by Donald Lopez
On that occasion once again as many buddhas as there are sands in ten Ganges rivers spoke this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra with single mind and single voice, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down or have others write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra as spoken, even if his lifespan is gone, comes to have a full span of one hundred years. He once again will increase his lifespan. [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will never be reborn in the hells. He will never be reborn among the beasts, nor even in the world of Yama, the king of the dead. In whatsoever circumstances he is reborn, he will everywhere have the memory of his former lives, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will thereby have brought about the writing down and preservation of the eighty-four thousand volumes of the teachings, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will thereby have brought about the creation and preservation of the eighty-four thousand masses of the teachings, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will have his actions of the five types leading to immediate retribution come to an end. [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down neither Māra, nor gods belonging to Māra’s entourage, nor yakṣas, nor rakṣasas nor untimely death or disasters will find an opportunity to attack, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down ninety-nine billions of buddhas will at the moment of his death present with a vision face-to-face, and a thousand buddhas will offer him their hands. They themselves will lead him from one buddha-field to another; in this regard there must be no doubt, hesitation or uncertainty, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down the four great guardian kings, constantly following behind him, will protect, guard and defend, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will be reborn in the world-realm Sukhāvatī, the buddha-field of the tathâgata Amitābha. [dhāraṇī]
On whatever spot of earth they write down or have others write down this precious Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra, that spot of earth will become a true shrine, worthy of honour, worthy of veneration, worthy of worship. All animals whatsoever, whether beasts or birds, upon whose ears it so much as falls will become fixed from back-sliding in the path. They will awaken to unexcelled perfect awakening, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will never be born a woman, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down will never be born poor, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down, who donates even one small coin of charity in the name of this discourse on the teaching, becomes thereby one who has given charity equal to three thousand times many thousands of world-realms filled with the seven jewels, [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will zealously worship this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra thereby will have done worship of all the entire complete teachings, [dhāraṇī]
It is possible to calculate the amount of the mass of merit produced by worship of [the six buddhas of the past, and Śākyamuni, namely] the tathāgatas Vipaśyin, Śikhin, Viśvabhū, Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa and Śākyasiṃha with an offering filled with the seven jewels, but not to calculate the amount of the mass of merit of the Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra. [dhāraṇī]
It is possible to calculate the amount of the mass of merit produced by giving in charity a heap of jewels equal to Sumeru, the king of mountains, but not to calculate the amount of the mass of merit of the Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra. [dhāraṇī]
The four seas may be filled with water, and it is possible to calculate one by one the number of drops of water they contain, but not to calculate the mass of merit of the Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra. [dhāraṇī]
Whosoever will write down this Aparimitāyuḥ-sūtra or have others write it down, and zealously worship it, will thereby worship and honour all tathāgatas in all the buddha-fields of the ten directions, [dhāraṇī]
Then the Blessed One at that time spoke these verses:
A buddha arises through the power of charity.
The lion of men realizes the power of charity.
The cry of the power of charity is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
A buddha arises through the power of discipline.
The lion of men realizes the power of discipline.
The cry of the power of discipline is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
A buddha arises through the power of patient acceptance.
The lion of men realizes the power of patient acceptance.
The cry of the power of patient acceptance is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
A buddha arises through the power of vigour.
The lion of men realizes the power of vigour.
The cry of the power of vigour is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
A buddha arises through the power of concentration.
The lion of men realizes the power of concentration.
The cry of the power of concentration is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
A buddha arises through the power of wisdom.
The lion of men realizes the power of wisdom.
The cry of the power of wisdom is heard
When one has entered into the city of compassion.
[dhāraṇī]
The Blessed One proclaimed this, and glad at heart the monks, bodhisattvas and mahāsattvas, that whole assembly, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, garuḍas and gandharvas rejoiced in the preaching of the Blessed One.
The Ārya-aparimitāyur nāma mahāyāna-sūtra is completed.
Translated by Jonathan Silk from Max Wallesser (ed.), Aparimitāyur-jñāna-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtram: Nach einer nepalesischen Sanskrit-Handschrift mit der tibetischen und chinesischen Version, Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaft: Phil.-hist. klasse, Jahrgang 1916, Band VII, 12. Abhandlung (Heidelberg: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1916).
48
TRANSFORMING DEATH INTO BUDDHAHOOD
The famous Tibetan Book of the Dead sets forth a technique for using death and rebirth to progess on the path to enlightenment. Here, death is followed by something called the ‘intermediate state’ (bar do in Tibetan), a period in which consciousness wanders in search of the next place of rebirth, a period that can last as long as forty-nine days. The intermediate state is followed by the next lifetime. Each of these three stages – death, the intermediate state and rebirth – can, with proper instruction, be transformed from the path of saṃsāra into the path of achieving buddhahood. There are many such instructions in the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and they share a conception of the process of death, a conception developed in the tantric traditions of India.
According to one tantric physiology, during the process of death, the winds or subtle energies that serve as the vehicles for consciousness withdraw from the network of 72,000 channels that course throughout the body. Among all these channels, the most important is the central channel, which runs from the genitals upward to the crown of the head, then curving down (according to some systems) to end in the space between the eyes. Parallel to the central channel are the right and left channels, which wrap around it at several points, creating constrictions or knots that prevent wind from moving through the central channel. At these points of constriction, there are also networks of smaller channels that radiate throughout the body. These points are called wheels
(cakras). These are often enumerated as seven: at the forehead, the crown of the head, the throat, the heart, the navel, the base of the spine, and the opening of the sexual organ.
As death approaches, the four elements of the human body – earth, water, fire and wind – begin to ‘dissolve’ in the sense that they can no longer support consciousness. With each dissolution, the dying person undergoes a different sensation. By the end of this process, the sense consciousnesses have ceased to operate. At this point, conceptual consciousnesses dissolve. The winds from the channels that course through the upper part of the body have further withdrawn from the right and left channels and have gathered at the crown of the head at the top of the central channel. When these winds descend through the central channel to the heart wheel, what appears to the mind of the dying person changes from a burning butter-lamp to a radiant whiteness, described as being like a pure autumn night sky before dawn, pervaded by moonlight. This appearance of whiteness is caused by the downward movement of the white drop of semen received from the father at the moment of conception. Next the winds from the lower part of the body enter the central channel at the base of the spine and ascend to the heart. This produces an appearance of a bright red colour, like a clear autumn sky pervaded by sunlight. This appearance of redness is caused by the upward movement of the red drop of blood received from the mother at conception. The red and the white drops surround what is called the indestructible drop located in the centre of the heart cakra. This drop, white on the top and red on the bottom, encases the most subtle wind and the most subtle form of consciousness, called the mind of clear light. At the seventh stage, the winds that have gathered above and below enter into the heart centre, bringing about an appearance of radiant blackness, like a clear autumn sky in the evening after the sun has set and before the moon has risen, pervaded by thick darkness. Here, it is said that the dying person loses mindfulness, swooning in the darkness into unconsciousness. Finally, in the last stage, the mind of clear light dawns with the natural colour of the sky at dawn, free from sunlight, moonlight and darkness. This is death. If this mind of clear light can be recognized at this moment of death and used to contemplate the nature of reality, called emptiness, then death can be transformed into the ‘truth body’ (dharmakāya) of a buddha. The intermediate state can then be transformed into an ‘enjoyment body’ (saṃbhogakāya) of a buddha, and rebirth can become the ‘emanation body’ (nirmāṇakāya).
Death is a harrowing experience, and, in order to make this vital transformation, extensive practice is required. There are thus numerous texts that provide instructions on how to transform death, the intermediate state and rebirth into the three bodies of a buddha. The first section of one such text is presented here. It was written by Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1570–1662), a famous scholar who was named the first Pancheṇ Lama by his disciple the fifth Dalai Lama. The Pancheṇ Lama’s text is a commentary on instructions by Tsong kha pa (1357–1419), considered the founder of the Dge lugs sect of Tibetan Buddhism. (Since the Pancheṇ Lama’s commentary assumes that its reader has memorized the manual of the practice, translations of relevant passages from Tsong kha pa’s manual are supplied in a number of places below.)
Instructions for transforming the process of death into buddhahood typically focus on one of a number of tantric buddhas. Here, the wrathful buddha Vajrabhairava is the focus of the practice. He is first invited with his retinue from his buddha-field. Next (at A2 below) the meditator performs a standard sevenfold practice (which is not included in the text because it would be known by anyone performing the instructions; it consists of prostrations, offerings, confession of sins, rejoicing in the merit of others, dedicating one’s merit towards the enlightenment of all sentient beings, taking refuge in the three jewels and generating the mind for enlightenment). This is followed by taking the tantric vows, and meditating on the four immeasurables of love, compassion, joy and equanimity.
The process of death is then simulated, ending with the dawning of the mind of clear light. This most subtle form of consciousness is used to contemplate emptiness, through the use of two mantras. In this tradition, the truth body of a buddha is defined as the omniscient consciousness of a buddha in direct realization of emptiness, and this is what the practitioner is seeking to replicate. With the entire ordinary universe dissolved into emptiness, that emptiness can then serve as the foundation of a new identity: the body of a buddha enthroned in a maṇḍala palace. Prior to this stage, it is necessary to construct a protective enclosure around the site of the maṇḍala, and the excerpt here concludes with instructions on how this enclosure is to be created, with wrathful gods posted as guardians in the ten directions.
Explaining the Yoga of [Taking] Death [as] the Dharma-body, together with the Preparatory Ancillaries for the Practice of Accomplishment
A. THE METHOD OF ACCUMULATING THE ACCUMULATION OF MERIT which corresponds to the formation of the meritorious karma that serves as a cause for obtaining rebirth as a person in Jambudvīpa, born from a womb and endowed with the six constituents [of the physical and subtle bodies], who is a receptacle for practising tantra.
1. THE METHOD OF INVITING THE ASSEMBLY FIELD [of Vajrabhairava and his entourage]: While there are many methods for invitation, such as invitation from the natural place – for instance inviting the aspect of the form body from the very nature of enlightened wisdom of indivisible bliss and emptiness, or invitation from a particular place such as Akaniṣṭha, etc., for this occasion there is a [particular] method for performing it. Visualize yourself as Vajrabhairava with one face and two arms. At your heart are a lotus and sun and moon discs. From the letter hūṃ that abides there [at your heart] emanates a ray of light that illuminates limitless buddha-fields of the enjoyment bodies in the ten directions, and invites, into the space in front of you, Vajrabhairava surrounded by countless peaceful and wrathful enlightened beings that abide there [in those buddha-fields]. The ray of light then dissolves back into your heart.
2. THE METHOD OF ACCUMULATING THE ACCUMULATION OF MERIT [THROUGH OFFERINGS] TO THAT [ASSEMBLY FIELD].
B. THE METHOD OF MEDITATING ON THE EMPTINESS OF THE GROUND OF ENLIGHTENED WISDOM which corresponds to the actualization of the clear light of death.
1. EXPLAINING THE BASIS OF PURIFICATION. There is a method for actualizing the clear light of death by a person of Jambudvīpa who is born of a womb and endowed with the six [bodily] constituents. At the time of his or her death, at first when the earth dissolves into water, as an outer sign there is a sensation that the body sinks, and as an inner sign there arises an appearance resembling a mirage. When the water dissolves into fire, as the outer sign the lips and tongue become dry and residue is formed on the teeth; as the inner sign there arises an appearance resembling smoke. When the fire dissolves into wind, as the outer sign the bodily warmth retracts from the extremities, and as the inner sign there arises an appearance resembling fireflies. When the wind dissolves into the consciousness, the movement of the outer breath ceases; as an inner sign arises an appearance resembling a burning butter-lamp. On the occasion of ‘appearance’, when the winds which stir the conceptual thoughts dissolve into ‘appearance’, there arises the appearance of whiteness, which is like the clear autumn sky pervaded by moonlight. On the occasion of ‘increase’, when ‘appearance’ dissolves into ‘increase’, there arises the appearance of redness, which is like the clear autumn sky suffused by sunlight. On the occasion of ‘near attainment’, when the ‘increase’ dissolves into ‘near attainment’, there arises the appearance of blackness, resembling [the clear autumn sky] pervaded with the pitch darkness of night. On the occasion of clear light, when the ‘near attainment’ dissolves into clear light, there arises the appearance resembling the empty colour of the sky itself at dawn, devoid of the three ‘ornaments’ which create contamination. By means of these the clear light of death is actualized.
2. THE METHOD OF MEDITATING ON EMPTINESS WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THIS.
a
. EXPLAINING THE ACTUAL METHOD OF MEDITATION ON EMPTINESS BY MEANS OF CONTEMPLATING THE MEANING OF THE TWO MANTRAS. [The first mantra is oṃ svabhāvaśuddhoḥ sarvadharmāḥ svabhāvaśuddho ‘ham.] The meaning of this mantra is: the three [components] of the oṃ – a,u and ṃ – symbolize the three vajras of the body, speech and mind…. That these three become one, symbolizes the indivisibility of the three vajras… svabhāva is nature, śuddhāḥ is pure, sarvadharmāḥ is all phenomena, [and together:] pure by nature are all phenomena comprised by the grasped [the object]. Then, svabhāvaśuddho is as before, and aham is I, [and together:] pure by nature are all phenomena comprised by the grasper [the subject]. In short, [this mantra] indicates the emptiness of all phenomena comprised by [both] the grasped and the grasper that are pure by nature.
[The second mantra is oṃ śūnyatā-jñāna-vajra-svabhāvaātmako ’ham.] Oṃ has been explained already, śūnyatā is emptiness, jñāna is enlightened wisdom, vajra is indivisible, svabhāva is nature, ātmaka is essence, and aham is I. That indivisible essence of both emptiness – the objective sphere, and the great bliss enlightened wisdom – the subjective sphere, is I. While contemplating this, set your I-principle at the dharma-body – the mind of the Victorious One, and meditate….
By means of thinking on the meaning of both mantras, [the assembly field, to which offerings have been made] is united with emptiness. In this way, the phenomenal entities of oneself, the assembly field, and all things beside these, are empty by nature, devoid of essence, and free of the four extremes such as eternalism and nihilism. Being dependent on their own basis of imputation, they are mere labels.
b. EXPLAINING THE METHOD OF APPLYING THE CORRESPONDENCES TO THE BASIS OF PURIFICATION. This method of meditation on emptiness by means of contemplating the meaning of the two mantras, is called the yoga of taking death as the dharma-body. With regard to the basis of purification, this [meditation on emptiness] corresponds to a person in Jambudvīpa, born from a womb and endowed with the six constituents, who has dissolved successively the twenty-five coarse elements [as in the dissolution at death described above], and has actualized the clear light of death…. At the time of fruition, this [meditation on emptiness] corresponds to the dharma-body, the mind of the Victorious One in which the [objective] realm endowed with the two purities and the [subjective] great bliss innate enlightened wisdom free from obscurations, are fused into one taste. By making such a fruition into the path, you will be established in the special capability of actually being the dharma-body.