth,
As the Peerless One teaches,
They look upon things impartially.
Without impartial acceptance
None can attain equanimous knowledge;
Following the Buddha’s teaching,
They accomplish this facet of acceptance;
They know things as they are
Yet have no notion of things.
All the gods
Of the thirty-three heavens
Eat from the same vessel
Yet their food is not the same:
The various foods they eat
Do not come from the ten directions—
They spontaneously appear in the vessel
According to the actions of the gods.
In the same way do enlightening beings
Observe all phenomena
As arising from conditions—
Having no origin, they have no destruction;
Having no destruction, they have no extinction;
If there is no extinction, there is no defilement.
In the changing things of the world
They know there is no change;
There being no change, there is no location,
And no location means nullity.
Their minds without attachment,
They vow to liberate all the living,
Thinking only of the Buddha Way,
Never distracted or perturbed,
Ever with compassionate will
Acting expediently in the world.
Diligently seeking the ten powers,
They are in the world without lingering;
Without coming or going,
They expediently teach the truth.
These acceptances are supreme,
Comprehending truth without end,
Entering the cosmos of reality,
Yet actually without entering anywhere.
Enlightening beings abiding in these acceptances
See the buddhas everywhere
Simultaneously giving them directions—
This is called getting the joy of buddhahood.
They comprehend the nullity and purity
Of all things of all times,
Yet can influence sentient beings
Into the path of virtue.
The various things of the world
Are all illusory;
If one can know this is so,
One’s mind will be unshakable.
All acts are born from mind,
Therefore it is said mind is like magic:
If one gets rid of this false imagination,
One extinguishes all paths of existence.
Just as a skillful magician
Causes forms to appear,
Causing the masses to crave them in vain,
While they ultimately get nothing,
So also is the world—
All in it is illusion,
Without essence or origin,
Yet appearing variously.
Liberating living beings,
Letting them know things are illusory,
Living beings, too, are not other than illusion—
On comprehending illusion, there are no “living beings.”
Living beings and lands,
All things there are in all times,
In the same way, without exception,
Are all illusory.
Making illusory forms of men and women,
Elephants, horses, cattle, and sheep,
Houses, ponds, springs, and such,
Gardens, groves, flowers, and fruits,
Illusory things have no awareness
And also have no abode;
Ultimately of the character of nullity,
They only appear according to imagination.
Enlightening beings are able to see
Things of the world this way—
All things, existent and nonexistent,
They realize are illusions;
Living beings and lands
Are made by various acts.
Entering the realm of illusion,
They have no attachment therein;
Thus attaining skillfulness,
They are tranquil, free from folly.
In the state of nonobstruction
Manifesting great power everywhere,
The courageous offspring of Buddha
Accordingly enter the sublime Teaching,
Accurately perceiving all conceptions
As wrapping up the world in their mesh,
The conceptions like mirages
Causing beings to misunderstand.
Enlightening beings, knowing conceptions well,
Get rid of all delusions.
Living beings, each different,
Are not the same in form and type;
Enlightening beings understand these are all conceptions,
All without true reality.
All beings in the ten directions
Are shrouded by conceptions;
If they would give up erroneous views,
They would end their conceptions of the world.
The world is like a mirage,
Differentiated because of conceptions;
Knowing the world is an ideation,
One is freed from delusion of thought, view, and mind.
Just as a mirage in the heat
People think is water,
Yet the water does not exist
And the wise should not seek it,
The same is true of sentient beings:
Worldly states are all nonexistent,
Like mirages, existing in the perception—
This is the realm of the unobstructed mind.
If one detaches from conceptions
One will get rid of false descriptions,
Liberating all the ignorant
Who are attached to ideas.
Avoiding pride and conceit,
Eliminating conceptions of the world,
Dwelling on the point of extinction and infinity,
This is enlightening beings’ method.
Enlightening beings realize things of the world
Are all like dreams,
Neither having nor lacking location,
Eternally null in essence.
All things have no discrimination;
Like dreams, they are not different from mind—
The worlds of past, present, and future
Are all like this.
The substance of dreams has no birth or destruction
And also has no location.
The three worlds are all like this—
Those who see this are freed in mind.
Dreams are not in the world,
Nor are they unworldly:
Not discriminating these two,
One enters the stage of acceptance.
Just like seeing in dreams
Various different forms,
So also is the world
No different from a dream.
Those in dream-concentration
Realize all in the world is like a dream,
Not the same and not different,
Not one and not various.
The acts of beings and lands,
Polluted and pure,
They understand all
Are equal to dreams.
The practices of enlightening beings
As well as their great vows
They understand are all like dreams,
No different from the world.
Realizing the world is empty,
They do not destroy the things of the world,
Like long, short, and such forms,
As seen in a dream.
This is called acceptance of the dreamlik
e;
Understanding things of the world by this,
One swiftly attains unhindered wisdom
To liberate sentient beings.
Cultivating such practice
Produces broad understanding,
Knowing well the nature of things,
Without mental attachment to things.
All the various sounds and voices
Of all realms of the world
Are not internal or external:
Realizing all are like echoes,
Like hearing all kinds of echoes,
The mind doesn’t discriminate.
When enlightening beings hear sounds
Their minds are also like this;
Looking to the buddhas
And listening to the sound of their teachings,
Their discourses without number,
Though they hear, they are not attached.
As echoes come from nowhere,
So do the voices they hear;
Yet they can distinguish the principles
And not violate or mistake them.
They understand utterances
While not discriminating among voices;
Knowing all voices are empty and null,
They broadcast pure, clear sounds.
Understanding truth is not in words,
They enter the wordless realm,
Yet can explain in words,
Like echoes filling the world.
They know the ways of speech
And are vocally well equipped;
While knowing the nature of sound is null,
They speak the language of the world.
According to the voice of the world
They show the same differentiations,
Their voice pervading everywhere
Awakening living beings.
Enlightening beings, attaining this acceptance,
Influence the world with a pure message,
Skillfully explaining past, present, and future,
Without attachment to the world.
Because they want to help the world,
They single-mindedly seek enlightenment,
While always entering the nature of things