大乘寶要義論

In the Ajātaśatru-rāja Sūtra it is said: The Venerable Mahākāśyapa addressed the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Ngài Văn Thù), saying: Just as a newborn lion cub, according to the place where it is born, possesses strength. Wherever it heads, if there be a herd of deer, as soon as they catch the scent of the lion they at once flee. Likewise, even a strong and healthy elephant, if it catches the scent of the lion, is tormented and terrified, strains against its tether and breaks its tether, and then runs off in the four directions.

It seeks out high mountains and low ground, looking for a place to hide in safety. The aquatic creatures (fish, shrimp) and the winged creatures (those that fly and leap), when they catch the scent of the lion, are likewise terror-stricken. O Mañjuśrī!

If the Bodhisattvas, complete in the power of wisdom, are likewise. When they first generate the Bodhisattva mind, they at once generate the great Bodhi mind. Thereby they are able to surpass all Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, and the palace of Māra is shaken.

All the heavenly Māras either are filled with fear and tremble, and are unable to remain at ease within their own palaces.

The Ratnakūṭa Sūtra says:

The Buddha said: O Ānanda! What do you think? Suppose there were a person whose two arms and legs were all cut off—could he still live?

Ānanda replied: O World-Honored One! Though the arms and legs be severed, this life can still go on living.

The Buddha said: O Ānanda! If there were a person whose heart were cut away, would that person have his whole life?

Ānanda replied: He could not. World-Honored One.

The Buddha said: Ānanda, you should know! My disciples Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra are like the arms and legs, whereas the Bodhisattvas are like my heart. O Ānanda! Suppose there were a Bodhisattva seated upon a precious carriage, with the merit of the five desires made into the sportive play of supernatural powers, yet there was no one to mount the carriage on his behalf. The Tathāgata at that time, for the sake of that Bodhisattva, uses his power to drive the carriage and proceed forward along the road. As for Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana, who cultivate the three gates of liberation—even if a kalpa or more than a kalpa should pass, the Tathāgata does not again, with this power, urge them onward.

The Pitāputra-samāgama Sūtra says: O Bhikṣus! Even were Tathāgatas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, throughout kalpas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, to praise the generation of the mind that corresponds to all-knowledge, that mind together with the treasury of all merits—they would speak of it without ever exhausting it. Why is this so?

The Tathāgata, from of old, cultivating the Bodhisattva conduct, never encountered an unfit moment in which he did not generate this mind. All sentient beings he embraces. Having embraced them, with regard to those sentient beings he again gives rise to no notion of liberating-and-transforming them.

And so, throughout immeasurable realms of sentient beings, the Tathāgata enters into those realms of sentient beings, passing through the cultivation of the Bodhisattva conduct, vast in the resolute conviction of his vows and conduct, with each and every generation of the mind gathered together to form the aggregate of merit. Why is this so?

O Bhikṣus! The realm of sentient beings is inexhaustible, and within the realm of sentient beings it is likewise inexhaustible. The Tathāgata, vastly cultivating the supreme conduct of the Bodhisattva, with each and every generation of the mind perfuming and accumulating merit, is likewise inexhaustible.

In the Tathāgata-guhya Sūtra it is said: If the Bodhisattvas generate the Bodhi mind and cultivate the supreme conduct, then they cause the seed of the Triple Gem neither to be lost nor cut off. Furthermore! When the Bodhi mind in the Bodhisattva gives rise to the aggregate of merit, he at once uses it to dedicate it to all sentient beings. Thus the dedicated merit fills the whole realm of empty space and yet is higher still; the aggregate of merit of all sentient beings is wholly embraced through the turning of the Bodhi mind of the Bodhisattva.

In the Dharma-saṃgīti Sūtra it is said: The Bodhisattva who generates the Bodhi mind awakens to all dharmas, knows all dharmas and the dharma-realm, yet all dharmas have no place from which they come and no place where they stay and rest. Moreover, they cannot be known; and so, with measureless wisdom knowing that the dharma-nature is wholly empty, he causes all sentient beings likewise thus to awaken and comprehend. If the Bodhisattva generates the mind in this way, then this one may be called a Bodhisattva.

The Bodhi mind is that which is of benefit and joy to the minds of all sentient beings. It is the unsurpassed mind, the great-loving-kindness pliant-and-gentle mind, the great-compassion unwearied (not weary) mind, the great-joy non-retrogressing mind, the great-equanimity stainless mind. The empty, taskless mind, the signless tranquil mind, the wishless non-abiding mind.

Here one may ask. Why is it that with but little wholesome root, dedicated to all-knowledge—right up to sitting upon the seat of Bodhi, in the interval between, it is not exhausted?

The reply: As the Akṣayamati-nirdeśa Sūtra says: The Buddha told Śāriputra: It is just like a single drop of water cast into the great ocean—even to the end of the kalpa, in that interval it cannot be exhausted. The Bodhisattva who, with but little wholesome root, dedicates it to all-knowledge is likewise. Right up to sitting at the place of enlightenment, in the interval between it likewise cannot be exhausted.

In the Upāya-kauśalya Sūtra it is said: Suppose there be a Bodhisattva who sees one who is poor and destitute and gives rise to a mind of compassion, bestowing upon him but a little food, as the Buddha has said. This mind is vast and great and is named the supreme giving—how much more so the giving of the Dharma. Though this giving be little, yet the merit of the all-knowing mind is measureless.

The Bhadrakalpika Sūtra says: The Tathāgata Tiṣya-rāja (Tinh Vương Như Lai), in the place of the Tathāgata from whom he heard and received, first generated the Bodhi mind. That King Tiṣya-rāja Tathāgata of old was a shepherd of sheep, and then gathered the Mallikā flower and offered it in giving; from that cause and condition he generated the mind. The one named as Tathāgata, in the place of the lightning-radiance of the Tathāgata, first generated the Bodhi mind; that mind, called the Tathāgata, formerly practiced the trade of weaving and offered in giving many kinds of fine cloth; from that cause and condition of generating the mind it came to be.

The Tathāgata Bright-Face (Minh Diện Như Lai), in the place of the boundless radiance of the Tathāgata, first generated the Bodhi mind. That Tathāgata Bright-Flame (Minh Diệm Như Lai) formerly was a keeper of a city wall who took a little grass and burned it as an offering, and by that cause and condition from then on generated the mind. The Tathāgata Hard-to-Conquer (Nan Thắng Như Lai), in the place of the firm assembly of the Tathāgata, first generated the Bodhi mind; and that Tathāgata Hard-to-Conquer formerly was a woodcutter who chopped firewood and offered the firewood in giving.

By that cause and condition from then on he generated the mind. The Tathāgata Banner-of-Merit (Công Đức Tràng Như Lai), in the place of the marvelous renown of the Tathāgata, first generated the Bodhi mind; and that Tathāgata Banner-of-Merit in olden days was a water-carrier who used a vessel full of water as an offering, and by that cause and condition from then on generated the mind. The Tathāgata Force-of-Armies (Lực Quân Như Lai), in the place of the Tathāgata Great-Vow, first generated the Bodhi mind; and that Tathāgata Force-of-Armies of old was a physician who offered in giving a single āmalaka fruit (the betel fruit), and by that cause and condition from then on generated the mind.

The Ratnakūṭa Sūtra says: Suppose there be a person who, seeking the fruit of Arhatship, takes maṇi jewels in great abundance and travels through many world-systems to give them in charity; and suppose there be another who cultivates the Bodhisattva vehicle, who, having seen this, generates the mind that corresponds to all-knowledge, a mind of sympathetic joy—and this correspondence, in that sympathetic joy, has an accumulation of merit. Compared with the merit of the former charity, a hundred parts do not equal even one. Even to the Upaniṣad part it likewise does not equal even one (Upaniṣad = the near-least, the subtle, the smallest).

It is asked: Does the Bodhisattva then have the power to surpass and exceed the former charity?

The reply: Because it is dedicated to all-knowledge. As the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says:

The Buddha said: Śāriputra! If a Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva wishes to escape from all the cultivation of the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, then he must give charity, uphold the precepts, practice patience, be diligent, practice meditative concentration and wisdom; he must single-mindedly generate the mind that corresponds to all-knowledge, the mind of sympathetic joy, and cultivate the study of the Prajñāpāramitā, using the mind of great compassion as his guide; and thereafter the Bodhisattvas generate the Bodhi mind. Therefore one should know that the great Bodhi mind takes the mind of great compassion as its forerunner. How may this be known?

As in the Bodhisattva-piṭaka Sūtra it is said: If the Bodhisattvas wish to seek Bodhi, then they should use the mind of great compassion as their guide. Just as a man of standing, as the master of the life-faculty, takes the in-and-out of the breath as his guide. The Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas are likewise. With regard to the Mahāyāna Dharma they use the mind of great compassion as their guide. Again, just as a Wheel-Turning Sage King, with regard to the precious things, takes the precious wheel as his guide (his forerunner). The Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas are likewise. With regard to all the Buddha-Dharma they use the mind of great compassion as their forerunner.

Furthermore, the Bodhisattvas, with regard to this, lose the small and trifling deeds. With regard to that, the mind of compassion that protects-and-is-mindful is deficient.

In the Abhayadatta-paripṛcchā Mahāyāna Sūtra it is said:

The Buddha said: O Elder! If the Bodhisattvas, wishing to accomplish the great Bodhi, then with regard to all sentient beings should give rise to the mind of great compassion. Toward their own body and life let them give rise to no loving attachment; even toward all wealth, grain and sesame, houses and dwellings, wives and children, food and drink, clothing, carriages, places of sleep and rest, seats, incense and flowers, aloeswood and the like, together with all instruments of music—to none of these should they cling. Why is this so?

O Elder! Many sentient beings, with regard to body and life, all give rise to loving attachment. Loving attachment is the vast creating of sinful karma, falling into the evil destinies. But if there be a sentient being who, having given rise to the mind of great compassion, with regard to body and life gives rise to no loving attachment—because he does not cling, he is born into the good destinies. Moreover, he is able, with regard to all sentient beings, to set his mind vast and great and perform the work of charity, acting in correspondence with all wholesome dharmas. The cultivator of the Bodhisattva path is one who, using the mind of great compassion, perfects this body. How may this be known?

As the Ratnamegha Sūtra says:

The Buddha taught: O good sons! If the Bodhisattvas are complete in ten dharmas, it is because of great compassion that they perfect this body. What are the ten?

The first is: they see all sentient beings oppressed by suffering, without rescue, without anything to rely upon, without anywhere to return to; having seen this, they at once generate the mind of great compassion and become a place of refuge.

The second is: having generated the Bodhi mind, they cause those sentient beings to accomplish the Dharma.

The third is: according to the Dharma attained, they cause sentient beings to produce great benefit.

The fourth is: where there are sentient beings who are stingy, they cause them to give charity.

The fifth is: if there be those who violate the prohibitive precepts, they cause them to cultivate the pure precepts.

The sixth is: if there be much anger and resentment, they cause them to be patient and forbearing.

The seventh is: if there be much indolence, they cause diligence to arise.

The eighth is: if there be much distraction and confusion, they cause them to cultivate meditative reflection (dhyāna).

The ninth is: if there be no wisdom, they cause them to attain supreme wisdom.

The tenth is: where all sentient beings are oppressed by extreme suffering, the Bodhisattva at once subtly removes it and causes that, with regard to Bodhi, there be no obstructing calamity.

Such are named the ten dharmas.

According to the Dhāraṇīśvara-rāja Sūtra it is said: The Bodhisattva may see a class of sentient beings bound fast by craving and love. With regard to their own wives, children, and kin they give rise to attachment, and so that cord of love cannot attain sovereign freedom. The Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma to make them dissolve the binding cord of love and attain sovereign freedom. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who give rise to a mind of fury and anger, and who moreover do wrong and inflict harm exceedingly much; then the Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma. He causes them to sever that mind of fury, anger, and wrongdoing. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who, drawn in by evil friends, then distance themselves from good friends and constantly create sinful karma. The Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing them constantly to draw near to virtuous friends and to distance themselves from evil friends. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who are utterly poor and destitute, who do not know contentment, and who are far removed from supreme wisdom. The Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing them to sever poverty-and-craving and to give rise to supreme wisdom. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who hold that there is no karmic retribution, who grasp at annihilation and grasp at permanence. The Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing them to enter into the most profound dependent origination and to know all karmic activities. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who, veiled by the darkness of ignorance and delusion, grasp firmly at self, person, sentient being, and life-span; then the Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing the eye of wisdom to be pure and to sever views and grasping. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who delight in birth-and-death, clinging to the five aggregates as though to a murderer; then the Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential dharmas, causing them to be far removed from all the three realms. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or he may see a class of sentient beings who, bound fast by Māra into the place of craving, suffering, and evil, then give rise to attachment. The Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing them to be liberated from Māra's bondage and to sever the craving and evil in the mind-dharma of before. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion.

Or there may be a class of sentient beings who shut fast the gate of Nirvāṇa and open the way into the evil destinies; then the Bodhisattva should, for their sake, expound the essential Dharma, causing them to open the gate of Nirvāṇa and to shut the way into the evil destinies. The Bodhisattva, for the sake of those sentient beings, gives rise to the mind of great compassion so as to generate the Bodhi mind. If, with regard to the Bodhisattva's dharma-patience, there be one who reviles it, who gives rise to a mind of pride and arrogance toward the obstructing calamity of the Dharma, wishing to cause the Bodhisattva to be far removed from the dharma he is attached to, then the Bodhisattva should know that the deeds of Māra have arisen.

In the Śraddhābalādhāna-avatāra-mudrā Dharma-Gate Sūtra, the Buddha taught, saying: O Mañjuśrī! Suppose there were a person who, with regard to all the most minute dust-motes of the worlds together with all sentient beings, were able to attain wholesome roots, and yet causes them obstruction. And if again, with regard to a single Upāsaka who is no different from teacher-and-patriarch, all cultivating the ten wholesome karmas, that one were to cause obstruction to those slender wholesome roots—then such a sin is doubled at the number of an asaṃkhya.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to the most minute dust-motes together with all the Upāsakas of the worlds, were able to attain wholesome roots, and were to obstruct them all. And if again there were a person who, with regard to a single Bhikṣu who has slender wholesome roots, were to cause obstruction—then such a sin is doubled at the former asaṃkhya number of kalpas; and so on in succession: if it be with regard to the practitioner who follows by faith, the practitioner who follows by the Dharma, the Srotāpanna, the Sakṛdāgāmin, the Anāgāmin, the Arhat.

The person of the eighth stage and the Pratyekabuddha, the goat-cart, the person who practices the Bodhisattva path; the elephant-cart, the person who practices the Bodhisattva path. The sun-and-moon supernatural power, the person who practices the Bodhisattva path. The Śrāvaka supernatural power, the person who practices the Bodhisattva path.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to the most minute dust-motes together with all the worlds' persons of Śrāvaka supernatural power and the Bodhisattvas, together with all their wholesome roots, were to obstruct them all. And if again there were a person who, with regard to the supernatural power of the Tathāgata-practicing place of the Bodhisattva, were to obstruct that single wholesome root, giving rise to a mind of conceit and pride and producing fury and anger—then such a sin is again doubled at the former asaṃkhya number of kalpas.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to all the most minute dust-motes of the worlds of the ten directions and all sentient beings, were to seize hold of these eyes and moreover were to plunder and rob all their means of livelihood and material goods. And if again there were a person who, with regard to the place of the Bodhisattva, were to give rise to a deceiving mind (to deceive and cheat), produce fury and anger, abuse and revile, and add to it injury by contact—then that sin is doubled at the former asaṃkhya number.

And if again there were a person who, with regard to the place of the Bodhisattva, following whatever the condition, were to give rise to a deceiving mind (to deceive and cheat) and produce fury and anger. By this sinful karma he falls into the Great-Wailing Hell, heavier still, five hundred yojanas, having five hundred heads. On each and every head there are five hundred tongues, and on each tongue there are five hundred trees upon the tongue.

There is a great blazing fire.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to all sentient beings of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world-system, all using knives and staves to strike and break them, and moreover added the seizing and plundering of all their possessions, means of livelihood, and material goods. And if again there were a person who, with regard to a Bodhisattva, were to give rise to a deceiving mind (to deceive and cheat) and produce fury and anger (rage) and inflict harm and affliction—then such a sin exceeds the former asaṃkhya number.

Suppose there were a person who generates an extremely evil mind, a mind of no benefit toward all sentient beings, who, in world-systems numerous as the sands of the Ganges, in each and every world-system having Arhats numerous as the sands of the Ganges, were to slay them all. And again there be stūpas and shrines of the Buddhas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, fashioned of precious things and erected of precious things, with marvelously excellent banners and pennants as adornment, and all of these were to be destroyed.

And if again there were a person who, with regard to the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva of faith-and-understanding, having planted together with him the seed of the Mahāyāna, then, following whatever the condition, were to give rise to a deceiving mind (to deceive and cheat) and produce fury and anger (rage), abuse and revile, and increasingly inflict harassment—then that sin of his is doubled at the former asaṃkhya number. Why is this so?

Because the Bodhisattva is able to give birth to the Tathāgata, causing the lineage of the Buddha neither to be lost nor cut off. If there be one who reviles a Bodhisattva, this is to revile the true Dharma. If one reviles a Bodhisattva, that one has no dharma whatsoever that can embrace him.

Yet the dharma of the Bodhisattva is able to embrace.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to all the sentient places of all the worlds of the ten directions, were to give rise to fury and anger toward them all. And if again there were a person who, with regard to the place of the Bodhisattva, having given rise to fury and anger, then cast it off and afterward took no joy in anything. Such a sin exceeds the former asaṃkhya number.

Suppose there were a person who, with regard to all sentient beings in Jambudvīpa, were to slay them all, and moreover added the seizing and plundering of all their possessions. And if again there were a person who, following that place, were to give rise to revilement of a single Bodhisattva—then that sin of his is doubled compared with the former asaṃkhya number.

The Maitreya-siṃhanāda Sūtra says: If a Bodhisattva, throughout the whole of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world-system, with regard to all sentient beings, were to have fury, anger, abuse, reviling, beating, and striking all given rise to against him, yet that Bodhisattva did not, on account of this, suffer impairment and harm. But if this Bodhisattva, with regard to a single other Bodhisattva, were merely to give rise to a mind of hatred and anger—though it be truly small—this Bodhisattva would thereby fall into impairment and harm. Why is this so? Because that Bodhisattva, throughout many kalpas, has undergone patient endurance, and constantly does not depart from the all-knowing mind; therefore this Bodhisattva should not, with regard to that one, give rise to fury and anger.

In the Mañjuśrī-vikrīḍita Sūtra it is said:

The Buddha said: O Mañjuśrī! You should know! As for words that inflict harm—that is to say, the wholesome roots accumulated and cultivated throughout a hundred kalpas are, one by one, impaired and lost. This is named inflicting harm. The cultivator of the Bodhisattva conduct should know it thus. If, with regard to a Buddha-World-Honored-One, one does not bring benefit, then one suffers great sinful retribution. As for those who bring benefit, their merit is vast and great, without end.

The Mahāyāna-ratna-piṇḍa Treatise. End of fascicle two.