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

The Acarya of Great and Extensive Wisdom said: If a person of superior faculties and superior wisdom takes no delight in the teachings of non-Buddhists or the Two Vehicles, possesses great capacity, and is courageous, keen, and free from delusion, that person should cultivate the Buddha Vehicle and arouse the mind as follows: “I now earnestly seek anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and seek no other fruition.” With this vow firmly resolved, the palaces of Mara will quake, and all Buddhas throughout the ten directions will bear witness and know. Such a person will constantly enjoy sublime happiness among humans and gods and, wherever born, will remember without forgetting. If one aspires to accomplish the bodies of the bodhisattvas in yoga, this too is called arousing the mind of bodhi.

Why are all these honored ones said to share the same body as Mahavairocana Buddha?

Just as one who covets fame and office arouses the desire to become an official and prepares to conduct oneself as an official, while one who covets wealth arouses the desire to acquire wealth and engages in business for profit, all who seek either good or evil first give rise to a thought and afterward form a resolve. Therefore, one who seeks bodhi arouses the mind of bodhi and cultivates the practices of bodhi. Having aroused the mind in this way, one must understand the characteristics of the mind of bodhi.

The characteristics of the mind of bodhi are distinguished through three approaches. In former times, while cultivating on the causal ground, all Buddhas and bodhisattvas aroused this mind and took ultimate truth, vows and conduct, and samadhi as their discipline, never forgetting them until they attained Buddhahood.

Only in the Mantra Dharma does one attain Buddhahood in this very body. Therefore, samadhi, definitively taught in these teachings, is not explained elsewhere.

1. Vows and conduct.

2. Ultimate truth.

3. Samadhi.

1. Vows and Conduct. This means that the practitioner should constantly contemplate as follows: “I must bring benefit and happiness to sentient beings, regarding all conscious beings throughout the ten directions as my own body.”

“Benefit” means encouraging all sentient beings to abide in unsurpassed bodhi, and never using the teachings of the Two Vehicles to bring mantra practitioners to liberation. Knowing that all sentient beings possess the nature of the Tathagata-garbha and are all capable of abiding in unsurpassed bodhi, one does not use the teachings of the Two Vehicles to bring them to liberation. Therefore, the Avatamsaka Sutra says: “There is not a single sentient being who does not fully possess the wisdom of the Tathagata. It is only because of deluded perceptions, inverted views, and attachments that they fail to realize it. If they abandon deluded perceptions, omniscient wisdom and unobstructed wisdom will manifest before them.”

“Happiness” means that the practitioner, knowing that all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood, does not dare to slight or despise them. Moreover, within the Dharma gate of great compassion, one must all the more rescue and assist them. Whatever sentient beings seek, one provides, sparing not even one’s own body and life, so that they may preserve their lives and attain contentment. Once they have drawn near, they will trust the teacher’s words, and through that intimacy one may guide them. Sentient beings are ignorant and deluded; the mantra practitioner must guide them through skillful means and must not coerce them.

2. Ultimate Truth. This means contemplating that all dharmas lack self-nature. Why do they lack self-nature? Ordinary beings cling to praise, gain, material support, and the means of livelihood in order to secure themselves, and they indulge in the three poisons and the five kinds of sensual pleasure. The mantra practitioner should truly become weary of these things and recognize that they must be abandoned.

Moreover, non-Buddhists cherish their bodies and lives. Some use medicines to prolong their lives in the realms of immortals; others attain rebirth in heaven and regard it as ultimate. The mantra practitioner should observe that when the force of their karma is exhausted, they still have not escaped the three realms; their afflictions remain, and their karmic offenses from former lives are not exhausted. When evil thoughts arise, they sink into the ocean of suffering and find it difficult to escape. One should understand that non-Buddhist teachings are likewise illusions, dreams, and mirages.

Furthermore, among followers of the Two Vehicles, sravakas cling to the Four Noble Truths, while pratyekabuddhas cling to the twelve links of dependent origination. Knowing that the four great elements and five skandhas will ultimately perish, they arouse profound revulsion and detachment, destroy attachment to a self among sentient beings, diligently cultivate their original teaching, establish realization of their respective fruits, and proceed directly to nirvana, which they regard as ultimate. The mantra practitioner should observe that although followers of the Two Vehicles destroy attachment to a person, they still retain attachment to dharmas. They know only the consciousness of meditative absorption and know nothing beyond it.

Furthermore, they attain the fruition in which the body becomes ashes and cognition is extinguished, proceeding directly to nirvana, like the vast realm of empty space—still, silent, and perpetually empty. Those of fixed nature find it difficult to arise from this state and must wait until the allotted kalpas are complete before arising. Those of unfixed nature are not bound by an allotted number of kalpas; whenever they encounter the appropriate conditions, they immediately turn their minds toward the Mahayana.

Rising from the conjured city, they have already transcended the three realms. Because of their faith in the Buddha from previous kalpas, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas employ skillful means, causing them immediately to arouse the Mahayana mind. Beginning anew with the Ten Faiths, they then pass through all the stages and, over three incalculable kalpas, cultivate difficult ascetic practices before attaining Buddhahood.

Knowing that the wisdom of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas is narrow and inferior, one should likewise not delight in it.

Furthermore, some sentient beings arouse the Mahayana mind and cultivate the bodhisattva practices, universally cultivating every Dharma gate without exception. They then pass through three asamkhyeya kalpas, perfecting the six paramitas and myriad practices before realizing the fruit of Buddhahood, which thus takes an exceedingly long time to accomplish. This is because the Dharma they cultivate is the sequential method of dispersed wisdom.

The present mantra practitioner, having contemplated as described above, further arouses the resolve to benefit and bring happiness to all sentient beings throughout the realm of sentient beings. With great compassion firmly established, the practitioner forever transcends the domains of non-Buddhists and the Two Vehicles and then cultivates the supreme Dharma of yoga. Thus one may pass from the state of an ordinary being into the state of a Buddha and also transcend the domain of bodhisattvas on the Ten Grounds.

Furthermore, one deeply understands that all dharmas lack self-nature. Why they lack self-nature has already been explained. All deluded dharmas arise from false conceptions, gradually developing into measureless and boundless afflictions and producing cyclic existence throughout the six destinies. Once awakening occurs, false conceptions cease and the various dharmas are extinguished; therefore, they lack self-nature.

Furthermore, out of compassion, all Buddhas give rise to wondrous functions from suchness in order to rescue sentient beings. Prescribing medicine according to the illness, they set forth various Dharma gates as antidotes suited to particular afflictions, carrying beings from the shore of delusion to the shore of awakening. Yet even the Dharma must be relinquished, for it has no self-nature.

As the Mahavairocana Sutra on the Attainment of Buddhahood states: “Dharmas have no characteristics; their characteristic is that of empty space.” Having contemplated in this way, one’s state is called the mind of bodhi of ultimate truth. One should know that all dharmas are empty. Having realized that dharmas are fundamentally unborn, the essence of mind is naturally suchness.

Seeing neither body nor mind, one abides in equal quiescence, and ultimate, true wisdom is kept from regressing or being lost. If a deluded thought arises, one recognizes it but does not follow it. When delusion ceases, the source of mind is empty and still; the myriad virtues are complete, and wondrous functioning is inexhaustible.

Therefore, the Buddhas of the ten directions take ultimate truth and vows and conduct as their discipline. Only one who possesses this mind can turn the Dharma wheel and benefit both self and others. As the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

Furthermore, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, on each ground from the First through the Tenth, great compassion is foremost. As the Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitayus says: “The Buddha’s mind is great loving-kindness and compassion.”

Furthermore, the Nirvana Sutra says: “Homage to Cunda! Although his body is a human body, his mind is the same as the Buddha’s mind.”

It also says:

Compassionate Great King of Medicine for the world,
Whose body and wisdom are both quiescent:
Within dharmas devoid of self is the true self;
Therefore, I pay homage to the Unsurpassed Honored One.
The initial and ultimate arousal of mind do not differ;
Yet of these two minds, the initial mind is difficult.
Before attaining liberation oneself, one first liberates others;
Therefore, I bow to the initial arousal of mind.
Having aroused the mind, one becomes teacher of humans and gods,
Surpassing both sravakas and pratyekabuddhas.
Such an arousal of mind transcends the three realms;
Therefore, it is called supremely exalted.

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

3. Samadhi. This means: Having contemplated in this way, how can the mantra practitioner realize unsurpassed bodhi?

One should know that, in accordance with the nature of reality, one must abide in Samantabhadra’s great mind of bodhi. All sentient beings inherently possess sattva-nature, but because they are bound by the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, the Buddhas, out of great loving-kindness and compassion, skillfully expound this extremely profound and secret Dharma of yoga. They cause the practitioner to contemplate a white moon-disc within the mind.

Through this contemplation, one illuminates and beholds the original mind as pure and quiescent, like the light of the full moon pervading empty space without distinguishing one place from another. This is also called complete awakening, the pure dharmadhatu, and the ocean of the true characteristics of prajnaparamita. It can contain measureless varieties of precious samadhis and is clear, white, and pure like the full moon.

Why is this so?

Because all sentient beings possess the mind of Samantabhadra. I see my own mind in the form of a moon-disc.

Why is the moon-disc used as an analogy?

Because the full moon is luminous in essence, like the mind of bodhi. The moon has sixteen parts, representing the sixteen great bodhisattvas in yoga, from Vajrasattva through Vajramushti. Each of the Buddhas of the five directions represents one wisdom.

In the East is Akshobhya Buddha, who, having accomplished the Great Mirror Wisdom, is also associated with Vajra Wisdom.

In the South is Ratnasambhava Buddha, who, having accomplished the Wisdom of Equality, is also associated with the Wisdom of Consecration.

In the West is Amitabha Buddha, who, having accomplished the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation, is also associated with Lotus Wisdom and the Wisdom of Turning the Dharma Wheel.

In the North is Amoghasiddhi Buddha, who, having accomplished the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities, is also associated with Karma Wisdom.

At the center is Vairocana Buddha, who takes the Wisdom of the Essential Nature of the Dharmadhatu as the foundation. The wisdoms of the four Buddhas described above give rise to the four Paramita Bodhisattvas.

These four bodhisattvas are Vajra, Jewel, Dharma, and Karma. They are the mothers who give birth to and nurture all sages and noble ones of the three times. From the seal that establishes the essential nature of the dharmadhatu, the four Buddhas flow forth.

Each Tathagata of the four directions gathers four bodhisattvas within his retinue.

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

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

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

Amoghasiddhi Buddha in the North gathers the four bodhisattvas Vajrakarma, Vajraraksha, Vajrayaksha, and Vajramushti. Each Buddha of the four directions has four bodhisattvas, making the sixteen great bodhisattvas.

Among the thirty-seven honored ones, excluding the Five Buddhas, the Four Paramitas, the latter Four Embracing Bodhisattvas, and the Eight Offering Bodhisattvas, only the sixteen great bodhisattvas gathered by the Buddhas of the four directions are counted here.

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, complete with all practices, whose essence is extremely subtle, white, and luminous. Throughout transmigration and transformation in the six destinies, it does not change, like one of the moon’s sixteen parts.

That one luminous aspect of the moon is not visible at night only because the sunlight has overwhelmed its luminosity. After the new moon, it increases day by day until, on the fifteenth day, it becomes full and unobstructed. Therefore, in contemplation the practitioner first uses the syllable A to awaken the luminous portion of the original mind, gradually making it distinctly white and bright and realizing the wisdom of the unborn.

The syllable A signifies that all dharmas are fundamentally unborn. According to the Commentary on the Mahavairocana Sutra, the syllable A has five meanings:

1. The syllable A (short sound) is the mind of bodhi.

2. The syllable A (long, sustained sound) is the conduct of bodhi.

1. The syllable Am (long sound) signifies realization of bodhi.

2. The syllable Ah (short sound) signifies nirvana.

3. The syllable Ah (long, sustained sound) signifies the perfection of the wisdom of skillful means.

Furthermore, when the syllable A is correlated with and used to explain the four words “open, reveal, awaken, and enter” in the Lotus Sutra, “opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision” means opening both bodhi and nirvana. Like the first syllable A, it signifies the mind of bodhi.

“Reveal” means revealing the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Like the second syllable A, it signifies the conduct of bodhi.

“Awaken” means awakening to the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Like the third syllable, Am, it signifies the realization of bodhi.

“Enter” means entering the Buddha’s knowledge and vision.

Like the fourth syllable, Ah, it signifies parinirvana.

In general, complete and perfect accomplishment is represented by the fifth syllable, Ah, which signifies the perfect wisdom of skillful means.

In praise of the syllable A and the meaning of the mind of bodhi, there is this verse:

An eight-petaled white lotus—a single Dharma gate;
Brilliant is the syllable A, its form luminous and round.
Wisdom and meditation together enter the Vajra Bond;
The Tathagata is quiescent, with boundless wisdom.

Encountering the syllable A means resolutely contemplating the syllable A; one must contemplate the pure consciousness as round and luminous. If one beholds it even for the first time, one sees the true ultimate truth. If one constantly beholds it, one enters the bodhisattva’s First Ground. If it gradually expands, it pervades the dharmadhatu, equal in measure to empty space. Freely contracting and expanding it, one will possess omniscience.

In general, the practitioner of the three mysteries realizes the meaning of forming the body through the five aspects.

The three mysteries are:

1. The mystery of body, such as forming mudras to summon the assembly of noble ones.

2. The mystery of speech, such as secretly reciting each mantra phrase clearly, distinctly, and without error.

3. The mystery of mind, such as abiding in yogic union and contemplating the mind of bodhi as a bright, white, pure moon.

Next, one should understand the five aspects of forming the body:

1. Penetrating the mind.

2. The mind of bodhi.

3. The vajra mind.

4. The vajra body.

5. Realizing unsurpassed bodhi and attaining the indestructible vajra body.

Only when these five aspects are complete does one form the perfectly luminous body of the principal deity. This is the body of Samantabhadra and also the mind of Samantabhadra, identical with the Buddhas of the ten directions. Although cultivation and realization by beings of the three times appear to have earlier and later stages, realization itself is neither past, future, nor present.

The mind of an ordinary person is like a lotus bud; the Buddha’s mind is like the full moon. If contemplation is accomplished, then within it directly manifest the lands of the ten directions, whether pure or defiled; conscious beings throughout the six destinies; the stages of practice in the Three Vehicles; the formation and destruction of worlds throughout the three times; the differing karma of sentient beings; the characteristics of bodhisattvas’ practices on the causal ground; and the Buddhas of the three times. Within the realized body of the principal deity, all the vows and practices of Samantabhadra are complete. Therefore, the Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Because the mind is truly such, the Buddha clearly expounds it.”

Question: It was previously said that followers of the Two Vehicles retain attachment to dharmas and therefore cannot attain Buddhahood. Why, then, are they now instructed to cultivate the samadhi of the mind of bodhi? What is the difference?

Answer: Because followers of the Two Vehicles retain attachment to dharmas, it takes them an exceedingly long time to realize the principle. They sink into emptiness and stagnate in quiescence, and only after the allotted number of kalpas do they arouse the Mahayana mind.

Furthermore, within the Vehicle’s gateway of dispersed wholesome practices, cultivation extends through countless kalpas; it is therefore wearisome and cannot be relied upon. The present mantra practitioner has already destroyed the two attachments to person and dharmas. Although capable of right view and true wisdom, because beginningless obstructions may still prevent the realization of the Tathagata’s omniscient wisdom, the practitioner who seeks the wondrous path must cultivate it progressively, passing from the state of an ordinary being into the state of a Buddha.

This samadhi enables one to reach the self-nature of all Buddhas, awaken to the Dharma-body of all Buddhas, realize the Wisdom of the Essential Nature of the Dharmadhatu, and accomplish the Svabhavakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya, and Emanation Body of Mahavairocana Buddha. Because the practitioner has not yet realized these, it is reasonable and necessary to cultivate them. Therefore, the Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Siddhi arises from the mind.” As the Vajrasekhara Yoga Sutra states: “A bodhisattva who accomplishes all meanings first sits upon the vajra seat and realizes unsurpassed awakening.

Then, through the Buddhas’ conferral of this mind-ground, the bodhisattva can realize the fruit.” If all people today resolve their minds and practice according to the teaching, then, without rising from their seats, samadhi will manifest before them and they will accomplish the body of the principal deity. Therefore, the sequential offering rite in the Mahavairocana Sutra states: “If one lacks the strength for extensive practices of increase, one should abide solely in the contemplation of the mind of bodhi.” The Buddha taught that the myriad practices are complete within it and that one will gradually perfect the pure and luminous Dharma.

This mind of bodhi can contain the meritorious qualities and Dharma of all Buddhas. Therefore, if one cultivates and realizes it, one appears as a guide for all beings. If one returns to the source, one reaches the Land of Esoteric Adornment and, without leaving one’s seat, can accomplish every undertaking.

In praise of the mind of bodhi:

TREATISE ON AROUSING THE MIND OF UNSURPASSED, PERFECT, COMPLETE AWAKENING IN THE VAJRASEKHARA YOGA ( End )