中陰經

CHAPTER SIX

SPIRITUAL POWERS

At that time, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata immediately employed his spiritual powers to transform the three-thousand-great-thousand world-system. From the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception above down to the Unrelenting Hell below, everything became entirely golden in color, no different from the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata. Each figure possessed the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, with a perfect radiance extending seven feet, and sat upon a jeweled lotus platform atop a lofty throne. Together they uttered the Brahma sound, which resounded throughout the three-thousand-great-thousand world-system.

Each Buddha proclaimed eighty-four thousand collections of practices. Those who saw that light found that lust, anger, delusion, and craving all vanished of themselves. The Buddhas, though speaking with different voices, recited in unison this verse:

The Dharma of the sutras is originally without substance;

Having perished, it now flourishes again.

Cutting off all contaminated dharmas,

One walks alone within the three realms.

Through birth and death for countless kalpas,

One encounters again the blessed field of merit.

Golden light shines everywhere;

Through this, liberation is attained.

How could spiritual power ever be exhausted?

Examined clearly, it is originally formless.

With a mind of great compassion and great loving-kindness,

One severs every form of ignorance.

From the source of suffering in the five skandhas,

Those drifting and sinking are carried across.

Over the river of birth and death and the four currents,

The Dharma boat reaches the farther shore.

How could skillful means encounter obstruction

In entering that realm of the unconditioned?

Long ago I made this vow:

I must deliver those not yet delivered.

The body cultivates pure conduct;

The mouth speaks words of truth.

The mind aspires to rescue those in the eight difficulties;

How then could evil deeds arise?

At that time, a bodhisattva rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee upon the ground, joined his palms, knelt before the Buddha, and said: “Excellent, World-Honored One! Your immeasurable spiritual powers are inconceivable. If you permit me, I would now present a question.”

The Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata told that bodhisattva: “Excellent! Excellent! Bodhisattva, ask whatever you wish. I shall explain it clearly and distinctly.”

The bodhisattva then said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One, the Tathagata’s spiritual powers are unfathomable. You have caused this three-thousand-great-thousand world-system to shine brilliantly with a golden hue. What samadhi possesses such miraculous transformations?”

The Buddha told the bodhisattva: “This miraculous transformation is the Samadhi King Samadhi. Only the Buddhas can manifest such transformations; they cannot be performed by shravakas or pratyekabuddhas. By cultivating this Samadhi King Samadhi, one will attain eighty-four thousand other samadhis. There is a samadhi called Treasury of Empty Space; a samadhi called Ascending the Dharma Hall; a samadhi called Pure Moonlight; a samadhi called Destroying Existence and Entering Nonexistence; a samadhi called Single-Minded and Undistracted; a samadhi called Removing Dust and Defilement; a samadhi called Uprooting the Roots of Suffering of the Three Poisons; a samadhi called Extinguishing the Illnesses of the Past, Future, and Present; and a samadhi called Opening the Dharma King’s Ambrosia.”

At that time, wishing to explain this meaning, the World-Honored One spoke this verse:

The power of the Path and conduct are pure;

Body, speech, and mind commit no offense.

One vows to deliver the countless beings

Who sink deeply within birth and death.

Adamantine and difficult to destroy,

How could the Two Vehicles comprehend it?

Contemplating the body as the root of suffering,

One reflects and realizes the four fruits.

Establishing irreversible conduct,

One sits serenely at the seat of enlightenment.

All enter meditative concentration

For two, three, or as many as seven kalpas.

Though the earth grows hot in the kalpa of conflagration,

The mind nevertheless remains unmoved.

Only after vanquishing all the hosts of Mara

Does one accomplish the unsurpassed Path.

The power of samadhi and meditative concentration—

Its meritorious reward cannot be fathomed.

It enables the three kinds of beings

To accomplish the unsurpassed Path.

Carefully examine the minds of all beings,

Whether they are difficult or easy to deliver.

Do not allow them to remain forever submerged,

Entangled endlessly in the stream of birth and death.

Originally, I did not possess this form,

This body that emits golden light.

Through constant diligent ascetic practice over kalpas,

And cultivating concentration, I attained this body.

When the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata had spoken this verse, the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, simultaneously raised their hands in praise of the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata and spoke this verse:

The Great Man, the Honored One of Twofold Perfection,

Supreme and peerless, with none surpassing him,

Has utterly departed from the suffering of the three realms

And shines brilliantly in a single hue.

Now we hear the Tathagata proclaim

The Path of meditative concentration and spiritual powers.

Hearing the nature and characteristics of that Dharma,

How could its manifold marks be measured?

Eight kinds of pure sounds,

Sixteen supreme Dharmas,

And thirty-two practices and karmic deeds

Benefit all people.

The most excellent among devas and humans,

His light illuminates all beings.

For those who long remain upon the path of hunger and thirst,

The eight liberations are their food.

The pure water free from desire

Transforms into flowers of the seven factors of enlightenment.

Unattached to the roots of the five skandhas,

How are they different from pure lotus blossoms?

Their fragrance spreads and is sensed afar:

The Tathagata’s fragrance of the fivefold Dharma-body.

Though it does not constantly spread everywhere,

Long ago, when I sought the Buddha’s Path,

I also made a vow at that very time.

Today I have realized the fruit;

How could it differ from the vow I made long ago?

Dharmas possessing characteristics and those without characteristics—

Wisdom distinguishes them wondrously,

Clearly penetrating the path of skillful means.

At the very moment the World-Honored One spoke this verse, ten billion intermediate-state beings aspired to seek the Buddha’s physical body and emit golden bodies. They thought: “Just as today he displays immeasurable spiritual transformations, we pray that in the future we shall all become Buddhas, all bearing the same title: Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

BREAKING THE NET OF CRAVING

At that time, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata, wishing to break the fetters of craving and enable the fourfold assembly to see and personally realize this, immediately entered the Immovable Samadhi, causing that assembly to understand sensual craving, craving for form, and craving for the formless.

At that time, the World-Honored One further reflected: “Among beings in this desire realm, there are craving and non-craving, the contaminated and the uncontaminated, the conditioned and the unconditioned, the determinable and the indeterminable. As for beings of the form realm: neither existent nor nonexistent, the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception perceives dharmas. Within the three realms, desire is the heaviest; attachment to it is difficult to abandon.

Intermediate-state beings should cultivate the Noble Teaching. Beings possessing the five consciousnesses have a before and an after. Among beings with the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception, some cling to nirvana and some do not cling to nirvana.

Why do intermediate-state beings attain realization when they encounter a Buddha? As soon as beings of this kind fall ill, they worry about non-self, fearing there will no longer be a self; regarding life, they constantly worry about impermanence. What is born before is not born afterward, and what is born afterward is not born before.

The Buddha’s words are not the root from which their resolve and intention arise, and so they cultivate the Buddha-Dharma as though it were the Dharma of the shravakas. For beings possessing the five form-consciousnesses, the root has not yet been established. On seeing the Buddha and knowing the Buddha, each becomes attached.

Many possess meritorious blessings, yet those who fall are also not few. Regardless of whether our bodies accord with the Dharma in practice or do not accord with the Dharma in practice, all within the three realms are obscured by the net of craving. They wish to escape, yet it is difficult to break free, like throwing a skein of thread only for its silken strands to return to oneself.

Beings in the three realms, having abandoned this place, still return to this very place.”

The World-Honored One then spoke this verse:

The three realms are a burning house,

Its flames blazing fiercely.

Those who indulge a mind of craving and greed

Will enter the three evil destinies.

What is born before is not born afterward;

Within craving, dharmas have differing weights.

The Dharma of the Five Form-Consciousnesses

Is easy to deliver, both now and hereafter.

The path of the eight difficulties, birth and death,

Stands in contrast with nirvana.

The Dharma is neither there nor here;

What excellence could equal it?

Spiritual powers receive the myriad beings;

Upon seeing them, one delivers them.

Humans of the past and future,

Gandharvas and asuras,

Devas, nagas, ghosts, and spirits—

There are none who are not delivered.

Excellent is the Most Honored One,

Who skillfully expounds the wondrous Dharma,

Helping suffering beings

Cross to the shore of the unconditioned.

Ending the ailments of body, speech, and mind,

They are tranquil and wholly unmoving,

Like the hungry encountering food

And the thirsty receiving drink.

Calming and insight remove the fetter of craving;

The three liberations are gates of ambrosia.

I aroused the unsurpassed resolve;

Once craving is removed, how could thirsting perception remain?

Leaping into the midst of the blazing fire,

One attains accomplishment as the most excellent being.

Countless Buddhas of the past,

Those of the future, and those of the present,

Teach and transform as I do today,

Never conceiving of self and other.

The true Dharma eliminates false dharmas;

Dust and defilement are utterly extinguished.

The unobstructed Dharma of total retention

Contemplative, discerning observation

Throughout hundreds of thousands of kotis of kalpas

Roaming freely through all samadhis

The Dharma of concentrated resolve in the four formless attainments

Coming and going without weariness

Wherever the Buddhas have journeyed

How could manifold benefit ever diminish?

With each lifting and placing of the foot

The beings delivered cannot be measured

At the very place where I take a step

All sentient beings

Are delivered according to their kind

Throughout the three realms, filling them entirely

They attain the three Dharmas according to their minds

Thus, without ever ceasing

The Dharma of the eight liberations is unobstructed

Abandoning attachment to the faculty of lifespan

Why entertain conceptions of the three realms?

Those who commit the five heinous offenses, bind, and harm others

When you arise, know that you arise

When you cease, know that you cease

When you are high, know that you are high

When you are low, know that you are low

In between, there is no escape

Having transcended it, where could one go?

Know, therefore, that the Buddha’s power is great

Pervading all dharanis

Because of the original vow:

‘I shall deliver those not yet delivered.’

The four immeasurables: loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity…

Fill all the ten directions

The Buddha’s hand bestows amrita

Like a mother cherishing her innocent child

Again, one sees a mother who is not a father

And a father who is not a mother

The four inversions within the three realms

Are as hard as vajra to instruct

Like an object newly placed in a furnace

Its dust and impurities are first consumed by fire

The upright person does not change

Like a lotus born from mud

The Buddha-path is true, genuine, and right

Free of anxiety and bondage

No longer giving rise to worldly entanglements

What mind could have coming or going?

At that time, a bodhisattva in the assembly named Blazing Light immediately rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee upon the ground, joined his palms, knelt before the Buddha, and said: “As the Blessed One now teaches the true Dharma, he speaks sometimes of existent dharmas and sometimes of nonexistent dharmas; sometimes of conditioned dharmas and sometimes of unconditioned dharmas; sometimes of determinate dharmas and sometimes of indeterminate dharmas. Now that sentient beings have received these teachings, by what Dharma of transformation may they attain liberation?”

The Blessed One then replied in verse:

All dharmas rightly are but one

Neither two nor three

Consciousness with craving and consciousness without craving

Forever leave the womb behind

Directly destroy the bonds of craving

Then beings of every kind are cleansed of craving

Through the Tathagata’s divine and virtuous power

He personally knows the roots of former lives

Whether dwelling in the palace of a heavenly king

Where a Wheel-Turning King governs

Or dwelling in poverty and lowliness

At the very bottom of the Avici Hell

In every case, he clearly discerns

The defiled minds of sentient beings

When the Blessed One had finished speaking these verses, eight billion eight hundred million nayutas of intermediate-state beings immediately rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, placed their right knees upon the ground, joined their palms, knelt before the Buddha, and said: “Alas! This suffering is suffering indeed! Of all forms of suffering, craving is the greatest suffering. We ask only that the Blessed One permit us to become renunciants.” At that time, the Blessed One silently gave his consent. Thereupon, after hearing the Buddha teach the Dharma, those intermediate-state beings immediately attained the fruit of arhatship.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE EQUALITY OF THE THREE TIMES

At that time, a bodhisattva in the assembly named Never Weary of Afflicted Kalpas immediately rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee upon the ground, joined his palms, knelt before the Buddha, and said: “The supreme spiritual power of the Tathagata is infinitely wondrous and beyond conception or measure. Through the Tathagata’s divine virtue, his tongue is broad and long, and he does not commit errors as sentient beings do. Regarding the three kinds of sentient beings—those of the past, the future, and the present—does the Tathagata teach for sentient beings of the past, or for sentient beings of the future and present?”

The Blessed One then told the bodhisattva Never Weary of Afflicted Kalpas: “Excellent, excellent! Your question concerning the three kinds of sentient beings will bring abundant benefit and abundant nourishment, eradicate the root of ignorance, and purify bodily karma. This is not something spoken only by a Buddha.”

The Blessed One then spoke in verse:

While a person dwells within the womb

They know their own former lives

Leaving that life, they now receive this one

Thus clearly discerning the three times

Former consciousness differs from this consciousness

The former body differs from this body

Only because fools are deluded and confused

They do not know how to enter the gate of the path

Amid the four outflows, from this thought

How many delusions arise!

Alas—aging, illness, and death!

Beings drown within the three times.

The Blessed One, wishing to explain this meaning, then continued in verse:

Originally, I had none of this form

Feeling, perception, and consciousness are likewise

I do not exist, nor does the other

How then could feeling, perception, and consciousness exist?

Non-form is the dharma of form

The Dharma confounds sentient beings’ perceptions

The nine grades are distinct

Distinguishing the Dharma of the three times:

The highest of the highest is the most wondrous Dharma

Without past or future

The middle of the highest is exceedingly subtle

The lowest of the highest is without initial or sustained investigation

The highest of the middle severs the three fetters

The middle of the middle extinguishes the three defilements

The lowest of the middle awakens in an instant

These are called Children of the Buddha

The highest of the lowest, though burdened heavily

Is nevertheless like a bubble upon water

Suddenly rising, then suddenly sinking

Sentient beings of the middle of the lowest

Bear suffering that is fundamentally profound and heavy

Who other than I can fully understand it?

Sentient beings of the lowest of the lowest

Pass through many kalpas of suffering

I transform and deliver those beings

So that their afflictions are no more

However many human minds there may be

They sit upon the mind yet do not awaken

Some aspire to the future Buddha

Others seek the Buddha of the present

Sentient beings of these kinds

Are difficult to save and deliver

Human birth is fundamentally without form

Its place of return is empty space

Birth and death revolve together

What, then, is nirvana?

If it is said that sentient beings exist

And perform good through body, speech, and mind

Serenely entering cessation

How could aging, illness, and death remain?

Single-mindedly making vast vows

And never acting for oneself

Empty space cannot be grasped

How could emptiness or reality have a name?

The Tathagata’s Brahma voice

Distinguishes the true nature of dharmas

Thoroughly comprehending the wisdom of emptiness and nonbeing

He is the One Who Walks Alone through the three realms

With investigation: the Dharma is without intention

Contemplating the body, how could one cling to it?

Without investigation: abiding in the three dhyanas

One advances onto the path of non-retrogression

From the time I attained Buddhahood until now

I have taken this as my fundamental practice

Buddhahood is also attained through this

How could nirvana differ from it?

Through diligently cultivating merit

One has not yet entered the true nature

Hearing the four, one does not depart from the four

This is the seal of all Buddhas.

As the Blessed One finished speaking these verses, incalculably many sentient beings, the intermediate-state beings of the five forms of consciousness, and the beings of the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception wished to attain the Dharma of Abandoning the Three Times and Their Joys.

The Blessed One then again spoke in verse:

The past is not present here

The present is likewise so

The future Buddha Maitreya

Will his teaching and transformation differ?

I have spoken only a minute fraction

Like dust upon a fingernail

If one wished to describe the realms in full

Who could comprehend them all?

Those now dwelling in the intermediate state

Will move on to the Heaven of Non-Perception

Those suffering in the hells

Upon hearing the Dharma, awaken at once.

The Blessed One then used his spiritual power to convey the intermediate-state beings to the realm of consciousness of the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. The Blessed One also used his spiritual power to go there. After arriving in the realm of consciousness of the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, he erected a lofty dais adorned with the seven precious substances, upon which transformation Buddhas appeared everywhere. Each transformation Buddha had the fourfold assembly, and every assembly fully observed the rules of dignified conduct. Among these beings, some recited sutras and expounded their meaning; sages and noble ones remained silent; and some entered samadhi or emerged from samadhi.

Thereupon, the Tathagata Wondrous Awakening again employed the spiritual mastery of the Ten Powers to receive and deliver the beings of the consciousness of the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, making them no different from beings in intermediate-state bodies.

The Blessed One then conducted himself with the deportment and observances customary among all Buddhas, causing immeasurable transformation Buddhas to merge into a single Buddha. At times he transformed one body into immeasurable bodies; at times he expounded the teaching beneath a tree; at times he entered the first dhyana, his concentrated resolve undisturbed; at times he meditated alone upon a high mountain; and at times, seated in a secluded place, he manifested eighteen bodily transformations: emitting fire from the lower body and water from the upper body, or fire from the upper body and water from the lower body.

Even if heaven and earth were nonexistent, there would be no obstruction. At times he manifested passing into cessation without actually passing into cessation. At times he manifested the body’s impermanence, with its flesh swelling and decaying like the carcass of a white dove.

At times he manifested his hands and feet each in a different place.

At that time, the beings of the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception, seeing this change, became frightened at heart and thought to themselves: “Surely nirvana is free from illness, aging, and every kind of suffering. Yet now it appears that this dharma entails birth, aging, illness, death, and suffering. Now that the Tathagata has descended here, if we do not accord with the foregoing marks, then rather than choosing to enter hell, we shall enter my dwelling.

In the past, what difference was there between me and that person?” In a former life, that consciousness was Ananda Galanda. Upon seeing the Buddha, he bowed in homage and said: “Excellent, World-Honored One! Nothing could be more precious than your descent into this realm; it is like encountering an udumbara flower.

Had the Buddha not descended here, we would have remained forever in this borderland, killing immeasurable Galanda bodies.” He further declared: “Now that we have encountered the Great Sage, it is as though the sun had melted away all the snow. Had we not encountered you, that being would have fallen into the body of a leaping fox, exceedingly harmful. How could there have been escape from karma?

Through this original vow, one is delivered from suffering. The realm of space is immeasurable; you are the Majestic One of the three realms. Pratyekabuddhas and shravakas can see only with limited vision.”

At that time, the consciousness of Galanda then thought: “We were born together in this realm of consciousness, where transgression and merit have not yet been distinguished. Perhaps we may fall into wrong views and assume the body of a pili creature. The bodies I have received are not confined to the three realms.

When dwelling in the intermediate-state bodies of the Five Forms and the Formless Realm, I gave rise to this thought: All consciousnesses of the realm of neither perception nor non-perception live with afflicted minds. Although we have been born here, we have not attained nirvana. This is not a place of peace and security.

Now we encounter the Tathagata, who teaches the true Dharma, cutting through tens of millions of gates. There is neither coming nor going. Craving is the root that gives rise to self; if I now extinguish it, I shall transcend the fetters of ignorance in this life and the next.

Where there is birth, there are suffering, aging, and illness, just as a shadow appears when there is a form, or as the moonlight and the foliage of trees cast reflections upon rivers and waters, or as wild dogs eat utterly worthless food.

“I am now the Buddha. The Dharma of the three times both exists and does not exist; the teaching and transformation have fundamentally never changed. Birth is fundamentally without birth.

Skillfully transforming through wondrous means, I deliver those difficult to deliver. The foolish of the world consider me to be truly existent, yet when this life is relinquished, where can my body be found? Distinguish within that body: where are life and sensation?

Living and dying bring painful, weary affliction; casting that aside, one receives this. One suffers heat and cold in the womb; upon entering the world, one worries over life and death. The mother joyfully nurtures me, but without birth, who would undergo calamity?

Rising and sinking like bubbles upon water, consciousness clings to that body and revolves through the five destinies. Having reached the place of bondage, one crosses the sea of death and birth in the five paths, yet neither comes nor goes. The mind is the root that harms the body; for one who has ended the notion of ‘self,’ where could calamity be?

In empty space, what are root and branch? How then can one know permanence and impermanence? Just as that consciousness in the realm of non-perception beheld the consciousness of Galanda: one became a king of a borderland, while another became a transformation-born creature.

The three realms are full of suffering; there is no nirvana here. It is like walking through a wilderness, pointing east yet calling it west. In the place of every suffering, all may attain liberation.”

At that time, the beings of the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception sought words before the Buddha and then spoke this verse:

Formerly, we served the Five Fires,

Roasting and scorching our bodies black.

We lay upon thorns,

Our bodies clad in garments of human skulls.

We crossed our legs before the sun and moon,

And worshiped every deity.

Now, born in neither perception nor non-perception,

We have beheld the body of the Tathagata.

Ashamed of our former deeds,

How could liberation be found in this place?

Clearly teaching the true Dharma,

The Tathagata himself has descended here.

Attaining liberation without deluded thought,

We shall forever abide in peace and security.

The five desires, birth and death, and defilements

Bind us within the four currents.

The clinging mind is deluded by the three realms;

The fire of wisdom burns them away.

Beings cultivate the four fruits,

Yet how could they see the root and branches of birth?

Our deluded consciousness

Is no different from what we are now.

At that time, the Tathagata Wondrous Awakening again replied in verse:

You were originally true,

More than eighty thousand kalpas ago.

Because death and birth are impermanent,

Dying there, you are born here.

You sentient beings

Had never undergone aging, illness, and death,

And sought only nirvana,

Yet how could that be the true Dharma?

Though sensory objects have ended, consciousness is not extinguished,

And you return again to the three evil destinies.

Apart from me, you cannot awaken;

Who could rescue you from this suffering?

For immeasurable kalpas

I have vowed to deliver beings from aging, death, and birth.

It is not merely karma from a former body,

Nor must it be endured by a later body.

Having originally attained the vajra samadhi,

Only now do I teach and transform you.

Earth cannot become heaven;

How could heaven become earth?

Water cannot produce fire;

How could fire become water?

For all deluded fools,

The myriad beings possess a self.

Foolish and ignorant, they do not understand the Dharma,

Yet deem it the true and correct path.

Like a weary person

Resting for a brief moment,

Even if one lives eighty-four thousand years,

It is like a single day before one’s eyes.

These are the five sufferings of sentient beings;

Where is there any self?

Discriminating the dharma-marks of the body,

Discriminating emptiness and the absence of dharmas,

When born, one does not see birth;

When dying, where is death seen?

The fundamental conditions of death and birth

Arise from the deeds one has committed.

Revolving through the three evil destinies,

The disease of delusion is the source.

Name-and-form and the six ayatanas—

These are the ways of the world.

Contact enters together with material form;

Craving enters and augments pleasurable sensation.

Such is the delusion of all beings,

Who do not understand the twelve links of dependent origination,

Like moths flying into a furnace.

Wondrous Awakening said:

If the dust of your defilements is heavy,

Then the defilements of my mind are heavy.

To attain a Buddha-body such as mine,

I passed through boundless realms.

The heavy defilements of mind were shattered,

Clearly distinguishing perception from non-perception.

The root of the fetters is this:

Taking the impermanent to be permanent,

Adorning suffering and calling it happiness,

Regarding emptiness as existence,

And taking the absence of self to be self.

Beings of perception and neither perception

Have long practiced such inversions,

Like moths craving fire;

They cannot escape bodily calamity.

Deluded, they fall into the six paths

And are born in this heaven of neither perception.

It is like cutting down a tree:

If its roots remain, the tree lives again.

The four deluded inversions

Contain all the seeds of ignorance.

The gate of amrita is now opened;

The Buddha-path is originally suchness.

The root of suffering is cut away,

Utterly exhausted without remainder.

The long oceanic currents of the four outflows—

Birth after birth, arising without cease—

I now transcend the three realms

And reach the other shore,

The place of peace and fearlessness.

At that time, after the World-Honored One had spoken this verse, all the beings of the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception gave rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. They abided in nirvana without remainder and did not depart from nirvana. To those who wished to be born among the devas, he taught the Dharma of the Ten Wholesome Courses of Action.

To those who wished to be born in the human realm, he taught the Five Precepts. To those heading toward the Three Evil Destinies, he spoke of the following: mountains of blades, trees of swords, fiery carts, charcoal furnaces, and so forth. Three hundred and thirty-six kotis of innumerable people became weary of and fearful toward conditioned existence; upon hearing the pure Dharma, they immediately attained the fruit of the path.

At that time, the World-Honored One again employed his spiritual powers, Ten Powers, and fearlessnesses to bring those beings of the consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception together to the realm of the beings of Five-Form Consciousness. He set the Bodhi tree in order, adorned the land, and emitted a great radiance. Within every ray of light was a transformation Buddha, and each transformation Buddha sat upon a lofty throne of the seven treasures, complete with the thirty-two excellent marks, teaching the six paramitas without end.

When those beings of the Five Forms saw the Tathagata’s transformations, the bonds of affliction in their minds were cleansed away in an instant, and they no longer delighted in or desired the entanglements of birth and death.

Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse in a pure Brahma voice:

Suffering arises from the enmity of birth and death;

Use skillful means to remove it.

With the four immeasurables and the mind of great compassion,

One crosses immeasurable realms.

Now these beings of keen faculties,

Upon first hearing, dare not accept it.

Seeing the Buddha’s marks and physical body,

They all enter quiescence and cessation.

Only then do they know that the path of sages

Is immeasurable and inconceivable.

Defilements extinguished, they are born no more;

What other path of sages could there be?

As soon as the Blessed One finished speaking this verse, immeasurable and limitless beings of Five-Colored Consciousness, all bearing the same name, were destined in a future age to be called Universal Vastness Tathagata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Blessed One.

CHAPTER NINE

NEITHER ARISING NOR CEASING

At that time, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata, as though about to depart for the lands of the Buddhas, addressed the three classes of beings who had aroused the aspiration to seek the path of nirvana: “I shall now expound the Dharma for you. If you have any doubts, ask me freely. Does nirvana arise and cease?”

Then the three classes of beings, hearing the Tathagata’s words, addressed the Buddha: “From the Desire Realm up to the Realm of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, we have aroused the aspiration toward the inconceivable Dharma of the Great Vehicle, yet we have never heard what conditioned and unconditioned dharmas are, what the remainder and the remainderless are, what the Dharma of superior persons is, or what the Dharma of those who are not superior persons is.”

The Blessed One then distinguished for the three classes of sentient beings the meaning of phrases, the meaning of words, and the meaning of signlessness.

The Tathagata’s spiritual power comprises thirty-two dharmas. What are the thirty-two? He remembers the original roots of his births in past kalpas. He knows his former karma in every lifetime: dying there and being born here, dying here and being born there. With the superknowledge of the eye-consciousness, he observes as clearly as though seeing a pearl in the palm of his hand. With the superknowledge of the ear, he hears sounds such as a gnat moving or a fly crawling; indeed, he hears even the faintest of all sounds. Formerly there were three realms; now there are no three realms. Those who arouse the aspiration awaken in ways that differ from one another, and in the interval everything changes. What are the three realms? What is not the three realms?

When the Blessed One spoke these words, the three classes of beings again gave rise to doubts. The Blessed One knew that the thoughts in their minds were a wish to hear him expound the contemplation of signlessness, and so he spoke in verse:

Why is it called the head?

Why is it called the feet?

Why is it called the flower?

Why is it called the fruit?

Human life resides in the head;

After death, it becomes ashes, dust, and earth.

The roots of trees and a hundred flowers and grasses—

When their roots are pulled out, where can they grow?

Contemplate the characteristics of these dharmas:

They have neither head nor feet.

The Dharma with remainder and the remainderless—

Understand them in this way.

If it is said that nirvana exists,

My body and life are still present.

If it is said that nirvana does not exist,

Where could the three classes remain?

Therefore, the Buddha employs spiritual power

To make people understand existence and nonexistence.

I behold the suffering of the three realms

As both existent and nonexistent.

The preceding thought differs from the subsequent thought;

The former body differs from the latter body.

Throughout the countless kalpas I have passed,

I raised my foot and entered into dualities.

There I aroused great compassion,

Where the Two Vehicles could never tread.

When I aroused great compassion,

I saw those suffering in the three evil paths.

Like a loving mother nurturing her child,

I left nothing unfulfilled.

In the past I practiced only generosity;

Now I obtain whatever I desire.

The seven treasures and every rare marvel

Appear as soon as the thought arises.

How much more so the four immeasurables

And the six paramitas that save sentient beings.

Who can thoroughly understand this?

Only Buddhas know and see it.

Now I am telling you,

Clearly distinguishing the remainder and the undivided.

Wishing to attain the Realm of Contemplating the Self,

I then employed my spiritual consciousness

And went to that land to become a Buddha,

Bearing the name Shakyamuni.

Seventy-two Ganges’ sands away,

The Southwestern Region is adorned.

There I teach solely by the One Vehicle;

There are no pratyekabuddhas or shravakas.

That realm is exceedingly blissful;

Whatever is conceived immediately appears.

It is unlike this land,

Bound by lust, anger, and delusion.

A single voice pervades the four directions;

Those who hear it and seek it attain liberation.

In that realm are trees of the seven treasures;

When the wind blows through their branches,

Leaf after leaf turns toward the others,

Together proclaiming the boundless Dharma of emptiness.

In that land of mine,

Who could calculate the lifespan?

At present I manifest passing into cessation;

The Dharma will remain for twelve kalpas.

If you wish to know the length of those kalpas,

One Worthy Kalpa is a single day.

Counting the months and days accordingly,

They make up twelve kalpas.

You people of the three classes,

Do you know my merit?

Travel to that realm in the east,

Eight billion yojanas away.

That land is called Non-Common,

And its Buddha is named Pure Precepts.

His disciples now study under me,

Shaving their hair and donning the kasaya.

They kneel to hear the noble Dharma;

That Buddha clearly knows my mind.

Those classes of sentient beings,

Seeing me clothed in Dharma robes,

Give no thought to worldly desires

And joyfully set their hearts together upon the path.

Their dignified conduct and ceremonial observances are complete;

They uphold the prohibitive precepts without transgression.

While I was lying asleep,

I saw someone lift a dragon robe.

This was due to my own former lives

And the vows I had made together with others:

To abandon desire without attachment,

Without the signs of cessation or arising,

And to cultivate brahmacarya single-mindedly.

Through my Buddha’s spiritual power,

From death one is delivered beyond death.

Those who do not understand this thought—

How could they comprehend birth followed by cessation?

They revolve through the five destinies;

The ambrosial Dharma of the Four Noble Ones

Fully satisfies every person.

As soon as the Blessed One spoke this verse, seventeen billion sentient beings saw the disciples shave off their beards and hair and receive the noble teaching. They longed to obtain the Dharma of contemplative reflection, took no delight in worldly life, and left home to become shramanas. The Buddha said: “At present, northeast of me, the three classes of beings are as limitless and immeasurable as the sands of the Ganges.

There is a realm there called Clear Radiance, whose Buddha is named Bright Moon. The people of that land are free from lust, anger, and delusion, and they are also free from arrogance, self-conceit, and indolence. The beings of that land always delight in tranquility and solitary sitting.

They are not disturbed by the arising of distracting thoughts and have no further confused perceptions. Even when thunder crashes and lightning strikes, their minds remain unmoved.”

At that time, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata went to that realm and sat upon the ground. When the beings there saw him sitting in meditation, they all likewise sat in meditation. Through spiritual power, the Buddha contemplated the Dharma of signlessness. He projected it into the minds of sentient beings, as a hand moves an object, enabling those beings to understand permanence and impermanence and to know the suffering of birth, aging, illness, and death. Some beings clearly understood the existence of mindfulness; some clearly understood the existence of retention; some clearly understood the existence of peace; and some clearly understood self-grasping.

The Buddha, wishing to reveal the merit of the Four Dhyanas, then entered and emerged from the First Dhyana, the Second Dhyana, the Third Dhyana, and the Fourth Dhyana before the three classes of beings. From the Fourth Dhyana he returned through the Third Dhyana and the Second Dhyana to the First Dhyana. From the First Dhyana he proceeded to the Third Dhyana, and from the Fourth Dhyana to the Second Dhyana. This is called the Lion’s Vigorous Samadhi.

At that time, the Blessed One manifested this spiritual mastery, this samadhi of concentrated intention, and liberated countless sentient beings. All together they aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. Some aspired to the fruit of stream-entry or the fruit of arhatship; others attained the purified Dharma-eye and realized the path of a pratyekabuddha.

At that very moment, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata suddenly vanished.

CHAPTER TEN

TEACHING THE EMPTY AND FORMLESS

At that time, the Wondrous Enlightenment Tathagata relinquished the intermediate-state body and entered the Treasury of Space Samadhi.

He raised a cry that brought forth eight kinds of sound. What are the eight kinds of sound? It was neither a male voice nor a female voice, neither a prolonged voice nor a brief voice, neither a noble voice nor a lowly voice, neither a sorrowful voice nor a joyful voice.

At that time, the Blessed One concealed his form so that it could not be seen, and expounded the eighty-four thousand infinite perfections. What are the eighty-four thousand infinite perfections? Perception, neither-perception, and attachment to existence lie at the root of the sickness of afflictions, like the moon obscured by clouds.

All sentient beings are led by desire. Four hundred illnesses suddenly arise and suddenly disappear. Those who have committed the five heinous offenses wish to escape the painful retribution, so that the eight hells and terrifying sensations are no more.

The West, South, North, and East were likewise; it was according to the capacities of sentient beings that the Buddha taught this Dharma. At that very moment, the three kinds of sentient beings heard Emptiness speak in a formless, shapeless voice, expounding the Dharma from within that intermediate state: “Excellent indeed! The Buddhas teach what is formless and shapeless—truly inconceivable!” Then the three kinds of sentient beings, differing in form and appearance yet speaking with one voice, respectfully questioned Emptiness in verse:

The Tathagata formerly dwelt here,

Adorned with the thirty-two excellent marks,

Compassionately pitying all classes of beings,

Bestowing benefits and joy beyond measure.

For our sake, he taught the wondrous Dharma,

The eightfold branches of the Noble Path.

His form now hidden, we hear the Buddha’s voice:

All things are impermanent.

The Tathagata’s form shone radiant gold;

It truly existed—where can it now be seen?

We hear only the echo of his voice;

If there is no Buddha, how could we exist?

Examining the origin of our birth and death,

We see ourselves wandering endlessly without cease,

Only because we were deluded by form;

Merit ceased, and offenses arose.

The Tathagata, the Great Holy Honored One,

Taught people to practice all Dharmas,

Then suddenly departed from form and appearance,

Revealing the teaching through the resonance of his voice.

Because of conditions from the distant past,

His form departed, but his voice remains for us.

Aging, illness, and birth bring grief;

Four serpents bite our bodies.

Flesh and bones are sustained by earth,

Freshness and moisture are nourished by water,

Warmth and dryness depend upon fire,

Relaxation and movement arise from blowing wind.

Not attached to the Dharma of the Three Vehicles,

We depart from existence because existence is present.

The defilements of the mind ceased long ago,

Yet the four great elements still remain.

The Tathagata, the Great Holy Honored One,

Teaches four matters beyond duality:

At times he says the four great elements exist;

At times he says they do not exist.

Again he says there are no four great elements,

And then again that the four great elements exist.

Such is the indeterminate Dharma—

Who can practice it to its ultimate end?

The Tathagata then spoke this verse in reply to that voice:

Disciples of the Buddha, do you understand “emptiness”?

All conditioned formations are impermanent.

Human birth has no original source;

How could there be any root from which birth arises?

My voice and your voice—

What can be attained, and what cannot be attained?

Throughout countless kalpas,

I have not acted for only one sentient being.

In every thought, cessation occurs at once;

Though I have delivered only a few, I have never grown weary.

Though I have delivered countless beings,

Neither have I taken delight in it.

Formerly, I was alone,

Practicing by myself and delivering no one.

Thereafter, toward all beings,

I vowed never to turn away.

Here in Jambudvipa,

The Kshatriyas are kings among the four castes;

Apart from the Brahmins,

What other caste could equal them?

By contemplating the Dharma-realm

And the sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and death,

I am empty, and they too are empty—

How then could birth and death exist?

If birth indeed had a source,

From where would birth come?

Upon contemplating the root of death and birth,

Nirvana is found within oneself.

When the Dharma of Nirvana is fully understood,

There is neither Buddha nor self.

From what place do dharmas arise?

And where do they go when they cease?

The Buddha employs the true Dharma:

Here there is birth, and there there is death.

Delusion is clearly seen through.

To say it exists—it does not exist;

To say it is empty—it is not mere nonexistence.

Revolving through the sea of death and birth,

Bound by the five sensual desires,

Neither avoiding them nor guarding against them,

One falls of oneself into the abyss of death and birth.

Only when one clearly understands offenses and merit

Does one regret—but then it is far too late.

When the Blessed One had finished speaking this verse, eight billion seven hundred million nayutas of sentient beings understood the Dharma of Formlessness and aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed Buddhahood and bodhi.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

FORM AND FORMLESSNESS

At that time, a bodhisattva seated in the assembly heard the Tathagata’s voice in the sky. Looking upward into space, he praised him, saying: “Excellent indeed! We hear only the Tathagata’s voice but do not see his form.

This form has no root of form, and the skandhas are likewise. The sentient beings of this desire realm cannot be left undelivered. The sword of wisdom must be used to sweep everything away until nothing remains.

Formerly, I practiced the pure conduct, which was not the activity of body, speech, or mind. It was neither one nor two; the desire for self arose from it, and because of this, I fell into the three evil destinies. In every thought, I wished to extinguish all perceptions, yet there was neither past, present, nor future.

When the Buddhas of the past taught and transformed the multitude of beings, when speaking of the past they did not speak of the present or future. When speaking of the future, they did not speak of the past or present. When speaking of the present, they did not speak of the past or future.

Sometimes they taught that the three times exist; sometimes they taught that the three times do not exist.”

At that time, wishing to explain the foregoing meaning once more, the Blessed One spoke this verse:

The roots of birth, aging, and illness,

The dust and defilements of the Tathagatas—

Wishing to enter the intermediate state to bring deliverance,

Only for the sake of beings in the hells.

None are equal to the Honored One of Wondrous Awakening,

Who teaches and transforms within the intermediate state.

As for this most supreme wondrous Dharma,

How could those of inferior faculties comprehend it?

It is like a person holding a bowl and begging,

Depending upon what others may give.

The person holding the bowl thinks,

“Who knows whether there will be anything or not?”

To claim realization before one has attained it

Is the fundamental root of wrong views.

To call the true Dharma non-Dharma

Causes one to wander through the abyss of the five destinies.

The Dharma that discerns the true Dharma

Is never lost within Dharma-nature.

If Dharma-nature is not lost,

This is the teaching of the Buddhas.

Dharma-nature is devoid of three things,

And there is no past, future, or present.

If one calls it the present,

At precisely what moment is the present?

Or if one calls it the past,

What is the past like?

And if one calls it the future,

Which future is correct?

Whoever understands this Dharma

Comprehends the Buddhas of the three times,

Penetrates it without confused perceptions,

And accords with the practice of the Mahayana.

When sentient beings possess wholesome conditions,

There are none who cannot be delivered.

It is like a person burdened with debt

Who wishes joyfully to repay it in full;

Comprehending both within and without,

One roams freely without fear.

At that time, the Bodhisattvas Mahasthamaprapta and Avalokiteshvara, relying upon the resonant teaching produced by the Buddha’s majestic spiritual power, spoke this verse with their spiritual voices:

The roots of birth, aging, illness, and death,

The dust and defilements of the Tathagatas—

Wishing to enter the intermediate state and uproot suffering,

What place do they not traverse?

My teacher, Amitayus,

Endures kalpa after kalpa without end.

Formerly, I made a vow

Solely for the sake of beings in the hells.

None are equal to the Honored One of Wondrous Awakening,

Who delivers beings in the intermediate state

With the supremely excellent wondrous Dharma.

I vow that when I attain Buddhahood,

I shall be no different from Wondrous Awakening.

When Avalokiteshvara had finished speaking this verse, three hundred million sentient beings aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed Buddhahood and bodhi.

CHAPTER TWELVE

REJOICING

At that time, the Tathagata Wondrous Awakening entered the Samadhi of Tranquil Cessation, intending to journey through worlds in other directions. Looking back upon the vigorous resolve of the sentient beings he had delivered, which was beyond conception or measure, he was like a bhikshu who has entered the Dharma of the Fourth Dhyana, whose mind is peaceful and at ease, free from hunger and thirst. Joy and gladness arose within him. “Excellent indeed! This teaching and transformation have not departed from my original vow.” He then spoke this verse:

Through the Tathagata’s power of spiritual mastery,

He transcends suffering, the unwholesome, and existence.

Manifesting transformation bodies everywhere,

He wishes to deliver those with whom he has affinities.

The thousand Buddhas of the Auspicious Kalpa—

How could their teaching and deliverance differ?

They likewise dwell among the three kinds of beings,

Using the true Dharma to dispel non-Dharma.

They open the gate of the ambrosial Dharma

And seal shut the three evil destinies.

They extol Great Wisdom

And uproot the source of delusion.

Adorning themselves with all Dharmas,

They are pure both within and without.

Compassion and the four immeasurable minds

Overflow throughout all directions.

Guarding body, speech, and mind,

They transcend birth, aging, and illness.

When the Blessed One spoke this verse, the three kinds of sentient beings filling all realms throughout the trichiliocosm, relying upon his teaching in the sky, all aroused the aspiration for the unsurpassed, right, and true path. Joyfully accepting and practicing the teaching, they bowed in homage and withdrew.

SUTRA OF THE INTERMEDIATE STATE

LOWER FASCICLE

THE END