The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  “I only know this enlightening liberation speeding in all directions. How can I know the practice or tell of the virtue of the enlightening beings who go everywhere, who face in all directions, who are in the realm of unfragmented knowledge, whose bodies are distributed evenly throughout all universes, who adapt their action to all sentient beings according to the inclinations and interests of those beings, whose bodies pervade all lands, who act in accord with the way things really are, who have realized the equality of past, present, and future, who accord with the equality of all places, who illumine the paths of all beings, who do not have arbitrary notions of buddhahood, who go along all paths without attachment or obstruction, who stand on the path of nonreliance?

  “South of here is a city called Dvaravati, where the celestial Mahadeva lives. Go ask him how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  So Sudhana paid his respects to the enlightening being Ananyagamin and went on.

  Mahadeva

  His mind following the far-reaching practice of enlightening beings, eager to embody the sphere of knowledge of the enlightening being Ananyagamin, seeing the excellence of the qualities of the realm of exercise of great mystic knowledge, girding himself with the armor of steadfast vigor, full of joy, his mind on the freedom of inconceivable liberation, accomplishing the virtues of enlightening beings, practicing concentration, establishing mental command, entering into vows, learning powers of analysis and expression, bringing forth power, Sudhana went to the city of Dvaravati and asked for Mahadeva.

  The people of the city told Sudhana, “This Mahadeva is in a temple at a crossroads in the city expounding the Teaching in a giant body.” Sudhana then went to Mahadeva, paid his respects, and said, “Noble one, I have set my mind on supreme perfect enlightenment, but I do not know how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings. I hear that you give enlightening beings instruction, and wish you would tell me how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  Then the celestial Mahadeva extended four hands in four directions, brought water from the oceans with extreme speed and washed his face; he scattered golden flowers over Sudhana and said, “Enlightening beings are hard to get to see, extremely hard to get to hear. They rarely appear in the world, being so exalted. They are supreme lotuses of humanity, saviors of the world, refuges for the world, reliances for the world. They are great suns, makers of light for sentient beings, the ones who show the path of safety and peace to those on the path of delusion. They are guides to the truth, leaders on the way to the citadel of omniscience. I think ‘killer of wrong views’ is the name for enlightening beings, in that they manifest themselves to those whose minds are undefiled, they appear before those whose deeds are pure, they imbue those who are free from evils of speech with the light of eloquence, and at all times they stand before those whose intentions are purified. Son, I have attained an enlightening liberation called ‘cloud net.’”

  Sudhana asked, “What is the sphere of this ‘cloud net’ liberation?”

  At that moment the celestial Mahadeva manifested a heap of gold the size of a mountain before Sudhana, as well as a heap of silver, a heap of lapis lazuli, a heap of crystals, a heap of coral, a heap of emeralds, a heap of starry jewels, a heap of clear jewels, a heap of radiant jewels, a heap of jewels with facets facing in all directions, a heap of crown jewels, a heap of varicolored jewels, a heap of necklaces, a heap of earrings, a heap of bracelets, a heap of belts, a heap of anklets, a heap of various kinds of flowers, fragrances, incenses, garlands, unguents, aromatic powders, robes, parasols, banners, pennants, musical instruments, and all objects of desire. He then said to Sudhana, “Take of these and give gifts, do good works, make offerings to buddhas, take care of beings by generous giving, get them to practice transcendent relinquishment, teach the world by giving, show relinquishment, which is hard to do. In the same way as I give you all these goods, so also do I make relinquishment habitual in countless sentient beings whose sense of generosity is not repressed. Having gotten them to plant roots of goodness with the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community, and spiritual benefactors, I get them to aspire to supreme perfect enlightenment.

  “Furthermore, to those who are intoxicated with the enjoyment of objects of desire, who are very greedy for the enjoyment of objects, I make objects appear impure. To those filled with anger, those who are arrogant, conceited, proud, and haughty, those who should be led away from strife, I show terrors like fiends and ghouls who feed on flesh and blood, and show them that it is all the vehemence of arrogance. To those who are lazy and negligent I show the dangers of fire, water, kings, and brigands, to stir them to vigor and diligence. Thus with various appropriate means I turn them away from bad conduct and get them to develop good qualities, to destroy all impediments to the transcendent ways, to make the necessary preparations for the transcendent ways, to cross over all the precipitous paths on the mountains of barriers to enlightenment, and to enter the unobstructed state.

  “I only know this ‘cloud net’ enlightening liberation. How can I know the practice or tell of the virtues of the enlightening beings who are like the celestial chief Indra, crushing the titans of affliction, who are like water, extinguishing the fire of suffering of all beings, who are like heat, evaporating the water of craving of all beings, who are like wind, shattering the mountains of all attachments, who are like thunderbolts, rending asunder the mountain of the congealed notion of self?

  “South of here, at the site of enlightenment in the region of Magadha in Jambudvipa, lives an earth goddess named Sthavara. Go ask her how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  So then Sudhana paid his respects to Mahadeva and went on.

  Sthavara

  Then Sudhana went to the earth goddess Sthavara at the site of enlightenment in Magadha. Ten hundred thousand earth goddesses said to one another, “Someone comes who will be a refuge for all sentient beings; a vessel of enlightenment comes who will break the shell of ignorance of all sentient beings; one who springs from the family of spiritual sovereigns comes who will put on the turban of unattached supreme purity of a spiritual sovereign; a hero bearing the mighty thunderbolt of knowledge comes who will destroy the weapons of all false teachers.”

  Then those earth goddesses, led by Sthavara, caused the earth to tremble, made the ocean roar, illumined the whole universe with a glorious light, and with bodies adorned with all kinds of jewelry, like bundles of lightning bolts descending from the sky, emerged from the surface of the earth, with all tree sprouts growing, all flowering trees blooming, all rivers flowing, all lakes and ponds rising, fragrant rains showering, great winds bearing flowers, billions of musical instruments playing, celestial palaces, ornaments, and tiaras appearing, bulls, elephants, tigers, and lions roaring, the lords of the gods, titans, serpents and spirits thundering, mountains crashing together, and hundreds of billions of treasuries surfacing.

  Then the earth goddess said to Sudhana, “Welcome. This is a spot of ground where you have planted roots of goodness, which I have witnessed. Do you want to see the results in one place?”

  Sudhana paid his respects to the goddess and said, “I do.”

  Then the goddess, touching the earth with the sole of her foot, caused it to appear adorned with hundreds of billions of deposits of countless jewels, and said to Sudhana, “These billions of treasuries of jewels accompany you and are at your service, to be used as you wish; they have been produced as a result of your good works and are preserved by the power of your good works. Take of them and do whatever should be done.

  “I have attained an enlightening liberation, ‘unassailable asylum of knowledge.’ Having attained this liberation, I have constantly stayed by and protected the enlightening being Vairocana since the time of Dipankara Buddha. Since then I have observed the enlightening being’s mental activity, entered his sphere of knowledge and all his vows, followed his purification of enlightening practice, gone along into
all concentrations, pervaded the vastness of the mind of the mystic knowledges of all enlightening beings, and have comprehended, remembered, and taken in his mastery of the powers of all enlightening beings, his insuperability like that of all enlightening beings, his pervasion of the network of all lands, his reception of the prediction of enlightenment from all buddhas, his manifestation of attainment of enlightenment in all times, his way of activating all the cycles of the Teaching, the doctrines expounded in all the scriptures, his way of revealing the vista of the great Teaching, his way of knowing how to lead all sentient beings to perfection, and his way of manifesting all the miracles that buddhas perform.

  “I attained this ‘unassailable asylum of knowledge’ enlightening liberation from the buddha Skillful Guide in the world Moon Banner eons ago, more eons than the number of atoms in the polar mountain, in an eon called Supernal Manifestation of Light. Going in and out of this ‘unassailable asylum of knowledge’ liberation and causing it to expand and broaden, I have always been seeing buddhas, continuing up to this eon of virtue in the present, and now I have propitiated as many buddhas as atoms in untold buddha-lands, and I have seen the spiritual transformations of all those buddhas when they came to the site of enlightenment, and I have witnessed all those buddhas’ roots of goodness.

  “I know only this enlightening liberation ‘unassailable asylum of knowledge.’ How can I know the practice or tell the virtues of the enlightening beings who attend all buddhas, who remember the tales of all the buddhas, who have entered the recondite knowledge of all buddhas, who speed throughout the cosmos in a moment of thought, who are physically equal to the buddhas, who are undefiled receptacles of the mind of all buddhas, who have always effected the birth of all buddhas, who are envoys physically indivisible from all buddhas?

  “In this country Magadha in Jambudvipa is a city called Kapilavastu, where a night goddess named Vasanti lives. Go ask her how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”

  So then Sudhana paid his respects to the earth goddess Sthavara and went on.

  Vasanti

  Then Sudhana went to the great city Kapilavastu, remembering the teaching of the earth goddess Sthavara, remembering that enlightening liberation “unassailable asylum of knowledge,” extending the cultivation of that enlightening concentration, contemplating that enlightening doctrine, roaming in the freedom of that enlightening liberation, looking into the subtleties of knowledge of that enlightening liberation, entering into the ocean of knowledge of that enlightening liberation, focusing on the unity of the knowledge of that enlightening liberation, pursuing the accomplishment of the endless knowledge of that enlightening liberation, plunging into the ocean of knowledge of that enlightening liberation.

  Going around the city from left to right, he went in by the eastern gate and stood in the middle of the crossroads of the city. Before long the sun set, and, skillfully grasping the instructions of spiritual benefactors, he longed to see the night goddess Vasanti, considering spiritual benefactors a sure source of attainment of enlightened knowledge, based concretely on the sphere of the eye of universal knowledge, turning in all directions, wishing to see the spiritual benefactor, thinking of her with great respect as the abode of knowledge, his eye of knowledge extending to all objects, looking over the ocean of all that is knowable with the eye of concentration reaching throughout the ocean of knowledge of principles of all reality realms, intent on extension of the eye of great knowledge. He saw the night goddess Vasanti in the sky over Kapilavastu, in a tower of brilliant, incomparable jewels, sitting on a great jewel lion throne in the calyx of a lotus of all the finest fragrances.

  She was beautiful, with a golden complexion, soft, rich black hair, and dark eyes. Her body was adorned with all kinds of ornaments, and she was wearing a red robe. She wore a sacred crest adorned with the orb of the moon, and her body showed reflections of all the stars and constellations. He also saw in her pores all the sentient beings who had been liberated by her from the calamities of unfavorable circumstances, evils, and miserable conditions. He also saw in her pores all the sentient beings whom she had settled in heaven, and all whom she had perfected in the enlightenment of hearers and individual illuminates, and in omniscience. He also saw in her pores all the various means, embodiments, and appearances she assumed to perfect them. He also heard coming from her pores the various utterances she used to teach and develop them. He also perceived in her pores the timing, the adaptation to sentient beings’ inclinations and interests, the enlightening practices, forceful means, ways of mystic transformation through concentration, powers, states, observations, contemplations, mystic projections, powerful expansions of the great person, and free masteries of liberation by which they were perfected.

  Having seen and heard those oceans of teachings involving various means, Sudhana was transported with joy; he paid his respects to the night goddess Vasanti and said to her, “Noble one, I have set my mind on supreme perfect enlightenment. Seeing all qualities of buddhahood as based on spiritual benefactors, I rely on spiritual benefactors. Please show me the way of omniscience whereon an enlightening being sets forth to the stage of the ten powers.”

  Vasanti answered Sudhana, “It is good that you are so devoted to spiritual benefactors and desire to hear the words of spiritual benefactors. Carrying out the instructions of spiritual benefactors, you will surely arrive at supreme perfect enlightenment. I have attained an enlightening liberation, a means of guiding sentient beings by the light of truth, which dispels the darkness for all sentient beings. I am kind to the evil-minded, compassionate to evil-doers, pleased with those who do good, impartial toward the good and the bad; I am determined to purify the defiled, to set the misguided straight, to inspire higher aspirations in those with low aspirations, to increase the energy of those with inferior faculties, to free those attached to the mundane whirl from its repetitious circles, and to set those oriented toward the vehicles of individual salvation onto the path of omniscience. I am concentrating on these concerns and am imbued with the enlightening liberation through which I guide sentient beings with the light of truth that dispels the darkness for all sentient beings.

  “Any people who travel on a dark night, where ghosts, thieves, and thugs lurk, when the sky is covered with black clouds, when it is misty, windy, and raining, when there is no moonlight or starlight, when there is no visibility, if they go on the sea, or on land, or in the mountains, or over deserts, or through forests, or through provinces or villages, or on the roads, if they are shipwrecked at sea or held up on land, or fall in the mountains or run out of provisions in the desert, or if they get stuck in the underbrush in the forest or run into trouble, or if they get scattered in the darkness, or if they get mugged in a town, or if they get lost or confused and cannot tell which direction they are going in, or if they run into disaster on the road, I rescue them by various means. For those traveling on the sea I quell hurricanes, get them past bad waters, stop unfavorable winds, quiet the raging billows, free them from the perils of whirlpools, clarify the directions, lead them on the right sea lanes, show them the channels, guide them to the isles of treasure, show them the way in the form of a navigator. Through various forms of being I act as a support and reliance. This root of goodness, furthermore, I dedicate in this way: ‘May I be a refuge for all sentient beings, to put an end to all suffering.’

  “For those on land on a dark night, where there are thickets and brambles, gravel and grit, on uneven terrain, battered by vicious wind and rain, painfully cold or hot, where savage beasts lurk, where killers and bandits roam, I save those who have lost their way on the earth, by means of the forms of the sun, the risen moon, meteoric showers, planets, the light of the stars, celestial beings, and enlightening beings. And I think: By this root of goodness may I become a savior of all sentient beings.

  “For those on precipitous mountain paths, in danger of death, so that they may live, and for those who are dominated by the desire for fame, those who w
ish for renown, those who seek enjoyment, those who are avaricious, those who strive to get material things, those whose foremost desire is worldly success, those who are wrapped up in affection for their families, those who are lost in the jungle of views, and those who are oppressed by various miseries and fears, I become a refuge by various means: for example, by producing caves in the mountains for shelter, by producing fruits and roots for food, by producing streams for drinking water, by producing shelter against cold and heat, by showing the right path, by the songs of birds, by the luster of medicinal plants, by the glow of mountain spirits. I become a refuge for those in mountain caves and crevices, those oppressed by various pains, dispelling the darkness, producing level ground for them. And I resolve that just as I rescue these people in the mountains, so will I become a refuge for those fallen on the precipitous trails of the mountain of mundane existence, who are in the grip of old age and death.

  “For those stuck in the jungle on a dark night, confronted with a vast expanse of trees, on roads blocked by grass and water, reeds, trees, and vines, in thickets of various trees and creepers, frightened by tigers roaring, their minds filled with what they have to do, plagued with various perils and misfortunes, not knowing the way out of the forest, I show the right way to go. And I resolve that by this root of goodness I will free those in the thicket of views, caught in the web of craving, oppressed by the various pains and perils of the mundane whirl, liberating them from all miseries.