念佛三昧寶王論

XIV—MINDFULNESS OF PAST BUDDHAS: CAUSE AND EFFECT ARE ALIKE

Question: The Buddha whom we recollect is the Supremely Holy One, utterly subtle and wondrous, honored with the title Tathagata. But the person who recollects the Buddha, having only just stolen a glimpse through the gate of True Suchness, still remains an ordinary being. How, then, can it be presumptuously said that such a person is equal in rank to the Perfectly Awakened One?

Answer: The Samadhi Ocean Sutra records: “The Buddha is like the Lion King who has emerged from the womb”—this is an analogy for the fruit of Buddhahood. “The person who recollects the Buddha is like the Lion King still within the womb”—this is an analogy for a child of the Buddha. Although cause and effect differ, their awe-inspiring power continues in succession.

Thus, when this treatise says that the person who recollects the Buddha is likewise a Buddha, what error could there be? As for the lion within the womb roaring so that flying birds fall and running beasts hide themselves, that will occur in the future. Yet it is already like the lion that has emerged from the womb and abides there awaiting that time—what fault is there in this?

This is the meaning of “cause and effect are alike.”

The Dharma Drum Sutra also records: King Prasenajit led his army against an enemy country and was struck by a poisoned arrow, suffering unbearable pain. He heard of an excellent medicine called “King Who Dispels Poison.” By applying this medicine to the face of a drum and then striking the drum with a drumstick, the poisoned arrow could be made to leap out and fall away. He did as instructed and recovered as before.

In the same way, if one hears the name of Buddha Shakyamuni and hears, understands, and believes in the designation “bhikshu,” one who has renounced the household life, one can cause the three poisoned arrows within the body to leap out and fall away. Therefore, this sutra is called the Great Dharma Drum. Shakyamuni is a Buddha of the past and represents the effect.

A bhikshu is one who has renounced the household life and represents the cause. This likewise bears the meaning that “cause and effect are alike.”

Thus, the two sutras above clearly state that although such persons are not yet among the Supremely Holy but have merely gained benefit by hearing a Buddha’s name, they nevertheless do not differ from the Buddha. Therefore, in the middle fascicle of the Lotus Samadhi, the account of the Master’s innate disposition tells: [During the Sui dynasty, the Great Dhyana Master Huisi of Nanyue had a disciple named Dhyana Master Dashan, who attained the Samadhi of Loving-Kindness and Compassion.

At that time, Zheng Senggao, the governor of Hengyang, had not yet developed faith in the Buddhadharma and frequently went hunting with others. One day, he encircled ten deer with nets and then said to County Magistrate Chen Zhengye: “You often praise Dhyana Master Dashan for possessing the spiritual power of compassion. Then bring forth that spiritual power and see whether he can save these deer.” Hearing this, Zhengye told all those nearby to cry out together: “Namo Dhyana Master Dashan.” At that very moment, all the deer flew into the sky and escaped.] How did this differ from the spiritual power of Avalokiteshvara?

Dhyana Master Dashan and Master Zhizhe were both renowned figures of their time.

If one does not slight the teachings of the sages, the samadhi of mindfulness of the Buddha can vanquish demons and end calamities. It is like gold in a refining furnace: once its color has become bright and beautiful, could its impurities possibly remain?

XV—CULTIVATING PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE TOGETHER: MINDFULNESS OF THE BUDDHA WITH NO-MIND

Question: We have heard the profound meaning of recollecting the Buddhas of the three times and facing west. Yet all these practices involve recollection and contemplation, arising and ceasing. How can they accord with the essential teaching in the Sutra of the Questions of King Supreme Virtue: “With a mind free from recollection, cultivate mindfulness of the Buddha”?

Answer: Many people misunderstand the teaching of “non-recollection.” Unless it is investigated thoroughly and understood in detail, I fear that the direct and expedient path of cultivation will remain obscure. I shall now explain it from the two aspects of principle and practice.

From the standpoint of principle, it is true non-recollection. On this level, “existence” and “nonexistence” mean that “recollection is originally non-recollection.” Why is this so? It means that the Buddha is born from the mind, and the mind itself is the Buddha.

Just as a knife cannot cut itself and a finger cannot touch itself, the Buddha does not make himself a Buddha, nor does the mind itself possess a mind. The mind cannot be established outside the Buddha, and the Buddha does not exist outside the mind. Since the Buddha does not exist independently, how could the mind exist independently?

The meaning of mindfulness of the Buddha with no-mind is thus evident. Therefore, although the world says, “Mindfulness of the Buddha is recollection,” I say, “Mindfulness of the Buddha is non-recollection,” and there is no error in this.

Furthermore, recollection itself is emptiness; how could recollection exist? It is not that recollection must first cease before there is emptiness; how, then, could non-recollection exist? The nature of recollection is empty; how could arising and ceasing exist?

Furthermore, “a mind free from recollection” means “abiding nowhere,” and “cultivating mindfulness of the Buddha” means “giving rise to the mind.” “A mind free from recollection” refers to the fundamental non-abiding, and “cultivating mindfulness of the Buddha” means establishing all dharmas. (“With a mind free from recollection, cultivate mindfulness of the Buddha” means “one should give rise to the mind while abiding nowhere”; it means “from the foundation of non-abiding, establish all dharmas.”) When the mind is free from recollection, “recollection itself is emptiness.” When one cultivates mindfulness of the Buddha, “emptiness itself is recollection.”

Thus, mindfulness of the Buddha does not differ from the essential teaching of non-recollection. This expresses the Middle Way.

When both the recollecting mind and the Buddha are quiescent, this is calming; when both are clearly illuminated, this is contemplation. Calming and contemplation are concentration and wisdom in equality—is this not right concentration? Is it not samadhi? Now, that which is clearly illuminated yet always quiescent is “a mind free from recollection”; that which is quiescent yet always clearly illuminated is “cultivating mindfulness of the Buddha.” The Tathagata’s realization of the samadhi of quiescent illumination is precisely the realization of this realm of “ultimate mindfulness of the Buddha.” Therefore, from this samadhi arises the Shurangama King’s Lion’s Roar Samadhi.

As the Chapter on Destroying Marks in the Bodhisattva Mindfulness of the Buddha Samadhi Sutra says in verse:

Refreshing all the myriad things—
Such is the Buddha, the World-Honored One.”

This sutra clearly states that among the six paramitas and myriad practices, there is not a single dharma that is not the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha.

Question: The aspect of “principle” has now been explained. Please expound the aspect of “practice” so that practitioners may attain “true non-recollection,” accord with prajnaparamita, and clearly penetrate the “profound and wondrous Mahayana signless dhyana concentration.”

Answer: Principle and practice proceed together. Principle and practice were discussed above; now I shall discuss the practice inherent in principle. The Large Prajnaparamita Sutra says: “For those of dull faculties, the Buddha teaches that all dharmas are empty and quiescent because they readily give rise to attachment and views.

For those of sharp faculties, he speaks of the excellent marks of the Buddhas, which are like lotuses unstained by mud.” Therefore, although Subhuti belonged to the Lesser Vehicle, he became foremost in comprehending emptiness, penetrating the namelessness and signlessness of all dharmas, and received a prediction that in the future he would become a Buddha named Tathagata Name-and-Mark. Those who are not of the Mahayana still fear being swept away by forms, sounds, fragrances, tastes, and tangible objects.

They remain anxious to flee from them, without a moment’s ease; how would they dare wander through the “flower garden” of forms and marks? But because Subhuti had penetrated names and marks, the Buddha bestowed this prediction upon him.

Regarding practice: Since the Buddha arises in the mind, the Pratyutpanna Samadhi is attained even without deliberate recollection. Since objects can no longer disturb us, the Lotus Samadhi comes of itself without being sought. “A mind free from recollection” means ending all confused thoughts, while “cultivating mindfulness of the Buddha” means skillfully visualizing the Buddha.

The Manjushri’s Teaching of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra says: “It is like a person learning archery who, through long practice, becomes skillful. Thereafter, even when shooting without deliberate intention, every arrow released strikes its mark. Likewise, one who wishes to enter deeply into the Samadhi of One Practice should face the place where a Buddha dwells, single-mindedly and exclusively invoke and recollect his name, with thought following thought without interruption.

If one does so, within every thought one sees all the Buddhas of the three times, just as the person who has mastered archery still hits the mark without deliberate intention.” Thus, “no-mind” does not mean that no recollection arises. Likewise, the Vaipulya Sutra says: “Recollect continuously without pause, and the Buddha will appear.” The Jeweled Necklace Sutra says: “The Way is single-mindedness; manifold thoughts are not the Way.” The Sutra on the Samadhi of Seated Dhyana says: “When a bodhisattva sits in dhyana, he thinks of nothing else but concentrates upon one Buddha, like golden Mount Sumeru shining amid the deep blue ocean.

The same applies to recollecting the merit and virtue of the Dharma-body.”

Question: If non-recollection is samadhi, one need only direct the mind straight toward non-recollection. Why take a circuitous route and deliberately engage in recollection?

Answer: The Lankavatara Sutra says: “Use one door-bar to remove another door-bar,” and a common saying goes: “Send one thief to drive out another thief.” What is wrong with using recollection to end recollection? Moreover, when recollection becomes thoroughly mature, non-recollection is naturally accomplished without being sought and without requiring effort. It is like a swordsman wielding his sword until its movements stir the azure clouds; after sheathing the sword and carrying it at his waist, he does not lose his inner power. It is also like a cook cutting meat, who cannot perform the task if he puts down his knife. Is this not an exceedingly clear illustration of mature recollection?

Therefore, the Awakening of Faith Treatise says: “If one clearly understands that although speech occurs, there is no speaker who speaks, and although recollection occurs, there is no recollecting mind that recollects, this is called accord with samadhi. When one departs from recollection and is said to enter realization, what is entered and realized is true samadhi.” Moreover, the realm of non-recollection belongs to the stage of Wondrous Awakening, for only the Tathagata fully comprehends the initial mark before the mind has arisen—non-recollection. Even bodhisattvas of the ten bhumis do not yet know this mark, much less we who have not entered even the ten stages of faith.

Unless we follow Ashvaghosha and enter the unspoken through what is spoken, and non-recollection through recollection, I fear we shall incur the fault of “delighting in a lofty tower while despising the low ground, and discarding our trousers to put on a robe.” How could that be acceptable?

The Great Buddha-Crown Sutra of the Myriad Practices of Bodhisattvas: the Shurangama says: [Dharma Prince Mahasthamaprapta, together with fifty-two bodhisattvas of equal rank, rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and addressed the Buddha: “I remember that, as many kalpas ago as there are sands in the Ganges, a Buddha named Infinite Light appeared in the world. In succession, twelve Tathagatas appeared during that kalpa. The last Buddha was named Light Surpassing Sun and Moon. That Buddha taught me the Dharma-gate of the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha:

“‘Suppose one person constantly remembers while another constantly forgets. Even if these two meet, it is as though they had not met; even if they see each other, it is as though they had not seen each other. But if both remember one another and their remembrance is profound and firm, then through life after life they remain together like a form and its shadow, never separated.

Likewise, the Tathagatas of the ten directions always compassionately remember sentient beings, as a mother remembers her child. If the child continually runs away, then although the mother remembers him with love, there is no way for them to meet. But if the child remembers the mother just as the mother remembers the child, then mother and child will never be far apart throughout life after life.

If sentient beings always remember and recollect the Buddha, they will certainly become Buddhas in the present or future and will not be far from the Buddha.’

“On hearing this, without relying on any other expedient means, my own mind immediately awakened. It was like one whose body becomes fragrant by being permeated with incense; this is called Adornment with Fragrant Light. In my former causal cultivation, I used the mind that recollects the Buddha to enter and realize the patience of non-arising. Today, I remain in this world to guide those who recollect the Buddha back to the Western Pure Land. The Buddha asks about perfect penetration. In my view, no other selection is needed: gather in all six faculties, maintain pure recollection continuously, and one will attain samadhi. This is foremost.”]

XVI—WHEN MIND AND OBJECTS ARE FULLY UNDERSTOOD, DELUSIVE THOUGHTS DO NOT ARISE

Question: If mind and objects are not fully understood, the two kinds of delusive thought still arise. Here, there remains a Buddha to be recollected and a mind that gives rise to recollection. Are these not two delusive thoughts?

Answer: The Lankavatara Sutra says: “When mind and objects are fully understood, delusive thoughts immediately cease to arise.” This means that in every respect the two marks of subject and object must be left behind.

Now, all the marks that we recollect—the svastika, the blue eyes, and the white urna—are entirely our own mind; thus, no Buddha can be found outside it. Since the conditioned object does not exist independently, how could the mind exist independently? Thus, recollection as the subjective mark and the Buddha as the objective mark are naturally left behind. How could one still be entangled in two delusive thoughts? What the ancient sages transmitted from one to another was precisely this realization that delusive thought has no intrinsic nature.

Furthermore, if one contemplates the true mark of the Buddha and sees that one’s own body is identical with it, then every object is true and there is no mind that is not Buddha. This is the principle of the Middle Way pervading everything. How, then, could one still abide in the Buddha as an object of cognition?

It may also be explained as follows: Suppose there is a spot of ink on one’s nose. On looking into a mirror, would it be possible for one who dislikes that ink spot to remove it by wiping the mirror? When people dislike disputes over right and wrong, yet while encountering sensory objects fail to understand that they all arise from their own minds and instead persist in blaming those objects, how could that be right? Far better simply to wash the ink from one’s nose and relinquish the discriminating mind. Then the mirror will be perfectly clean, the myriad objects will all be entirely true, and one will see stones as identical with precious jade and sentient beings as identical with Buddhas.

Therefore, the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks records: [During the Qi dynasty, a layman surnamed Xiang sent a letter to Dhyana Master Huike asking: “A shadow exists because of a form, and an echo arises because of a sound. To play with the shadow until the form—the body—is exhausted is to fail to understand that the form is the source of the shadow. To produce sounds in order to stop an echo is to fail to understand that the sound is the root of the echo. To abandon afflictions and seek nirvana is like fleeing from a form in search of its shadow. To leave sentient beings in order to seek the Buddha is like silencing sound in search of an echo.

“Therefore, know that delusion and awakening follow but one path and that ignorance and wisdom do not differ. What originally has no name is given a name, and because of that name, right and wrong arise. What originally has no principle is assigned a principle, and because of that principle, disputes arise. Since everything is illusory and unreal, who is right and who is wrong? Since everything is false and without reality, what is nonexistent and what exists? Moreover, it has long been known that in gaining there is originally nothing gained, and in losing there is originally nothing lost.

“Since I have not yet had an opportunity to visit and discuss these matters, I now express a few thoughts and hope that you will consider them and reply.”

Master Huike wrote in response: “The words of your discourse concerning the true Dharma are all correct and accord with the wondrous principle. It is just like this: formerly, not knowing, one regarded the mani jewel as a shard of brick; now one suddenly recognizes it as a genuine pearl. Likewise, ignorance and wisdom are equal and do not differ. Therefore, know that the myriad dharmas are all Suchness. When one clearly contemplates that one’s own body and the Buddha do not differ, what need is there to seek some other nirvana without remainder?”]

These two eminent beings expressed the meaning of Master Bodhidharma’s Practice in Accordance with the Dharma. Employing the mind in accordance with contemplative principle is entirely mindfulness of the Dharma-body Buddha of the ultimate truth of the Middle Way. Clearly, one does not depart from recollection to grasp non-recollection, nor depart from arising to establish non-arising.

To separate them and establish something else is to fail to understand that afflictions are bodhi and sentient beings are Buddhas. How then could one recognize that the shard of brick is a genuine pearl? Since they cannot be separated, mindfulness of the Buddha is true non-recollection, and rebirth is truly non-arising.

Thus, the meaning is as clear as the autumn sky after rain, as the bright moon emerging from the clouds. How could this be the same as a fool who looks only at the pointing finger and not at the moon?

XVII—LIBERATION AND THE BUDDHAS SHOULD BE SOUGHT WITHIN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MIND

Question: The Vimalakirti Sutra records: “Where should the Buddhas and the Dharma of liberation be sought? They should be sought within the mental activities of all sentient beings.” Since it says that they are “to be sought within all mental activities,” why do we not seek within our own minds here but instead seek a Buddha outside ourselves?

Answer: If you believe that the “supreme, profound, and wondrous dhyana of the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha” does not constitute seeking within the mind, you are mistaken. I shall explain this clearly for you.

The mind gives rise to activity, and its activity proceeds in relation to three kinds of objects:

1. Activity in relation to wholesome objects—as in the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha, which is the supreme wholesome object among all wholesome objects, the heaven among heavens.

2. Activity in relation to unwholesome objects—greed, anger, delusion, and so forth, which are evil states.

3. Activity in relation to indeterminate objects—when the mind does not abide anywhere and does not take either good or evil as its object.

When discussing the principle of intrinsic nature, it encompasses all three kinds of objects. But when speaking solely of accordance with principle, only wholesome objects are retained. The sutra says: “Grasping at self is impure; relinquishing self is pure.” This means that if one does not understand that the essential nature of dharmas is originally free from stinginess, and acts contrary to Dharma-nature while practicing generosity, then one’s generosity still abides in the act of giving and one cannot relinquish the gift. Is this not impure? But if one understands Dharma-nature and, in accordance with causes and conditions, practices the paramita of generosity without the marks of stinginess or giving, performing wholesome deeds in accord with right principle, is this not purity?

Unwholesome and indeterminate activities run contrary to Dharma-nature and therefore cannot be joined together with the wholesome. Thus, in the Sutra of King Supreme Heaven, King Supreme Heaven asked the Buddha: “How does a bodhisattva penetrate the dhyana-paramita?” The Buddha told the Heavenly King: “A bodhisattva-mahasattva who studies prajnaparamita and practices dhyana-paramita should observe the object in relation to which his mind is active: is it wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate? If it is active in relation to a wholesome object, he should diligently cultivate it. Like a lotus blossom upon which not a single drop of water remains, the bodhisattva must not allow his mind to abide even briefly in a single unwholesome dharma.”

On the basis of these words from the Buddha’s golden mouth, how could there be any unwholesome or indeterminate dharma that should not be abandoned? Thus, a mind that accords with wholesome principle and engages wholesome objects demonstrates that mindfulness of the Buddha and liberation both lie entirely within the activities of the mind. If the mental activity of recollecting the Buddha were not liberation, could the other two kinds of mental activity—the unwholesome and the indeterminate—possibly be liberation? Therefore, know that if one is deluded about the place of liberation, one becomes entangled in great calamity; if one awakens to it, realization is as easy as turning over one’s hand.

Those who cultivate dhyana concentration should examine this point clearly. When the Tathagata, the World-Honored One, considered all forms of concentration, he declared the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha the king among all dhyanas; all other samadhis involve relative distinctions and are the concentrations of ordinary people.

Yet this Jeweled King Samadhi does not abide in the mark of nobility, the mark of lowliness, the mark of wrong, the mark of right, the mark of nirvana, the mark of samsara, the mark of affliction, the mark of bodhi, the mark of purity, the mark of disorder, the mark of attaining perfect awakening, the mark of liberating sentient beings, the mark of sitting at the place of awakening, or the mark of non-attainment. It does not abide in or cling to any such marks. It is like awakening from a dream: empty and open, without coming or going. Therefore, the Large Prajnaparamita Sutra says: “Neither coming nor going is Buddha.” Since even the Middle Way is relinquished, how could one cling to either of the two extremes? As the Sutra of the Non-Activity of All Dharmas says in verse:

“Like a person within a dream,
Who sees himself attain Buddhahood and liberate beings,
Originally, there is no path and no sentient being;
The nature of the Buddhadharma is likewise thus.

Sitting at the place of awakening, one realizes non-attainment;
If nothing is attained, then nothing exists.
Knowledge and ignorance are also of one mark;
One who clearly knows this is the World-Honored One.

The nature of sentient beings is itself bodhi;
The nature of bodhi is also sentient beings.
Bodhi and sentient beings are originally nondual;
One who clearly knows this is the World-Honored One.”

XVIII—THE THREE KARMAS OF OFFERING TRULY EXPRESS REVERENCE

Question: Since the Buddha has entered parinirvana, how can presenting offerings through the three karmas produce abundant merit?

Answer: In discussing the offering that represents the Dharma-dhatu, among the myriad practices, even purifying the three karmas is called an offering. How, then, could mindful contemplation of the true object not be an offering?

The Principle and Purport says: “Contemplate that all dharmas, whether permanent or impermanent, are unobtainable, and then extensively arrange reverential offerings before the Tathagatas.” Is this not clear?

Furthermore, while the Tathagata was in the world, those who wished to express sincere reverence through offerings regarded even flowers and incense as vast as clouds and oceans, filling Buddha-lands numerous as dust motes, as insufficient. Even when a Great Being—a bodhisattva—entered contemplation and envisioned Mount Sumeru as a lampstand and the great ocean as a dish of oil offered to the Tathagata, he still did not consider this true reverence. Only when he burned his golden-colored hands and offered them before the bright and pure stupa, causing his golden body to blaze and illuminate the ten directions as an offering to all Buddhas, did the bodhisattva feel joy.

People today, however, merely employ their own minds, or point from afar to flowers on a tree and say that they have made an offering. This contradicts the rites of reverently presenting offerings to the Buddha and is truly great arrogance. You ask how reverently presenting offerings to the Buddha after his parinirvana can produce abundant merit. Listen as I explain clearly.

Ding Lan, for example, carved wooden images in his home and made offerings to them day and night as though his parents were still alive, and his good name was handed down through the ages. In the present world, such a person is called a most filial son. If the Tathagata were still in the world, beautiful like a resplendent golden mountain, majestic and adorned with awe-inspiring marks, who could see him without giving rise to the mind of the Way, offering flowers, and bowing in homage?

What difficulty would there be in making offerings at such a time? But when one encounters the age after the Buddha’s parinirvana, when he has disappeared like the moon behind the mountains and one can no longer behold his true and majestic form, one knows him only through the transmitted scriptures. Yet before his image, one arouses the unsurpassed resolve and offers flowers.

Could such a precious state of mind be easily attained?

The Nirvana Sutra says: “Even one who offers only a single flower will be born in the Land of Immovability.” Thus, a single stick of incense, a single flower, a single lamp, a single piece of music, or even food and drink joyfully and wholeheartedly presented as a reverential offering to the Buddhas of the three times is a wondrous cause of rebirth in a pure land and the source of accomplishing the true fruit. How could such a practice be slighted and not esteemed?

If, abandoning this practice, one follows irreverent teachings about offering flowers of the mind, lighting lamps of the mind, burning incense of the mind, and bowing to a Buddha of the mind, while wishing to seek perfect awakening, one is like someone imitating the clever tricks of monkeys and apes or clinging to the false expectation conjured by pointing toward an imaginary grove of plum trees.

If such people are told to wear clothes of the mind and eat rice of the mind, they protest. Why, then, do they impose this hollow conceptual mind upon the six paramitas and myriad practices? When instructed to contemplate the mind, they are instead told to gaze into empty space. The fault is the same, and one must be careful.

Within the Mantra Dharma-gate, the contemplative practices of Yoga likewise rely upon the gateway of concrete practice and express themselves through visible forms. They do not examine only the mind but unfailingly offer flowers and incense throughout the six periods of each day.

XIX—SIGNLESS OFFERING OF FLOWERS AND THE RETRIBUTIONS OF FAITH AND SLANDER

Question: Flowers belong to concrete practice; where is the principle? What retributions arise from faith and slander?

Answer: Flowers are principle; form is emptiness. Regarding the fruit of faith, the Compassionate Flower Sutra says: Long ago, there was a prince named Fearless. Holding a lotus blossom, he offered it to Buddha Jewel Treasury.

The Buddha said: “Because you have used this lotus blossom to imprint an image upon empty space, I now give you the name Seal of Empty Space. In the future, you will become a Buddha in the world Lotus Flower, and the Buddha called Lotus-Honored One will be none other than you.” Both the land and the Buddha received their names on the basis of the flower offered to the Buddha in the distant past. This clearly demonstrates the meaning of causal practice bringing forth its corresponding fruit.

Why, then, obstruct the offering of flowers as the practice of the paramita of generosity and insist exclusively upon the error of signlessness?

Regarding the retribution of slander and disbelief, the Great Vaipulya Dharani Sutra says: [Long ago, there was a bhikshu named Pure Life, who maintained right view and offered flowers to the Buddha. There was also a bhikshu named Dharma Practice, who held wrong views, attained the four dhyanas, and constantly taught that the prajna doctrine of emptiness was supreme above all. He slandered Dharma Master Pure Life, saying: “Pure Life accepts flowers not to offer them to the Buddha but for his own enjoyment.” Because of that one statement, throughout sixty thousand successive lives he was always born without a tongue. Even when he became a Buddha, he still lived in an age of the five turbidities. The former Bhikshu Dharma Practice was none other than the present Shakyamuni Buddha.]

The Buddha said: “A person of little learning who, while cultivating within the teaching, gives rise to the two doctrines of existence and nonexistence will, after death, fall into hell for many hundreds of thousands of kalpas. If one looks with malicious eyes upon a person who has aroused the bodhi-mind, one receives the retribution of being without eyes. If one reviles with an evil mouth a person who has aroused the bodhi-mind, one receives the retribution of being without a tongue.” If the bodhisattva path could be attained solely by cultivating prajnaparamita, then when King Kaliraja in the past practiced the bodhisattva conduct and relinquished his body, head, eyes, marrow, and brain, did he possess no wisdom?

Therefore, know that the six paramitas must all be cultivated completely. To cling to one while abandoning the remaining practices is demonic karma. Why abandon the paramita of generosity expressed in offering flowers, grasp wickedly at emptiness, and cling exclusively to the deceptive practice of supposedly true and signless prajna?

The retribution of being without a tongue inevitably follows this fault. The reason the Tathagata cited his own former error was to warn sentient beings not to follow that old path of his. If even one flower is treated in this way, then all earth, stones, grasses, trees, images, scriptures, monks, nuns, resident Sangha members who maintain the Three Jewels, and the disciplines of precepts, concentration, and wisdom—whether or not they are regarded as fields of merit—are all worthy of reverence.

All are included within offerings through the three karmas. What could fail to be accomplished through them, that one should wish to discard them?

The Lotus Sutra says in verse:

Or make even the faintest sound,
They all attain the Buddha Way.”

XX—THE MYRIAD WHOLESOME DEEDS ALL RETURN TO AND BECOME SAMADHI

Question: Those who offer lamps that shine continuously are born in the heavenly realms of the sun and moon. Flowers, incense, banners, and canopies, like lamps, produce only the blessed rewards of the heavenly realms. Yet here it says, “They all attain the Buddha Way.” Why make such an exaggerated statement?

Answer: When a king goes on an excursion, he is accompanied by myriad carriages and a thousand officials. All the soldiers in his retinue carry the insignia of the imperial guard. Anyone who assaults one of these soldiers is put to death on the spot. When the king’s carriage has returned to the palace and the soldiers have been dismissed to their native villages, if they still claim to be imperial guards, they too are put to death on the spot. Although the soldiers are the same, life and death differ, because differing conditions bring honor at one time and disgrace at another.

Likewise, flowers, canopies, incense, and lamps offered to the Buddha, if not received by the King of Sutras, the Lotus Sutra, as “members of its retinue,” produce only the rewards of a heavenly palace. But if they are fortunate enough to encounter the Jeweled King Samadhi and thus “join its retinue,” then even a single flower accomplishes the Buddha Way. The Buddha-seed arises in dependence upon conditions; the principle of the teaching is clear. This is like birds alighting on Mount Sumeru and all taking on the mountain’s color, or rivers flowing into the great ocean and no longer having names different from that ocean—all are called the ocean.

Therefore, in the Manjushri Universal Gateway Assembly of the Great Jewel Heap Sutra, the devas, dragons, and eight classes of beings, hell beings, animals, forms, sounds, fragrances, tastes, and all the myriad dharmas are gathered together and enter samadhi. It is like a single hair containing the entire great ocean or a mustard seed encompassing all of Mount Sumeru. It is not that the hair or mustard seed performs the transformation; it is simply that the manifested transformation transforms of itself.

Thus, understanding depends upon the eyes, while walking and standing are the work of the feet. If understanding is straight, one walks straight; if understanding is crooked, one walks crookedly. Whether one follows demons or Buddhas, and whether one’s realization is deep or shallow, all depend upon understanding. Therefore, the Nirvana Sutra says: “Apart from the slowness, it is not called slow. It is because the cart is slow that it is called slow.” The cart is an analogy for wise understanding. If one practice is thus, the myriad other practices are likewise.

The Lotus Samadhi is the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha. Therefore, the Tathagata called this supreme concentration the Jeweled King Samadhi, the Treasury of Light, the jewel that removes offenses, the lamp that destroys wrong views, the guide upon deluded paths, the golden seal of the prince, the treasure store of the poor, the Samadhi of Emptiness, the Noble Samadhi, dharani, true contemplation, supreme contemplation, the wish-fulfilling jewel, Buddha-nature, Dharma-nature, the Inexhaustible Treasury, the Supreme Skillful Means, the light of great wisdom, and the samadhi of contemplation that eliminates evil.

Therefore, know that the four thousand Dharma-gates of teaching, principle, practice, fruition, samadhi, and paramita are all different names for the Samadhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha.

Thus, to offer a single flower is to make offerings universally throughout the Buddha-lands of the three times, numerous as dust motes. To recollect one Buddha is to penetrate all the Buddhas of the ten directions and the future. It is like taking level ground as the target: what arrow could be released without hitting it? If this were not so, one would be slandering the meanings of “fear is empty,” “letting go is empty,” “going is empty,” and “seeking is empty” in the Sutra of the Questions of Brahma Vishesha-chintin.

The guest said: Once the illness has departed, the medicine may still remain; a merchant must rely upon gold. What the ancient worthies concealed cannot be understood by an unsuitable person. Because this disciple remains obscure concerning the Way and deficient in learning, I have until now merely stolen glimpses through the gate of samadhi.

Hoping that one day I might realize non-arising, I have constantly sought a word of true instruction, like a king’s wondrous decree or the precious seal of the Dharma. I wished thereby to attain the simultaneous illumination of movement and stillness and the perfect interfusion of principle and practice; to give rise to the mind while still containing true wisdom; to encounter the myriad beings while remaining eternally indestructible; by uttering “Namo Buddha,” immediately to accomplish the Buddha Way; and by scattering flowers as offerings to the Buddha, instantly to advance to bodhi.

It would be like remaining honored while the king of sutras remains, or like drawing away the clouds from the eyes and removing the obscuring film.

These twenty meanings I had never heard before. Now I rejoice that through them I have relinquished the fault of slighting sentient beings and reached the realm adorned with precious udumbara flowers. I am truly fortunate. May I, without changing this very body, receive the prediction of Buddhahood and awaken to the truth that the Buddhas of the future are precisely sentient beings. Then, bowing my head before the stupa of Many Jewels and reverently facing the Pure Sangha, I pray that they will join me in universally contemplating the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and perfectly recollecting the Buddhas of the three times. Kneeling with palms joined, I say: