大乘寶要義論

As the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra says: Suppose that the entire triple world were filled with all sentient beings, and that each and every one of those sentient beings were to erect a stūpa-shrine of the Tathāgata. And suppose that the form and appearance of each were lofty and majestic, like Mount Sumeru, the king of mountains, and that those sentient beings, throughout kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, each and every one of them honored and made offerings to these stūpas. If there be one who, not departing from the all-knowing mind of the Bodhisattva, were even to set down a single flower-spray as an offering, then this merit would far surpass that former merit.

That same sutra further says: Suppose that, within the three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world-system, all sentient beings were to abide in the Mahāyāna and each become a Wheel-Turning Sacred King (Cakravartin), using fragrant oil as vast as the ocean-waters, gathering and storing kindling-grass as abundant as Sumeru. And suppose that each, in places far and wide, kindled the brilliance of lamps to make offerings to the Tathāgata at the stūpa-shrines.

If there be a Bodhisattva who has gone forth into homelessness who takes kindling-grass, adds but a little oil, and there before that stūpa lights it and offers it up, then this merit, compared to the former giving of light as an offering, surpasses it manyfold; a hundredth part is not equal to it, and even an Upaniṣad portion (Upaniṣad = the smallest unit of counting) is likewise not equal to it.

Furthermore, suppose that each of those Wheel-Turning Kings were to give universally to the Buddha and to all the bhikṣus every article of use in full. If there be one gone forth into homelessness, a Bodhisattva, who himself carries his bowl to beg for alms, first diminishing his share for the one who gives and only afterward eating, then this merit far surpasses that former merit.

Again, suppose that those Wheel-Turning Kings were to gather and store fine and beautiful garments as great as Sumeru in order to give universally to all the Buddhas and the bhikṣus. If there be one gone forth into homelessness, a Bodhisattva, who has but the three robes, and gives them whether to ten Bodhisattvas of faithful heart, or to the Buddha and the bhikṣus, or to the stūpa-shrines of the Tathāgata, then this merit, compared to the former, is exceedingly and surpassingly excellent.

Furthermore, suppose that those Wheel-Turning Kings were everywhere to strew this entire realm of Jambudvīpa with fragrant flowers, broadly making offerings to the stūpa-shrines of the Tathāgata; yet if there be one gone forth into homelessness, a Bodhisattva, who, even down to taking but a single flower-spray, makes offering to the stūpa-shrines of the Tathāgata, then that one's merit, compared to that former act of giving, is such that a hundredth part is not equal to it; and even an Upaniṣad portion is likewise not equal to it.

Next, the Sūtra of Arising and Production (Abhiniṣkramaṇa) says: Behold, the Bodhisattva has four kinds of worthy and good things to be extolled, by which he diligently makes offerings to the Tathāgata. What are the four?

The first is to make for oneself the supreme giving and offering, and to cause those sentient beings likewise to do the surpassing practice of making offerings.

The second is, having sincerely exhorted and made offerings to the Tathāgatas, to turn and make firm the great Bodhi mind.

The third is to behold, manifest before one, the thirty-two marks of the Great Man.

The fourth is to plant the seeds of wholesome roots and thereby gain increase and excellence.

These are the four dharmas. They are the offering, of the supreme vehicle, of service to the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas.

The Sūtra of Sāgaramati's Inquiry (Sāgaramati-paripṛcchā) says: The Buddha said: O Sāgaramati! There are three kinds of supreme-vehicle service and offering to the dharma of the Tathāgata. What are the three?

The first is to give rise to the great Bodhi mind.

The second is to embrace and uphold the True Dharma of the Tathāgata.

The third is, broadly for the sake of sentient beings, to give rise to the heart of great compassion.

These are the deeds of the offering in the ultimate sense.

The Sūtra of Maitreya's Lion's Roar says: There is no Buddha that can be conceived, no Buddha that can be contemplated—how much less is there a Buddha who can be made an offering to? For one who has something attained, there is no place. Here, where is there any place that is called making offering to the Buddha? Therefore, to make offering rightly is to give rise to a mind without notion and without mark. If there be no mind, nor anything belonging to the mind by deliberate intention, then there is no notion of Buddha, no notion of Dharma, no notion of sentient being, no notion of Pudgala (a being), no notion of self or other; making offering thus—this is the true offering to all the Tathāgatas.

The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: The Buddha said—O Lord of Devas! Suppose that within world-systems as numerous as the sands of the Ganges there were gathered and amassed, filling them all, the relics of the Tathāgata upon their pole-tops; and suppose there be a person who copies out the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and, for the sake of that, makes the offering—then, of those two portions, which portion would that one keep?

Śakra addressed the Buddha, saying: O World-Honored One! Of those two portions, I would take the portion of the Prajñāpāramitā. Why so? Because the Prajñā is what gives birth to the relics of the Tathāgata. Should there be one who makes offering to and cultivates the Prajñāpāramitā, that one is thereby making offering to the relics of the Tathāgata.

The Buddha said: O Śakra! If among sentient beings there be one who has faith and understanding of the Tathāgata's Nirvāṇa-as-it-truly-is, that too is most difficult to attain. There, how could the Tathāgata's Nirvāṇa-as-it-truly-is be attained? Very many sutras speak in this way.

As the Sūtra of the Tathāgata's Manifest Arising (Tathāgatotpatti-sambhava) says: The Buddha said—O Son of the Buddha! If there be a Bodhisattva who wishes to understand the Great Nirvāṇa of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, then by means of wisdom let him observe; first he should understand the nature of dharmas, their own-nature. The own-nature of dharmas means suchness, the true limit. The dharma-realm and the realm of empty space, the limit of self-nature pure, the limit of marklessness, the limit of the own-nature of self. The own-nature of all dharmas is thus-as-it-is, Nirvāṇa. Understanding thus, one should comprehend the Tathāgata's Nirvāṇa-as-it-truly-is. Why so?

O Son of the Buddha! All dharmas are originally thus: unborn and having no place of birth. If dharmas are originally unborn and have no place of birth, then there is no dharma that can be attained; and as for the Buddha, the Tathāgata, if there be a place of his birth, it is because, for sentient beings who have the mark of joy in continuance, there is therefore birth. The Tathāgata's entering Nirvāṇa is likewise, for the sake of sentient beings, the concealing of birth; but in truth the Tathāgata has no place of being born, and likewise no Nirvāṇa. This is the Tathāgata's ever-abiding within the dharma-realm.

O Son of the Buddha! Just as the wheel-orb of the sun appears and universally illumines and shines upon all worlds, each one pure, and in a vessel of water the light of the sun is seen—yet it is not that the wheel-orb of the sun is in all places; following when it enters the vessel, then it appears. If that vessel be clean, then that water is clear. But if it be broken, or be muddied, or be diminished, then the light of that sun cannot be seen; and the reflection of that sunlight, though it be in the vessel, is not manifest—it is not the sun. It is because that vessel, once clean, has of itself become broken.

O Son of the Buddha! The Tathāgata too is just so. The sun-orb of the dharma-realm is vast and great, blazing with brilliance.

From that dharma-realm it ever appears, universally illumining and shining, conforming to all the world. If sentient beings have a pure mind in continuous succession, then the Tathāgata will make appear his reflected image. Though all sentient beings ever behold the reflected image of the Tathāgata's sun-orb, yet it is not that the Tathāgata transforms into all places; following them, he appears.

There are again sentient beings who, like that broken vessel, have no pure mind in continuous succession, but are veiled over by afflictions, and do not see the reflected image of the Tathāgata's sunlight. Those sentient beings thereupon give rise to the notion that the Tathāgata has entered Nirvāṇa; yet the Tathāgata's entering Nirvāṇa is not the Tathāgata. It is rather that the continuity of wholesome roots in sentient beings has been broken.

And it is in the dharma of Nirvāṇa that there is the means to convert and deliver sentient beings. Therefore the Tathāgata manifests the mark of entering Nirvāṇa, but in truth the Tathāgata neither comes nor goes, and likewise has no place of abiding.

O Son of the Buddha! Just as throughout all the world fires occur; or thereafter, in another village, town, or country, the fire likewise dies out—yet it is not that fire burns up the whole world.

O Son of the Buddha! The Tathāgata too is just so. Throughout all worlds entirely, conforming to them, he performs all the deeds of a Buddha.

When, together with a Buddha-field, he has done the deeds of a Buddha, only then does he display the entering of Nirvāṇa; yet it is not that in all the worlds the Buddhas must all enter Nirvāṇa—just as a skilled conjurer well learns the conjuring arts. All the spells and incantations make all things clearly known. Throughout all the three-thousandfold great-thousandfold worlds he universally manifests this body and performs the various conjured deeds; all the settlements, lands, cities and towns are all displayed.

Following this power of conjuration, whether for one kalpa or more than one kalpa, whether in a settlement or in a city, having performed the conjured deeds, he then transforms this body—yet it is not that all the conjured deeds of the world are concealed away.

O Son of the Buddha! The Tathāgata too is just so. Using wisdom, he conjures forth the immeasurable as that conjuring is, well learning the skillful means, the surpassing wisdom and bright knowing, displaying all the conjured deeds of the dharma-realm. The Tathāgata, following them, displays himself, yet the Tathāgata still abides at peace in the ultimate body. The dharma-realm and the realm of empty space, all sentient beings, the works that are equal—each and every field he conforms to and acts upon, and then displays Nirvāṇa, yet it is not that he enters Nirvāṇa within a single Buddha-field. In all the dharma-realm the Tathāgata enters Nirvāṇa.

O Son of the Buddha! The Bodhisattvas should understand thus. The Great Nirvāṇa of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, should be understood as immeasurable, ultimate, and unattached. The dharma-realm is boundless and yet there is nothing therein; like the realm of empty space, its own-nature is vast and great. Suchness is unborn and yet undying, abiding at peace in the true limit. Yet by skillful means, according to the time, it is displayed. Therefore one should know: toward all the world he gives rise to no weariness or aversion. Following his former practices and vows, he himself abides at peace. In all the world and all the fields, he accomplishes the surpassing practices of all dharmas.

The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: Great Nirvāṇa is the emptiness of own-nature.

In the Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka) Sūtra the Buddha said: O Kāśyapa! Once one is able to awaken, then the natures of all dharmas are equal. This is Great Nirvāṇa. This same sutra also says: The Buddha said: O good son! The Tathāgata has finished doing what was to be done. From the time of attaining Buddhahood until now, truly long and distant, his life-span is without limit. The Tathāgata ever abides and does not enter Nirvāṇa. Yet in order to deliver sentient beings, he therefore displays Nirvāṇa. Why so? Because that condition has ripened in sentient beings.

The Sūtra of Great Compassion (Mahākaruṇā) says: The Buddha said—O Great Brahmā! Thus, in this life, karma is exhausted, the afflictions are exhausted, suffering is exhausted, the conditions of suffering are thereupon extinguished, and in stillness one departs far away. This is what is called Nirvāṇa. O Great Brahmā! Therein, again, there is no person who comprehends and realizes Nirvāṇa. That is to say, karma and the afflictions are exhausted, and the own-nature is pure.

The Chapter on Transcending the World says: The Buddhas, by skillful means, reveal the boundless dharma of Nirvāṇa.

The Sūtra of Brahmā's Inquiry says: Brahmā addressed the Buddha, saying: Reverently, O World-Honored One! Those who have gone forth into homelessness, in regard to all marks of joy, should come to rest. This is what is called Nirvāṇa. The Buddha said: O Great Brahmā! This is established by way of mutual conditioning of one another.

The Sūtra of Awakened Knowing, the Extensive Method (Vaipulya), says: The Buddha said—O Mahāmaudgalyāyana! In the past there was a Buddha named Lofty-and-Manifest (Gauravidhvaja). In that Buddha-field there was only the assembly of Śrāvakas.

At that time there was a bhikṣu who, together with the others, contemplated the conditioned arisings and abided in the dharma of the Mahāyāna. This person had, in the presence of immeasurable koṭi-nayuta Buddhas, planted wholesome roots. In the mind of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi he never once retrogressed.

He abided in the unsurpassed dharma of the Mahāyāna, wishing to make pure and adorn the ineffable, ineffable Buddha-fields. In this Buddha-field, making no discrimination among sentient beings, he gave rise to the Bodhi mind. At that time, however, that bhikṣu only broadly planted wholesome roots, while toward that profound dharma he gave rise to a heart of contempt and arrogance, and on account of that condition he was born in the heaven of Long Life (Dīrghāyus).

At that time there was such a one, Lofty-and-Manifest Tathāgata, who, having done the deeds of a Buddha, at once illumined all the Buddha-fields; among those lands, wherever there were sentient beings who did not perform the deeds of a Buddha. Then again contemplating and observing, he beheld his own field. There was a single bhikṣu who abided in the dharma of the Mahāyāna and practiced it.

This is the instrument of awakening. But then that bhikṣu had an obstruction and calamity; thus he had been born in the Long Life heaven. With that vessel-body he could not bear to be made to plant these wholesome roots of Bodhi.

After the end of his life that person fell into the Avīci hell. Again he could not endure to plant the wholesome roots of Bodhi. After coming out of the hell, then among humankind he was mute and stammering.

Whatever he had done was the result made manifest; or it was that condition that did the harm. At that time the one named Lofty-and-Manifest Tathāgata, wishing to convert and deliver that bhikṣu, by good skillful means, throughout sixty koṭi-nayutas, gave rise to difficulty, toil, hardship, and patient endurance, manifesting and performing the various deeds, and thereby brought him to ripening.

The Buddha said: O Mahāmaudgalyāyana! You should contemplate that Tathāgata: it was for the sake of the heart of great compassion. For the sake of all sentient beings, undergoing such things, he bore this toil and hardship. Until at last, when the conditions of that bhikṣu had ripened, he abided at peace in the stage of non-retrogression.

O Mahāmaudgalyāyana! What do you think? That mind called Lofty-and-Manifest Tathāgata—how could it be some stranger? It is the manifest body of the Tathāgata of ultimate meaning. As for the one who had contemplated the conditions—that bhikṣu—he is the Tathāgata of Immeasurable Light (Amitābha).

In the Sūtra of the Meeting of Father and Son, the Chapter on the Prior Practice, it says: The Buddha said—O Mañjuśrī! In a certain past kalpa, when there was changing throughout immeasurable, incalculable (asaṃkhyeya), inconceivable, incomparable, boundless time, there was a Tathāgata named Royal-Banner (Indradhvaja), passing through world-systems and Buddha-fields as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. In those Buddha-fields, among those sentient beings, all of them attained the five kinds of joy.

Some sentient beings attained the joy of desire; some attained the joy of separation from desire; some attained the joy of meditative absorption (dhyāna); some attained the joy of samādhi; some attained the joy of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi—yet those sentient beings, though they received the various joys, were not attached to them. Just as a bird, able to spread its wings, in the midst of the sky still attains sovereign freedom, those sentient beings, receiving joys, were likewise so.

None of them were attached. Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha, saying: O World-Honored One! At that time, that Royal-Banner Tathāgata was none other than I myself, Śākyamuni Buddha, the World-Honored One.

The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra has a verse that says:

I do not regard tranquil quiescence,

Nor do I give rise to the mark of practice,

Nor do I have a discriminating mind,

Therefore I realize Nirvāṇa.

Herein one should understand! Toward the One Vehicle, faith and understanding are truly difficult to attain. The One Vehicle here is what all the sutras alike proclaim.

As the Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma Sūtra says: I must set forth the One Vehicle in order to expound the Dharma for the sake of sentient beings. Therefore the Buddha Vehicle is not two, much less three. In all the worlds of the ten directions the dharma is likewise so.

Why so? Whether in past ages all the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, of all the worlds of the ten directions, all set forth the One Vehicle to expound the Dharma for the sake of sentient beings. If, in future ages, all the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, of all the worlds of the ten directions will likewise set forth the One Vehicle to expound the Dharma for the sake of sentient beings.

Or, in the present, all the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, of all the worlds of the ten directions again set forth the One Vehicle and, for the sake of sentient beings, expound the Dharma, up to the Buddha Vehicle. This is the cause and condition whereby, in the worlds of the ten directions, there is no Two Vehicles that can be established. How much less that there be three.

The Chapter on the Truly Real says: The Buddha said—O Mañjuśrī! By reason of the gathering and amassing, in former times, in the realm of the One Vehicle, it is thus made complete. So that in the Buddha-fields there is only the dharma of the One Vehicle which is made to lead forth; there is no Śrāvaka or Pratyekabuddha—no Two Vehicles—that is established. Why so? Because the Tathāgata has departed from the many kinds of deliberation. If there be a person who says: The Tathāgata either teaches the dharma of the Mahāyāna, or teaches the Pratyekabuddha vehicle—then that person too, toward the Tathāgata, gives rise to a mind that is not pure, a mind that is not equal, a mind of grasping and attachment.

The Sūtra of Great Compassion says: The Buddha said—If I were to say there are many kinds of notions, then in that very dharma I would of myself give rise to flattery and deception; whereas I have, for the sake of sentient beings, expounded the Dharma. All of it is to make them delight in Bodhi, wishing to attain the dharma of the All-Knowledge-embracing Earth Vehicle. It is to make all sentient beings together arrive at the place of all-knowing wisdom.

Therefore in that place there is no vehicle that is divided out and that can be established. Nor again is there any place to be established. Nor again is there the establishing of a Pudgala (Pudgala = sentient being = person).

Nor again is there the establishing of few practices and many practices. Nor again is there the Three Vehicles that can be discriminated. That nature without discrimination enters the gate of the dharma-realm; only for the sake of the conventional truth is there the revealing and leading by skillful means in order to teach.

The truth of ultimate meaning is solely the dharma of the One Vehicle, and there is no second.

The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: The Buddha said—O Lord of Devas! If the Lords of the Devas give rise to the mind of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, then I will cause them to give rise to the mind of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. If, again, they cannot decisively give rise to the Bodhi mind, then I will again cause them to give rise, in sympathetic joy, to the mind toward Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Why so? Because that birth-and-death flows on in continuous succession without interruption. It is my intention not to let their wholesome roots be lost in even a single one. I will cause them, toward the supreme dharma, to have something attained.

The Chapter of the Great Assembly says: The One Vehicle universally embraces all those vehicles. In this One Vehicle it embraces the vehicles. Alike returning to the one principle, universally entering the dharma-realm, there is no nature of discrimination.

The Sūtra of the Sovereign King of Total Retention (Dhāraṇīśvararāja) says: The Buddha does not say there are many kinds of notions; rather, the Buddha appearing in the world performs all deeds with but one single taste. The dharma-realm is without obstruction, embracing all sentient beings. When he himself attains perfect enlightenment, he then causes those sentient beings likewise to attain awakening, and thereafter turns the wondrous Dharma-wheel.

Hence it is called the irreversible Wheel. It is like a skilled physician who heals well. There, in his treasury, he takes up an artificial-colored vaiḍūrya (beryl).

First he uses medicinal water to wash away the dross and make it clean. Then he uses a black dye to treat it, and this skilled master does not tire. Thereafter he uses flesh-broth together with binding cords, layered one upon another, and treats it.

Again he uses medicinal water and thin wrapping-cloth, and thereafter treats it carefully. Next he washes it clean into an artificial color resembling true vaiḍūrya. The Tathāgata too is just so.

Knowing that there is a realm of sentient beings originally not pure, he thereupon expounds for them impermanence, suffering, no-self, and the dharma of impurity, causing them to remember and reflect upon saṃsāra and give rise to a mind of departing far away. Thereafter he uses the Holy Dharma to discipline them and lead them open by skillful means. The Tathāgata, again, not finding birth-and-death wearisome, thereafter proclaims the dharma of emptiness, marklessness, and wishlessness, causing them to open the wisdom-eye of the Tathāgata.

The Tathāgata, again, gives rise to no mind of weariness, and thereafter further proclaims the irreversible Wheel, up to proclaiming the purity of the three wheels. He leads the sentient beings, causing them to enter the realm of the Tathāgata. Equally surpassing the many kinds of human natures.

Some realize the Tathāgata's pure dharma-nature. This is called, for the sake of the world, the attaining of the ultimate, unsurpassed fruit.

The Avaivartika Sūtra says: Knowing the irreversible Wheel to be equal, therefore the Buddhas' expounding of the Dharma is likewise equal. Hence the Tathāgata, because it is not for the sake of those who have no faith and understanding among sentient beings, who cannot comprehend the setting-forth of the One Vehicle, until he comes forth from this Sahā world of the five turbidities, then uses good skillful means and, for the sake of those sentient beings, establishes the deeds of a Buddha, causing them to attain the fruit of Buddhahood.

The Sūtra of Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar says: The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, by skillful means proclaim this setting-forth of Nirvāṇa; from the Three Vehicles they produce the vehicles, but it is solely for the sake of the dharma of the One Vehicle, to realize Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: The seeds of the afflictions, having entered samādhi and samāpatti and awakened as-it-truly-is, are in the realm without outflows. Then, entering the realm without outflows of the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, they come forth into the world with the surpassing practices fully accomplished. They attain the inconceivable Dharma-body, the sovereign Tathāgata. It is in order to teach and transform sentient beings into wholesome practice. It is also by skillful means that the many vehicles are spoken of. Therefore the Tathāgatas, in many worlds, do not always speak of the Three Vehicles. They further speak of the dharma of the One Vehicle.

The Treatise on the Essential Treasury of the Mahāyāna (Mahāyāna-ratnamālā). End of Scroll the Sixth.