菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經

Chapter 6: Perception and Non-Perception

At that time, the Blessed One said to Bodhisattva Maitreya:

– All those in the assembly today are of one and the same class, being solely those bound to one more birth. I shall now speak of consciousness, perception, and feeling; non-consciousness, non-perception, and non-feeling. At that time, how did the bodhisattva speak of consciousness, perception, and feeling? Thus did the bodhisattva distinguish and explain consciousness, perception, and feeling:

Consciousness is neither perception nor feeling.

Feeling is neither consciousness nor perception.

Perception is neither feeling nor consciousness.

Perception is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Feeling is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Consciousness is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Non-consciousness is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Non-perception is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Non-feeling is neither past, nor future, nor present.

Why is consciousness neither past, nor future, nor present? When a bodhisattva enters the unobstructed samadhi and teaches sentient beings who possess feeling and consciousness, from the ground of abiding in existence to the ground of non-abiding, this consciousness is neither past, nor future, nor present.

The great bodhisattva also teaches sentient beings who possess perception, from the ground of abiding to the ground of non-abiding.

The bodhisattva teaches sentient beings who possess feeling, from the ground of abiding to the ground of non-abiding.

At that time, Venerable Mahakasyapa immediately rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, and addressed the Buddha:

– Blessed One! What differences are there among mind, mentation, consciousness, feeling, and perception?

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– To know the body is to know that distinctions exist, for in a sentient being, from the feet up to the head, the various parts each have their own names. As stated in the sutra’s analogy of a tree, the roots, bark, trunk, branches, and leaves are all called the tree. So it is also with mind, mentation, consciousness, feeling, and perception.

Mahakasyapa addressed the Buddha:

– Blessed One! Perception is an external dharma, while feeling is an internal dharma. How, then, can they be considered one?

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– Perception comes from without and emerges from within.

Kasyapa addressed the Buddha:

– Blessed One! How can it be known that perception comes from without? If what is external has no form, from where does perception within arise? If an external object causes no injury, how can there be awareness of pain within?

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– This matter is not so. Why? Because this consciousness is neither outside, nor inside, nor at either side, nor in the middle. The place where consciousness abides is not a place where consciousness abides. External perception and external feeling are precisely internal dharmas, not external dharmas. Only if a great bodhisattva deeply believes in and understands the dharmas of the inside, the outside, and the middle can that bodhisattva clearly understand where consciousness abides. This is a sentient being; this is a non-sentient being. Even the dharmas of existence and nonexistence are neither this nor that. The bodhisattva then enters the unobstructed samadhi of solitary freedom.

Kasyapa addressed the Buddha:

– Hearing this Dharma teaching today, my heart has become still more doubtful. Why? According to what the Buddha has said, perception is also feeling, and feeling is also perception. The conscious dharma that discriminates consciousness is also perception and is also feeling and perception. Perception arises from the absence of feeling. Feeling arises from the absence of consciousness. Consciousness arises from the absence of perception. Absence is not the absence of consciousness; the absence of consciousness is not the absence of feeling; and the absence of feeling is not the absence of perception. Thus, the analogy of the tree is not fitting.

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– I shall explain this to you with another analogy. Through this analogy, the wise will all gain clear understanding:

Long ago, there was a king named Extraordinary. The king had four sons: the first was named Joy, the second Longevity, the third One Hundred Years, and the fourth Fearless.

The son named Longevity died before he was one month old.

The son named Joy had boils covering his entire body. Everyone who saw him was horrified, and his parents were deeply distressed and constantly grieved.

The son named One Hundred Years died before reaching one hundred days of age.

The son named Fearless had a cleft lip, an upturned nose, and crooked teeth. Everyone who saw him became frightened.

Feeling, perception, and consciousness are likewise so, differing very little from one another.

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– I shall explain consciousness, perception, and feeling to you, distinguishing each dharma individually:

Ninety-one kalpas ago, there was a king named Wisdom, who devoted himself to practicing the Ten Wholesome Actions and governed his people according to the true Dharma. Free from afflictions, he observed the mental activities of sentient beings. When he learned that those sentient beings held differing thoughts, he ordered a court official to inspect the kingdom. All who were blind were to be brought into the palace. Having received the king’s command, the official traveled throughout the kingdom and brought five hundred blind people into the palace courtyard. The king then had five hundred elephants led forth and lined up before the palace, and ordered each blind person to feel an elephant for himself.

Among the blind people at that time, one felt an elephant’s trunk, another its ear, another its head, another its leg, another its belly, and another its tail.

The king asked the blind people:

– What is an elephant like?

The one who felt the trunk said that an elephant was like a horn.

The one who felt the head said that an elephant was like a jar.

The one who felt the ear said that an elephant was like a winnowing basket.

The one who felt the belly said that an elephant was like a bamboo basket.

The one who felt the leg said that an elephant was like a pillar.

The one who felt the tail said that an elephant was like a broom.

At that time, the sighted people standing nearby saw this and laughed because the blind people could not perceive the elephant’s complete form. In a secluded place, the blind people discussed the matter among themselves. Each believed that he alone was correct, and they began to argue. Those sentient beings are likewise: their views of the dharmas of consciousness, perception, and feeling are all different.

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

– Suppose someone sets out a hundred kinds of food, including broken rice, whole rice, beans, large and small varieties of barley, sesame, and so forth. A person who happens to eat broken rice or whole rice does not know that there are other varieties belonging to beans or barley. Kasyapa, it is likewise here: the dharmas of feeling, perception, and consciousness are each different, yet contemplation of their dharma is neither mistaken nor different.

At that time, the Blessed One then spoke these verses to Kasyapa:

Seeing the forehead, one knows there is a head;

Seeing smoke, one knows there is fire;

Seeing clouds, one knows there will be rain;

Contemplating conduct, one knows its essential nature.

In empty space there are no footprints;

A reflection in water cannot be grasped.

When the Dharma teacher’s exposition reaches its end,

The fetters being exhausted, there is nirvana.

Perception ends within non-perception;

When feeling ceases, there is no feeling.

When consciousness ceases, there is no consciousness:

This is the unsurpassed path of pure conduct.

For innumerable kalpas,

I was constantly deceived by consciousness;

In this life and in lives to come,

I encountered no place of peace and bliss.

Now, while dwelling within the womb,

I distinguish the characteristics of all dharmas.

I do not see even the names “perception” and “feeling”;

How much less could there be a dharma of consciousness?

When the Blessed One spoke these verses, five hundred bhiksus attained the patience concerning the non-arising of dharmas. The minds of one thousand sentient beings delighted in non-activity, and their minds attained mastery within the realm of nirvana without remainder.

Chapter 7: Abiding and Non-Abiding

At that time, in the assembly there was a bodhisattva named Practice of the Dharma of Non-Abiding. He rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, joined his palms, and addressed the Buddha:

– Excellent! Excellent! All those in this great assembly delight in attaining wholesome benefit and in hearing the immeasurable meanings of the Tathagata’s Dharma. Only now have I heard that for which I vowed long ago.

Then, before the Buddha, he spoke verses of praise:

Empty space has no boundary;

You expound immeasurable meanings.

Existence and nonexistence neither arise nor cease;

In tranquil quiescence, there is neither feeling nor perception.

The Buddhas of the past

Cultivated generosity, morality, and patience.

Entering samadhi, their minds were undistracted;

The light of wisdom illuminated the world.

Such virtue cannot be measured.

Neither existent nor nonexistent

Its wondrous sound is utterly pure

Its impermanence is beyond compare

Its secret sound penetrates myriad kotis

Through this, Buddhahood is attained

The sound of the Dharma drum is heard afar

Each sound distinct from all the others

Like a Wheel-Turning King

At whose thought the seven treasures rain down

The Buddha’s voice resounds afar

Raining down the treasures of the seven factors of awakening

Preparing the Buddha’s place of enlightenment

Adorning the tree that bears the fruit of the Way

Neither abiding nor non-abiding

With loving-kindness and compassion, saving sentient beings

The thought in the mind accords with the body

Not shrinking from the hardships of painful kalpas

Only the Tathagatas of the ten directions

Bestow the seal and open the treasury of Dharma

We have now been able to hear it

And abide upon the shore of the unconditioned

Excellent indeed! The power of the Tathagata

Is vast and without boundary or bottom

There is no longer any place of release or bondage

The Dharma’s ultimate truth is the true characteristic

In the afflictive realm of desire

He teaches and transforms the ignorant

The Buddha preserves the profound and hidden meaning

And now reveals and disseminates it among sentient beings

The boundaries are without limit

All attain the unsurpassed Way.

After praising the Buddha with these verses, the Bodhisattva Non-Abiding addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Are the five skandhas of the past, future, and present, in their purity, non-abiding or not non-abiding? And are the thirty-seven factors of pure conduct, up to and including all of them, non-abiding or not non-abiding? Are the former, latter, and intermediate realms, ultimately pure or impure, non-abiding or not non-abiding? I do not perform actions, yet neither do I not perform actions; I practice neither pure conduct nor the absence of pure conduct. I beseech the World-Honored One to explain abiding and non-abiding.”

The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Non-Abiding:

“The characteristic of form is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The characteristic of feeling is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The characteristic of perception is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The characteristic of formations is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The characteristic of consciousness is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The purity of internal dharmas is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding. The purity of external dharmas is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding. The purity of both internal and external dharmas is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding. From the initial arising of the aspiration until one sits at the place of enlightenment, continually eliminating all deluded thoughts and purifying omniscience is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Completely removing all defilements so that sentient beings may become pure is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The purity of adorning Buddha-lands is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Entering the vajra samadhi and steadfastly maintaining one’s pure resolve is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Purifying and benefiting the body in every single instant is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Freely sporting in hundreds of thousands of pure samadhis is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Neither remaining on the ground of ordinary beings nor entering the abode of sages and saints, in purity, is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Not praising oneself by saying, ‘I have attained the fruit of the Way,’ in purity, is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

The thirty-two marks of a great being emit a great light that shines afar upon immeasurable worlds throughout the ten directions. All sentient beings who seek out that light are able to hear the Tathagata’s profound and wondrous Dharma. In accordance with their thoughts, teachings of superior, middling, and inferior levels are spoken, enabling all to become fully capable of clearly discerning that the abiding of dharmas is non-abiding, while non-abiding itself is also non-abiding.

Form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness, the twelve links of dependent origination, the four unobstructed wisdoms, emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, the four dhyanas, and the four immeasurable pure wisdoms are non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Using the power of spiritual abilities to enter the five destinies, in purity, is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.

Entering the gateway of liberation, and purifying the body of moral discipline, the body of concentration, the body of wisdom, the body of liberation, and the body of the knowledge and vision of liberation, is non-abiding, yet not non-abiding.”

The Buddha said to Kasyapa:

“I shall explain the pure pond of the eight flavors of the Dharma’s ambrosia. What are the eight? As I now sit at ease in the lecture hall, I see to the east a pure pond surrounded by corridors made of the seven treasures. At that very time, I do not teach sentient beings suffering, its accumulation, its cessation, or the path. Whoever drinks the water of this pond attains the fruit of the Way. This is said to have been created through the spiritual power of a bodhisattva. It is likewise in the south, west, and north.

“When I formerly attained Buddhahood, I followed the four cardinal directions clockwise; I did not attain Buddhahood by following the four intermediate directions. Attaining Buddhahood in the four intermediate directions is merely the manifestation of attaining Buddhahood and is not real. Why is this? Because, throughout innumerable asamkhyeya kalpas, the eight flavors of the Dharma have already been perfected. What are called the eight?

– First: the flavor of joy.

– Second: the flavor of exhaustion.

– Third: the flavor of concentration.

– Fourth: the flavor of arrival.

– Fifth: the flavor of purity.

– Sixth: the flavor of characteristics.

– Seventh: the flavor of immovability.

– Eighth: the flavor of non-ultimacy.

“These are the eight flavors within the pond.

“If any great bodhisattva drinks this ambrosial water, that bodhisattva will not fall into hell, the realm of hungry ghosts, or the animal realm, but will attain the unsurpassed Way. From the initial arising of the aspiration until sitting beneath the tree of enlightenment, the defilements of the mind are washed away, and forever nothing remains. Whoever possesses the water of the eight liberations within the pond of the seven factors of awakening progresses from the initial aspiration to liberation: not yet arrived, midway, or already arrived, dwelling between the two grounds. Only such a one is called a bodhisattva.

“If a bodhisattva, concerning the pond of water with eight flavors, discriminates and asks about its taste—‘This is a flavor; this is not a flavor. This is the Way; this is not the Way’—the ear does not discriminate sounds, the nose does not discriminate fragrances, and the tongue does not discriminate flavors. Clear discernment is without anything apprehended, for all dharmas are deaf. This is the pure cultivation of pure conduct by a great bodhisattva.

Chapter Eight: The Eight Kinds of Bodies

The Buddha said:

“The great bodhisattvas who are learners and those beyond learning, together with the fourfold assembly of bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, and upasikas who have gathered here, all receive offerings from all sentient beings.

“Some sentient beings abide on the Ground of Seeing, the Ground of Attenuation, the Ground of Purity, the Ground of the Tathagata, the Ground of the Pratyekabuddha, the Ground of Non-Retrogression, the Ground of the Place of Enlightenment, or the Ground of Teaching the Dharma. Through these eight grounds, they attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

“What is the Ground of Seeing? It is when a bodhisattva arouses the aspiration directed toward unsurpassed bodhi.

“Furthermore, there are bodhisattvas who, from the initial arising of the aspiration until they sit beneath the King of Trees, discipline their own minds’ desires and conquer the armies of Mara, whereupon they enter samadhi while seated in that very place. Those samadhis are:

– The Samadhi That Dispels Jealousy

– The Samadhi of the Victorious Mind

– The Samadhi of the Secret Treasury

– The Samadhi That Eliminates Delusion

– The Samadhi That Subdues Through Awesome Spiritual Power

– The Samadhi of Wordless Teaching, Like That of All Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones

– The Samadhi That Manifests Transformations.

“At that time, the wicked Mara Papiyan came to disturb the Buddha. If he did not come through his own power, then he was summoned through the awesome spiritual power of the Tathagata. Why? To demonstrate that mundane dharmas are weak, while the Dharma of ultimate truth is supreme. Why is this? If the wicked Mara Papiyan becomes enraged and roars so loudly that the earth trembles, the Buddha, abiding in the Samadhi of Patience, cannot be shaken in the least. Moreover, he causes innumerable wicked Maras Papiyan to tumble to the ground like crickets, leeches, ants, flies, and so forth, unable to move. The wicked Maras Papiyan are just like this. Even if any demon were to come, it could not move a single hair on my body.

“At that time, through his awesome spiritual power, the World-Honored One entered samadhi, causing the wicked Maras throughout the domain of a single Buddha to quake. These evil maras declared:

“‘The mind of the Sramana Gautama is exceedingly weak and gentle, lacking the resolve of a true man, yet in this most terrifying place he seeks to attain the Buddha Way.’

The Buddha said to the great assembly:

“That wicked Mara Papiyan was created by me. Is that demonic mind a wholesome mind or an unwholesome mind?”

At that time, a deva named Kaupin addressed the Buddha:

– The Buddha’s victory over Mara was not due to Mara’s power, but to the Buddha’s spiritual power. Why is this? Because those beings did not understand worldly dharmas, yet employed the Dharma of the Path. Wishing to teach and transform those beings, the Buddha prevailed and caused Mara to come. There, the beings saw the maras, and their minds took no delight in what they clearly witnessed. Thousands upon tens of thousands of beings established minds of non-retrogression.

Furthermore, great bodhisattvas descend from the Trayastrimsa Heaven and are born throughout the realms of the ten directions. They do not take birth through moisture, eggs, transformation, or the womb, but teach and transform sentient beings. These bodhisattvas perfect indeterminate faculties, and the beings they teach and transform likewise perfect indeterminate faculties. Why is this? Because this is the realm of the Buddha Akshobhya.

There are also great bodhisattvas who are born from the Saha World into the Buddha-land of Luminous Reflections in the north and perfect both determinate and indeterminate faculties. The beings they teach and transform likewise all perfect both determinate and indeterminate faculties. These are the beings in the Buddha-land of Wondrous Light in the World of Sensual Delight.

There are also great bodhisattvas who, from the first arising of the aspiration until their attainment of Buddhahood, maintain a single-minded mind without any conceptual thought, anger, or wrath, desiring to be born in the Buddha-land of Amitayus. All sentient beings are born in that land. The fourfold assembly of bhikshus, bhikshunis, upasakas, and upasikas are all alike in color, the hue of pure gold.

To the west, twelve hundred million nayutas from this Jambudvipa, there is a land named Indolence. The people of that land delight in song and music; their clothing, adornments, incense, flowers, beds, and doors are ornamented with the seven treasures. When they turn their eyes eastward, their jeweled beds also turn with them; when they look westward, southward, or northward, the same occurs.

All sentient beings there arouse the aspiration to be born in the Buddha-land of Amitabha, but they are all attached to and defiled by the Land of Indolence and therefore cannot advance toward birth in Amitabha Buddha’s land. Among hundreds of millions, thousands, and tens of thousands of people, only one can be born in Amitabha Buddha’s land. Why is this?

Because that person’s mind is free from attachment, indolence, and arrogance. These beings neither kill living creatures themselves nor instruct others to kill. Because they possess such meritorious rewards, they are born in the Land of Amitayus.

There are also great bodhisattvas fully endowed with the six perfections: generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and the wisdom of liberation. They are born in the Buddha-land of Dõng Dước in the south, one hundred million Buddha-lands from this Jambudvipa. Those beings have no thoughts of delusion, craving, lust, or sensual desire. Why is this? Because they have completely eliminated the thirty-six acts of sexual desire in the Desire Realm; their spiritual disposition is perfected, and all their deeds are pure, like sunlight unobscured by clouds.

The beings of that land practice the twelve dhutanga practices. What are these twelve practices? During the three periods of both day and night, they practice walking meditation and seated meditation without deviating from the appointed times; they sit beneath trees, dwell among burial mounds, remain in open places, live in uninhabited caves, and dwell beside the sources of springs.

At times they eat one meal; at times they do not eat. They wear their Dharma robes properly and never lose their dignified bearing. At times they teach the Dharma; at times they do not teach the Dharma.

In walking meditation, they circle only to the proper extent. The Dharma they proclaim is: “Few desires constitute the true Path; many desires do not constitute the Path. Still the mind and concentrate the intention; understand the Dharma of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.” Such are the practices of the great bodhisattvas in the land of Dõng Dước.

Those beings devote themselves exclusively to studying the One Vehicle. There are no vehicles of arhats or pratyekabuddhas. They are fully endowed with the excellent marks, praise the true Dharma, and understand emptiness and non-self.

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

All conditioned activities have ceased;

Consciousness is an external dharma.

Whatever arises must also cease;

Nirvana is supreme bliss.

I bow before the Buddha Dõng Dước,

The foremost King of the Dharma,

Who sat beneath the Jambu tree

And first destroyed the net of desire,

Proclaiming Dharma to liberate all beings

And making offerings to fields of merit.

While seated beneath the tree in contemplation,

Brahma came to entreat him:

“Please emerge from meditation

And take pity on the foolish and deluded.”

At that time, the Brahma Heaven King,

Holding a lapis lazuli lute in his hands,

Praised the Buddha’s merits and virtues

In a gentle and melodious voice:

“Over hundreds of millions of thousands of kalpas,

A person may arouse the aspiration for the Path.

The aspiration for the Path is the root of bodhisattvahood;

It occurs but once in millions of kalpas.

Please quickly emerge from meditation

And turn the unsurpassed Dharma wheel.

Like the udumbara flower,

It appears but once after a very long time.

When a Buddha illuminates the world,

He dispels the darkness of worldly defilements.

In the Buddha-world of Dõng Dước,

One hears of generosity and pure moral discipline.

It is unlike the Saha Realm,

Whose stubborn beings are difficult to teach and transform.

Contemplate the Path of meditative concentration;

Extinguish the body without taking realization.

The three turnings and the five obstructive dharmas,

The chain of twelve links,

The thirty-one karmic paths,

And the sixteen minds of loving-kindness and compassion

Radiate a great light

That illuminates all Buddha-lands.”

After speaking these verses, the Buddha addressed the great assembly:

– To the northeast, five hundred Ganges-sands of lands from this Saha World, there is a land named Ripened Fruit. Its Buddha is called Flower Excellence Tathagata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Blessed One. He is presently teaching the Dharma. His words are wholesome at the beginning, wholesome in the middle, and wholesome at the end; their meaning and flavor are profound, and all together cultivate the pure conduct. The beings of that land are not born from wombs, transformation, moisture, or eggs. All are born from lotus flowers. They possess loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, together with one hundred and seven rare concentrations of spiritual powers, and they all cultivate the samadhi called the King of Samadhis. These samadhis are:

– The Shurangama Samadhi

– The Samadhi of Awakening to the Path

– The Samadhi of Dignified Conduct and Preceptual Restraint

– The Samadhi of Removing the Root of Sentient Beings’ Suffering

– The Samadhi of Self-Illuminating Radiance

– The Samadhi of Awakening Sentient Beings.

There are one hundred and seven such samadhis.

They contemplate the body internally, contemplate the body externally, and contemplate the body both internally and externally; dharmas internally, dharmas externally, and dharmas both internally and externally; concentration internally, concentration externally, and concentration both internally and externally. Through discerning contemplation, they clearly perceive the formless, the inconceivable, and the thought-free. Great bodhisattvas enter the gateway of liberation and contemplate all dharmas as empty, quiescent, and formless.

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

Empty space has no boundaries;

Echoing sounds proclaim the wondrous Dharma.

The bodhisattvas of the Land of Ripened Fruit,

And the Supremely Victorious Flower Excellence,

Are not born from the four kinds of wombs,

But are born from lotus flowers.

They conceive neither self nor person;

Their lifespans cannot be measured.

Their land is made of the seven treasures,

Just like Jambudvipa.

The Wheel-Turning King’s seven treasures are:

The elephant, horse, and precious maiden,

The treasurer and the four divisions of the army,

The mani jewel and the golden precious wheel.

Wherever they go, they meet no obstruction.

The mani jewel of that land

Illuminates an entire Buddha-land;

Its boundless radiance is likewise so.

That land has neither sun nor moon,

Neither stars nor the light of fire.

They discern the Four Noble Truths

And the path of impermanence, suffering, and emptiness,

Causing all those sentient beings

To realize non-arising and cut off conceptions.

After speaking these verses, the Buddha addressed the great assembly:

– To the northwest, seventy thousand Ganges-sands of lands from this Jambudvipa, there is a land named Precious Lapis Lazuli. Its Buddha is called Huệ Thành Tưu, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Blessed One. He is presently teaching the Dharma, and his words are wholesome at the beginning, wholesome in the middle, and wholesome at the end. The beings of that land are gentle by nature. They contemplate the path of impermanence, remain far removed from the three calamities, are free from lust, anger, and delusion, and have none of the three evil destinies: hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals.

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses to the great assembly:

The ayatanas are paths of affliction,

Giving rise to the four kinds of inverted views.

All are completely extinguished,

Like empty space, which bears no marks.

Their lifespans extend beyond measure;

No one there dies prematurely.

They practice the four kinds of fearlessness

And attain the unwavering fruit.

Whoever is born in that land

Practicing loving-kindness, realizing samadhi

Like Me—Shakyamuni

Courageously transcending countless kalpas

Giving away water, wealth, wife, and children

Without thought or attachment

You disciples of the Buddha

Make vows to be born in that realm

Where there is no Dharma of the shravakas

Understanding causes and conditions, they attain Buddhahood

Throughout hundreds of thousands of kalpas

Diligently cultivating the virtues of the path

Of these sixteen parts

They have not yet attained even one

Contemplating the Dharma-nature of all dharmas

Their wisdom penetrates without obstruction

Completely extinguishing attachment to self

They immediately abide on the Ground of Non-arising

The sentient beings of that realm

Establish their resolve with utmost firmness

They break through existence without abiding in existence

Studying the Dharma of those destined for succession

You disciples of the Buddha

Clearly understand that there is nowhere to practice

Leaving one meditation and entering the First Dhyana

Only then do you know the suffering of sentient beings

Between them are nine unobstructed stages

The characteristics of dhyana cannot be measured

The minds of sentient beings are purified

Yet their thoughts are not alike

Having left the abyss of the five destinies

The sun of the Buddha illuminates the three realms

Excellent! They gain great benefit

Moving all the celestial palaces

Pure youths possessing omniscience

Teach and transform without weariness

Sentient beings attain minds of loving-kindness

And yearn for the unsurpassed path

Throughout innumerable kalpas

They relinquish one body and assume another

Revolving through birth and death

Until they are freed from bondage

The sandalwood fragrance of the Four Noble Truths

The fragrance of the Mật-tế-bặc tree

Through the power of wisdom and samadhi

They destroy all the armies of Mara

When one thought of the past comes to an end

By what samadhi is it severed?

When two thoughts of the future come to an end

By what concentration and path are they removed?

When three thoughts of the present come to an end

They are utterly extinguished, yet their root remains

When one thought of the past comes to an end

Ninety trillion defilements like motes of dust

Through the concentration of empty quiescence

One reaches emptiness without boundary

In the future, the nine fetters are severed

The concentrated mind is free of conceptual thought

Quiescently attaining the Buddha path

Ever abiding in non-abiding

The three groups of nine present fetters

Seeking the Dharma without obstruction

Extinguishing mind, mentation, and consciousness

Gradually abiding in unobstructedness.

After speaking these verses, the Buddha told the great assembly:

“To the southwest, thirty-two Ganges-sands of realms beyond this Saha world, there is a land named Free from Conception. Its Buddha is called the One-Abiding Tathagata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Blessed One. He is now teaching the Dharma, whose words are good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end, and whose meaning is profound.

He clearly distinguishes the five skandhas—form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness—the six sense faculties and six sense objects, cultivating contemplation of impermanence, right mindfulness, and clear awareness. The initial teaching is contemplation that breaks attachment to the body. This body has no true existence and takes the four snakes as its home.

This body is like poison, destroying a person’s path of meditation. This body is like an elephant, its mind never content. This body is like a dragon that delights in dwelling in deep abysses.

The unconditioned Buddha path is pure and stainless, like a lotus in water unstained by filthy mud, and like the sun illuminating heaven and earth, obscuring all the light of fireflies. Among lofty mountains, Mount Sumeru is supreme. Among the lights of the stars, moonlight is supreme.

The Tathagata appears in the world as the foremost torch of Dharma.”

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

Severing defilements and extinguishing perceptions

The bonds of the mind are released

Thoughts are concentrated and quiescent

Pure conduct is perfected

Within a single intention, a single thought

The defiling fetters and latent tendencies are destroyed

The suffering of kalpas is forever cast away

Ended, with no further rebirth

The unsurpassed path of empty quiescence

Seems to exist, yet seems not to exist

Persons, self, and all dharmas

Are perceived as dreams, shadows, and illusions

Bodhisattvas practice austerities

Through kalpas beyond measure

If one wished to explain all their fundamental causes

They would be neither one form nor two

If there were a person of wisdom

Who expounded immeasurable meanings

One meaning would contain a hundred million statements

And every statement would be different

Empty space could be filled

Yet those meanings would never be exhausted

From ages past until now

I have practiced the six transcendent perfections

Giving to eliminate stinginess and greed

And dhyana meditation in the same way

When the kalpa burns, My mind remains unmoved

I do not go to another Buddha-land

Through the summons of spiritual power

I abide throughout the kalpa to teach and transform.

After speaking these verses, the Blessed One immediately adorned His body through concentrated intention and told the great assembly:

“To the southeast, thirty-three Ganges-sands of realms beyond this Saha world, there is a land named Vaidurya. Its Buddha is called the Faith-and-Understanding Tathagata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Blessed One. He is now teaching the Dharma, whose words are good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end, distinguishing the auspicious practices of the four paths. After seven births, with three remaining births no longer to be undergone, one attains parinirvana in this very life, severing suffering, its arising, its cessation, and realizing the path.”

At that time, a deva named Pure Eye in the assembly still harbored doubts and thought, “I should now ask the Tathagata about this meaning so that my fellow practitioners may all attain awakening.” The devaputra then rose, knelt upright with palms joined, and addressed the Buddha:

“May the Blessed One explain to us the karma of lust, anger, and delusion in the universal equality of the Mahayana. Which deluded sentient beings of the past, future, and present enter the gateway of liberation?”

The Buddha told the bodhisattva Pure Eye:

“Excellent! Excellent! This is indeed the eye that reveals all things. Listen clearly and reflect with great care. I shall explain it distinctly for you. What do you think: is the eye form?”

He replied:

“No.”

The Buddha asked again:

“Is it non-form?”

He replied:

“No.”

The Buddha asked:

“Is it form, or is it non-form?”

He replied:

“Form has no place in which it abides.”

The Buddha told the bodhisattva Pure Eye:

“As you have just said, that form is not form; it is form and non-form, and form has no place in which it abides. Why, then, is the designation ‘form’ established and spoken?”

The bodhisattva Pure Eye replied:

“The nature of form is hollow and decaying. What exists in the present perishes and does not remain; what belongs to the past does not appear. Passing from this life to the next, it is forever severed and utterly ceases, never to exist again. Therefore, this is called nirvana without remainder.”

The Buddha asked Pure Eye:

“Has this consciousness existed since ages past, or from where was it born? Today, when the fourfold assembly extinguishes the defilements of the three times, where do they go?”

Pure Eye replied:

“Originally, they came from emptiness, and now they return to emptiness. If there was emptiness before and emptiness afterward, has there been any change at all?”

The Buddha said:

“No. You should know that the true characteristic of all dharmas cannot be exhausted in the beginning and cannot be ended afterward.”

The Buddha told the bodhisattva Pure Eye:

“Throughout innumerable asamkhya kalpas, I have constantly cultivated meritorious karma. Thinking of all sentient beings submerged in suffering, I felt compassion for their pain and wished to lead them to liberation. Why is this? Because now, while in the womb, the desire that I have extinguished has been completely eradicated, and the fulfillment of My vow has today been attained.

“The sentient beings of that realm do not regard attaining Buddhahood or not attaining Buddhahood as a source of suffering and affliction. Why is this? Because the sentient beings of that realm establish a courageous resolve. They abide neither in birth from a womb nor in freedom from womb birth, nor do they abide in transformation birth. Their merit is accomplished; they are neither awakened nor not awakened.

“What is awakening, and what is non-awakening?

“I awaken all ignorant sentient beings; this is called awakening. All those who are awakened completely sever the fetters; this is called non-awakening.”

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

Knowing that a Buddha appears in the world

Radiating great light afar

Suffering, its arising, and the extinguishing of fetters

Stand motionless, not daring to draw near

Even if the earth were to quake

And the three realms crumble into dust

Gather the mind and enter concentrated intention

For all characteristics are different

Mindful of the Tathagata, the Utterly True One

Eliminating perception without entering concentration

Returning to enter among sentient beings

Creating causes and again creating conditions

With great diligence and wisdom

Teaching and transforming the ignorant

Guiding these sentient beings

To liberate those not yet liberated.

Chapter Nine: Relics of the Entire Body

At that time, the Blessed One told the great assembly:

– I remember the merits and virtues of the practices I cultivated in the past, relinquishing one body and then receiving another, not merely once or twice. I shall now explain to you the Dharma of the single practice. What is called the Dharma of the single practice?

– This great earth element is eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Beneath it is a great wind layer eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Beneath the wind is fire eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Beneath the water is fire eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Beneath the fire is sand eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Beneath the sand is the Vajra Realm, eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. The whole-body relics of all Buddhas are contained within that Vajra Realm.

The Vajra Realm is eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick, and below it are the fragmented bodily relics of all Buddhas, all contained within that realm. In that realm is the Buddha-land Wondrous Sound. Its Buddha is named the Tathagata Non-Abiding, fully endowed with the ten epithets, who is presently teaching the Dharma.

His words are wholesome at the beginning, wholesome in the middle, and wholesome at the end; he purely cultivates the holy life and brings his land to perfection. That Buddha’s relics are exceedingly minute, yet they can manifest the body of a Buddha surrounded by an assembly of disciples and retinues in order to teach and transform beings. Just as I now expound the Dharma while within the womb, those sentient beings do not see me.

My sentient beings do not see that realm. Breaking through existence and arriving at nonexistence, it is perpetually quiescent, its nature abiding in unobstructedness. This is said to be evoked by a single relic.

The Buddha further instructed the great assembly:

– Below the fragmented bodily relics, at a distance of eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles, is a realm named Purity. Its Buddha is named Universal Light and is fully endowed with the ten epithets. That Buddha is presently teaching the Dharma, wholesome at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, and purely cultivating the holy life. Each hue of that Buddha’s light is distinct; each ray of light transforms into a Buddha, and each Buddha fully teaches the six transcendent perfections.

What are these six perfections? They are generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom. Through skillful means, one tames consciousness, remaining free from delusion, lust, and craving; one observes all dharmas with utter clarity, like the moon dispersing the clouds; one contemplates one’s own body as no different from the self, while the mind attains no fixed state, and all things are brought to accomplishment; one sits upright at the place of awakening, praises and propagates the true Dharma, and remains fearless in mind.

Eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles below this Buddha-land of Radiance is a realm named Inexhaustible Treasury of Giving. Its Buddha is named the Tathagata Contemplative Assistance, fully endowed with the ten epithets, who is presently teaching the Dharma. His words are wholesome at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. He constantly cultivates the holy life and gives material wealth. Whoever follows his teaching attains the fruit of the path. This is called the rare generosity of the Tathagata.

Below the Inexhaustible World is the World of the Dharma Drum, eight hundred forty thousand kotis of miles thick. Its Buddha is named Good Vision, fully endowed with the ten epithets, and is presently expounding the Dharma. The sentient beings in that Buddha-land do not have many different names; they all share a single given name and a single family name.

Upon hearing the Dharma, they understand it immediately, without needing to reflect upon it again. That realm alone contains whole-body relics. Hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of Buddhas of the past have all left their relics there.

I, too, have a share of relics in that realm, not merely one or two. Those Buddha relics have no abiding place, yet neither are they non-abiding. They circulate throughout Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

Perfectly endowed with the marks of light, they teach and transform sentient beings according to their capacities, with none growing indolent. They eradicate three billion one hundred million fetters and twenty-two thousand binding deluded thoughts; endowed with the excellent eighteen distinctive qualities, they manifest teachings and transformations and attain realization of fearlessness.

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

Throughout innumerable kalpas,

I have journeyed on the path of birth and death,

Relinquishing one body and receiving another,

Never departing from birth within a womb.

Reflecting upon all I have undergone,

I remember it clearly, without error.

I frequently took the body of a white dog;

My bones would pile as high as kotis of Mount Sumerus.

If needles were thrust into the earth,

They would all encounter my former bodies.

How much more so the dogs of other colors—

Their number cannot be measured.

I always gathered and restrained my mind,

Never allowing it to become heedless,

Like a person standing upon Mount Sumeru,

Holding a vessel of the medicine of immortality,

While a person below supports the vessel,

Pouring the medicine without spilling a drop.

Amid such difficulty,

They are buffeted by the mountain winds.

The body of an ordinary being is like dust;

Only one who abides on the eighth stage is excepted.

Of the two people holding this vessel,

Which one is the most excellent?

The one below maintains right mindfulness,

Always fearing a fall to either side.

Experiencing bliss without losing the true meaning—

This is therefore called the path of spiritual powers.

The one above possesses great loving-kindness and compassion,

Speaking directly without examination.

Their consciousnesses are each distinct;

The attainment of the path is likewise so.

I dwelt in the realm of suffering and endurance,

And became a Buddha like the person below.

Having accumulated practices for asamkhyeya kalpas,

Only then did I attain the Buddha path.

From this realm to that realm,

Passing through thousands of kotis in this way,

It is like casting a needle into the ocean

And retrieving it at once by reaching in one’s hand.

One without wisdom seeks to drain away the water,

Yet through many kalpas still cannot retrieve it.

Deluded people of the world

Do not distinguish good from evil.

Mount Sumeru, composed of four kinds of jewels,

They call a heap of smoky charcoal.

The garuda, king of birds,

They take to be a cicada or mosquito.

An insect living in an ox’s hoofprint

Cannot see the vast ocean.

The shimmering sunlight appears like wild horses;

Fools mistake it for flames.

How could I have created such things?

Fools themselves bring them forth.

Consciousness continually enters and departs;

Through refinement, mastery of the path is attained.

At that time, the Blessed One immediately recited this mantra:

– Y nhĩ ma nhĩ, trà thệ ly thệ thuần đồng xí ly xí ly.

Then the Great Heavenly King Vaisravana immediately rose, bowed his head and face at the Buddha’s feet, and said:

– I constantly protect good men and good women, those virtuous people who practice the Dharma, and I protect the three lights and three shadows of their bodies. What are the three lights and three shadows? Just as I now command the assembly of raksasas, there are the shadow of the body, the bodily shadow of the body, and the shadow of the shadow. What is the image of the body? What is the bodily shadow of the body? What is the shadow of the shadow?

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

The body is formed from the union of the four great elements,

Composed of earth, water, fire, and wind.

Coming and going, abiding in constant circulation,

Though abiding, no abiding can be seen.

The body and the body of the body—

At life’s end, one again casts off the body.

The meaning of the three phrases concerning shadows

Is like the spiritual light left by the Buddha.

A cloth wrapped around the medicine of Magadha,

Though far away, still gives off its fragrance.

The Buddha’s Dharma of liberation

Is pure and without blemish.

The shadow-body and body teach and transform,

Delivering those who could not be delivered.

Whoever sees the marks of the Dharma-body

Enters samadhi and contemplates body upon body.

Without doubt concerning shadow upon shadow,

All shall attain the unsurpassed path.

At that time, Dhrtarastra, wishing to protect all Dharma teachers, immediately recited this mantra:

– Y hê, ma hê, Diêm phù, Diêm lam phù đột đột lặc xí. I shall protect the Dharma teacher throughout hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of yojanas, so that no one can disturb him.

The Heavenly King Virudhaka immediately rose and said before the Buddha:

– I, too, shall protect the true Dharma teacher.

He then recited this mantra:

– Già lê, già lê, ni trĩ, cứu bát trĩ, causing no one throughout hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of yojanas to harm or disturb him.

King Virupaksa immediately rose, bowed his head and face at the Buddha’s feet, and said:

– Blessed One! I shall protect the true and upright Dharma teacher.

He then recited this mantra:

– Xá nhĩ, xá nhĩ, bát bà thiên ma lâu hê, causing no one throughout ten billion yojanas to come and disturb him.

Then the Blessed One spoke these verses:

Fragrant flowers of surpassing beauty

Move all Buddha-lands.

Because the Buddha is free from conceptual thought,

Upon attaining Buddhahood, he always guides the path.

The power of patience knows no bounds,

Breaking through existence, nonexistence, and the Three Vehicles.

The appearance of a whole-body relic

Is exceedingly minute, like a mote of dust.

It rescues beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges,

Keeping them from falling into the three evil paths.

The Buddha manifests in a kalpa of hardship and suffering,

Sheltering beings through the practice of great compassion,

So that boundless sentient beings

May attain the unsurpassed path.

At that time, within the great assembly, three billion two hundred million sentient beings immediately aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed equality.

Chapter Ten: Permanence and Impermanence

At that time, in the great assembly was a bodhisattva named Contemplating and Perceiving Impermanence. He rose, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee upon the ground, joined his palms, and addressed the Buddha:

– Excellent! Excellent! O Blessed One! Please expound this meaning without delay. The true Dharma of the Buddhas is inconceivable. Arhats and pratyekabuddhas cannot attain to it. Fundamentally, it has no intrinsic true nature and cannot be exhausted. The Tathagata manifests bodies, entering one and emerging as one, transforming in every manner: at times reducing his body to relics; at times preserving his relic-body intact; at times disappearing and no longer appearing; at times allowing the relics to be distributed throughout the world; at times manifesting the realm of a single Buddha; and at times manifesting a great many realms of the Buddhas. His supernormal transformations and sovereign power of the Path are wondrous and extraordinary, like the realm of empty space. The permanent is also impermanent, and the impermanent is also impermanent. Abiding is also non-abiding, and non-abiding is also non-abiding. The transformations are not of one kind. I wish to hear the Tathagata explain the meaning of permanence and impermanence. As I now dwell on the ninth ground, is this permanent or impermanent?

At that time, the Blessed One said to the Bodhisattva Permanence and Impermanence:

– I shall now ask you a question. Answer me according to true nature. What do you think, son of noble lineage? Is form permanent?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is form impermanent?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is form neither permanent nor impermanent?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– What do you think, son of noble lineage? Is form with remainder?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is form without remainder?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is form both with remainder and without remainder?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is form neither with remainder nor without remainder?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Buddha said:

– Son of noble lineage! Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness permanent?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness impermanent?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness both permanent and impermanent?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness neither permanent nor impermanent?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness with remainder?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness without remainder?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness both with remainder and without remainder?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness neither with remainder nor without remainder?

He replied:

– No, they are not.

The Buddha asked the Bodhisattva Permanence and Impermanence:

– Is nirvana pure?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is nirvana impure?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Blessed One asked:

– Is nirvana both pure and impure?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Permanence and Impermanence:

– Where, in truth, does the true nature of nirvana abide?

He replied:

– It abides without any place of abiding.

The Buddha asked:

– Is it neither the existence of sentient beings nor the nonexistence of sentient beings?

He replied:

– No, it is not.

The Buddha said:

– The conditions and stages of cessation extend from the nature of the five aggregates through the thirty-seven factors of awakening, emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.

The conditions and stages of cessation are neither separate nor not separate, neither arising nor not arising; therefore, one abides without any place of abiding.

Why is this? Because intrinsic nature is naturally empty. This is empty, that is empty, the interior is empty, the exterior is empty, and nirvana is empty.

When the Tathagata appears in the world of the five turbidities, he does not perceive arising and cessation or attachment to annihilation. He does not perceive concentration or distraction. He does not perceive observance or violation of the precepts.

He does not perceive patience or anger. He does not perceive diligence or indolence. He does not perceive afflictions or a concentrated mind.

He does not perceive ignorance or wisdom. He does not perceive mental consciousness or thought. He does not perceive the sacred, the secular, or the paramitas.

He does not perceive a purified Buddha realm. He does not perceive the purification and cultivation of the place of awakening. He does not perceive sentient beings eliminating defilements.

This is called a bodhisattva abiding without any place of abiding.

At that time, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

With pure minds in the holy life,

They destroy the realm of Mara.

Mindful acceptance of the unsurpassed Path,

Serene concentration beyond conception.

Throughout innumerable kalpas,

I have always abided with nowhere to abide,

Single-mindedly entering the wisdom of emptiness,

My body adorned with all the marks.

Sons of noble lineage in the future,

And those who live in the present,

Shall abide with nowhere to abide

And understand the nature of permanence and impermanence.

All sense objects and all obstructions

Destroy my wholesome karma;

Wash away every worldly defilement,

Like gold entirely without blemish.

Wisdom is the mark of the world,

Guiding those whose eyes are blind,

Causing those who are deluded

To understand clearly the Dharma of true suchness.

The unconditioned Path of causes and conditions,

Penetrating mastery of the six superknowledges,

The inexhaustible treasury of the great Dharma,

Is bestowed upon those of humble station.

Delighting in receiving the three liberations,

Unattached throughout the three times,

Regarding all present dharmas,

Defilements exhausted, they enter the Buddha's samadhi.

The Tathagata's light of great wisdom

Cuts away doubts concerning the Dharma.

The marks of delusion become tranquil and pure;

They understand the Path of emptiness and impermanence.

However many people deem things permanent

Remain firmly attached within samsara,

Never departing from conditioned dharmas,

Bound fast by afflictions.

The Dharma of the six perfections and three wisdoms,

Precious treasures, wives, and children—

Severing attachment without regret,

They renounce the household life and attain the Path.

Those who entertain thoughts of good and evil,

Whether of superior, middling, or inferior capacity,

Revolve through the five destinies;

The nature of arising and cessation is unreal.

Sufferings are fundamentally beyond measure,

Continuing life after life without respite.

The Dharma drum resounds through a thousand realms,

Shaking the realm of Mara.

All you living beings,

Rely upon the six superknowledges;

The body accords with every thought

And reaches places free of obstruction.

Month after month, cultivate the practices of the Path;

Day and night, never transgress the proper time.

Accumulating virtue like Mount Sumeru,

You shall accomplish and realize Buddhahood.

Arising and cessation are like magical illusions,

And also like reflections in a mirror.

Receiving and entering the thirty-six,

One enters samadhi and then attains the Path.

The Tathagata's true nature

Is undefiled and unattached.

Practicing loving-kindness, one transcends the seven crossings,

With all precious things forming one's own jeweled adornments.

Three billion two hundred million bonds

Bind beings so tightly they cannot be loosened;

One must use the sword of wisdom

To cut them away until nothing remains.

Then one employs the eight liberations,

Like the ambrosial flavor of the Dharma,

So that those who thirst with craving

Are fulfilled and think of it no more.

Formerly, before I attained meditative absorption,

I constantly dwelt in delusion,

Tightly bound by the four inversions;

Seeking liberation, I found it difficult to attain.

Entering the meditation of the four unobstructed knowledges,

Sovereign and utterly fearless,

With a steadfast and concentrated mind,

At life's end, one is never born again.

When the Blessed One had finished speaking these verses, eight billion four hundred million sentient beings aroused the aspiration for the unsurpassed true and perfect Path and became irreversible in the practice of faith.

THE BODHISATTVA DWELLING IN THE WOMB

End of Fascicle Three