佛說佛十力經

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the Jeta Grove, the Garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the country of Śrāvastī, together with an assembly of bhikṣus.

At that time the Buddha said to the bhikṣus: You should know that the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, possesses ten kinds of power; one endowed with these powers can thereupon know clearly all places everywhere, and within the great assembly can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle. What are these ten? It is said that the Tathāgata knows truly, as it really is, all that is possible in every place, and likewise knows truly all that is not possible.

Because of this true knowing, this is the first power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows what is possible and what is not possible. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere, and within the great assembly can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding all sentient beings in the past, the future, and the present who have performed various deeds—whether as actions or as their grounds, whether as causes or as their retributions—the Tathāgata knows all of them truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the second power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows karma. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding all the dhyānas, liberations, samādhis, and samāpattis—whether defiled or pure, and the stages and ranks of these concentrations—the Tathāgata knows them all truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the third power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows concentration. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding all sentient beings—whether oneself or others—and their various kinds of faculties, the Tathāgata knows them all truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the fourth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows the faculties. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding the various kinds of faith and understanding of all sentient beings, the Tathāgata knows them all truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the fifth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows faith and understanding. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding the various kinds of realms and innumerable inherent natures of those realms, the Tathāgata knows them all truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the sixth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows the inherent natures of the realms. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding the great paths leading to all destinies, the Tathāgata knows them all truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the seventh power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom that knows the paths leading to the various destinies. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, regarding the countless kinds of recollection of former lives—namely one birth, two births, three, four, or five births; or ten, eleven, even a hundred births; among countless hundreds of thousands of births, and the hundreds of thousands of eons of formation and destruction, with all their events of formation and destruction—the Tathāgata recalls: "Among those sentient beings I was born in such a place, with such a name, of such a kind and class, of such a clan and family, with such food and drink, such suffering and joy, and such a span of life, long or short, within such limits.

When that life span was exhausted, born in a certain place, I passed away from here and was born there, passed away from there and was born here." All these events, together with the conditioned dharmas in every direction, of countless kinds, recollected from former lives, the Tathāgata knows truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the eighth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom of recollecting former lives.

The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, with the Tathāgata's pure divine eye, surpassing the vision of human beings, he observes all the sentient beings of the world at the time of their birth and at the time of their death—whether beautiful or ugly, whether noble or lowly, whether born into good destinies or born into evil destinies—each according to the deeds they have done, and he sees and knows this truly, as it really is. If the deeds of body, speech, and mind of sentient beings are unwholesome conduct, slandering the noble and the worthy, giving rise to wrong views, and the dharmas and deeds of wrong view are gathered together as the cause—by reason of that cause, when the body breaks up and life ends, they fall down into the evil destinies and are born in the hells.

If the deeds of body, speech, and mind of sentient beings are wholesome conduct, not slandering the noble and the worthy, giving rise to right view, and the dharmas and deeds of right view are gathered together as the cause—by reason of that cause, when the body breaks up and life ends, they dwell in a good destiny and are born up in the heavens. All such matters the Tathāgata knows truly, as they really are. Because of this true knowing, this is the ninth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom of the divine eye.

The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

Furthermore, the Tathāgata has exhausted all defilements, and there is for him no further increase of unreal defilements. With liberation of mind through goodness and liberation of wisdom through goodness, seeing the Dharma in this way, he realizes by experience the wisdom that itself attains the fruit: "My births are exhausted, the pure conduct has been established, what was to be done has been done, and hereafter I shall not take up further existence." All this the Tathāgata knows truly, as it really is.

Because of this true knowing, this is the tenth power of the Tathāgata: the wisdom of the exhaustion of the defilements. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Completely Enlightened One, is endowed with this power, and thereupon can know clearly all places everywhere. Within the great assembly he can, freely and impartially, expound the Dharma that is pure and subtle.

When the Buddha had finished expounding this sūtra, the assembly of bhikṣus, having heard what the Buddha said, were all greatly delighted, and faithfully received and respectfully practiced it.

The Buddha has expounded the Sūtra of the Ten Powers of the Buddha.