佛說巨力長者所問大乘經

Thus have I heard:

At one time, the World-Honored One was dwelling in the country of Śrāvastī, at the Jeta Grove, in the Anāthapiṇḍika monastery, together with a great assembly of bhikṣus, twelve hundred and fifty in all, who were all Arhats with their defilements wholly extinguished, freed from the bonds of affliction, their minds well liberated, their wisdom well liberated, like great Nāga Kings with spiritual powers of transformation.

What ought to be done they had already done; they had laid down their heavy burden and had attained their own benefit. Their minds and wisdom were liberated, sovereign in all dharmas, and capable of cultivating so as to reach the far shore of enlightenment. There was also the Venerable Ānanda as the foremost in leadership, of vast learning and keen, sharp faculties, together with five hundred great Bodhisattvas who had attained the various Dhāraṇīs and abided in samādhi.

All of them were present within the assembly.

At that time, in the great city of Śrāvastī, there was an elder named Mighty Strength, whose form and features were complete, and who was therefore called Far-Renown. The household of the elder Mighty Strength was exceedingly rich, possessing many kinds of gold and silver, lapis lazuli, giant clam shell, agate, coral, amber, and wondrous, precious great maṇi jewels. Each of his treasuries was filled to overflowing, and his wealth in property and grain could not be counted.

All manner of precious things he enjoyed and used to his full satisfaction, as he pleased; whatever he desired was never lacking. His outlay and income, his profits, extended throughout all the countries—there was no place where they were not present. In all those places, the elder Mighty Strength directed his slaves and servants to perform their labors of service, and his elephants, horses, and carriages were likewise without number.

Thus the dwelling place of the elder Mighty Strength was a palace gate with towers and pavilions, majestic and splendid; his houses, rooms, and chambers were adorned with the ten kinds of precious things. His flower gardens, ponds, and lakes shone with many radiant colors, and all manner of rare flowers and fruits were gathered together within. Each thing was adorned with many forms of beauty beyond compare.

All his palace women and musical performers were beautiful—inferior only to the king's, yet inferior to none other. The elder enjoyed himself in the utmost height of happiness, and throughout the six periods of day and night there was never a time of emptiness. Beside the elder Mighty Strength there were, moreover, five hundred elders who served as his assistants in his affairs.

They guarded his precious things and watched over the various kinds of wealth in his treasuries.

One day, the elder Mighty Strength suddenly found his wholesome roots ripened and his mind giving rise to awakening, and he reflected to himself: "The fleeting scenes of this world are unstable, like a single dream. All forms will in the end be destroyed, and this body, its essential nature originally empty, will likewise come to ruin. The five kinds of desire-pleasures are the cause whereby human beings produce the fruit of suffering. Sentient beings, deluded and topsy-turvy, have no moment in which they can attain liberation." At that very moment, the elder Mighty Strength invited the elders to come, and when they had all assembled and taken their seats, the elder addressed the whole company, saying:

"I beg you all to be still and listen attentively. All dharmas arise when conditions gather and perish when conditions disperse; their essential nature is not real, and in the end they will come to ruin. Sentient beings, through deluded thoughts, give rise to various discriminations: they cling to there being a 'self' and the 'kindred of my self,' not knowing the impermanent arising and perishing within each kṣaṇa.

Wealth and houses change and become another's. Through excessive folly, which is the cause that produces the five paths, the karma they bind ripens and they undergo many different kinds of retribution. The evil destinies are easy to reach; the good paths are hard to return to.

You should know that the human body is hard to obtain, and that if, within each changing kṣaṇa, one gives rise to right mindfulness—that is difficult.

"O elders! You should know that the appearance of the Tathāgatas in the world is hard to encounter, and that to have been born in a country where there is a Buddha, with a faithful mind that does not retreat—this too is difficult. Toward the right Dharma of the Buddha to give rise to a faithful mind, to leave the secular world far behind and go forth into homelessness—this is difficult.

Though one has gone forth, to be able to cultivate the bhikṣu's pure conduct of celibacy and to cut off evil conditions—this too is difficult. Day and night to cultivate with diligence the various dhyānas, far removed from distraction—this again is difficult. To have a penetrating, wise nature able to discern well the true and false in dharmas—this too is difficult.

Now to have been born a human being and moreover to meet a worthy king, with no more warfare, a life peaceful and happy—this too is very difficult. If all sentient beings cultivate much merit and are born in the country of a Tathāgata with a mind ever firm—this too is difficult. Furthermore, that there be many sentient beings able to use skillful expedient speech to exhort and draw in good and wise friends by many means, so that they diligently cultivate meritorious deeds and draw near to the Buddha to make offerings—to accomplish this is difficult.

If there be sentient beings who, far removed from poverty, hunger, rags, and folly, attain abundant merit and wisdom, and being born in the country of a Buddha and living among the people are able to perform many adorning Buddha-works—this too is difficult. If there be sentient beings who, among the ranks of the Śrāvakas, diligently keep the precepts and wish to seek liberation; and among the Pratyekabuddhas wish to seek liberation; and within the Unsurpassed Vehicle wish to seek liberation, and truly attain it—this is difficult."

At that time, when the elder Mighty Strength had finished speaking of the Three Vehicles and these matters, he said to the company:

"What I have said, all of you should comprehend and clearly understand: that form is not firm."

At that time, in the assembly the five hundred elders, hearing these matters, were like a person dead drunk on wine who, when the wine wears off, sobers up. Thereupon, one elder among the assembly rose from his seat and said to the elder Mighty Strength:

"At present all of us have a point of doubt. What is meant by the Śrāvaka, the Pratyekabuddha, and the Unsurpassed Vehicle? What is meant by saying that the worldly forms of the five desire-pleasures are of an essential nature that is not firm, arising and perishing within each kṣaṇa? Please, for our sake, discriminate and explain it once again; we would be most glad to hear it."

The elder Mighty Strength said to that elder and to the whole company:

"Here, in this great city of Śrāvastī, at the Anāthapiṇḍika monastery in the Jeta Grove, there is the World-Honored Buddha, possessed of the three knowledges, the six penetrations, the eight liberations, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eighteen exclusive merits complete—he is called the All-Knowing One, the Teacher of gods and men. At that great assembly, the World-Honored One expounds the Dharma for the multitude, and he can resolve our doubts. Now, you and I shall go there to draw near and make offerings, and to inquire of the Tathāgata—this is the wondrous Dharma."

When the five hundred elders heard these words, every one of them rejoiced with indescribable delight. They took fragrant flowers and incense and many kinds of precious things, and together followed the elder Mighty Strength to the place of the Buddha. They circumambulated him three times to the right, bowed their heads to the Buddha's feet, made reverent offerings, sang praises in his honor, and then withdrew to sit to one side.

The World-Honored One, perceiving that these elders had their wholesome roots ripened and were capable of receiving the supreme Dharma, asked the elder Mighty Strength and the five hundred elders:

"For what cause and condition have you come here?"

Among the assembly an elder rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee upon the ground, and with palms joined in reverence praised the World-Honored One and said:

"Reverently, O World-Honored One! We have previously heard the elder Mighty Strength, by way of expedient means, instruct us: that all the worldly forms and the five desire-pleasures are of an essential nature that is not firm, not real, and will in the end be destroyed… (and so on at length, until:) now to obtain the human body is truly difficult. Within each changing kṣaṇa, to give rise to right mindfulness and cut off the false and perverse—this too is difficult.

To meet the appearance of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, in the world is difficult. To be born in a country where there is a Buddha, possessed of complete faith—this too is difficult. Toward the teaching of the right Dharma of the Buddha to give rise to a faithful mind, to grow weary of and leave the secular world far behind, and joyfully to seek to go forth into homelessness—to accomplish this too is difficult.

Though one has gone forth, to be able to be a bhikṣu of pure celibate conduct and to cut off the various evil conditions—to do such a thing is difficult. Day and night to practice diligently the various dhyānas, far removed from distraction—this too is difficult. To have a penetrating, wise nature able skillfully to discern the false and the true among dharmas—this too is difficult.

Now to have obtained the human body and moreover to meet a good king, with warfare brought to an end, a life of peace and ease—this too is very difficult. If sentient beings cultivate the various merits and are born in the country of a Tathāgata—this too is difficult. Furthermore, that there be sentient beings able to use skillful expedient speech, by many means to exhort and draw in good and wise friends so that they diligently cultivate meritorious deeds and draw near to the Buddha to make offerings—this is indeed difficult.

If there be sentient beings of abundant merit and wisdom born in a country where there is a Buddha, able to perform adorning Buddha-works—this too is difficult. If there be sentient beings who, toward the Śrāvaka Vehicle, the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, and the Unsurpassed Vehicle, wish to seek liberation—this is truly difficult. At that time, the elder Mighty Strength, for the sake of all of us, spoke of the worldly Dharma and on up to the Three Vehicles and these difficult matters.

Although what we heard we have not yet awakened to, every one of us is satisfied and joyful, and we wish to draw near to the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, who possesses great spiritual powers and is complete in all-knowing wisdom. We pray and beseech the World-Honored One to extend his compassion and, for our sake, to reveal and expound the wondrous Dharma of the Three Vehicles and these difficult matters: that the world, the human body, form, and the five desires are all illusory and unreal and will in the end be destroyed—so that, hearing it, we may awaken to the characteristic of arising and perishing, and then resolve to cultivate the Bodhisattva's holy path and give rise to the Perfect Enlightenment of Bodhi."

At that time, the World-Honored One said to the elders:

"Excellent! Excellent! O good sons! You are very able, that you can inquire of the Tathāgata concerning the wondrous Dharma of the Three Vehicles and these difficult matters: that form is illusory and conjured, and the five desires are not enduring. Listen attentively and reflect well upon this teaching of mine:

"The Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, appears in the world and, in accordance with the faculties and natures of sentient beings, expounds the Dharma of the Three Vehicles. By way of expedient means he reveals many kinds of parables, and following from their source he causes faith, understanding, and realization to come gradually, helping all beings to realize pure Nirvāṇa. If sentient beings possess the Tathāgata-nature and, toward the Unsurpassed Vehicle, have wholesome roots that are ripened, then on hearing the Buddha expound the Dharma of Perfect Enlightenment their minds are no longer afraid; they admire and delight in it, seek bright wisdom, and cultivate with diligence.

Though they meet with the painful conditions of enemies and oppressors, they remain firm and do not retreat, and in the end they realize Unsurpassed Bodhi. If there be sentient beings who, toward the Pratyekabuddha, have wholesome roots that are ripened, then on hearing the Buddha expound the twelve links of dependent origination, they contemplate the practice of the forward and reverse, the flowing-forth and the returning-to-cessation, understanding it with certainty and free of all doubt, and through three lifetimes they beg to grasp its profound understanding.

Because in the world the four seasons rise and decline, they awaken to the Unsurpassed and realize the holy fruit on their own. If sentient beings, toward the Śrāvaka Vehicle, have wholesome roots that are ripened, then on hearing the Buddha expound the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, in accordance with their understanding they comprehend the Truth of Suffering, cut off the Truth of Origination, realize the Truth of Cessation, and cultivate the Truth of the Path; through the four directions and four fruits they realize the state beyond learning.

Thus the Three Vehicles, provisional and real, sudden and gradual, accord with the faculties, capacity, and level—great or small—of each sentient being, who delights in cultivating and learning, leaving birth-and-death far behind for the ease of liberation."

At that time, when the elder Mighty Strength and the five hundred elders heard the words the Buddha had spoken, all of them rejoiced beyond measure and with one voice extolled him, saying:

"Excellent! Excellent! O Able-Humane Great Being, who skillfully expounds the wondrous Dharma of the Three Vehicles! Now we vow and joyfully wish to hear the profound, secret, Unsurpassed Great Vehicle of practice and Dharma. May the World-Honored One use many kinds of words, expedients, and parables, so that toward the Dharma of Perfect Enlightenment we may be free of all doubt and may give rise to abundant faith and understanding, firmly cultivating and learning, ultimately realizing the mind of Bodhi without retreat."

The World-Honored One said to the elder Mighty Strength and to all the elders:

"That profound, unsurpassed, supremely victorious Dharma is the path of practice of the great wisdom and great compassion of the great Bodhisattvas—it is not the place of rest and ease for the ranks of the Śrāvakas and the Pratyekabuddhas! For ordinary worldlings it is hard to believe and hard to understand. With palms joined, listen attentively and bear it in mind.

O good sons! If sentient beings, abiding in their original nature, wish to seek to cultivate the Unsurpassed Vehicle, then toward all sentient beings they must give rise to a mind of great compassion in an equal way, rescuing, protecting, cherishing, and embracing all sentient beings as they would their own teacher, their own father and mother, their sons and daughters, and their dear kindred, with sympathy and pity. With a pure mind they practice giving on a vast scale: seeing one who is naked, they give clothing; seeing one who is hungry and thirsty, they give food and drink; seeing one who is poor and destitute, they give goods and wealth;

seeing one who is sick and suffering, they give fine medicine, bedding, sleeping mats, fields and gardens, houses, rare and precious jewels, garlands and necklaces, fragrant powders and ointments.

These offerings they give to their sons, daughters, and kindred, and even their own life and body they give in charity, because their mind is set toward Bodhi without covetousness or stinginess, and not through another's instruction;

in accordance with their nature they cultivate the perfection of giving, the Dāna-pāramitā. If they see sentient beings who do not delight in the Buddha-Dharma, who do not practice the right path, who slander the Three Vehicles, who abide in wrong views, who have cut off their wholesome roots, who cling to greed, hatred, and delusion, who create the various evil karmas, and who at the end of life fall into the hells and the various evil destinies, undergoing many kinds of suffering without rest—then the one who cultivates the Unsurpassed Vehicle, toward such sentient beings, gives rise to a mind of great compassion, cherishing and loving them, not begrudging his own life and body, and forms a great vow to dwell in those places of suffering of sentient beings.

By way of expedient speech he expounds many kinds of Dharma, teaching and transforming sentient beings so that they give rise to the mind of Bodhi and to continuous right mindfulness, grow weary of the body of suffering's retribution, and joyfully practice the conduct of a Bodhisattva—causing those not yet come to share the same aspiration in cultivating the pure conduct of giving, firmly and without loss. He also takes his property and food, food and drink, clothing, and readied provisions—garlands and necklaces, bedding, sleeping mats, fragrant powders and ointments—and, himself together with his kindred, fully realizing that form is empty, with a mind that does not cling, is able with ease to relinquish all.

He himself seeks to give rise to the Perfect Enlightenment of Bodhi, and again in turn delivers and transforms sentient beings to cultivate together this supreme conduct. If there be sentient beings who seek the Unsurpassed Vehicle with a mind not base, who firmly cultivate the perfection of moral discipline, the Śīla-pāramitā, who through the power of great vows uphold the pure precepts, pure and undefiled, without breach or transgression—within the three kinds of precepts they cultivate in due order; in walking, abiding, sitting, and lying down their deportment is complete; they subdue the three poisons and guard the various faculties.

When the realms of Māra are extinguished, the mind at once awakens and gives rise to no liking. Though they meet evil persons and confront powerful foes who oppress them, that person's mind still abides in right mindfulness. If by chance they are offended against, the mind does not cling, and their actions of body, speech, and mind, being pure, are far removed from fault.

Toward the various wholesome dharmas they are able flexibly to cultivate and to benefit all sentient beings without doing them harm. Toward the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas they keep the non-action precepts, ever upholding them so that not even a small fault clings to them. Down even to the wholesome precepts of human beings and the gods of the world, they likewise use all their ability to guard and uphold them.

If there be sentient beings who seek the Unsurpassed Vehicle, who practice the conduct of patience, gradually cutting off hatred, so that their own mind-nature ripens, and who cultivate and accomplish the perfection of patience, the Kṣānti-pāramitā, then they bring abundant benefit to all sentient beings. And should they meet with enemies who curse, revile, beat, and strike them, who insult them with coarse words, that person gives rise to no resentment or hatred but accepts it with joy.

Or should they meet with oppressive things such as destitution, poverty, sickness, frost and cold, scorching heat, and the like—because they are bound toward Bodhi, they accept all suffering with ease and joy. If an evil person should plot to humiliate them, to kill and harm and torment even their very life and body, then the one who cultivates this practice should contemplate that all sentient beings are conditionally arisen, illusory and deceptive, changing and arising-and-perishing within each kṣaṇa; he sees no sentient being, but only the dharma of 'emptiness' remaining—and gives rise to no mind of revenge.

If there be sentient beings who seek the Unsurpassed Vehicle, in order to accomplish the perfection of diligence, the Vīrya-pāramitā, valiantly seeking to advance in the supreme Dharma of the Bodhisattva, they must first give rise to the mind of great Bodhi and cultivate the various right practices. Though they meet with painful conditions, they never retreat. When they meet enemies and afflictions that contend and strive to do them harm, they don the armor of diligence to control and subdue them, their minds ever valiant and without those terrors of fear.

As time passes layer upon layer, they remain firm and do not retreat. If there be sentient beings who seek the Unsurpassed Vehicle, who in tranquil stillness cultivate the perfection of meditation, the Dhyāna-pāramitā, halting distraction so that right mindfulness is present before them, harmonizing body and mind, then they swiftly leave far behind the two: the defiling hindrance of dullness-and-drowsiness and the heavy burden of restlessness, and they attain ease and lightness as right knowledge becomes manifest.

If there be sentient beings who seek the Unsurpassed Vehicle, then their minds, being penetrating and clear by nature, are able to cultivate the perfection of wisdom, the Prajñā-pāramitā. With wisdom they awaken to and penetrate the real and the false, with expedient means opening the way, skillfully discerning the wrong and the right, cause and effect, folly and dull obtuseness, and the subtle defilements. If there be sentient beings who seek Unsurpassed Awakening, then their minds are ever equal, far removed from making distinctions between enemy and kin.

If they see sentient beings practicing giving or not practicing giving, the mind likewise feels neither love nor hatred. If they see sentient beings guarding the pure precepts or transgressing the precepts, they likewise feel neither liking nor anger. If they see sentient beings practicing the conduct of patience or not practicing patience, practicing diligence or not practicing diligence, cultivating the various dhyānas or not cultivating the various dhyānas, possessing bright wisdom or being foolish and dull—toward all such ranks of sentient beings they remain far removed from the characteristic of distinction, with neither love nor hatred, contemplating this place and that, the high above and the low below, in an equal way.

This, then, is called the principle that these dharmas are originally without difference, of one and the same dharma-realm, their self-nature not other. The meaning of the supreme Bodhi of the Great Vehicle is the subtle, wondrous, perfectly complete wisdom of the Tathāgatas. If there be sentient beings who, toward the Unsurpassed Vehicle, give rise to a single thought of faith, and even set their minds upon seeking Perfect Enlightenment, then this is called heading toward the house of the Tathāgata and abiding in the Bodhisattva ground."

At that time, when the elder Mighty Strength together with the five hundred elders heard the Buddha expound such wondrous Dharma, they rejoiced beyond measure as never before, and addressed the Buddha, saying:

"Reverently, O World-Honored One of Great Compassion! You have skillfully, for our sake, discriminated and expounded the essentials of the Great Vehicle Dharma, causing all of us to give rise to deep faith and understanding and to delight in cultivating and learning. If sentient beings, in order to seek the Unsurpassed, supremely victorious Great Vehicle, do not begrudge their lives and bodies, but cast aside their houses, wealth, treasures, kindred, food and drink, clothing, bedding, sleeping mats, garlands, necklaces, fragrant powders and ointments, and bring many other things to make offerings—then we too vow to cultivate and learn in accord with the conduct of those Bodhisattvas who seek the Bodhi of the Unsurpassed Vehicle, and not to begrudge our lives and bodies, even our kindred,

but to give as offerings those goods, treasures, and fine, precious things, practicing the perfections of the Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva Pāramitās.

We humbly beseech the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, for the sake of all of us, to embrace and bear witness, to embrace and bear witness, and to help us attain liberation."

The World-Honored One said to the elder Mighty Strength and to all the elders:

"Listen attentively! If there be sentient beings who, in order to seek Bodhi, have pity for sentient beings—who, though they practice giving, do not seek wealth and rank; though they keep the precepts, do not seek a dignified appearance; though they practice patience, do not seek kindred; though they practice diligence, meditation, and wisdom, do so out of pity for sentient beings in seeking the Unsurpassed Vehicle, and not for the sake of worldly cause-and-effect within saṃsāra.

If there be sentient beings of sharp faculties and wisdom who clearly penetrate that the world, the physical body, and the five desires arise and perish, illusory and conjured, having only a provisional name with an essential nature that is not real—then they contemplate that this bodily form, whether egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, or transformation-born, is in every case falsely compounded and combined, like duckweed, like foam, arising there and perishing there.

Sentient beings, through deluded thoughts, declare it to be everlasting. They further contemplate that this body is like a shimmering mirage, its substance originally unreal—arising from thirst-and-craving, the deluded feeling takes it to be water. It is also like the plantain tree, whose substance is not firm and real.

Now this body that exists is, in the end, an illusion, arising from inversion, false and unreal, fleeting and not enduring. It is also like a deserted wasteland that belongs to no one. It is also like a privy filled with filth and uncleanness; a single body, through its nine apertures, flows with impurity.

It is also like a foul well full of refuse, dark, stinking, and most loathsome; and again like an enemy, like a venomous serpent—do not be too fond of it. Sentient beings, drifting and floating astray, enter the ocean of birth-and-death; sunk and carried along in its flow, they can scarcely find a time to escape—and this is all because of the five desires and the dust-and-toil of the world, all the physical forms being subject to ruin and not firm.

To seek the Unsurpassed, supremely victorious Great Vehicle, gradually and in due order cultivating the various Pāramitā practices, and wishing to realize liberation—this is very hard to accomplish."

Here ends the first scroll.