“Moreover, spiritual benefactors are mothers, giving birth to the family of buddhas; they are fathers, producing great benefit; they are nurses, protecting us from all evils; they are mentors, elucidating the learning of enlightening beings; they are guides, leading us into the path of transcendence; they are physicians, relieving us of the maladies of afflictions; they are like the Himalaya Mountains, growing the herb of knowledge; they are heroic warriors, protecting us from all perils; they are ferrymen, ferrying us across the torrents of the mundane whirl; they are helmsmen, delivering us to the treasure island of omniscience.
“Therefore, thinking in this way, you should continue to approach spiritual benefactors, with a mind like the earth, bearing all burdens unbendingly; with a mind like adamant, having an unbreakable will; with a mind like a mountain range, impenetrable to all miseries; with a mind like a servant, doing whatever is bidden; with a mind like a student, following all instructions; with a mind like a slave, willing to take on all tasks; with a mind like a nurse, not overcome by afflictions; with a mind like a servant, taking up any task obediently; with a mind like a street cleaner, getting rid of pride and conceit; with a mind like the full moon, appearing at the proper times; with a mind like a good horse, avoiding all unruliness; with a mind like a vehicle, carrying a precious cargo; with a mind like an elephant, tame and docile; with a mind like a mountain, unshakable; with a mind like a dog, not getting angry; with a mind like an outcaste youth, free from arrogance and egotism; with a mind like a bull with its horns cut off, stripped of all haughtiness; with a mind like an apprentice, free from inflated ideas of your own worth; with a mind like a ship, coming and going tirelessly; with a mind like a bridge, crossing over with the directions of spiritual benefactors; with a mind like a good son, looking up to the countenance of spiritual benefactors; with a mind like a prince, carrying out the directives of the spiritual king.
“Think of yourself as sick, and think of spiritual benefactors as physicians; think of their instructions as medicines, and think of the practices as getting rid of disease. Think of yourself as a traveler, and think of spiritual benefactors as guides; think of their instructions as the road, and think of the practices as going to the land of your destination. Think of yourself as crossing over to the other shore, and think of spiritual benefactors as boatmen; think of their instructions as a ford, and think of the practices as a boat. Think of yourself as a farmer, and think of spiritual benefactors as water spirits; think of their instructions as rain, and think of the practices as the ripening of the crops. Think of yourself as a pauper, and think of spiritual benefactors as the givers of wealth; think of their instructions as wealth, and think of the practices as getting rid of poverty. Think of yourself as an apprentice, and think of spiritual benefactors as mentors; think of their instructions as arts, and think of the practices as accomplishments. Think of yourself as fearless, and think of spiritual benefactors as heroic warriors; think of their instructions as attack, and think of the practices as vanquishing enemies. Think of yourself as a merchant, and think of spiritual benefactors as ship captains; think of their instructions as treasure, and think of the practices as obtaining treasures. Think of yourself as a good son, and think of spiritual benefactors as parents; think of their instructions as the family business, and think of the practices as the perpetuation of the family business. Think of yourself as a prince, and think of spiritual benefactors as the chief ministers of a spiritual king; think of their instructions as the precepts of kingship, and think of the practices as putting on the turban of truth adorned with the crest of knowledge and overseeing the capital of the spiritual sovereign.
“You should approach spiritual benefactors with these thoughts in mind. Why? With their attitude toward spiritual benefactors purified in this way, practicing the instructions of spiritual benefactors, enlightening beings grow in goodness, like plants, bushes, and trees growing up the mountains; they become vessels of all buddha-teachings, as the oceans are of water; they become repositories of all virtues, as the seas are of pearls; they purify the determination for enlightenment, as fire does gold; they rise above the world, like the polar mountain over the sea; they become unstained by things of the world, like a lotus in water; they reject all bad actions, as the ocean throws up a corpse; they increase in good qualities, as the moon grows brighter as it waxes; they illumine the reality realm, as the sun does the earth; they grow the bodies of vows of enlightening beings, just as children grow in the care of their parents.
“In short, enlightening beings who have put the instruction of spiritual benefactors into effect embody untold virtues, purify untold resolutions, develop untold enlightening faculties, purify untold mystic powers, perfect untold worthy practices, get beyond untold demons, abide by untold ways to truth, fulfill untold ways of purifying virtue and knowledge, fulfill untold deeds, purify untold modes of conduct, carry out untold vows.
“In sum, all practices of enlightening beings, all transcendent ways of enlightening beings, all stages of enlightening beings, all concentrations of enlightening beings, all mystic knowledges and spiritual powers of enlightening beings, all manifestations of mental command and intellectual power of enlightening beings, all knowledge of dedication and infinity of superknowledge of enlightening beings, all accomplishments of vows of enlightening beings, and all perfections of attainments of all aspects of buddhahood, derive from spiritual benefactors, are rooted in spiritual benefactors, are born of spiritual benefactors, are fostered by spiritual benefactors, are based on spiritual benefactors, are caused by spiritual benefactors, are produced by spiritual benefactors.”
Now Sudhana, hearing about the virtues and qualities of spiritual benefactors, about the infinity of practice of enlightening beings, and the vastness of the buddha-teaching, was thoroughly delighted and uplifted in mind. He then paid his respects again to the boy Shrisambhava and the girl Shrimati and took his leave.
Maitreya
Then Sudhana, his mind enriched by the instructions of spiritual benefactors, went to the region of Samudrakaccha, contemplating that instruction in the conduct of enlightening beings, strengthening his body by thinking of past activities inconsistent with proper conduct, controlling his thoughts by thinking of past mundane mental behavior not conducive to purification of body and mind, contemplating the greater common weal in the present by thinking of the vanity of past involvement in harmful mundane activities, establishing the power of forming correct ideas of the practice of enlightening beings by thinking of former untrue notions based on mere fancy, strengthening the will based on the excellence of striving for the welfare of all beings by thinking of the ills of past striving for his own personal benefit, increasing the energy of his faculties with great inspiration to strive to attain all elements of buddhahood by thinking of past indulgence in pleasure seeking; purifying his being with the vow of enlightening beings connected with correct perception in the present free from delusion by thinking of past endeavors made up of error inextricably bound up with delusion; unifying body and mind with great vigor in action by thinking of past accomplishment of tasks through exertion of great vigor and striving for the attainment of complete buddhahood in the present; developing great joy and happiness by thinking how it would be to go on forever as in the past—helpless amid the ills of unenlightened life—and instead dedicating himself to the aid and benefit of all beings by establishing all the teachings of enlightenment, developing energy in his faculties rooted in inconceivable good by seeing this present life as a cause of old age, sickness, death, and grief, an abode of assemblage and disintegration, and yet the basis and condition of carrying out the practice of enlightening beings forever, absorbing the buddha-teachings that mature sentient beings, seeing the buddhas and going to all their lands, attending all teachers of truth, keeping the instructions of all buddhas, seeking all truths, meeting all spiritual friends, realizing all elements of buddhahood, and embodying the vows of enlightening beings.
In this frame of min
d, with these thoughts, engaged in such reasoning, with faith in the grace of all enlightening beings, with admiration for the determination of all enlightening beings, with respect for the determination of all enlightening beings, with reverence for the purity of the senses of all enlightening beings, with the powers of purity of sense derived from attentiveness to the teachings of all enlightening beings, with clarity of mind deriving from respecting all enlightening beings, with provisions of roots of goodness deriving from faith in all enlightening beings, with varieties of offerings deriving from the accomplishments of all enlightening beings, with expressions of respect made equally to all enlightening beings, with observations of the variety of eyes developed in the bodies of all beings, with productions of arrays of descriptions of the conceptual worlds of all beings made with the clarity of expression of all enlightening beings, with perception of the state of presence in the abodes of all buddhas by fulfillment of the mystic power of all enlightening beings of past and present, with awareness of the miracles of buddhas and enlightening beings everywhere, following the all-pervasiveness of the bodies of all buddhas and enlightening beings in every single point, with perception of the light of superknowledge of the purity of vision of all enlightening beings, with a mind sense comprehending the network of all places as a whole, pervading all levels of the cosmos, with the power of accomplishment of vows, extending everywhere throughout the entirety of space, continuous through past, present, and future, ceaselessly penetrating all truths, entering all areas illumined by the instructions of all spiritual benefactors, by the penetrating power of faith and resolve, Sudhana, his mind pursuing such thoughts of respect, reverence, honor, submission, regard, empowerment, and determination, with the eye of knowledge intent upon the ground of the realm of such infinite knowledge, prostrated himself in front of the door of the great tower, chamber of the adornments of Vairocana, the illuminator.
Contemplating such application of accomplishment for a while, by the power of effectuation of resolute vows, deriving from intense faith, Sudhana projected himself continuously into the presence of all buddhas, and likewise into the presence of all enlightening beings, to the abodes of all spiritual benefactors, to all monuments of buddhas, to all statues of buddhas, to the abodes of all enlightening beings and buddhas, to the locations of all treasures of true teaching, to the presence of all monuments to saints and individual illuminates, to the vicinities of all groups of sages, worthies, and parents: he continuously projected himself into the presence of all beings, by entering into the totality of the body of knowledge, extending everywhere, by focusing attention through knowledge of control of formation of mental images.
And just as he prostrated himself before the great tower of the chamber of the adornments of Vairocana, in the same way he prostrated himself before all the aforementioned beings and objects throughout the cosmos.
“In this way, continuously mystically manifesting the eons of the endless future, by equanimity like the infinity of space, equanimity like the nonobstruction of the reality realm, equanimity toward the omnipresent ultimate limit of reality, the equanimity of absence of false notions in those who realize Thusness, the pervasiveness of perceptions of reflectional knowledge, equanimity toward thoughts as being like dreams, equanimity toward the representations of all worlds as being like reflections, equanimity toward conditional origins being like echoes, equanimity toward nonorigination, equanimity toward formation and disintegration, and equanimity toward the evolution of causal conditions as being equal to nonexistence, believing that development takes place according to actions, believing that results come about according to causes, believing that all Three Vehicles come to be according to accumulation of spiritual practices, believing that the appearance of all buddhas comes from faith, believing that all creations of offerings to buddhas come from devotion, believing that all projections of buddhas derive from respect, believing that the nature of all buddhas derives from the accumulation of virtues, believing that all arrays of mental adornments derive from wisdom and technique, believing that all buddha-teachings derive from vows, believing all the arrays of adornments spreading throughout the realm of realities, the sphere of omniscience, by the practices of all enlightening beings, derive from dedication; and by elimination of nihilism by knowledge of dedication, by elimination of the notion of permanence by knowledge of nonorigination, by elimination of erroneous views of causality by knowledge of causality, by elimination of false views by independent knowledge, by elimination of notions of self and others by knowledge of interdependence, by elimination of views attached to extremes by knowledge of the reality realm without extremes or mean, by elimination of the notion of transmigration by knowledge of the equal extinction of all abodes, by elimination of notions of becoming and decay by knowledge of nonorigination and nonextinction, by elimination of all views by knowledge of the nonorigination of emptiness, by dealing with the nonindependent nature of things with the power of knowledge of how to accomplish vows, by detachment from all notions of appearances by knowledge of the signless ultimate, due to the nature of things being unperishing like seeds producing sprouts, due to the nature of things being like the impression of a stamp, due to the nature of things being like seeing reflected images, due to the nature of things as being represented by sounds that are like echoes, due to the nature of things as arising from acts that are like illusions, due to the nature of things as rousing the formless world of mind, due to the nature of things as results conforming to the accumulation of causes and conditions, due to the nature of things as like developments according to accumulation of acts, due to the nature of things as outgrowths of skill in means, due to the nature of things as flowing into the transcendent equality of reality and unreality—with conscious thought accomplishing entry into knowledge thus, Sudhana prostrated himself before the great tower, the chamber of adornments of Vairocana.
After a long while, his being flooded by the energy of inconceivable roots of goodness, his body and mind refreshed, he rose from the doorstep of the tower, gazed with unblinking eyes at the great tower containing the adornments of Vairocana, circled it respectfully hundreds of thousands of times, and voiced these thoughts: “This is abode of those who dwell in the state of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness; this is the abode of those who dwell in the state of nonconceptualization of all things, those who dwell in the state of the unity of the cosmos, those who dwell in the state of ungraspability of the realm of beings, those who dwell in the state of the nonorigination of all things, those who dwell in the state of nonattachment to all worlds, those who dwell in the state of nonreliance on what all worldlings rely on, those who dwell in the state of having shed everything those who dwell in the state of independence from all supports, those who dwell in the state of independence of all bodily existence, those who dwell in the state of annihilation of all afflictive notions, those who dwell in the state of the essence of all things, those who dwell in the state of freedom from false imaginings, those who dwell in the state of detachment from all thought, those who dwell in the state of neither entering nor leaving all perceptions, those who dwell in the state of entry into profound transcendent wisdom, those who dwell in the state of capacity to penetrate the realm of reality in all its aspects, those who dwell in the state of ability to extinguish all afflictions, those who dwell in the higher state of wisdom free from all views, cravings, and conceits, those who dwell in the state of freedom arising from higher knowledge of all meditations, liberations, concentrations and spiritual attainments, those who dwell in the state of development of all spheres of concentration of enlightening beings, those who dwell in the state of presence with all buddhas. This is the abode of those who dwell in the state where one eon enters all eons and all eons enter one eon; those who dwell in the state of the totality of one land and all lands as one land; those who dwell in the state where one thing and all things, all things and one thing, harmonize without conflict; those who dwell in the state of the unity of one being and a
ll beings as one being; those who dwell in the state of nonduality of one buddha and all buddhas, all buddhas and one buddha; those who dwell in the state of instantaneous penetration of all meanings; those who dwell in the state of going to all lands in a single mental pulse; those who dwell in the state of appearance in the abodes of all beings; those who dwell in the state of willing welfare and happiness for all beings; those who dwell in the state of attainment of complete independence.
“This is the abode of those who have dropped all attachments to the world yet appear in the abodes of all beings in order to develop them to maturity; those who are not attached to any land but travel in all lands in the service of buddhas, those who travel in all lands to encompass the arrangement of all buddha-lands, without leaving where they are; those who are in the presence of all buddhas while free from attachment to the conception of Buddha; those who continue to associate with spiritual friends, even though they have no peer in any world in terms of knowledge; those who dwell in the abodes of all demons while yet being detached from passion; those who dwell in the state of comprehension of all ideas while their minds are clear of all ideas; those who adapt to all beings without duality between self and other; those who are physically present in all worldly realms without being cut off from the realm of reality; those who vow to remain in the world for all time without dwelling on the idea of long or short periods; those who appear in all worlds without moving from one spot.
“This is the abode of those who abide in the state of entering everywhere into the recondite realms of truth; those who dwell in the state hard to know; those who dwell in the profound state; those who dwell in the nondual state; those who dwell in the signless state; those who dwell in the unopposed state; those who dwell in the ungraspable state; those who dwell in the nonconceptual state; those who dwell in the state inconceivable to all individual illuminates; those who dwell in the state that is beyond the sphere of all demons; those who dwell in the state that is undefiled by any worldly objects; those who dwell in the state of the transcendent ways of enlightening beings; those who dwell in the state of conformity to the state of all buddhas.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 200