At that time Manjushri, in the form of a youth, was in his tower together with enlightening beings of equivalent practice, perpetually attendant thunderbolt bearers, physical deities who had undertaken the making of power for all worlds and were willingly committed to attendance on all buddhas, footstep-following deities committed to past vows, earth deities intent on hearing the Teaching, greatly compassionate deities of springs, lakes pools, reservoirs, and rivers, deities of fire shining with the radiance of the power of the light of wisdom, crowned deities of wind, area deities with knowledge illumining all regions, night deities involved in dispelling the darkness of ignorance, day deities involved in bringing forth the day of those who arrive at Thusness, sky deities engaged in the adornment of the space of all elements of reality, ocean deities involved in rescuing all beings from the ocean of existence, mountain deities involved in gathering the store of all knowledge with a mind based on transcendentally lofty virtue, river deities engaged in adorning the bodies of all beings with the vow to cause all the qualities of buddhas to appear, city deities engaged in protecting the city of the mind of all beings, and with dragon chiefs devoted to the city of all truths, spirit chiefs able to protect all beings, celestial musician chiefs engaged in increasing the bliss of all beings, demon chiefs engaged in repulsing all ghostlike tendencies, bird chiefs committed to taking all beings up out of the ocean of existence, titans resolved to perfect the power of the body of those who arrive at Thusness, which is beyond all worlds, serpent chiefs with bowed bodies who had attained the joy of the vision of Buddha, celestial chiefs appalled by the whirl of birth and death who looked to what is higher, and most respectful Brahma chiefs in attitudes of reverence; with a parade of such enlightening beings, the enlightening being Manjushri came forth from his place, circled the Buddha hundreds of times to his right, made many offerings to Buddha, then left the presence of the Buddha and went south on a journey in the human realm.
Then the venerable Shariputra, by the power of Buddha, seeing the young Manjushri with this transfigured array of enlightening beings having left the Jeta grove and going south, conceived the desire to go on the journey to the human world with Manjushri. With a group of sixty monks he went forth from where he was and approached the Buddha. Going up to the Buddha, he bowed his head to the Buddha’s feet, then gazed at the Buddha; given permission by the Buddha, he circled the Buddha three times to his right, and went to Manjushri, accompanied by those sixty monks, who were staying with him and who were novices, having but recently left home. Among those sixty monks were Sagarabuddhi, Mahasudatta, Punyaprabha, Mahavatsa, Vibhudatta, Vishuddhacarin, Devashri, Indramati, Brahmottama, Prashantamati, and others. All those monks had served past buddhas, had planted roots of goodness, had far-reaching zeal, had thoroughly purified faith and reason, were great in understanding and action, were capable of viewing the realm of Buddha and comprehended the inherent nature of things, were intent on the welfare and development of others, and sought the qualities of those who arrive at Thusness. They were guided by the teaching of Manjushri.
At that point the venerable Shariputra, on the way, looked at all the monks and said to Sagarabuddhi, “See the inconceivable purity of form of Manjushri, along with the celestial and earthly beings, his variety of marks and embellishments, the purity of his sphere of radiance, his web of light beams developing countless beings, extinguishing all miseries, his wealth of followers, embraced by past virtues, arraying the path, which is eight steps wide. See the magnificent arrays of the procession on the path, facing the realms in all directions as they go, with overflowing great treasuries, auspicious and fair arrays, on the left and right; magnificent arrays of adornments emerge from within all the trees growing out of the roots of goodness of attendance on past buddhas; all the world chiefs are showering clouds of offerings in respect; from the curl of hair between the eyebrows of all buddhas from the ten directions, spheres of networks of light beams emanate, uttering all teachings of buddhas, and enter Manjushri’s head.”
Beginning with these, Shariputra revealed and described to the monks measureless arrays of qualities of the procession of Manjushri, and as Shariputra spoke of the qualities of Manjushri, the minds of the monks were purified, calmed, and delighted; they were thrilled, their mental states became suitable for religious practice, their senses became clear and tranquil, their gladness increased and their depression vanished, all obstructions disappeared, they came face to face with the vision of Buddha, they dedicated their minds to the buddha-teachings, their enlightening faculties were clarified, the power of faith of enlightening beings rose in them, great compassion developed in them, they entered the sphere of the transcendences, they conceived great vows and came to perceive the oceans of buddhas in the ten directions: with this supreme power of faith in omniscience, they said to Shariputra, “Teacher, lead us to the presence of that wise person.” Then Shariputra went together with the monks to Manjushri and said, “O Manjushri, these monks want to see you.” Then Manjushri, who was together with a great host of transfigured enlightening beings, turned with the gaze of an elephant and looked at the monks. The monks then bowed their heads to the feet of Manjushri, saluted him, and said, “By this root of goodness, witnessed by the blessed Shakyamuni Buddha—by the root of goodness may we become like you, may we attain bodies, voices, embellishments, and spiritual transfigurations like you.”
To this Manjushri replied, “A man or woman setting out on the Great Vehicle imbued with ten indefatigable determinations will enter the stage of realization of Thusness, to say nothing of the stage of enlightening beings. What are the ten? The indefatigable resolution to see, attend, and serve all buddhas; to build up all roots of goodness without retreating; to seek all truths; to practice all the transcendent ways of enlightening beings; to fully accomplish all concentrations of enlightening beings; to enter successively into all ages; to thoroughly purify all oceans of buddha-lands in the ten directions; to lead all realms of sentient beings to perfect development; to carry out the practices of enlightening beings in all lands and ages; to fully attain each power of buddhas by maturing all beings through the process of practicing as many transcendent ways as atoms in all buddha-lands to mature each being. Men or women with faith who are imbued with these ten indefatigable determinations grow in all roots of goodness, leave all compulsive, routine mundane tendencies, drop out of all social castes, go beyond all stages of individual emancipation, are born in the family of all buddhas, fulfill the vows of enlightening beings, become pure with the attainment of all qualities of the enlightened, become clarified in all the practices of enlightening beings, develop all the powers of buddhas, overcome all demons and challengers, progress through all the stages of enlightening beings, and reach buddhahood.”
Then the monks, having heard this teaching, attained a concentration called sphere of the unobstructed eye of vision of all buddhas, by the experience of which they saw the circles of assemblies of the buddhas in all worlds throughout the ten directions. They also saw all the beings in those worlds, and they also saw the various differentiations in those worlds. They also knew how many atoms were in these worlds. They also saw all the dwellings and furniture of those beings, made of various precious substances. They also heard the oceans of the qualities of the voice and the buddhas in those worlds, and understood the various statements, allusions, expressions, mystic formulae, terminology, and concepts of their teachings. They also discerned the minds, faculties, and dispositions of the beings in those worlds, and called to mind the events of ten lives past and future. They also comprehended the utterance of ten cycles of teaching of those buddhas. They also comprehended ten states produced by mystical powers, ten productions of guiding principles, and ten productions of instructive statements. They also comprehended ten accomplishments of analytic knowledge of those buddhas.
When they attained this concentration, they developed ten thousand qualities of the determination of enlightenment, entered ten thousand concentrations and purifie
d ten thousand aspects of transcendence; having attained great illumination, being illumined by the sphere of great wisdom, they attained ten mystic knowledges of enlightening beings.
Manjushri exhorted and led them, now with soft and delicate sprouts of mystic knowledge and firm determination for enlightenment, into the practice of the universally good enlightening being. Based on the practice of the universally good enlightening being, they entered into the oceans of great vows and began to carry them out. By undertaking the oceans of great vows, and by purification of mind, they attained purity of body; by physical purity they gained physical lightness, by which physical purity and lightness they opened wide the doors to mystic knowledge and attained undiminishing mystic knowledge. By this attainment of mystic knowledge they appeared in multitudes of bodies to all the buddhas in the ten directions for the sake of accomplishing all Buddha teachings, yet without leaving the presence of Manjushri.
Then Manjushri, having set those monks on the foundation of unexcelled true enlightenment, continued his journey to the human realm and came to a great city in the south named Dhanyakara. There he stayed with his retinue in a forest called Array of Various Standards of Strength, to the east of the city, at a shrine where past buddhas had dwelt, established by buddhas for the sake of perfecting sentient beings, the repute of which resounded in infinite lands, a place where the Buddha, in the past, carrying out the practice of an enlightening being, relinquished many things that are difficult to relinquish, a place where gods, dragons, goblins, nymphs, titans, birds, centaurs, serpents, humans, and nonhumans always presented offerings to the earth. There Manjushri expounded a scripture called Illumination of the Principles of the Cosmos, whence flowed ten hundred thousand trillion scriptures. As he was expounding the scripture, many tens of hundreds of thousands of trillions of dragons came to him from the ocean; having heard this teaching, disdaining the condition of dragons and desiring the qualities of buddhahood, they left the state of dragons and gained birth as celestial or human beings. There ten thousand dragons became irreversible in their progress toward supreme perfect enlightenment. And during his exposition of the teaching, innumerable beings were edified through the Three Vehicles.
Now the people of the city heard that Manjushri had come and was staying at the shrine in the forest. Having heard this, pious men and women, boys and girls, each a company of five hundred, led by Mahaprajna, the foremost of the pious men, went from the city to where Manjushri was. Then the pious man Mahaprajna, with a company of five hundred pious men such as Sudatta, Vasudatta, Punyaprabha, Yashodeva, Somashri, Somanandi, Sumati, Mahamati, Rahulabhadra, and Bhadrashri, went to Manjushri, bowed their heads to his feet, circled him three times, and then sat to one side.
Then a pious woman named Mahaprajna, with a company of five hundred pious women including Suprabha, Sugatra, Subhadra, Bhadrashri, Candraprabhasa, Ketuprabha, Shribhadra, and Sulocana, went to Manjushri, bowed to him and circled him, and then sat to one side.
Then Sudhana, an outstanding boy, together with a company of five hundred outstanding boys including Suvrata, Sushila, Svacara, Suvikrami, Sucinti, Sumati, Subuddhi, Sunetra, Subahu, and Suprabha, went to Manjushri, bowed to him and circled him, and then sat to one side.
Then the girl Subhadra, daughter of the householder Mahaprajna, together with a group of five hundred girls including Bhadra, Abhiramavarta, Drdhamati, Brahmadatta, Shribhadra, Shriprabha, and Suprabha, went to Manjushri, bowed to him and circled him, and then sat to one side.
Then Manjushri, seeing that the women, men, boys and girls from the city had gathered and were seated, according to their dispositions overwhelmed them with his power over appearance, soothed them with his power of great benevolence, undertook to teach them with his power of great compassion, considered their mentalities with his power of knowledge, and, imbued with great analytic intelligence, wishing to expound the truth, he observed the outstanding boy Sudhana: “Why is Sudhana called Sudhana, which means ‘Good Wealth’? When Sudhana was conceived in his mother’s womb, there appeared in the house sprouts of seven precious substances, evenly distributed throughout the house. Beneath those precious sprouts were seven great treasuries, from which those sprouts emerged, splitting the surface of the earth as they grew, treasuries of gold, silver, sapphire, crystal, ruby, emerald, and coral. When his limbs were perfectly formed and he was born after ten months, those treasuries, which were seven spans high, wide, and long, rose to the surface of the earth, opened, glittered, and shone. Five hundred vessels made of precious substances also appeared in the house—vessels of clarified butter, sesame oil, honey, and fresh butter, each equipped with all the necessary utensils; there also appeared diamond vessels filled with all kinds of perfumes, fragrant vessels filled with various cloths, crystal vessels filled with various foods and drinks, pearl vessels filled with various jewels, gold vessels filled with silver powder, silver vessels filled with gold powder, gold and silver vessels filled with agates, crystal vessels filled with sapphires, sapphire vessels filled with crystal jewels, emerald vessels filled with rubies, ruby vessels filled with emeralds, star sapphire vessels filled with water-clarifying jewels, water-clarifying jewel vessels filled with star sapphires. Five hundred such precious vessels appeared in the storerooms of the house simultaneously with the birth of Sudhana, raining money, grain, gold, and various other valuables. Because of this great prosperity that appeared in the house by his mere birth, the fortune-tellers and priests and his parents and kin called him Sudhana, ‘Good Wealth.’”
Sudhana, furthermore, having served past buddhas and planted roots of goodness, imbued with great zeal and devotion, intent on following spiritual benefactors, impeccable in word, thought, and deed, engaged in clarification of the path of enlightening beings, heading for omniscience, having become a vessel of the Buddha teachings, his course of mind purified, had achieved an unhindered, unattached determination for enlightenment.
At that point Manjushri, having regarded Sudhana, greeted him in a friendly manner and expounded the Teaching to him, dealing with all elements of buddhahood, the cultivation and attainment of all elements of buddhahood, the infinity of all buddhas, the successive appearance of all buddhas in the world, the purification of the congregations surrounding all buddhas, the achievement of the reality-body of all buddhas, the magnificent arrays of wisdom and eloquence of all buddhas, the purification of the array of spheres of light of all buddhas, and the equality of all buddhas.
Then Manjushri, having edified, inspired, sharpened, and delighted Sudhana and the great crowd of people with his talk on the Teaching, having caused them to set their minds on perfect enlightenment and made them remember their past roots of goodness, stopped his teaching there, given as it was to the people in accord with their mentalities, and left.
Then Sudhana, having heard from Manjushri of such magnificence of the qualities of Buddha, with the quest for supreme perfect enlightenment uppermost in his mind, uttered these verses as he watched Manjushri going:
By your power, Great Sage, I am set on enlightenment for the good of all beings,
Resolved on this, with an endless vista; hear what is on my mind.
Moats filled with the water of delight, with high walls of conceit and pride,
Its doors the conditions of all beings—that is how the great city of existence is.
Shrouded in the great darkness of ignorance, burnt by the fire of lust and hate,
Ever under the sway of the lord of demons, the abode of the unenlightened.
Completely bound by the ropes and chains of craving, made desolate by the wastelands of deceit,
Blinded by doubt and confusion, standing on the ground of falsehood.
Bound up in envy and jealousy, becoming ghosts, animals, and fiends,
Oppressed by birth, sickness, age, and death, they wander lost in the wheel of transmigration.
May the pure orb of your compassion for them, a sun radiating the light of knowledge,
Risen to evaporate the
sea of afflictions, shine on me like the sun.
Orb full of the power of love, radiating moonbeams of virtue, grant happiness;
You give light like the full moon appearing in the abodes of all beings.
Endowed with all virtues and powers, your mind is in the sky of the reality realm;
Instruct me, O King, with the jewel of the wheel of the teaching.
Boldly advancing, resolute, on the vehicle of enlightenment, having developed great virtue and knowledge,
O Caravan Leader arising to benefit all beings, protect me.
Girt with the armor of forbearance, strength, and firmness, wielding the sword of knowledge in the hand of compassion,
Facing the band of demons in battle, lead me to safety, O Hero.
Dwelling on the peak of the polar mountain of truth, surrounded by the archangels of concentration,
Destroyer of the titans of affliction, look upon me, O Mighty One.
In the city of existences, the abode of the unaware, your guidance out of afflictive action is definitive;
Amid the confusion of the cycle of transmigration on the ground of cause, as a lamp reveal to me the Way.
Turning away from the paths of woe, purifying the paths of bliss,
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