佛說十號經

Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of Beings, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Buddha, the World-Honored One.

The Venerable Ānanda asked:

"World-Honored One, why is he called the Tathāgata?"

The Buddha replied:

"O Bhikṣu! In ages past, while dwelling on the Ground of Causation and cultivating the Bodhisattva Path, I successively cultivated and learned the various practices, all for the sake of seeking Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. Now I have attained the Path of Nirvāṇa; all of it is true and real. Through the Eightfold Right Path and the realizations arising from right view, I am therefore called the Tathāgata. I too, like the Perfectly Awakened Ones of the past, have subdued the mind and reached Nirvāṇa. For this reason I am called the Tathāgata."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Worthy One?"

The Buddha replied:

"In ages past, while dwelling on the Ground of Causation, I cultivated the wholesome Dharmas with the dignified bearing of moral discipline; I practiced the Ten Wholesome Deeds, the Five Faculties, and the Five Powers in order to increase wholesome roots. When I had cultivated thus to perfection and reached the ultimate fruition, I realized Nirvāṇa. I severed all afflictions completely and made body, speech, and mind pure and undefiled. Once the afflictions are forever severed, then, like the crown of a palm tree that has been cut off, they will never sprout again.

Furthermore, because greed, hatred, delusion, and all afflictions have been utterly removed, all the paths of karma forever cease to arise. I have transcended the four calamities—birth, aging, sickness, and death—and all dharmas of suffering; inner suffering and outer suffering forever cease to arise. For this reason I am called the Worthy One.

Furthermore, whoever makes offerings to the Buddha—such as offering robes, food and drink, beds and bedding, medicines, banners and pennants, jeweled canopies, incense and flowers, the lighting of lamps, fruits, and the finest of articles whether in the heavenly realms or in the human world—shall obtain the highest wealth and honor and auspicious merit and virtue. For this reason I am called the Worthy One."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Perfectly Awakened One?"

The Buddha replied:

"The Tathāgata is complete in all wisdom. In all places, there is nothing that I do not thoroughly understand. I employ such Dharmas as: the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Four Right Efforts, the Four Bases of Spiritual Power, the Five Faculties, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, the Eightfold Right Path, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and the Four Noble Truths, to impartially reveal and awaken all sentient beings, so as to cause them to have wisdom, to sever delusion, and to realize the Fruit of Stream-Entry, Once-Returner, Non-Returner, or the Path of No-More-Learning; complete in the Three Knowledges and the Six Penetrations.

Moreover, with respect to the Mahāyāna Dharma, they give rise to the resolve to cultivate and learn, and then they successively cultivate the Grounds, sever all afflictions completely, and accomplish supreme enlightenment. For this reason I am called the Perfectly Awakened One."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct?"

The Buddha replied:

"The knowledges comprise: the Knowledge of the Heavenly Eye, the Knowledge of Past Lives, and the Knowledge of the Extinction of Outflows.

As for conduct being perfect, it means that the karma of the Tathāgata's body, speech, and mind has been well cultivated to fullness and is truly and rightly pure. I contemplate with sovereign ease, and I have no attachment or craving toward the great robe, the alms bowl, or other things. By the power of my own vow, I cultivate to completeness and perfect all the practices. For this reason I am called Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Well-Gone One?"

The Buddha replied:

"'Well-gone' means going to the subtle and wondrous place. For instance, greed, hatred, and delusion lead sentient beings to that evil place, and therefore that is not 'well-gone.' But the Tathāgata, with right wisdom, is able to sever the various delusions, to wondrously transcend the world, and to arrive well at the Buddha Path. For this reason I am called the Well-Gone One."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Knower of the World and the Unsurpassed One?"

The Buddha replied:

"The scope of the world includes the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm. The world has the three evil paths: the hells, the hungry ghosts, and the animals. The world has the five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; the six faculties: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; together with the six consciousnesses of the six faculties, and the conditioning objects of the six sense-fields, which give rise to all dharmas, and so it is called the world. With right knowledge and right awakening, the Tathāgata thoroughly understands all worldly dharmas, and for this reason he is called the Knower of the World.

Furthermore, in that world there are sentient beings with two legs, four legs, many legs, or no legs; there are gods in the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, or the Formless Realm; those with perception, those without perception, those neither wholly with perception nor wholly without perception; whether ordinary beings or noble ones. Among all sentient beings therein, the Buddha alone is the supreme and foremost, and none is his equal. For this reason I am called the Unsurpassed One."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Tamer of Beings?"

The Buddha replied:

"The Buddha is a great hero. He is able to subdue and tame both the good and the evil.

The evil, because they give rise to the three unwholesome karmas and then commit evil deeds, must fall into the hells, the hungry ghosts, or the animals to undergo the evil retribution.

The good, because they cultivate the wholesome karmas of body, speech, and mind, obtain the blessed retribution in the realms of gods and humans.

Whether doing good or evil, all is created by the mind. The Buddha employs the Supreme Truth of the Dharma of Nirvāṇa to manifest, reveal, subdue, and tame, so as to cause sentient beings to part from defilement and to attain the supreme quiescent extinction of Nirvāṇa. For this reason I am called the Tamer of Beings."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Teacher of Gods and Humans?"

The Buddha replied:

"The Buddha is the teacher not of the Bhikṣu Ānanda alone, but of all Bhikṣus, Bhikṣuṇīs, Pure Faithful Men, and Pure Faithful Women, together with all sentient beings in the heavens above or in the human world: śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, the king of demons, those of other paths, Śakra, the Brahma King, gods, or dragons—all take refuge, practice in accord with the teaching, and all are called disciples of the Buddha. For this reason I am called the Teacher of Gods and Humans."

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the Buddha?"

"Wisdom complete, the Three Enlightenments perfectly bright—for this reason he is called the Buddha."

The Buddha said to the Venerable Ānanda:

"One day, while I was walking in meditation, a brāhmaṇa came and asked me:

'Why did your father and mother give you the name Buddha?'

I then replied:

'Whatever anyone knows in the world, I too can know clearly. Whatever anyone contemplates in the world, I too can contemplate. Whatever quiescent extinction anyone attains, I too can attain that quiescent extinction. I am complete in all wisdom and know all things clearly. Over countless kalpas, I have cultivated all the wholesome Dharmas and parted from the dust of defilement. Now I have attained supreme enlightenment. For this reason I am called the Buddha.'"

"World-Honored One! Why is he called the World-Honored One?"

The Buddha replied:

"In ages past, while dwelling on the Ground of Causation, I contemplated in thorough detail all the wholesome Dharmas, the precepts, the dharmas of the mind, and the Dharmas of wisdom. I further contemplated greed, hatred, and delusion, together with those unwholesome dharmas that can call forth the various outflows, the dharmas of arising and ceasing, and suffering and distress. With wisdom free of outflows, I destroyed those afflictions and attained supreme enlightenment. Therefore, gods and humans, ordinary beings and noble ones, those of the world and those beyond the world, all honor and revere me. For this reason I am called the World-Honored One."

The Buddha Speaks the Sūtra of the Ten Epithets of the Buddha