“And as for those in the desert, in the darkness, by various means I comfort them, show them the way, and lead them to safety, resolving that by this root of goodness I shall liberate those who are in the desert of the mundane whirl, who have fallen into evil ways, freeing them from all suffering and setting them on the road of omniscience, where there is eternal safety.
“As for those in inhabited areas who are experiencing the trouble of owning a home, I draw them away from their attachments to their abodes by various means and resolve by this root of goodness to remove all sentient beings from attachment to the elements of body and mind and establish them in nonreliant omniscience.
“As for those in villages who are attached to their house and relatives, beset by various family troubles, their minds agitated by various anxieties, I take care of them by material gifts and please them in a proper manner, establish them in the state of nonattachment, and resolve by this root of goodness to remove those who cling to the village of their senses from the sphere of mundane objects and set them in the sphere of omniscience.
“As for those who lose their sense of direction on a dark night, who think level ground is uneven, who think high ground is low, who think low ground is high, I light the way for them by various means. To those who want to go out I show the door, to those who want to travel I show the road, to those who want to cross over I show the bridge, to those who want to go in I show the house, to those who want to look around I show the directions. I show the high and low ground, the smooth and rough terrain and its various formations. I show travelers the villages, cities, towns, provinces, and capitals. I show those who are hot and thirsty streams and ponds and groves and parks. To those grieving at separation from their loved ones I show their family and friends, advisers, acquaintances, and kin, and various pleasing forms. And I resolve that just as I light the way for those in the dark who cannot see and have lost their way, as I create light to make various forms manifest, in the same way I will use the light of great wisdom to destroy the darkness of ignorance of those in the long night of the mundane whirl, who have no sense of direction at all, who are in the darkness of ignorance, whose eye of knowledge is covered by the veil of nescience, who are perverted in concepts, thoughts, and views, who think the impermanent is permanent, who think the painful is painless, who think the selfless has self, who think the impure is pure, who cling to a definite self, being, life, soul, individuality, and personality, who are attached to sense faculties, sense consciousnesses, and sense data, who are confused about cause and effect, who do what is not good, who take life, who steal, who abuse sexuality, who tell lies, who slander others, who speak harshly, who sow dissension, who are covetous, who are malicious, who hold erroneous views, who do not honor their parents or mendicants or priests, who do not recognize the blameworthy or the good, who do not take pleasure in what is right, who are dominated by ill-gotten gain, who pervert what is right by erroneous views, who falsely impugn the enlightened, who try to suppress true teaching, who fly the banner of demons, who injure or kill enlightening beings, who are hostile to the Great Vehicle, who cut off the aspiration for enlightenment, who defame enlightening beings, who injure or kill their mothers, who are hostile, who revile the wise, who consort with the corrupt and unjust, who damage the relics of saints and the goods of the religious community, who oppose their parents, who act in hellish ways, who are on the brink of disaster—having destroyed the darkness of their ignorance by the light of great wisdom and directed them toward supreme perfect enlightenment, by the Great Vehicle of universal good I shall show them the path to the stage of knowledge of the ten powers; I shall show them the stage of the enlightened, the realm of the enlightened, the ocean of wisdom of omniscience, the sphere of enlightened knowledge, the consummation of the ten powers, the power of mental command of buddhas, and the unity of all bud-dhas. Having shown them this, I will establish them in the knowledge of equality of all buddhas.
“As for those who are sick, who are worn out from long illness, whose bodies are weakened, who have wasted away, those who have grown old and are overcome by old age, those who are wretched and poor, those who have come to the end of their lives, those who are in bondage, those who are being tortured, and convicts who have been imprisoned, I stand by them to save them from the danger of injury to their lives. I employ all means to remove the illnesses of those who are sick. Those who are wasted away and overcome by old age I take care of by constant attendance. I provide protection for the helpless, I enrich the poor, I take care of those who have fallen into misfortune by regarding their welfare as my own. Those abroad I lead to their own country, and those astray I lead in the right direction. Those in bondage I release from their bonds. Those who are being tortured I release from the pain of torture. I save the lives of convicts who have been handed over to the king for execution. I resolve that just as I am a refuge saving these beings from various perils and afflictions, so shall I take care of them with the supreme protection of the truth and liberate them from all mental afflictions. I shall enable them to transcend birth, old age, sickness, death, grief, lamentation, misery, depression, and mental disturbance. I shall free them from all fears of falling into bad conditions. I shall establish them in the care of spiritual benefactors. I shall take care of them by giving them jewels of true teaching. I shall get them to act impeccably. I shall direct them to the purity of the body of the enlightened. I shall establish them in the knowledge of the realm where there is ultimately no old age or death.
“As for those on wrong paths, those in the tangles of various views, those acting on erroneous conceptions, those doing evil in thought, word, and deed, those uncontrolled in action, those devoted to various pious observances and ascetic practices, those who think the unenlightened are enlightened, those who think the enlightened are unenlightened, those who practice self-torture, those who worship bodies of water, mountains, or particular places, and those who are under the control of bad companions, I become a refuge for them by various means and thence turn them away from evil, from immersion in views, from all bad conditions. I establish them in right seeing in the world and place them in celestial and human states. I resolve that just as I liberate these sentient beings from the miseries of such bad behavior, so shall I establish all sentient beings in the transmundane path of transcendence, make them irreversible in progress toward omniscience, and lead them to omniscience by the great vow of universal good; and I shall not fall from the stages of enlightening beings, while not turning away from the realm of all sentient beings.”
At that point, further revealing the realm of the enlightening liberation which guides the world by the light of truth that dispels the darkness for all sentient beings, the goddess looked over the ten directions by the power of Buddha and spoke these verses to Sudhana:
This peaceful liberation of mind guides the world
To happiness in accord with the time
By producing the light of truth
To end the darkness of delusion and ignorance.
My kindness is vast and pure,
Developed over boundless eons past;
Dispelling evil, I illumine the world—
Realize this wisdom, O Sudhana, steadfast one.
Measureless is my ocean of compassion for the world;
Herein the buddhas of all times are born,
Hereby the pains of the world are soothed—
Realize this wisdom, O Sudhana, steadfast one.
Producing worldly happiness, both the joys
Which are conditional and those of the sages,
Thereby I am delighted, uplifted, pleased—
Realize this wisdom, O son of Buddha.
Forever turned away from the ills of the conditional,
As well as the knowledge and liberation of individual salvation,
Perfecting the power of buddhas—
Realize this wisdom, O son of Buddha.
Vast and pure is my eye, by which I see
The lands of
the ten directions—
I see the buddhas in those lands
Sitting under the enlightenment tree.
I see thousands of buddhas with their circles,
The buddhas’ bodies adorned with marks of greatness,
Emanating multifold glorious lights,
Radiating oceans of light from their pores.
I see the sentient beings in those lands,
How they die and are born;
I see the ignorant in the ocean of transmigration as they go
Round in circles experiencing the results of their own deeds.
My ocean of hearing is pure,
And all sounds enter therein:
Hearing the words of all sentient beings,
I keep them in mind.
The infinite expressions of the teachings of buddhas
I also hear and remember.
My sense of smell is far-reaching and pure,
Unobstructed in the midst of all things,
An entry into all states of liberation;
You should realize this wisdom.
My tongue is broad and long, coppery red,
Shiny like a jewel, pure;
With it I communicate to beings according to their mentalities:
You should realize this wisdom.
My reality body is transcendentally pure,
Omnipresent in all times;
The physical body beings see according to their mentalities,
By the power of their devotion.
My mind is free from attachment and taint,
Resonant with thunderous sound;
Therein are all buddhas assembled,
Yet I have no discrimination.
Innumerable are the beings on the face of the earth;
I know the oceans of their minds,
I know their faculties and inclinations,
But I have no discrimination.
My occult power is vast and consummate,
I shake innumerable worlds
And produce an aura of light
Whereby I tame the intractable.
My virtue is vast and pure,
An endless treasury, adorning everywhere;
With it I make offerings to buddhas
And sustain the life of all beings.
I have entered the ocean of buddhas,
Realizing the wisdom of all time,
And I enter into their vows—
This wisdom is peerless and perfect.
In every atom I see oceans of worlds
Of past, present, and future;
And I see oceans of buddhas therein,
And their universal ground of wisdom.
See Vairocana, enlightened,
Pervading all lands in the ten directions,
Sitting at the foot of the enlightenment tree
In each atom expounding the teaching of peace.
Then Sudhana said to the night goddess Vasanti, “How long ago did you set out for supreme perfect enlightenment? How long ago did you attain this liberation, by the at tainment of which you have come to perform all beneficial actions in this way?”
Vasanti replied, “As many eons ago as atoms in the polar mountain, there was an eon called Tranquil Light, in which five billion buddhas were born. There was then a world system called Born of the Light of Jewels, in which there was a central world of four continents called Jewel Moon Lamp Light, the capital city of which was called Lotus Light. In that capital city was a king named Bridge of Good Law, who was a just ruler, a sovereign with all the attributes of kingship. He had conquered that trouble-free earth by justice and ruled it righteously.
“The king’s wife was named Moon of Understanding of Right. She enjoyed herself making love in the first part of the night, and in the middle of the night, when the love play had ceased, she slept. At that time, in a forest called Source of Radiance of Peace, to the east of the city of Lotus Light, a buddha named Supreme Thunder of All Truths attained supreme perfect enlightenment at a great enlightenment site made of the finest jewels, with the lights of all supernal manifestations, radiating the lights of the magical displays of all buddhas. That buddha lit up the whole world-system Born of the Light of Jewels clearly with a great multicolored light.
“Also in that capital city Lotus Light was a night goddess named Pure Moonlight. She went to the wife of the king, awakened her by the sound of her jewelry jingling, and said to her, ‘Know, O queen, that in the forest Source of Radiance of Peace, a buddha named Supreme Thunder of All Truths has attained supreme perfect enlightenment.’ And she gave the queen an extensive explanation of the virtuous qualities of the buddha, the spiritual transformation of the buddha, and the vow practices by universally good enlightening beings. The queen, illumined by the light of the buddha, set out for supreme perfect enlightenment with overpowering resolve. She made great offerings to that buddha and to his group of enlightening beings and disciples.
“Do not suppose that queen was anyone other than me myself—I was that queen Moon of Understanding of Right in that time. By virtue of that aspiration, and the roots of goodness I planted with that buddha, I was not born in any bad states for as many eons as atoms in the polar mountain, nor did I have defective faculties, nor did I suffer. I always attained celestial greatness among celestials, and human greatness among humans, and never was apart from spiritual benefactors—that is buddhas and enlightening beings. I never came upon bad times. So I passed as many eons as atoms in the polar mountain happily, peacefully, safely, and rightly, planting roots of goodness with the enlightened: yet after all that time my enlightening faculties were not yet perfectly developed.
“After those eons had passed, ten thousand eons before this eon of Virtue, there was an eon called Sorrowless Dispassion, in a world called Blazing Light Undefiled by Passion. That world was both defiled and pure. Five hundred buddhas were born there. The first of those five hundred buddhas was named Light of Tranquil Eyes with Senses Like the Polar Mountain, accomplished in knowledge and action, gone to felicity, supreme knower of the world, guide of tractable people, teacher of celestials and humans, enlightened, blessed. I was an outstanding girl named Light of Wisdom, daughter of an eminent man named Resounding Fame, and I was beautiful and robust. The night goddess Pure Moonlight, by the power of a vow, became a night goddess named Light of Purified Eyes. In the still of the night when my parents were in bed, she made our house tremble, showed her body to me with a great light, told me about the qualities of the buddha, and then showed me the buddha sitting at the enlightenment site in the first week after his enlightenment.
“I went with my parents and a large group of relatives to that buddha, led by the night goddess Pure Moonlight. I made great offerings to that buddha, and when I saw the buddha, I attained a concentration called ‘born of the world-guiding vision of Buddha,’ and I attained a concentration called ‘sphere of light of knowledge of the ground of past, present, and future,’ whereby I remembered those eons as many as atoms in the polar mountain; and my aspiration for enlightenment came to the fore. Having heard the Teaching from that buddha, I attained this enlightening liberation called ‘the means of guiding sentient beings by the light of truth which dispels the darkness for all sentient beings,’ by the attainment of which I physically pervade as many worlds as atoms in ten buddha-lands, and see the buddhas in those worlds, and perceive myself at the feet of those buddhas. I also see all the sentient beings in those worlds, and I know their vocal signals, and their thoughts, inclinations, faculties, and interests, and their previous development under the tutelage of spiritual benefactors; and I manifest a body to them which will please them according to their inclinations.
“Also, this liberation grows in each mental moment: in an unbroken succession of mental moments I pervade as many buddha-lands as atoms in a hundred worlds, as many buddha-lands as atoms in a thousand worlds, as many buddha-lands as atoms in a hundred thousand worlds; in each mental moment I go on like this to pervade up to as many buddha-lands as atoms in
untold unspeakable numbers of worlds: and I see all the buddhas in those lands, and I perceive myself in their presence, and I hear, take in, remember, reflect on, and meditate on the teachings of those buddhas. I also enter into the oceans of past vows of those buddhas, and the purifications of the buddha-lands of those buddhas. I also undertake to purify a buddha-land. I also see the sentient beings in those oceans of worlds, and I transform my body to accord with the measures of the inclinations, faculties, and interests of those sentient beings, in order to develop and guide them. Thus this liberation expands in each mental moment, by working to expand it to pervade everywhere in the cosmos.
“I only know this enlightening liberation that is a method of guiding the world by the light of the truth which dispels the darkness of all sentient beings—how can I know the practice or tell of the virtues or comprehend the sphere or show the freedom of liberation of the enlightening beings who are completely versed in the infinite vow of enlightening practice of universal good, who command the power to enter into every principle in the ocean of the cosmos, who have mastered the adamantine concentration of knowledge realized by all enlightening beings, who have undertaken the vow to preserve the lineage of buddhas in all worlds, who have perfected great goodness purifying all worlds in each mental moment, who command the knowledge to develop and guide all universes in each mental moment, whose eyes are suns that dispel the darkness of all obstructions for all sentient beings in all worlds, who strive to inform all sentient beings about the Great Vehicle of universal liberation, who are moons of wisdom dispelling the darkness of doubt and confusion for all sentient beings, whose pure voices obliterate attachment to existence, who have the power to show miracles in each atom of all phenomena, who have unfragmented knowledge of the ground of past, present, and future?
“In this very enlightenment site in Magadha lives a night goddess named Samantagambhirashrivimalaprabha, who inspired in me the determination for enlightenment and has encouraged me time and again. Go ask her how to learn and carry out the practice of enlightening beings.”
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 176