Kim Cang Đỉnh Du Già Trung Phát A Nậu Đa La Tam Miệu Tam Bồ Đề Tâm Luận

The Great and Vast Wisdom Acharya said: If there is a person of superior faculties and superior wisdom who takes no delight in non-Buddhist paths or the teachings of the two vehicles, who possesses vast and powerful loving-kindness and is free from doubt, that person should cultivate the Buddha Vehicle. One should arouse this resolve: “I now earnestly seek unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment and seek no other fruit.” When the mind decisively makes such a vow, the palaces of Mara tremble, all Buddhas throughout the ten directions bear witness and know it, and the devas and humans of that realm rejoice with gladness.

Being born there, one should retain this in mindfulness without forgetting it and vow to accomplish yoga in the bodies of all bodhisattvas. This is also called arousing the bodhicitta. All such persons are identical with the body of Mahavairocana Buddha.

Just as one who craves official rank arouses the wish to seek official rank, and with that mind pursues the course leading to official rank; and as one who covets precious wealth arouses the wish to seek precious wealth, and with that mind engages in the management of property; so those who seek pure conduct, whether for good or ill, initially depend entirely upon this mind and afterward form the corresponding intention.

Whoever seeks enlightenment arouses bodhicitta and cultivates the bodhisattva conduct. Having thus aroused the mind, one cultivates according to the characteristics of a bodhisattva’s mind. One who cultivates according to these characteristics distinguishes the three gateways of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Having formerly aroused such a mind here, one takes the vows and conduct of ultimate truth and samadhi as one’s precepts until Buddhahood is attained, never forgetting or neglecting them at any time. Always abiding within the Dharma of mantra, one attains Buddhahood in this very body. Therefore, samadhi is described within this teaching as a silent course of direct experience beyond words.

First is Conduct and Vow; second, Ultimate Truth; and third, Samadhi.

The initial vow means that a beginner in cultivation should constantly remember this resolve: “I am bringing benefit and happiness to sentient beings everywhere.” Contemplate all beings throughout the ten directions as being like one’s own body. Therefore, speak beneficial words and encourage all sentient beings to arouse the resolve, causing them to abide in unsurpassed bodhi. Ultimately, they will not fall into the teachings of the two vehicles but will be able to liberate those who practice the truth.

Know that all sentient beings contain the Tathagata-nature and that all can abide within the realm of enlightenment. Therefore, they are not to be liberated by the teachings of the two vehicles. Thus, the Avatamsaka Sutra says: “There is not a single sentient being who does not fully possess the wisdom of the Tathagata.

Yet because of deluded thinking, inversion, and attachment, beings fail to realize it. If they abandon deluded thinking, omniscient wisdom, natural wisdom, and unobstructed wisdom will be realized immediately in the present.” Therefore, it is said that such a person brings happiness. This means that the practitioner knows that all sentient beings will ultimately attain Buddhahood.

One must not dare to despise them. Moreover, through the gateway of great compassion, one can rescue sentient beings and fulfill all that they seek. One would not regret even sacrificing body and life, provided that their lives are kept safe.

Having made them joyful, one then draws near and becomes intimate with them. When they trust the teacher’s words and draw close, one can instruct those sentient beings who are ignorant, never abandoning them, but practicing truthful speech and skillfully guiding them onward.

Second is Ultimate Truth, meaning the contemplation of all Dharma gateways as devoid of intrinsic nature. Why are they said to lack intrinsic nature? Ordinary beings cling to reputation, profit, material support, and self-interest.

Their concern is to secure their own bodies, and they think only of the three poisons and five desires. Practitioners of truthful speech can remain far from conflict and abandon residual habits. Non-Buddhists, moreover, cherish this body and life.

Some employ medicines to live long in the realms of immortals; others regard rebirth in heaven as ultimate. A mantra practitioner should observe that when their karmic power is exhausted, they have still not escaped the three realms; their afflictions remain, their past karma is not extinguished, and evil thoughts continue to arise. Afterward they sink into the suffering ocean of samsara, from which it is difficult to escape.

Know that such are the teachings of non-Buddhists, resembling illusions, dreams, and shimmering heat.

Furthermore, followers of the two vehicles include shravakas, who cling to the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, and pratyekabuddhas, who cling to the twelve links of dependent origination. Knowing that the four elements and five skandhas ultimately disintegrate, they arouse profound disenchantment, destroy sentient beings’ attachments, and encourage cultivation of these Dharma gateways, thereby realizing their respective fruits.

They delight in nirvana and regard it as ultimate. A practitioner of truthful speech should observe that although followers of the two vehicles destroy attachments, they still cling to the Dharma. In the depths of consciousness, they have not yet understood completely.

Moreover, it takes them a long time to attain the fruit. They believe that when this body perishes, they will realize nirvana, stainless like the sun and eternally peaceful. Those of fixed nature find it difficult to arouse the resolve and must wait until the appropriate faculties mature over many kalpas, much less actually bring it forth.

Those of unfixed nature do not manifest such faculties in the present kalpa, but by chance turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle. Emerging from the conjured city, they appear to leave the three realms. This occurs because in past lives they had faith in the Buddha-Dharma.

Through the power of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, skillful means are created, according to which they arouse the great resolve. Beginning with the first of the ten stages of faith and proceeding through all the subsequent stages, they pass through three incalculable kalpas and cultivate ascetic practices. They afterward attain Buddhahood and recognize that the wisdom of shravakas and pratyekabuddhas is inferior and devoid of true happiness.

There are also sentient beings who arouse the Mahayana resolve and practice bodhisattva conduct through innumerable Dharma gateways. Passing through three asamkhyeya kalpas, they cultivate the six paramitas and myriad practices until all are complete, and then realize the fruit of Buddhahood. Their lasting accomplishment results from cultivating the teachings and progressing through successive stages of transformation and instruction.

Having contemplated as described above, practitioners of truthful speech now again arouse the resolve to benefit and bring happiness to the many realms of sentient beings and to the minds of all beings. With great compassion as their determination, they forever leave behind the domains of non-Buddhists and the two vehicles. They then cultivate the supreme yoga and can enter the noble stages from the state of an ordinary being.

They transcend the ten bhumis and the domains of bodhisattvas, and penetrate deeply into all Dharma gateways as devoid of intrinsic nature.

What is meant by the absence of intrinsic nature? As stated above, whenever one discriminates among dharmas, delusion arises from false thinking, giving rise to immeasurable and boundless afflictions and causing one to revolve through the six realms. Once awakening occurs, false thinking is eliminated and all dharmas cease. Therefore, they are said to lack intrinsic nature. Furthermore, out of compassion, the Buddhas activate functions from the real, rescuing and gathering in all sentient beings. According to their illnesses, they give medicine and bestow various Dharma gateways. These counteract their afflictions and delusion and enable them to reach the other shore. The Dharma itself must then also be relinquished; hence it is called devoid of intrinsic nature.

As the Mahavairocana’s Attainment of Buddhahood Sutra says: “All dharmas are without characteristics; their characteristic is that of empty space.” Having contemplated thus, this is called the bodhicitta of ultimate truth. Know that all dharmas are empty. Awaken to their original nature as unborn.

The essence of mind is naturally suchness. Seeing neither body nor mind, one abides in quiescent cessation, in the ultimate, equal, true wisdom, and causes all decline and loss to cease. If the deluded mind arises, recognize it and do not follow it.

When delusion ceases, the original mind is empty and quiescent, complete with myriad virtues and boundless wondrous functions. Therefore, all Buddhas throughout the ten directions take the vows and conduct of ultimate truth as their precepts. One who possesses this mind can turn the Dharma wheel and benefit both self and others.

As the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

Loving-kindness and wisdom are the guide,
Skillful means accord with them.

With faith and understanding, the mind is pure;

Furthermore, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, from the first bhumi through the tenth, great compassion is foremost at every bhumi. As the Sutra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Infinite Life says: “The Buddha’s mind is a mind of great loving-kindness and great compassion.” The Nirvana Sutra also says: “Homage to Cunda. Though his body is a human body, his mind is identical with the Buddha’s mind.” It also says:

Therefore, it is called supremely unsurpassed.

As the Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Bodhicitta is the cause, great compassion is the root, and skillful means are the culmination.”

The third teaching is Samadhi. Having contemplated in this manner, a practitioner of truthful speech asks: “How can unsurpassed bodhi be realized?” Know that this Dharma enables one to abide in Samantabhadra’s great bodhicitta. All sentient beings originally possess sattva, but are bound by the afflictions of greed, anger, and ignorance.

Therefore, out of great compassion, the Buddhas use skillful wisdom to teach the secret and extremely profound yoga, enabling practitioners inwardly to contemplate a universally full moon disc. Through the function of this contemplation, they illuminate and behold the original mind, naturally pure, like the light of the full moon illuminating all empty space without discrimination. It is also called complete awakening, the pure dharmadhatu, and the true characteristic of prajnaparamita.

It can contain many varieties of precious samadhi, like the full moon, pure, clear, and distinct.

Why is this so? Because every sentient being necessarily contains the mind of Samantabhadra. I contemplate my own mind as resembling the full moon. Why is the moon used as an analogy? Because the full moon is wholly luminous, just like bodhicitta. The moon is fully round on the sixteenth day. This symbolizes the advent of the Yoga Vajrasattva. The Vajra assembly has sixteen great bodhisattvas among the thirty-seven figures, occupying the Buddha positions of the five directions. Each manifests wisdom.

Akshobhya Buddha in the East accomplishes the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, also called Vajra Wisdom.

Ratnasambhava Buddha in the South accomplishes the Wisdom of Equality, also called the Consecration Wisdom.

Amitabha Buddha in the West accomplishes the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation, also called Lotus Wisdom and the Wisdom of Turning the Dharma Wheel.

Amoghasiddhi Buddha in the North accomplishes the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities, also called Karma Wisdom.

Vairocana Buddha in the Center takes the Wisdom of the dharmadhatu as the foundation.

From the wisdom of the four Buddhas above arise the four Paramita Bodhisattvas. These four bodhisattvas are Vajra, Jewel, Dharma, and Karma, the mothers who give birth to and nurture all sages and saints of the three times. Here they seal and realize the all-pervading essential nature of the dharmadhatu belonging to the four Buddhas. Each Tathagata of the four directions gathers and protects four bodhisattvas.

Akshobhya Buddha in the East gathers and upholds the four bodhisattvas Vajrasattva, Vajraraja, Vajraraga, and Sadhu.

Ratnasambhava Buddha in the South gathers and upholds the four bodhisattvas Vajraratna, Vajraprabha, Vajraketu, and Vajrahasa.

Amitabha Buddha in the West gathers and upholds the four bodhisattvas Vajradharma, Vajratikshna, Vajrahetu, and Vajrabhasha.

Amoghasiddhi Buddha in the North gathers and transforms the four bodhisattvas Vajrakarma, Vajraraksha, Vajrayaksha, and Vajrasandhi.

Each Buddha of the four directions has four bodhisattvas, forming sixteen great bodhisattvas among the thirty-seven deities. Apart from the Five Buddhas, the Paramitas, the four means of gathering, and the eight offerings are gathered and transformed by the sixteen great bodhisattvas of the Buddhas of the four directions.

Furthermore, in the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, from inner emptiness through the emptiness of the intrinsic nature of non-nature, there are sixteen meanings. Within the minds of all sentient beings there is a share of pure nature, complete in every practice. This essence is truly subtle and wondrous, genuinely lucid.

Even while revolving through the six realms, it is no more easily defiled than the moon on its sixteenth day. If only one portion of this moon’s luminous characteristic appears, it joins together as sunlight and seizes this luminous nature, and therefore it does not manifest. Afterward the moon begins to wax, increasing day by day until the fifteenth, when it becomes perfectly full and unobstructed.

Therefore, the practitioner first contemplates the letter A arising distinctly from the original mind, then causes obscurations to diminish so that it becomes pure and luminous, realizing the wisdom of the unborn. The letter A fundamentally signifies that all dharmas are unborn.

According to the Vairocana Sutra, the letter A contains five meanings:

First, the short sound A is bodhicitta.
Second, the lengthened sound A is the conduct of bodhi.
Third, the long sound Am means realization of bodhi.
Fourth, the short sound Ah means prajna.
Fifth, the lengthened sound Ah means the complete perfection of the wisdom of skillful means.

Furthermore, the interpretation of the letter A is like the four words in the Lotus Sutra: opening, revealing, awakening, and entering. To open the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, and to open bodhi and nirvana, is like the first A, signifying bodhicitta. Revealing that letter means revealing the Buddha’s knowledge and vision.

This is like the second A, signifying the conduct of bodhi. Awakening to this letter means awakening to the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. This is like the third Am, signifying the realization of bodhi.

Entering this letter means entering the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. This is like the fourth Ah, signifying prajna. In general, it means complete accomplishment.

The fifth Ah signifies the perfection of the wisdom of skillful means. The meaning of A as bodhicitta is then praised as follows:

Whenever one encounters the letter A, one should contemplate it decisively. Contemplate the perfectly full, pure consciousness. To see it even once is to see the true ultimate truth. One who sees it constantly enters the first bodhisattva bhumi. As it progressively increases, it pervades the dharmadhatu like empty space. Freely entering and emerging, one will fully acquire all wisdom. A person who constantly cultivates yogic contemplation completes the practices of the three mysteries, realizes the five aspects, and accomplishes the body. The three mysteries are:

First, the mystery of body, such as forming mudras and invoking the noble assembly.

Second, the mystery of speech, such as secretly reciting mantras, with every phrase clear and distinct and without error.

Third, the mystery of mind, such as, in yoga, corresponding with the pure, perfectly full moonlight while contemplating bodhicitta.

Thereafter, one illuminates the five aspects that accomplish the body:

First, penetrating the mind.

Second, bodhicitta.

Third, the Vajra mind.

Fourth, the Vajra body.

Fifth, realizing unsurpassed bodhi, making the Vajra body increasingly firm.

When the five aspects are complete, they form the five bodies of the principal deity. That perfect luminosity is the body of Samantabhadra and also the mind of Samantabhadra, of one essence with all Buddhas throughout the ten directions. It is likewise identical with what practitioners of the three times realize, before and after awakening, beyond past, future, and present.

The mind of an ordinary being is like a tightly closed lotus, while the Buddha-mind is like the full moon. If this contemplation is accomplished, the lands of the ten directions, whether pure or defiled; conscious beings of the six realms; the practices and stages of the three vehicles; the formation and destruction of worlds throughout the three times; the differences in sentient beings’ karma; the characteristics of bodhisattva practices on the causal ground; and all Buddhas of the three times are directly realized within this very body of the principal deity.

Thus all the practices and vows of Samantabhadra are fulfilled.

The Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Such is the true mind.” Therefore, the Buddhas have spoken and asked concerning what was previously taught by the two vehicles. Because those teachings still involve attachment to dharmas, they cannot lead to Buddhahood. One is now instructed to cultivate bodhicitta and samadhi. Why is there this distinction?

Answer: Followers of the two vehicles cling to dharmas, constantly realizing only principle and remaining submerged in quiescent emptiness for many kalpas. Therefore, it is difficult for them to depart and difficult for them to find a basis of reliance. A practitioner of mantra immediately destroys the two attachments to person and dharmas.

Although able to see correctly and know reality, because beginningless obstructions may not yet have been removed, one cannot yet realize the Tathagata’s omniscience. If one wishes to seek the wondrous path and cultivates it in proper sequence, one will enter the fruit of Buddhahood from the state of an ordinary being. This is samadhi.

One can attain the intrinsic nature of the Buddhas, awaken to their Dharma-body, realize the wisdom of the essential nature of the dharmadhatu, and become Mahavairocana Buddha: the intrinsic-nature body, enjoyment body, transformation body, and homogeneous emanation body. Because practitioners have not yet realized these, they cultivate only according to principle. Therefore, the Vairocana Sutra says:

“All bhumis arise from the mind.” The Vajrashekhara Yoga Sutra likewise says: “The Bodhisattva Sarvarthasiddhi first sat upon the Vajra seat and then realized the unsurpassed path.” All Buddhas universally preserve this ground of mind and can afterward realize the fruit. If ordinary beings now make their minds resolute and practice according to the teaching, without rising from their seats, samadhi will become present and they will immediately accomplish the body of the principal deity.

Therefore, the Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Make offerings in proper sequence. If one lacks the power to increase benefit, one should contemplate bodhicitta within this Dharma.” The Buddha said that all activities are complete therein, gradually perfecting the pure, utterly luminous, wondrous Dharma. This bodhicitta encompasses all the meritorious qualities and dharmas of the Buddhas.

When realized and manifested through cultivation, it is all spiritual guides. When one returns to it, one abides in the magnificently adorned land without rising from one’s seat and can accomplish every undertaking. This is the praise of bodhicitta:

End of the one-fascicle Treatise on Arousing the Mind of Unsurpassed Bodhi within the Vajrashekhara Yoga.