大寶積經

CHAPTER TWO: THE DHARANI OF EMANCIPATION

At that time, Infinite Adornment addressed the Buddha, saying: “World-Honored One! What is called the Dharma gateway of the dharani of emancipation?”

The Buddha said: “Infinite Adornment! This is the Dharma seal that liberates one from all written words. All dharmas are subsumed within it.

“What is meant by being subsumed within it?

“It is because of equality. All enter into equality, yet no dharma is seen to enter into equality. It cannot be clearly known, because it is unattainable.

“When there is no discrimination regarding the true intrinsic nature of all dharmas, then all dharmas are subsumed therein, because they are free from both the conditioned and the unconditioned.

“Dharmas are expounded by means of written words and verbal activity. Because these two are not in accord with reality, and because their nature is equality, all written words and verbal activity are likewise entirely equal.

“Among all dharmas, whatever is expressed in speech is not in accord with reality. This is the true meaning of the statement concerning all dharmas: whatever written expressions and verbal activity there may be are nonexistent. Because they are nonexistent, there is no true disclosure or exposition.

“The unreality of written words and verbal activity thus spoken of is precisely the statement of the nondifferentiation of all dharmas, the statement of no superiority, and the statement of the nonestablishment of all dharmas.

“This exceedingly profound Dharma cannot be proclaimed in speech. All dharmas are neither real nor unreal, because the fundamental nature of all dharmas cannot be seen or attained through exposition by written words and verbal activity.

“All dharmas are without fundamental nature. Dharmas such as these are neither created nor uncreated, neither identical nor different, neither quiescent nor nonquiescent. Even so, dharmas also abide in quiescence and nonquiescence. Although abiding is spoken of here, there is still nowhere that they abide, nor do they undergo change. Yet neither do they abide in any unchanging dharma.

“Why is this? Because dharmas are fundamentally without abiding and do not enter into enumeration. Dharmas cannot be made to enter into enumeration through teachings expressed in words and established by enumeration.

“All expositions made through written words and verbal activity are unattainable; they abide neither anywhere nor everywhere. Such written words and verbal activity come from nowhere, go nowhere, abide neither in the middle nor at either extreme. All written words and verbal activity are karma and yet not karma, because they involve no deliberate function.

Because the intrinsic nature of all written words and verbal activity is empty, written words and verbal activity are themselves entirely empty. Since intrinsic nature is empty, other-nature and the nature of both self and other are likewise empty. Because self and other are empty, they are quiescent.

Because they are quiescent, they are extinguished. If they are extinguished, then all dharmas are precisely the gateway of extinction. For this reason, the names of dharmas are spoken, or written words are spoken, or verbal activity is spoken.

All such gateways are also unattainable, because the gateway is pure and because there is nothing whatsoever there.

“Through these gateways, dharmas are expounded; yet within this gateway there is ultimate purity, through which one can enter all dharmas equally. This is disenchantment.

“What is disenchantment? It is precisely the fundamental nature of craving. The fundamental nature of craving is purity. Since it is pure, it is ultimate. Since it is ultimate, how could craving exist, and how could speech exist?

“Infinite Adornment! The foregoing is a brief explanation of the pure gateway of dharani, the Dharma gateway free from discrimination and conceptual proliferation.

“Having entered this gateway, one can shatter the heavy obstruction of the darkness of ignorance and accord with the illumination of awakening. With regard to all dharmas, one enters the gateway of the dharani of the pure and luminous Dharma eye. One can also realize the Dharma gateway of differentiated written expressions and exposition.

Through this gateway, one then enters omniscience and draws near to all Buddhas. Among all dharmas, one becomes a courageous champion capable of refuting non-Buddhist teachings, subduing the armies of Mara, enabling sentient beings to increase their roots of virtue, and entering the Tathagata’s treasury of secret Dharma. One then attains all Dharma gateways and dharani gateways.

Through this Dharma gateway, one attains great Dharma illumination regarding the ten powers of knowledge and swiftly perfects the Tathagata’s powers of knowledge.

“Infinite Adornment! The Buddhas take the ten powers of knowledge as their strength. These are unsurpassed powers transcending all worldly powers, by which they can utter the lion’s roar amid the great assembly.

“What are called the ten powers of knowledge?

“Infinite Adornment! By means of unsurpassed omniscient knowledge concerning what is possible and what is impossible, the Tathagata knows in accordance with reality what is possible and what is impossible. This is the Tathagata’s first power of knowledge.

“Through this unsurpassed knowledge, the Tathagata, dwelling in the state of a great seer, expounds the true Dharma for sentient beings and turns the unsurpassed Dharma wheel for them. Furthermore, by means of nondiscriminating knowledge, the Tathagata knows in accordance with reality the karma of the past, present, and future and the causes appropriated by such karma, whether wholesome or unwholesome, in their immeasurable modes of activity, without attachment or obstruction. This is the Tathagata’s second power of knowledge.

“By means of nondiscriminating, omniscient knowledge that is unattached and unobstructed, the Tathagata can skillfully know the immeasurable karmic activities of all kinds of sentient beings. This is the Tathagata’s third power of knowledge.

“By means of unsurpassed omniscient knowledge, the Tathagata knows in accordance with reality all immeasurable superior resolves, discriminations, and false discriminations. This is the Tathagata’s fourth power of knowledge.

“The Tathagata knows in accordance with reality all the immeasurable causes and all the immeasurable conditions upon which the world depends and abides. This is the Tathagata’s fifth power of knowledge.

“The Tathagata knows in accordance with reality the causes, the conditions, and the knowledge and vision leading directly to the path. This is the Tathagata’s sixth power of knowledge.

“By means of the unobstructed divine eye, the Tathagata knows in accordance with reality the births and deaths of sentient beings. This is the Tathagata’s seventh power of knowledge.

“The Tathagata knows in accordance with reality all meditative absorptions, liberations, samadhis, attainments, freedom from defilement, and purity, whether entering or emerging from them. This is the Tathagata’s eighth power of knowledge.

“The Tathagata knows in accordance with reality all former lives. This is the Tathagata’s ninth power of knowledge.

“The Tathagata knows in accordance with reality the exhaustion of the outflows. This is the Tathagata’s tenth power of knowledge.

“Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata has perfected such immeasurable and unsurpassed omniscient powers of knowledge. In order that all bodhisattvas and sentient beings may be embraced by the Buddha’s wisdom and realize pure Dharma knowledge, the Tathagata reveals the boundless treasury of Dharma.

“Good man! You should now contemplate how the Tathagata speaks of such exceedingly profound, pure, and difficult-to-understand powers of knowledge. All dharmas are called the Tathagata and the Tathagata’s powers of knowledge. Yet those dharmas are themselves neither visible nor expressible.

“Infinite Adornment! The powers of knowledge explained above are the Tathagata’s unsurpassed, ultimate, and steadfast Dharma gateway. Abiding therein, the Tathagata reveals the purport of this Dharma. Through this purport, the powers of knowledge are established. The capacity to expound the unestablished nature of all these dharmas is itself taken as the powers of knowledge.

“Such powers of knowledge have no nature of arising, have no intrinsic nature, and are free from intrinsic nature. The Tathagata’s ten powers of knowledge, perfected in this way, can reveal immeasurable and boundlessly profound meanings and principles.

“Infinite Adornment! This is the unsurpassed Dharma gateway of all Buddhas. By abiding in this Dharma gateway, one can expound the Tathagata’s ten powers of knowledge and can expound the gateway of purity and the gateway of universal purity of these powers of knowledge.

“Infinite Adornment! The Buddha will now further teach a dharani for the bodhisattvas, so that they may attain purity in this Dharma gateway. You should listen attentively and receive it.”

The Buddha then proclaimed the dharani:

“Đát điệt tha bát ra mâu chiết ninh - nễ mâu chiết ninh - mâu chiết ninh - tùy bát ra muộn chiết nễ - a chiết lê - a tỳ gia trạch nễ - bát ra bà nộ yết đế - đế thệ - ma ha đế thệ - a bát ra để gia - mạt ra ni - a na mạt ra ni - a mạt ra noa tỳ thú đạt nễ - nễ đà na bát ra phệ thiết nễ - đột ra a nễ khất túng bát nễ - mạt ngu - mạt ngu tát phược lê - tát phược ra vĩ thú đàn nễ - mẫu đạt ra - mẫu đạt ra vĩ thú đàn nễ - tát bát rị phược lê - tam mạn đa bát lê phược lê - a yết ra nỗ ma để - yết tha ta đàn nễ - tăng yết ra ni ma chế đàn nễ - thú lê - thú ra mị rị duệ - a cát ra ni - ô ba na mạt để - nễ na lê thiết nễ - tam mạn đa ba lê phổ lý dã yết đế - đà la nỗ yết đế - a nễ mê thiết nễ - a tán nễ mê thiết nễ - đà la ni yết đế - nễ đà na bát rị thú đàn nễ - a nỗ đạt ra tỳ bà tỉ nễ - bạt trí

lệ - bạt đạt ra phiệt đế - mạc di - mạc xí phiệt để - san đà ra ni - ô phiệt đà rị ni - a nan đa bát ra bá phệ - bát ra bộ da bát rị phược lê - thiết nễ - bát rị ta thiết nễ - ma ha phược ca thế - a ca xả ta mâu tát ra ni - nhĩ để di ra ca ra ni - tát bà nhã bát thả tỳ thâu đạt nễ - niết bàn na bát thả san na rị thiết nễ - ta bà ha.

O Infinite Adornment! This is the Dharma-seal dharani, within which all dharmas are contained. Bodhisattvas who practice in accordance with it attain unobstructed wisdom and eloquence and can skillfully comprehend the supreme dharani formula of liberation.

What is called the supreme dharani formula of liberation?”

The Buddha then proclaimed the dharani:

“Tá yết ra á bát diễn đa - tô mế rô ra đát na ta yết ra san nễ chiết gia - a tỳ đát nễ - a tam tỳ đát nễ - a tỳ mạt lê - bạt chiết ra san nễ - niết bệ thiết nễ - a khất sô tỳ nễ - a tăng khất sô tỳ nễ - a khất sa gia - a tị dạ dĩ - khất sa gia a bát diễn đế - a khất sử na khất sa diễn đa tát điệt lý thế - a bát rị khất sa duệ - a tỳ khất sớ tị nễ - a tỳ yết lê - a tỳ yết la nhã na yết ra ni - ta bà ha.

O Infinite Adornment! This is the supreme dharani formula of liberation. If bodhisattvas diligently cultivate this Dharma, they can increase their wisdom until it is vast as the ocean.

With a heart of great loving-kindness, they can console sentient beings, saying: ‘I shall transmit and confer the vast Dharma upon you, dispel the darkness of your ignorance, put an end to your afflictions of birth and death, which have neither beginning nor end, free you from craving and attachment, and carry you beyond every current of birth and death.’ The bodhisattva radiates the vast light of Dharma, enabling the wholesome roots of sentient beings to grow so that they may attain ultimate liberation.

This bodhisattva serves as an excellent guide on the path, enabling them to enter the wisdom that knows all modes, and does not allow even a single sentient being to fall back from this unsurpassed wisdom.

With a heart of great loving-kindness, this bodhisattva can bring all sentient beings into accord with the meaning of the Dharma that they have never before heard or received, enabling them to attain the quiescent wisdom of non-arising and unobstructed eloquence.

O Infinite Adornment! When bodhisattvas wish to expound the Dharma, they should focus their mindfulness upon this dharani formula so that the meaning of the Dharma remains uninterrupted. That is, seated upon the lion throne, bodhisattvas contemplate with unobstructed eloquence the immeasurable virtues of the Tathagata, and thereby their wisdom becomes vast and pure.

When sentient beings gather at a Dharma assembly to hear the Dharma, the bodhisattva should regard them with great compassion and, using vast wisdom, reveal the definitive meaning exactly as it truly is, neither adding nor subtracting anything. Knowing clearly the capacities and dispositions of the listeners, the bodhisattva expounds it extensively for them through clear, definitive, and excellent speech, sentences, and expressions. Through such exposition, the bodhisattva’s wholesome roots can increase.

The Tathagata can employ immeasurable analogies to reveal such a dharani gateway. If you are able to proclaim the unsurpassed true Dharma in this way, you abide in the work of a Buddha and will swiftly perfect the four fearlessnesses.

O Infinite Adornment! Through vast, pure wisdom and skillful means, these bodhisattvas can skillfully cultivate the practices that give rise to supernormal powers and can embrace vast wisdom.

What are the practices that give rise to supernormal powers?

Bodhisattvas abide in supernormal powers without dependent conceptualization, like empty space. They skillfully analyze the great elements and clearly know that the Tathagata has perfected boundless, unobstructed wisdom. By the power of this wisdom, the Tathagata definitively comprehends all dharmas, knowing that there is not the slightest dharma that can be apprehended.

He abides in non-attainment and in the peerless equality, yet does not perceive any non-attainment or peerless equality. He abides in the wilderness, in non-attachment, and in pure wisdom. There is not the slightest dharma that he does not clearly know and clearly see.

Far removed from the darkness of ignorance and entirely unobstructed, he skillfully abides in immeasurable, boundless wisdom. Thus, the Tathagata sees and knows all dharmas impartially as illusions and dreams and can reveal the Dharma of contemplating the perception of ignorance. Therefore, we bodhisattvas must train in the Tathagata’s unobstructed wisdom.

This wisdom can skillfully discern the superior, intermediate, and inferior capacities and dispositions of all sentient beings, enabling bodhisattvas to abide in the impartial practices that give rise to supernormal powers. Through this, they perfect supernormal powers. Sustained by the power of these supernormal powers, they can skillfully abide in morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, the knowledge and vision of liberation, and the six paramitas.

Because they are embraced and sustained by truth, they can attain immeasurably diverse supernormal transformations, gain mastery within the world, sit upon the lion throne, and beat the great Dharma drum, causing everyone in the assemblies at all Dharma gatherings to rejoice and bringing great benefit to all sentient beings.

O Infinite Adornment! Just as the encircling range of the Great Iron Mountains surrounds this world through the dominant power of sentient beings’ karma, and because it shields them, sentient beings neither smell the odors of the hells, hear the sounds of the hells, nor see the hells,

so too, after bodhisattvas have skillfully cultivated this Dharma, they eliminate for sentient beings all obstructive dharmas and confer upon them all unobstructed dharmas. Skillfully embraced by vajra wisdom, these bodhisattvas penetrate this Dharma with profound realization, abide in non-attainment, and are moistened by the sprinkling of amrita.

What is called being moistened by the sprinkling of amrita?”

These bodhisattvas are not harmed by the mara of afflictions, the mara of the five skandhas, or the heavenly mara. Although at the time of death there is the mara of death, they nevertheless attain mastery and do not conceive of death. Why is this?

Because these bodhisattvas abide in emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and non-discrimination; they neither arise nor cease, neither come nor go, neither abide nor originate, and are neither defiled nor purified. Nor are they timid; they are unobstructed and attain nothing. They relinquish pride and arrogance, and their minds are always humble.

Inwardly they are free from delusion, and outwardly they clearly comprehend. They are not encompassed by seeing, hearing, sensing, or knowing. They clearly know that all dharmas are equal, enter into suchness as it truly is within the Tathagata’s Dharma, and abide in true suchness, which is neither false nor subject to change.

This is called the bodhisattvas’ realization of prajnaparamita. Bodhisattvas who abide herein accomplish boundless wisdom. Through the power of this wisdom, they can enter the Tathagata’s inconceivable knowledge and secret speech.

Thereby, they can skillfully and clearly comprehend all dharmas. What they see and know is inconceivable, without discrimination or attainment, just as bodhi is inconceivable, without discrimination or attainment. These bodhisattvas likewise neither discriminate nor form conceptions, being identical with bodhi.

Within the ever-abiding meaning of bodhi, there is neither formation nor destruction, neither gathering nor dispersal, yet they can perform all the works of a Buddha. Regarding the gateway to quiescent Dharma taught here, bodhisattvas do not become attached, nor do they discriminate among karmic results and retributions. They skillfully and clearly understand the equality of karma and its results.

Because of this equality, they perceive neither karma nor its results, and neither discriminate nor cling to them. These bodhisattvas have become light and unburdened with respect to afflictions and karmic obstructions, have gone far beyond the fetters, and have thoroughly understood the Dharma gateways and this dharani of seeing and knowing. Because they abide in this pure Dharma gateway, these bodhisattvas can travel throughout the worlds of the ten directions to teach and transform beings.

They are endowed with pure conduct and abide in nothing; they are not defiled by worldly dharmas and are worthy fields of merit for devas, humans, and all beings of the worlds to approach, honor, and make offerings to.

O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata has said that making offerings to a bodhisattva of the Eighth Bhumi produces immeasurable merit; how much more so does this apply to a bodhisattva who practices and realizes this Dharma.

If bodhisattvas attain nothing and engage in neither discrimination nor conceptual proliferation regarding bodhi, sentient beings, the dharmas of sentient beings, or worldly dharmas, they can clearly understand this Dharma and practice it in accordance with reality. They are then worthy of receiving the vast offerings of the world. All sentient beings should make offerings to these bodhisattvas just as they make offerings to the Buddha.

O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas cultivate and study this Dharma, they will receive all offerings in abundance, escape every form of fear, and even be able to relinquish their very lives. Although these bodhisattvas appropriate nothing among all dharmas, they can embrace the vast Dharma.

They sit upon the seat of fearlessness and roar like lions. They subdue non-Buddhist practitioners and their doctrines, vanquish Mara Papiyan and his armies, and can eliminate all that obstructs sentient beings. They will ferry sentient beings across in the vessel of Dharma; show them the path to the knowledge of all modes; establish all sentient beings upon the path that accords with the noble truths; reveal to them all the factors conducive to bodhi; instruct them through the gift of Dharma; and enable them to attain the joy of Dharma.

O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas can faithfully accept this dharani gateway, they are no different from those who have received a prediction of unsurpassed bodhi. These bodhisattvas will make this prediction for themselves:

“The Tathagata, the Dharma King, has revealed this treasury of Dharma. He can securely seal this dharani and establish these Dharma gateways. The Tathagata embraces and protects us; he is our father and the one who has compassion for us.”

O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas can form the resolute conviction that the Tathagata is their benevolent father, they will enter the ranks of the Buddhas and be no different from a Buddha.

O Infinite Adornment! Within this chapter on the dharani gateways, this is the second dharani gateway of liberation, expounding the Tathagata’s treasury of Dharma.”

CHAPTER ON THE PURIFYING DHARANI

At that time, the Blessed One surveyed the four directions and manifested various supernormal powers. Through the power of these supernormal abilities, he enabled the bodhisattvas in the Dharma assembly to behold immeasurable Buddhas throughout the ten directions and to hear those Buddhas teach the Dharma.

The Buddha said to Bodhisattva Infinite Adornment: “Observe that, with respect to all dharmas, the Tathagata is uncreated, unconditioned, and quiescent, yet he can freely exercise such supernormal powers and possess such powers of knowledge and fearlessness.

O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata-nature is neither one nor different, nor is it neither one nor different. Because it has no existent entity, it is neither existent nor nonexistent. It is without self-nature, yet not without self-nature. You should know that, within the Tathagata-nature, not even the slightest dharma can be apprehended. In such seeing and knowing, there is likewise not the slightest dharma that can be seen or known. Since nothing can be seen, there is neither anything that exists nor anything that can be grasped.

O Infinite Adornment! The Tathagata-nature is neither real nor unreal. If it were real or unreal, there would be either a Tathagata-nature or no Tathagata-nature. The Tathagata-nature is apart from existence and nonexistence, yet it has never been apart from them.

O Infinite Adornment! The intrinsic and original nature of all dharmas is like empty space. Before the Buddhas, the Tathagatas, appeared in the world, such a Dharma gateway had never been taught.

O Infinite Adornment! If bodhisattvas comprehend this Dharma in this way, they can give rise to immeasurable eloquence, expound all dharmas, and thoroughly understand the Buddha’s fearlessness.

The fearlessness just mentioned means attaining the Tathagata’s supreme fearlessness, because one can neither appropriate, increase, apprehend, pervasively attain, nor pursue any dharma.

Whether or not the Tathagata appears in the world, the Dharma neither increases nor diminishes, nor does it pervasively increase or diminish. The intrinsic and original nature of all dharmas eternally abides; it abides as the fixed nature and determinative nature of the dharmadhatu.

O Infinite Adornment! All dharmas abide in the determinative nature of dharmas. Because they are thus unobtainable, all dharmas are merely false discriminations and are not formed through karmic retribution. Therefore, one can enter the gateway in which all dharmas are devoid of karmic retribution. Because dharmas are thus devoid of self-nature and thus unreal, karma is not a cause that gives rise to or extinguishes its results; nor is it a cause with respect to the elimination of the various destinies and paths of rebirth.

The Tathagata merely conforms to worldly convention when he says that all dharmas have causes or are without causes. Because causes are autonomous, and because there are no causes—this is the Tathagata’s fearlessness. Because the Tathagata is endowed with immeasurable eloquence, he enters the state of great fearlessness.

O Infinite Adornment! What is fearlessness? It is precisely the Tathagata’s four fearlessnesses. Even pratyekabuddhas do not possess these four fearlessnesses, much less sravakas and the beings of the various worlds.

What are the four?

First, the Tathagata proclaims: “I am the Tathagata, the Worthy One, the Completely and Perfectly Awakened One, who knows all and sees all.” No deva, human, or anyone in any world can argue that the Tathagata does not clearly understand all dharmas. Therefore, the Tathagata attains supreme fearlessness. Amid the great assembly, he roars like a lion and can expound the unsurpassed, vast, and exceedingly profound teaching.

Second, the Tathagata proclaims: “I am one who has completely extinguished all outflows and afflictions.” Neither devas nor humans, nor anyone in all the worlds, can reasonably maintain that the Tathagata has not completely extinguished the outflows. Because he has completely extinguished the outflows, the Tathagata is able to abide in ultimate peace and bliss and reveal the unsurpassed treasury of Dharma accumulated over immeasurable hundreds of millions of kalpas.

Third, the Tathagata expounds the path of liberation, by cultivating which all suffering is forever ended. Neither devas nor humans, nor anyone in all the worlds, can reasonably maintain that one who cultivates the path to the cessation of suffering taught by the Tathagata cannot attain liberation. Because the Tathagata sees no characteristic of liberation, he attains ultimate peace and bliss; then, to reveal this Dharma to sentient beings, he roars the lion’s roar amid the assembly.

Fourth, the Tathagata proclaims the dharmas that obstruct the path. Neither devas nor humans, nor anyone in all the worlds, can reasonably maintain that the dharmas said by the Tathagata to obstruct the path do not constitute obstructions. Because he sees no dharma that obstructs the path, the Tathagata abides in supreme peace and bliss and roars the lion’s roar amid the great assembly. The Tathagata is able to turn this unsurpassed Dharma wheel, which no deva, human, or anyone in all the worlds can turn.

Boundless Adornment, these are the Tathagata’s four fearlessnesses. Bodhisattvas who diligently study and cultivate this Dharma will swiftly attain the state of fearlessness, the most excellent state among humans and devas.

Boundless Adornment, because bodhisattvas skillfully cultivate emptiness, they are able to bring forth the inconceivable gateway of universal purity. Through this gateway, bodhisattvas initially see clearly that all dharmas are identical to the characteristic of empty space, neither dual nor different; all dharmas are likewise. Yet with regard to empty space, they neither discriminate nor engage in conceptual proliferation.

These bodhisattvas acquire skill in meaning: not the slightest dharma is brought from anywhere, taken anywhere, or accumulated. Therefore, bodhisattvas are able to contemplate all dharmas as unaccumulated, neither coming nor going. With regard to all dharmas, they act while there is nowhere any action; they kindle the great torch of Dharma and become the wisdom of Dharma for sentient beings.

Boundless Adornment, behold how many benefits and how many accomplishments this Dharma brings to bodhisattvas! These are precisely the Buddha’s ten powers of wisdom and four fearlessnesses. Moreover, there is not the slightest dharma that can be attained, nor is it unattained.

Boundless Adornment, all dharmas are identical to the characteristic of empty space. For the sake of bringing benefit, the Tathagata reveals and expounds karmic causes and their results. Yet within them, no benefit can be attained.

Boundless Adornment, this extremely profound Dharma is exceedingly difficult for all the worlds to believe. Because the world is perishing and destructible, and is falsely established, it cannot accept this Dharma in faith, nor can it comprehend it.

The world is entirely contrary to Dharma. Because of attachment, a world and an abiding place are spoken of. Even if there is a conception that clings to Dharma, there is still no dharma that can be grasped.

Because of attachment to what is contrary to Dharma, disputes arise with the Tathagata and with the Dharma taught by the Tathagata. Furthermore, such people cannot understand the intrinsic nature and original nature of all dharmas, and they turn away from the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. Therefore, they cannot understand this extremely profound teaching.

Boundless Adornment, for all devas, humans, and those who believe in words that accord with reality and are free from conceptual proliferation, the Tathagata reveals and expounds such a teaching.

Boundless Adornment, herein there are neither wholesome nor unwholesome dharmas. Wholesome and unwholesome dharmas are all quiescent. Wholesome and unwholesome dharmas do not know one another. Wholesome and unwholesome dharmas do not obscure one another. Because of the conditions arising from attachment to wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, the Tathagata teaches that all dharmas are indeterminate, for no truly existent wholesome or unwholesome dharma can be found. If they are unobtainable, they are indeterminate, because within them there is no cause and no cause can be seen.

Boundless Adornment, you should now contemplate all dharmas as entirely indeterminate.

If bodhisattvas awaken in this way, then with regard to all dharmas, even the designation “indeterminate” is unobtainable.

Such a Dharma gateway enables bodhisattvas to see unwholesome dharmas as they truly are, perfect relinquishment, and not abide in any dharma. Through the gateway of the indeterminate, they enter all dharmas. Yet this gateway of the indeterminate is itself not a gateway. If it is not a gateway, it is unobtainable. If it is unobtainable, it is purity.

This is where bodhisattvas enter the pure dharani Dharma gateway. Through this gateway, bodhisattvas attain wisdom that thoroughly illuminates all dharmas. They are no longer ignorant, obscured, confused, or doubtful regarding any dharma, and they attain unobstructed knowledge of the Dharma and the purified wisdom-eye.

Boundless Adornment, within this Dharma one should seek delight.

What does it mean to seek delight? It means neither taking nor grasping any dharma, ultimately abandoning them, transcending appropriation and hoarding, and seeking nothing. One does not depend upon or regard any worldly conditioned dharma, whether wholesome or unwholesome.

This is the unsurpassed state of heedfulness, the state free from conditioned dependencies. Within all dharmas there is no coming, going, abiding, or establishing. This is called the purified wisdom-eye, because one has ultimately abandoned everything and has nothing to grasp.

Skillfully contemplating and relinquishing the original nature and intrinsic nature of all things is called the wisdom-eye. This wisdom-eye is the wisdom-nature of disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, and exhaustion. This wisdom-nature is originally unborn and uncreated, and its original nature is quiescent.

Yet it does not correspond with quiescence, because all correspondence has ceased. Nor is it annihilation or non-annihilation; it neither lacks nor diminishes. This is called the purified wisdom-eye, the path free from conceptual proliferation.

By perfecting this wisdom-eye, bodhisattvas embrace sentient beings with loving-kindness and compassion and cause them to arouse the aspiration for enlightenment. Taking sentient beings as their objects, they bring forth immeasurable wondrous practices and understand clearly that all dharmas are devoid of self, person, sentient being, and life span. When such bodhisattvas attain unsurpassed bodhi, they will certainly be able to reveal and expound the unsurpassed treasury of Dharma and purify the dharani gateway.

To ensure that the teaching suited to the dispositions of sentient beings is never interrupted, they establish the seal of Dharma.

Boundless Adornment, the Buddhas constantly embrace, reveal, and expound this pure dharani Dharma gateway. The Buddhas of the ten directions and the three times also proclaim this Dharma gateway, revealing to bodhisattvas the Dharma-nature that is equal throughout the three times. Through this, they are able to awaken to and enter this Dharma gateway with regard to the dharmas of the three times, thereby perfecting the pure wisdom of comprehensive retention throughout the three times.

These bodhisattvas are free from worldly conceptions. Regarding wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, they clearly know that they are neither two nor different. Their roots of virtue increase and flourish, and the three kinds of karma—body, speech, and mind—are all purified.

They can universally purify immeasurable Dharma gates so as to attain the pure wisdom of comprehensive retention. They can also expound the pure teaching that is unarisen and uncreated. Furthermore, they can reveal that all dharmas are ultimately empty and quiescent like space.

They can also manifest vast wisdom and reveal pure wisdom to others. They can reveal that all dharmas and bodhi are like the nature of space, and manifest to others the pure path of the wisdom of all modes. They can also reveal the pure path of the Dharma, whereby bodhi is perfectly fulfilled in accordance with one's aspirations.

They can rightly comprehend and expound the true truths with skillful means, proclaim the principle of truth that is beyond discrimination, and reveal the wisdom of all Buddhas, thereby conforming to the awakening of all meanings.

If bodhisattvas skillfully study and cultivate this Dharma, they can swiftly purify the provisions for bodhi and abide in bodhi without any notion of near or far. They do not contradict even the slightest dharma. Regarding the dharmas presently taught here, they likewise perceive neither near nor far.

They do not view bodhi in terms of Dharma or non-Dharma. Having penetrated bodhi, they cut off all forms of representation and can comprehend bodhi through the equality of meaning that is beyond representation. When contemplating the quiescent meaning of all dharmas, they make no distinction with respect to bodhi.

Nor do they perceive a quiescent meaning or a non-quiescent meaning, and they do not perceive non-quiescence apart from quiescence. They entertain not the slightest conception of an observer or a seer. They can perceive purity everywhere, yet there is not the slightest thing that can be purified.

This is the pure gateway of wisdom of the bodhisattvas.

Through this gateway of wisdom, bodhisattvas can recollect the dharani gateway of the boundless Dharma treasury of all Buddha-Tathagatas. They universally know the original nature and intrinsic nature of every kind of sentient being, and reveal and expound the various Dharma treasuries to sentient beings. They can universally purify all wisdom-karma and all aspirations for unsurpassed bodhi, manifest the stage of irreversible perfect awakening, and swiftly attain mastery over all dharmas.

They can cultivate and realize the great loving-kindness and great compassion of the Buddhas. The skillful Dharma treasuries of all Tathagatas appear before them, and they can manifest immeasurable and boundless expanses of Dharma light. Their bodies constantly abide within the sphere of the Buddhas' wisdom.

Boundless Adornment, what are the dharmas indicated by this immeasurable and boundless Dharma gate?

Boundless Adornment, all dharmas—the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness—are immeasurable. The sentient beings of the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm are all immeasurable. Yet not even the slightest sentient being can be apprehended or known, because sentient beings are empty.

Indeed, this realm of sentient beings can neither be apprehended nor known, because the realm is empty. Therefore, all dharmas are identical with the realm of nirvana and are subsumed within nirvana. All dharmas alike enter that which is ineffable, because within the realm of nirvana there is not the slightest part that can be spoken.

In the realm of nirvana there is neither obstruction nor concealment, for all obstructing veils have been purified forever. Thus, the realm of nirvana is pure, exceedingly pure. This realm of nirvana is also not a realm, because it is free from realms, because no realm exists, and because it transcends realms; yet by means of an analogous designation, it is provisionally called a realm.

The realm thus spoken of abides in neither realm nor non-realm. Even within verbal expression there is no realm; language is merely used to describe the various dharmas. Both verbal expression and the speaker can neither be apprehended nor known. All verbal expressions are not verbal expressions. All such verbal expressions are like the nature of space and equally enter space. Therefore, the earth element, the water element, and so forth through the space element cannot be expressed in words and possess no function or power capable of expressing them.

As for the so-called consciousness element, language is merely used to describe the various dharmas. Yet regarding that consciousness element, the element itself is not an element. It does not enter the various elements, is neither associated with an element nor unassociated with one, arises from space, and enters space. Such a consciousness element abides neither within, without, nor between. In accordance with whatever portion of space it appropriates, it proceeds into space. It cannot be designated and cannot be perceived. Since it cannot be designated, it has no activity; only in dependence upon associated conditions is it said that a consciousness element exists.

This is the Dharma gate entered and realized by bodhisattvas. The original nature and intrinsic nature of all dharmas are like space. Teachings are revealed and expounded in reliance upon the dharmadhatu, yet there is no realm belonging to any dharma. Since a realm is not a realm, all dharmas are like space. Therefore, the Tathagata teaches that all dharmas are space, because their measure is difficult to ascertain. He reveals that all dharmas have the nature of space, because the original nature of all dharmas is like space; language is used merely to reveal and expound them.

Boundless Adornment, behold how that which is expounded proceeds from the Tathagata's pure wisdom. In such a pure teaching, no dharma can arise, nor is there any dharma that is transmitted or received.

This is the undeluded wisdom of the bodhisattvas.

Therefore, you should seek and delight in wisdom that does not depend upon others as conditions, that is free from discrimination and does not increase discrimination, and that can purify the Dharma gate whose principle and meaning are ineffable, because Dharma-wisdom is pure.

Boundless Adornment, where do the birds go?

“Blessed One, birds fly through space.”

“Boundless Adornment, where does space go?”

“Blessed One, space goes nowhere.”

“Boundless Adornment, so it is! All dharmas are like space and have nowhere to go. Both the dharma of going and a place to which one goes cannot be apprehended. Therefore, all dharmas have nowhere to go, nor do they go anywhere. The original nature of all dharmas is without going and without speech.

“In order that bodhisattvas may attain the pure wisdom of space, the Tathagata turns this Dharma gate. This is the Dharma gate of boundless light, universally illuminating the immeasurable and boundless like space. Yet this universally illuminating light cannot be seen. After bodhisattvas attain this Dharma gate, they can universally observe the worlds of the ten directions and immediately behold all worlds.

“Boundless Adornment, this is the sphere known by bodhisattva wisdom, the sphere penetrated by bodhisattva knowledge. It is not the sphere of other, non-Buddhist doctrines, for their proponents are unable to speak of it.

“The principle and meaning of this Dharma are ineffable, for they cannot be revealed by the seal of language. Therefore, all dharmas are without a seal, nor is any seal imposed upon them; knowing clearly that there is no seal, bodhisattvas cultivate skillfully. With the seal of space, they seal all dharmas. With the seal of signlessness, they can reveal that signless space, which has no conditioned marks and no marks of language. Because it is devoid of existence, this is called space. Because the space thus spoken of has no real substance, it is said to be empty. From the standpoint of the true and ultimate meaning, one should know that all dharmas are ultimately beyond verbal expression.

“Boundless Adornment, the Tathagata will now proclaim the dharani seal: the phrases capable of purification are phrases of space. Because wisdom is pure, it is like space, without phrases; because there are no phrases, it is pure. Thus, one should understand that no such phrases exist.”

The Buddha then spoke the mantra:

« Tỳ phiệt lê - tỳ phiệt ra nỗ ta hê đế - bát ra nỗ nễ - nễ san nã vĩ phiệt ra ni - a tỳ dạ phiệt ca san nại thiết nễ - bát ra bá lê - bát ra bá ra nhĩ thâu đạt nễ - niết tỳ yết bệ - a cá xa tam ma phiệt bà ra ni- nễ tỉnh nghê- tỉnh giả ba yết để - tỉnh giá tỳ mâu chiết nễ - a nã đà nễ - a đá nẵng tỳ yết đế - cương khất sa xiết na bát rị yết ma - át chế nê - a nỗ bát xiết nê - a tam minh - a ta ma ta mê - địa tỳ da nhã nẵng a ha la ninh - bát ra nhương chước sô tỳ thâu đà nễ - thiết lê da bá na da nễ - địa dựng kỳ ô đát ra ni - a dụ kê - a tỳ dụ kê - a tam bát ra dụ kê - a tỳ bát ra dụ kê - a hột ra bát đà niết hạ lê - niết đề xa bát đà tỳ thâu đạt nễ - a để đa na yết đa bát ra để du bát na tỳ thâu đạt nễ - ngật rị đa bát rị yết ma tỳ nễ đế - nẵng đa ra tha nỗ yết đế - a tăng yết ra ninh -

a ngật ra bát đà tỳ thâu đạt nễ - bát đà bát ra bệ đà nhương na tỳ thâu đạt nễ - niết bá tư - á bá ta tỳ thâu đạt nễ- tam mạn đa nại xa địa xa tỳ da phiệt lư yết ninh - nhĩ ra ngược bát đà niết ha lê - bát ra nhã nhĩ thâu địa - ô bá ta a bát ra minh ca ra ni - a cự la ba đạt ma nại rị thiết na nhĩ thâu đạt nễ - bộ đá át ra tha san nại rị thiết nễ - a nộ mạo đà át tha nhĩ thâu đản nễ - ta kiệt ra chất đa nỗ bát ra phệ thế - mế rô bát rị tăng tát tha ninh - ra thấp nhĩ bát ra đa bát nễ - tát bà lộ ca địa bát đế da nhương nang vĩ thâu đản nễ - a bát ra để cát đa - a tăng già nhương na nại rị thiết ninh.

O Boundless Adornment! This is the dharani seal, consisting of excellent and pure phrases that expound space. The segmented phrases are all without segmentation. Because they are without segmentation, within them there are no phrases and no purification of phrases, for all dharmas are inherently pure. Because those who have generated the Mahayana aspiration seek the profound Dharma of purity, and because they are sustained by the spiritual power of the Tathagata, these mantra phrases are disseminated.

O Boundless Adornment! If those who have generated the aspiration wish to realize great bodhi directly and wish to benefit sentient beings, then even if they have never heard these mantra phrases before, they will nevertheless understand them clearly. Either devas of the Pure Abodes or celestial spirits who retain this mantra will transmit and impart it to them. If anyone generates the aspiration for unsurpassed bodhi, the devas who retain this mantra will likewise transmit and teach it to that person ».

The Tathagata then spoke the mantra, saying:

« Ô ba tăng hà lê - ta hà lê - hột rị - thất rị địa rị để nhĩ thâu đản nễ - yết lượng nẵng át tha niết đệ siểm bát ra để bá để - chất đa mạt nỗ nhĩ nhương na nhĩ thâu đản nễ - a địa da đát ma ma tứ át đà bát rị thâu đản nễ - yết để tỉ mật lý để mạt để - a cát ra nễ cấp đa - cấp đa bát để - tát lê - tát ra phiệt để.

O Boundless Adornment! If the celestial spirits dwelling in the Snow Mountains receive the sustaining power of the Tathagata, they can transmit and impart the light of Dharma to those who expound the Dharma ».

The Tathagata then spoke the mantra, saying:

« Mạt để nhĩ thâu đản nễ- tô dục đa mị rị duệ- a kiệt ra tứ đa bát đà niết hà rị- a chỉ lã tỉ nễ- a nhĩ lã tỉ nễ- uất tha nẵng tam bán ninh- nhĩ nễ đa tam ma na bát nễ- mạt để a yết la nộ nghiệt đế.