大寶積經

They also enable the bodhisattvas to attain the dharani of skillful means. By attaining this dharani, they are able to clearly understand the hidden meanings and principles of all dharmas: from the dharani of seeing forms through the eye faculty, up to the dharani of cognizing dharmas through the mind faculty.

What is this dharani gateway by which the six faculties perceive and cognize the six sense objects?

After bodhisattvas perceive forms through the eye faculty, through the power of wisdom and the power of mindfulness they clearly know that forms are impermanent, arising and ceasing without abiding. Therefore, they do not cling to self or what is not self. Because they do not grasp at forms, the eye faculty is purified. They engage in no conceptual proliferation, false thought, habituation, or bondage with respect to the eye faculty and eye consciousness, and they make no discriminations concerning any dharma. Because their seeing and knowing are purified and accord with reality, they clearly know that all dharmas are like illusions and attain vast wisdom unlike that of the world.

To state it briefly, up to the point where bodhisattvas cognize dharmas as objects through the mind faculty, through the power of wisdom and the power of mindfulness they clearly know that all dharmas are impermanent, arising and ceasing without abiding. They do not cling to self or what is not self. Their mind faculty is purified, and they neither grasp at dharmas as objects nor discriminate.

They engage in no conceptual proliferation, false thought, habituation, or bondage with respect to mind consciousness and dharmas as objects. Because the mind faculty is purified and knows in accordance with reality, they clearly know that all dharmas are like illusions and attain supreme merit and wisdom unlike that of the world. Furthermore, these bodhisattvas do not hold the view that any dharma is without a cause.

Nor do they perceive conditions within causes, or causes within conditions. They clearly know that all dharmas are mutually unconnected, and they enter and realize the originally pure and quiescent intrinsic nature, which neither arises nor originates, neither flows nor revolves, and cannot be reached through verbal expression. The meanings of all dharmas are neither of the same category, nor conjoined, nor unconjoined.

This is because all dharmas have no agent. Because there is no agent, there is no recipient, no sentient being, and no self.

The statements concerning dharmas set forth here are neither in accordance with reality nor contrary to reality. This is because one neither accepts nor grasps any dharma; they are identical with nirvana, utterly free from attachment.

– O Infinite Adornment! This is the differentiated gateway of skillful dharanis expounded by the bodhisattvas. One must clearly understand all dharmas. When expounding in this manner, bodhisattvas remain far removed from the internal and do not grasp at the external as an object. They are also able to contemplate that there is neither beginning nor end. Relying upon the vehicle of birth and death, they enter the world, dwell in the house of ignorance, and wander everywhere in cyclic existence. Although they revolve through birth and death in this way, no birth and death can be apprehended, nor is there any real vehicle of birth and death.

– O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas can understand this Dharma clearly, they will swiftly attain luminous wisdom and expound the Dharma with purity. They will cultivate patience, practice diligently, give rise to great loving-kindness and compassion, maintain firm resolve, and perfect skillful means in exposition. They will enable sentient beings to abide at the stage of non-contention, demolish all erroneous doctrines of non-Buddhist traditions, and dispel the darkness of sentient beings.

When these bodhisattvas expound the Dharma, immeasurable Buddhas throughout the ten directions praise them. These bodhisattvas emit the inconceivable radiance of the Dharma. They are donors of the Dharma, able to reveal without error the Dharma treasury of the Buddhas, fulfill supreme practices and vows, possess inconceivable skillful means, and open and expand the hearts and minds of sentient beings.

– O Infinite Adornment! Within this Dharma, bodhisattvas should diligently cultivate and bring forth the gateway of samadhi. Having cultivated it, they will enter and realize the gateway of dharani. Having attained mastery of the gateway of dharani, they will be able to expound its vast, hidden, and differentiated terms; enter and realize unobstructed knowledge of words; accord with and penetrate the most profound meanings and principles; and skillfully comprehend the meanings of verbal teachings without the slightest doubt. By themselves, without relying upon the instruction of others, they will be able to abide at the stage of patient acceptance.

– O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas can make courageous vows and strive diligently, seeking the wisdom of all dharmas for the sake of benefiting all sentient beings, thoroughly comprehending all vehicles, and attaining the ultimately pure wisdom of a Buddha, it will not be very difficult.

– O Infinite Adornment! The profound dharani gateways and skillful means expounded here are revealed by the Buddha in order to gather in the bodhisattvas.

The Buddha will now proclaim them so that all bodhisattvas may awaken and skillfully retain the hidden verbal teachings. In whatever they undertake, they will be able to understand the meanings of all words, languages, and sounds. They will also be able to enter and realize skillful, differentiated wisdom.

What are these Dharma gateways?

– O Infinite Adornment! Bodhisattvas who possess the virtue of pure moral discipline and abide in the empowering force of ultimate truth will be able to increase their skillful means of generosity. Free from any sense of possession and free from appropriation, they cultivate skillful means for realizing the true meanings and principles of all dharmas. They attain the Dharma of non-retrogression, abide skillfully at the stage of non-retrogression, and swiftly attain vast, selfless wisdom and eloquence as boundless as the ocean.

– O Infinite Adornment! In future ages, few will be able to reverently accept and uphold this Dharma, except bodhisattvas who seek the profound Dharma that accords with reality and enter the Dharma treasury of the Tathagata. When these bodhisattvas diligently study and cultivate this profound Dharma and awaken to and enter its principles and meanings, they will attain unobstructed wisdom and will also clearly understand the intrinsic and original nature of all dharmas.

– O Infinite Adornment! Even though the Tathagata may employ various terms to expound all dharmas, this does not contradict the original and intrinsic nature of those dharmas. In the Tathagata’s exposition, there is nothing expounded and no one who expounds.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata has perfected the paramita of skillful exposition. Yet there is not the slightest dharma attained by the Tathagata. The Tathagata does not expound the Dharma on account of either attaining or not attaining any dharma. The Tathagata neither acts nor does not act; what the Tathagata does is without attainment. One should not say that the Buddhas perform practices that accord with reality, for there is not the slightest dharma that can be called the Tathagata. Precisely this is how the Tathagata abides in such an abiding and carries out such activity. If a name is used to designate the Tathagata, the Tathagata and that name are neither different nor not different. Because they are neither different nor not different, one cannot say that the Tathagata comes or goes. The Tathagata is not conceptual proliferation, has transcended conceptual proliferation, and yet there is no transcendence. The Tathagata and the nature of the Tathagata are neither identical nor separate. This nature is not false and does not change. There is not the slightest dharma that can be revealed or expounded, nor is there any manifestation.

The Tathagata realizes the original nature of all dharmas in accordance with reality. Yet the original nature of all dharmas cannot be proclaimed, because all dharmas are without inherent existence.

Therefore, the Tathagata teaches that all dharmas are uncreated and unchanging, neither arising nor ceasing, neither emerging nor departing, because all dharmas are ultimately pure. Nothing whatsoever is attained in regard to any dharma. Because there is nothing attained, there is nothing realized; thus, there is not the slightest dharma that can be attained. If any dharma could be attained, there should be a recipient among dharmas. Since there is no recipient, one should know that, because all dharmas do not arise, there is nothing whatsoever to be attained.

The designation “Tathagata” is likewise provisionally established through the sacred teaching. Such verbal expressions are, in their original nature, utterly pure. Within them, the noble ones find not the slightest dharma that can be attained; nor is there either dharma or non-dharma. There is also no dharma called noble or ignoble, and no dharma that corresponds or does not correspond with the noble ones.

Whatever the Tathagata expounds should be understood in this way, and should not be discriminated according to worldly conventions.

The Tathagata is able to expound dharmas and non-dharmas, yet he does not establish the existence of dharmas or non-dharmas.

The Tathagata is able to expound wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, yet he does not establish the existence of wholesome or unwholesome dharmas.

The Tathagata is able to expound all dharmas, yet he does not establish the existence of all dharmas.

The Tathagata is able to expound the unmanifest, yet he does not establish the existence of the unmanifest.

– O Boundless Adornment! Those whose karma is not purified cannot comprehend this extremely profound Dharma taught by the Tathagata.

Whoever aspires to unsurpassed bodhi and seeks liberation from birth and death must clearly understand the dharmas expounded by the Tathagata.

– O Boundless Adornment! If bodhisattvas clearly understand this Dharma, they should be free from doubt and hesitation, neither grasping nor rejecting. They should not perceive even the slightest dharma as arising or ceasing, and should abide neither in conceptual proliferation nor in the absence of conceptual proliferation. In this way, bodhisattvas will be able to expound this true Dharma without becoming attached to this true Dharma.

– O Boundless Adornment! Just as Mount Sumeru serves as the support for the palaces of beings possessing roots of goodness and merit, where those beings enjoy happiness,

so too, bodhisattvas who cultivate roots of goodness are able to hear and uphold this extremely profound treasure of Dharma, and thereby attain the wisdom of all modes.

– O Boundless Adornment! This sutra teaching enables one to accord with and realize unsurpassed Dharma-wisdom. It has been disseminated in this way in order to reveal the Tathagata’s Dharma treasury of dharani. This dharani can encompass all vast and true dharmas. All the teachings expounded by the Buddhas, the Tathagatas, issue from this boundless dharani gateway. In order to purify all Dharma gateways, the Tathagata reveals and expounds this dharani gateway. This gateway can encompass all the teachings within the sutras, causing them neither to arise nor perish, and to have neither beginning, end, nor middle. The Tathagata watches over and keeps this dharani gateway in mind, and through it can universally perform immeasurable and boundless Buddha-work throughout the worlds of the ten directions.

– O Boundless Adornment! If bodhisattvas wish to understand this teaching clearly, disseminate the true Dharma, enter the non-abiding seal of Dharma, comprehend the secret and unobstructed gateway, initiate the preparatory practice of great diligence, and understand the nature and characteristics of all dharmas so that they may expound them, they must uphold the teaching expounded by the Tathagata. Having upheld it, they will understand all secret expressions, attain wisdom in expounding written words, and clearly comprehend the distinct principles and meanings of all dharmas. Wishing to benefit and bring happiness to all beings, these bodhisattvas establish the supreme meaning and skillfully teach beings according to their capacities, enabling them to gain benefit. Whether praising the teaching, transmitting the teaching, or expounding the teaching, out of compassion and the wish to benefit beings they seek Buddha-wisdom without attachment. Because they are unattached, they grasp at nothing. They do not display either inner wisdom or outer wisdom, nor do they become complacently satisfied with even the slightest dharma. They do not seek unsurpassed wisdom through inferior diligence, but diligently cultivate all extremely profound dharmas. Whenever anyone questions them, they explain according to the meaning. Abiding in practices that benefit both themselves and others, they skillfully contemplate that both self and others, together with all dharmas, are without self. Once the self has been purified, they immediately realize the purity of all dharmas. They delight in expounding the teaching in order to reveal it and are never miserly with the true Dharma.

Bodhisattvas should practice the four immeasurable states of mind in this way: “For the benefit of all beings, I shall bestow upon them the unsurpassed and sublime treasure of Dharma. I shall now cause all beings to accord with the unsurpassed treasure of Dharma. Even if beings commit grave evil karma, I shall never harbor any thought of withholding the true Dharma from them.

I shall now perform the Dharma-work of the Tathagata and the Dharma-work of omniscience, causing beings to escape suffering. I shall use the vessel of Dharma to carry beings across the current of birth and death, enabling them to attain every happiness.” Bodhisattvas must arouse such a mind of great compassion. Through this, they will quickly realize the sublime Dharma and attain this sutra’s dharani gateway of unobstructed Dharma exposition.

They will forever escape birth and death, will not be refuted by proponents of non-Buddhist doctrines, and will be able to refute all the arguments of non-Buddhist paths and subdue the armies of Mara. Wishing to eliminate contentious doctrines, bodhisattvas must abide in this way.

– O Boundless Adornment! All Tathagatas embrace and accept this dharani gateway and keep it well in mind.

Consider a bodhisattva in his final existence abiding in the Tusita Heaven: all the devas make offerings to him, and all beings cherish and revere him. This bodhisattva’s roots of goodness and merit have ripened to supreme excellence. With only one lifetime remaining, all his virtues of generosity, moral discipline, and wisdom are perfectly fulfilled. He is the most honored one in the great trichiliocosm. Possessing unsurpassed merit and roots of goodness, he is revered and praised by all sentient beings.

When this bodhisattva leaves the Tusita Heaven and descends to Jambudvipa, he is born in the palace of the noblest lineage in the capital of a great kingdom, where all people and all kinds of beings cherish, revere, and make offerings to him.

In the same way, this dharani gateway abides within all dharmas. It is precisely from this gateway that all dharmas arise and cease.

Having abided in this gateway, bodhisattvas bring all dharmas to maturity and cause them to increase. They attain mastery over all dharmas and become lords of all dharmas.

When a bodhisattva in his final existence descends to be born among humans, he uses the power of the samadhi of unobstructed observation to contemplate all beings and the entire great trichiliocosm. Because he has attained the unsurpassed dharani gateway and, with an expansive mind, abides within the vast domain of wisdom, he never craves any object of sensual desire, nor does he seek beautiful things that arouse defiling attachment.

Because he abides in the wisdom of the samadhi of emptiness and skillfully contemplates the signless means pertaining to all dharmas, he is attached to nothing whatsoever. He clearly understands that all conditioned dharmas within the three realms are faults and calamities: why should they be desired, and why should they be grasped? One must swiftly depart from them and seek the supreme state of tranquil liberation.

Although the bodhisattva contemplates in this way, he does not abide in or cling to that contemplation. He gives rise to great compassion and great loving-kindness toward sentient beings and, wishing to bring them to maturity, seeks liberation through skillful means that accord with and enter supreme wisdom. He attains mastery with respect to sentient beings and attains the unobstructed dharani gateway of skillful means with respect to all dharmas. With the wisdom of skillful means, he skillfully contemplates all sentient beings and skillfully contemplates definitive and inconceivable principles and meanings.

Though in the freshness and beauty of youth, he takes no delight whatsoever in objects of sensual pleasure, seeking only tranquility. He then leaves his family and relatives to go forth, fully accomplishing inconceivably profound skillful means. Bringing all the merit and wisdom he has accumulated, he proceeds directly to the seat of unsurpassed bodhi, realizes the unsurpassed and exceedingly profound dharani gateway, perfects spontaneous wisdom and unobstructed wisdom, abides in wisdom of all modes, and turns the unsurpassed, pure Dharma wheel. With a profound and wondrous Brahma voice, he reveals the knowledge and vision of all devas, humans, and all sentient beings, like the noonday sun shedding its light everywhere.

– O Infinite Adornment! A bodhisattva who abides in the dharani of wisdom of all modes realizes unsurpassed bodhi. The distinctions among the phrases and meanings of this dharani gateway cannot be known by other bodhisattvas.

When a bodhisattva bound to only one more birth sits at the seat of enlightenment, through purified wisdom and without a teacher, he awakens by himself and then realizes the dharani gateway described above.

Likewise, because a bodhisattva has, for the sake of bodhi, planted roots of goodness throughout immeasurable kalpas, cultivated pure conduct, and attained exceedingly profound acceptance of the Dharma, and because, out of compassion for all sentient beings, he possesses a mind of great loving-kindness and compassion, he realizes this dharani gateway.

– O Infinite Adornment! Through this dharani gateway, a bodhisattva will sit at the seat of enlightenment and realize unsurpassed bodhi. The Buddha cannot now reveal or expound it to you. You yourself will realize that Dharma gateway when you possess the requisite wisdom of a bodhisattva. That Dharma gateway can neither be demonstrated nor proclaimed. It is a Dharma gateway that bodhisattvas must comprehend for themselves; it is boundless, immeasurable, and beyond analogy. This Dharma gateway transcends all worlds and is not shared with devas, humans, Maras, Brahmas, sramanas, brahmins, and so forth. It leads directly to the unsurpassed purity of wisdom of all modes and spontaneous wisdom.

Through this unsurpassed, naturally pure wisdom, a bodhisattva can turn the unsurpassed, pure Dharma wheel and gradually gather sentient beings into unsurpassed wisdom of all modes.

Because he has attained purity in all Dharma gateways and in nirvana, the bodhisattva reveals and expounds immeasurable meanings of the Dharma: the skandhas, ayatanas, dhatus, dependent origination, and so forth. At the same time, he also demonstrates pure and skillful wisdom concerning the skandhas, ayatanas, and so forth.

The bodhisattva further causes sentient beings to direct their minds toward the gateway of the noble truths, while also demonstrating pure and skillful wisdom concerning the noble truths. He brings forth the thirty-seven factors of bodhi and demonstrates pure and skillful wisdom concerning those factors. He brings forth skillful purity in calm abiding, insight, and meditation, and demonstrates the skillful wisdom that sustains pure calm abiding, insight, and meditation.

He brings forth and demonstrates pure wisdom of non-arising and skillful wisdom of knowledge and liberation, thereby being able to expound great nirvana. Concerning conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, contaminated and uncontaminated dharmas, and mundane and supramundane dharmas, he reveals and proclaims them through immeasurable names and meanings.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata teaches the means by which this dharani gateway universally encompasses and sustains all dharmas. This is the abiding place of all the skillful powers of the dharani of omniscience. In accordance with the original vows of all sentient beings, it showers down the rain of Dharma, causing all parched beings to be fully imbued with the wondrous Dharma.

You bodhisattvas must follow the Tathagata in learning this exceedingly profound Dharma gateway and must not oppose it.

Before long, through this dharani of wisdom of all modes, you will attain mastery of comprehensive retention and bring immeasurable benefit to sentient beings, just as the Buddha does today.

You should use immeasurably varied terms to reveal and proclaim this exceedingly profound dharani gateway of wisdom.

You must seek resolute understanding of this Dharma and must not depart from the provisions for bodhi.

– O Infinite Adornment! What does it mean to seek resolute understanding?

Bodhisattvas must clearly understand that all dharmas are originally neither born nor extinguished, neither moving nor abiding, neither coming nor going, and that their intrinsic nature is empty and quiescent. They do not become attached even to this nature of emptiness; how much less would they become attached to characteristics! Within that emptiness, there is no perception of characteristics.

If, within that emptiness, one is free of the perception of characteristics, one can enter the emptiness of conditioned dharmas, wherein there is neither self nor what belongs to a self, and no conception whatsoever of self, person, sentient being, or living being.

Such is the nature of emptiness: it is neither attachment nor non-attachment, neither defilement nor non-defilement, neither delusion nor non-delusion, neither craving nor non-craving. It neither abides in emptiness nor abides anywhere else, nor is it established. If one becomes disenchanted with emptiness, emptiness itself is then quiescently extinguished.

It is free from discrimination, pervasive discrimination, and discriminative distinctions, and it is without effort. There is not even the slightest dharma that can be grasped. Its intrinsic nature is originally pure.

This nature of emptiness is precisely the original intrinsic nature of all dharmas. The original nature of all conditioned dharmas is empty; even wholesome dharmas, unwholesome dharmas, conditioned dharmas, unconditioned dharmas, mundane dharmas, and supramundane dharmas are all likewise empty in their original nature.

When bodhisattvas embrace such resolute understanding, they enter liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation; they can also embrace undefiled liberation and the provisions for bodhi.

What are the provisions for bodhi?

They are purity of moral discipline, purity of samadhi, purity of wisdom, purity of liberation, purity of the knowledge and vision of liberation, and purity of the six paramitas. If all the foregoing dharmas are pure, there is universal purity. If there is universal purity, there is the undefiled Dharma gateway: the nature of mind is pure and luminous, without afflictions. That mind continually abides, its original nature empty and quiescent. Nor is it defiled by these three: knowledge and views, adventitious impurities, and afflictions. All three are unreal, empty, and devoid of anything that exists. This nature of mind does not correspond with afflictions; it is pure. For this mind is intrinsically pure in its original nature, nondual and without division into two parts.

If one can clearly know the nature of mind in this way, one understands that it cannot be defiled by the stains of affliction, and that neither within, without, nor in between can anything be apprehended. Only when deluded perceptions and causal conditions come together do mental thoughts arise. Although mind arises, it still cannot be seen; even if sought throughout the ten directions, it can never be apprehended.

Nor is there a mind that can perceive the mind. Such objects of cognition do not unite with the mind, nor does the mind unite with objects of cognition. Causal conditions do not correspond with the mind, nor does the mind correspond with causal conditions.

It is only on account of the mind that all those dharmas correspond with the mind. However many dharmas correspond with the mind, they neither know one another nor can they perceive one another; how much less can dharmas that do not correspond with the mind do so.

When one contemplates and examines by means of ultimate truth, there is nothing whatsoever that can be said either to correspond or not to correspond. For there is not the slightest dharma that either corresponds or does not correspond with any other slightest dharma.

The intrinsic nature of all dharmas is quiescent. This intrinsic nature also does not correspond with the slightest thing. The intrinsic nature of all dharmas is their original nature. Since it is their original nature, all those dharmas are devoid of intrinsic nature.

– O Boundless Adornment! You should now know that if one were able to express through words the original nature and intrinsic nature of all dharmas, this would certainly not accord with reason. Among all dharmas, there is not the slightest dharma that can be called an original nature or intrinsic nature. The original nature of all dharmas is empty. The intrinsic nature of all dharmas is fundamentally without nature. Since they are empty and without nature, they have a single characteristic. This single characteristic is precisely the absence of characteristics. Because they are without characteristics, their original nature and intrinsic nature are pure. Since they are empty and without nature, that original nature and intrinsic nature cannot be indicated by characteristics; all dharmas, likewise, are so.

This emptiness and absence of nature are neither defiled nor pure, but are the original nature of all dharmas. Since this is the original nature of all dharmas, it is not established through defilement or purity, but neither abides nor arises.

– O Boundless Adornment! You should contemplate how all dharmas neither abide nor arise and are not established. Since their original nature is pure, why are sentient beings deluded regarding them? It is because sentient beings in the world ride upon the vehicle of falsity and are therefore deluded by that false vehicle. Although it is said that they ride upon a vehicle, in truth there is neither riding nor non-riding. Yet the world rides upon the vehicle of empty space and is then bound by the vehicle of empty space. In truth, however, the vehicle of empty space is also nonexistent. These sentient beings are deluded because of their profound foolishness. Yet in truth there is neither foolishness nor delusion.

– O Boundless Adornment! Contemplate how sentient beings, because of foolishness, fail to understand this Dharma and perpetually dwell in contention. To dwell in contention is precisely not to dwell. Yet because the world is deluded, it fails to understand that this itself is purity. If one does not dwell, that is called dwelling; this itself is the pure root of goodness that does not dwell.

– O Boundless Adornment! This secret Dharma gate of the Tathagata is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. Only those such as you, who have long cultivated wholesome dharmas, can comprehend it.

– O Boundless Adornment! The Tathagata has said that to dwell in contention is not true dwelling, because it is unwholesome. Yet the unwholesome is still nonexistent. If, within this nonexistence, one does not understand that dwelling and non-dwelling are no different, this is called dwelling in contention.

If one can dwell in pure roots of goodness, this is not called dwelling. Even if one dwells, there is no fault. Because there is no fault, one can understand such a Dharma gate. Having understood it, it would be unreasonable for one not to be pure.

Sentient beings without wisdom are obscured by many afflictions. Even if a small amount of clear and agreeable Dharma were taught to them, they still could not understand it, much less this secret Dharma, which does not accord with conventional understanding.

Not dwelling is purity, meaning that one does not dwell in wholesome dharmas or in the realm of emancipation, because there is neither a realm of emancipation nor a conventionally designated realm. Regarding the realm of nirvana, if one does not abide in it, this is called attaining nirvana. The term “nirvana” itself is also merely a provisional designation. In this nirvana there is nothing attained and no one who attains it. If there were attainment, then after parinirvana there should still be a Tathagata. If there were no attainment, then after parinirvana there should be a Tathagata. After parinirvana, one cannot say either that there is a Tathagata or that there is no Tathagata. Even the statement that this cannot be spoken is merely a provisional expression of the Tathagata.

Some sentient beings do not diligently cultivate this extremely profound Dharma but instead give rise to doubts and delusions. Some hold that the Tathagata possesses form and that after parinirvana there is a Tathagata. Others hold that the Tathagata has no form and that after parinirvana there is no Tathagata. Still others hold that after parinirvana there is neither a Tathagata nor no Tathagata.

If a dharma is already neither arising nor ceasing, then after that dharma has ceased, one should not speak of it as either existing or not existing.

This Tathagata neither arises nor ceases. After parinirvana, one likewise should not speak of him as existing or not existing; nor should one say that he is finite or infinite, and so forth. None of these can be expressed. If one says that there is a boundary, then there is no middle; if one says that there is a middle, then there is no boundary. The aforementioned middle is neither existent nor nonexistent. If one maintains herein that there truly is existence or truly is nonexistence, one contradicts dependent origination.

If there were any dharma that did not arise from conditions and was not dependently originated, that dharma would not cease and would not conflict with either existence or nonexistence. All dharmas arising from conditions and all dependently originated dharmas have neither boundaries nor a middle; they are neither existent nor nonexistent. Since they are neither existent nor nonexistent, how could they be spoken of?

– O Boundless Adornment! The Tathagata, through great skillful means, abides herein and, in order to break open the shell of ignorance for sentient beings, reveals and expounds what does not contradict dependent origination. All dharmas enter into dependent origination. Since they enter into dependent origination, there can be no discourse concerning a middle or a boundary. Apart from words and discourse, not the slightest dharma can be apprehended.

– O Boundless Adornment! You should now contemplate the Dharma of nonexistence. The Dharma that has no boundary is called the Middle Way. Through skillful means, it is said that there is an awakened wisdom capable of encompassing and sustaining all dharmas. Yet the dharmas encompassed and sustained are also unapprehensible; because they are unapprehensible, there is no discourse.

You are wise ones and should thus know the true characteristic of all dharmas: they neither come nor go, have neither divisions nor segments, are neither of one nature nor of different natures, and reach that ultimate other shore, with not the slightest dharma failing to reach that shore. That other shore is precisely nirvana. All dharmas bear the characteristic of nirvana.

Therefore, you should know that this cannot be proclaimed in words; it is called the Middle Way only in accordance with worldly convention. This Middle Way is the direct path to great nirvana, yet there is no nirvana that serves as a destination. If there were a nirvana that served as a destination, then among all dharmas there should be departure and arrival.

But because the original nature of all dharmas is universally equal, nirvana is said to be without any destination.

– O Boundless Adornment! This is called the Middle Way, yet this Middle Way is itself not the Middle Way, because it neither increases nor diminishes and has neither boundary nor grasping. Since a dharma is boundless, how could it be bounded? Precisely having no location is the boundless Dharma.

Ordinary beings grasp at boundaries and locations within that which has no location. Because they grasp at boundaries and locations, they do not attain liberation. Why do they not attain liberation? Because in ultimate reality there is fundamentally no location.

Observe how the Tathagata, only through decisive and skillful awakened wisdom, is able to expound the Middle Way in this manner.

– O Boundless Adornment! Regarding all dharmas, the Buddhas, the Tathagatas, have neither doubt nor delusion, nor do they forget or omit anything. The Buddhas, the Blessed Ones, constantly abide in right samadhi, unobstructed and sovereign. They always contemplate skillfully, abide in the most excellent right samadhi, and expound with immeasurable knowledge and vision. They do not teach the pure Dharma in an inappropriate place; they teach the ultimate Dharma and the quiescent Dharma. What the Tathagata teaches has neither excess nor omission.

– O Boundless Adornment! It is like a precious jewel called “Variegated Colors” within the great ocean. Although immeasurable streams of water flow into the great ocean, the fiery power of that precious jewel prevents the ocean’s waters from overflowing.

In the same way, the Tathagata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, uses the fiery power of wisdom to extinguish the afflictions of sentient beings.

– O Infinite Adornment! If anyone each day invokes and recollects the name and virtues of the Tathagata, that person can escape darkness and will gradually burn away the afflictions. When one invokes the name “Namo Buddha,” one’s verbal karma is not in vain. This verbal karma is called holding a flaming torch capable of burning away the afflictions.

If anyone hears the names of the Buddha-Tathagatas, that person will escape all darkness and, together with those who invoke and recollect those names, will likewise possess a cause of nirvana.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Buddha now showers down the rain of Dharma in order to eliminate the afflictions of those beings who reverently place their faith in the Tathagata.

– O Infinite Adornment! This is the true Dharma spoken by the Tathagata. Because it is true, there is not the slightest dharma that can be revealed or expounded; yet within this Dharma there is neither truth nor falsehood.

The Tathagata, the One of True Speech who abides in the true Dharma, is able to expound this dharani gateway.

Who can clearly understand this true Dharma? It is precisely the bodhisattvas—those who see and know things as they truly are, whose seeing and knowing are complete, and who practice wholesome deeds. Apart from such beings, no one else can clearly understand it.

– O Infinite Adornment! You should accord with this meaning and personally concentrate your mindfulness upon this Dharma, without placing faith and delight in wisdom arising from others. Because you wish to bring benefit and happiness to sentient beings, you must accord with this Dharma. If one possesses the wisdom of patient acceptance that accords with this Dharma, one abides in non-accordance.

Sentient beings who are not widely learned and lack the wisdom of patient acceptance that accords with it cannot clearly understand this teaching. Those who practice according to the views and attachments of non-Buddhist paths, who follow other roads leading directly to the lower realms, who do not perform wholesome deeds, and who associate with practitioners of deviant, non-Buddhist conduct cannot enter this Dharma gateway.

O Infinite Adornment! You should now contemplate this: whenever someone expounds this unobstructed treasury of luminous Dharma, all sentient beings who are not widely learned and have not subdued their ordinary minds remain far removed from this teaching. Yet sentient beings capable of cultivating and training themselves, although they have not yet attained the patient acceptance that accords with it, are not far removed from this teaching.

How much more is this true of those who possess undefiled, unattached patient acceptance and can turn the unobstructed Dharma wheel! For all such persons abide on the unobstructed stage.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Buddha expounds this dharani gateway in order to bring to maturity sentient beings who possess roots of goodness, to empower sentient beings to attain pure knowledge and vision with respect to the unobstructed Dharma, and also to bring benefit and happiness to all.

– O Infinite Adornment! If anyone awakens to and enters this Dharma gateway, you should know that this person already abides on the bodhisattva stage, can swiftly realize the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, and will receive a prediction of unsurpassed bodhi.

You should possess resolute understanding regarding this extremely profound Dharma gateway.

– O Infinite Adornment! You should now know that this Dharma gateway is the abode of those without attachment and of wisdom that apprehends nothing.

Such persons have previously made offerings to the Buddhas, diligently cultivated body, speech, and mind, and possess impartial wisdom that abides in nothing. If they skillfully uphold this Dharma without cherishing body or life, they can transmit this scripture.

In future ages, if there are sentient beings who diligently cultivate because they wish to hear this Dharma, even such persons will be difficult to find, much less those who can copy and uphold it, read and recite it fluently, and reveal, proclaim, and expound it. Before long, such persons will attain the gateway of pure dharani, quickly attain pure wisdom, and realize and enter the wisdom of all modes.

– O Infinite Adornment! Behold how the Tathagata reveals and expounds this treasury of Dharma for bodhisattvas seeking to attain the wisdom of all modes; yet within it there is not the slightest dharma that is not expounded. To teach the Dharma in this way is to teach without teaching, and it can give rise to and reveal the gateway of purity.

All dharmas are alike in having the characteristic of empty space. How are they alike? All dharmas are like empty space, yet this empty space is neither alike nor different.

All dharmas likewise are neither alike nor different. Just as empty space is boundless, so too are all dharmas boundless. The boundary of all dharmas cannot be apprehended.

Because it cannot be apprehended, it is boundless. If one can abide in this Dharma in such a manner, this is called abiding in the Dharma of the Tathagata. To abide in the Dharma of the Tathagata is to have nothing to teach.

Since there is nothing to teach, one understands all dharmas through provisional names and characteristics established in accordance with them and should not give rise to attachment. If one is unattached, one does not fall into an extreme. If one does not fall into an extreme, one does not fall into the middle.

If one falls into an extreme, one necessarily falls into the middle. Therefore, one must depart from both the middle and the extremes. Having departed from the middle and the extremes, one has departed from everything.

Having departed from everything, there is nothing to teach. Through this, one attains pure wisdom, clings to none of the dharmas, and has neither anything grasped nor anyone who grasps. This is because dharmas are without self, because the self has always been unapprehendable, and because the nature of self has always lacked intrinsic nature.

– O Infinite Adornment! As the Buddha has said, all conditioned formations are impermanent. Such an exposition signifies immutability and non-correspondence.

As the Buddha has taught the meaning of suffering throughout the realms, such an exposition signifies disenchantment and nirvana.

As the Buddha has taught that nirvana is quiescent, such an exposition signifies relinquishing and departing from all conditioned dharmas.

Whether impermanence, suffering, non-self, or nirvana, these are Dharma gateways expounded by the Tathagata. Through them, the Tathagata also reveals the fundamental and intrinsic nature of all dharmas.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata proclaims all dharmas by means of various terms, various forms of speech, and various skillful means. Yet the Tathagata does not establish anything distinct from the fundamental nature of dharmas. Their nature is neither one nor different; all dharmas likewise are neither one nor different. Because they cannot be seen, one swiftly realizes and enters the intrinsic nature of empty space, proceeding directly to the signlessness of all dharmas.

– O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata has set forth this dharani gateway for bodhisattvas whose fundamental nature is pure and whose intrinsic nature is subdued. The subduing spoken of above means subduing greed, hatred, and delusion and subduing ignorance, thereby entering directly into the equality of the Dharma-nature. Greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as the person who subdues them, are all unapprehendable. Their being unapprehendable is itself subduing.

– O Infinite Adornment! When sought in accordance with reality, greed, hatred, and delusion are likewise unapprehendable. Greed, hatred, and delusion are empty, false, and unreal. They deceive foolish ordinary beings, yet they themselves have nowhere to abide and are also unapprehendable. They arise from falsity and cease through falsity; their fundamental nature is empty and quiescent. You should understand them in this way.

How should they be understood? Since they do not arise, they are unreal and are also not inverted. This greed, hatred, and delusion all take the darkness of ignorance as their origin and arise in dependence upon it. Because they arise in dependence upon it, they are all false and unreal. The fundamental nature of greed, hatred, and delusion is pure. One who sees and knows in this way can attain the inconceivable gateway of purity and the dharani gateway.

Whoever is able to contemplate and examine this Dharma well is said to have attained the practice of dharani and the practice of wisdom. This is called the wisdom that clearly knows equality; it is called the pure provisions for bodhi; it is called the state of diligent effort and heedfulness; it is called the state of having subdued pride and heedlessness; it is called the uncorrupted discipline and deportment; it is called purity of body, speech, and mind; it is called accord with the wisdom of non-self; it is called the ability to end and relinquish perceptions; it is called the bringing forth of immeasurable and boundless skillful means.

– O Boundless Adornment! You should now contemplate how, within this Dharma of faith, understanding, and liberation, one can reveal and expound the intrinsic nature and individual characteristics of all dharmas, reveal these Dharma gates, and expound that all dharmas have the same nature as empty space. The one who is able to teach is also inexpressible, and the one for whom the Dharma is taught is also unobtainable.

– O Boundless Adornment! The Buddha now teaches this Dharma gate through which bodhisattvas awaken and enter. If bodhisattvas study this Dharma gate, they will attain wisdom as profound as the ocean and cannot be overcome by any non-Buddhist doctrine. They will immediately attain the practice leading toward omniscience, skillfully expound the essentials of the Dharma, and acquire inconceivable wisdom of equality that does not depend upon others. Through wisdom, they remain unattached and are able to expound all these Dharma gates that are without name or characteristic. They can draw near to the Buddha's wisdom and spontaneous wisdom. Whatever names there may be, they attain purity regarding all names and characteristics, and swiftly realize the all-pervading voice, the voice that is a basis, the supremely wondrous voice, and the pure voice. They are revered and trusted by sentient beings, who approach them and ask questions. With definitive wisdom, such bodhisattvas answer skillfully. Their words are timely, reasonable, beneficial, gentle, and definitive in meaning. By expounding a single meaning, they can enable sentient beings to understand many meanings.

– O Boundless Adornment! You should now contemplate the bodhisattvas who cultivate this Dharma. They are able to understand clearly the Buddha's wisdom and attain such immeasurable merit. They put an end to craving, anger, affliction, and delusion; attain discerning wisdom; accomplish the practices that ought to be accomplished; become well trained in all that they have studied and cultivated; attain complete resolute patience; never lose their pure resolve; stand firm in their great vows; and address sentient beings with kind words of greeting.

– O Boundless Adornment! If bodhisattvas did not diligently cultivate this Dharma in the past, do not diligently cultivate it now, and likewise do not diligently cultivate it in the future, they will have no share whatsoever, not even the slightest, in the Tathagata's supreme merit.

If bodhisattvas are able to cultivate this Dharma diligently and resolve to seek it at all times, then, in accordance with what they seek and vow, what they practice, the direction toward which they proceed, and what they delight in, they will attain complete fulfillment. If bodhisattvas are able to abide in this extremely profound Dharma, patiently accept it, and skillfully contemplate, examine, and discern it, they will realize inexhaustible supernormal powers and the wisdom of great supernormal powers, surpass all worldly wisdom, and attain spontaneous wisdom, boundless wisdom, and immeasurable wisdom.

– O Boundless Adornment! If anyone diligently studies and cultivates this dharani Dharma gate of liberation, that person will draw near to the bodhi seat and, for the sake of all sentient beings, arouse a mind of great loving-kindness and great compassion and carry out the deeds of a Buddha.