最勝問菩薩十住除垢斷結經

Chapter 10: ATTAINING THE WAY

At that time, Bodhisattva Tối Thắng again addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One, how does a bodhisattva of the Ten Abodes abide in the pure practices of the ten bhumis?”

The World-Honored One then said to Tối Thắng:

– This is called the bodhisattva’s cultivation of the wondrous path: extensively liberating sentient beings, using the Dharma-nature of emptiness to expound words and letters, and diligently cultivating the precepts. The bodhisattva’s merit is immeasurable, inconceivable, and boundless; no one in the world can equal it. Devas, nagas, ghosts, spirits, and venerable divine beings, unable to fathom it, all praise that merit. The path of the Noble Ones is quiescent and ultimately inexpressible; if it is expounded, it becomes chapters and phrases. The bodhisattva manifests supernormal powers, travels to lands throughout the ten directions, personally beholds and reverently pays homage to all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, and then enters right concentration and liberation, contemplating throughout Buddha lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Encountering Perfectly Awakened Ones and hearing the subtle and wondrous essentials of the Dharma, the bodhisattva transcends all wrong karma, the mind serene and undeluded. The mind is like empty space, free from conceptual thought, clearly discerning the arising, decay, and cessation of the Dharma-realm. All Dharma taught by the bodhisattva accords with the noble seals. Entering the various right concentrations, the bodhisattva never contradicts the teachings of the Buddhas of the ten directions, nor does the bodhisattva contravene the noble Dharma and discipline. The bodhisattva’s voice is exceedingly subtle, wondrous, and excellent. Contemplating all worlds as equal, like empty space, the bodhisattva’s mindfulness is full and the mind is liberated. A bodhisattva in the stage of succession possesses eloquence that penetrates principles and meanings in accordance with every capacity for understanding, and whose mind accords with the wisdom of the path.

What is called the subtle mind? What is called the wisdom of the path? Perusing secular writings and manifesting the performance of wrong occupations—this is called the subtle mind. Single-mindedly, diligently, and attentively concentrating upon the Dharma that transcends the world—this is called the wisdom of the path. Relinquishing greed and giving without the thought of receiving karmic recompense, harmonizing the mind, and clearly examining the truth—this is called the subtle mind. Truly entering the quiescent mind without giving rise to conceptions, maintaining a simple and austere conduct without departing from the noble scriptures—this is called the wisdom of the path.

When a bodhisattva cultivates this Dharma amid samsara, although dwelling there, the bodhisattva does not grow weary of confronting evil. This is the mind of a bodhisattva. Furthermore, if a bodhisattva dwells in an unquiet place amid the eight difficulties, yet does not give rise to inverted views or a dualistic mind, and is able to transcend that chronic illness, this is called the wisdom of the path.

Amid worldly dharmas, the bodhisattva praises the path of liberation and nirvana, while the merit already created is never diminished. This is called the subtle mind. The bodhisattva enters the emptiness of all dharmas, attaining complete purity without possessing anything.

This is called the wisdom of the path. Resolutely giving away all possessions—country, wealth, spouse, and children—without any thought of attachment or regret: this is called the subtle mind. Abiding in the path of equality, where there are no Three Vehicles, and where the pure place of awakening entirely returns to the Buddha-path: this is called the wisdom of the path.

Such is called a great bodhisattva in the Ten Abodes. The bodhisattva enters the Dharma of the mind of the path without deficiency, guards body and speech against negligence, and praises those endowed with the eight recollections of a great being. A bodhisattva must remember the practice of having few desires and knowing contentment, cultivating the precepts without the slightest transgression, and being able to cleanse sentient beings of defilement.

If the bodhisattva sees sentient beings praising themselves and disparaging others, conceited, haughty, and arrogant because of wealth, rank, and honor, and possessed of lust, anger, delusion, and unwholesome qualities, then to such kinds of sentient beings the bodhisattva should teach the Dharma concerning the merit of patience, enabling them all, at the appropriate time, to attain the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas.

Amid these circumstances, the bodhisattva always compassionately regards those in peril who do not understand the path. The bodhisattva’s resolve is courageous, diligent, and irreversible. Discerning all meritorious karmic practices from the distant past, the bodhisattva neither sees beings as accidentally gathering together nor sees them as dispersing and becoming separated.

The mind does not abide in the meritorious karma already created, yet neither does it not abide. It accords with everything, yet there is no dharma with which to accord; seeing no accordance is called examining the truth. The mind always delights in meditative contemplation and liberation, reflects upon the four nutriments, eradicates attachment and defilement, and contemplates complete cessation without giving rise to attachment to concentration.

Whatever Dharma is heard is clearly remembered and can immediately be recited. Wisdom remains undisturbed, discerning that the source has no location; even when seeking its root, it cannot be found.

For sentient beings, the bodhisattva expounds the thirty-seven factors of awakening, enabling them to penetrate the practices of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, and always to uphold and honor the Buddha-path, attaining the fruit of the path in accordance with their karmic results. The bodhisattva also does not regard the teachings expounded by the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, as many. Thereby this resolve arises: this is ultimate truth. The same applies even to the cessation of dharmas, without a mind of miscellaneous thoughts or other conceptions.

O Most Victorious One, this is called the unobstructed skillful means of a bodhisattva in the Ten Abodes. By cultivating Equal Awakening through the unobstructed path, the bodhisattva then turns the Dharma wheel for sentient beings, enabling them to attain the firm and irreversible fruit. A bodhisattva in the Ten Abodes makes a firm vow to receive and liberate sentient beings without encountering difficulty. It is like a seal engraver who, upon learning a person’s name and family name, remembers them and makes no mistake in what is inscribed from memory. A great bodhisattva is likewise: using the seal of the Noble Ones to imprint samsara, the bodhisattva makes no error concerning the capacities and actions of sentient beings, and must further examine the truth and contemplate its meaning.

The seal is originally not clay, and the clay is originally not the seal, yet it can clearly reveal a person’s name and identity. The noble wisdom of the bodhisattva is likewise: holding the precious seal of wisdom, the bodhisattva imprints sentient beings and manifests teachings in accordance with their capacities, enabling them to acquire a designation. They can then emerge from the path of the Three Vehicles.

It is like planting a bean in a fertile field: its stem, roots, and sprout gradually grow. When the bean has perished, the sprout and roots that have arisen no longer possess its original substance. Through profound contemplation, one sees that the sprout is not the root, yet neither is it separate from the root.

A great bodhisattva is likewise. Only when causes and conditions converge is the Dharma and discipline needed. Contemplating the unwholesome karma created by sentient beings—such as the three calamitous dharmas, the six obstructive dharmas, the twelve links of dependent origination, deluded and wrong thoughts, and inverted belief in a self—the bodhisattva then teaches them the Dharma of suffering, emptiness, non-self, and impermanence.

Only afterward does the bodhisattva teach the Dharma-nature as it truly is, distinguishing the truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path, enabling them to cast off their heavy burden and forever attain quiescent cessation.

The bodhisattva must also contemplate the source and investigate the causes, from the distant past until the present, of how they took birth and thereby came to suffer such calamities. The bodhisattva clearly sees that all of this is due to ignorance and the absence of wisdom, from which arise the sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and death. ‘I must use skillful means to eliminate the illness that has caused them gradually to enter the Dharma and discipline of the Noble Ones, and to extinguish completely ignorance, birth, aging, illness, and death.’

The bodhisattva teaches the contemplation of quiescent emptiness, giving them a refuge toward which to turn and upon which to rest their minds, and extensively expounds lucid wisdom leading to liberation. They all reverently cultivate subtle and wondrous wisdom. It is no different with lust, anger, delusion, and the other defilements.

When the bodhisattva investigates their source, no distinctions are found. Because the bodhisattva has attained a quiescent mind free from conceptual thought, there is never any thought of resentment or any mind of increase or decrease. Having left behind all obstructions of the skandhas and hindrances, as well as the bonds and fetters, the bodhisattva no longer possesses a limited mind, always reaches the gateways of liberation, praises the meritorious deeds associated with the Three Jewels, constantly recollects the need to leave behind the calamity of sensual desire, and fully proclaims to sentient beings the merit that has been created.

The bodhisattva diligently liberates those who are free from delusion, manifesting the wisdom of emptiness to guide them.

With regard to the Dharma they have learned, they are entirely free from attachment; thereafter, they perfect the mind of non-retrogression, expound the scriptures, cultivate and purify Buddha-fields, and guide sentient beings toward the state of Buddhahood, enabling them to attain eternal cessation, beyond further arising and ceasing. This is called the essential secret scripture of the unsurpassed Blessed One and the bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva should contemplate in this way.

Having entered the inconceivable stage of the Ten Abodes, the bodhisattva cultivates the Dharma of equality and the nondual Dharma gate, clearly perceives the three times, ensures the Three Jewels remain unbroken, eliminates the three defilements, and perfects the three gates of liberation. At that stage, the bodhisattva manifests inconceivable Dharma. From the initial arousing of the aspiration for enlightenment through the stage of an ordinary being, the permeating influence of merit spreads everywhere.

In a single instant, the bodhisattva awakens to the meaning of sounds, perfects wisdom and spiritual powers, and can expound immeasurable essential teachings. Without attachment to written words and without discriminating consciousness or perception, whatever the bodhisattva examines and comprehends has no abiding place.

If practitioners of the path have consciousness bound to form, their minds unwilling to relinquish it, always wishing to grasp and never let go, wandering around the cycle of birth and death, their thoughts constantly deluded and confused so that they cannot free themselves, and because of those bonds they fall into samsara and revolve ceaselessly through the five destinies, the bodhisattva subdues their confused perceptions.

The bodhisattva enables them to guard their minds so that they do not race after the desires associated with the five skandhas, and to eliminate afflictions. The bodhisattva also causes them not to produce perceptions of arising and ceasing concerning form, sensation, perception, formations, and consciousness, and to cultivate concentration through mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, anapanasati.

They must further discern the four great elements that constitute form: earth, water, fire, and wind. Each element has its own nature. If one cultivates so that consciousness does not abide in the five domains, one can attain a mind free from attachment to the dharmadhatu. Consciousness does not race after the twelve objects of defilement: eye and form, ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and dharmas. This is the consciousness of the undefiled faculty of wisdom, not consciousness stained by birth and death. If one can eliminate such defilement so that the mind does not race after external objects, one will have no craving or seeking with regard to any dharma.

If the mind has a dharma upon which to rely, discriminating consciousness and a seeking mind will arise; this is also called consciousness. The bodhisattva arouses the mind of training, yet there is no dharma for the mind to receive. The mind produces no thoughts and has no attachment to pleasure or joy. The bodhisattva practices generosity without expecting recompense. Whatever is conditioned and defiled is a seed of consciousness; because the bodhisattva cultivates the unconditioned practice, it is called non-consciousness.

The bodhisattva kindles the flame of luminous wisdom, raises the torch of liberation, and emits great radiance, revealing the supreme and most excellent teaching. Seeking the essential nature of the straightforward mind rather than the words and letters of scriptures, the bodhisattva abides in the work of the path, personally adorned beyond compare, and can reveal all Buddha-fields. Within those Buddha-fields, the bodhisattva manifests dwelling alone without fear. Moreover, with regard to the Dharma, the bodhisattva forever has no mind that considers itself to have attained realization, no mind that selects and rejects, and no view of high and low. The mind must be masterful and unafraid, employing various sounds to teach sentient beings according to their capacities.

When expounding the most profound essential Dharma to sentient beings, the bodhisattva remains far removed from all arisen causes and conditions and clearly understands the thoughts and perceptions arising in their minds, their dispositions and inclinations, the destinations of their rebirths, and wholesome and unwholesome dharmas. The bodhisattva can pervade all Buddha-fields and observe the equal practice of all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, without perceiving sentient beings or purified Buddha-lands.

If one perceives a practice as existing, one thereby destroys the dharmadhatu; therefore, the bodhisattva’s mind does not abide in any dharma. If one perceives sentient beings as abiding and gives rise to discriminating thoughts, obstructive consciousness spontaneously arises within the Dharma-nature. When there is neither arising nor ceasing, consciousness has nowhere to abide.

This is called the pure liberation of the wisdom of the path.

If there were no Dharma of the equal wisdom of the path, all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, would never arouse compassionate minds to deliver the world. The bodhisattva’s practices and vows have no cause for which to vow or practice, nor does the bodhisattva allow the mind to abide in such a cause. The mind naturally reaches spontaneity; this does not result from diligent exertion or cultivated accomplishment. The bodhisattva perceives no one who is weary, disheartened, or indolent. Within the equal contemplation of dharmas as neither arising nor ceasing, the bodhisattva courageously and diligently takes upon himself the root of suffering and affliction.

The bodhisattva can ultimately distinguish the principles and phenomena presented in the scriptures, cultivate and attain the wisdom that eliminates defilements, and contemplate birth and death and cessation as not different. The bodhisattva constantly recollects the scriptures’ profound and wondrous meanings, investigates dharmas as neither empty nor quiescent, and, although delivering sentient beings everywhere, remains without discriminating consciousness or perception. The bodhisattva draws near to good spiritual friends without attachment of mind, does not conceive of self, personhood, or lifespan, and discerningly contemplates emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, non-arising, and non-ceasing.

When dwelling in the Desire Realm, the bodhisattva contemplates sensual craving as defiled and impure. Wishing to instruct and transform deluded disciples, the bodhisattva expounds to them the principles of ultimate truth and distinguishes the Dharma of empty nonexistence: all dharmas have no basis; no created material form can be perceived; there is neither acting nor non-acting. The bodhisattva perceives no reliance; the mind abides in non-abiding, which itself has no origin.

The bodhisattva does not perceive falling into the three evil destinies, nor perceive rebirth in the heavens where food naturally appears in accordance with thought. The bodhisattva reveals the direct path that leads people into the principles of the Way, without seeking anything or performing any action, contemplating all dharmas as naturally arriving at spontaneity. The characteristics of dharmas cannot be ultimately apprehended, just as space has no bounds.

The bodhisattva teaches people to practice wise generosity without giving rise to obstructive thoughts; to uphold the precepts, practice patience and diligence, and cultivate one-pointedness; and proclaims wisdom and skillful means employed provisionally and adaptively. Through loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, the bodhisattva rescues the poor and lowly and expounds the Great Way.

Although a bodhisattva of the Ten Abodes has not yet ascended the Tathagata’s seat, that bodhisattva can already penetrate completely to the source of the ocean of wisdom, adorn the lands, purify the realms, radiate great light that reaches all sentient beings, and instruct everyone through the true Dharma so that all turn toward the Way, establish the work of wisdom, and reach the Mahayana. The Buddhas of the ten directions always protect the bodhisattva, continually employing their majestic spiritual power to encourage and assist that bodhisattva and praise the bodhisattva’s merit until Buddhahood is attained, omniscience is realized, and the unsurpassed fruit of the Way is reached, never allowing the maras to achieve their aims.

Because the bodhisattva of the Ten Abodes personally awakens to the fullness of these merits and is about to accomplish the fruit of Buddhahood, the bodhisattva sits peacefully beneath the king of trees and must first cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness, discerning body and mind and recognizing that every part of the body has its own nature. The bodhisattva then personally contemplates the body’s arising and ceasing, flourishing and decline, while the mind experiences joy in being forever liberated from suffering and affliction.

By contemplating the causes and conditions of the body, the bodhisattva perfects diligent concentration and reflects upon the consequences of this body: through causes and conditions it gathers together, and when they disperse it perishes. Thus, the bodhisattva knows that the body has no master and is unworthy of craving or regret. Why, then, should attachment to this physical body arise? The bodhisattva does not follow the delusive dharmas of the five skandhas, the four great elements, and the ayatanas. This body is empty; within the four great elements, no dharma of self or person can be found. Only after accumulating meritorious practices throughout countless kalpas has this body now been obtained; why become attached to this unstable and perilous thing?

I now receive the Tathagata’s physical body and the Buddha’s Dharma-body. That physical body is an accumulation of merit, like a vajra that cannot be destroyed. Even if the defiled bodies of human beings filled worlds throughout the ten directions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, their merit would not equal that of a single hair upon the Tathagata’s physical body.

The bodhisattva reflects: “Through immeasurable merit and virtue, I have brought this physical body to fulfillment. Now, by means of this body, I must attain the Dharma-body of the Buddha, the Tathagata. Although I have struggled against the current of birth and death and undergone immeasurable, incalculable suffering in the five destinies, now that I have received the essential nature of the Tathagata’s physical body, I shall not, day or night, bring further calamity and affliction upon myself.

From this time onward, I shall forever leave the defilements far behind and no longer become attached to the five desires.” Having contemplated his own body, the bodhisattva then contemplates the bodies of others and sees that none have any abiding place. He cultivates his own pure conduct, free from blemish and impurity. This is called the bodhisattva’s cultivation of the foundation of mindfulness of his own body.

How should the bodhisattva contemplate the Dharma of the foundation of mindfulness of feelings? From the time he first arouses the aspiration until he becomes a Buddha, throughout that interval the bodhisattva undergoes immeasurable suffering. Yet he remains single-minded and resolute in seeking the Buddha-path, without experiencing suffering in his mind.

If he sees those afflicted by suffering in the evil destinies, he should rescue and liberate them so that they no longer undergo suffering. He constantly bears in mind that sentient beings cannot awaken by themselves; therefore, the bodhisattva does not follow desire or give rise to attachment, but reflects: “From the distant past until now, all the dharmas with which I have come into contact have truly been painful. They are not true, not actually existent, and are all without arising.

Those who draw near to pleasurable feelings thereby distance themselves from the Tathagata’s seat and do not accord with the Tathagata’s discipline of the Noble Ones. From this time onward, I shall forever put them to rest and never again give rise to such feelings, so that sentient beings may contemplate and understand that feelings have no master.”

If those sentient beings give rise to feelings in relation to form—recognizing beauty, recognizing ugliness, recognizing what is pleasing, or disliking forms—they must contemplate the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind that produce form, and fully understand that these are empty, quiescent, and possess nothing. Some sentient beings experience suffering first and pleasure afterward, while others experience pleasure first and suffering afterward.

One should teach them the profound and wondrous scriptures and Dharma in order to rescue them from their suffering. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body condition the various dharmas of form, sound, fragrance, taste, and smooth or pleasant contact. Whatever arises from those causes and conditions must cease through those same causes and conditions.

One should contemplate that suffering and pleasure are both devoid of suffering and pleasure.

The bodhisattva should further distinguish internal and external feelings. Some pleasurable feelings arise from within; some arise in the past or in the future. Some pleasurable feelings arise from the fetter of craving, then in turn cause consciousness to increase, producing an attachment that cannot be relinquished.

Some feelings arise from delusion and craving and can be extinguished only through correct contemplation. Some feelings, caused by wrong views and delusion, gradually transform and flourish; one must use profound wisdom to contemplate the four dharmas of impermanence and eliminate them so that they do not arise. Some pleasurable feelings arise from the four kinds of appropriation; one should use the concentration of non-perception to eliminate these feelings.

Some pleasurable feelings arise from the hindrance of ignorance; one must contemplate the Dharma of the seven factors of awakening so that they disappear forever. Some pleasurable feelings arise due to the dharmas of the six sense faculties; one should discern emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness to eliminate them. Some pleasurable feelings arise from the seven consciousnesses; one must establish a diligent mind and create no further conditions.

Some pleasurable feelings arise because of the eight worldly dharmas; one must always remain humble and never become arrogant. Some pleasurable feelings arise from the ten calamities; one must eliminate deluded seeking and refrain from thinking of what is wrong and perverse. Some pleasurable feelings arise from the seven fierce waves and the four fetters; one must contemplate the great light of wisdom.

Some pleasurable feelings arise from the nine abodes of sentient beings and the three contemplations; one must gather in the mind and enter the concentration of emptiness and quiescence.

Some pleasurable feelings pertain neither to the past nor the present but arise from craving for the future; some pertain neither to the future nor the present but arise from craving for the past; some pertain neither to the past nor the future but arise from craving for the present; some do not pertain to the past but arise from craving for the future and present; some do not pertain to the future but arise from craving for the past and present; and some do not pertain to the present but arise from craving for the future and past. With regard to these feelings, the bodhisattva contemplates the Dharma of the seven bases and the three contemplations, extinguishing those thirteen fiercely blazing poisonous flames.

The bodhisattva should further contemplate the sources from which pleasurable feelings arise. Some pleasurable feelings arise when the eight wrong views and the six bodies of consciousness together experience and enter into objects, thereby increasing the deteriorating skandhas and the ayatanas. This is called the bodhisattva’s use of liberating contemplation to distinguish all the foregoing feelings and cause them to disappear forever.

Some pleasurable feelings, together with the ten unwholesome dharmas, mutually take impurity as their cause and condition, thereby cutting off the activity of wisdom and becoming enveloped by the tongues of the five delusions. If they arise in the present, they are eliminated in the present; if they are to arise in the future, they too are eliminated in the present; and if they arose in the past, they too are eliminated in the present.

This is called the bodhisattva’s ability, through liberating contemplation, to eliminate the fifteen nets of delusion.

Why is it said that the bodhisattva also constantly contemplates the Dharma of the foundation of mindfulness of mind? At that time, the bodhisattva guards his mind, subdues its disorder, and does not allow it to roam unchecked. Whenever a conditioned dharma is produced, it necessarily has an object.

The bodhisattva contemplates his own mind and the minds of others. His mind and thought are upright and impartial, without increase or decrease. Whether walking, standing, entering, leaving, or moving, he always accords with proper deportment.

He personally and diligently guards his mind and thought at all times. There may be the condition of sentient beings but no conditioned arising and cessation; or there may be no condition of sentient beings but conditioned arising and cessation. If conditioned arising originates from his own body, it ceases through that very condition.

If conditioned arising originates from the body of another, it ceases through that other person and those other conditions. Conditioned arising and cessation are neither within nor without, nor do they abide between the two. Within this, there are conditioned arising and cessation, and there are non-conditioned arising and cessation.

Whether due to lust, anger, delusion, the seven latent tendencies, the seven kinds of conceit, or the seven consciousnesses, he establishes the mind in the activities of wisdom—the seven liberations, the seven contemplations, and the seven kinds of patience. If, from that place, there are conditioned arising and cessation or non-conditioned arising and cessation, all of them depend upon the mind and arise from the mind.

The forty-five delusive dharmas are fashioned by mental consciousness without its being aware of them itself. Thought does not know thought; who, then, possesses the root of thought? Since it has no source or root, how could there be thought?

The bodhisattva distinguishes the dharmas of mind, thought, and consciousness, and fully understands that in their movements to and fro they have no location. This is called the bodhisattva’s use of liberating contemplation to know the causes and conditions of mind without clinging to anything as attained, and without seeing the mind as united with good or evil. When there is neither union nor non-union, this accords with liberating contemplation.

The bodhisattva should further contemplate that the twelve links of dependent origination are truly profound and cannot be thoroughly comprehended. The fruits of deeds already planted do not lose their corresponding retribution. Amid the objects of all dharmas, his mind remains undefiled and unattached. If he contemplates the Dharma-realm as arising from causes and conditions, he fully understands that all dharmas possess no ultimate truth, are naturally quiescent, and sustain and develop one another. The dharmas created and transformed by the mind likewise have no material substance and therefore cannot be seen. When their characteristics are sought, they too are found to be without shape or form.

Having fully understood noble wisdom, the bodhisattva immediately enters the Dharma that does not arise and is without origination. He does not abide on the grounds of the shravakas or pratyekabuddhas, but always guards his mind and thought within the Dharma of all Buddhas. Inwardly, he reflects upon the mind’s frenzied turning and deluded agitation: “I must now subdue the mind, eliminate the attached mind of birth and death, and enter the ocean of wisdom.” It is through this mind that the bodhisattva attains the path of unsurpassed perfect awakening and becomes one of Supreme Perfect Awakening. This is called the bodhisattva’s attainment of mastery over the Dharma of the foundation of mindfulness of mind.

Why is it said that a bodhisattva contemplates and discerns the foundation of mindfulness of dharmas? At that time, the bodhisattva cultivates the practice of cessation, never forgetting it until attaining the Buddha Way and never relinquishing it. Inwardly, the bodhisattva contemplates the dharmas of his own mind; outwardly, he contemplates the dharmas in the minds of others.

The bodhisattva knows that the characteristic of all dharmas is a single characteristic, neither two characteristics nor many characteristics, and that all return to emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. He remains far removed from wrong views, regards all dharmas with equanimity, discerns the fundamental arising of the twelve links of dependent origination, and constantly bears in mind the formation and dissolution, flourishing and decline of the Dharma realm: the contaminated and uncontaminated, conditioned and unconditioned, wholesome and unwholesome, determinate and indeterminate dharmas.

At that time, the bodhisattva reflects and observes without following the Dharma realm to produce discriminating consciousness and perceptions of his own. He does not perceive what is contrary to Dharma, does not entertain notions of a self or ego, and does not give rise to thoughts that speculate upon the lifespan of a person.

If a bodhisattva himself gives rise to notions about dharmas, cultivates attachment to self and ego, nurtures bodily life, entertains thoughts of annihilation, regards the impermanent as permanent, and believes that all the myriad things and species under heaven endure forever, then amid impermanent phenomena he clings to the view that there is neither conjunction nor dispersion. Or he may produce inverted notions regarding those dharmas: nonexistence is eternally nonexistence in itself, and existence is eternally existence in itself.

Nonexistence does not produce existence, and existence does not produce nonexistence. Nonexistence naturally arises and naturally ceases; existence naturally arises and naturally ceases. In nonexistence, one cannot see the self as naturally existent; in existence, one cannot see the self as naturally nonexistent.

A bodhisattva of the ten stages of abiding uses luminous wisdom to penetrate and discern existence and nonexistence, cutting off the mind that clings to the enduring existence of a self, a person, or a lifespan. His mind of emptiness is impartial like space and possesses nothing. Using the supremely wondrous contemplation of ultimate emptiness, he observes those dharmas; yet ultimate emptiness itself does not produce existence.

Existence is always existent in itself, unaware that dharmas produced through emptiness belong to emptiness. Emptiness is always empty in itself, unaware that dharmas produced through existence belong to existence. With wisdom, the bodhisattva reflects and discerns that the intrinsic nature of existence is empty and that the intrinsic nature of nonexistence is also empty; nonexistence does not create existence, and existence does not create nonexistence.

Attachment to existence and nonexistence is a dharma of birth and death, not the essential Dharma of ultimate nirvana.

Nonexistence is itself empty nonexistence; nonexistence does not know nonexistence, and the intrinsic nature of nonexistence is empty. Existence is itself empty existence; existence does not know existence, and the intrinsic nature of existence is empty. Existence is precisely nonexistence, and nonexistence is precisely existence. This is called a bodhisattva’s clear discernment of the nature of all dharmas, reflecting and deliberating upon dharmas as permanent or impermanent, arising and ceasing, attachment to annihilation, conditioned and unconditioned, contaminated and uncontaminated, wholesome and unwholesome, determinate and indeterminate. All dharmas, whether named or unnamed, are empty and quiescent.

The bodhisattva also does not recollect cessation, but personally contemplates his own body and the dharmas of others. He entertains no thoughts of attachment and thoroughly comprehends that dharmas are empty, signless, and wishless. Within the Dharma realm, when seeking the Buddha Dharma and the precepts, he sees that none has any fixed location, nor is there any shortcut. He does not see anyone being delivered and attaining liberation, nor does he see anyone sinking into birth and death. When the bodhisattva guides all beings within these dharmas, he can cause the Dharma, free from the decline brought about by afflictions, to flourish; he heals all the weariness of the mundane world, so that beings are no longer bound by the fetters.

Because emptiness possesses nothing, the bodhisattva reflects upon and discerns the five paths and teaches them impartially. Although dwelling amid the dust of sensual desire, he has no timid or feeble mind and clearly understands the three poisons without obstruction. One who attains this state is called a Great Being, abiding in the inconceivable Dharma of skillful means.

Origination, cessation, and the Path all return to their natural state. Within this natural Dharma, he does not perceive arising or ceasing. His mind enters a state like space, possessing nothing; he does not conceive of any abiding place and contemplates the Dharma realm as being like the realm of space.

Wherever beings dwell is without any place of dwelling, and all dharmas are equal like the realm of space. This is called a bodhisattva who guides beings at the appropriate time, in accord with the Dharma of the Path; although he delivers beings, he does not perceive any being as delivered.

If a bodhisattva personally contemplates the dharmas of his own body and the dharmas of others, can discipline his own mind, attain wisdom, and awaken to the truth that all dharmas return to liberation, he can guide all beings and proclaim the unsurpassed, right, and true Way, enabling beings to attain the naturally unconditioned Dharma. He does not perceive that they are born, yet neither are they unborn. Although they are not born, he reflects upon the dharma of birth without abandoning the Dharma of non-arising, the Dharma that neither arises nor ceases. This is called a bodhisattva’s mastery of the foundation of mindfulness of dharmas.

The Buddha again said to Most Excellent:

– A bodhisattva of the ten stages of abiding must also reflect upon the four right efforts, constantly contemplating and discerning the dharmas presently before him. Unwholesome dharmas that have not yet arisen are restrained so that they do not arise. Unwholesome dharmas that have already arisen are eliminated through skillful means. Wholesome dharmas that have not yet arisen are sought and caused to arise. Wholesome dharmas that have already arisen are caused to increase and develop still further. The bodhisattva must always cultivate diligently, practice energetically, and personally gather in his mind so that it does not wander. He accumulates merit from long ago until the present, never neglects the dignified conduct and ritual observances of the Dharma, and acts with impartiality because he can control his mind and contemplate the truth.

Because of the three unwholesome roots, beings undergo severe calamities, fall into the eight evil paths, and revolve through the five paths without ever coming to rest. Therefore, when a bodhisattva diligently and energetically cultivates, he can eliminate the five unwholesome evils, never again giving rise to confused perceptions, and constantly contemplates for himself the retribution of unwholesome deeds: “These are defiled practices, not the true and right Way.

Now, because I have abandoned practices contrary to Dharma and cultivate the ultimate meaning, I am no longer subject to worldly defilements. I shall forever eliminate anger and hatred, discern the twelve fundamental links of dependent origination, and, where wholesome dharmas have not yet arisen, establish merit so that wholesome sprouts and roots may arise, never allowing them to decay.”

The bodhisattva’s mind is pure and flawless. He does not rely upon the three realms or remain bound to sensual desires. He relinquishes the mind of attachment and is forever free from attachment. The bodhisattva can always encourage, support, and guide beings toward omniscience. Because his profound wisdom never diminishes, he attains the root of merit. All this is accomplished through diligence and energetic perseverance, whereby the fruit of the Path is attained. This is called a bodhisattva’s mastery of the four right efforts.

At that time, the bodhisattva constantly contemplated and discerned the bases of spiritual power. Although the bodhisattva had attained the meditative mind of spiritual power, when he was about to realize the Way and abide in the ten bhumis, he still had to cultivate concentration just as when, at the beginning of his training in the Way, he had single-mindedly entered concentration, contemplated the four immeasurable states of mind, and felt compassion for sentient beings.

The bodhisattva steadied his own body and mind, then entered the first dhyana and afterward the second dhyana. He gathered his mind once more and, from the first dhyana, entered the third dhyana, wherein he contemplated diligently and single-mindedly. Emerging from the third dhyana, he returned to the first dhyana and, while in that stage of dhyana, manifested spiritual powers.

Emerging from the first dhyana, he entered the fourth dhyana. At that time, while in the fourth dhyana, the bodhisattva immediately manifested spiritual powers. Using the body to arouse the mind, he first became as small as a mustard seed, then as large as a sesame seed, and gradually grew as tall and large as a walnut.

In this way, over the course of twenty-one days, he gradually increased in size, while body and mind remained light and unobstructed. The bodhisattva therefore returned to and entered the meditative mind, manifesting spiritual powers. By relying upon those spiritual powers, he was able to teach and transform one hundred million people, establishing their minds in non-retrogression and enabling them to accomplish the concentration of spiritual power.

The bodhisattva then manifested boundless and inexhaustible spiritual powers, extending from the realm of Jambudvipa to the first, second, and third heavens, and onward to the sixth heaven. When the devas saw this, each of them thought: “This bodhisattva is now manifesting spiritual powers, and the radiance he emits illuminates every place. We devas of the various heavens should together encourage, assist, and protect the bodhisattva so that he may attain the Buddha’s Way.” Some devas made offerings to the bodhisattva of celestial flowers, assorted fragrances, the celestial robes they wore, and naturally appearing amrita. There, the bodhisattva taught and transformed the devas and human beings. All these enduring benefits arose through the resolve for spiritual power.

Bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges in the past, when cultivating the pure practices of the ten stages of abiding, all manifested spiritual powers there. Single-mindedly observing and seeking skillful means by which they could display various transformations, through the power of diligence they immediately accomplished the Way. Their actions were sovereign and free, and they could encounter no opposition. Whenever they wished to teach and transform others, all the people in the places they visited submitted to them. Regarding the ultimate source of the Dharma, the bodhisattvas enabled them all to become fully endowed and attain the corresponding fruition. The various kinds of maras, including the heavenly Mara, could not disturb the bodhisattvas.

At that time, the bodhisattva used the divine eye to observe the trichiliocosm. He saw people who possessed the tendencies of lust, anger, and delusion, and people who did not possess the tendencies of lust, anger, and delusion; people whose conduct was pure and people whose conduct was not pure; people whose minds were concentrated and people whose minds were not concentrated; people whose minds were distracted and people whose minds were not distracted.

The bodhisattva clearly knew them all, discerning their faculties, dispositions, and destinies of rebirth. The bodhisattva also used the divine ear to hear the voices of sentient beings and was able to discern every sound in due order so as to teach and transform them. Through the power of spiritual faculties, the bodhisattva entered samadhi and saw the resolve, disposition, and destination of rebirth of every person.

Through his own contemplation, he saw the origins of their births and how they were born from one place into another. This was the power arising from the bodhisattva’s cultivation of spiritual powers.

At that time, the bodhisattva also had to contemplate and discern the faculties, powers, seven factors of awakening, Noble Eightfold Path, faculty of faith, faculty of diligence, faculty of concentration, and faculty of wisdom. The bodhisattva constantly used wisdom of profound penetration to observe sentient beings and thereby accomplished the faculties, powers, factors of awakening, the Path, and the various wisdoms and spiritual powers.

The bodhisattva then used the wisdom of knowing others’ minds to observe sentient beings’ former practices. Some had fully accomplished the practices, possessed faith, and constantly cultivated the Noble Eightfold Path. Their minds held right view and did not abide in the realms of Mara.

They believed and understood that birth and death entail immeasurable suffering; they also knew that nirvana is the peace and bliss of liberation. They believed in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, through whom the world would shine brightly, and did not believe in the ninety-six heterodox byways. They did not doubt the wisdoms and spiritual penetrations, accumulated merit, and possessed intense faith in the True Dharma.

Within the True Dharma, they established minds of direct and sincere faith and perceived no difficulty.

The bodhisattva further used unobstructed wisdom of profound penetration to observe those sentient beings, seeing them strive diligently day and night in cultivating the faculty of diligence. Whether sitting, lying down, or walking in meditation, their minds were never indolent. Because they attained diligence, they became fully endowed with all the faculties.

It is like a celestial robe spread evenly throughout the four directions, above, and below, without any difference. If someone coming from one direction then grasped one corner of the robe and lifted it, the remaining three corners would rise along with it. One who possesses the faculty of diligence is likewise.

If a person cultivates the faculty of diligence, one should know that this person is fully endowed with all Dharmas. Through possessing diligence, one accomplishes the faculty of mindfulness. A mind in confusion and disorder is called the faculty of concentration: one constantly employs skillful means to gather the mind and maintain single-pointed attention.

Discerning wholesome and unwholesome states of mind as being like empty space is called the faculty of wisdom.

A bodhisattva in the ten stages of abiding enters the concentration of profound penetration and knows beforehand the signs of sentient beings’ conception in the womb. He discerns male and female, the male faculty and the female faculty, and can penetrate without end through one kalpa, ten kalpas, a hundred kalpas, a thousand kalpas, and even innumerable kalpas. This is called a bodhisattva’s complete possession of the Dharma gateway of contemplating the stages of abiding, with wisdom and eloquence difficult for anyone to equal.

The bodhisattva should recollect so as to move the lands of the ten directions. He should also journey to the various Buddha lands and manifest the emission of radiant light. All who behold that light attain deliverance. The bodhisattva should establish laws for the various lands, causing everyone to venerate the scriptures of the Noble Ones. He should also bring peace, happiness, and benefit to the people of those countries, expounding and guiding them in the teachings so that they never weary of listening. He should always clearly understand the lineages and dispositions of the people without discriminating between relatives and others. He should also observe and know the minds and intentions of sentient beings, and then expound the six paramitas for them.

The bodhisattva should further restrain sentient beings’ distracted thoughts and gradually establish the minds of all sentient beings. He should himself become a Guide who leads and directs them to enter the wisdom of wholesome Dharmas. He should constantly remain mindful and enter concentration without losing his spiritual powers, personally cultivate the spiritual penetrations, discern the three periods of time, and clearly know the past, present, and future.

He should also contemplate and study the profound and boundless wisdom of the Buddhas, and fully cultivate and learn the Dharmas of the Buddhas. He should awaken to all Dharmas without becoming defiled or attached, train in expounding them without cease, and throw open the seven treasuries. He should learn to use the wisdom of spiritual powers to bring his own land to fulfillment; learn to radiate light throughout the ten directions; attain the meditative mind of the Buddhas and thereby move the lands; learn skillful means for teaching and liberating adherents of heterodox paths; learn the precepts and thereby accomplish the fruit of the Way; learn to gather assemblies in order to turn the Dharma wheel; and, in accordance with what he has learned, personally accomplish omniscience.

Having accomplished all Dharmas of training, he sees no Dharma that can be learned.

The Buddha told Most Excellent:

“This is called a bodhisattva cultivating the practices of the ten abodes, on the verge of attaining Buddhahood and adorning and purifying a land. In the past, I descended in spirit into the Tusita Palace and employed skillful means to teach and transform devas and humans, revealing the supreme and wondrous Dharma. I examined the various dispositions and the land into which I might take birth, descended from Tusita Heaven into the world, and cycled through thirty-six ascents and descents to teach devas and humans, liberating countless sentient beings.

Through skillful and expedient means, I traveled alone throughout the three realms without fear. Finally, I descended into the world and practiced austerities for six years, concentrating wholly upon ascetic practice until My body resembled a withered tree. Although I manifested such austerities, the place where I dwelt was not called a Buddha-land.

There I taught and transformed eight billion four hundred million nayutas of devas and humans, establishing them all upon the stage of non-retrogression. The sentient beings in that land saw My body and believed that I had died and that My life faculty had ceased. Passersby piled up firewood and set it alight, but they could not burn My body.

Through skillful means, I cultivated single-mindedness, diligence, and noble wisdom. I did not forsake the reverence and devotion of sentient beings; I relinquished unnecessary practices and cherished compassion for them. For this reason, the bodhisattva manifested the practice of austerities.

A bodhisattva dwelling on the tenth bhumi does not depart from birth and death but instructs and transforms sentient beings, and all those who are liberated become Buddhas. If the bodhisattva were to desire the swift attainment of the unsurpassed path, then in merely the time it takes to snap one’s fingers, his body would manifest a golden hue, complete with the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eighteen distinctive and supreme qualities.

His entire retinue would attain accomplishment in a single day. The bodhisattva does not seek lands afflicted by many evils. Yet because sentient beings are arrogant, disdain those worthy of reverence, and do not relinquish their own conceit, he manifests conception in the womb, accords with the ways of the world, and employs skillful means to transform and liberate beings, bringing abundant benefit wherever he is born.

At that time, the bodhisattva of the ten abodes is no longer called a bodhisattva but must be called the Tathagata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of Those to Be Tamed, the Teacher of Devas and Humans, the Buddha, the Blessed One. He possesses immeasurable merit, is sustained by all Buddhas, and is constantly guarded by the devas.

Every essential Dharma he expounds is supported by causes and conditions and is appropriate to the occasion, never untimely. Most Excellent, you should know that for this reason that Buddha-land is called Nameless.

“Seventy-seven billion Ganges-sands of Buddha-lands southeast of there is a world called Humane and Virtuous, whose Buddha is named Good Eye. There are no paths of the sravaka or pratyekabuddha there. Through the Dharma that is without name and without arising or cessation, beings teach one another the path of liberation through emptiness and liberation beyond conceptual reckoning.

Upon hearing the Dharma of emptiness, they immediately awaken to it with great ease and no difficulty. That land also lacks the three poisons and the maladies of lust, anger, and delusion. Its dharanis encompass inexhaustible recollection of all dharmas.

In that Buddha-land, I practice generosity and perform Buddha-work, yet the sentient beings there do not know where My body abides. This is called a bodhisattva cultivating manifold practices that nurture sentient beings. Most Excellent, this is called a bodhisattva of the ten abodes purifying his own conduct on the tenth bhumi.

Chapter 11: CESSATION OF MIND

At that time, the bodhisattva Most Excellent addressed the Buddha, saying:

“How does a bodhisattva contemplate the principle of impermanence, discern emptiness, awaken clearly to the ownerless nature of his own body both within and without, attain mastery of mind, and bring all his deeds to fulfillment?”

The Blessed One then said to Most Excellent:

“The mental activity of a bodhisattva is unattached, and he expounds all dharmas without obstruction. He clearly knows that the origin of the human being is like a dream or illusion. He fully comprehends the wholesome and unwholesome thoughts of all sentient beings and the reciprocal workings of causes, conditions, and retribution—such as purity and impurity, suffering and happiness, beauty and ugliness, favorable and adverse circumstances, bondage and liberation, concentration and distraction—and the bodhisattva is able to know them all.

First, he contemplates them as unreal, like empty space. He then employs the superknowledge of past lives to expound the Dharma according to beings’ dispositions, enabling them to understand emptiness and quiescence. The bodhisattva’s spiritual powers are unobstructed, and he sees everything universally.

This is called the bodhisattva’s penetrating contemplation of primordial nonbeing.

“He may manifest a Buddha-body and enter final nirvana; yet because this is a manifestation through skillful means, he does not pass permanently into nirvana. He thoroughly comprehends that sentient beings have been originally pure from beginning to end. Or, in order to expound the Dharma, the bodhisattva may manifest elsewhere scenes of separation, dispersion, and disorder so that sentient beings clearly recognize places that are impure, defiled, evil, and perilous, thereby enabling those attached to permanence to eliminate their loving attachment.

The bodhisattva also praises the Dharma of exhausting the outflows, which leads to nirvana, yet if he has not completely eliminated the outflows, he does not personally realize nirvana. For the sake of sentient beings, the bodhisattva also praises the uncontaminated Dharma; all states of deluded confusion fail to lead to the consummation of wisdom.

“The bodhisattva cultivates a mind of great loving-kindness and compassion, settles his thoughts, and enters meditative concentration. With his mind abiding in stillness, he enters the third dhyana, the fourth dhyana, and even the four formless concentrations. He attains the teachings of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness and possesses the merit of cultivating the thirty-seven factors of the path.

Through skillful means, he instructs and transforms all sentient beings. Contemplating beings who are caught within the eight difficulties, he enables them to cast off the afflictions, forever leaving all defilements behind. The bodhisattva further employs the unobstructed path of the sages to enter birth and death and ferry sentient beings to nirvana.

He also employs the Dharma of skillful wisdom to teach sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, encouraging and advancing them accordingly until they reach the seat of awakening.

“If a person’s mind is troubled and confused by afflictions, the bodhisattva teaches that person to cultivate quiescence and refrain from giving rise to conceptualizations. If sentient beings are attached to the conditioned or the unconditioned, he manifests non-possession and likewise enables them to attain an unattached mind. Although the bodhisattva wanders to and fro throughout the various realms, he gives rise to no conception of attachment and encounters no obstruction, but constantly expounds the wondrous Dharma to sentient beings.

He fully comprehends without obstruction contaminated and uncontaminated dharmas, conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, and wholesome and unwholesome dharmas. Moreover, through unobstructed uncontaminated wisdom, he clearly sees the roots of the dharmas governing the mental activity of sentient beings. In accordance with their forms and characteristics, he establishes them in the Dharma of liberation; in accordance with their customs, he teaches them so that they clearly understand the Dharma.

He does not allow the mind or intention to give rise to conceptions of arising and cessation, and because he employs wisdom and skillful means appropriately, he always attains mastery.

“Most Excellent, this is called a bodhisattva practicing contemplative mindfulness, clearly understanding that the root of the body, both within and without, is ownerless. He remains constantly mindful of cultivation, his mind never growing weary, and he personally attains everlasting peace and happiness. He also enables sentient beings, relying upon that merit, to practice great loving-kindness and compassion without timidity.

Only afterward do they penetrate the truth that the body is ownerless, and that the dharmas within and outside the body are likewise so. The bodhisattva regards those sentient beings as his own flesh and bones. Whatever they seek, he first acts for sentient beings and only afterward for himself.

His compassionate resolve to rescue and liberate them is genuine and never false. He enables all sentient beings to create wondrous merit, while their minds and consciousness remain tranquil and unmoving. By contemplating this body, they become incapable of craving or attachment.

“For the sake of sentient beings, the bodhisattva further teaches the Dharma of impurity: this body is like an empty city, illusory and insubstantial; it is like a ditch or ravine through which streams continually flow; it is like a fire ceaselessly burning the firewood of suffering; and it is also like rivers and lakes pouring into the sea, which is never filled.”

Thus, Most Excellent One, the bodhisattva teaches sentient beings to contemplate and discern what is impure, and also causes them to give rise to the perception of impurity. He enters deeply into unobstructed eloquence, attains the dharani teachings without ever forgetting them, and does not forget the sequence of the Dharma sounds he has heard. He always follows the truth in contemplating samadhi and right absorption, constantly enters the quiescence of the paramitas, subdues the enmity of Mara, and eliminates false and confused perceptions.

Most Excellent One, the bodhisattva contemplates the body in this way, clearly knowing that neither within nor outside the body is there any abiding place; it is illusory, like a shadow, an echo, or a mirage. He enters the Dharma of ultimate truth and discerns the Dharma realm; he remains far removed from craving for the worldly realms and diligently cultivates the path to Perfect Enlightenment through emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.

He knows that the arising of all dharmas is also non-arising, and that non-arising also arises. Although abiding within birth, he is free from duality; in accordance with the places into which sentient beings are born, he guides and protects them. Resolutely courageous, he never abandons the mind set upon the path.

Seated beneath the king of trees, he personally makes this vow: “I now pledge that if I do not attain Perfect Enlightenment, I shall never rise from this seat.” The bodhisattva maintains a mind of equanimity and never abandons the Buddha path. He constantly abides within the three realms yet remains unattached to them. He contemplates the inner dharmas within himself and likewise contemplates what belongs to others.

Mindful and intent upon seeking pure wisdom, he carefully examines the truth and fully understands that every perception of permanence is in fact a perception of impermanence.

Furthermore, Most Excellent One, the bodhisattva reflects: “For what reason have I now received this body subject to the outflows? It is because, throughout many kalpas, I tirelessly accumulated merit and gathered the karma of wisdom that I have obtained this body.” The bodhisattva does not direct his thoughts toward the paths of the shravakas or pratyekabuddhas. If someone comes inclined toward those paths, the bodhisattva’s mind is neither fearful nor doubtful.

He practices generosity, eliminates confused perceptions, and inwardly reflects: “Through this merit, when I attain the fruit of Perfect Enlightenment, my body will be adorned with excellent marks and golden in color.” The bodhisattva further instructs sentient beings to observe the precepts so that they do not fall into the evil destinies; to make their minds gentle and compliant through patience; to keep their faculties undisturbed; to exert themselves vigorously; and to relinquish arrogance.

Their minds constantly abide unwaveringly in samadhi and right absorption; they cultivate and perfect great wisdom, remain far removed from the defilements of desire, and employ skillful means to instruct others with limitless understanding. Never losing the karma of noble wisdom, the bodhisattva abides with a mind as steadfast as the Buddha’s abiding. His discerning eloquence accords appropriately with the meaning.

He attains the mind of dharani, never diminishing the teaching of the path, and completely fulfills all the aspirations of sentient beings. With diligence, he tames those who are regressing so that they do not fall away. The teachings he expounds are clear and accord with the precepts.

Since he himself harbors no resentment, he does not speak of the faults of others. While practicing the bodhisattva path, he constantly examines his own faults and would rather lose his life than utter words that slander or humiliate one person or another. If sentient beings come of their own accord to take refuge in him, the bodhisattva does not rejoice because of it.

Even if no one comes, he does not grieve. Hearing of good, he is not elated; hearing of evil, he is not angered. He accommodates all beings and leads them to the seat of enlightenment, where they accomplish the Buddha path.

The bodhisattva never violates the precepts. He first rescues others from danger without seeking his own safety. He gives away the seven treasures without regret, enters the profound essentials of the Dharma, and possesses unobstructed supernormal powers.

The bodhisattva further uses his supernormal powers to observe whether the capacities and dispositions of sentient beings are shallow or deep, high or low. Having discerned them with noble wisdom, he expounds the Dharma for those beings. His deeds are neither attached nor exhausted.

Although he abides within the Dharma of dependent origination, his mind is not tainted by any of the outflows, nor does he consider himself to have attained realization. He contemplates the nature of dharmas as devoid of self and ego; the true Dharma is quiescent, pure, and undefiled. The bodhisattva does not abide in the arising and decline of dharmas throughout the three times.

He does not regard the past as having been forever extinguished; he does not regard the future as possessing an object or lacking an object; and he does not conceive of the present as eternally abiding.

Thus, O Tối Thắng, the bodhisattva universally contemplates innumerable and immeasurable dharmas as neither arising nor ceasing. His bodily conduct is pure, and he commits no evil; his speech is pure; his mindfulness is always utterly sincere; and his mind is always lucid, never violating the ten evil deeds. This is called a bodhisattva who accords with the paramitas and receives a prediction from the Buddhas, who manifest themselves before him.

His faculty of wisdom is lofty and his merit inexhaustible. Among the ten stages of abiding, he dwells in right concentration and is irreversible. He upholds and practices the Dharma without opposition; his disposition is harmonious; he is endowed with all practices; he attains the ten powers of a Buddha; his resolve is like vajra; he clearly understands the roots of all dharmas, their arising and cessation; and he thoroughly comprehends the severity or mildness of the ailments in every person’s mind.

The dispositions and conduct of sentient beings differ, and the bodhisattva can clearly know what retributions they will receive.

Why is it said that the bodhisattva clearly knows retribution, holds the light of wisdom in his hand to dispel sentient beings’ delusion, and contemplates the fruits of realization? Tối Thắng, you should know that the bodhisattva takes up the sharp sword of wisdom, examines matters thoroughly, and cuts through the mass of doubts and delusions. All the practices he performs constitute fruits of realization.

By virtue of those fruits of realization, he practices generosity extensively; observes the precepts perfectly, like an auspicious vase; practices patience in his mind like Bodhisattva Tần Đầu; possesses surpassing vigor like King Thiện Nhan; and, through meditative concentration, enters the subtle and wondrous wisdom of emptiness. Such is the bodhisattva: nothing can shake the wisdom-mind of his realization.

The bodhisattva’s wise generosity is equal and nondual. He does not perceive an ego or self from which innumerable conceptions might arise, and he regards persons and things equally. Because he sees persons and things as equal, he realizes the equality of all dharmas. Because he fully knows the equality of dharmas, perfect enlightenment is likewise equal. He clearly understands that morality, patience, vigor, single-minded concentration, and wisdom are all equal and are not to be divided into many distinct aspects.

The bodhisattva fully knows that although all dharmas arise, there is no arising; arising itself is non-arising, and non-arising itself is arising. Tối Thắng, this is called a bodhisattva who, through contemplation, thoroughly penetrates the ultimate truth of all great and authentic dharmas. His mind does not stir up the defilements and then become conjoined with them. He relinquishes all arising and sees nothing that arises. Though he personally practices generosity, he sees nothing that is given.

Some bodhisattvas practice generosity in pursuit of the Way, yet, because they cling to conceptions, they also desire to attain cessation and liberation. This is called being tainted by admixture with poison and still remaining within samsara.

I recall that innumerable kalpas ago, I dwelt in that world as a wheel-turning king, a sovereign who traveled through the air. Whatever object I desired naturally appeared before me and never failed to accord with my wishes. Successive generations of my descendants continued for sixty-nine intermediate kalpas. During that time, I practiced generosity, morality, patience, vigor, single-minded concentration, and wisdom. I erected stupas made of the seven treasures, reaching as high as the Brahma Heaven and filling the entire world.

At that time, a Buddha named Dũng Tấn appeared in the world. His accompanying assembly of arhats numbered ninety kotis of hundreds of thousands of nayutas, while the bodhisattva-mahasattvas were too numerous to calculate. I personally and reverently offered the four requisites: clothing, food and drink, beds and bedding, and various medicines for treating illness. I also offered the wealth of my kingdom, my wife and children, elephants and horses, the seven treasures, and my servants, and I commanded the people to bring offerings to that Buddha, the Blessed One.

At that time, I practiced generosity with a mind of attachment, and because of this I fell into the realm of birth and death. Because I continually exalted my own merit, I did not attain the fruit of recompense. Because, while creating merit at that time, I gave rise to an attachment of desire as slight as a hair, residual peripheral views still remain even now.

Thus, O Tối Thắng, when a bodhisattva practices wise generosity, he sees giving as giving that exists, and giving as giving that does not exist. He neither sees giving nor sees the absence of generosity. Giving is also non-giving, and non-giving is also non-giving. Because he perceives the Dharma of giving as equal, he attains equality in the Dharma. Only by clearly understanding giving and non-giving does he accord with what is natural. Morality, patience, vigor, single-minded concentration, and wisdom are likewise so. He fully knows that wisdom is quiescent and empty, and that there is no wisdom. Only by regarding wisdom and non-wisdom in this way does he accord with wisdom.

Furthermore, O Most Excellent One, a bodhisattva must also contemplate the treasure of the Dharma. What is called the treasure of the Dharma? It refers to 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 awakening, the eightfold path of right practice, the samadhis of spiritual powers, and the various paramitas.

Each Dharma is individually discerned as being without self or ego. By completely eliminating delusion, one comes to know the great light; by cultivating and perfecting wisdom, one teaches and transforms sentient beings. Casting off the heavy burden of anxiety, one is free from hesitation, reverently observes the precepts, and maintains tranquility of body and mind.

One must also contemplate and cultivate the treasure of wisdom, without giving rise to a mind that intends to rely upon anything. The mind is apart from the three times and has neither inside nor outside. It does not depend upon the ayatanas, the four great elements, the skandhas, or the hindrances.

One makes a garland from the flowers of the seven factors of awakening, takes the eight qualities of the Noble Ones as fruition, and makes the adorned place of awakening one’s dwelling. One guides sentient beings toward the paramita of simplicity and tranquility, where there is no aging, sickness, or death, nor sorrow or joy, nor the sufferings of the afflictions. One travels alone through the three realms without fear and contemplates persons and things as entirely pure.

Because self and person are pure, persons and things are also pure. One fully comprehends purity, yet possesses nothing.

From the first arousal of the aspiration until reaching the ground of the tenth abode, a bodhisattva must maintain pure mindfulness and give rise to a wondrous intention. Throughout this course, one never again gives rise to thoughts of lust, anger, or delusion. Nor is there any notion of giving; the mind must clearly contemplate sentient beings.

One also does not give rise to the mind of the two vehicles and thereby becomes foremost within the great assembly. Though dwelling amid wealth and honor, one is not arrogant; one rescues and protects sentient beings and never abandons them. The originally nonexistent mind is unreal in each and every respect.

The mind is not an existent mind, nor is it fettered. This is the bodhisattva’s indestructible vajra-mind. It nurtures wholesome dharmas so that none are lost, contemplates the profound and wondrous, and gives rise to vast, inconceivable vows.

It observes all natures without seeing any dharma arise and without seeing anyone attain accomplishment. It contemplates worldly affairs as illusions, all devoid of reality, and through pure contemplation knows them to be inverted. It neither follows nor abandons dharmas that are associated or unassociated.

Those whose minds are mingled with discursive thoughts and craving do not see the accumulated dharmas through which the present body manifests. They do not see the dharmas by reason of which one departs from bodies of the past and future. The past has no ending, the future has no beginning, and when the present is discerned, it is entirely without any abiding place.

Though one reflects upon and investigates the true Dharma, it cannot be apprehended. The mind in which a bodhisattva abides must abide amid inversions. The perception of non-attainment is an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva.

The sixty-two views are an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva. Brooding and hesitation are an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva. Seeking the blessed recompense of the heavenly realms is an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva.

Entering hell without conceiving of suffering is an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva. Transforming one’s body to enter the realms of hungry ghosts and animals is an essential Dharma of the bodhisattva.

Although dwelling in the five uninterrupted hells, a bodhisattva uproots the agonies of sentient beings and causes them to abide in liberation, forever peaceful and blissful. The bodhisattva likewise does not give rise to perceptions of arising, cessation, calamity, or turmoil; and when contemplating the dharmadhatu, it too cannot be apprehended. Why is this?

Persons arise through dharmas, and dharmas arise through persons. Their spontaneous arising and cessation are also without any root. Persons are not apart from nature, and nature is not apart from persons.

Persons and things are naturally so, and no trace of them can be seen. Self, ego, and lifespan are likewise so. Self and ego are naturally so, and all dharmas are naturally so.

Dharmas are originally so of themselves, and the path is also naturally so. Those who contemplate and penetrate emptiness and awaken in this way attain the traces of the path that are naturally so. As for speaking of the traces of the path that are naturally so, wondrous contemplation is nondual and does not see two dharmas standing in opposition.

A bodhisattva also possesses the Samadhi of Swiftness. One who enters this samadhi travels, in the instant of a finger snap, throughout Buddha-lands in the ten directions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, bows to and makes offerings to all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, and then returns to the original place without anyone becoming aware of it. While seated upon one’s seat in contemplation, one appears like a statue.

Entering samadhi and right concentration, one travels eastward to hundreds of millions of nayutas of Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, bows to and makes offerings to all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, asks questions, listens to, and receives the wondrous Dharma. Then, in an instant, one travels to immeasurable Buddha-lands in the south, and afterward to immeasurable Buddha-lands in the north. It is likewise so in the four intermediate directions and in the directions above and below.

Seated peacefully within the great assembly, the bodhisattva gives rise to this mindfulness without anyone becoming aware of it.

Thus, O Most Excellent One, while a bodhisattva enters meditative concentration and right absorption, in the time of a finger snap the bodhisattva travels throughout immeasurable lands in the ten directions and suddenly returns to the original place. At that time, none of the sentient beings seated there is aware of it. Just as today, while I expound the meaning of the Dharma within the great assembly, two hundred million bodhisattvas have each traveled, without leaving their seats, to Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions, and now each has returned to their own seat. None of the sentient beings listening to the Dharma is able to know this. All this is due to the bodhisattvas’ matured practice.

At that time, the Most Excellent One addressed the Buddha:

“What is the name of the samadhi entered by those true beings, which enables the bodhisattvas to travel and return with such swiftness?”

The World-Honored One told the Most Excellent One:

“In addition to the samadhi entered by bodhisattvas, there is another samadhi called Unobstructed Penetration, a Dharma in which all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, constantly abide. After the Tathagatas enter this samadhi, within the span of a single inhalation and exhalation they travel to hundreds of millions of thousands of nayutas of Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. They can also cause all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, of the ten directions to come into that world without any sentient being being aware of it.

Or they may move all the waters of the oceans throughout the ten directions and suspend them in empty space like a radiant jewel, without anyone seeing it and without frightening any of the beings that live in the water. This is called the Samadhi of the Wisdom of Unobstructed Penetration.”

At that time, among the two hundred million foremost bodhisattvas was a bodhisattva named Ocean Treasury. Seated upon his seat, he thought to himself, “The Tathagata surely wishes me to manifest the spiritual power of that samadhi.” The bodhisattva immediately rose from his seat, proceeded directly to the high seat before the great assembly, bowed his head in homage to the Buddha and the venerable ones, and then stood before the Buddha with palms joined and said:

“The path to Buddhahood is so profound that analogies cannot fully express it, and the unsurpassed, right, and true path is difficult to compare with anything. I now behold all the bodhisattvas and the fourfold assembly, the devas and venerable spirits who have come to this gathering, and I see the bodhisattvas within the great assembly uttering the lion’s roar. Moreover, those who thirst for and revere the teaching have long since come to this assembly. Now that they have encountered what is difficult to encounter, they wish to put questions. If they are able to see and hear, they will immediately make vows.”

The Buddha told Ocean Treasury:

“Ask whatever doubts you may have. The Tathagata will explain and distinguish all the matters about which you are uncertain, so that the bodhisattvas and everyone in this Dharma assembly may attain joy and happiness. The Tathagata will use the blazing power of the sword of wisdom to burn away your dense forest of ignorance.”

At that time, Bodhisattva Ocean Treasury again addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One, as I faced the high seat, I reflected within my mind: These two hundred million bodhisattvas have accumulated wholesome qualities for a very long time. They are replete with merit, have subdued their minds, and direct their aspirations entirely toward the Dharma of the Path. Through their roots of goodness, they have attained right concentration.

For innumerable kalpas, they have attended the Buddhas, paying homage and making offerings. For the sake of sentient beings, these bodhisattvas, spiritual adepts and true beings, have compassionately given away elephants, horses, and the seven treasures, enabling every kind of sentient being to accomplish the Buddha Path. Some, because their minds were not steadfast, retreated from cultivating samadhi, mental concentration, and right absorption.

Other bodhisattvas, on account of the defilements, enter deeply into birth and death, wishing to free sentient beings forever from suffering. Some bodhisattvas enter the Samadhi of Loving-Kindness, enabling those sentient beings to abandon jealousy and envy forever. Other bodhisattvas arouse compassion, enabling sentient beings to understand clearly the meaning of impermanence.

Some bodhisattvas enter the concentration of sympathetic joy, enabling all who see them to understand clearly the Dharma of empty quiescence. Other bodhisattvas bring forth a resolve as firm as vajra, enabling sentient beings to fulfill every aspiration they have aroused. Other bodhisattvas possess vast aspirations and lead all sentient beings into their own realm.

Other bodhisattvas employ the fundamental Dharma-body to ensure that those who have newly aroused the aspiration, are presently arousing it, or have already aroused it all become wholesome. Other bodhisattvas develop the Three Jewels in the eight inopportune states so that they will never be cut off. Some bodhisattvas employ skillful means, adapting their manifestations to accord with the aspirations of sentient beings.

Some bodhisattvas delight in abiding in the wisdom of emptiness and contemplate this body as though it were a wall. Some bodhisattvas are straightforward in mind, and their conduct is pure and undefiled. Other bodhisattvas are discreet and circumspect by nature; as they journey throughout the various regions, they never neglect anything.

Other bodhisattvas direct their minds toward the One Path and do not allow sentient beings even to hear the name ‘Three Vehicles.’ Other bodhisattvas possess bright and joyful aspirations; they cleanse sentient beings of the defilements so that they will forever remain unstained.”

At that time, in the midst of the great assembly, the World-Honored One praised Bodhisattva Ocean Treasury:

“Excellent! Excellent! Only Bodhisattva Ocean Treasury could stand before the Tathagata and, within the assembly, utter a lion’s roar praising the mental concentrations entered by the bodhisattvas, so that the entire assembly might hear and know of them.

The right concentrations, samadhis, and right absorptions entered by those true beings are inconceivable. No one can attain them, and they are not Dharmas that those of the Two Vehicles can fathom. Bodhisattvas accumulate merit not for their own sake, but remain mindful of delivering sentient beings—those who are undergoing suffering and affliction.

Suppose that throughout a great trichiliocosm winds arose everywhere, swiftly sweeping across the entire world like mountain gales surging in from all directions. If a person cultivating the traces of the Path courageously resolved to travel back and forth through those winds in search of the Path and to cultivate it, that person could succeed without obstruction. How much more so could bodhisattvas, who possess the inconceivable spiritual powers, samadhis, and right absorptions of true beings, reach immeasurable lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges in the time of a single thought.

Bodhisattvas also teach and transform sentient beings through the Six Paramitas and the Ten Wholesome Actions, instructing them in the wholesome path. The minds of bodhisattvas remain forever peaceful and joyful, incapable of being shaken. Their aspirations and conduct are pure and never confused or disordered.

Once they arouse the resolve to cultivate, no one can equal them. This is because bodhisattvas were formerly replete with merit; their aspirations and conduct were pure, without discrimination among different kinds of beings, and their immeasurable loving-kindness was inexhaustible. All dharmas always abide in themselves, yet sentient beings fail to comprehend this and suppose that there is arising and decline.

Each dharma arises of itself; each dharma ceases of itself. A dharma does not give rise to another dharma, nor does a dharma extinguish another dharma. Although dharmas arise and cease, their nature remains unmoved.

This is the Path of bodhisattvas, the great true beings; it is not a Dharma that ordinary people can attain.

“The various kinds of sentient beings within birth and death do not realize original nonexistence and therefore believe that the Dharma-nature undergoes change. They think it must be so, but in truth it is not. From the initial arousal of the aspiration until the stage of the Tenth Abode, bodhisattvas practice generosity and observe the precepts, become replete with merit, attain the fruits of their practice, and accomplish the Path.

By awakening to the principle of contemplating emptiness, they know the void and quiescence. In the past and future they proclaim the Dharma of the Path, and all their wondrous deeds are accomplished. They enter the various grounds cultivated by the bodhisattvas, travel to immeasurable, sublime Buddha lands, and encourage sentient beings to arouse the aspiration to cross beyond the shore of birth and death.

Clearly perceiving their faculties and dispositions, they adapt to the appropriate time, ensuring that none fail to attain deliverance. Bodhisattvas may employ worldly deportment and conventions, or spiritual powers, wisdom of the Path, and superknowledges to teach and nurture the various kinds of sentient beings. They discern the arising and decline of the defilements associated with the six sense faculties and the objects from which the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind arise.

The eye is impermanent and is also not real; when it departs, it goes nowhere, and when it comes, it leaves no trace. The ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are likewise. With regard to the dharmas of the past, future, and present, no cessation can be seen, yet foolish and deluded sentient beings cling to the conception of permanence.

“Why is this? Supreme Victor, you should know that bodhisattvas, the great beings, are fully endowed with expedient wisdom. They cultivate immeasurable paramitas, perfect faith, and extensively cultivate all Dharmas.

Upon seeing them, the Tathagatas all praise them. They cast off false conceptions, attain immeasurable wisdom and unobstructed eloquence, and always possess a sense of conscience and shame. They contemplate dharmas as unarisen and perceive no movement.

Bodhisattvas may adorn Buddha lands with the excellent marks, cause the unopposed Dharma to flourish, penetrate deeply into the wisdom of all paths, and inquire about and listen to the Dharma without weariness or satisfaction. With courageous expedient wisdom, they subdue the maras. They may travel to the realms of perception and non-perception; to the palaces of Brahma and Sakra; or to lands throughout the ten directions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, journeying everywhere to cause the Buddhadharma to flourish.

The deeds of bodhisattvas are mysterious, profound, and inconceivable. They cast off arrogance and harbor no thoughts of right or wrong.”

At that time, the World-Honored One said to Supreme Victor:

“Bodhisattvas, the great beings, cultivate immeasurable Dharma-gates of perfect enlightenment: 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, and the Eightfold Path of Right Practice. They clearly retain the Dharma of dharani without omission. Through the foundations of mindfulness, they comprehend the conditioned and unconditioned, the determinate and indeterminate, and the contaminated and uncontaminated.

They are fully endowed with all fearlessnesses throughout the ten directions. Through samadhi and right absorption, they eliminate the skandhas and hindrances and clearly contemplate and discern the ground of non-retrogression. Bodhisattvas must also remain mindful of the fifty-seven transcendent practices of wisdom through the power of samadhi and right absorption, ensuring that they are never forgotten.

If someone practices generosity seeking the meritorious rewards of the devas, seeking rebirth in the palaces of ghosts and spirits or dragons, or giving alms in the hope of being reborn in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, none of this is real, and that person will not attain what is sought.”

The World-Honored One then spoke these verses to Supreme Victor:

The body is pure and commits no evil;

Speech utters none of the four wrongs;

The mind entertains no thought of transgression:

Such is a bodhisattva who upholds dharani.

Proclaiming and teaching immeasurable virtues,

Never harboring a miserly or greedy mind,

Using spiritual powers to dispel delusion and darkness:

Such is a bodhisattva who upholds dharani.

When teaching others to practice generosity,

They do not cause them to cherish expectations;

Though aspirations be lost and one fall into the three evil destinies,

The merit of the deed is not diminished.

In the past, when I sought perfect enlightenment,

I clung to conceptions through many kalpas;

Through skillful means I crossed birth and death

And journeyed throughout the five destinies.

Again, in kalpas of the distant past,

I established roots of merit;

Because I had not attained mastery,

I sank into the four chasms and rivers.

Now, though I have attained Buddhahood

As Dharma King of the trichiliocosm,

Through conditions that remove conceptual thought,

I entered the gateway of the mysterious path.

At the bodhimanda I emitted golden light;

Millions of spirits came to take refuge and entrust their lives.

Benevolent spirits followed the sramanas;

All came of themselves to take refuge and pay reverence.

Therefore, O Tối Thắng, a bodhisattva should single-mindedly recollect the elimination of thoughts of seeking, awaken clearly to the formless single characteristic of the dharmadhatu, adorn the Buddha-land, never sever luminous wisdom, and not encourage giving to all sentient beings; there is no giving, there are no sages or noble ones. Clearly understanding that nothing whatsoever is born, the bodhisattva abides with an impartial mind in the path of the One Vehicle and does not perceive any other, multiple vehicles.

O Tối Thắng, a bodhisattva must also discern the Four Noble Truths: Through what conditions does suffering arise, and through what conditions does it cease? Contemplating and examining in accordance with principle, the bodhisattva should aspire to extinguish the fundamental sufferings of this body of five skandhas. Craving, the origin, gives rise to suffering; the bodhisattva must completely eliminate the sixty-two inverted wrong views and, through immeasurable wisdom, clearly awaken to the fact that they have no abiding place.

The bodhisattva further uses the teaching of the Four Noble Truths to contemplate whence the twelve links of dependent origination arise and whence they cease, gradually reflecting until realizing quiescence. The activities of body, speech, and mind have no master; there is no one who receives and no one who transmits. There is no past or future, nor is there any abiding place.

From the fruit of stream-entry up to the fruit of perfect awakening, it is likewise so, and the bodhisattva clearly discerns the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm.

Furthermore, O Tối Thắng, a bodhisattva contemplates and knows the essential Dharma concerning suffering, the essential Dharma concerning the origin that produces suffering, the essential Dharma concerning the cessation of suffering, and the essential Dharma concerning the path of cultivation that leads beyond suffering. Contemplating in this way, the bodhisattva must also discern the sixteen profound and unfathomable noble dharmas and the thirty-six impure and defiled things; proclaim the wisdom of the unsurpassed fruit of the path; and expound, teach, and gradually guide sentient beings.

The bodhisattva thoroughly comprehends the exceedingly profound Dharma treasury of all Buddhas, and the teachings spoken are never false or deceptive. The bodhisattva manifests as a wealthy and noble householder who gathers beings through generosity and teaches sentient beings everywhere to abandon error, return to what is right, and attain the fruit of the path. Or the bodhisattva arranges incense, flowers, lamps, banners, and canopies so that their radiance shines everywhere; and further uses supernormal powers to transform the devas, proclaiming the Buddha-path so that they all follow the One Vehicle.

For this reason, throughout many kalpas I have been without limitation. The bodhisattva also manifests as a sravaka or pratyekabuddha, skillfully dwelling among mountains and marshlands without manifesting parinirvana, and further enters the dragon palaces to teach and transform the dragons so that they attain vision of the path.

Thus, O Tối Thắng, the meritorious deeds performed by a bodhisattva cannot be fully expressed; they are not things that the mouth can relate or the mind can conceive. At times the bodhisattva is born into the house of a wheel-turning king, and beings in heaven and on earth alike follow that guidance and cultivate the Ten Wholesome Deeds. If the bodhisattva sees sentient beings suffering from hunger and poverty, the bodhisattva uses amrita to bring abundance to the destitute, enabling them to leave far behind the seeds of affliction within the realm of sensual desire. Such is the immeasurable merit of a bodhisattva.

Furthermore, O Tối Thắng, a bodhisattva should recollect the one thousand seven hundred gateways of meditative concentration, enabling those free from attachment to attain perfect awakening. There is also the Gateway of Luminous Meditative Concentration, enabling a bodhisattva to attain the dharani that reveals the essentials. There is also the Gateway of the Meditative Concentration of the Canopy of the Skandha of Sensation, which covers the entire trichiliocosm.

There is also the Gateway of the Meditative Concentration of the Divine Jewel That Rains upon the World, which emits hundreds of thousands of kotis of innumerable rays of light. Each ray manifests innumerable kinds of sounds proclaiming suffering, emptiness, and the absence of a self. All who hear those sounds arouse the unsurpassed, irreversible resolve.

There is also the Gateway of the Crystal without Appearances Meditative Concentration, which causes ten thousand worlds suddenly to become a single color and further produces innumerable sounds of music. Those who hear these sounds spontaneously acquire knowledge of past lives and know the places from which they were reborn. There is also the Gateway of the Radiance of the Full and Flourishing Moon, by which one person alone shines amid the assembly like the moon among the stars.

There is also the Gateway of the Radiance of the Sun and Stars, which opens the eyes of sentient beings and enables them to know the Dharma to be cultivated. There is also the Gateway of the Radiance of Awesome Spiritual Power, which bestows the definitive teaching of the Mahayana upon those who do not yet know it. There is also the Gateway of the Meditative Concentration of the Radiance of the Invisible Usnisa, through which one becomes the most honored in the assembly and is revered by all.

There is also the Gateway of the Meditative Concentration of the Radiance of the True Characteristic, through which one is trusted within the assembly and is not slandered.

Thus, O Tối Thắng, a bodhisattva enters one thousand seven hundred gateways of utterly pure luminous meditative concentration, enabling innumerable sentient beings to hear Dharma they have never heard before and, while still seated upon their seats, to arouse the resolve for unsurpassed, true, and perfect awakening.

At that time, beyond as many worlds as the sands of immeasurable Ganges Rivers to the east, there was a bodhisattva named Bảo Dũng. Surrounded before and behind by his retinue, he came to the Saha world. Arriving before the place where the Buddha dwelt, he bowed his head at the Buddha’s feet and then stood to one side. Joining his palms and facing the Buddha, he spoke verses of praise:

Your supremely gentle, compassionate countenance,

Most honored within the human realm,

Is free from the defilements of worldly afflictions;

Through giving, your virtues are immeasurable.

Your radiance illumines hundreds of kotis of worlds;

Inwardly pure, your wisdom is beyond measure.

You show loving-kindness and compassion to everyone,

Dharma King of the trichiliocosm.

We have come here today,

Wishing to hear the amrita of wisdom.

Through the Buddha’s teaching, I shall be delivered,

Like one who, being thirsty, seeks a spring.

When the Guiding Teacher appears,

It is like the blooming of an udumbara flower.

We, beings afflicted by many illnesses,

Are protected and sustained for the sake of deliverance.

Now I have come to this land,

Having passed through innumerable realms.

Long have I suffered hunger and thirst;

May the Buddha compassionately expound the teaching.

After Bodhisattva Bảo Dũng had spoken these verses in praise of the Buddha, he again bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and each member of his retinue sat down in proper order. The Blessed One then addressed those in the assembly:

“Listen attentively! Listen attentively! Reflect well upon this! I shall explain and distinguish the bodhisattva practice that is neither born nor extinguished, good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. Retain it in your minds.”

The bodhisattvas said to the Buddha:

“We rejoice and wish to hear it.”

The Blessed One taught:

“The path is non-arising, while arising is not the path. Non-perception is perception of the path, yet that too is not the path. Nonexistence is the right path; existence is not the path. Non-grasping is the path; attachment is not the path. To have the intention of attaining the path is itself not the path. Only non-attainment and non-seeking are called the path. When the mind is bound to the gateways of the faculties, that too is not the true path. Only the elimination of the gateways of the faculties is called the path.”

At that time, the bodhisattvas in the assembly again had this thought: “Why is name said to be the practice that is neither born nor extinguished and also said to be the right path? Now that nirvana has been mentioned, could nirvana possibly not be the path?” Knowing the thoughts of the assembly, the Blessed One immediately asked:

“Is nirvana different from the path?”

The bodhisattvas replied:

“It is not different.”

The Blessed One taught:

“Therefore, one should say that nirvana is not different from the path. Why is this? Because I say that this itself is nirvana, this itself is the path, this is the unconditioned, this is complete cessation, and this is the place of peaceful happiness. Furthermore, if one says that this is name-and-form and the six entrances, that when name-and-form and the six entrances flourish, the path flourishes, and that when name-and-form and the six entrances cease, the path ceases—would that then be the path of nirvana?”

The bodhisattvas replied:

“No, Blessed One.”

The Buddha taught:

“Excellent! Excellent! As I have said, the path is not nirvana, and nirvana is not the path. Arising is fundamentally cessation, while cessation is not arising. The path is the basis of nirvana, yet nirvana is not the path. Name-and-form and the six entrances are likewise so.”

When the assembly had heard this Dharma of contemplative meditative concentration in the practice that is neither born nor extinguished, they all attained the mind that is neither born nor extinguished and became irreversible.