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

The Great and Vast Wisdom Acarya said: If a person of superior faculties and superior wisdom takes no delight in the teachings of non-Buddhist paths or the Two Vehicles, possesses great capacity, is courageous and keen, has no doubts, and is suited to cultivating the Buddha Vehicle, that person should awaken this mind: “I now aspire wholeheartedly to attain Anuttara-samyaksambodhi, unsurpassed complete and perfect enlightenment, and seek no other fruit.” Because this vow is resolute, Mara’s palace is shaken, and all Buddhas throughout the ten directions bear witness and know it.

Such a person is continually reborn among devas and humans, experiences supreme happiness, and remembers and retains this aspiration without forgetting it. If one vows to accomplish the bodies of the bodhisattvas in Yoga, this too is called awakening bodhicitta. Why?

Because all these honored ones share the body of the great Buddha Mahavairocana.

Just as a person who desires official rank awakens the intention to seek official rank and should therefore cultivate conduct appropriate to an official, so a person who desires riches awakens the intention to seek riches and conducts business involving material wealth.

Whenever people seek what is wholesome or unwholesome, they first manifest the corresponding intention and afterward accomplish their aim. Therefore, one who seeks bodhi awakens bodhicitta and cultivates bodhicarya. Having awakened the mind in this way, one must understand the characteristics of the activity of bodhicitta.

Its characteristics are distinguished through three gateways. In the past, when Buddhas and bodhisattvas dwelt upon the causal ground, they awakened this mind and took ultimate truth (Paramartha-satya), practice and vows (Pranidhana), and samadhi as their discipline. Until they attained Buddhahood, they never forgot it even momentarily.

Only within the Mantra Dharma is there the attainment of Buddhahood in this very body. For this reason, samadhi, which is absent and unspoken of in the other teachings, is taught here. The three are: first, practice and vows; second, ultimate truth; and third, samadhi.

1. Practice and Vows (Pranidhana)

A practitioner should constantly recollect this thought: “I shall bring benefit and happiness to every sentient being in the realm of sentient beings without exception, contemplating all conscious beings throughout the ten directions as being like my own body.”

“Benefit” means exhorting and inspiring all sentient beings, causing every one of them to dwell securely in unsurpassed bodhi, and ultimately never using the teachings of the Two Vehicles to bring them across.

The Mantra practitioner knows that all sentient beings contain the nature of the tathagatagarbha and can all dwell securely in unsurpassed bodhi; therefore, the practitioner does not use the teachings of the Two Vehicles to bring them across.

The Avatamsaka Sutra states: “There is not a single sentient being who is not fully endowed with the Tathagata’s wisdom. They fail to realize it only because of deluded thinking, inversion, and attachment. If they abandon deluded thinking, omniscience and natural wisdom will both manifest before them.”

“Happiness” means that the practitioner knows that all sentient beings will ultimately attain Buddhahood and therefore does not dare to despise or slight them. Furthermore, within the gateway of great compassion, sentient beings are truly worthy of assistance. One provides everything they seek and does not spare even one’s own body or life, ensuring that they are safe and joyful. Once they have drawn near and come to trust the teacher’s words, the closeness of this relationship also makes it possible to teach them the path. When ignorant sentient beings cannot be helped through coercion, the Mantra practitioner guides them forward through skillful means.

2. Ultimate Truth (Paramartha-satya)

Contemplate that all dharmas lack self-nature. What does it mean to lack self-nature? Ordinary beings cling to reputation, profit, support, and the necessities of life, concerned solely with keeping the body comfortable, and unrestrainedly indulge the three poisons and five desires. The Mantra practitioner continually grows weary of and rejects these things.

Furthermore, followers of non-Buddhist paths cherish their bodies and lives. Some rely upon medicines to live long in the palaces of immortals; others seek rebirth in the heavens as their ultimate end. The Mantra practitioner should contemplate these people: When the force of their karma is exhausted, because they have not escaped the three realms, their afflictions remain. The calamities of past lives have not ended, and evil thoughts arise again in succession; afterward, they sink into the sea of suffering and can scarcely escape. One should know that the teachings of non-Buddhist paths are likewise illusions, dreams, and mirages.

Consider also followers of the Two Vehicles. Sravakas cling to the teaching of the Four Truths, while pratyekabuddhas cling to the twelve links of dependent origination. Knowing that the four great elements and five skandhas will ultimately be destroyed, they give rise to a profound mind of weariness and detachment.

They break sentient beings’ attachment and diligently cultivate their fundamental teaching, thereby certainly realizing its fruit and taking great nirvana as their ultimate end. The Mantra practitioner should contemplate followers of the Two Vehicles: Although they have broken attachment to a person, because they still possess attachment to dharmas, they merely purify consciousness and know nothing beyond it. Having attained their fruition, they reduce the body to ashes and extinguish cognition, arriving at a nirvana that is like the vast, clear, ever-quiescent sky.

Those of fixed nature are difficult to arouse; only when their allotted number of kalpas is complete do they awaken again. Those of indeterminate nature need not wait for a fixed number of kalpas; upon encountering the proper conditions, they immediately redirect their minds toward the Great Vehicle, rise from the conjured city, and cross beyond the three realms. Because they formerly had faith in the Buddha, they hope that the Buddhas and bodhisattvas will employ fitting skillful means to awaken the great mind in them.

Beginning anew with the first of the Ten Faiths, they pass successively through all the stages below, undergo hardships for three incalculable kalpas, and practice austerities before finally attaining Buddhahood. Knowing that the wisdom of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas is narrow and inferior, one cannot take delight in it either.

There are also sentient beings who awaken the Mahayana mind and practice bodhisattva conduct, cultivating every Dharma gateway without exception. They pass through asamkhya kalpas, cultivating the six paramitas and myriad practices, and only after all are complete do they realize the fruit of Buddhahood. Their accomplishment takes a very long time because they cultivate the Dharma piecemeal and sequentially.

Having contemplated as above, the Mantra practitioner now again awakens the mind to benefit and bring happiness to every sentient being in the realm of sentient beings without exception. With great compassion, the practitioner resolutely transcends the domains of non-Buddhist paths and the Two Vehicles. The practitioner further cultivates the supremely excellent Dharma of Yoga, by which an ordinary being can enter the stage of Buddhahood and even transcend the domain of tenth-stage bodhisattvas.

The practitioner also profoundly knows that all dharmas lack self-nature. What does it mean to lack self-nature? This has already been explained.

Alas! The dharmas of the deluded path arise from false thinking, which develops successively into boundless and innumerable afflictions, causing beings to revolve through the six destinies. Once awakening occurs, false thinking ceases and is eliminated; because all varieties of dharmas are extinguished, they lack self-nature.

Furthermore, out of compassion, the Buddhas initiate activity from suchness to rescue and embrace sentient beings. They prescribe medicine according to each illness and reveal various Dharma gateways to counteract each affliction, providing a boat at the ford of delusion to carry beings to the other shore. Even the Dharma should be relinquished, for it lacks self-nature.

As the Mahavairocana’s Attainment of Buddhahood Sutra states: “Dharmas have no characteristics; this is the characteristic of empty space.”

Having completed this contemplation, it is called the bodhicitta of ultimate truth. One should know that all dharmas are empty (sunya), thereby awakening to the fact that dharmas are originally unborn. The essence of mind is naturally suchness. One perceives neither body nor mind and dwells in equal quiescence. Ultimate, true wisdom is made never to retreat or be lost.

If the deluded mind arises, recognize it but do not follow it. When delusion ceases, the source of mind is empty and quiescent, complete with myriad virtues and inexhaustible in wondrous functioning. Therefore, the Buddhas throughout the ten directions take ultimate truth, practice, and vows as their discipline. Simply by possessing this mind, they can turn the Dharma wheel and benefit both self and others.

As recorded in the Avatamsaka Sutra:

Compassion, radiance, and wisdom are the sovereign,
Corresponding together with skillful means.
With faith and understanding, the mind is purified;
The Tathagata’s powers are immeasurable.

The Avatamsaka Sutra further states: “From the First Stage through the Tenth Stage, great compassion is sovereign on every stage.”

As the Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitayus states: “The Buddha’s mind is great loving-kindness and compassion.”

The Nirvana Sutra also states: “Homage to Cunda! Although his body is a human body, his mind is identical to the Buddha’s mind.”

It further says:

After awakening the mind, the two are no different;
Of these two minds, the first is more difficult.
Before one has crossed over, one first takes others across;
Therefore, I bow to the initial awakening of the mind.

Having awakened the mind, one becomes teacher of devas and humans,
Far surpassing sravakas and pratyekabuddhas.
Awakening such a mind transcends the three realms;
Therefore, it is called the supremely unsurpassed.

As the Mahavairocana Sutra states: “Bodhi is the cause, great compassion is the root, and skillful means are the ultimate culmination.”

3. Samadhi

Having contemplated in this way, how can the Mantra practitioner realize unsurpassed bodhi? One should know that, in accordance with the natural order of Dharma, one should dwell in Samantabhadra’s mind of great bodhi. All sentient beings originally possess sattva, but because they are bound by greed, anger, delusion, and the afflictions, the Buddhas, in their great compassion, use skillful wisdom to teach this profound Secret Yoga.

They cause the practitioner to contemplate within the mind a white lunar disc. Through this contemplation, one illuminates and sees that the original mind is clear and pure, like moonlight filling all empty space, without any discrimination. It is also called awakened understanding, the pure dharmadhatu, and the ocean of the prajnaparamita of true characteristics, capable of containing every kind of immeasurable, precious samadhi.

It is distinct and clear like the stainless full moon. Why? Because all sentient beings contain Samantabhadra’s mind.

I perceive that my own mind has the shape of a lunar disc. Why is the lunar disc used as an analogy? Because the full moon is perfectly bright and round and is thus similar in character to bodhicitta.

The moon has sixteen parts, symbolizing the sixteen great bodhisattvas in Yoga, from Vajrasattva through Vajrasamdhi.

Among the thirty-seven honored ones, the Buddhas positioned in the five directions each represent one wisdom. Aksobhya Buddha, through accomplishing the great mirror wisdom (Adarsa-jnana), is also called vajra wisdom (Vajra-jnana). Ratnasambhava Buddha in the south, through accomplishing the wisdom of equality (Samata-jnana), is also called empowerment wisdom (Abhiseka-jnana).

Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, in the west, through accomplishing the wisdom of wondrous observation (Pratyaveksana-jnana), is also called the wisdom of turning the Dharma wheel (Dharma-cakra-pravartana-jnana). Amoghasiddhi Buddha in the north, through accomplishing the wisdom that performs activities (Krtyanusthana-jnana), is also called karma wisdom (Karma-jnana). Vairocana Buddha at the center has as his basis the wisdom of the essential nature of the dharmadhatu (Dharmadhatu-prakrti-jnana).

The four Buddha wisdoms above produce the four Paramita Bodhisattvas. These four bodhisattvas—Vajra, Ratna, Dharma, and Karma—are the mothers who give birth to and nurture all sages and noble ones of the three times; they are formed within that mudra. From the essential nature of the dharmadhatu emerge the four Buddhas.

Each of the four Tathagatas in the four directions encompasses four bodhisattvas.

Aksobhya Buddha in the east encompasses four bodhisattvas: Vajrasattva, Vajraraja, Vajraraga, and Vajrasadhu.

Ratnasambhava Buddha in the south encompasses four bodhisattvas: Vajraratna, Vajrateja, Vajraketu, and Vajrahasa.

Amitabha Buddha in the west encompasses four bodhisattvas: Vajradharma, Vajratiksna, Vajrahetu, and Vajrabhasa.

Amoghasiddhi Buddha in the north encompasses four bodhisattvas: Vajrakarma, Vajraraksa, Vajradamstra, also called Vajrayaksa, and Vajrasamdhi.

Because each of the Buddhas in the four directions possesses four bodhisattvas, there are sixteen great bodhisattvas.

Among the thirty-seven honored ones, after excluding the five Buddhas, four Paramitas, four embracing deities, and eight offering deities, only the sixteen great bodhisattvas are taken as those encompassed by the Buddhas in the four directions.

Furthermore, in the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, from inner emptiness through the emptiness of the self-nature of non-nature, there are also sixteen meanings. Within the mind-substance of every sentient being is a portion of pure nature, in which all practices are inherently complete. Its essence is extremely subtle, clear, and distinct. Even while revolving through the six destinies, it never changes, just like one of the moon’s sixteen parts.

Concerning the moon, when the luminous characteristic of a single portion is aligned with the region of the stars, it does not appear solely because sunlight overwhelms its luminous nature. After the new moon arises, it increases day by day until, on the fifteenth day, it becomes full and unobstructed. Therefore, the Dharma of contemplative practice begins by using the letter A, causing it to arise distinctly within one’s original mind. One gradually makes it stainless, clear, and distinct and realizes the wisdom of non-arising (Adyanutpada-jnana).

The letter A means: “All dharmas are originally unborn.”

According to the Commentary on the Mahavairocana Sutra, the letter A possesses five meanings:

1. The letter A is bodhicitta.

2. The letter A (A) is the practice of bodhi.

3. The letter AM means the realization of bodhi.

4. The letter AH means parinirvana.

5. The letter AH means complete wisdom of skillful means.

The letter A is also correlated and explained through the four words “open, reveal, awaken, and enter” in the Lotus Sutra.

“Open”—to open the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and thereby open bodhi and nirvana—is like the first letter A and means bodhicitta.

“Reveal”—to reveal the Buddha’s knowledge and vision—is like the second letter A and means the practice of bodhi.

“Awaken”—to awaken to the Buddha’s knowledge and vision—is like the third letter AM and means the realization of bodhi.

“Enter”—to enter the Buddha’s knowledge and vision—is like the fourth letter AH and means parinirvana.

In summary, complete accomplishment is like the fifth letter AH and means the perfection of the wisdom of skillful means.

The letter A, meaning bodhicitta, is then praised. The verse says:

Within an eight-petaled white lotus, one cubit wide,
Clearly appears the radiant white letter A.
The meditation and wisdom fingers, the two thumbs, both enter the Vajra Bond,
Invoking entry into the Tathagata’s wisdom of quiescence.

One who comprehends the letter A and decisively contemplates reality should contemplate pure consciousness, radiant and perfectly luminous. If one sees it even once, this is called seeing the true ultimate truth. If one continually sees it, one enters the bodhisattva’s First Stage. If it gradually develops and increases, it expands throughout the dharmadhatu and becomes equal to empty space. Able to contract and expand it freely, one will possess omniscience (Sarva-jnana).

A person who cultivates Yoga contemplation should fully cultivate the practices of the three mysteries and realize the meaning of attaining the body through the five characteristics.

The three mysteries are as follows. First is the mystery of body (Kaya-guhya), such as forming mudras to invoke and invite the noble assembly. Second is the mystery of speech (Vag-guhya), such as secretly reciting every phrase of a mantra clearly and without error. Third is the mystery of mind (Mano-guhya), such as dwelling in Yoga and contemplating bodhicitta in correspondence with the pure white full lunar disc.

Next, the five characteristics for attaining the body are explained. First is penetrating the mind; second is bodhicitta; third is the vajra mind; fourth is the vajra body; and fifth is realizing unsurpassed bodhi and attaining the indestructible vajra body. Only when these five characteristics have been fully prepared does one attain the body of the principal deity.

That perfect luminosity is the body of Samantabhadra and is also Samantabhadra’s mind, identical to the Buddhas throughout the ten directions. The cultivation and realization of the three times have a sequence, yet attainment and awakening are thus. There is no past, future, or present.

The mind of an ordinary person is like a closed lotus flower; the Buddha’s mind is like the full moon. If one accomplishes this contemplation, the lands throughout the ten directions, whether pure or impure; conscious beings in the six destinies; the practices and stages of the Three Vehicles; the formation and destruction of lands throughout the three times; the distinctions in sentient beings’ karma; the characteristics of bodhisattva practices upon the causal ground; and the Buddhas of the three times—all manifest within it. One directly realizes the body of the principal deity and fully possesses all the practices and vows of Samantabhadra. Therefore, the Mahavairocana Sutra states: “The Buddha has proclaimed that the mind is truly thus.”

Question: It was said earlier that followers of the Two Vehicles possess attachment to dharmas and therefore cannot attain Buddhahood. If they are now instructed to cultivate the samadhi of bodhicitta, what is the difference?

Answer: Because followers of the Two Vehicles possess attachment to dharmas, they remain for an extremely long time in realization of the principle, submerged in emptiness and stagnant in quiescence. Only when their allotted number of kalpas has ended do they awaken the great mind. Furthermore, relying upon piecemeal gateways of virtue, they pass through innumerable kalpas before they can finally abandon them. For this reason, their path cannot be relied upon for practice.

The present Mantra practitioner has already broken the two attachments to persons and dharmas. Although capable of correctly seeing true wisdom, because of obstructions beginningless in origin, the practitioner may still be unable to realize the Tathagata’s wisdom of all wisdom. Wishing to seek the wondrous path, one cultivates in sequence and proceeds from the state of an ordinary being into the stage of Buddhahood.

This is precisely this samadhi. Through it, one can realize the self-nature of the Buddhas, awaken to the dharmakaya of the Buddhas, realize the wisdom of the essential nature of the dharmadhatu, and accomplish Mahavairocana Buddha’s svabhavakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya, and nisyandakaya. Because the practitioner has not yet realized the nisyandakaya, the practice must be adjusted appropriately.

The Mahavairocana Sutra states: “Siddhi arises from the mind.”

As the Vajrasekhara Yoga Sutra says: “When the Bodhisattva Sarvarthasiddha first sat upon the vajra seat and was about to realize the unsurpassed path, he wished for all the Buddhas to confer this ground of mind upon him; only then could he realize the fruit.”

If people today possess a resolute mind and practice according to the teaching, without leaving their seats they will cause samadhi to manifest before them and accordingly accomplish the body of the principal deity.

The Mahavairocana Sutra’s Dharma of the Sequence of Offerings states: “If one lacks the power for vast increase and benefit, one should abide in the Dharma and contemplate bodhicitta alone. The Buddha taught that this contains the myriad practices, by which one gradually advances toward the stainless, utterly pure Dharma.”

This bodhicitta can contain all the meritorious dharmas of the Buddhas. If cultivated and realized, it manifests, and one will become a guide of all beings. If one returns to its source, it is the land of Ghanavyuha. Without leaving one’s seat, one can accomplish all activities.

In praise of bodhicitta:

TREATISE ON AWAKENING THE MIND OF UNSURPASSED COMPLETE AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT

WITHIN THE VAJRASEKHARA YOGA

ONE FASCICLE (End)