菩薩本生鬘論

The realm is vast as the sea, difficult to fathom without wisdom. Abide appropriately, not following the torrent. It is where beings without loving guides destroy generosity and engage in reckless discourse.

In stillness, recognizing the unreal nature of things, develop the causes of cultivation. Possessing sufficient strength to undertake the task, transformation proceeds without end. The causeless and unreal are the roots of delusion and evil karma.

One attains supremely wondrous retribution in forms of every kind. In an unquiet place, how can one teach and transform? This is a place of utmost purity, difficult to equal.

The bodhisattva’s wondrous function is supreme, producing inexhaustible constituent factors. Make pure offerings in accordance with the Dharma of generosity. Uphold secret mantras according to the proper rites.

Beings put an end to suffering, and the three karmas become pure. Cultivate the signless practice without attachment to written words. Clearly understand the selflessness of dharmas and abide in serene purity.

Wisdom increases, illuminating contemplation; the mind becomes lucid and all conceptual proliferation ceases. When functional power is not attained, the cultivation of merit is not diligently pursued. Hunger and thirst bind one, while intrinsic nature is inverted.

This is a place of attachment to self and must resolutely be left behind. Supreme merit arises from causes. When the nature of causes and conditions is understood, calamity does not arise.

Neither this nor that diminishes, while attachment to self increases still further. When afflictions have been exhausted, one naturally departs from samsara. Once the roots are cut, the branches and tips fall with them.

The torrent that creates karma no longer has any place of birth or abiding. This is the place from which discourse arises and spreads everywhere. One attains supremely pure and wondrous forms.

The transformations of evil karma are difficult to foresee. Observe reality and leave every illusion behind; this is the place where one awakens to the causes of birth and experiences joy. Establish a pure and precious Dharma altar.

The appearance of truth causes rulers to give rise to goodness. Transformative teaching continually changes and removes harm. By appropriately conforming, one finds peace and abandons pride.

Such bright and radiant forms are rare. The precious teaching is preserved and never lost. Constellations gather and shine throughout myriad places.

The courses of karma are transformed, and evil karma diminishes. Devote oneself to pure cultivation according to the Buddha’s teaching. The torrent’s modes of activity cannot be fostered without causes.

Understanding the principles, one sees afflictions as an ocean. Deluded conceptual proliferation creates disturbance that is difficult to stop. Such teaching and transformation continue endlessly for a long time.

Create necessities and give them to the poor and hungry. In a secluded dwelling, evil persons do not approach; it is a place of purity and ultimate goodness and wonder. Wisdom becomes lucid, ending every bond.

In accordance with conditions, cultivate the Ten Good Actions. Jewels of loving-kindness appear in every place. The power of causes is endless, and all dharmas harmonize.

The mind follows its intrinsic nature and attachments arise; this is the place where the fundamental source of illumination arises. Form and appearance become perfect, fully manifesting both near and far. Dependent retribution and primary retribution produce features, and forms become perfect.

The heavenly realm is adorned; relying on the teaching, one cultivates. Abandon false doctrines and believe in cause and effect. Rely upon good friends and perfect cultivation, ending the karma of cyclic wandering—such is the meaning.

The bodhisattva’s generosity: the extensive exposition of the birth story of the Venerable Adornment, Protector of the Realm,

the fourteenth interpretation.

Uphold the precepts and cultivate with undiminished diligence. Practice them single-mindedly day and night, remaining pure and non-retrogressive. What is called accordance is the thorough comprehension of the bodhisattva’s instructions.

What are the modes of practice that accord with the constituent factors?

The Mahayana teaching is the model for cultivation. Abide in stillness and leave every fear behind. Do not shrink from obstacles, and let the mind never retreat. Be attached to neither sounds nor forms. Adapt through one’s own strength, without changing one’s practice. Recognize deluded thoughts and cultivate meaningful benefit. In a suitable land, the human realm is peaceful and truly harmonious. In a pure place, perform karmic practices. Such a realm is comprehended completely. The deluded dharmas—the root and subsidiary afflictions—bind beings like poison. One must therefore cultivate until liberation is attained.

Great beings cultivate all these characteristics.

What does it mean to accord with and advance toward ultimate truth, thereby eliminating every defilement?

Failure to practice generosity and adherence to deluded ways are precisely the causes of kalpas of samsara. Leave every fear behind, eliminate the sign of pride, and understand the pure meaning, supreme and ultimate. When speech arises, resolve to leave the six destinies; this is the place where beings cultivate generosity.

The marks of merit arise according to the mind. As a child relies upon its mother, one obtains precious marks. This is a place of stillness, where wondrous retribution, pure and lovely, comes from former causes.

Act in the hope of attaining such forms. Equal constituent factors give rise to harmony. In cultivating generosity, actual practice is fundamental.

Eagerly accord with it and cultivate the marks of its causes. Give rise to generosity of utmost purity. Develop it to the utmost, possessing sufficient strength to carry it out.

Leave far behind the nature of defilement, deluded thought, and bondage. Produce harmony and pure, wondrous benefit. Courageously end every mode of practice belonging to other currents.

This is the realm in which the bodhisattva displays wondrous function. Such transformative practice is supreme and perfect. With an adorned appearance, one is honored and loved by beings.

One’s actions are sovereign, abiding like a deva in harmony. Compassion guides all kinds of beings. Acts are peaceful, and their benefit is supreme.

One must also dispel every delusion and inversion. Afflictions surround beings everywhere, not merely in one place. Their combinations and transformations destroy wholesome dharmas.

Thus teach and transform beings who are deluded and obscure. One must also leave far behind every kind of affliction and all the harm they cause. Abide in accordance and exercise the capacity for study and cultivation.

Obstacles do not arise, and defiled dharmas naturally cease.

What is the nurturing kindness of a loving mother?

Leave fear far behind and attain a pure realm. One should gather the Ten Good Actions and lovingly rescue beings. Be impartial and equal.

Throughout every realm and at all times, practice kindly speech. Contemplate the proper path and do not follow delusive defilement. A ruler is like the heavens, sending rain at the proper season.

This is a place of harmonious accord where every proper request is answered. Arrange offerings, thereby obtaining vast merit. The pure true Dharma is revered by devas and nagas.

Possessing adequate strength to accord, all is blended like honey. The constituent forms are peaceful like empty space, and the mind becomes lucid. Fundamental speech is expressed in this way.

Deluded thoughts are swept clean, and fragrance travels afar. Conceptual proliferation grows still, eliminating the marks of defilement. Such is the ultimate cultivation of the characteristics of ultimate truth.

Like clouds covering everything, fundamental power displays, through its intrinsic nature, every kind of meritorious retribution. The kinds increase, and hunger and thirst are left far behind. Liberating speech is tranquil and detached.

Fragrance spreads in myriad forms, pervading empty space and reaching every destination. The enjoyment of retribution becomes genuinely abundant. Layer upon layer of delusion is extinguished and does not arise again.

Create wondrous causes and understand the meaning of teaching and transformation. The torrent of inversion and delusion binds beings. The restless movement of ignorance transforms into defilement; this is where bodhisattvas increase the supreme causes accumulated in the past.

Their bearing is sovereign, and their power is pure and wondrous. All dharmas are equal and perfectly accomplished; they attain a pure place and are free from fear. Through proper instruction, every delusive defilement is cleansed.

Layer upon layer of bondage and all evil karma cease. Profound ultimate truth arises as the supreme. The Tathagata realizes sovereignty and non-retrogression; adorned with jewels, brilliant and radiant, supremely excellent, he comprehends all dharmas.

Resentful retribution, the Lord of Devas, the non-beautiful ones, noble consorts, and diminished speech.

At that time all were present. Although accord extended everywhere, the source and branches of delusion were still not peaceful. Far removed from obstructive defilement, they nevertheless indulged excessively in heedlessness.

Their forms were like empty space, harmonizing with the world. Wherever actions were performed, delusion and defilement arose. Their minds were dark and did not create wholesome causes, while the virtues of sentient beings were pure and harmonious.

Bound in this way, their minds were distracted. The three natures of mind existed intermixed. Cultivate goodness, leave delusion behind, and obstructive defilement will be no more.

Attaining this, the virtue of precepts and cultivation increases both self and others. Leave disputes and defilement far behind; self and dharmas are seen truly. Praise the observance of precepts, and the discipline becomes perfect.

The bodhisattva’s generosity, increasing the splendor of adornment: the birth story of the Venerable Protector of the Realm,

the fifteenth extensive interpretation.

The exposition of the true and perfect Dharma possesses harmonious power, measureless and boundless. Afflictions are like fire, while the forms unite as one. What is called comprehending the bodhisattva’s instructions is being true like a good friend; all dharmas are free from contention and harmonize in this way.

In the darkness of night, delusion, defilement, and contention increase.

Leave afflictions, obstacles, defilement, and bondage far behind; restore equality among obscured forms and disordered constituent factors.

Be like the heart of a father who lovingly nurtures his young child. Accumulate merit without attachment throughout the three times. Cultivate the power of generosity to the highest degree. Beings remember the Dharma that is free of conceptual proliferation, like the nurturing kindness of a good father. The devas of the Desire Realm still possess greed, hatred, and delusion. All afflictions arise accordingly, obstructing the supreme dharmas of concentration.

True ultimate truth is vast in this way. Equality increases, ending every defilement and delusion. Seeking here and bound there, create causes for detachment.

Dharma is originally suchness, beyond every transformation. Peaceful and tranquil, Dharma abides eternally; the mind is free from sorrow and suffering, peaceful and sovereign. The supremely wondrous Blessed One speaks Dharma like a fragrant lotus.

Liberation follows the proper path, and afflictions are completely severed. The three karmas become pure, wondrous, and profound. The causes of darkness, obstruction, and delusion are all ended.

Wholesome and wondrous forms appear in purity. Life is stable and endowed with merit. Leave every false doctrine that binds beings.

Tranquil power manifests equality. Its nature abides constantly; cultivate it wholeheartedly. Its constituent forms cause no affliction.

The mental realm is pure, equal, and peaceful. Forms unite as one, and the mind becomes fulfilled.

What is delusion devoid of a mind of generosity?

Inferior beings easily fall into conceptual proliferation. Their retribution accords with their deeds, and they abide in stability. Afflictions are like fire burning wholesome roots, and evil causes are difficult to stop.

Teaching and transformation create causes without burdening the constituent factors. Equality is complete, harmonious, and non-retrogressive. Through the power of generosity, one is unconcerned with fame.

Yet one may create afflictions as causes of pride in self. Recklessly following defilement and obstruction, delusion arises. This is where strength is sufficient, yet difficult matters are not corrected.

When ultimate truth is perfected, how could defiled delusion remain? Generosity creates causes, and the characteristics and meaning become complete. Follow the bodhisattva practice, teaching, transforming, and cultivating.

Thus great beings completely eliminate attachment to self. Ultimate truth arises in accordance with the noble Dharma and becomes ever more excellent. Its nature is originally undefiled by deluded thoughts and afflictions.

Thoroughly understand the uncreated nature of the torrent. The entire realm is pervaded without interruption by coarse and subtle afflictions. Clearly reveal intrinsic nature, perfectly and truly.

Great beings give rise to wholesome conduct. The source of evil karma flows without end. End the causes of inversion, and stillness appears.

Extensively expound the principles, free from causal bondage. Wisdom is like fire consuming the fuel of afflictions. Transmit the Buddha’s words, peaceful and non-retrogressive.

The body and its parts possess supremely wondrous forms.

Give rise to the non-retrogressive, signless, and unbound mind; cultivate supreme causes and abide serenely like the sea. From the fundamental source, aspire to attain truth. Always remember generosity in accordance with its causal characteristics. Intrinsic nature is perfect, true, and complete. Pure and wondrous causes are fulfilled, blazing like fire. With genuine power, cultivate to end defilement.

The bodhisattva’s cultivation of generosity: the sixteenth practice in the birth story of the Venerable Protector of the Realm.

Do not cultivate obstructive defilement. Give rise to practice and understanding, recognize delusion, eliminate inversion, and abandon miscellaneous doctrines. This is the understanding that arises from following one’s teachers and elders.

What are the forms of the bodhisattva practices?

From them arises a vast compassionate vow, manifestly abiding and fully comprehending. End every deluded thought and vanquish all heavenly Maras. Without causes for delusive disturbance, perform karmic deeds. Comfort all beings and eliminate poisonous causes.

This is called ending defilement. The sovereign power of compassion is unequaled in the world. Wondrous and harmonious, it turns toward the supramundane.

Wholesome roots are inexhaustible, delusive defilement does not arise, and this profundity is difficult to attain. Beings create causes, complete in practice and understanding. Cultivate ultimate truth, displaying sovereignty; this is the realm of comprehension.

The minds of worldly beings do not eliminate the marks of desire. With great compassion and a vow to rescue them, the Buddha appears as a good friend and points out the path of peace. Relying upon his instructions, afflictions do not arise.

The three poisons do not stir, and benefits are clearly understood. Constituent factors increase, and hunger and thirst are transformed. Conceptual proliferation and the ten evils are all ended.

Obstacles and calamities likewise do not arise. Further recognize defilement, dullness, and the unreality of the world; the ten unwholesome dharmas do not depart from hunger and thirst. When delusive causes arise, benefit is not attained.

A loving mother does not abandon her sorrowful child. Wisdom clearly sees the realm of true nature, and afflictions cease by themselves. That ruler governs the world.

Through vast power, hunger and suffering disappear. Esteem and cultivate the true Dharma, perfect and non-retrogressive. Clearly understand the pure life, and pride does not arise.

Delusion is no more. Power increases; place and circumstances become complete, sovereign, and perfect. Suitable friends and the power of wisdom become complete.

Purity pervades everywhere, and wondrous function is unsurpassed. The mind is undefiled and clearly sees unwholesome characteristics. Cultivating to sever defilement, wisdom arises.

Believe in cause and effect and rely upon the Buddha’s teaching. Shelter and nurture all beings, instructing them in cause and effect. Also create useful objects, like a canopy spread overhead.

The form of nurturing signifies protection.

What is form?

It is harmonious action that abandons conceptual proliferation. As in a land with a king, the country is prosperous and well governed. Instructions are proclaimed, producing supreme deeds.

Evil karma and inversions are thus ended, and orphans and widows of every kind are fully supported. Further create causes from the root, eliminate defilement, and do not bring turmoil or destruction to the world. Beings attain it themselves, peaceful and beyond words.

True understanding is the realm of practice of ultimate truth. When forms unite, beings abandon pride. Worldly suffering necessarily has causes; it does not arise from anything mysterious.

It is unlike a royal command issued to compel obedience. With the causes of merit, virtue becomes complete. Defilement and conceptual proliferation must be eliminated, and the world becomes a place for cultivating meritorious karma.

Ordinary people find discussion and debate difficult to end. Accord with ultimate truth, becoming pure and ending defilement. Knowledge becomes abundant, and merit encompasses all.

What is harmonious non-retrogression?

Sentient beings become peaceful, and all speech ceases. The great ruler comprehends the true Dharma. It develops fully and leaves every false doctrine behind.

What is the correct meaning of true liberation?

Those still in training seek the path while their afflictions remain endless. Roots of birth follow their kinds, and actions produce pervasive inversion. Joined with pride in self, they form the root of intrinsic nature.

The afflictions of beings arise together in abundance. Recording, remembering, thinking, and retaining, nothing has ever been omitted. Once destroyed, they arise again, transforming without end.

Causes from the distant past arise when they encounter conditions. Wisdom awakens to all things, square and round. The calm and peaceful mind creates its own condition.

The supreme Mahayana cannot be reached by discriminating knowledge. The Tathagata eternally ends the binding modes of activity. Its nature is vast, transforming without end.

Wondrous and pure causes are tranquil and unchanging. The liberated mind originally has no shadow or form. Wisdom transcends existence and nonexistence; what words could reach it?

The pure Dharma-nature is wondrous and difficult to attain. Stable and fearless, it transcends every boundary. In a secure place, evil karma does not arise or create inverted deeds.

The supreme form and fundamental power manifest through body and mind in a dignified bearing worthy of reverence. Wondrous intrinsic nature unites and interpenetrates. When conceptual proliferation increasingly arises, the teaching does not appear; deficient places are bound by afflictions.

Thoughts and memories never cease, and delusion reaches its extreme. Wondrous wisdom is displayed; the kinds are abundant, the forms harmonious, and transformation succeeds. The model is solemn and respected by noble families.

Cultivating impermanence, one abides in the Tathagata-nature, most honored and supreme, the root of body and mind, with a pure and wondrous countenance and a peaceful image.

When the causal power of intrinsic nature is thus perfected, one has sufficient strength to cultivate and attain true wisdom. Causes and conditions harmonize, and freedom from bondage is foremost. The mind gives rise to the fundamental models of all dharmas; through the power of generosity, for the sake of the path, one leaves everything behind.

All kinds of beings aspire to the path of harmony. All cultivate, reject afflictions, and abandon the heavenly path. Leaving pride far behind, they attain supreme causes.

The roots of the three contentions bind self and give rise to it. True liberation means leaving everything behind. Defiled bondage becomes still, and actions become genuine.

Train and cultivate, creating pure karma. Practice and understanding become complete, and pride cannot arise. Wisdom becomes lucid; supreme causes should be cultivated.

Excellent stillness shines without diminishing. Wisdom appears in harmonious stability. Advance, bring practice to completion, and do not abandon skillful responsiveness.

Cultivation of wisdom becomes perfect, and the mind understands ever more thoroughly. Craving is boundless; only wisdom can leave it behind. The wondrous and profound principle was never born and cannot be destroyed.

True peace means ending cyclic wandering. Such a realm of nature is constantly abiding. Its fundamental forms manifest yet are difficult to attain.

The virtue of ultimate truth is tranquil suchness. The Tathagata’s own essence eternally severs afflictions. Delusion and suffering make the hells difficult to endure.

The retribution of hungry ghosts is fearful and difficult to escape. Selflessness accords harmoniously, and its power appears. The shravaka course moves onward, while the Mahayana abides.

Liberation is unborn; how could the precepts be burdensome? Eagerly practicing generosity, one does not attain what is sought. A good father in the world trains beings without end.

The nature of precepts, observance, and transgression abandons the causes of defilement. Wisdom comprehends the signless, and afflictions do not arise. Virtue is suchness, manifesting in stillness.

The four fruits of the shravakas are true ultimate truth; this is the realm where a king practices dana. Like a great torrent, it must be cultivated with full effort. Though giving, one does not seek meritorious reward.

Signless generosity accords with its source. Providing abundant food and drink, one practices dana everywhere. Pride and heedlessness do not arise, for one wishes the people of the country to rejoice.

Model decrees and instructions permeate every region. Such generosity is cultivated reverently in purity and wonder. Saving the multitude of beings is the great gift.

The villages and market towns in the country number an estimated five thousand. The command is proclaimed everywhere according to the Teacher, the exemplary one whom all should emulate. That country is wealthy and virtuous, truly rare in the world.

Wholesome words are proclaimed. It is a country with a king. Affairs of state are handled from their roots; he skillfully governs the whole realm and carefully weighs preservation and loss, abandonment and adoption.

Present affairs and ancient laws are appropriately discussed. Emphasizing facts, he acts serenely and attains every proper form. The constituent factors accord with the laws and decrees.

The ruler’s words are proclaimed in detail. That ruler possesses complete wisdom and supreme power; what need has he of violence? Through supreme cultivation, the devas assist him.

Practice and understanding are complete; pride does not arise, and accord is perfected.

Thus was the Blessed One in the distant past. Neither coming nor going, his form was perfect.

The bodhisattva cultivated generosity and adorned that land: the seventeenth extensive interpretation of the birth story of the Venerable Protector of the Realm.

The discipline is peaceful and ends every deluded thought. The pure Dharma of precepts can eliminate defilement and bondage. This is accordant comprehension.

All bodhisattvas are serene, harmonious in countenance, stable, and constantly abiding. In pure and wondrous places, all assemblies are equal and genuinely peaceful. Their provisions are the pure life, and their fields of training are pure.

The wisdom of all good friends increases. In intrinsic nature, sovereign cultivation has existed from the beginning. True purity possesses complete form.

In accordance with the world, they reveal wisdom to beings. Their adorned countenance is peerless and difficult to equal. Thoroughly comprehended in the human realm, it is bright and lovely.

On the pure shore of awakening, every defiled bond is destroyed. The wondrous functions of wisdom and meditative concentration are boundless. The Tathagata has eliminated the torrent of afflictions.

Deluded worldly beings find it difficult to escape in this way. Lacking wisdom, they seek only functional power. Recognize delusive dharmas and possess true knowledge and vision.

With supreme virtue, one is not bound by pride. When afflicted dharmas arise, wisdom eliminates them. Great beings leave home to cultivate and study.

Attachment to places brings only suffering. Abandoning the true Dharma, beings indulge in sensual pleasure. Cultivating generosity, the mental realm becomes peaceful.

Cultivating generosity, equality increases. Greater than giving to hundreds of thousands of shramanas and brahmins is the merit of such generosity. Like an arhat whose wisdom is perfect, its merit is no different.

Ancient villages accorded appropriately. The ruler’s residence changed yet remained established. Peaceful and supremely wondrous, it adapted to conditions without changing.

The meditative concentrations of the Form Realm were understood at their source. Entering purity, the causal characteristics became peaceful. The substance of body and mind, the five skandhas, underwent transformation.

Pure and wondrous forms possessed sovereign power. Like an arhat, one manifested in the supreme manner. The merit of leaving home lay in practicing according to the Dharma.

Wondrous wisdom was pure, and no pride arose. The marks of defilement had been ended, and scriptures were received and upheld. Forms transformed, and body and mind changed.

Wisdom arose, leaving bondage far behind. Purity and wonder appeared, and virtue became supreme. Comprehending wholesome purity and leaving clamor far behind, one became clear and calm like the moon.

This is the place where a wholesome, non-retrogressive intention arises. It is like remembering the boundless kindness of a good father. Goodness and stillness become complete, like the nurturing growth of spring.

A good father loves his child and never abandons it. In every place, actions and speech are harmonious. Skillfully training every inverted form, one enters vast stillness with limitless boundaries.

Praise of the merit is like a lofty mountain. Its pure power is difficult to name. The beings of the country possess peaceful wisdom.

In that wondrous land, delusion is entirely absent. Sages and noble ones clearly reveal its wondrous capacities. Devote oneself to supreme cultivation and abide in stability and peace.

Violent bondage and concealment should be left far behind. Women, from root to branch, bring fearful sorrow.

Why do beings so readily give rise to craving?

A solemn model does not create such causes. Aspire to end them completely and increasingly liberate oneself. Aspiring to attain ultimate truth, rescue myriad beings. Thoroughly comprehend meaningful benefit and true purity. Like the intention of a loving mother who skillfully instructs her children, this never changes. Worldly beings need to be trained in this way. Their karmic activity becomes complete, and sovereign peace genuinely increases.

How is ultimate peace attained?

Joyfully and gladly create peaceful deeds. This is where bodhisattvas fundamentally aspire to attain peaceful practices.

Attain wondrous wisdom and leave bondage and defilement behind. Impart true and unsurpassed learning. Instruct beings in such peaceful knowledge and vision, and thereafter undertake the deliverance of sentient beings.

With signless speech, the mind gives rise to peace; evil karma disappears, and the karma of generosity is created. Establish the causes of the Ten Good Actions and train beings everywhere. Peaceful supreme wisdom is like a mother’s protective mindfulness.

This is the true nature of peace. As these causes increase, the retribution becomes supremely wondrous. But if overweening pride arises, every wondrous principle necessarily ceases.

Such is the fundamental Dharma of the noble nature. By relying only upon the meaning of hearing and retaining, the Dharma is difficult to attain. In the intrinsic nature of beings, ordinary and noble share one current.

There is neither this nor that, and pride in self also ceases. Though no root cause exists, everything appears fully. Deluded thought playfully transforms in this way.

The cause of generosity is the root of peace. Pure wondrous wisdom is the wholesome supramundane cause. The active and still aspects of all transformative teachings advance together.

Peaceful and free from pride, one seeks enjoyment according to the Dharma. Sovereign and serene, one follows the proper course of the Buddha’s path. When the root causes are accomplished, one aspires to attain freedom from contention and conceptual proliferation.

These dharmas help beings leave faults behind. Revere the sages and noble ones and joyfully make offerings. Tranquil joy becomes genuine and perfect.

Devotedly cultivate the supreme Dharma, and its fruits will swiftly be accomplished. The intrinsic nature of ultimate truth is peaceful from source to branch. A pure intention does not arise, and truth is difficult to abide in.

The intrinsic nature of that Dharma is tranquil and peaceful; its essence transcends existence and nonexistence, and wondrous wisdom is equal. Cultivation accords with pure and wondrous peace. Its nature is pure and thus adorned, helping beings attain liberation and awakening.

Suffering disappears, and binding concealments are also ended. Fundamentally aspire to attain ultimate truth without retrogression. The three kinds of defiled bondage do not create activity.

How could a joyful loving mother abandon her children? Comprehending activity and stillness, she never ceases seeking their peace. Afflictions, poisonous defilements, and delusion bind and conceal.

When the power of peace is lacking, pride increases. In a pure place, Dharma-nature constantly abides. Causes and conditions born of pride cannot obtain it through seeking.

Violence, suffering, and delusion bind beings. Wholesome purity harmonizes, becomes still, and departs far away. Clear, calm, and exemplary, it resembles empty space.

Pride and delusion increase and are fearful. Forms change and pass away, while tranquility is peaceful. Although oppressed in a hundred ways by hunger and thirst and constantly bound by such suffering, the bodhisattva’s teaching and transformation never cease.

By comprehending the nature of afflictions, one will attain peace. Awaken to the principle of no-mind and practice according to suchness. Sages abide upon the pure shore of awakening.

In analyzing principles, one should rely upon the power of wisdom. Peaceful and tranquil, with a calm mind, they transmit the teaching. Desire and conceptual proliferation are roots of affliction.

Bound by this and that, wisdom can hardly arise. With the courageous strength of a good father, they exhort and instruct wherever they are. When the torrent meets conditions, the proud mind immediately arises.

Those who study and uphold the discipline are great beings. Their wholesome minds harmonize, and their practice of precepts is pure. Only arhats have completely ended afflictions.

Removing obscuring forms, they prevent bondage from arising. Intrinsic nature abandons forms in this way. Its fundamental exemplary function is no different.

The bodhisattva cultivated generosity: the eighteenth meaning of the birth story of the Venerable Adornment, Protector of the Realm.

One kind of joy is cognized in many forms. The source of paired enmity transforms and is left far behind. This is to follow the bodhisattva practice, fundamentally peaceful and appropriately trained.

Virtue encompasses all, and its power abides. Afflictions are eliminated, and wisdom increases. All such evil karma truly comes from delusion and false thought.

Conceptual proliferation concerning forms, jealousy, and diminished virtue arise. Recklessly following violence, one’s conduct becomes difficult to train. With full comprehension, increase generosity.

Resolutely preserve the wholesome path and follow peaceful practice. Afflictions do not arise, and power becomes sovereign. Ultimate truth increases, and body and mind become fulfilled.

The teacher instructs one to aspire to the exemplary standard. By understanding restraint and observance, one comprehends action and transgression. Wholesome, wondrous, and profound, create pure causes.

Constantly create wholesome karma and cultivate the three karmas. Create fundamental causes and complete devoted cultivation. Leave the path of ghosts and anxious sorrow far behind.

Complete in practice and understanding, explain and transmit the teaching. Deluded and defiled intention and the torrent of afflictions remain, yet beings continually increase in purity and wonder, manifesting in this way. All should abandon bondage, roots, and shadows.

In conjunction with estrangement, deluded thoughts increase further. Defiled causes reach their end, as do objects of form. May all attain purity.

The brahminical dharma is not wondrous in nature. Like the intention of a loving mother, nurture and protect beings. Aspire to sovereignty and attain perfection.

Transformation-born beings increase, appearing joyful. Supreme wonder encompasses all, with a magnificent bearing. Cognition becomes sovereign, and the power of wisdom complete.

Leave the realm of conceptual proliferation and ascend the shore of awakening. Inwardly responsive, abide in equality. The disciplinary restraints are peaceful, and meditative concentration wondrously appears.

Further attain unsurpassed and rare merit. Abide in the signless, clear, calm, and pure. Thus the meaningful benefit of the true characteristic is attained.

Peace and sovereignty become supreme in the world. The quality of destruction is entirely absent. This is the place where the concealment of deluded thoughts is left far behind.

Pure intention harmonizes in ultimate equality. Abandon hunger and thirst and obtain the cause of comprehension. The fruit of arhatship ends the defilements of the three realms.

Sorrow and all of its kind are entirely absent. Suffering is harmonized and abides in this way. The essence of ultimate truth is tranquil and sovereign.

Sorrow and suffering are clearly known to be no more. The true cause is intrinsic nature, the root that accords with the constituent factors. Defilement and pride are both ended, and the essence of awakening manifests by itself.

This is the place where fundamental stillness is comprehended, a realm of peace with inexhaustible accord. At that time, defiled delusion has nowhere to cling, and purity is undivided. This is the time when profound wonder is attained and afflictions are completely ended.

The bodhisattva instructs beings in the peaceful realm, possessing sufficient power to teach and transform them accordingly. At the first moment of arising, the meaning of the path is wondrous and good. This is where pride and heedlessness increase from their roots.

The purity and wonder of existence and nonexistence constitute true liberation. Comprehending the root cause, those in training cultivate. The mind comes to abide, possessing sufficient strength to undertake the task.

Through generosity, aspire to attain the state of sages and noble ones. Those seven ranks of noble ones are complete in study and cultivation. Good friends comprehend, and wisdom becomes penetrating.

The cause of greed does not arise, and they abide among sages and noble ones. The true noble Sangha cultivates the practice of suchness. Abiding on the Ten Grounds, they sever discriminative defilement.

They attain true liberation according to the Mahayana Dharma. Their power is abundant, and they abide steadfastly. Pure teaching and transformation cause minds to rejoice.

Through the power of generosity, body and mind remain unshaken. The forms of evil defilement have no cause by which to be created. Merely relying upon a tranquil realm, afflictions are not ended.

Together with pride arising ever more strongly, deluded thoughts are eliminated. Fundamental ultimate truth manifests as the signless. Meditative concentration is pure, clear, calm, and peaceful.

Bodhisattvas end all defiled dharmas. Aspiring to attain meaningful benefit, they possess sufficient power to train beings. The devas of the Form Realm are sovereign and free of desire.

They practice the Ten Good Actions and leave hatred far behind. They aspire to perfect wisdom and form. Delusion and heedlessness are the beginnings of evil karma.

The ultimate truth of the Mahayana is perfectly peaceful. Fundamental wondrous wisdom illuminates the nature of true suchness. Following the bodhisattva practice, purity pervades every place.

Sovereign and perfect, they cultivate the bodhisattva practice. The teaching they transmit is true and vast. Transformations are peaceful, and forms become complete.

Merit harmonizes with wondrous sound. Wisdom shines brightly, and ignorance is cleansed away. All causes of true liberation are genuine.

Creating karma in unity, they follow a solemn model. In a sovereign place, merit becomes complete. Their nature delights in generosity, accords harmoniously, and reaches fulfillment.

Through kindly speech, meditative concentration, and wisdom become clearer. The essence of their nature abides, indestructible in this way. The ultimate boundary is the cessation of contentious and defiled dharmas.

Thus obscurity comes from the innate nature of delusion. The pure teaching subdues and illuminates it. Its nature is originally unreal, and its function is to obstruct and conceal.

Meditative concentration accords, and its power transforms. When the Lord of Devas exhausts his merit, it is truly a cause for sorrow. All increase and fully eliminate defilements.

Meditative concentration becomes sovereign, ending every hunger and thirst. In a pure place, pride does not arise. All afflictions are extinguished, and virtue becomes genuine.

Fundamental intrinsic nature possesses complete power. Practices in accordance with Dharma become peaceful and detached. The Formless Realms are filled with purity and wonder.

Supreme wonder arises. This is the place where beautiful, solemn stillness is clearly displayed. The forms of affliction and all inversions are destroyed.

Fundamental purity and wonder are complete with wholesome causes, and forms appear like flowers. Pure objects possess true form and color. Teach about causes and understand the meaning of training.

Sound is complete and harmonizes to the utmost. Delusion and false thought all arise from conceptual proliferation. Through the bodhisattva’s teaching and transformation, afflictions are eliminated.

In the realm of deluded thought—enemies, the Lord of Devas, the non-beautiful ones, and the various other kinds—fundamental bondage does not arise in this way. Suffering is exposed, and one aspires to abandon it. Joyful, sovereign, pure, and wondrous, this is the ultimate realm toward which bodhisattvas advance.

Such merit is like a lotus flower: perfect, precious, harmonious, and surpassing the various kinds of cultivation in this way. The constituent factors of intrinsic bondage, wisdom, and contemplation aspire to attain ultimate truth in this way.

The concentrated mind is perfect; its original nature is such.