“Buddhas have ten kinds of great buddha-work, immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable, unknowable to all celestial and human worldlings, unknowable even to the past, future, and present Buddhist disciples and self-enlightened ones, except by the spiritual power of the buddhas. What are they? All buddhas appear to be born in the heavens of contentment in all worlds throughout the cosmos, carry out enlightening practices, and perform great buddha-works in the spheres of operation of infinite forms, infinite powers, infinite lights, infinite sounds, infinite verbal expressions, infinite concentrations, and infinite knowledge, taking in all humans, celestials, demons, monks, priests, titans, and so on, their great kindness uninhibited, their great compassion ultimate, impartially aiding and benefiting all living beings, enabling them to be born in heaven or in the human realm, or purifying their senses, or tuning their minds, sometimes explaining three different vehicles of salvation for them, sometimes explaining the complete, full unitary vehicle for them, saving and liberating all, enabling them to get out of birth and death—this is the first great buddha-work.
“All buddhas descend spiritually from the heaven of contentment into the mother’s womb; by means of ultimate concentration they observe the phenomenon of taking on life as like an illusion, like a phantom, like a reflection, like space, like a mirage, and they take on life however they wish, without bound, without hindrance. Entering the state of noncontention, they develop knowledge without attachment; free from desire, clear and pure, they develop a vast treasury of wondrous adornments, take on their final embodiment, live in a great jewel-adorned mansion and perform buddha-work. They may do buddha-work by spiritual powers, or by right recollection, or by showing miracles, or by manifesting the sun of knowledge, or by revealing the enormous spheres of buddhahood, or by showing the immeasurable lights of the buddhas, or by entering countless great concentrations, or by manifesting emergence from concentration. The buddhas, at that time, in the mother’s womb, wishing to benefit all worldlings, show all kinds of appearances to do buddha-work. They may appear to be born, or appear as children, or appear as princes, or appear as leaving home, or they may show the appearance of atttaining true enlightenment, or show the appearance of turning the wheel of the Teaching, or show the appearance of entering final extinction. In this way all of them, by various means, perform buddha-work in all regions, all networks, all circles, all systems, in all worlds. This is the second great buddha-work.
“All good works of all buddhas are already pure, and their knowledge of all life is clear and immaculate: so by birth they lead and guide the deluded, causing them to open up in understanding and practice all that is good. For the sake of sentient beings they appear to be born in a royal palace. All buddhas have already abandoned all materialistic desires for palaces and pleasure; they have no craving or obsession, and always reflect upon the emptiness and essencelessness of all existents, that all comforts and delights are not truly real. Keeping the pure precepts of buddhas, ultimately fulfilling them, observing the palace ladies and attendants, they develop great compassion; observing that all sentient beings are unreal, they develop great kindness; observing that there is nothing enjoyable in the world, they develop great joy; their minds gaining freedom in the midst of all things, they develop great relinquishment. Imbued with the qualities of buddhahood, they manifest birth in the phenomenal realm, their physical features perfect, their associates pure, yet they have no attachment to anything. With voices adapting to types, they explain the truth to the masses, causing them to become disillusioned with worldly things; they point out to them the results of what they are doing. Also they use expedient means to teach in accord with needs, causing the immature to develop maturity, causing the mature to attain liberation, doing buddha-work for them to cause them not to regress. Also, by virtue of a heart of universal love and compassion they continually explain all kinds of principles to sentient beings and also manifest the powers of diagnosis, prescription, and occult influence for them, to enable them to awaken and attain purity of mind. Though the buddhas be in the inner palace, seen by all the people, yet they are performing buddha-work in all worlds. By means of great knowledge and great energy they manifest the various spiritual powers of buddhas, unhindered, inexhaustible. They always continue three kinds of skillfull, expedient action—that is, their physical activity is ultimately pure, their verbal activity is always carried out in accord with knowledge, and their mental activity is exceedingly profound and has no blockage or inhibition; by these means they benefit living beings. This is the third great buddha-work.
“All buddhas show analytic examination and disenchantment while living in a palace of all kinds of adornments, thereupon giving it up and leaving home, wishing to let sentient beings realize that things of the world are all illusions, impermanent, and perishable, and become deeply disillusioned, avoid creating attachments, forever cut off the affliction of worldly craving, cultivate purifying practices, and benefit living beings. When the buddhas leave home, they give up conventional manners, abide in noncontention, and fulfill the immeasurable virtues of their fundamental vow. By the light of great knowledge they destroy the darkness of delusion of the world and become unexcelled fields of blessings for all beings. They always extol the virtues of buddhas for the benefit of sentient beings, causing them to plant roots of goodness with the buddhas. They see truth with the eye of wisdom. They also extol renunciation for the benefit of sentient beings, its purity and blamelessness. They are eternally emancipated and are forever lofty paragons of wisdom for the world. This is the fourth great buddha-work.
“All buddhas have omniscience and already know and see infinite realities. Attaining perfect true enlightenment under the tree of enlightenment, vanquishing all demons, their majesty supreme, their bodies fill all worlds. Their deeds of spiritual power are boundless and inexhaustible. They attain mastery of all meanings in the sphere of omniscience. They have cultivated virtues to consummation. Their seats of enlightenment are fully adorned and pervade all worlds in the ten directions; the buddhas sit on them and turn the wheel of the sublime Teaching, explaining all the undertakings of enlightening beings, revealing the infinite realms of the buddhas, causing the enlightening beings to awaken to and enter into them. They carry out all kinds of pure practices and are able to direct and guide all living beings, cause them to plant roots of goodness, be born in the ground of equality of the enlightened, continue in the boundless good practices of enlightening beings, and develop all the most excellent qualities. The buddhas know perfectly all worlds, all beings, all buddha-lands, all phenomena, all enlightening beings, all teachings, all pasts, presents, and futures, all disciplines, all mystic transformations, and the inclinations of all sentient beings’ minds, and based on this knowledge perform buddha-work. This is the fifth great buddha-work.
“All buddhas turn the irreversible wheel of the Teaching, to cause the enlightening beings not to backslide; they turn the immeasurable wheel of the Teaching, to cause all worldlings to know; they turn the wheel of Teaching, awakening all, because they can fearlessly roar the lion’s roar; they turn the wheel of Teaching, which is a treasury of knowledge of all truths, to open the door of the treasury of truth and remove the obstacle of obscurity; they turn the unobstructed wheel of the Teaching, being equal to space; they turn the wheel of Teaching of nonattachment, because they see that all things are neither existent nor nonexistent; they turn the world-illuminating wheel of Teaching, to cause all sentient beings to purify their vision of reality; they turn the wheel of Teaching revealing all knowledge, pervading all things in all times; they turn the wheel of Teaching, which is the same one of all buddhas, because all Buddha teachings are not mutually opposed or contradictory. All buddhas, by means of measureless, countless hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of such wheels of Teaching, perform buddha-work inconceivably according to the differences in mental patterns of sentient beings. This is the sixth great buddha-work.
“All buddhas enter into all capital citi
es and perform buddha-work for the beings. That is, they enter human capitals, celestial capitals, capitals of water spirits, monsters, cherubim, titans, birds, hobgoblins, serpents, goblins, demons, and so on. When they enter the gates of the city, the earth trembles, light shines everywhere, the blind gain vision, the deaf are able to hear, the insane regain their sanity, the naked are clothed, the troubled and suffering all gain peace and happiness; all musical instruments spontaneously play, all adornments, used or not, emit marvelous sounds that delight all hearers. The buddhas’ physical forms are pure and clean, fully endowed with the marks and refinements of greatness, so that none ever tire of seeing them. They are able to do buddha-work for the benefit of sentient beings—whether looking, examining, moving, stretching, walking or standing still, sitting or reclining, silent or speaking, whether manifesting occult powers, or explaining principles, or giving instructions—in all these they are performing buddha-work for the benefit of sentient beings. All buddhas, in all the countless worlds, in the midst of the oceans of mental inclinations of all kinds of sentient beings, urge them to remembrance the buddhas, always diligently considering and planting roots of goodness, cultivating the practices of enlightening beings, lauding the subtlety and supremacy of the buddhas’ appearance, which is hard for any living being to get to meet; if beings see buddhas and are inspired with faith, then they produce all the immeasurable good qualities and amass the virtues of buddhas, all pure. Thus, having extolled the virtues of buddhas, they multiply their bodies to go to all worlds in the ten directions to let the sentient beings behold them, meditate on them and contemplate them, attend and serve them, plant roots of goodness, gain the good graces of the buddhas, and increase the family of buddhas, all being certain to attain buddhahood. By these actions they perform buddha-work, sometimes manifesting physical bodies for sentient beings, sometimes making sublime utterances, sometimes just smiling, causing them to believe, honor, praise, and behave courteously. All buddhas, by means of innumerable, untold, inconceivable such buddha-works of all kinds, in all worlds, according to the inclinations of sentient beings’ minds, teach them expediently, by the power of their original vows, the power of great love and compassion, and the power of omniscience, causing them all to be civilized. This is the seventh great buddha-work.
“All buddhas may do buddha-work while dwelling in forest retreats, or in quiet places, or in desolate places, or in buddhas’ dwelling places; or they may do buddha-work while in trance, or while alone in a grove, or while concealing themselves from view, or while abiding in knowledge of the ultimate profundity, or while dwelling in the incomparable realm of the buddhas; or they may do buddha-work while carrying on various imperceptible physical actions, adapting to sentient beings’ mentalities, predilections, and understandings to teach them as is expedient, without cease. Or they may do buddha-work seeking omniscience in the form of celestial beings, or they may do buddha-work seeking omniscience in the form of water spirits, goblins, cherubim, titans, birds, serpents, humans, subhumans, and so on. They may also do buddha-work by seeking omniscience in the form of listeners, solitary illuminates, or enlightening beings. Sometimes they preach, sometimes they are silent in doing buddha-work. Sometimes they do buddha-work saying there is one Buddha, sometimes saying there are many buddhas. Sometimes they do buddha-work saying all practices and all vows of enlightening beings are one practice and vow; sometimes they do buddha-work saying one practice and one vow of enlightening beings are infinite practices and vows. Sometimes they do buddha-work saying the realm of buddhahood is the world, sometimes they do buddha-work saying the world is the realm of buddhahood. Sometimes they do buddha-work saying the realm of buddhahood is not the world. Sometimes they remain for a day, or a night, or a fortnight, or a month, or a year, up to untold eons, to do buddha-work for the benefit of sentient beings. This is the eighth great buddha-work.
“All buddhas are mines that produce pure roots of goodness, causing sentient beings to engender pure faith and resolution in the buddha-teachings, so their faculties are tamed and they forever detach from the world. They cause enlightening beings to be full of knowledge, wisdom, and clarity in regard to the way of enlightenment and not depend on another for understanding. Sometimes they do buddha-work manifesting nirvana, sometimes they do buddha-work showing the evanescence of all in the world, sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the buddha-bodies, sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the accomplishment of all that is to be done, sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the flawless fulfillment of virtuous qualities, sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the extirpation of the root of all existences. Sometimes they do buddha-work causing sentient beings to turn away from the world to follow the buddha-mind; sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the inevitable ending of life; sometimes they do buddha-work explaining that there is nothing enjoyable in the world. Sometimes they do buddha-work preaching the eternal service of buddhas; sometimes they do buddha-work explaining the buddhas’ turning of the wheel of pure Teaching, causing the hearers to become very joyful. Sometimes they do buddha-work expounding the sphere of buddhahood, inspiring people to cultivate spiritual practices. Sometimes they do buddha-work expounding concentration on remembrance of Buddha, inspiring people to always delight in visions of Buddha. Sometimes they do buddha-work expounding the purification of the senses, diligent search for the Buddha Way with unflagging spirit. Sometimes they do buddha-work visiting all buddha-lands and observing the various causes and conditions of their environments. Sometimes they do buddha-work uniting all bodies of living beings into a buddha-body, causing all lazy and self-indulgent sentient beings to abide by the pure precepts of the enlightened. This is the ninth great buddha-work.
“When buddhas enter extinction, countless sentient beings mourn and weep; looking at each other in great grief and distress, they say, ‘The buddha had great sympathy and compassion, mercifully aiding all worldly beings, a savior and a refuge for all living creatures. The emergence of a buddha is difficult to encounter, an unexcelled field of blessings, and now the buddha has passed away forever.’ Thus they use this to cause sentient beings to mourn and miss the buddha, thereby doing buddha-work. Also, in order to transform and liberate all celestials, humans, spirits, goblins, titans, cherubim, and so on, according to their desires, they pulverize their own bodies to make countless relics, to cause sentient beings to develop faith, honor, respect, and joyfully reverence them, and cultivate virtues to complete fulfillment. They also build monuments, variously adorned, in the abodes of all kinds of creatures, for religious services; their teeth, nails, and hair are all used to make monuments, to cause those who see them to remember the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community, to believe with unswerving faith, sincerely respect and honor them, and make offerings to them wherever they are, and cultivate virtues, so that by this merit they may be born in heaven or among humans, of noble and prosperous families with ample property and pure retinues, not enter into evil ways, always get to see buddhas, fulfill pure ways, quickly attain emancipation from the three realms of existence, each attain the fruit of their own vehicle according to their aspiration, recognize and requite their debt to buddhas, and forever be a reliance for the world. Though the buddhas be extinct, they are still inconceivable pure fields of blessings for living beings, with inexhaustible virtues, supreme fields of blessings, causing sentient beings’ roots of goodness to be complete and their virtue to be fully developed. This is the tenth great buddha-work.
“These buddha-works are immeasurably great, inconceivable: no beings of the world, celestials or humans, and none of the listeners or individual illuminates of past, future, or present can know them, unless they are empowered by Buddha.
“Buddhas have ten kinds of mastery of nondual action. What are they? All buddhas can speak words of prediction of enlightenment, definitively, without duality. All buddhas can satisfy sentient beings according to their wishes, definitely, without duality. All buddhas can manifestly be awake to all truths and expoun
d their meanings, definitively, without duality. All buddhas have all the wisdom and knowledge of the buddhas of past, future, and present, definitive, without duality. All buddhas know that all instants, past, future, and present, are one instant, definitely, without duality. All buddhas know that all past, future, and present buddha-lands inhere in one buddha-land, definitely, without duality. All buddhas know the words of all buddhas of all times are the words of one buddha, definitely, without duality. All buddhas know that all buddhas of all times and all the beings they teach are essentially equal, definitely, without duality. All buddhas know that worldly phenomena and Buddhist principles are essentially not different, definitely, without duality. All buddhas know that the roots of goodness of all buddhas of all times are the same one root of goodness, definitely, without duality. These are the ten.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 121