The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  When Maitreya withdrew his spiritual force, the scenes that had been manifested now disappeared. This is because the identities of phenomena are like dreams, like illusions, like shadows, like reflections, always there and yet always gone, always one and yet always different. Maitreya let Sudhana know the essence of true Thusness, naturally going along with conditions yet naturally reverting to essence.

  52. MANJUSHRI

  Then Maitreya sent Sudhana back to see his first benefactor Manjushri, showing that the ultimate result is the same as the cause, because the way into eternity of the silent function of universally illumined knowledge is not of the past, present, or future and has no beginning or end, no exit or entry.

  Sudhana traveled through a hundred and ten cities to see Manjushri, representing simultaneous certainty of the principles he had practiced. The unity of all buddhas and sentient beings in the same one real unverse is the place where Manjushri is seen.

  Manjushri reached out over a hundred and ten leagues to lay his right hand on Sudhana’s head, praising his ability to set out on these practical undertakings and be received by spiritual friends. Then he had Sudhana fulfill countless teachings, and had him enter the sphere of the practice of Universal Good. Laying the hand on the head symbolizes mutual identification of cause and effect. The hundred and ten leagues symbolize having passed through the causes and effects of the five ranks. Introduction to the realm of practice of Universal Good means introduction to perpetual practice of Universal Good after the fruition of buddhahood.

  After establishing Sudhana in his own place, Manjushri disappeared, illustrating how after the fruition of buddhahood one is not different from when one was among ordinary mortals. After one attains buddhahood, buddha is basically nonexistent, so Manjushri “disappeared.”

  Sudhana saw as many spiritual benefactors as atoms in a billion-world universe, in the sense that knowledge of the body of reality pervades the real universe evenly, so he saw everything everywhere as no different from the body of Manjushri, the personification of wisdom.

  53. SAMANTABHADRA

  Finally, in front of the Buddha’s seat at the diamond mine site of enlightenment, Sudhana escalated his awareness to the vastness of space, whereupon he saw Samantabhadra (“Universally Good”), sitting on a jewel lotus in front of the Buddha. This means that the aftermath of the fruition of buddhahood is ultimately not apart from the subtle principle of enlightenment, the diamond mine of knowledge, in the first attitude of faith, yet it activates the cosmic network of perpetual practice.

  Samantabhadra extended his right hand and lay it on Sudhana’s head, whereupon Sudhana attained as many concentrations as atoms in all buddha-fields. And just as Samantabhadra lay his hand on Sudhana’s head here, so did each Samantabhadra before every buddha in every atom of every world in the ten directions also lay his hand on Sudhana’s head, and Sudhana attained the same spiritual experience. This illustrates the eternal buddhahood of the real universe and its eternal practice of Universal Good; only upon reaching and according with these do you realize the buddhas are already enlightened and Universal Good is already in action. It also illustrates how the fulfillment of practice is not apart from cause—time does not shift, knowledge does not alter.

  With each step in the buddha-fields in the pores of Universal Good, Sudhana crossed untold worlds, but even traveling thus throughout the eons of the future one could not know the limits of the order of succession of oceans of lands in a single pore of the matrices of oceans of lands, of the differences in oceans of lands, of the interpenetration of oceans of lands, or of the formation and disintegration of oceans of lands; one could not know the limits of the oceans of buddhas or the oceans of congregations of enlightening beings. This is because such is the reality of the vast realm of infinite practice of Universal Good.

  Then Sudhana attained the ocean of practical vows of Samantabhadra, equal to Universal Good and equal to the buddhas, filling all worlds with one body, equal in sphere, equal in practice, equal in true awareness, equal in spiritual powers, equal in teaching, equal in kindness and compassion, equal in the freedom of inconceivable liberation. This illustrates how the ocean of infinite practices is carried out by all buddhas of all times and places. This is the ultimate enlightenment, in which there are no more ideas of attaining buddhahood or not attaining buddhahood.

  1. Chinese translates the name as if it were Sagaradhvaja.

  2. See nos. 22 and 33.

  GLOSSARY

  Glossary

  absolute state—Nirvana.

  action—As “karma” refers to doings that are conditioned by past habits and also condition future habits and states of development.

  adornment—All manifestations, all phenomena, may be referred to as “adornments.” The features of the world may be called adornments of space. Also, qualities are adornments of essence; specifically, virtue and knowledge are adornments of persons; beauty and harmony are adornments of worlds.

  anointed—Means “crowned,” based on the ancient Indian coronation ceremony of anointing the crown prince with the waters of the surrounding oceans; in this scripture it means anointment with the “elixir” of true knowledge. This is the highest of the ten abodes of enlightening beings (see Book 15), in which the knowledge of all aspects of enlightening practices is consummated; it is also used to describe the highest of the ten stages of enlightening beings (see Book 26), in which the ten powers of buddhahood are developed.

  Aparagodaniya—The western of the four continents of Indian Buddhist geography.

  bases of mystic powers—Four bases of spiritual powers: will, effort, concentration, and meditation.

  birthless—Refers to emptiness of absolute existence or individuality; as things have no independent individual existence or absolute reality, they are said to have no origin—the “origin” or “birth” of something specific is a point of definition conceived by the mind of the perceiver, not an inherent property of objects. From the point of view of relativity and continuity, as all things are part of one whole and have no separate existence, these are ultimately no boundaries or demarcations, no beginnings, so individual things have in themselves no point of origin as discrete entities outside of projected definitions.

  Brahma—Refers to a class of gods; or, as a proper name of an individual god, it refers to the god Brahma, associated with knowledge and creativity.

  Brahma heavens—See heavens.

  celestial devil—The ruler of the sixth heaven in the realm of desire, the heaven of control of or free enjoyment of others’ emanations; “others’ emanations” means the experiences of the senses, and the celestial devil is the grasping aspect of the cognitive faculty, which conceives attraction and repulsion and thus acts as a compulsive force and a source of confusion.

  celestial ear—Supernormal hearing, of extraordinary range and acuity.

  celestial eye—Clairvoyance, ability to see things and events at great distances; also referred specifically to seeing the births and deaths of sentient beings everywhere.

  child of Buddha—Or “offspring of Buddha”—an epithet of enlightening beings.

  compounded—Conditional, made up of elements, not having independent discrete existence; usually it is said that all things are compounded except space and nirvana.

  conqueror—An epithet of a Buddha, referring to the victory over oneself; also the term Victor is used.

  definitive marks of all things—(1) All actions are impermanent; (2) all actions involve suffering; (3) all things are selfless; (4) nirvana is ultimately tranquil.

  demons—Any attachment or obsession, anything that obstructs wisdom, is called a demon. Any delusion or force of distraction is called a demon. The so-called four demons are the demon of afflictions, the demon of the five clusters (q.v.) or mental and physical elements, the demon of death, and the Devil or the Most Evil One, the king of the heaven of free access to or control of others’ enjoyments, the highest of the heavens in the realm of desire, symbolic of
the conceptual or cognitive mind commandeered by desire.

  Devadatta—Arch villain of Buddhist myth, renegade from the original Buddhist order, said to have attempted to kill the Buddha.

  diamond realm—Existence seen as identical to emptiness and therefore indestructible.

  discriminatory thought—Thinking of percepts and concepts as objective realities, discrete and definitive; fixation on appearances while ignorant of essence. Discrimination is commonly used in the sense of false or arbitrary discrimination, notions not true to reality; it may also be used, however, in the sense of nonemotive, unbiased discernment. Context makes it clear which of these meanings is intended. Also, discrimination in the sphere of relative mundane truth may be temporarily suspended for the purpose of focusing the attention on absolute truth, then resumed with greater clarity, precision, and detachment in order to function in the ordinary world after the awakening of transmundane insight.

  dusts—The material world; used specifically to refer to sense data.

  eight difficult situations—Conditions in which it is difficult to be able to hear the teaching of enlightenment: hells, the state of hungry ghosts, the state of animals, earthly paradise, the heaven of long life, the conditions of deafness and blindness, the condition of intellectual brilliance in terms of worldly knowledge, and in times before and after the existence of a Buddha in the world.

  eight liberations—(1) Contemplating external form while still having internal images of form: this means looking at or contemplating “impure forms” such as decomposing corpses to inhibit the arising of physical desires and eliminate attachment to the body; (2) contemplating external form without internal images of form: this means observing impure external forms even after attachment to the body is quelled, in order to strengthen this detachment; (3) fulfilled stage of physical realization of pure liberation: this refers to observing “pure forms” which means only seeing light and color; “physical realization” means at this stage the body is filled with bliss; (4) absorption of the mind in the infinity of space; (5) absorption in the infinity of consciousness; (6) absorption in nothingness; (7) neither perception nor nonperception; (8) cessation of sensation and perception.

  eightfold path of sages—An ancient formulation of eight elements of the way to liberation: right seeing, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right recollection, right concentration. “Right” here means conducive to liberation.

  eighteen elements—Six sense faculties, six associated sense consciousnesses, and six fields of sense data—in combination these are the elements of experience.

  end of the right doctrine—It is said that spiritual teachings go through three stages: the first is when the genuine teaching is operative and there is practice and realization; second is a period of imitation, where there is practice but no true realization; third is the ending period, when the teaching is vitiated and has become an inoperative relic.

  enter—This word is commonly used in the sense of intellectual penetration, experiential understanding, realization, insight, vision.

  essence—Emptiness, or the conditional nature of things.

  field of blessings—Saints, enlightening beings, and Buddhas are called fields of blessings because of their beneficial effect on the world, and because giving to them produces blessings and felicity. Also, all beings may be called fields of blessings, for the reason that giving to others is productive of blessings or worldly happiness as well as furthering human development through nonpresumptuous generosity.

  five clusters—Components of living beings: matter (physical form), sensations, perceptions, (mental) conformations, consciousness. Traditionally this analysis is made for contemplation purposes, especially to convey the sense that the psychophysical being is not an irreducible unity, and to provide a framework for meditation on the emptiness of the ideas of self, soul, person, and individual life. They are called “grasping clusters” as long as they are characterized by clinging and attachment.

  five eyes—Five levels of perception: the physical eye, the celestial eye (clairvoyance), the eye of wisdom (perceiving emptiness of absolute reality), the objective eye (seeing things in the relative world as they are in fact, without subjective projection), and the Buddha-eye (including all of the preceding four eyes).

  five faculties—Faith, energy, recollection, concentration, awareness.

  five powers—Full development of the five faculties.

  five precepts—Basic precepts forbidding killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking alcohol.

  flower ornament meditation—Observation of the “net of Indra” principle, seeing all things as interrelated, seeing the unity of being.

  four bases of spiritual powers—(1) Will, or desire; (2) energetic effort; (3) concentration; (4) meditation. These are bases of higher psychic developments.

  four demons—Major sources of distraction and delusion: the demon of afflictions, the demon of the clusters, the demon of death, and the “celestial demon” of the conceptual faculty controlled by desire.

  four fearlessnesses—Four kinds of expertise, or infallibility, or confidence peculiar to Buddhas. In the Chinese tradition these are understood as freedom from fear of contradiction, or confidence, in realizing all truths; in awareness of extinction of all contaminations; in definitive description of all obstacles to enlightenment; and in accuracy of realization of all ways to emancipation. Indian tradition refers to these as types of expertise. There are also four kinds of expertise proper to enlightening beings: expertise in memory and explanation of teachings heard; expertise in protecting others by virtue of purity of thought, word, and deed, with nothing in one’s conduct harmful to others, this being attained as a result of realization of selflessness; rightly taking up the Teaching without heedlessness, attaining ultimate wisdom and skillfulness, liberating sentient beings, causing joy to all who see the enlightening being, and clearing away obstructions to enlightenment; and never forgetting the thought of omniscience, not seeking emancipation by any other way, attaining full mastery and benefiting sentient beings in all ways. (Also fourfold fearlessness)

  four formless concentrations—Absorption in the infinity of space, the infinity of consciousness, the infinity of nothingness, and in neither perception nor nonperception. (Also four formless attainments)

  four fruits of ascesis—The four stages of the vehicle of listeners; stream-enterers, once-returners, nonreturners, and saints.

  four gross physical elements—Earth, water, fire, air; these represent the material body and are used in contemplation of physical disintegration, to view the body as an object rather than a self, to develop dispassion.

  four immeasurable states of mind—Immeasurable kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; cultivated by enlightened beings.

  four intellectual powers—Knowledge of doctrines (or phenomenal facts and principles), meanings, phraseology, and appropriate expression. Also called the four powers of understanding and the four special knowledges, these are analytic and expository powers exercised in preaching and teaching. The four general aspects of enlightened knowledge are: mirrorlike knowledge (unbiased perception of things as they are, like a mirror that reflects impartially without grasping or rejecting); knowledge of essential equality (realization of the emptiness of absolute reality of all things); differentiating knowledge (distinguishing the relative characteristics of things); practical knowledge (involved in the accomplishment of tasks).

  four means of integration—Generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, cooperation; also called means of salvation, these are means by which enlightening beings integrate with the world and also integrate people into a buddha-land.

  four meditations—Four stages of meditation, each having several characteristic elements: (1) focused awareness, precise thought, joy, bliss, single-mindedness; (2) inner purity, joy, bliss, single-mindedness; (3) equanimity, mindfulness, precise knowledge, bliss, single-mindedness; (4) neither pain nor pleasur
e, equanimity, mindfulness, single-mindedness.

  four points of mindfulness—Contemplation of the body as impure, sensation as irritating, mind as impermanent and unstable, and things as ungraspable and identityless, these are used to develop detachment.

  four powers of understanding—See four intellectual powers.

  four right efforts—(1) Eliminating unwholesome states; (2) preventing further arising of unwholesome states; (3) developing good states; (4) increasing good states.

  four special knowledges—See four intellectual powers.

  four torrents—Desire, becoming, views, ignorance; currents that sweep the mind away from enlightenment and hold it in bondage by compelling force.

  freedom from birth—Detachment from the world.

  gandharva—A demigod; mythical celestial musician.

  gandharva city—A mirage or illusion.

  garuda—A fantastic birdlike creature.

  gate—A method, a means of access to understanding, a facet or aspect of experience; commonly used to refer to a way of entry into truth, a specific teaching or practice, or a particular perspective.

  gods—Representations of higher psychic faculties or meditative states without enlightenment.

  Guide—An epithet of Buddha.

  heavens—These are classified as belonging to the realm of desire, the realm of form, or the formless realm.

  Brahma heavens—or heavens of purity—are in the realm of form, free from lust, tranquil; there are three divisions—Brahma hosts or pure hosts, Brahma assistants, and great Brahmas. Brahma is the creator god of Hindu mythology.