菩薩本生鬘論

The mind and intention abide in sovereign freedom, and meaning and benefit are perfectly fulfilled. Keeping the precepts in purity, one dwells at peace within the rules of discipline. Seeking neither this nor that, one is free of the hindrance of afflictions.

The factors of the realm of mind appear in tranquil stillness. Name-and-form, the so-called marks of form, are by nature the five aggregates. The mind and intention being thus, one wishes to attain peace and well-being.

Wholesome benefit and merit are tranquil and fully complete. Evil karma, being thus, is reckoned as threefold in number. The four great elements and the five aggregates are forever in flux and transformation.

Self-nature is (inherently) tranquil, wholesome, subtle, and blissful. The vows and conduct of the Bodhisattva grow and accord. Beings of great courage wield power in sovereign freedom.

In meditative absorption the mind is stilled, and consciousness does not waver. With such practice and understanding, one may hope to deliver all beings everywhere. The source and root of calamity is to be wholly forsaken; this is the place of perfection, where conceptual proliferation is utterly cut off.

Seeking the true Dharma, afflictions are eradicated together with the mind defiled by evil. The marks of form of the Bodhisattva are adorned and perfectly complete. The body is supremely excellent, the places of its manifestation being a hundred kinds of subtle wonders.

The marks of violent form, the afflictions, do not arise. Self-nature is accomplished, and all distortions are extinguished. Virtue and conduct are sovereign, and defiled dharmas are no more.

The source and root of love and delight is the Dharma of the Ten Wholesome Deeds. Tranquil and supremely subtle, cultivation accords. The realm of mind, being without self, is diligently set forth and displayed.

The meaning and benefit of the Bodhisattva follow conduct in suchness. The discipline and rules being fitting is the place of non-regression. With meditative absorption perfected, the conduct free of defilement is made clear.

Mind and intention being in accord, no enmity or evil karma clings. Forsaking all evil (is precisely) the source and root that fashions arrogance and dull delusion. Cultivating the conduct of giving, delusion and pride cease of themselves.

Wisdom of equality fashions and transforms. Cultivating the conduct of giving, delusion and pride cease of themselves. Wisdom of equality fashions and transforms.

Resolute and devoted in cultivation, abiding thus, is the place where the Bodhisattva is pure and accordant. Power applied toward seeking, one practices the Ten Wholesome Deeds of karma. The boundary-markers of the precepts being thus, tranquility is wholly complete.

The root of all afflictions, arising from the cause of a defiled intention, gives rise to violence. Subduing the realm of mind, the root of defilement extinguishes of itself. Equal and supremely excellent, near and far are not divided.

One wishes to cut off the deluded causes of the Brahmin caste. Tranquil and adorned, the teaching is transmitted in full. Teaching and transforming the myriad kinds of beings, sorrow and suffering are cast away.

Hearing and retaining being wholly complete, action grows and increases. Evil karma at its utmost (is) the oppression of hunger and thirst. When the supreme meaning is brought down and taught, it suddenly extinguishes of itself.

The factors of the torrent fashion all dull delusion. When arrogance appears, (it too) is silently and wholly cut off. Distortion is (like) wind-driven gusts; afflictions have no shore.

The bonds of causes and conditions (are) all that is truly fashioned. The essential nature is sovereign, and language accords. When affliction and pride are cut off, the wholesome and subtle abide, as though savor were added.

The source and root, the realm of mind, has no cause for distortion. The sovereign power of the king is like wind sweeping over the grass. The words of the king being thus, his aid is fitting and his language proper.

The marks of form are sovereign; gathering and displaying, all is attained. All things are reverently cultivated, the essence free of violence. Wisdom is pure, and its subtle cause increases.

The nature being without distortion, the expounding and transmission accord. The supreme meaning is exquisitely subtle, equal and truly authentic. The essence of Great Suchness, transforming yet undefiled, attains the cause of giving, the pure wisdom of non-regression.

Practice and understanding, supremely subtle, perfect the most excellent conduct. The (realm of) the Four Dhyānas is tranquil, and language accords. The realm of application is boundless, the root of all forms and marks.

Power applied is indestructible, fully endowed with the most subtle wonders. Discoursing (according to the principle of) non-self, one attains the root of wisdom. Language is pure and subtle, teaching and transforming the multitude of beings. (Together with) places, villages and hamlets, evil karma, and defiled dharmas, all are made peaceful, and the requitals of enmity are all cut off.

Right at the form and marks of kingly majesty, there is peace and stillness. The meaning and benefit are supremely excellent; the bestowed words have efficacy. The populace, being thus, comprehends with clarity.

Nurturing all kinds of beings, they penetrate and accord. Cultivating tranquility, (one attains) the supremely excellent realm of nature. Sentient beings are pure, and the karmic cause is one of non-regression.

Language in accord grows and increases thus.

What is called the wisdom of equality?

The essential nature is pure, departing from the realm of conceptual proliferation. The realm of nature in deluded motion (leads to the) authentic fashioning of karma. All dharmas being pure, the power that removes (them) is from the root.

Those wholesome dharmas cut off evil, (fashioning) meaning and benefit. Self-nature is exquisitely subtle, pure and true. Violence and evil at their utmost (are precisely) the bondage right at the root.

Fashioning the cause of the supreme meaning, one comprehends in full. All those evils and faults are wholly cut off of themselves. This is the realm of the Yakṣa, pure and undefiled.

The meaning and benefit of the Ten Wholesome Deeds attain the place of peace and stillness, the source and root of tranquility. Fashioning a vast cause, one attains the power of purity. (This is) the countenance of the place of stillness and ease. The true vow and incantation give rise by nature to the ranks of the Devas.

The meaning and benefit are pure, and hunger and thirst are no more. Expounding the supreme principle, comprehending and retaining it, all deluded imaginings must be removed and extinguished. Wisdom is pure and subtle, sovereign and boundless, cutting off all contention and defilement, turmoil, dull delusion, and pride.

The place is pure and subtle; expounding the pure principle, (all) hunger and thirst and distortion (are) nurtured into peace and bliss. Like the clear moonlight dispelling burning heat. The bonds of dull delusion, defilement and desire all cease.

Fashioning the cause of giving, craving and defilement gradually end. This is the realm of the Bodhisattva, accordant and equal. The age-old source and root, evil karma too is extinguished.

The language of craving, dull delusion, and arrogance—their essence is not clear and still. The nature of defilement and desire—its essence is inherently confused and disordered. Attaining the supreme cause, one eradicates distortion.

The nature of afflictions arises and increases thus. Cultivating the conduct of suchness, one must strive to eradicate it. As with the requital of enmity of Indra and his consort—this is truly calamity.

How are craving and distortion to be eradicated?

In the place of the supreme meaning, the fundamental is silent and still. One wishes to attain sovereign, supremely excellent power and application. With wholehearted devotion one nurtures and increases the wholesome nature. As a mother lovingly nurtures, afflictions are quieted. All the pure assemblies attain peace and bliss. The supreme meaning and benefit (is) the true "Fearlessness." Teaching and transforming (according to) the standard, sovereign to the utmost.

What is it to seek the action of craving?

With joy and reverence (one receives) the words the Bodhisattva teaches. Striving to attain meaning and benefit, all distortion is cut off. Penetrating the teaching of the Root Master, departing from all afflictions, one attains the tranquil state. Craving, dull delusion, distortion—they bind and conceal. The world is sunk in sorrow, undergoing every pain and suffering. Coveting meaning and benefit is likewise thus. Thus the cause of defilement fashions the dharma of distortion, together with arrogance, which conceals and binds. Giving extends everywhere, following the cause of teaching and transforming. One attains the supreme meaning—tranquil and without marks.

What is it to dwell in stillness, harmonized and at peace in bliss?

Forsaking contention and defilement, the wholesome mind is displayed together. The cause and root (of) arrogance is precisely craving. Growth at its utmost (is) making offerings to sages and worthies.

Teaching (the principle of) purity, the meaning of teaching and transforming is made clear. As with the requital of enmity of Indra and his consort. Language explains and reveals, transforming to suit conditions.

The assemblies are sovereign, without anything yet perfectly complete. Fashioning karma in tranquility, virtue and valor are fully endowed. The wellspring of teaching and transforming: all hindrances are cut off. (Attaining) tranquility, one forsakes the torrent of distortion.

All is the place where giving arises. Cultivating purity, one wishes to attain tranquility. The Bodhisattva responds and manifests, guiding sentient beings to give rise to the cause of purity.

This is the place where the Bodhisattva's giving is fitting, and where practice and understanding arise. Accordant, pure, and subtle, the villages and hamlets are peaceful. Power at its utmost (is) the opening of the Mahāyāna Dharma.

The afflictions (in) the nine grounds accord with the heavenly realms. The king, sovereign and free, teaches and transmits here and there. The requital of enmity of Indra, his beautiful consort, arrogance—these are truly the torrent of afflictions, defilement and bondage, giving rise to arrogance and dissipation.

Language is supremely subtle, sovereign and perfectly complete. Wisdom is penetrating and clear, and afflictions are all cut off. One attains the realm of the supreme meaning, like an Arhat.

The reward-body is sovereign, (fully endowed with) the two wisdoms of the true and the conventional. Form and marks are vast as the realm of empty space. Repenting of faults and errors (is) the binding of self cut off at the utmost.

Calamity is forsaken; one wishes to be wholly rid of it. The three poisons (bind) sentient beings; one repents and removes them. Striving to be reborn among the Devas, one is endowed with every peace and bliss.

Departing far from craving, casting off dull delusion. Practicing giving, cultivating the conduct of the Tathāgata, tranquility is manifested. Thus, for the sake of the myriad kinds of beings, one bears the burden, teaching and transforming, wholly complete and without hindrance.

Peaceful and still as to this and that, perfectly complete and serenely settled, calamity is no more. The elder, a good friend, follows the conduct of giving; even toward all the ranks of violence he makes no distinction. The form and marks are perfectly complete, attaining great worth.

That person: afflictions partake together, and enemies dwell together. Cultivating with diligence, this is the true meaning of liberation.

The Bodhisattva cultivates the conduct of giving, adding to its adornment of dignity, the Venerable One who protects the country—

the nineteenth meaning of the birth story.

The virtue and conduct (of) self-nature, true and wondrous in function. When afflictions appear, one joyfully wishes them wholly cut off. Cultivating earnestly, defilement and delusion gradually melt away. This is to accord and to penetrate.

The Bodhisattva "Silent Stillness," of a proper clan and lineage. Inexhaustible and vast, departing from all evil. Following the cause of purity and subtlety, one wishes to attain stillness.

Teaching, guiding, and leading, all delusion and pride are cut off. The vow of compassion accords, equal and at peace in bliss. The nature being without arrogance, conduct and transformation extend everywhere.

Attaining the Mahāyāna Dharma, one fashions the fundamental cause. Seeking the place of stillness, wisdom is pure. Penetrating the True Dharma, the power of cultivation is sovereign.

Manifesting in the world, one abides in the pure realm. This is where the deep mind, pure, appears and is displayed. The kingly clan and lineage endure firm and age-old.

The afflictions that disturb and dominate are all cut off. Rescuing the myriad kinds of beings, this is rare in the world. The mind and intention devoted to cultivation fashion the cause of purity and subtlety, awakening by one's own power.

The great vow of the Bodhisattva, transforming and delivering sentient beings, instructing them in the wholesome roots, all perfectly complete. Tranquil through many kalpas, making the body that of a sentient being. Capably seeking and cultivating, one abides in wholesome absorption.

Following the path of austerity, (one attains) the fundamental supreme meaning. The virtue of the precepts is pure; self-nature is thus. The meaning and benefit of the sage (comprise) nine kinds of form and marks.

Arising at the utmost, taming at the highest. Accumulating the virtue of the precepts, one clearly severs bondage. The fundamental is tranquil; bearing the burden accords.

The nature is inherently empty; what fixity have form and marks? Remembering and comprehending are the cause of all deluded imaginings. How shall sentient beings attain the form and marks of liberation?

Calamity is wholly forsaken; one abides in stillness. Arrogance is no more; departing far from house and home, dust and grime, evil defilement. In tranquility there arise all the subtle and wondrous conducts.

Self-nature is pure; the fundamental of pure karma grows without ceasing. Striving to follow the subtle cause, one subdues and dispels the pain and suffering of afflictions. The supreme meaning is pure and subtle, the heavenly realm fully complete.

Keeping the precepts in purity, the conduct of the Way accords. The supreme understanding is sovereign; the cause of purity is perfectly complete—(this is) accord at the utmost. Forsaking concealment and bondage, casting off words of dread.

Loving and nurturing all kinds of beings, in peace and bliss, cutting off defilement, casting off attachment to self, (together with) house and field and all manner of things. This is precisely the place of action one wishes to attain. Not following giving, self-nature grows dim.

Craving violence, form and marks all the more increase.

What is the deluded imagining: "Little cause, much fruit," the various paths of the cycle of rebirth, as the teaching clearly sets forth?

When contention and defilement are no more (this is) the root of all places. Accordant and wholly complete are the dharmas of love and delight.

What are the dharmas of the supreme, ultimate meaning?

The vow of compassion is sovereign—sentient beings at the utmost—the good friend cuts off evil—all defilements should cease. Giving and wisdom. Extinguishing the realm of arrogance.

Self-nature keeps the precepts. Accordant tranquility. Practice and understanding accord, attaining the cause of giving.

The supreme meaning is pure. Accordant with the kinds, the sage clearly recognizes. Following the true Dharma, one departs far from distortion.

Hearing and retaining being wholly complete, one wishes to cut off defiled dharmas. The nature of the precepts is exquisitely subtle, and afflictions are forever cut off. Power applied is sovereign; food and clothing bestow grace.

Harmonized without contention, without distortion or pride. Cultivating the dharma of taming, practicing the conduct of accomplishment. This is the place where the Bodhisattva vows to deliver the myriad kinds of beings.

Diligence without ceasing, striving toward perfection. The vow and conduct of non-regression, for the sake (of cutting off) the root of afflictions. Abiding in purity, practicing the cause of suchness.

Delusion, poison, evil karma, suffering and distress, hunger and thirst, wholly cut off from the root. The fundamental of the supreme meaning (is) power applied in each thought-moment, casting off bondage. Villages, hamlets, and walled towns, the places of peace and bliss. The original vow of giving (is) harmony and silent stillness. The ultimate is tranquility. Inner power is deep and rich. One wishes to attain the utmost. The root of all confusion, delusion, and calamity is wholly forsaken. Deluded attachment is hard to part from; (one needs) the supreme meaning to tame it. Wisdom penetrates and comprehends every principle. Sorrow, distress, suffering. The shadow-form of a human being. The essential nature is inherently empty. The assembly of Brahmins—wisdom exists.

Walled towns, villages, and hamlets, the people are at peace and ease. Devoted to cultivation, they cast off the bondage of craving and love. Giving rise to the mind, they take refuge in and revere the teaching of the Mahāyāna.

The sentient beings of the world study the Way of the Tathāgata, harmonized and freed from suffering. The substance of afflictions accords with wholesome karma. Those in training, devoted to cultivation, see afflictions cut off of themselves.

This is the kingly realm where the conduct of the Bodhisattva is practiced. Power applied accords; the clan and lineage are perfectly complete. Sovereign and manifest, their renown extends everywhere.

Wisdom is still; bodily form abides. The Great Hero, his realm and land at peace. Wisdom is tranquil, revealing the nature inherently thus.

Wondrous conduct is pure, arising at the utmost. Taming is sovereign, directed toward the supreme. The fruit and reward are pure and subtle, the form and marks composed and at ease.

The wisdom of the heavenly realm—sentient beings hear and retain it—is a vast realm, sentient beings pure, still, and profoundly subtle. Delusion and pride are wholly cleansed. Arising at the supremely excellent, transforming in serene ease.

Evil karma and enemies silently vanish without a trace. Wisdom and valorous power, penetrating and suited. The countenance is harmonious; sentient beings take refuge and revere.

The villages and hamlets are prosperous, true and good-hearted.

What is the place that accords with arrogance and dissipation?

A livelihood of dull delusion leads to the utmost. Wisdom in practice and understanding, virtue and conduct, pure. The place is tranquil, the wholesome roots undefiled. Sentient beings harmonize, their cognitions differing. The wisdom of equality bestows food and clothing everywhere. Afflictions and karmic hindrances have roots and shoots like (those of) a person. The root having been defiled, the shoots are lost along with it. The true Dharma eradicates it thus. Defilement and bondage, being thus, dissolve in an instant. Delusion and pride too are extinguished. The Tathāgata protects and sustains, like the heavens that cover and shelter. Accordant, it appears and is displayed. The power and application of wisdom, its function boundless. Like a king abiding (in sovereignty).

What is it for the wisdom of taming to appear and be displayed?

Wholesome words exhort (toward) the ultimate of liberation. Wisdom, being thus, fashions the accordant cause. This is the place where there is a king, his decrees sovereign, the people obeying and carrying them out. (Just as) the place of arrogance, where defilement and bondage arise and fill, sentient beings suffer distress, (all of these are) stabilized as before.

That cause of distortion leads to attachment to self. One wishes that evil karma, lacking conditions, would not arise. This is the place where self-nature appears in confusion: deluded imaginings, enmity, weakness, foolishness; bondage and concealment cease of themselves; arrogance binds sentient beings; (one of) pure wisdom and penetrating intention appears and is made clear, wholly cutting off all those afflictions.

Great arrogance is precisely the root and origin. Language is accordant and subtle, wisdom grows and increases, clarifying the meaning of liberation. All sentient beings revere the pure assembly.

The realm of nature is clear and still; conceptual proliferation is no more. The torrent is not extinguished; suffering and distress have no shore. The supremely subtle standard relies upon the supreme meaning.

Giving extends everywhere, seeking the cause of the heavenly realm. Hunger, thirst, sorrow, and trouble—wisdom is not (made) dim. Penetrating purity and subtlety, peace and bliss are thus.

The pure wisdom that hears and retains is like a canopy that covers and shelters. Tranquility grows and increases; defiled dharmas do not arise. Like the decree of a king, fashioning the cause of heavenly purity, wisdom arises.

Ever free of craving, purity all the more increases. The power and application of wisdom is fully endowed with right concentration. The supremely excellent at its utmost (is) the growth of the conduct of the Way.

The highest grade of purity and subtlety (is) sovereignty that envelops all. The ultimate at its utmost (is) the world at peace and still. The place at its highest (is) equality everywhere.

The supreme meaning arises, fashioning the cause to attain the fruit. The Bodhisattva exhorts and teaches. Like one of kingly majesty.

Following the application of wisdom, one cultivates the markless conduct. The pure and subtle heavenly realm, departing far from concealment and bondage. Forgetting the root and origin, one fashions the dharma of conceptual proliferation.

The cause being untrue, the practice of enmity arises. Purity and subtlety grow and increase; one wishes to cut off defiled dharmas. The cause and practice arise according with the principle of self-nature.

Virtue and karma are pure, eradicating all pride. Cultivating and studying in tranquility, one acts with valorous might. Guiding the myriad kinds of beings, extinguishing foolishness, virtue appears in every place.

Deluded defilement wholly cut off, one is sovereign in wondrous function. Forsaking contention and defilement, conduct perfectly complete as suchness, suffering and distress, enemies and kin, all should be forsaken. That nature of wisdom is wholesome and pure, wholly complete.

With fitting causes and conditions, the supremely subtle arises. Anger and hatred turn into the fashioning of conceptual proliferation, language of distortion—how could this be the conduct of the heavens? Cultivating wisdom in transformation, (one only) wishes to attain food and clothing.

Words of greed and vulgarity—how could this be true wisdom? The realm of a false and deceitful mind, where defilement and bondage arise. Seeking confusion and disorder, afflictions and hindrances arise.

The great king of the realm expounds the true Dharma, causing the mind to rejoice and to follow according with the principle. Wisdom grows and increases, sovereign at the utmost. The torrent of afflictions (fashions all manner of) forms and marks of suffering.

Hearing and retaining wholly complete. The dharmas of pride and delusion all should be forsaken.

What is fundamental giving?

Wholesome dharmas remove and dissolve defilement, pride, and deluded imaginings. The factors accord, and the path of karma is perfectly complete. Growth at its utmost (is the) hunger and thirst for truth. Subduing and forsaking.

What is it to wish to cut off all deluded imaginings?

Forsaking conceptual proliferation, one fashions purity. Wholesome and pure, joyfully seeking, one is bound to the Ten Wholesome Deeds. Wisdom is a good friend; cultivation is perfectly complete. Following the conduct of purity, merit and virtue are fully endowed. Body, mind, and the five aggregates—one wishes to attain abiding in peace. Penetrating the exquisitely subtle, that cause is boundless. Those afflictions and delusions are truly pain and suffering. The realm of training being wholly complete, the body is pure and subtle. Merit and virtue in the worldly realm—the fruit and reward are without error. What is it to grow and increase to the ultimate at its utmost?

Penetrating the realm of training, one seeks that supreme meaning. Pure and true, delusion and defilement do not arise. Hunger, thirst, and affliction—the realm of mind is vast and open. Bondage and defilement are extinguished, like (the realm of) emptiness without obstruction, surpassing even thought.

Deluded motion is continuous; the fundamental is all cut off. The self-nature of the Tathāgata derives originally from the wisdom of awakening. Expounding the supreme Dharma, it points out the path that guides and leads. (It points out) the causes of delusion, deficiency, poison, and evil clinging fast.

The paths of karma accord with conditions, relying upon the power of wisdom. Power applied is pure; the three poisons do not arise. Retaining, hearing, (following) self-nature, the mind wishes to be fully complete.

The Three Vehicles teach and deliver, together attaining Nirvāṇa. The factors are true, wholly departing from delusion. The torrent of afflictions (fashions) three kinds of fundamentals.

The root having been cut off, the shoots and branches are all cast away. Reverently trusting the Buddhas, the teaching is pure. A Dharma such as this (is called) the place of right liberation.

From the place of sorrow and trouble, sentient beings harmonize. In a place of solemn dignity, one expounds the Mahāyāna Dharma. Seeking the exquisitely subtle cause, name-and-form without marks, departing far from contention and defilement, perfectly complete thus.

This is the realm of sentient beings who give themselves over to craving, where afflictions and distortion arise and stir at will. The meaning and benefit are pure, accomplished and fitting, boundlessly sovereign. All dharmas being without self, right view accords.

Delusion and confusion do not appear; sentient beings realize and attain (right view, non-self). The supreme meaning is without marks. It is guarded and kept wholly intact.

The subtle cause is wholesome and pure, its wondrous function accordant. Self-nature is clear and still, sheltering meaning and benefit. The power and application of giving, practice and understanding pure, is the root of the cause of reward, merit and virtue never lost.

All conditioned dharmas are forever in flux and transformation. The cause of karma is sovereign, like an Arhat. Harmonized and still, responding and manifesting in accord.

Attaining the nature of original awakening, nurturing accords. The three karmas are pure, attaining the meaning of suchness.