The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  Ten thousand demons also stood in the sky, showered celestial jewels, and said, “The light emitted from the flames used by this priest in his heat mortification obscures our abodes, our ornaments, and our paraphernalia. Terrified, we and our cohorts go to the priest, who teaches in such a way that, coming to ourselves and getting back our right minds, we aspire to enlightenment and become irreversible on the way to supreme perfect enlightenment.”

  Also, ten thousand controlling gods, scattering celestial flowers, said, “While he is mortifying himself with four fires under the fiery sun, we find no pleasure in our own abodes. We and our cohorts go to him, and he teaches us so that we attain control of our own minds, control of afflictions, ability to be born in any state we wish, power to clear away obstructions caused by action, mastery of all concentrations, control of paraphernalia to purify our arrangements, and control conforming to our wishes.”

  Ten thousand gods of pleasant emanations also stood in the sky, presented sweet sounds of celestial music and song, and said, “The fire of the priest is producing such light that our palaces are glowing, being purified and becoming more radiant, and so are the decorations and nymphs here. We and our cohorts of godlings and nymphs no longer find pleasure in desires, and we do not enjoy sensual pleasures. Our minds and bodies cooled, we go to the priest, who teaches us so that our minds will be purified, so that our minds will be radiant, so our minds will be good, so our minds will be malleable, so we will become joyful, so we may purify the realization of the knowledge of the ten powers, so we may grow in enthusiasm for the great Teaching, so we may purify our bodies and produce measureless buddha-bodies, so we may purify our voices and attain the voice of Buddha, so we may purify our minds and attain omniscience.”

  Ten thousand gods of the heaven of satisfaction, along with their companies of celestial boys and girls, also stood in the sky, showered all kinds of fragrant powders, paying honor and respect, and said, “While he mortifies himself with fire there is no pleasure in our abodes. Being freed from attachment, we go to the priest and he teaches us so that we will be indifferent to all objects of sense, so that we will be perfectly and completely satisfied in mind, so that we will produce roots of goodness, so that we will aspire to enlightenment, and so that we will eventually fulfill all qualities of buddhas.”

  Ten thousand gods of the heaven of timely portion, along with their celestial sons and daughters, showered a rain of flowers and said, “While this priest is mortifying himself with fire, we have no pleasure in our celestial song. Freed from attachment, we go to the priest and he teaches us so that we will become detached from all sensuality and eventually attain all qualities of buddhahood.”

  Ten hundred thousand celestial beings of the thirty-three-fold heavens, each with thirty-two siblings, along with their celestial sons and daughters, showered rain from clouds of celestial cloths, jewels, ornaments, and flowers, then said, “While this priest is mortifying himself with fire, we have no pleasure in our palaces, parks, and groves, or in such enjoyments as music, dance, and song. Freed from attachment, we go to the priest, and he teaches us to remove all sensuality. He tells us this is all impermanent, unstable, bound to perish. He teaches us to thoroughly cut off all arrogance and heedlessness, to increase our desire for supreme enlightenment. Furthermore, at the sight of this priest, these peaks of the polar mountain quake. Terrified, we commit ourselves to reach omniscience, that we may be firm in our aspiration for omniscience.”

  Also, ten thousand rain spirits in the sky showered rain from clouds of celestial sandalwood, along with the sweet sounds of the songs of nymphs, producing clouds of celestial fragrance, and said, “The light emitted from this priest’s fires, illumining the abodes of all the water spirits, removes fears of the hot rain of sand. It also extinguishes anger, and the water spirits become cool and clear in mind. Then, once our minds are clear, the priest teaches us to reject our low state as dragons and to stop all obstructive actions. Having taught us to overcome evil, he inspires us to supreme perfect enlightenment and leads us to omniscience.”

  Also, ten thousand spirit chiefs, standing in the sky, honored the priest Jayoshmayatana and the youth Sudhana with various offerings, then said, “Son, as this priest mortifies himself with fire, goodwill toward human beings is born in our minds, and all spirits, goblins, and demons also become benevolent. Benevolent, now harmless, they come to us; overcome by the dominant power of goodwill, we find no pleasure in our various estates. We all go with our respective companions to the priest; he radiates light from his body, which shines on us and fills our bodies with bliss. Our bodies and minds blissful, he teaches us in such a way that many spirits, goblins, demons, and ghosts are inspired to seek enlightenment.”

  Ten thousand chief celestial musicians also stood in the sky and said, “While we are in our abodes too, our abodes are illumined by the light of the priest’s fires; touched by that light, we are filled with inconceivable bliss and we go to the priest, who then teaches us in such a way that we become irreversible in progress toward supreme perfect enlightenment.”

  Ten thousand titan kings rose from the ocean, knelt on their right knees, joined their palms in salutation, and said, “As this priest mortifies himself by fire, all our titan worlds, including the oceans, mountains, and land spheres, quake: we are all thereby divested of arrogance, heedlessness, and conceit; overwhelmed by the heat of his religious practice, we go to him, and he teaches us so that we may do away with all deceitfulness and guile, enter into acceptance of the profound truth, abide in the state of imperturbability, and perfect the knowledge of the ten powers.”

  Also ten thousand bird kings, assuming splendid human forms, said, “Son, the light from the flames of the priest’s fires, shining on our abodes, causes them to quake. Frightened and agitated, we go to him, and by teaching us he exhorts us to great benevolence and compassion, he urges us to plunge into the ocean of mundane life to serve sentient beings sunk in the mud of desire, he urges us to purify our will for enlightenment, he exhorts us to keenness of wisdom and skill in means, and gets us to work at guiding sentient beings according to their maturity.”

  Ten thousand centaur kings also stood in the sky and said, “As this priest mortifies himself by fire, the voice of Buddha comes forth from the rows of palms, the trees hung with nets of bells, strings of jewels, garlands, and musical instruments, and the houses and furniture with all kinds of musical instruments and jewelry in our abodes as they are blown by the wind; the voice of the Teaching, the voice of the host of nonregressing enlightening beings, and the voice of the vows on which enlightening beings act also emerge, saying that in such-and-such a world the enlightening being so-and-so is vowing to attain enlightenment, in such-and-such a world the enlightening being so-and-so is giving up that which is difficult to give up, in such-and-such a world the enlightening being so-and-so is purifying the sphere of universally aware knowledge, in such-and-such a world the enlightening being so-and-so is going to the summit of enlightenment, in such-and-such a world the enlightening being so-and-so has conquered the demon hordes and is becoming supremely and perfectly enlightened, in such-and-such a world the buddha so-and-so is turning the wheel of the teaching, in such-and-such a world the buddha so-and-so has finished all the tasks of buddhas and is passing away into absolute nirvana. There may be an end to the particles of every tree and plant, limb and leaf, on this continent, but there is no end to those names of the buddhas and the vows of enlightening beings, the lofty points of departure of the conduct of enlightening beings, which are heard to sound from the rows of palms and all the musical instruments, jewelry, houses, and furniture in our abodes as they are blown by the wind, producing the voices of Buddha, the Teaching, and enlightenment. Ecstatically joyful at the sound of the names of the buddhas and the community of enlightening beings and the vows and practices they proceed upon, we go to the priest, and he teaches us so that we and the many beings around us become irreversible in progress toward supreme perfect enlightenment
.”

  Innumerable gods of the realm of desire with magnificent appearances also stood in the sky, presented mental offerings, and said, “As this priest mortifies himself with heat, his bonfires give off such light that it illumines all the hells all the way to the uninterrupted hell, and the pains of all the creatures in hell cease. He also is visible to us by the same light. We above him, our minds clarified, have been born in the heavens of the realm of desire we wished for. Grateful to him, never tired of seeing him, we give up all sensuality and go to him, and he teaches us in such a way that innumerable sentient beings resolve to realize enlightenment.”

  Then Sudhana, pleased, enraptured, transported, overjoyed, happy, having heard this teaching, considered the priest Jayoshmayatana to be a true spiritual benefactor, and prostrated himself at the priest’s feet and said, “I confess my error, noble one, in not recognizing you as a spiritual benefactor.” Thereupon the priest spoke a verse to Sudhana:

  An enlightening being who follows instructions

  Has no doubts, his mind at one with the teachers.

  All benefits will be his, and they will be auspicious;

  Sure of buddha-knowledge too, he awakens at the foot of the enlightenment tree.

  Then Sudhana climbed the path up the cliff of the mountain, a mass of razor edges, and threw himself into the fire. As he was falling he attained an enlightening concentration called “well established.” On contact with the fire he attained an enlightening concentration called “mystic knowledge of the bliss of tranquillity.” He said, “How wonderful is the pleasant feeling of this fire and this razor-edge mountain.”

  The priest said, “I have attained the enlightening liberation in which one is not overcome. I know this liberation, but how can I know the practice or tell the virtues of the enlightening beings whose resolve is like rays of fiery energy, determined to end all beings’ afflictions and views, who are eminent leaders who never turn back, whose hearts are never exhausted or overcome, whose minds are never depressed, whose spirits never cringe or cower, whose resolve is adamant, who are never dejected in carrying out their great undertakings, who never slacken in their efforts, who are like whirlwinds, who work for the benefit of all beings, whose vigor never recedes?

  “Go south, to a city called Simhavijurmbhita, where there lives a girl named Maitrayani, daughter of the rajah Simhaketu; go ask her how an enlightening being is to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  Then Sudhana paid his respects and left the priest Jayoshmayatana.

  Maitrayani

  Then, with inconceivable respect for spiritual benefactors, the great zeal purified, ready for the Great Vehicle, seeking enlightened knowledge, absorbed in the way to enlightenment, seeking association with spiritual friends, dwelling in the sphere of the Teaching, approaching unhindered knowledge, certain of the supreme truth, intent on ultimate knowledge, realizing that past, present, and future are ultimately one instant, aware of ultimate nonduality like space, sure of the ultimacy of nonduality, dwelling in the ultimate nondifferentiation of the reality realm, devoted to discipline whose goal is freedom from obstruction, intent on ultimate harmony in action, dwelling on the ultimate nondifference of those who realize Thusness, intent on the knowledge to tear apart the net of conceptions of all sentient beings, free from attachment to any land, his mind not attached to the congregations of the buddhas or to the purities of the buddha-lands, perceiving all sentient beings as void of self or inherent identity, realizing that all sounds are like echoes and eminently aware that all forms are like reflections, Sudhana gradually made his way to the city Simhavijurmbhita, looking for the girl Maitrayani.

  He was told, “The girl Maitrayani, daughter of the rajah Simhaketu, with a retinue of five hundred girls, is up on the roof of a palace of radiant jewels, sitting on a seat set on sandalwood legs and draped with nets of strings of jewels and arrayed with celestial cloth, expounding spiritual teaching.”

  Hearing this, Sudhana entered the city, went to the house of the rajah, and stood at the outer foyer, desirous of seeing the girl Maitrayani. There he saw hundreds of thousands of people going in. He asked them where they were going and why they had come, and they told him they were going to Maitrayani to hear the Teaching. He thought to himself, “No one is prevented from going in.” So he went in.

  Having gone in, he saw the palace of radiant jewels set on a crystal base, with pillars of lapis lazuli and walls of diamond, ornamented with a hundred thousand projections of gold, furnished with countless jewel mirrors, arrayed with world-illumining jewels, spread with countless jewel nets, graced with inconceivable arrays of beautiful sounds from a hundred thousand golden bells shaken by the breeze. He also saw the girl Maitrayani, with dark eyes, black hair, and golden skin. Sudhana paid his respects to her and said, “Noble one, I have set my mind on supreme perfect enlightenment, but I do not know how an enlightening being is to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  She said, “Look at the adornments of my palace.”

  Looking all around, in each wall, each pillar, each mirror, each figure, each formation, each jewel, each golden bell, each jewel tree, each girl’s body, each jewel necklace, he saw reflected images of the buddhas in the cosmos, with their first inspirations, spheres of practice and vows, manifestations of emergence in the world, mystical transformation on attainment of enlightenment, turnings of the wheel of teaching, and displays of ultimate extinction. This he saw in each and every object. Just as the sun, moon, and stars in the sky are seen reflected in a clear, limpid pool of water, so did all the buddhas of the cosmos appear reflected in each object of the luminous jewel palace, this as a result of the girl Maitrayani’s past roots of goodness.

  Having viewed this, holding in mind the features of this supernal array of visions of Buddhas, Sudhana joined his hands in a gesture of respect and turned his attention to Maitrayani’s words. She said, “I have attained the means of access to perfect wisdom from the arrangement of the totality. I sought this from buddhas as numerous as grains of sand in thirty-six Ganges Rivers, and those buddhas introduced me to the means of access to perfect wisdom by way of the arrangement of the totality through various ways of entry into it, each different.”

  Sudhana said, “What is the sphere of this means of access to perfect wisdom by way of the arrangement of the totality?”

  She said, “Focusing my attention on this means of access to perfect wisdom by way of the arrangement of the totality, meditating on it, following it, pondering it, contemplating it, making it familiar, keeping it in mind, putting it in order, putting it into effect, perfecting it, thoroughly examining it, I developed a mental control called ‘facing in all directions,’ in the sphere of which mental control incalculable tens of hundreds of thousands of media of the Teaching operate, assemble, become visible, become accessible, and develop—for example, the medium of buddha-lands, the medium of buddhas, the medium of doctrines, the medium of all beings, the medium of the past, the medium of the future, the medium of the present, the medium of the limit of duration, the medium of virtue, the medium of provisions of virtue, the medium of knowledge, the medium of provisions of knowledge, the medium of vows, the medium of differentiation of vows, the medium of practices, the medium of purification of practices, the medium of accumulation of practices, the medium of fulfillment of practices, the medium of actions, the medium of harmony of actions, the medium of streams of actions, the medium of performance of actions, the medium of fields of actions, the medium of rejection of evil actions, the medium of undertaking of proper actions, the medium of control of actions, the medium of morality, the medium of guidance to right ethics, the medium of concentration, the medium of practice pursuant to concentration, the medium of contemplation in concentration, the medium of spheres of concentration, the medium of emerging from concentration, the medium of mystic knowledge, the medium of the ocean of mind, the medium of ways of thought, the medium of clearing away entanglements of mind, the
medium of illumining the obscure recesses of the mind, the medium of calming and clearing the pool of the mind, the medium of capacities of the mind, the medium of the actions of the mind, the medium of the occurrence of sentient beings’ afflictions, the medium of defiling habit energies, the medium of the acting out of afflictions, the medium of interests, the medium of the conduct of sentient beings, the medium of the variety of conduct of sentient beings, the medium of the productions of the world, the medium of the inclinations of sentient beings, the medium of what is in the conceptions of sentient beings, the medium of places, the medium of the realms of phenomena, the medium of great compassion, the medium of great kindness, the medium of tranquillity, the medium of speech, the medium of reason, the medium of attainments, the medium of distinctions, the medium of unity, the medium of ultimate nonattachment, the medium of totality, the medium of the principles of buddhas, the medium of the principles of enlightening beings, the medium of the principles of disciples, the medium of the principles of individual illuminates, the medium of worldly principles, the medium of principles of formation of worlds, the medium of principles of disintegration of worlds, the medium of principles of the existence of worlds, the medium of purification of worlds, the medium of defilement of worlds, the medium of worlds with purity amid defilement, the medium of worlds with defilement amid purity, the medium of wholly defiled worlds, the medium of wholly pure worlds, the medium of levelness of worlds, the medium of inverted worlds, the medium of upside-down worlds, the medium of entry into the network of the cosmos in which everything is interrelated, the medium of revolving of worlds, the medium of being based on thoughts, the medium of the microcosmic found in the macrocosmic, the medium of the macrocosmic in the microcosmic, the medium of vision of buddhas, the medium of variety of embodiments of buddhas, the medium of variety of auras of buddhas, the medium of differences in the voices of buddhas, the medium of the production of the wheels of teaching of buddhas, the medium of the continuity of the wheels of teaching of buddhas, the medium of expressions of the wheels of teaching of buddhas, the medium of the turning of the wheels of teaching of buddhas, the medium of embodiments of buddhas, the medium of the audiences of buddhas, the medium of the differences in audiences of buddhas, the medium of entry into the oceans of audiences of buddhas, the medium of illumination of the powers of buddhas, the medium of concentrations of buddhas, the medium of mystic emanations from the concentrations of buddhas, the medium of the states of buddhas, the medium of the magic powers of buddhas, the medium of the projected forms of buddhas, the medium of buddhas’ knowledge of what is on the minds of others, the medium of spiritual transformations of buddhas, the medium of abiding in the state of satisfaction, the medium of the works of buddhas up to the manifestation of ultimate extinction, the medium of works for the benefit of infinite beings, the medium of the profound doctrine of emptiness, the medium of various doctrines, the medium of forms of the practices of enlightening beings, the medium of the forms of the production of the aspiration for enlightenment, the medium of the forms of provisions of the aspiration for enlightenment, the medium of the forms of vows, the medium of the forms of practices, the medium of the forms of mystic knowledge, the medium of the forms of emancipation, the medium of the forms of purification of mental control, the medium of the forms of purification of the sphere of knowledge, the medium of the forms of purification of wisdom, the medium of the infinite forms of enlightenment, the medium of forms of purification of mindfulness.