供養十二大威德天報恩品

At that time, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, contemplating humans and gods, took pity on them all without ceasing, and said to himself: "All sentient beings—the Four Great Elements are ever changing without rest, giving rise to every kind of illness; or else demons and ghosts (Māra) come to cause every kind of illness, deluding and overturning the world and diminishing its lifespan. How can one counteract every kind of harm, inner and outer, such as this? It is because sentient beings do not know gratitude that there comes about such contrariness.

What does one take to be the kindness (received)? It is the devas: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, the Sun, and the Moon, who have the kindness of nurturing and rearing, both inner and outer.

How can such kindness be repaid? It is that the Four Great Elements have as their essence the devas, together with the assembly of the Sun and the Moon.

Making offerings to these devas brings every kind of benefit. The vessel-world (the realm of matter) and the sentient world (the realm of living beings) all alike increase in strength. Who brings this about? How many are they in number? It is that these devas number twelve, namely: the Earth Deva (Pṛthivī), the Water Deva (Varuṇa), the Fire Deva (Agni), the Wind Deva (Vāyu), the Īśāna Deva, the Indra Deva (Śakra), the Yama Deva, the Brahmā Deva, the Vaiśravaṇa Deva, the Rākṣasa Deva, the Sun Deva (Sūrya), and the Moon Deva (Candra).

When the Earth Deva is joyful, there are two benefits. First, the human body is firm and solid, and its beauty, color, and strength increase. Second, the vessel-world and the earth-element increase in flavor and strength.

When this deva is angry, there are two losses. First, the human body falls into disorder and decay, and its beauty, color, and strength are diminished. Second, the flavor and strength of the vessel-world (the realm of matter) and of the earth both run contrary to their root.

When the Water Deva is joyful, there are two benefits. First, the human body does not suffer thirst. Second, the rains moisten in their proper season.

When this deva is angry, there are likewise two losses. First, the human body becomes dry and thirsty. Second, the vessel-world suffers drought, the spirit of drought (bat) arises, and all things wither away. Or else great rains pour down, the world is flooded and the waters surge, harming the trees and grasses so that they cannot keep pace in providing for sentient beings.

When the Fire Deva is joyful, there are two benefits. First, the heat (warmth) of the human body increases and decreases according to its proper time. Second, the seasons do not run contrary.

When this deva is angry, there are likewise two losses. First, the heat of the human body increases and decreases out of its proper time. Second, fire breaks out of itself and burns up all things.

When the Wind Deva is joyful, there are two benefits. First, the human body is light and at ease, and moves according to the mind's intent. Second, the vessel-world has no tilting or quaking, and according to the world there are cold winds, mild and harmonious, that bring no harm to sentient (living) or non-sentient (insentient) kinds.

When this deva is angry, there are likewise two losses. First, the human body and its voice cannot follow one's wishes. Second, great winds blow and spread, ravaging the world. Or else no wind arises, so that the trees and grasses do not accord with their proper season.

If there be such Four Great Essences and the devas, in anger, give rise to calamity, then the king and the people shall enter into the Tower of the Five Wheels (Pañcacakra) of the Tathāgata, uphold the precepts, take refuge in the Three Jewels, and, gathering the mind and abiding, perform this contemplation:

Earth arises in dependence upon water; because the nature of water is empty, earth too is impermanent.

Water arises in dependence upon wind; because the nature of wind is empty, water too is impermanent.

Fire arises in dependence upon water and wind; because the nature of water and wind is empty, fire too is impermanent.

Wind arises in dependence upon empty space; because empty space has no substance, wind too is impermanent.

Because wind is empty, fire is empty.

Because fire is empty, water is empty.

Because water is empty, earth is empty.

Because earth is empty, the sentient and non-sentient kinds born upon the earth are all alike impermanent.

When this contemplation is performed, the devas exhaust their anger and have no place upon which to abide.

Then the practitioner again performs this contemplation:

Although empty space has nothing, yet there comes to be empty space, and for this reason it receives the name "empty space." Where there is a name, there must be a substance. Because empty space exists, wind too exists. Because wind exists, the assemblies of water and earth all alike have substance.

When this contemplation is performed, the devas are joyful, their majestic radiance increases manifold, and they abide at ease.

When the Īśāna Deva is joyful, the devas too are joyful, and the host of Māra causes no disturbance. In ancient times he was called Maheśvara.

The Buddha said: "If one makes offerings to Maheśvara (called in the Tang language: the Great Sovereign Lord), then one has already made offerings to all the devas."

When this deva is angry, the host of Māra all appear, and the land of the country falls into wild disorder.

The Heavenly Emperor Śakra (Indra) is the lord of the Earth-Dwelling Realm, recording every good and evil deed wrought by sentient beings. When this deva is joyful, the land of the country is at ease and the people are not in disorder.

When this deva is angry, war and weapons and battle arise, and the kings of the Earth-Dwelling Realm are all alike unsettled.

When the Yama Deva is joyful, people do not die suddenly, and pestilential vapors do not arise.

When this deva is angry, people die out of their proper time, and pestilential vapors fill all about.

The Brahmā Deva is the lord of the Realm of the Higher Heavens and the father of sentient beings. When this deva is joyful, the vessel-world is at ease, with no disorder or upheaval. Why is this? Because at the time of the beginning of the kalpa, this deva established the vessel-world. Sentient beings are not in disorder and govern by Right Rule (governing the world by the True Dharma). Why is this so? Because the royal father is joyful.

When this deva is angry, the world is unsettled and there are every kind of illness, even to the point that the trees and grasses all wither and fall, and sentient beings are deluded and confused, called as one who is drunk.

When Vaiśravaṇa is joyful, the host of Yakṣas is joyful, and they do not harm the people nor practice poisonous swelling. When he is angry, all fall into disorder.

When the Rākṣasa Deva is joyful, the flesh-eating ghosts and the intoxicating spirits (Piśācas) are likewise joyful, and do not spew forth poisonous vapors nor commit evil conduct. When this deva is angry, they all alike manifest disorder.

When the Sun Deva is joyful, his light does no harm to things, people are angerless and not dull-witted, and the sentient and non-sentient kinds all alike find delight.

When this deva is angry, he loses his measure and there is no light; though one has eyes, one cannot see things, and cold and suffering pass into one another, pressing in and oppressing.

When the Moon Deva is joyful, his cool light increases, so that things and people have no fevered illness. When he is angry, he casts all of it away.

The Sun and the Moon aid one another in shining forth, with great benefit; the seasons are blended in harmony, and sentient beings carry out their work, each following their own joy. At the time of the beginning of the kalpa, human beings had beauty like the devas; gradually, growing greedy and attached to flavors, they diminished the radiance of their bodies, abandoned the wholesome mind, and wrought evil karma, so that the world ran contrary and there came to be cold and heat. It is for this very reason that the Sun Deva and the Moon Deva moved on and transformed into a dream.

Devas such as these—when are they joyful? When are they angry? It is that when kings and their people, by Wrong Rule (governing the world contrary to the True Dharma), wrought unwholesome karma, ever practicing killing and theft and abandoning the True Dharma—then the devas all gave rise to sorrow and worry. When sorrow and worry have gone past their measure, anger is at once born.

If a heavenly calamity is about to arise, there first appear strange and uncanny omens: rain pours down without clouds, and the stars and constellations fall into disorder. (Rain pouring down without clouds is the tears of those devas, weeping in sorrow.) If one ceases evil karma and governs the world by Right Rule, then the devas are joyful and all alike come to aid and protect, their fragrance perfuming all about, increasing the good and diminishing the evil.

If there be one who clearly knows this assembly of the Great Holy Devas of Majestic Virtue, who uses the Gift of Wealth (offering wealth and goods in charity) to adorn their physical bodies, and thereafter uses the Gift of Dharma to reveal their Dharma-bodies, together practicing loving-kindness and compassion and not killing living beings—by presenting these offerings, one makes recompense for kindness.

In the world the number of devas, ghosts, and spirits is very great; why does one make offerings only to the twelve devas, so as to bring peace and establishment to the land of the country and to make the myriad stars and constellations at ease and joyful? Because the twelve devas wholly encompass all devas, nāgas, ghosts, spirits, stars and constellations, and underworld officials—therefore by making offerings and clearly understanding the twelve devas, one obtains the protection of all the ranks of devas and nāgas.

For this reason, the Earth Deva together with the spirits upon the face of the earth, and the ghosts and spirits at the mounds of sand and beneath the roots of trees, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Water Deva together with the spirits of the rivers, streams, small rivers, great rivers, and the great ocean, and the host of nāgas, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Fire Deva together with the fire-spirits and the host of Vidyādhara spirit-immortals, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Wind Deva together with the wind-spirits and the formless, ever-roaming spirits, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Īśāna Deva together with the host of Māra all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Indra Deva (Śakra) together with the host of Sumeru (Mount Sumeru), and all the mountains, which are the places that gather the ranks of devas, ghosts, and so forth, all come into the Place of the Way (Bodhimaṇḍa) and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Yama Deva together with the ranks of the Underworld Officials of the Five Paths, the Magistrate of Mount Tai, the Arbiters of Destiny, the Spirits of Corvée Service, and the kinds of hungry ghosts, and so forth, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Brahmā Deva together with all the devas of the Dhyāna heavens of the Form Realm (Rūpadhātu), all come into the Place of the Way and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Vaiśravaṇa Deva together with the ranks of Yakṣas and the devouring ghost-spirits, and so forth, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Rākṣasa Devaputra, the Rākṣasas, and the blood-eating ghosts, and so forth, all come into the Place of the Way and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Sun Deva together with the host of stars, the Seven Luminaries, the Grasping Planets (Grahas), the ranks that roam through the void, and all the spirits of light, and so forth, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

The Moon Deva together with the ranks that dwell in the void, the Twenty-Eight Constellations (Nakṣatras), the Spirits of the Twelve Mansions, and all the host of constellations, and so forth, all come into the Altar-Platform and receive the offerings at the same time.

One should contemplate in this way.

The Heavenly Lords such as these, in their own persons before the Buddha, vow that they will assist all sentient beings, protect and uphold the borders of the country, and guard the True Dharma. Thus when they are summoned and invited, they do not transgress their Original Vow, and it is certain to have its effect. During the interval before they are dispatched away, they abide at the Altar-Platform and do not depart far from the practitioner. It is for this very reason that, after making offerings, one should then make offerings of gratitude. When all matters are thoroughly accomplished, one entreats them with joy.

At the time of summoning and inviting, one uses the various Distinct Mudrās and Vidyās; or one may use the General Inviting Mudrā and Vidyā—that too is permissible.

Why is it that with only a little offering of goods one can yet cause the host of devas, together with the ghosts and spirits, all to receive and partake of it?

It is by reason of three meanings of "only a little offering of goods, yet all alike receive and partake of it."

First, by the empowerment of the Three Mysteries, that is, by setting the mind upon the Wondrous Offering of the True Characteristic of the Dharmadhātu.

Second, by Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion.

Third, because the Heavenly Lords have abundant merit and power, just as the nāga-kind, having but a little water, by the power of their own merit can sprinkle it throughout all the lands of the countries.

It is recorded concerning the devas that the merit of a person throughout the four continents under heaven is not equal to the merit and wealth of a single person in the realm of the Four Heavenly Kings (Cāturmahārājika). According to the resolve of the lord of the rite (the upholder), whether increasing or decreasing, the merit of the devas is abundant; therefore even a little offering overflows throughout all. Because the merit of the devas is abundant, what is entrusted to them becomes vast.

Moreover, suppose that although the form, color, and flavor be lowly and inferior—by the three meanings stated before, all become the subtle and wondrous, pure ghee (sarpir-maṇḍa). Just as Jīvaka, in his compassion for all, caused the myriad things to become medicine; and just as the Nirgrantha cast a spell upon a poison, so that the poison turned back and became medicine.

If the worldly can be thus, how much more so the practitioner who, following along with the Buddha's teaching, gives rise to Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion and performs the empowerment of the Three Mysteries!

Furthermore, by the merit of the devas, those lowly and inferior offerings become subtle, wondrous, pure offerings. Just as Aśmaka (Stone-Man) was, by the Stone-City King, made into palace women who turned sand into gold. The host of consorts, beautiful in form, did not covet the wealth of the world but delighted only in accord—precisely because they did not slight the small act of giving but delighted in the Gift of Kindness (giving from a gentle and good heart).

If the devas take no delight in it, then one invites the Outer Vajra Division Lord, the Four-Armed Wrathful Acala Vidyārāja (Caturbhuja Acala), making offerings and taking refuge. At that time the devas, following along with the teaching and command, joyfully protect and uphold.

When one makes offerings, in which direction do the devas come to be seated?

It is thus: Śakra (Indra) in the East, the Fire Deva in the Southeast, Yama in the South, the Rākṣasa in the Southwest, the Water Deva in the West, the Wind Deva in the Northwest, Vaiśravaṇa in the North, Īśāna in the Northeast, the Chief Honored One (the Four-Armed Acala Vidyārāja) in the center, and at the four corners are the Brahmā Deva, the Earth Deva, the Sun Deva, and the Moon Deva. Thus they abide.

How does one make offerings? Which deva is made the head? It is thus: either, according to the directional positions, beginning from the East and turning in due order, one makes the offerings; or, if there be a particular vow (a distinct vow), one makes the offerings according to the method of the class of Quelling Calamities (Śāntika) and the like.

If one seeks the Quelling of Calamities (Śāntika), one makes Śakra the head.

If one seeks Increase and Benefit (Pauṣṭika), one makes the Brahmā Deva the lord.

If one seeks Subduing (Abhicāraka), one makes the Great Sovereign Lord (Maheśvara) the head.

If one seeks Reverent Love (Vaśīkaraṇa), one makes Vaiśravaṇa the head. The rest one offers to, turning in due order.

Or, if one wishes to halt war and weapons, one makes Śakra the lord.

If one wishes to remove the calamities of Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, and the like, one uses Vaiśravaṇa and the Rākṣasa Deva.

If one wishes to remove pestilence (epidemic disease), one uses the Yama Deva.

If one wishes to remove the calamity of drought, the spirit of drought, and floods, and so forth, one uses in each case the Water Deva.

If one wishes to remove the calamity of enmity, one uses the Wind Deva, and toward this deva one prays concerning the class of wind-calamities.

If one wishes to govern the people, one uses the Brahmā Deva, the Sovereign King.

For calamity concerning water, one uses the Fire Deva.

For calamity concerning fire, one uses the Water Deva.

For subduing Māra, one uses the Īśāna Deva, or one uses the Fire Deva.

To quell an evil place, one uses the Earth Deva, together with praying concerning the five grains.

If one seeks official rank, one uses the Indra Deva (Śakra).

If one seeks Wisdom, one uses the Sun Deva.

If one seeks Concentration (Samādhi), one uses the Moon Deva.

If one wishes to remove illnesses of heat and cold, one uses the Sun Deva and the Moon Deva accordingly (the Sun Deva removes cold, the Moon Deva removes heat).

If there be illness concerning the Four Great Elements, one uses the Devas of the Four Great Essences accordingly.

Thus one makes the head. The rest one offers to, turning in due order.

For wealth (riches), one uses Vaiśravaṇa.

For nobility, one uses the Brahmā Deva.

The articles of offering shall each be of a single substance: fragrant water, anointing incense, seasonal flowers, the five grains, rice (or gruel), wax candles, torches, and so forth—one fills a single vessel and makes the offering. One burns incense to perfume all about, pure and according to the Dharma.

As for the ritual procedure of making offerings, the various Distinct Mudrās and Vidyās, the manner of painting the images, and every kind of Dharma-meaning—these are as stated in another Division (of the canon).

The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, asks of himself and answers of himself: such causes and conditions, such recompense of kindness, such prayers and vows, such Dharma-Contemplation, such Three Mysteries, such skillful means, such Great Power—expounding them at will, he presents them up to the World-Honored One.

The World-Honored One spoke words of meaning such as this: "Excellent! Excellent! It is as you have said, true and without falsehood. These twelve devas are the Buddhas of long ago, who, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, have come and manifested. It is for this very reason that the practitioner cannot rely upon the worldly forms of the devas, but should only contemplate the Dharma-bodies of those devas in order to adorn (the rite).

If there be one who, following along with Me and with the words you have spoken, makes offerings to those devas, and before these images of the devas expounds and recites the Prajñā and the profound Dharma-Sūtras, this will cause the devas all to be exceedingly joyful.

Because the devas are joyful, all sentient beings obtain joy. Because all sentient beings obtain joy, the Buddhas too are joyful. Because the Buddhas are joyful, the Siddhis, both mundane and supramundane, are brought to fulfillment."

THE RITUAL MANUAL OF THE TWELVE DEVAS (One fascicle — The End)