無字寶篋經

Thus have I heard! At one time the Blessed One was dwelling on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa in the city of Rājagṛha. At that time there were immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of Bodhisattvas surrounding the Tathāgata, all of them of great wisdom, skillful in expedient means, valiant and energetic, perfectly penetrating the Letterless Dharma-gate, pure in discerning what is the right basis and what is not the basis, freed by shame and conscience from all that covers and binds, taming the faculties with the tusks of compassion.

With the tusks of shame and conscience they pitied living beings, attaining the great samādhi, taking wisdom as foremost, revering wisdom as a precious jewel, as a great treasury of jewels, all of them perfectly knowing the dharmas of the wholesome and the unwholesome, clearly understanding the affairs of the three times, all of them accomplishing the eloquence of the Letterless, reaching the twofold emptiness, supreme and subtle.

Studying and understanding the truths, penetrating the genuine reality, valiant and boundless, with nothing grasped, all of them penetrating the supreme Dharma of self-nature, perfectly contemplating the two Dharma-gates of the real and the unreal. Born by way of the womb, forever freed from birth and death, perfectly understanding the secret Dharma, clearly knowing all the marks. Aiding the various lands, gaining great renown with a reputation resounding far and wide, attaining the treasury of wordlessness, ever resting in peace and ease, giving so as to make all attain peace and joy.

Whoever hears their names departs from the three realms, and they are able to rescue living beings who dwell in the three realms, perfectly understanding suchness, manifesting the conduct of Samantabhadra with bodies pervading everywhere, their faculties pure, clearly understanding and penetrating their own body and the bodies of others, all of them accomplishing bright and clear wisdom.

These were the Bodhisattva Excellent Resonance, the Bodhisattva Dharma Resonance, the Bodhisattva Excellent in All Parts, the Bodhisattva Dharma Eye, the Bodhisattva Heavenly Mark, the Bodhisattva Gathered Eloquence, the Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation, the Bodhisattva Holder of the Ground, the Bodhisattva Holder of the Ground's Bounds, the Bodhisattva Deeply Entering the Resonance of the Ground's Bounds, the Bodhisattva Resonance of the Ground, the Bodhisattva Complete in Eloquence, the Bodhisattva Supreme Trace, the Bodhisattva Flower Eye, the Bodhisattva Utpala Eye, the Bodhisattva Crown Topknot, and the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī Resonance.

Such Great Bodhisattvas were beyond reckoning, all of them youths from other regions beyond what could be fully observed, gathered together from worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. All of them abided in receiving the rank of crown prince of the Dharma King.

The Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation was surrounded by immeasurable Śakras and Brahmās; the Bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Ākāśagarbha were surrounded by the four great divine kings and by immeasurable wheel-turning sage-kings. The Bodhisattvas Mahāsthāmaprāpta and Avalokiteśvara were surrounded by immeasurable hosts of Brahmā. The Bodhisattva Amoghadarśin was surrounded by many immeasurable Vaiśravaṇa kings. The Bodhisattva King of Constellations was surrounded by immeasurable constellations and by other world-protectors. There were also the Bodhisattva Dispeller of Doubt and the Bodhisattva Destroyer of All Obstructions, who themselves manifested the body of a Tathāgata, surrounded by immeasurable Buddhas.

Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Mahākāśyapa, and the rest were all great Arhats. The Bodhisattva True Refinement and the Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation were surrounded by immeasurable heavenly maidens. The Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyasamudgata were surrounded by immeasurable retinues throughout the worlds of the ten directions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

There were also the moon and the sun, who, displaying their own majestic virtue, gave rise to a mind of arrogance, yet all came to the place of the Buddha. Having come to the place of the Buddha and standing to one side before the Tathāgata, they then saw of themselves that their own bodies had no radiance, like a black color set beside the gold of the Jambū River. So too did these moons and suns, before the Tathāgata, fail to make their own radiance appear.

They no longer had any wish to stand, nor any wish to speak; without majestic virtue, they could not make themselves manifest. There were also the Nārāyaṇas and the rest who surrounded them. The great spirits, the dragon spirits, Takṣaka, Anavatapta, and the rest, the great dragon kings, were surrounded by immeasurable kinds of dragons.

The gandharva king Beautiful Sound was surrounded by immeasurable koṭis of gandharvas. The garuḍa king Insatiable was likewise surrounded by seven koṭis of garuḍas as he came to the place of the Buddha.

In the three-thousand-great-thousandfold worlds, the Bodhisattvas dwelling within worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges—those in those places all reverently invited the Buddha. Having invited the Buddha, with the fourfold assembly surrounding them, they came to the Sahā realm. They brought supramundane offerings to the place of the Buddha as offerings. Having made their offerings to the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas each seated themselves upon a lotus-flower throne.

At that time there was a Great Bodhisattva named Excellent Contemplation, who came to the place of the Buddha and addressed Him, saying:

"World-Honored One! I beg that You grant Your leave to hear me, that I may dare to ask the Tathāgata two things."

The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation:

"I shall listen to your questions; ask as you wish. The Tathāgata, for the sake of all living beings, has accomplished the Way here; it is precisely for the sake of you all, you great dragon-elephants, that I have appeared here."

The Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! What is the one dharma that is the eradication of the Bodhisattva? What is the one dharma that is the awakening of the Tathāgata?"

The World-Honored One praised the Great Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation:

"Excellent! Excellent! Brahmā! You have matured immeasurable wholesome roots, and through the protection and sustaining of the Buddhas you ask this meaning. Good man! Now listen well and reflect well. I shall expound it for you."

The Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation bowed his head to the feet of the Tathāgata and received and upheld the teaching.

The Buddha said:

"Good man! There is one kind of dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate. It is the dharma of greed.

Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever. Good man!

Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is the dharma of hatred. Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever.

Good man! Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is the dharma of delusion. Good man!

This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever. Good man! Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is the view of self.

Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever. Good man!

Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is indolence. Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever.

Good man! Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is torpor. Good man!

This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever. Good man! Again there is one dharma that the Bodhisattva should eradicate: it is craving.

Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever. Good man!

The Bodhisattva must also eradicate one dharma: it is ignorance. Good man! This is one dharma that should be eradicated forever."

At that time, Brahmā Excellent Contemplation addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! What is the one dharma that the Bodhisattvas should ever guard, day and night?"

Then the World-Honored One said to the Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation:

"Good man! Whatever you do not wish to come to yourself, do not tell others to do. Good man!

If there be any good man or good woman who guards this dharma, then that good man or good woman guards the entire treasury of precepts of the Tathāgata. Why is this? Good man!

Because one who loves one's own body and life does not kill; one who treasures one's own possessions does not steal or rob; one who loves one's own wife does not violate the wife of another. Good man! These living beings give rise to a mind in this way: 'I reverently accord with the right Dharma of the Tathāgata.' That good man should ever be diligent and set his mind to guard this dharma.

What is the meaning of this? Good man! If there be any good man or good woman who wishes to seek the Great, Unsurpassed, Perfect, and Complete Enlightenment, then that person seeks peace and joy, and does not seek suffering and affliction for the body.

In the world there is only joy, and the person enjoys that joy. It is precisely this meaning that I have expounded: 'You all should know that whatever you do not wish to come to yourself, do not give to others.' Good man! This is the one dharma that the Bodhisattva should ever guard, day and night.

Good man! As to what you asked—what is the one dharma that is the awakening of the Tathāgata? Good man! There is not one single dharma that is the awakening of the Tathāgata. Good man! It is with respect to the unawakened dharma that the Tathāgata awakens. Good man! It is that all dharmas are unarisen that the Tathāgata awakens to and realizes. It is that all dharmas are unceasing that the Tathāgata awakens to and realizes.

Furthermore, good man! It is that the Dharma-nature is apart from the two extremes that the Tathāgata awakens to and realizes; it is that all dharmas are unreal that the Tathāgata awakens to and realizes. Good man!

The Tathāgata skillfully expounds the karmic recompense of causes and conditions. The Tathāgata skillfully realizes the karmic recompense of causes and conditions. It is the binding entanglement of all dharmas of causes and conditions that the Tathāgata awakens to.

Good man! It is that those causes and conditions are like a flash of lightning that the Tathāgata awakens to—apart from cause, apart from condition. The Tathāgata expounds that there is no karmic recompense by which one has received the prediction of becoming Perfectly Enlightened.

All dharmas are profoundly and vastly adorned. This is the expounding of the Dharma by the Tathāgata.

Good man! By what meaning is the profound and vast adornment expounded? The wisdom of the worldly and the supramundane—whence does that wisdom arise? When that wisdom, using true reality, contemplates and rightly observes that the Prajñāpāramitā is most profound—at that time, that dharma is called the Secret Treasury.

Good man! I also expound that all dharmas are like an illusion, like the flame of a fire. The awakening of the Buddha is the Dharma in which nature and mark are alike of the one taste of liberation. The awakening of the Buddha is the possession in which nature and mark are alike of the one taste of liberation. It is that all dharmas are profoundly and vastly adorned.

Good man! If there be any good man or good woman—again there is one dharma that is the awakening of the Buddha. Good man! It is that the dharmas neither go nor come, are without cause and without condition, neither arise nor cease, do not conceive that which is not to be conceived, neither increase nor decrease.

Good man! If a dharma be ultimate, then the Dharma-nature of self-nature is not self-nature. The dharma of similes cannot be expounded. If one uses names and words, it likewise cannot be expounded. This is the one dharma to which the Tathāgata awakens."

When the Buddha expounded this Dharma-gate of the Vast and Adorned Supreme King, the Letterless Jeweled Casket of Radiant Adornment, there were those who attained and abided in the ten grounds of the Bodhisattva, as many as the particles of dust, whom even the ordinary eye could not fully behold. All such assemblies gave rise to the mind of Unsurpassed, Perfect, and Complete Enlightenment. Living beings such as these realized the fruit of Arhatship. And more than this number of living beings cast off the suffering of the hells and were born within the heavenly realms. Immeasurable Bodhisattvas presently realized hundreds of thousands of myriads of the Dharma-gates of samādhi. How much more, when He expounds much, will the benefit be immeasurable!

At that time, the Buddha said to Rāhula:

"Are you able to receive and uphold the meaning of this right Dharma that I have expounded?"

When the Buddha spoke these words, through the spiritual power of the Buddha, nine koṭis of Bodhisattvas in worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges rose from their seats and at once addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! We are all able to receive and uphold this Dharma-gate. Now within this Sahā world, and in worlds of the future, for the sake of living beings, we shall transmit it without ceasing, knowing that the Bodhisattva is one of wisdom and talent."

At that time, the four great Heavenly Kings addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! We too are able to receive and uphold the Dharma-meaning that the Tathāgata has expounded. Now what that Bodhisattva sought has been fulfilled, and herein he is one of wisdom and talent."

Then the World-Honored One, having observed all living beings everywhere, said thus:

"Good man! It was not by cultivating but a little of wholesome roots that I accomplished perfect enlightenment. As for those living beings, if they are able to hear this right Dharma, it too is not by cultivating but a little of wholesome roots.

They should receive and uphold the Dharma-gate of the Vast, Recompensing, Adorned Supreme King, the Letterless Jeweled Casket. Whoever hears this sūtra has already revered, honored, and praised Me. Good man!

This good man or good woman bears Bodhi upon both shoulders; that person attains unceasing eloquence and purifies the Buddha-realms. When their life comes to an end, they will see the Buddha Amitābha, with the great assembly of Śrāvakas and Bodhisattvas surrounding Him appearing before that person, and they will also see My body here on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa and see this assembly of Bodhisattvas. Good man!

That good man or good woman will personally realize the great Dharma jewel-treasury, which cannot be exhausted, will attain the knowledge of former lives, and will not be born into the evil destinies.

Good man! Now I expound what has never been before in the world, this Dharma-gate difficult to believe. Good man! If there be any good man or good woman who, supposing they have committed the transgressions of the heinous offenses, should read, recite, receive, and uphold this supreme Dharma-gate perfectly—whether writing it out oneself or urging others to write it out; reading and reciting it oneself, and urging others to read and recite it; receiving and upholding it oneself, and urging others to receive and uphold it—good man! I declare that such a person will no longer see the evil destinies, and will receive the prediction of all the Buddhas.

Those Bodhisattvas will all attain the five eyes, with their faculties complete, and will be protected and mindfully sustained by all the Buddhas, and guarded by all the Bodhisattvas. It causes the eradication of immeasurable afflictions and karmic hindrances, and so they attain purity.

Good man! These words of my Dharma-expounding are the final expounding of the Dharma. From the time I attained the Way until I accomplished Perfect Enlightenment, I have never expounded these words."

When the Buddha had expounded this sūtra, the Bodhisattva Excellent Contemplation and the other Great Bodhisattvas, the king Śakra, the devas and the four great Heavenly Kings, humans, devas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, gandharvas, and the rest—all the worlds—having heard what the Buddha expounded, rejoiced greatly.