The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  He also saw multitudes of projected bodies emanate from the goddess’s pores producing joy in sentient beings by various means, removing depression, wary of all sensuality, promoting modesty in the world, directing sentient beings to guard their senses, praising unexcelled religious practice, portraying the realm of desire as a perilous realm of demons, showing the realm of enjoyment of all worldly desires even to those free from sensuality, establishing sentient beings in enjoyment of truth, step by step producing the bliss of the attainments of meditation and concentration, praising conscious contemplation of all the afflictions of all sentient beings, showing the magical creativity of the ocean of concentrations of all enlightening beings, showing the majesty of the miracles of the mystic knowledges of enlightening beings, making sentient beings joyful and happy, removing melancholy, bringing goodness of mind, producing cleverness and activity of mind, purifying the mind, clarifying the senses, producing physical bliss, promoting the growth of the energy of the joy of truth, thus developing sentient beings to maturity.

  He also saw multitudes of bodies in the forms of all sentient beings emanate from all the goddess’s pores, appearing agreeably to all sentient beings in all lands, showing them tirelessness in going to all spiritual benefactors, showing tirelessness in attendance on all mentors and spiritual benefactors, showing tireless energy in taking in and holding in mind the operations of the cycles of teachings of all buddhas, investigating the oceans of all approaches to the truth, describing the way to enter the ocean of all buddhas, elucidating the teaching of the characteristics and nature of all phenomena, showing the door of concentration, showing the thunderbolt of wisdom which breaks through the mountain of views of sentient beings, by continuous mental application showing the rise of the sun of wisdom dispelling the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings, developing sentient beings in omniscience while engendering joy in all sentient beings.

  He also saw multitudes of projected bodies, equal to all sentient beings, with splendid, inconceivably various appearances, emanate from the goddess’s pores and appear before all sentient beings in accord with their inclinations and interests, using various languages to reveal higher knowledge of all worldly good, explaining the excellence of the path of omniscience by doing all that should be done in the world, by showing the issue of all states of existence, by describing the way out of conditioned existences, and by showing the way out of the wilderness of all views, showing transcendence of the paths of individual salvation, showing absence of attraction or aversion toward the created or the uncreated, showing nonattachment to the pleasures of mundane life or nirvana, showing unceasing progression from the heaven of satisfaction, showing unceasing attainment of enlightenment at the pinnacle of enlightenment, showing the realm of wisdom to guide all beings out of the sea of doubt, illumining omniscience for sentient beings.

  He also saw as many multitudes of projected bodies as atoms in all lands emanate from each pore of the goddess and stand before all sentient beings praising the vow of practice of universally good enlightening beings, praising the excellence of the vow to ultimately purify all universes, praising purification of all worlds in each moment of thought, praising persistence in entering the powers of buddhas in each moment of thought, showing ceaseless entry into the ocean of principles of the cosmos—equal to the number of atomic particles in all oceans of worlds—in every single moment of thought, praising ceaseless elucidation of purification of the path of omniscience in all lands throughout all time, showing ceaseless entry into the ocean of past, present, and future means of guidance, showing ceaseless manifestations of all magical powers of enlightening beings, leading all sentient beings to omniscience by showing the practice of the vows of enlightening beings.

  He also saw multitudes of projected bodies as numerous as the minds of all beings emanate from each of the goddess’s pores and stand before all sentient beings, showing them the endless power of the provisions for omniscience, showing the unbreakable, invincible, indestructible power of the will for omniscience, showing the nonregressing, irreversible, sustained, ceaseless power of accomplishment of the supreme practice of all enlightening beings, praising enlightening beings’ power to remain unaffected by the ills of mundane life, showing enlightening being’s power to destroy all demons, showing enlightening beings’ power of great compassion tirelessly carrying out enlightening actions throughout all ages, showing enlightening beings’ power to shake all buddha-lands and please all beings, showing enlightening beings’ power to crush all demons and false teachers, to nurture the power of knowledge to turn the wheel of the great teaching in the world, elucidating omniscience for all sentient beings.

  He also saw multitudes of projected bodies in endless forms, presented to the minds of all sentient beings, emanate from each pore of the goddess, filling the endless realms of sentient beings in the ten directions, showing beings, according to their mentalities, the energetic activity of the knowledge of the practice of enlightening beings, showing knowledge comprehending all realms of sentient beings, showing knowledge comprehending all sentient beings’ minds, showing knowledge thoroughly aware of the faculties of all sentient beings, showing knowledge comprehending all sentient beings’ actions, showing knowledge of proper timing in developing and guiding all sentient beings, showing the knowledge to echo the languages of all realms of existence, showing knowledge pervading the ocean of ways to knowledge of all phenomena in each moment of thought, showing knowledge of the formation and disintegration of all worlds, showing knowledge of the differences in basis, form, and arrangement of all worlds, showing the knowledge to go to buddhas with magical offerings, serve the buddhas, and receive their teachings, thus producing joy in sentient beings by showing the practice of the transcendent way of knowledge, soothing their minds, producing joy and happiness, getting rid of melancholy, purifying the mind, leading to goodwill, clarifying the senses, producing the power of resolution, making sentient beings irreversible on the way to omniscience.

  Just as he saw her proceeding to develop sentient beings in the world by demonstrations of the practices of the transcendent ways, he saw multitudes of bodies of beings of various forms emanate from each of the goddess’s pores with the thunder of the laws of all enlightening beings, the preparations of the goddess’s first inspiration, propitiation of spiritual benefactors, going to buddhas and attending them, the practice of virtuous conduct, the relinquishment of what is hard to give up in the course of practicing transcendent giving, the purification of transcendent discipline, the abandonment of rulership and retinue and going forth from society, the exercise of forbearance in austerities difficult to practice in the world, unshakability in the application of the vows undertaken by enlightening beings, the oceans of practices of steadfast resolutions of enlightening beings, the endurance of suffering which is impossible, unspeakable, unthinkable to all worldly beings, the endurance of physical and mental harassment, acceptance of the nonperishing nature of deeds, earnest acceptance of all truths, contemplative acceptance of the nature of all things, energy in undertaking to become omniscient, energy in accomplishing all aspects of buddhahood, all practices of transcendent energy, the preparations for transcendent meditation, energetic efforts in transcendent meditation, practices purifying the attainments of transcendent meditation, mystical powers attained by enlightening beings through concentration, entries into the ocean of mediums of concentration, practices of transcendent meditation, the preparations for transcendent wisdom, the clarification of the sun of great wisdom of enlightening beings, the issue of great masses of wisdom, the treasures of wisdom, applications of the ways of contemplation of the ocean of great wisdom, applications of the principles of great skill in means, embodiments of the transcendent vows of enlightening beings, achievements of great transcendent vows, practices of transcendent commitment, past efforts involved in great transcendent vows, great resources for the attainment of transcendent power, cooperating circumstances of transcendent power, oceans of principl
es of transcendent power, indications of transcendent power, past efforts involved in transcendent power, principles of transcendent knowledge, applications of transcendent knowledge, methods of purification of knowledge, realms of knowledge, attainments of knowledge, ranges of knowledge, integration of principles of knowledge, methods of communicating knowledge, consequences of the courses of knowledge, suffusions of knowledge, expansions of knowledge, embodiments of knowledge, principles of the ocean of knowledge, past efforts involved in the accomplishment of knowledge, attainments made possible by ascertainment and entry into the modes of practice of knowledge, attainments of knowledge involved in the method of total integration of perfect knowledge, attainments of knowledge of truth comprehending right and wrong, attainments of knowledge of actions, of lands, of ages, of past, present, and future, attainments of knowledge of the emergence of buddhas, attainments of knowledge of buddhas, attainments of knowledge of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge originating in the mind of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the particular states of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the origins of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the orientation of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the vows of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the cycles of teaching of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of enlightening beings’ ascertainment of what is right, attainments of knowledge of principles of the ocean of practice of enlightening beings, attainments of knowledge of the multitude of enlightening beings’ doctrines, their spheres, their hidden resources, and their courses of action—all the principles of enlightening beings connected with consummate knowledge of infinite objects, Sudhana saw being embodied by emanations from the goddess to develop sentient beings to maturity. He saw multitudes of embodiments of the forms of all kinds of beings emanating from the goddess, filling the cosmos, appearing before all sentient beings, and developing them to maturity.

  He also saw projections of the streams of good thoughts rising in the goddess’s past lives, beginning with the preparations of her initial aspiration, the continuing successions of commendations of aspiration to enlightenment, the continuous successions of death and rebirth, the continuous successions of incarnation, the continuous successions of names, the continuous successions of visits to spiritual benefactors, the continuous successions of harmonizations with buddhas, the continuous successions of absorption of every sentence and syllable of the teachings of buddhas, the continuous successions of states of mind in carrying out the path of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of attainment of concentrations, the continuous successions of pervasion of vision of all lands, the continuities of the circles of knowledge of the succession of ages, the continuous succession of penetrating knowledge of the cosmos, the continuous succession of knowledge observing the realms of sentient beings, the continuous succession of knowledge of individual deaths and rebirths, penetrating the ocean of principles of the cosmos, the continuous successions of contemplative knowledge purifying the celestial ear, the continuous successions of media of access of wisdom observing the minds of all sentient beings, the continuous successions of media of initial access of the celestial eye, the continuous successions of initial perceptions of the celestial ear, the continuous successions of initial knowledge of others’ thoughts, the continuous successions of initial recollections of the past states of self and others, the continuous succession of the initial circumstances of attainment of uncontrived mystic powers based on nonbeing, the continuous succession of pervading everywhere by exercise of great mystic powers, the continuous succession of attainments of liberations of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of comprehension of the inconceivable principles of the ocean of liberations of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of mystic transformations of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of procedures of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of attainments of enlightening beings, the continuous successions of impressions of enlightening beings, the continuous succession of entries into the path of enlightening beings, and so on, including the night goddess’s continuous successions of entries into the most subtle knowledge of enlightening beings. He saw projected bodies emanate from each pore of the goddess, expounding the Teaching to sentient beings, elucidating, clarifying, demonstrating, discussing, analyzing, extending, categorizing, explaining, communicating, and conveying it to them.

  He saw some teaching with the sound of wind, some with the sound of water, some with the sound of fire, some with the sound of the ocean, some with the sound of earth quaking, some with the thrilling sound of mountains crashing together, some with the sweet sound of celestial cities trembling, some with the sound of celestial palaces crashing together, some with the voices of celestial beings, some with the voices of various fantastic beings and entities, some with the voices of human chiefs, some with the voices of Brahma chiefs, some with the songs of nymphs, some with celestial music, some with the sound of jewels, some with the voices of all living beings, explaining the sphere of the night goddess’s liberation to sentient beings. Thus he saw the range of the night goddess’s liberation, with the attainment of perfection proceeding from her first aspiration, including her sport in liberation, being communicated to all sentient beings by means of multitudes of embodiments of enlightening beings, various utterances of enlightening beings, multitudes of emanation bodies of buddhas, and various utterances of buddhas.

  He saw untold buddha-lands in the ten directions being purified in each instant of thought by each of her hosts of projected bodies; he saw infinitely varied oceans of sentient beings being liberated from all ills and miseries; he saw infinitely varied sentient beings being led to celestial and human states; he saw infinitely varied multitudes of sentient beings being led to the stages of individual liberations. In each moment of thought Sudhana saw infinite masses of sentient beings going through the ten stages; he listened, reflected, investigated, discerned, contemplated, approached, followed, entered, and made himself equal thereto, by the mystical power of the night goddess’s enlightening liberation characterized by the immensity of the inconceivable joy of universal good, by the development of inconceivable roots of goodness through having performed the same practices in the past and having been empowered by the support of the enlightened, and by having become a vessel of universally good enlightening practice.

  Then Sudhana, imbued with the light of the ocean of ecstasy of enlightening beings, empowered by the buddhas of the ten directions, stood reverently before the night goddess Pramuditanayanajagadvirocana and sang her praises in such terms:

  For measureless eons you have studied

  The profound nature of the buddhas,

  Progressively extending throughout the worlds of the ten directions,

  Appearing according to the minds of the beings therein.

  Knowing them to have no self, no master,

  To be always confused by untruth and false ideas,

  By occult powers you manifest many kinds of bodies

  And guide sentient beings.

  Infinite, tranquil, the reality-body

  Is nondual and pure:

  Sentient beings clinging to duality

  You guide by myriad emanations.

  While you have no attachment

  To mind or matter,

  You guide the world

  By emanation of perfect forms.

  Detached from the internal and the external,

  Having left the ocean of mortality,

  You manifest infinite reflections

  In the states of mundane existence.

  You have no vacillation,

  No vain imaginations or false ideas;

  To the ignorant attached to falsehood you show

  The inherent nature of things to guide them.

  Single-minded for many eons

  On the states of the ocean of all concentrations,

  To make offerings to buddhas everywhere, you send forth

 
; Multitudes of emanations from your pores.

  You enter the way to the powers of buddhas

  In every moment of thought:

  Striving to save all beings,

  You show them incarnations like themselves.

  Observing the ocean of being,

  Its variety of actions and various forms,

  Showing the path of nonobstruction by things,

  You purify sentient beings.

  Your body, of splendid appearance,

  Is purified by the practice of universal good:

  In command of the minds of beings,

  You manifest the form of a goddess in the world.

  Having praised the goddess with these verses, Sudhana said to her, “How long have you been devoted to supreme perfect enlightenment, and how long ago did you attain this enlightening liberation characterized by the immense pure energy of the joy of universal good?”

  The goddess answered him, “I remember, many eons ago, past as many eons as atoms in the world, the land Blissful Light of Jewel Radiance, in the eon Silent Sound, filled with a hundred duodecillion sets of four continents, in the center of which were four beautiful continents, extending as far as the light of a mountain of jewels, filled with a hundred duodecillion royal cities, in the center of which was a delightful city Fragrant Banner, radiant with jewels: therein lived a wise king named Lord of the People, a world ruler, adorned with the thirty-two marks and eighty embellishments of great people, born spontaneously from a lotus calyx, his body shining gold, his light filling the continent all at once, spreading through the sky. He had a thousand sons, all with the constitution of heroes, ten million ministers, learned, intelligent, wise, and ten million concubines, beautiful as goddesses, expert in the arts of love, affectionate, altruistic, kind, attentive to the king. That king ruled the whole four continents and enriched them by the power of justice. I was the main wife of that king, with a clear voice and a pleasing body; my aura of pure golden light extended a thousand leagues. One night as the king, his sons, and his retinue slept, the sounds of singing ended, and as I was peacefully asleep in bed, in the middle of the night a buddha appeared in the world and filled the ten directions with infinite mystic projections, pervading everywhere with various magical bodies imbued with glorious oceans of light, as many as atoms in all lands. The earth, including the mountains, quaked, announcing the appearance of the buddha; gods, titans, humans and spirits, were all thrilled at the emergence of the buddha. The buddha’s emanations came forth from every pore; pervading the worlds of the ten directions, they taught according to people’s mentalities. The buddha showed me all those infinite manifestations in a dream: hearing those profound teachings, I was joyful while dreaming. Ten thousand night goddesses stood in the sky above me, describing the buddha in celestial tones and telling me to wake: ‘Arise, O queen, a buddha has appeared in your realm, hard to meet in a hundred oceans of eons; those who behold him are happy and purified.’ I became joyful, and on awakening I saw an immaculate light. Seeing this light, immediately I beheld the buddha at the enlightenment tree, adorned with the thirty-two marks, oceans of lights streaming from his pores, rising above all like the polar mountain. Seeing him, I joyfully wished to become like that; I made this vow upon seeing the grandiose manifestation of Buddha. I woke the king and his concubines, and when they saw the light of Buddha they were thrilled. I went to the buddha with my husband, accompanied by millions of people and troops. I made offerings to the buddhas for twenty thousand years, giving precious substances, the earth, and its seas. The buddha expounded myriad scriptures, multitudes of virtues, an ocean of vows, and the adornments thus produced, explaining the origins of all buddhas according to mentalities in this world. That night goddess awakened me for my benefit, and then I was inspired with compassion, eager to become like this and then awaken the heedless. This was my first aspiration to supreme enlightenment, and while coming and going in the oceans of being, I have never lost this resolve.