The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  According to The Scripture of the Great Ultimate Extinction, the fragmentation of the Buddha’s teaching, with different factions using parts of the teaching as claims to their own authority, was to be expected as a characteristic degeneration. The Scripture on Unlocking the Mysteries, revealing certain advanced teachings, represents this as already happening to mentally isolated Buddhist groups in the time of Gautama Buddha and explains its technical inefficiency.

  Legend has it that the comprehensive teaching of The Flower Ornament Scripture was under these conditions withdrawn for a time, until the advent of a major renewer, the great Nagarjuna, who studied all aspects of Buddhist learning and recovered the teaching of The Flower Ornament Scripture “from the ocean.” Consistent with his role in revitalizing the comprehensive teaching, Nagarjuna is also regarded as ancestor of all the major branches of East Asian Buddhism, including the Zen, Pure Land, and Tantric schools.

  Turning from legend to history, it must be admitted that the terrestrial source of The Flower Ornament Scripture is unknown. This is a characteristic it has in common with the other great scriptures of the universalist Buddhist tradition, but the range of this scripture and the multitude of far-flung branches of the school it comprehends places it in a class by itself. It appears to be the product of an esoteric association like the later Sarmoun “Bees” who are said to traverse the world gathering the “honey” of knowledge from relict deposits.

  The Sarmoun is the inner branch of the Designers, recognized for the last five hundred years as the most comprehensive school of Sufism. Teachings projected by the Designers and their associates have been outwardly connected by observers, and inwardly connected by practitioners, with every major religion in the world, a phenomenon easily understood in reference to the activities of the Bees. The idea of restoration of lost knowledge parallels the legend of the recovery of The Flower Ornament Scripture, and the connection with all religions also parallels the claim of the scripture that true teaching has been represented in all cultures and in all faiths.

  When Buddhism began to filter into China to revitalize that delapidated civilization in the early centuries of the common era, The Flower Ornament Scripture was among the first sources of study materials in translation. At first only a limited number of ideas from the great body of the Teaching were introduced to broaden the mental horizons of the Chinese, but by the early fifth century a nearly complete translation was available. Some two centuries later a more comprehensive version was produced, not only adding teachings missing from the earlier work but also rendering the text in a far more skillful and readable translation.

  Unifying the scattered lore of complete Buddhism, The Flower Ornament Scripture presents a scheme of fifty-two stages of enlightenment in five or six ranks. The five ranks are known as the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications, the ten stages, and universal enlightenment. The designation of six ranks adds to this the final rank of sublime enlightenment.

  During the early absorption of Flower Ornament teachings in China, special attention was given to the ten stages, which are described in a book of the scripture that traditionally circulates as a single volume and was separately translated into Chinese at least five times. The book on the ten stages is without a doubt one of the key sections of the scripture, one of only two that still exist in the Sanskrit language from which so many Buddhist scriptures were translated.

  The other book still extant in Sanskrit is the thirty-ninth book of The Flower Ornament Scripture, the Gandavyuha, or Garland Scripture, known in the comprehensive Chinese edition as The Book on Entry into the Realm of Reality. This final book, of unparalleled beauty and grandeur, recapitulates the entire scheme of the fifty-two stages in the tale of a pilgrimage reflecting the total effort of the original recollectors of the comprehensive teaching of The Flower Ornament Scripture. It is this book that is the subject of the present volume, a commentary on the Gandavyuha composed by the great Li Tongxuan, a distinguished eighth-century Chinese Buddhist.

  There are two major Chinese commentaries on the complete translation of The Flower Ornament Scripture, the one by Li Tongxuan, a layman, and one by his contemporary Zhengguan, a monk. Zhengguan’s commentary, which also includes a subcommentary on the commentary, is largely done from the point of view of what is known as the School of Characteristics, and is typically encyclopedic and astonishingly detailed. In contrast, Li’s commentary, Huayan helun, is done from the point of view of what is known as the School of Essence and places tremendous emphasis on sudden enlightenment.

  When I translated the complete version of The Flower Ornament Scripture into English years ago, I used both Li’s and Zhengguan’s commentaries. No one who reads the latter could fail to be impressed by Zhengguan’s colossal scholarship; more difficult than the scripture itself, that commentary is a tour de force ranging over the enormous domain of Buddhist psychology and philosophy. A Western scholar once assured me that Zhengguan had wasted his time writing his commentary because no one would ever read it; and while I deeply lament this attitude, it is not difficult to understand it as an affirmation that the current state of Buddhist scholarship in the West is insufficient to make Zhengguan’s work comprehensible to the average reader of the present day.

  Li’s commentary, on the other hand, without the intensive detail that characterizes Zhengguan’s work, demonstrates the expansive embrace, vibrant aliveness, and sensitivity to symbolism typical of Chan Buddhism. Li emphasizes the point that The Flower Ornament Scripture is directed at ordinary people, and his commentary renders the scripture even more accessible to the nonspecialist. Nevertheless, produced as it was from a background of extensive learning in Buddhist teachings, it contains a great deal of material that makes sense only to someone similarly well versed in the whole range of Buddhist scriptures. For this reason I have chosen to use a Ming dynasty (14th–17th centuries C.E.) distillation of Li’s original commentary, adapted after the fashion of the time to present the essential teachings in a manner accessible to the nonspecialist.

  In recapitulating the teachings of The Flower Ornament Scripture, the Gandavyuha, The Book on Entry into the Realm of Reality, uses the format of a journey for knowledge. Sudhana, the inspired young pilgrim of the story, visits fifty-three teachers to learn the conduct of the bodhisattva, the enlightening being dedicated to liberation of the hidden resources of humanity. Quite out of keeping with the modern myth that the inner circle of living Buddhism was traditionally a male monkish elite, the story represents a small minority of the teachers as monks, and nearly half as females.

  The first ten teachers visited by Sudhana teach him the so-called ten abodes, which are explained in quite different terms in the fifteenth book of The Flower Ornament Scripture. The first abode, called the abode of inspiration or initial determination, is a preliminary stage in which the aspirant sets his or her mind on the comprehensive knowledge that characterizes fully awakened buddhas. In this abode practitioners serve buddhas, remain willingly in the world, guide worldly people to reject evil, instruct people in the Teaching and encourage them to practice it, learn the virtues of enlightenment, enter the company of the enlightened, teach tranquil concentration as an expedient, encourage detachment from compulsive routines, and provide protection for those who are suffering.

  The second abode, called the abode of preparing the ground, requires certain attitudes towards others: altruism and compassion, desire to give happiness and security, pity and concern, the desire to protect, identification, and the willingness to learn from everyone. Practitioners in this abode encourage and study formal learning, calmness, association with the wise, kind speech, timely speech, fearlessness, understanding, action in accord with the teaching, avoidance of folly and delusion, and stability.

  The third abode, called the abode of practice, involves contemplation of phenomena in certain specific ways: as impermanent, as irritating, as empty of ultimate reality, as selfless, as having no creation, as senseless, as not corresponding t
o the names conventionally given to them, as having no locus, as being beyond conception, and as lacking stable solidity. Here practitioners observe the realms of sentient beings; the realms of phenomena and principles; the realms of the world; the material elements; and the realms of desire, form, and formlessness.

  The fourth abode, called the abode of noble birth, is characterized by permanent access to the presence of the enlightened; deep and pure faith; careful examination of things; and knowledge of beings, lands, worlds, actions, consequences, birth and death, and nirvana. Practitioners in this abode endeavor to learn, practice, develop, and fulfill the teachings of past, present, and future buddhas; and they realize that all buddhas are equal.

  The fifth abode, called the abode of full equipment with skill in means, calls for practitioners to cultivate virtues for the salvation and benefit of others, to free others from trouble, to free others from the miseries of compulsive routines, to inspire pure faith, to harmonize and pacify others, and to enable others to experience perfect peace. In this abode practitioners learn that beings are infinite, inconceivable, and identityless; create nothing; and possess nothing.

  In the sixth abode, called the abode of the correct state of mind, the practitioners’ minds are unwavering regardless of whether they hear praise or vilification of buddhas, buddhas’ teachings, or enlightening practices. Their minds are also unwavering regardless of what they hear about sentient beings—that they are finite or infinite, defiled or undefiled, easy or hard to liberate. Practitioners are also undisturbed in mind regardless of what they hear about the origin or end of the universe or the existence or nonexistence of the universe. In this abode they learn in what respect all things are signless, are insubstantial, are impossible to cultivate, lack ultimate existence, lack true reality, are empty of absoluteness, have no identity, are like illusions, are like dreams, and cannot be apprehended conceptually.

  In the seventh abode, the abode of nonregression, the practitioner is firm and does not backslide, regardless of what is said about the existence or nonexistence of buddhas, of truth, of enlightening beings, or of the practices of enlightening beings. Similarly, the practitioner is undaunted by whatever may be said about whether enlightening beings do or do not attain emancipation; whether or not there were, are, or will be buddhas in the past, present, or future; whether buddhas’ knowledge is finite or infinite; or whether past, present, and future are uniform or not. Here the practitioner learns in what respect one is many and many are one, how expression accords with meaning and meaning accords with expression, how nonexistence is existence and existence is nonexistence, how formlessness is form and form is formless, how nature is natureless and naturelessness is nature.

  The eighth abode, called the abode of youthful nature, or innocence, is characterized by flawless thought, word, and deed. The practitioner takes on new modes of life at will; knows people’s various desires, understandings, realms, and activities; knows how worlds come into being and pass away; and is able to travel freely by psychic projection. Topics of study in this abode include knowledge, activation, maintenance, observation, and visitation of fields of enlightenment.

  In the ninth abode, the abode of the spiritual prince, practitioners know how people are born, how afflictions arise, how habits continue, and what techniques are to be employed to liberate people. They know innumerable teachings and understand manners. They know the differentiations of the world, they know past and future events, and they know how to explain both conventional and ultimate truth. In this abode they also study the skills, manners, contemplations, power, fearlessness, and repose of spiritual monarchs.

  In the tenth abode, the abode of coronation, the spiritual monarchs analyze, illumine, support, visit, and purify countless worlds; they observe and teach countless people, knowing their faculties, and cause countless people to strive for enlightenment and realize peace and harmony. The practitioners promote the knowledge that is proper to buddhas; knowledge of past, present, and future; knowledge of all worlds; knowledge of all beings; knowledge of all things; and knowledge of all buddhas.

  The next ten teachers instruct the pilgrim Sudhana in the ten practices, which are described in the twenty-first book of The Flower Ornament Scripture. The first one, called the practice of joy, or giving joy, is based on transcendent generosity. The practitioner is magnanimous in giving, without any concept of person, personality, human being, giver, or receiver. Exercising generosity in this way, the practitioner observes only the infinity of reality and the realm of beings and sees them as empty, signless, insubstantial, and indeterminate. In this way the practitioner develops pure generosity without taking pride in it.

  Second is what is known as beneficial practice, based on transcendent morality. The practitioner maintains pure discipline and self-control, free from attachment to material senses, without seeking power, status, wealth, or dominion. By knowing all things are unreal, practitioners are able to master life, death, and nirvana; to liberate themselves and others; to attain tranquillity, security, purity, dispassion, and happiness; and to foster these attainments in others. Practitioners aspire to follow the enlightened; to detach from mundane activities; to fulfill the qualities of buddhahood; to remain supremely equanimous and be impartial towards all; to understand objective reality clearly; to eliminate error; to cut through conceptualization; to abandon attachment; to achieve emancipation; and to abide mentally in supreme wisdom.

  The third, the practice of nonopposition, is based on transcendent tolerance. Practitioners develop humility and forbearance, refraining from harming others. Not seeking personal prominence or material gain, practitioners resolve to expound the Teaching to others so that they may get rid of all evil and put an end to greed, hatred, folly, pride, hypocrisy, possessiveness, jealousy, obsequiousness, and dishonesty. They transcend suffering by reflecting on the ultimate unreality of the body, detaching from the idea of self and all that pertains to it.

  The fourth, the practice of indomitability, is based on transcendent energy. Practitioners become free from mental poisons and direct their energy towards ending psychological afflictions; uprooting confusion; eliminating the compulsion of habit; and learning all about people, phenomena, time, and the powers and qualities of the enlightened.

  The fifth, the practice of nonconfusion, is based on transcendent meditation. Practitioners develop perfect mindfulness, so that their minds become undistracted, imperturbable, pure, open, and free from confusion. With this mindfulness they are able to hear and remember enlightened teachings and put them into practice without confusion. They are also able to change from one state of being to another without mental disturbance and to enter into all sorts of meditation states, realizing that they are all of the same essence. Practitioners attain true knowledge of phenomena and develop an increasingly vast sense of compassion.

  The sixth, called the practice of good manifestation, is based on transcendent wisdom. Here practitioners are pure and nonacquisitive in thought, word, and deed, realizing that thoughts, words, and deeds have no absolute existence. Free from falsehood, they are accordingly freed from bondage; they abide in the absolute essence of reality yet appear in life expediently, having no retribution for their actions. Practitioners realize the transcendental truth of emptiness, the inconceivability of reality; yet they never give up the will to enlighten others and always expand their sense of compassion.

  The seventh, the practice of nonattachment, is based on transcendent skill in means. Practitioners neither form attachments to the sacred nor feel aversion towards the mundane, holding the Teaching without proprietary sentiments and teaching people without emotional involvement. By virtue of their great commitment and will power, practitioners remain secure while teaching others, not becoming disturbed or discouraged, having attained nonattachment and independence.

  The eighth, the practice of the difficult-to-attain, is based on transcendent vows. Here practitioners perfect virtues that are difficult to attain and never abandon or wear
y of the vow of universal salvation. They understand that people do not really exist, yet they do not abandon them; they do not remain in the mundane world yet do not remain in transcendental nirvana either, always traveling back and forth to deliver others from the mundane to the transcendental. Practitioners observe all things to be ungraspable yet not nonexistent; they see things as they are, without neglecting their work of demonstrating the practices of enlightening activities wherever they are.

  The ninth, the practice of good teaching, is based on transcendent power. Here practitioners attain inexhaustible intellectual powers and boundless versatility in teaching, their compassion extending to all beings. They adapt to the faculties, natures, and inclinations of the people they address, and respond inexhaustibly to whatever questions or difficulties people bring them. Practitioners of good teaching are able to do this by discovery of the boundless resources of the potential of enlightenment, by attainment of the light of all truths, and by fulfillment with universal knowledge. They are void of worldliness yet enter into all worlds, acting as refuges, lights, and guides for others, revealing the powers of the enlightened.

  The tenth, the practice of truth, is based on transcendent knowledge. Here the practitioners develop knowledge of what is so and what is not so; knowledge of consequences of past, present, and future actions; knowledge of faculties, realms, and understandings; knowledge of where all paths lead; knowledge of defilement or purity and proper or improper timing of all meditations, liberations, and concentrations; knowledge of past abodes in all worlds; knowledge of clairvoyance; and knowledge of the end of all taints. Practitioners preserve the right teachings of the buddhas of all times for the benefit of all people and reach the source of the reality of the teachings of buddhas. Through the influence of the practitioners those who associate with them attain understanding, joy, and purity.