觀察諸法行經

CHAPTER ONE: THE PRACTICE OF BOUNDLESS SKILLFUL MEANS

At that time, the Blessed One was dwelling on Vulture Peak at Rajagriha, together with a great community of one thousand bhiksus and eighty kotis of great bodhisattvas who had assembled from various Buddha lands. They had all attained dharanis, samadhis, patience, and the state of being bound to only one more birth. They had realized knowledge of the paths of the past and future; their speech was pure; they did not practice false virtue or praise themselves; and they were free from greed.

Those of other paths could not overcome them. They had transcended the deeds of Mara, attained the qualities of the Buddhas, and fully accomplished fearlessness. They had passed beyond the obstructions to the Dharma and extinguished karmic obstructions.

They had attained unhindered realization of the essential nature of phenomena. Their utterances of praise were inexhaustible. For inconceivable kalpas they had adorned themselves with the armor of vows.

Before speaking they smiled, their faces never drawn with sorrow. Their eloquence was uninterrupted. They had attained the Samadhi and Dharani of Equal Patience and fully accomplished boundless eloquence and supreme fearlessness.

Throughout hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of kalpas, they could skillfully expound a single statement and awaken faith and understanding regarding all phenomena as being like magical illusions, blazing flames, the moon reflected in water, images in dreams, echoes, and so forth: neither coming nor going, neither arising nor ceasing, empty, signless, wishless, manifest yet ungraspable and unobstructed. They skillfully knew boundless wisdom and skillfully awakened to the wisdom that comprehends the mental conduct of all sentient beings.

According to the faith and understanding of sentient beings, they skillfully taught them the Dharma in accordance with that faith and understanding. They restrained their own minds by means of the precepts, had left behind the condition of craving, and possessed patience free from arrogance, skillful and supremely wondrous. Through the Thusness that is the essential nature of phenomena, they embraced Buddha lands and adorned them with merit.

They formed boundless vows and could skillfully travel successively through innumerable worlds. The samadhi of mindfulness of the Buddha was always present before them. They skillfully entreated all Buddhas to teach, skillfully knew how to extinguish the bonds and latent tendencies of the afflictions, and skillfully knew how to sport in not merely one but hundreds of thousands of oceans of samadhis.

They were the great bodhisattva Maitreya; Manjusri the Youth; the great bodhisattva Avalokitesvara; the great bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta; the great bodhisattva Cloud Voice; the great bodhisattva Wisdom of the Good Hundred-Thousand Blossoms; the great bodhisattva Intention Arising from Boundless Ordinary Conditions; the great bodhisattva King of the Voice Resounding with Thunderous Adornment; the great bodhisattva Wisdom Universally Arising throughout Innumerable Kotis of Kalpas; the great bodhisattva King of the Lion’s Roar; the great bodhisattva Contemplation of Equality and Inequality; the great bodhisattva Pure Secret Gold Free from Doubt; the great bodhisattva Pure Contemplation; the great bodhisattva King of Wisdom; the great bodhisattva Unfailing Vision;

and the sixteen good men headed by Bhadrapala.

There were also the bodhisattva Holder of the Elephant’s Fragrance; the bodhisattva Treasury of Boundless Jewels; the bodhisattva Accumulation of Wisdom; the bodhisattva Accumulation of Eloquence; the bodhisattva King of the Voice Resounding with the Lion’s Roar; the bodhisattva Practice Adorned with Jeweled Pearls; the bodhisattva Lion’s Gait; the bodhisattva Sovereign King of Dharani; the bodhisattva Who Has Attained Boundless Eloquence and Fearlessness; the great bodhisattva Renown; the great bodhisattva King of Joy; and other such bodhisattvas, foremost among the eighty kotis of great bodhisattvas.

The great kings of this trichiliocosm—whether Sakra, a Brahma king, Mahabrahma, a heavenly king, a naga king, a lord of yaksas, a lord of asuras, a lord of garudas, a lord of kimnaras, a lord of mahoragas, a lord of humans, or a lord of nonhumans—came with their entourages to the Buddha, bringing flower garlands, fragrant ointments, garments, parasols, standards, banners, and music. Upon arriving, they bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet and circumambulated him three times. They then made offerings to the Blessed One of the objects they had brought—flower garlands, fragrant ointments, aromatic powders, garments, parasols, standards, banners, and music. Having completed their offerings, they reverently received his instruction and stood with palms joined.

At that time, the great bodhisattva King of Joy, having completed a seven-day fast, had practiced walking meditation, stood, or sat, without lying down or sleeping, diligently seeking the Dharma. He sought those samadhis through which a great bodhisattva, within the unsurpassed Great Vehicle, progressively attains omniscience, the treasure of wisdom, and so forth. Having established this causal condition, that bodhisattva rose, arranged his robe over one shoulder, knelt with his right knee upon the ground, joined his palms toward the Buddha, and said:

“Greatly virtuous Blessed One, I wish, according to my capacity, to ask the Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Enlightened One a question. If the Blessed One will grant me an opportunity, then, after I have asked, may he explain it to me.”

When the bodhisattva had spoken thus, the Buddha said to the great bodhisattva King of Joy:

“King of Joy, the Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Enlightened One always makes an opportunity to explain difficult questions. King of Joy, if you wish to question the Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Enlightened One, I shall explain each matter in accordance with each of your questions, just as you have asked, and shall cause you to rejoice.”

After the Buddha had spoken thus, the great bodhisattva King of Joy said:

“Blessed One, through which samadhis does a great bodhisattva fully accomplish samadhi? How does a great bodhisattva know, as they truly are, the mental conduct of all sentient beings? How can he enter into the intent expressed by all Buddha-Blessed Ones?

How can what he says be neither contrary to the truth nor discordant, but accord with true knowledge adapted to every sound? How can he see the presently abiding Buddha-Blessed Ones without obstruction and accord with the Dharma free from anger and contention? How can he practice the Dharma precisely as he has heard and contemplated it, dwelling amid worldly dharmas yet remaining undefiled by them?

Though practicing the concentration of omniscience, how can he remain sovereign therein without producing attachment? Though practicing nirvana, how can he refrain from entering final nirvana before fulfilling all qualities of a Buddha? Though genuinely practicing the Dharma of the sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, how can he refrain from attaining nirvana in those vehicles?

How can he form boundless intentions without forgetting them? How can he enter the various gates into the realms of sentient beings, the inexhaustible gates, and teach continuously and universally, gathering boundless merit and adorning Buddha lands? How can he attain knowledge without remainder within distinctive knowledge?

Though bringing sentient beings to maturity, how can he teach the Dharma without relying upon the perception of sentient beings? How can he establish those sentient beings who do not abide in views in nirvana, while there is not even one phenomenon that can be willed into quiescent cessation? Though practicing bodhi, how can he remain without dependence or abiding?

How can he fully accomplish great wisdom and abandon the two extremes of existence and nonexistence? Though knowing that all phenomena arise through conditions, how can he remain unattached to conditionally arisen phenomena? How can he quickly realize unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment; subdue Mara and his retinue; overcome other teachers through the Dharma; turn the unsurpassed Dharma wheel; and utter the Dharma’s lion’s roar for devas and the world?

“Blessed One, the Buddha-Dharma is inconceivable! The Dharma of bodhisattvas is inconceivable! The practice of bodhisattvas is inconceivable! Excellent, Blessed One! I have questioned the Tathagata. May the Blessed One expound for me through innumerable, inconceivable kinds of supreme Buddha-wisdom. If I hear them in the Blessed One’s presence, I shall cultivate them in accordance with reality. Having cultivated them in accordance with reality, I shall bring those kinds of supreme Buddha-wisdom to perfection.”

After the great bodhisattva King of Joy had spoken these words, he again questioned the Buddha in verse:

Having given rise to faith in the Buddha’s supreme virtue,
I ask concerning the further shores of merit.
My mind is known by the One called Boundless;
None but the Victorious One can dispel my doubts.

Discerning and resolving the practices of the ten powers,
Your virtue surpasses the delights desired by worldly beings.
The virtuous practice of bodhi is utterly unequaled;
Through a hundred great skillful means, proclaim wisdom’s practice.

Unequaled, incomparable, free from deceit,
Selfless, Worthy of Offerings, free from the three defilements,
Possessing wisdom praised as supreme among ascetics—
I now ask about that superior person’s practice.

With intention skillfully sustained, your words bloom like flowers;
Your speech is stainless, unerring, and supreme.
Good One, Bull-King, who has eliminated all impurities,
Tell me how one may swiftly become a Buddha.

These many humans and devas delight in the Buddha’s virtue;
Day and night their resolute energy does not diminish.
Hearing this practice, they will reverently follow it
And attain the ten powers that vanquish all other powers.

How shall samadhi be attained?
How shall eloquence and penetrative wisdom be gained?
As the Buddha’s light shines in boundless directions,
I ask concerning wisdom of boundless renown.

Smiling, the One of Thusness speaks accordingly,
Knowing all phenomena through Thusness.
Having attained penetrative wisdom and vast sustaining power,
One sees hundreds of stainless Buddhas of the ten directions.

I now ask neither for the path to the pleasures of existence
Nor for any sphere upon which to depend.
Victorious One, I wish to produce the deathless nectar;
Truly proclaim the conduct of the ten powers.

Sugata, what is pure generosity?
What is observance of precepts that casts off the dust?
What is patience in which loving-kindness and aspiration unite?
Proclaim what constitutes energy.

What is wisdom-loving delight that severs delusion?
What is the perfection of wisdom that ends names and words?
One should know the ocean of wisdom to be immovable;
Explain to me the bodhisattva practice.

After the bodhisattva had spoken these verses, the Buddha said to the great bodhisattva King of Joy:

“Excellent, King of Joy! Excellent, King of Joy! You have now initiated this practice for the benefit of many, for the happiness of many, and, out of compassion for the world, to bring welfare, benefit, and happiness to devas and humans.

For the sake of great bodhisattvas now and in the future, you also ensure that the lineage of the Buddha, the lineage of the Dharma, and the lineage of the Sangha will not be severed. Today you have asked the Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Enlightened One about this meaning, just as in the presence of Buddha-Blessed Ones as numerous as the sands of the Ganges you formerly posed difficult questions that gave rise to explanations.

King of Joy, listen attentively and properly establish right mindfulness. I shall explain it to you. Through which samadhi does a bodhisattva attain these and other virtues and know the mental conduct of all sentient beings?”

The great bodhisattva King of Joy replied:

“Yes, Blessed One. I delight in hearing it.”

The Buddha said:

“King of Joy, there is a samadhi called Resolute Contemplation of the Practices of All Phenomena. If a great bodhisattva relies upon this samadhi, he attains eighty-four thousand samadhis, eighty-four thousand dharanis, and eighty-four thousand paramitas. Having swiftly realized unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment, he turns the unsurpassed Dharma wheel and utters the lion’s roar for devas, humans, and the world.

“King of Joy, what constitutes the Samadhi of Resolute Contemplation of the Practices of All Phenomena? It consists of the following: speaking as one acts and acting as one speaks; purity of body, speech, and mind; seeking benefit; maintaining a friendly mind; not acting in pursuit of desire; not abandoning compassion; and not grasping at phenomena. ⁽¹⁰⁾

“Not losing faith; remaining unmoved in one’s vows; skillfully entering into the dispositions of sentient beings; speaking what is harmonious; restraining the body through harmonious action; abandoning harsh speech; maintaining a mind free from deception; bringing comfort to those who suffer; and teaching those who are happy to practice. ⁽²⁰⁾

“Causing the heedless to examine themselves; causing those who arouse diligence to resolve themselves in accordance with the Dharma; dispelling remorse in the remorseful; not abiding in the perception of phenomena; leaving behind the perception of sentient beings; not discriminating among perceptions of things; relinquishing all grasping and attachment; contemplating and knowing the characteristics; and remaining unwavering in keeping the precepts. ⁽³⁰⁾

“Always seeking wisdom; abandoning worldly speech; seeking supramundane speech; advancing without complacency; contemplating in accordance with the Dharma; entering the activity of Thusness; acting according to proper forms; having definite faith in karma; and abandoning disbelief. ⁽⁴⁰⁾

“Possessing abundant faith and understanding; recollecting the Buddha; openly confessing transgressions; rejoicing in merit; entreating the Buddhas to teach; bowing to those worthy of reverence; being free from conceit; never wearying of roots of virtue; always diligently maintaining accord; and never abandoning concordant diligence. ⁽⁵⁰⁾

“Comprehending the arising of statements; believing that beings receive karmic results according to the causes of their deeds; examining conditions; not clinging to what is false or true; and speaking appropriately. ⁽⁶⁰⁾

“Not abiding in the desire realm; not conforming to the form realm; not becoming attached to the formless realm; faithfully accepting karmic results; sharing one’s possessions with all; maintaining an impartial mind; not harming the teaching of the Dharma; remaining harmonious amid disharmony without anger; feeling no jealousy when others obtain benefit; and fulfilling their worthy hopes. ⁽⁷⁰⁾

“Fulfilling vows made in accordance with the Dharma; not abandoning the aggregate of precepts; eliminating arrogance; leaving anger behind; completely cutting off ignorance; not giving rise to conduct rooted in greed; attaining contentment; not seeking a retinue; not becoming proud when gaining benefit; and not becoming dejected when receiving none. ⁽⁸⁰⁾

“Gladly sharing the wealth of Dharma; not hoarding it; not answering harsh speech in kind; guarding one’s own words; illuminating bodhi; discerning and arousing harmonious diligence; and dwelling in aranya places. ⁽⁹⁰⁾

“Rejoicing in the virtues of dhutanga and frugality; having faith in and understanding emptiness; not becoming attached to affairs; not depending upon aggregates; not conceptualizing dhatus; not seeing anything in the ayatanas; not craving sense objects; eliminating inversions; causing the mind to maintain mindfulness; and generating wisdom. ⁽¹⁰⁰⁾

“Practicing the noble conduct; properly restraining the mind; proceeding toward the field of merit; abandoning conditioned activities; giving without seeking reward; not conceptualizing the precepts; not discriminating in patience; not obstructing energy; not depending upon meditative concentration; and knowing all phenomena through wisdom. ⁽¹¹⁰⁾

“Entering the grounds of the six paramitas; not thinking of one’s own virtues; not detesting the virtues of others; not relying upon conditioned practices; not measuring practices; taking no object of dependence in nirvana; fleeing cyclic existence; entertaining no fearful thought concerning liberation; entertaining no thought of a harmful person amid the aggregate of sensations; and delighting in cessation. ⁽¹²⁰⁾

“Abiding in patience; maintaining a smiling and joyful countenance; greeting others and speaking first; keeping one’s face free from sorrowful frowns; respecting the old, young, and middle-aged; maintaining a mind of pure faith; not tormenting others in order to dominate them; ending disputes; praising quiescence; and diligently teaching harmony. ⁽¹³⁰⁾

“Being impartial toward the liked and disliked; seeking dharani; regarding all sentient beings as fathers, mothers, elder and younger brothers, elder and younger sisters, children, relatives, elders, and friends, and caring for them equally; loving noble beings as one’s father; loving, honoring, and respecting spiritual companions; regarding bodhisattvas with affection as though they were Buddhas; regarding the Dharma as dearly as one’s own self; never being satisfied with extensive learning; carrying the practice into action; and making offerings to the Tathagata. ⁽¹⁴⁰⁾

“Possessing sublime faith and understanding without shrinking back; acting in a manner resembling the Three Jewels; not speaking dogmatically about patience; not begrudging one’s body; not begrudging one’s life; maintaining pure livelihood; never relinquishing the yoke of the almsround; cherishing the impartial reception of alms; and skillfully dwelling in aranya places. ⁽¹⁵⁰⁾

“Leaving the household life with a mind constantly joyful; not mingling with lay households; rejoicing in renunciants without improper mingling; not practicing false virtue; not praising oneself; speaking affectionate words; teaching sentient beings through the bodhisattva vehicle; and, through skillful means, constantly recollecting the Buddha. ⁽¹⁶⁰⁾

“Contemplating the Dharma; always honoring the Sangha; making offerings to the wise; drawing near to the liberated; protecting those whose minds are concentrated; supporting those who practice diligently in harmony; teaching the path of bodhi; believing in merit; and employing roots of virtue when instructing sentient beings. ⁽¹⁷⁰⁾

“Cherishing those who have faith; relieving those who suffer; maintaining pure deportment; possessing shame and moral dread; fearing disgrace and remorse; leaving evil people behind; dwelling in accordance with the Dharma practices; tending toward cessation; striving for noble conduct; and cultivating the foundations of mindfulness. ⁽¹⁸⁰⁾

“Constantly abiding in the right efforts; attaining all bases of spiritual power; guarding the faculties; accomplishing the powers; contemplating the factors of enlightenment; following the path without inversion; entering calm abiding, samatha; discerningly arousing insight, vipasyana, without mental agitation; and rejoicing equally in all Dharma. ⁽¹⁹⁰⁾

“Passing beyond the objects of dependence on the grounds while neither abiding nor becoming afraid; not seeing; not giving rise to the perception of falling; protecting the bodhisattva practice; producing immeasurable perceptions regarding the Buddha’s conduct; becoming disenchanted with evil conduct; abandoning former deeds; and purifying one’s own karma. ⁽²⁰⁰⁾

“Keeping secret the precepts of the Vinaya treasury and pratimoksa; not slandering the Dharma teaching; acting at the proper time; avoiding improper times; skillfully entering and departing; knowing the measure of vows; not rejoicing merely because one has sufficient livelihood; entering all higher knowledges; cultivating samadhi; and entering the sphere of practice. ⁽²¹⁰⁾

“Entering the wondrous jewel; understanding that what the Tathagata has spoken cannot be grasped; gladdening those who practice in harmony; manifesting the Buddha’s children; causing sravakas to hear the practice; causing pratyekabuddhas to understand the single path accordingly; serving as the wealth of bodhisattvas, the dwelling of sravakas, the practice of the wise, and the destination of the disciplined. ⁽²²⁰⁾

“Honoring teachers of the Dharma; contemplating the many faithful people; demonstrating the Buddha’s path; being a treasury for those seeking riches, a field for those seeking karmic results, a garden for those tormented by the three fires, a lotus pond for those attaining samadhi, and a mother giving birth to pure dharmas; and causing those without faith in the body to cease binding themselves to conditions and characteristics. ⁽²³⁰⁾

“Arranging all good matters; dwelling impartially in Buddha lands; attaining dharani; producing various kinds of wisdom; cultivating harmonious diligence; transcending Mara’s domain; courageously battling to sever afflictions; eliminating unwholesome deeds; and vigorously developing the wholesome. ⁽²⁴⁰⁾

“Diligently making vows as one’s jeweled necklace; being invulnerable to Mara; possessing inexhaustible speech; being unequaled by the world; being unknowable to those of other paths; having passed beyond the Dharma of the sravakas; having emerged from the pratyekabuddha state; abiding securely in omniscience; being the way by which sentient beings enter the path; and speaking as a good spiritual friend. ⁽²⁵⁰⁾

“Knowing and discerning people in accordance with reality; serving as impartial joy for those receiving karmic results, flavor for those wishing to drink, a floral headdress for those wishing to rejoice, a carriage for those proceeding toward nirvana, a boat for those crossing to the further shore, a raft for those wishing to cross over, a lamp for those living in blindness, eyes for those wishing to see, and a torch for teachers of the Dharma. ⁽²⁶⁰⁾

“Being a trustworthy vow for those who are not hollow; wealth for those wishing to give; skillful means for those seeking liberation; joy for those seeking amusement; pure faith for those possessing impartial joy; loving-kindness for the joyful; an affectionate place for those seeking to hear; a remaining current for those attaining samadhi; Sakra for those wishing to gain the divine eye; courageous for those entering battle; a cave for those wishing to abide; a Brahma mind for those practicing within their own minds; and joy for those seeking harmony. ⁽²⁷⁰⁾

“Being an abode for those who do not regress; a pure mind for those attaining patience regarding the non-arising of phenomena; mindfulness for those who practice wisdom; skillful means for beginners; the trigger of a crossbow for wise men; a bow for those in samadhi; the Great Vehicle for those who teach selflessness; the path for the omniscient; causing those liberated to generate impartial wisdom; and being a place worshiped by devas. ⁽²⁸⁰⁾

“Receiving flowers offered by nagas and offerings made by everyone; being the difficulty confronted by trainees; being revered by those creating the path of no-more-learning; being praised by bodhisattvas and remembered by Dharma masters; serving as a fortified city for those who conceal their faculties, a path for those skilled in means, benefit for those practicing in harmony, and the dissolution of doubt for the doubtful. ⁽²⁹⁰⁾

“Causing the lustful to sever lust; causing the afflicted to vomit out their afflictions; raising up those wishing to cross over; being good medicine for the sick, a cure for those no longer seeing in an inverted way, the removal of arrows for those pierced by them, mastery for those wishing to purify themselves, the sign of fearlessness for those wishing to utter the lion’s roar, and the destination of those wishing to hear. ⁽³⁰⁰⁾

“Being the path for those seeking nirvana; separation from evil paths; transcendence for those in the desire, form, and formless realms; a jeweled necklace for those adorning Buddha lands; the production of the cause for those in the vajropama-samadhi; the lion throne for those in their final birth; ensuring that the merit of the meritorious is not lost; enabling seekers to obtain what they seek; encouraging those who travel onward; raising those who have fallen; and arousing strength in the indolent. ⁽³¹⁰⁾

“Establishing those who undertake a task; causing those who have overexerted themselves to rest in concentration; causing beings to enter into affairs and to know what to abandon and adopt; causing the contentious to relinquish contention; bringing satisfaction to those who know; attaining birth through boundless gates; causing those who speak of ultimate truth not to be obscure; causing those who teach emptiness to reach ultimate quiescence; causing those who believe in signlessness to extinguish discrimination; and causing those who believe in wishlessness to cease urgent striving. ⁽³²⁰⁾

“Causing those who believe in relinquishment to transcend the three times; proceeding harmoniously to all places; being a lamp for awakening within skillful means; not despising those who have not yet trained; seeking nothing from teachers of the Dharma; not becoming angry at errors in a speaker’s teaching; not slandering those of the single vehicle; teaching the Dharma without coveting their possessions; making offerings to teachers of the Dharma; and keeping the mind undistracted while hearing the Dharma. ⁽³³⁰⁾

“Harboring no deceitful intention toward the assembly; maintaining uninterrupted generosity of Dharma; asking those who are straightforward questions that are difficult to answer; abiding in patience toward the angry; dispelling the remorse of the remorseful; unceasingly seeking the accumulation of wisdom upon the path; causing those dependent on grasping to attain liberation; subduing the wicked; and causing those who have no abiding place to relinquish attachment. ⁽³⁴⁰⁾

“Causing those wishing to recollect accordingly to establish right mindfulness; arousing bodhisattvas; revealing the Buddhas and causing the fourfold assembly to rejoice; being delicious flavor among supreme flavors, thunder for those wishing for sport, a gateway to the deathless nectar, desire for those proceeding in the practice of nirvana, coolness without heat for those attaining fearlessness, and the attainment of the path that liberates from bondage. ⁽³⁵⁰⁾

“Regarding invitations and the benefit of a joyful mind, relinquishing attachment to mental and bodily pleasure; when the wise have adopted it, accepting it firmly without abandoning it; not turning away from the Tathagata’s skillful path of practice; cultivating roots of virtue; destroying unwholesome faculties; being the subject studied by the unwise and the accomplishment of entry into skillful means; taking nondeception as its characteristic; being the practice of those who follow the Buddha’s instruction; being light for those who accumulate wisdom; venerating kotis of Buddhas; being able to formulate kotis of difficult questions and sever those doubts; increasing pure dharmas; casting off dark assistance; not losing the joy of merit;

causing love to arise through merit and courage through joy; being eloquence for those wishing to speak and protection for teachers of the Dharma; causing all causes to generate love; being skillful regarding all phenomena; knowing arising and cessation while revealing Thusness; maintaining a lucid and disciplined mind amid the assembly; gladdening those who accord with skillful means; dissolving the arrogance of the proud; and causing those accomplished in skillful means to sit and satisfy contemplative thinkers. ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

“Looking upon others without malice; possessing, as a Dharma master, a name resounding like thunder; advancing with the courageous stride of a true person; causing those stained by afflictions to stop; destroying and dispersing the views of those who follow them; causing hearers to retain what they hear; completely retaining the Dharma; causing teachers of the Dharma to be free from error; not turning away from bodhi; skillfully entering all gateways; gathering roots of virtue; not severing the Buddha-eye; causing the Dharma-eye to blaze; embracing the noble assembly; subduing other teachers; skillfully speaking words of Dharma; practicing toward people as a bodhisattva;

being the moon through impartiality of mind, the sun for those seeking karmic action, a teacher for those wishing to learn, a guardian of the sutras, a guide for the wise, the seed of pure dharmas, and the ripened fruit of deathless nectar; recollecting birth without being defiled by cyclic existence; causing deluded ordinary beings to become disenchanted with their karma; regarding the Tathagata’s virtues as true; causing those who praise them to receive boundless karmic results, those who retain them to reach omniscience through their cause, and those who read and recite them to gain benefit and reach the destination. ⁽⁴³⁰⁾

“Those who copy it into books enter boundless wisdom of merit; those who expound it gain immeasurable merit. It is the crossing place of the non-returner and the abiding place of the immovable. It is taught for those who indulge in worldly desires.

It is praised in the words spoken by the Buddhas, fulfills the assemblies of past Buddhas, is the aspiration of future Buddhas, and is the treasury of wisdom of present Buddhas. It is the gateway into the practices of sentient beings, a lamp for those of the sravaka vehicle, a bright torch for those of the pratyekabuddha vehicle, and protection for those of the Buddha vehicle. Those born through it do not become lost.

It reveals the Buddha’s hand as a seal, is truth for those who conceal nothing, and is rebirth for those who swiftly attain wisdom. It enables one to ask about the Buddha’s virtues, causes those wishing to act never to weary, and extinguishes the fire of afflictions. ⁽⁴⁵⁰⁾

“Attaining the wisdom of skillful means; causing beings to understand the earth dhatu, enter the water dhatu, enter the fire dhatu impartially, and not abide in the wind dhatu; producing liberation through the space dhatu; purifying the dhatu of consciousness; entering the dharma-dhatu accordingly; becoming disenchanted with all conditioned activities; obstructing and severing latent tendencies and torpor; dispelling anger and delusion; eliminating love and hatred; becoming skillful in one’s own conduct and in the conduct of others; enabling those wishing to speak to possess inexhaustible eloquence; preventing attachment from arising amid all that is produced; causing those in accord to realize what cannot be expressed; abandoning the characteristic of self;

eliminating the characteristic of what belongs to self; and remaining far from attachment. ⁽⁴⁷⁰⁾

“Being humble in mind yet great in Thusness; being the supremely wondrous gateway; being skillfully bound to concentration; serving as shade for those in need; enabling beings to cross the stream; being invulnerable to refutation by external teachers; being beyond slander among the straightforward; remaining far from sleep and torpor; drawing near to teachers of the Dharma; transcending restlessness and remorse; eliminating all delusion; dispelling sensual desire; remaining far from indolence; seeing no self; illuminating selflessness; not establishing a life-principle; not making contact with phenomena; not contending in speech; reasoning logically when debating; contemplating skillfully; not creating conditioned conduct; possessing a disciplined body; being free from cowardice;

reaching ultimate faith and understanding; entering assemblies without shrinking back; taking no pride in one’s own virtues; not envying the virtues of others; constantly directing the mind toward omniscience; and not grasping at any abode. ⁽⁵⁰⁰⁾

“Avoiding discordant speech; always maintaining uniformly pure conduct; not cherishing the body; restraining the mind; being skillful in conduct; contemplating in accordance with mindfulness; neither slandering nor becoming arrogant; seeking liberation; wishing to become free from doubt; recollecting and cultivating the holy life; maintaining impartiality of mind through loving-kindness; embracing beings through compassion; constantly recollecting sympathetic joy; extinguishing love and hatred through equanimity; exercising restraint through morality; giving rise to all through concentration; understanding all through wisdom; producing letters and characters; and speaking skillfully. ⁽⁵²⁰⁾

“Entering all sounds and forms of speech; broadly expounding the Dharma without seeking wealth or gain; not delighting in crowds; changing one’s practice even in a single night; neither raising anything up nor setting anything down; understanding what lies within; not becoming attached to any phenomenon; comprehending Thusness; not deceiving sentient beings; not severing the lineage of the Three Jewels; and embracing beings through the Dharma. ⁽⁵³⁰⁾

“Fulfilling steadfast vows; not desiring the Lesser Vehicle; remaining in accord with concentration; not abandoning it by day or night; and being filled with purified minds, wisdom, and merit.

“According to the combined Sanskrit manuscript, there are 535 statements. Their divisions into long and short clauses, separation, and combination do not follow a fixed standard: the shortest may consist of only two characters as one statement, while the longest may require as many as five characters to form one statement. Here they have been divided according to meaning, so a number could not be recorded after every statement. Please examine them carefully as appropriate. (Note in the original.) When translated into Vietnamese, the sentences contain more words and are longer; readers are therefore requested to follow the meaning rather than the wording. (Translator’s note.)

“King of Joy, this is called the Samadhi of Resolute Contemplation of the Practices of All Phenomena. It is the sphere through which great bodhisattvas enter the practices of sentient beings and attain omniscient wisdom.”

While the Buddha was teaching this Dharma discourse, ninety-two nayutas of bodhisattvas produced patience regarding the non-arising of phenomena. Five thousand sentient beings who had not previously generated the aspiration for unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment all generated it on that day. Thirty nayutas of devas and humans attained ultimately pure minds; amid the afflictions they became free from dust and defilement, and concerning all phenomena they produced the Dharma-eye. A million bhiksus, through no longer appropriating anything, liberated their minds from the outflows. This trichiliocosm shook in six ways, and a great light universally illuminated the world.

At that time, wishing to illuminate this meaning beyond measure, the Blessed One then spoke these verses:

Pure conduct is the noble path;
The mind is liberated and accords with the Dharma.
The eye of the factors of bodhi discerns the Dharma;
This samadhi is the Sugata’s practice.

It subdues Mara and leaves defilement far behind,
Severs craving for existence, and removes the obstruction of anger.
Renown and wholesome wisdom fully possess virtue;
This samadhi is the banner of wisdom and virtue.

Within wisdom it is the ground and wholesome path,
The lineage of noble ones that destroys Mara’s army.
Liberation from existence is praised by the Sugata;
This samadhi is the wealth of virtue and wisdom.

It skillfully enters the practices of phenomena and all gateways of realms,
Accurately knows faults and evils already severed,
Eliminates suffering, and enters supreme happiness;
This samadhi is the Sugata’s practice.

This is the flower of mindfulness of awakening and its factors;
Filled with shame and moral dread, it gathers goodness.
It is the Sugata’s path, the garland of the factors of bodhi;
This supreme samadhi has now been proclaimed.

It is the broad field of the factors of bodhi, illuminated by liberation,
Its radiance surpassing that of the stars.
It produces a light transcending the three realms;
Thus is this Dharma praised as surpassing the moon.

Those who aspire to purity through the three kinds of skillful means,
Who draw near to the supreme king of liberation,
And abandon false virtue and gain from acquaintances,
Should accomplish this samadhi.

One must remain far from humiliating others;
Do not praise yourself because of acquaintances.
Possess only the three robes and always go for alms;
Accumulate nothing—this accords with the practice.

Aspiring to reach the noble ones and equally observing the precepts,
One should always respectfully question the wise.
If one practices in accordance with reality as one was instructed,
One will immediately attain the concentration of quiescence.

If one possesses morality that beautifies the world,
The kingly samatha, far removed from every desire,
And remains free from arrogance and false virtue,
One will swiftly attain supreme concentration.

Do not display an angry or shameless face;
When seeing people of the world, always speak with them.
Do not be haughty, arrogant, or domineering;
Then you will immediately attain the concentration of quiescence.

Do not cherish the body; you should relinquish it.
Do not be indolent or given to excessive sleep.
Day and night, remain in accord with mindfulness of mind;
Then you will immediately attain supreme concentration.

Maintain an impartial mind toward the world and bring happiness through loving-kindness;
Practice bodhi with compassionate intent.
Measure all impartially through sympathetic joy and equanimity;
Then you will immediately attain that supreme concentration.

One should always preserve the treasure of the ten powers
Until the Dharma destroys the suffering of the world.
If one always protects the treasure of Dharma,
One will attain this concentration of quiescence.

Let the mind never become intoxicated with the three realms;
Recollect accordingly the suffering of cyclic existence.
Those wishing to seek nirvana, the place of peace,
Will swiftly attain the supreme, incomparable body.

Recollect accordingly selflessness and emptiness;
Remain utterly removed from all characteristics.
Also leave behind vows and deeds concerning the three realms;
Then great compassion will swiftly be accomplished.

Whether practicing generosity oneself or guiding others,
Observing morality, patience, and energy,
And always delighting in concentration and wisdom,
One will swiftly accomplish this samadhi.

Eating the flavor of liberation and wearing the garment of humility,
With a joyful mind always making opportunity and trusting in concentration,
Cherishing selflessness and constantly singing its praise—
How could a wise person delight alone?

(Vân hà tha trí đương độc lạc)

Remain far from evil paths and views of existence;
Draw near to the empty path of the noble ones.
Arouse the power of energy day and night;
Then that person will attain this concentration.

Do not cherish any path; remain far from both extremes.
Draw near to the path of equality, the path of truth.
Practicing in this way, one is cherished by the Buddhas,
Contemplating phenomena as neither arising nor being produced.

The Supreme One does not seek wondrous flowers or fragrances,
Fine garments, standards, banners, jeweled parasols, and the like.
To practice in accordance with the Dharma of emptiness—
This is the foremost and most supreme offering.