菩薩本生鬘論

Afflictions bind, their nature and function pervading everywhere. The power and function of ultimate meaning utterly extinguish the outflows. Wholesome roots arise, free from every inversion.

That principle of quiescence never diminishes or declines. The cause of true benefit brings a beautiful appearance. Strive diligently in cultivation and increase offerings.

In village after village, cultivate increasingly in this way. Everywhere becomes transformed and peaceful. The sphere of ultimate practice is harmonious and free from contention.

Inversions are completely ended, and the wordless principle is awakened to. Far removed from the two views, one accords with the Middle Way. Excellent is this intrinsic nature!

Such is harmony. The devas delight in that realm of generosity. Diligent day and night, one perfects the ultimate meaning.

The Blessed One manifests responsively and awakens sentient beings; thus the marks of form increase and become perfect. Consonant and harmonious, purity pervades all. The form and marks of the Tathagata are true and supreme.

The bodhisattva reflects upon the practice of generosity: the Venerable Adornment Protecting the Nation Jataka,

the eleventh exposition of its meaning.

The true mark of the great person is harmonious and unchanging. This is the bodhisattva practice of conforming, comprehending, and penetrating. Conformity arises from realizing that all dharmas are quiescent and unchanging.

The vast pure conduct is cultivated in full. Through wholesome karma one resolutely cultivates and realizes the fruit of non-arising. Penetrating the profound principle, one increases wondrous conduct.

Awakening to the teaching, one strives diligently in cultivation. One enters completely into the fundamental intrinsic nature. Abiding in the past, one increasingly rests in quiescence, subdues sentient beings, and shoulders the great work.

With genuine virtue and words consonant with truth, one causes the minds of beings to extinguish every kind of anger and establishes a suitable abode.

The teaching of ultimate meaning ends all anger and delusion. This is truly the moral virtue of one in training. Otherwise, one undergoes the suffering of continuous, unceasing wandering.

To reach the utmost intrinsic nature is precisely to illuminate the path of samsara. Respectful generosity does not seek blessed reward, but aims to attain a refuge of peace and perfect quiescence. Name and form become mastered.

Wandering ceases. Wisdom is supreme; it is whereby one in training abandons afflictions. This is the sovereign cause for the appearance of a true Dharma teacher.

Afflictions are eliminated, and speech accords with principle. Mental activity is signless, and every evil is removed. Boundaries are no more, and inversions are also cleansed.

This is the time when every affliction and obstruction is purified and stilled. Speech removed from words is true speech.

What is it to abandon the realm of the suffering maiden?

One in training departs from it and is not disturbed by defilement.

What is the root of every defilement?

When sensual desire surges fiercely, it is truly difficult to restrain. Through transformation and growth, one aspires to attain the non-retrogressive ultimate meaning and end every defiling obstruction. Thus one bound to the lot of womanhood undergoes suffering.

Establishing a cause of quiescence, one penetrates harmonious speech. Generosity is supreme, and awakening is sovereign. Cultivating stillness, one leaves every conceptual proliferation.

From among the Brahma devas, discussion increases; seeing the nature is perfected, wisdom corresponds, and every realm is penetrated. Completing study and practice, one receives the preceptor’s precepts. The power of wisdom can destroy every cause of inversion and can also discuss the teaching.

It produces instructors and acaryas, precept masters who serve as standards and models. Such true causes are fully present. Discussions accord, while debate develops.

One can end defiling bonds, and wholesome purity appears. This is the pure nature, far removed from every bondage, and the skillful means for awakening to emptiness.

What is it to penetrate the power and function of karma?

The wisdom that awakens to the perpetual quiescence of all dharmas is called supramundane. All stupas and shrines, and even the blessed rewards of the Brahma heavens, are likewise thoroughly understood. That true cause nurtures the realm of the nature.

With the blessed reward of the heavenly realm, anger is no more. Aspiring in this way from the pure abode, one upholds the words like a parasol spread overhead. Cultivate diligently and rely upon teachers and spiritual friends.

In receiving such instruction, depend upon the wholesome and worthy. Practice the ultimate meaning and plant wholesome causes. Such truth is known to be difficult to attain.

It is the abode in which bodhisattvas dwell fully. When a bodhisattva manifests responsively, inversions become still, and the bonds and defilements of mind cease. One leaves the practice of the pratyekabuddha and abandons all arrogance.

What is the form of the afflictions that bind and veil everywhere like space and clouds, from which ordinary beings find it difficult to escape?

The profound and excellent True Dharma is difficult to obtain. It transcends every course of perception, recollection, and thought. According with conditions, the bodhisattva reveals skillful means.

From among those of pure conduct, this body of mine appears. Far removed from the human path, it ends all evil karma. Wholesome causes are created, and the appearance is revealed.

Following the path of the Ten Wholesome Actions, one shuns deluded thought. In the pure abode, sorrow and suffering cease to bind. The intrinsic nature is lucid and adorned with blessed rewards.

This is the realm in which the bodhisattva transmits teachings through speech, observes precepts and dignified conduct, and clearly understands liberation. Abiding in non-retrogression, one acts freely. Discussing with the teacher, one understands the marks of emptiness and quiescence.

How do beings attain the karmic causes of the Ten Wholesome Actions through a teacher’s instruction?

By leaving every deluded attachment to permanence, annihilation, existence, and nonexistence.

What is it to remain far removed and not create evil causes?

The world establishes causes and creates inverted karma. Beings burdened by karma do not penetrate its source. Producing self-conceit, their clouded eyes cannot see; the torrent of inversion flows on endlessly, changing, accumulating, and giving rise to the view of self.

Sublime and excellent intention corrects the delusion of self. Afflictive conceptual proliferation and delusion create karma. Thus one recognizes defilement and quiescence.

One’s own body is purified, and no class of being is slighted. Sentient beings do not turn back, while craving and grasping increase. Not cultivating conduct and wisdom, they bind themselves with evil karma.

Being indolent in generosity, they have no wholesome causes. Understanding bodhisattva conduct, the mind is purified. Exemplary teachers transmit it through speech.

If the mind is not cultivated, the nature of self-conceit increases. Failing to understand that meaning, virtue grows ever darker. Failing to examine the source, one can hardly establish guidance.

Through one’s own actions, things accumulate, transform, and flow. With inverted thoughts, how could anger cease? Ultimately nothing is real; one clearly knows it to be illusory.

Wholesome roots arise, and one leaves false dharmas far behind. This is where an exemplary spiritual guide teaches clear recognition and the complete ending of every deluded thought. Excellent, good men!

The form and marks of those of great pure conduct increase. Aspire to perfect every practice of quiescence.

What is it to cultivate the wholesome and quiescent dharmas?

It is to penetrate, awaken to, and cultivate the signless Dharma. That is the broad meaning of purity perfected through progressive cultivation. Such a good man has ended afflictions. This is the excellent benefit of quiescence. Having penetrated and revealed it, one should cultivate peace. That sovereign heavenly realm has indeed harmonized with the marks of the great person. Its power and function encompass all, attaining the state of quiescence. Establishing such causes, one perfects sacred power. One transcends the path of the sravaka Lesser Vehicle. Mundane appearances and speech increase.

The bodhisattva cultivates generosity: the Venerable Adornment Protecting the Nation is born in the Brahma heaven and extensively expounds the twelfth meaning of the Jataka.

Such is the true bondage of afflictions. Through the supramundane path of Dharma, sovereign power and function may be attained. This is the conforming penetration of the true ultimate meaning and the wisdom that recognizes worldly benefit.

It eradicates every root of self-conceit. The bodhisattva gives what is difficult to give and rescues beings from evil karma. Knowing clearly that the precepts are king among dharmas, that afflictions transform without cease, one cultivates the secret practice and abandons self-conceit.

Such a one is the benevolent father of the world, the great person who nurtures children. With the intrinsic nature equal, he understands the principle of transformation. The teaching vehicle accords with dharmas of merit, yet the path remains constant.

Penetrating the principle of adornment, he establishes causes for the world. He expounds the teaching and dedicates his single body to the path. Resolutely he converts those of false teachings and non-Buddhist paths.

This is the deluded place where the True Dharma is not sought and the truth of karmic cause, effect, and retribution is not understood. Cultivate quiescence promptly in this way. With a composed appearance, one’s nature is free from inversion.

One creates no evil karma, reveres and trusts the Three Jewels, does not delight in craving, and with wisdom comprehends all paths of the past. Every supreme virtue is clearly known. Cultivating generosity, one produces wholesome quiescence.

This is the pure, untainted eye of wisdom. One should leave places of ignorance far behind. Not knowing the true Three Jewels is indeed a realm of dark delusion.

Thus one does not understand the root cause of defilement. The Brahma realm clearly comprehends the three marks.

What is unwholesome?

It is the active arising of afflictions that cannot be stopped. This is the place far removed from every inverted activity. I myself expound the speech of the Brahma assembly.

Cultivating goodness oneself, one fully possesses pure conduct. In that pure place, one abides and enters. The Brahma kings cultivate to perfection.

It is the realm where the Brahma assembly practices generosity. Its intrinsic nature is pure, and every place is peaceful and joyful. The reward body aspires to attain concentration, wholesome purity, and perfect quiescence—supreme and most honored.

In the meaning and nature of the Tathagata, intimates and enemies are not distinguished. With sovereign power and function, one abides in cultivated practice. The Jewel of the Sangha is perfect and perpetually abides in the world.

Resolute aspiration seeks to attain form and marks that pervade everywhere. Cultivating wisdom and understanding, the mind has no cause of defilement. When the appearance manifests, all sensual desire is absent, as with an arhat.

How do beings escape inverted evil karma?

With a quiescent mind, they establish the signless cause. The practice of giving arises in accordance with true benefit. Receiving the sacred teaching, they end the path of samsara.

With good causes and joyful intent, they rely upon the king. Through penetration and peace, the intrinsic nature becomes manifest. This is reliance upon the cause of the Ten Wholesome Actions.

The essential nature is accomplished, harmonizing like a benevolent mother. Abiding increasingly therein, the mind becomes fulfilled. Through generous beneficence, power and function arise.

Relying upon the benevolent mother, one attains peace. Vast knowledge and vision tame rulers. In the four directions she appears like a benevolent, loving mother, and every debate and conceptual proliferation is abandoned.

Harmony arises, and all affairs become auspicious. Like an arhat, one extinguishes self-conceit, inversions, and the bondage of afflictions. The lineage develops, ending greed, anger, and delusion, the three root delusions.

It is like driving away clouds that obscure the bright moon—lucid, serene, and lovely! Thus one penetrates true benefit. With the appearance of royalty, pleasing bearing, and excellent form and marks, one abandons benefit and attains the fruit of non-arising.

Houses and women cannot compare. Pure and free from defilement, one leaves sensual desire far behind. This is where the true realm of mind becomes manifest.

The king of Magadha personally comes to that place. His power is unsurpassed; he is pure and free from defilement. Leaving delusion, pride, and fear, he eliminates sensual desire.

Entering the tathagatagarbha, he realizes the wordless principle and the equality of the true mind. He penetrates the three times and every path of samsara. Relying upon that realm, blue-green flowers flourish and fragrance fills every place.

Its appearance accords with proper, dignified forms; its true name is the Mahayana, the Great Parinirvana. Merit and virtue are fully present and entirely perfected. Upholding the scriptures, wisdom blazes forth.

This is an exemplary abode where deluded thoughts all cease.

What is the wisdom without differentiation or cause that gives rise to the beneficial dharmas of the Ten Wholesome Actions? What is the mark of their cause?

True quiescence has the appearance of ended pride. Wholesome purity is harmonious, and merit is pure and wondrous. Power and function are complete, and impurities are eliminated.

One practices the Ten Wholesome Actions and cultivates the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. A place of delusion is flooded with inversions. Not following the Ten Wholesome Actions is precisely the realm of hunger and thirst.

It is a place where every kind of poison is encountered. A king free from desire acts with pure excellence. He cultivates freely.

In conformity with dharmas, he sees that afflictions, craving, and dull delusion bind. The supreme foundation for bhiksus is the proper use of excellent requisites. The root of the view of self tightly binds the three times.

Retributive obstructions cause the body to create unwholesome karma. Not following the sages is the root of all evil karma. The sovereign heavenly maiden leaves the human path far behind.

One should cultivate genuine practices. Those who do not cultivate the Ten Wholesome Actions are deluded. In a fitting place, proclaim the True Dharma.

Cause the mind to rejoice and wisdom to arise. Consciousness is pure and wondrous, and accords purely with the world. Such is the true meaning of sovereign consciousness.

From the intrinsic nature arise endlessly wondrous meanings. Fully accomplish the secret, harmonious practices. Constantly uphold that wondrous, wholesome Dharma.

Its sublime foundation converts devas and humans. Cultivate the six paramitas in the footsteps of the ancestral Buddhas. Shoulder the great work and cultivate progressively in this way.

Establish enduring causes and leave fear far behind. Expound the wondrous Dharma and receive it in cultivation. Excellent practices arise from wholesome roots.

Cultivate pure excellence wholeheartedly, firm and unwavering. Serve, expound, and eliminate delusion. Extinguishing afflictive obstructions is the proper conduct of a sage.

Sublime and supreme, generosity extends everywhere. Uncontaminated action is the cause of purity. A mind unattached to desire is the root of every undertaking.

Reflections are unreal, appearing according to mind. The true ultimate meaning is pure conduct. In the unceasing torrent, fear makes cultivation difficult.

Inverted forms mark a withered realm. Weakness and ignorance arise from failure to cultivate diligently. Admiring the pure abode, maintain the precepts correctly.

End angry speech; mind is originally signless. A sovereign ruler truly reveals the dharmas of governing a nation. The power and function of the five skandhas are the roots of cultivation.

In their modes of activity, know clearly the wholesome and unwholesome nature. Though bound by afflictions, the essential nature is originally suchness. In every refuge, the mind seeks the Dharma of the path.

When all conceptual proliferation ceases, power and function do not arise. This is a place where factors are lacking through insufficient cultivation. Supreme dharmas are difficult to follow because of fear.

Afflictions and obstructions originally have no boundaries. Maintain pure conduct and remove the root of sensual desire. How could inverted forms easily arise?

Their force is hard to restrain, yet delusion should be subdued. With pure generosity, the mind is stainless. Responding everywhere, one is revered by the devas.

Afflictions do not arise, and sovereignty is complete. Nature is originally cause and harmony, thereby causing the various kinds of sentient beings to arise. Such is the consonance of pure benefit.

How is the mind peaceful and joyful, like the harmonious appearance

of the devas?

That meaning becomes clearer: seeking a cause of renunciation, one attains the fruit beyond training. It is like a realm with a king and a vast nation. He personally administers the principles of government. Wishing the people to look up to him, he keeps them always in mind. His words are composed, truthful, and reasonable.

What is it to understand clearly the meaning of recognizing a corresponding mental state without being defiled by evil?

Delighting in cultivation, one ends obstructions and breaks fetters. Because of afflictive causes, one takes on evil karma and follows the worldly current. The activity of conversion arises in reliance upon wisdom. Cause and effect are clear and are explained ever more plainly. The benevolent mother from heaven speaks in accordance with Dharma. She gives true causes and acts according to Dharma. The intrinsic nature is harmonious; causes of contention are no more. Thus does she act.

What is it to cultivate correctly the meaning of non-retrogression and receive the devas’ praise?

Pure excellence appears, and causes of contention are abandoned. One masters active karma

like an arhat. According with causes, one abides in a sovereign place. Teaching true benefit, one should rely upon the company of sages. Like clouds covering all, one leaves the practice of sensual desire. The devas cultivate together; delusion is fearful. The Buddha taught thus; contemplate silently and accord with it. The true excellent cause is like the earth that supports all. Cultivate generosity without concern for blessed reward. Manifesting in a place, its benefit is inexhaustible. Sages also manifest illness and calamity. The benevolent mother instructs, and her kindness extends everywhere.

In the realm of dull delusion, one aspires to cease creating karma.

With such favorable conditions, what is the cause of a non-retrogressive mind?

Not understanding the marks of offenses, the ignorant commit them all. Boundless quiescence fully includes seeing and hearing and is sovereign and harmonious.

What is sincerity?

To attain excellent delight is exceedingly difficult! Perfect liberation covers all like clouds. The supreme truth is obscure to deluded beings. It is like a benevolent mother loving her children. Those of false teachings and non-Buddhist paths cannot be converted.

As delight changes, how can it be left behind?

Defiled attachment to sensual desire is precisely evil. The fourfold assembly leaves it behind and establishes causes of delight. Its form is difficult to display; one penetrates harmonious speech.

The devas abandon assemblies of conceptual proliferation. The king’s words cover all like clouds. The sharp sword is not used, and its force becomes still.

The nature of dharmas is unbound; all coexist and cease. Through collective karma, causes are established, and all reach the shore of awakening. Taking afflictive attachment to self as the cause of cultivation is like a shadow following a form—how could attainment be easy?

Clearly know that every benefit is unreal. Wisdom ferries beings across; thus it is free from contention. The king’s discourse asks: What is non-self?

In the very place of darkness and dullness, forms of pride arise. Knowing them to be unreal, wisdom arises from defilement. Resolve to make offerings and give body and life.

Because of attachment to self, the nature is not pure and wondrous. On the supreme shore of awakening, all dharmas are explained. Applying oneself to the aspiration, defiling obstructions are utterly extinguished.

Clearly know the pure and wondrous peace of the devas. Deluded beings are bound by wrong views; through direct and dependent retribution, body and mind suffer hunger and thirst. The essential nature is free from delusion, so strive to establish causes.

Great merit is difficult to obtain in the world. Giving freely, one seeks the unsurpassed fruit. The king’s instruction abandons sensual desire.

Establishing causes through generosity brings endless benefit. Cultivating the cause of non-self transforms benefit and ends the path of affliction. Thus all beings’ conceptual proliferations cease.

Creating worldly karma, they are surrounded by afflictions. Throughout the three realms, cultivate in reliance upon Dharma. Penetrating quiescence, one receives inexhaustible rewards.

Wholesome roots arise, and their power does not regress. Beings are secure and leave deluded dharmas behind. Beneficial conduct arises, free from afflictive obstructions.

Abiding in the wondrous cause, what does one leave behind?

One does not create causes of suffering; delusion gradually opens, and peace is attained. The cause of ultimate meaning arises in conformity. Abiding in compassion is the meaning of wholesome benefit.

This is the Buddha’s teaching. It is like setting forth food: benefit is freely available and all dharmas are complete. As cultivation transforms, power and function accord.

Penetrating non-retrogression, one leaves causes of contention far behind. One gives wherever one is, as a benevolent mother does. Nurturing beings is a genuine duty; as the king teaches, it is a sphere of action unobstructed by afflictions.

Beings attain it and are converted by a mind of loving-kindness. Clearly know that beings follow the path of peace and joy. Such is the true cultivation of generosity.

The supreme ultimate meaning illuminates the wordless principle. Sages appear and reveal the intrinsic nature. The mind of giving arises and is cultivated everywhere.

Wisdom destroys the roots of the three poisons. Nurturing all creatures is an excellent benefit. The benevolent mother’s instruction is free from every cause of contention.

What is emptiness?

It is that toward which the sages proceed together. It fully includes the four fruits of the sravakas. One clearly understands the world’s true means of livelihood.

Recollection, nurturing, speech, and bearing are pure. Establishing causes through generosity, one attains the highest station. Quiescence gives rise to goodness and ends every inversion.

Power and function harmonize, enabling cultivation of the ultimate meaning. Self-conceit diminishes, in accordance with the signless Dharma. One penetrates the teaching in a place of quiescence.

Ending afflictive obstructions, one benefits beings. Habitual defilements are eliminated, and one rests freely at ease. Desire does not arise in the mind, and wondrous conduct is understood.

A strict exemplar brings the highest benefit. This is a realm where wisdom increases without cease. The appearance of pure excellence is truly lovely.

Such is the intention of a ruler. With words entirely ended, wisdom penetrates. Merit in the human realm has power like that of the devas and accords with the ending of greed.

Such true benefit is peaceful. Beings indulge desire, but the ruler restrains himself. Virtue accords with the true meaning of liberation.

Attaining pure conduct, he aspires to end defiled dharmas. A jewel from the great ocean arises in accordance with principle. Deluded suffering and defiling bonds make the dangerous road hard to cross.

Following the uncontaminated path, one ends defiled dharmas. Truly harmonious, it transcends every thought.

The bodhisattva’s generosity: the Venerable Adornment clearly expounds Protecting the Nation,

the thirteenth Jataka.

All dharmas are quiescent, and their true power and function accord with new cultivation; aspiring to attain blessed rewards, one accords with the teaching. What is called conformity means penetrating the bodhisattva’s instruction.

Beings are everywhere; wholesome karma is perfected, and power and function accord. Bodhisattvas receive the Buddha-Dharma and teach sentient beings without the slightest rest. They attain perfect wisdom, help eager students seek wondrous meaning, and abide peacefully and freely; in them beings find illumination and penetration.

As months and years pass, knowledge increases. Through the power of ultimate meaning, the practice of generosity is perfected. They gather in the modes of practice.

With sufficient power, they liberate beings. They produce excellent forms and marks, perfecting truth. Cultivating the cause of generosity, they are as full as the sea.

It increases thought after thought. Quiescence is ever-present, without any fear. Harmonious speech is fully present.

Rain and dew moisten all. Dry ponds brim with water. The true cause of the shore of awakening is vast and endless.

Pure excellence is complete, and evil karma does not arise. Inverted conceptual proliferation is a cause of self-conceit. Only by following the wholesome path can it be completely eliminated.

The arising cultivation of generosity manifests harmony. Houses are pure, spacious, and unburdened. Their pure and wondrous parts shelter beings.

The three karmas are fulfilled, sovereign causes are established, and one wholeheartedly follows true benefit. This is a place of giving, where the mind assumes responsibility. Peace and pure excellence are perfectly harmonized.

The great vows of sentient beings are excellent and precious. Through instruction, one penetrates the nature. Following the Dharma of the Ten Wholesome Actions, one penetrates benefit.

Cultivating mindfulness with focused upholding, power is attained naturally. Converting beings everywhere, one regards it as non-action. When goodness arises from its source, discourse does not arise.

Probing the root, one is never benighted. The physical body wanders on, and the ultimate is difficult to attain. Karmic activity is harmonious.

What is the cause by which one correctly cultivates liberation, penetrates it, and accomplishes it?

The forms and constituent parts of beings are of every kind. The great cause is difficult to accomplish and requires increased spiritual power. The self-substance arises, and the realm of the nature is complete.

This is the place of non-self, where the mind is not inverted. The physical body is limited, but the intrinsic nature is boundless. It is never discussed.

The nature is originally constant, the cause of the torrent. The intrinsic nature is accomplished; everything is thus. Creating incongruous karma brings only transformations of conceptual proliferation.

Wondrous function arises from an undefiled cause. Species change and forms are destroyed. It is like the conditions for conceiving a child, as the four marks transform.

Every constituent part pertains to the myriad beings and things. Form, power, and function arise from blessed rewards. In dwelling and study, that mind is like the sea.

This is a life filled with fears. Increase reaches its limit, equal and undivided. Fully hearing and retaining, one cultivates wholesome dharmas.

In accord with beings, this extends throughout all creatures.

What is the defilement of conceptual proliferation?

Cultivating deluded thought is precisely evil karma. When the mind is lucid, evil is completely ended. True like the sea, fear, contention, and conceptual proliferation all cease.

Teaching impartially, one gives rise to ultimate meaning. The created appearance is suitably responsible. That harmonious power is settled like the sea.

The countenance is clear like an open sky. In the place of cultivation and study, sacred power becomes more evident. With true reverence and faith, one ends the inverted realm.

Every action everywhere is harmonious and composed. Body and mind abide peacefully, ending the path of cyclic wandering. One does not fall into evil paths, and one’s power is capable.

Cultivating the signless, one shuns evil poisons. Even upon encountering calamity, poison does not draw near. Abiding in purity and leaving evil, one generates the merit of the heavenly realm.

Respected by everyone, one dwells in stability. Teaching countless people, the mind remains unattached. The appearance is pure, and harmonious speech is perfect.

Advancing in quiescence is the path of peace. The nature of the five skandhas manifests everywhere in vastness. The true ultimate meaning is as unfathomable as the sea.

Without cause or root, it transcends both before and after. Wholesome purity without greed is like the vast sea. The bodhisattva’s practice teaches multitudes of beings.

Existence and nonexistence cease, serene like the sea. The appearance is like space; how could there be inside or outside? Afflictions and great obstructions are difficult to abandon.

The intrinsic nature contains goodness and is free from every inversion. Giving is endless, in accordance with the meaning of sovereignty. Cultivating according to conditions, one increases without cease.

Dull delusion binds tightly like poison. Great giving is difficult, but increasingly diminishes it. True wisdom is sovereign and composed.

Cultivating diligently, one converts through the Three Vehicles. Aspiring accordingly, the mind remains undefiled. Forms of pride do not bind, and the Ten Wholesome Actions accompany one.

Cultivating purity wholeheartedly, one becomes perfect like the sea. The wondrous meaning of the Tathagata contains the true nature. The great person does not discuss form and marks.

Upholding the True Dharma, he cuts off the mark of self. Worthy of being an exemplary teacher, he always remains far removed from the mark of self. Primordial marks are originally empty, while appearances arise.

Serene and peaceful, he gathers and penetrates like the sea.

Do not discuss deluded forms. Creating no bondage, form and marks harmonize in such freedom. Entering the pure realm, one leaves conceptual proliferation far behind.

The constituent parts everywhere are never damaged, and discourse also ceases. The various paths of humans and nonhumans are left behind by the body itself. Wholesome, unwholesome, deluded, and defiled states are all transcended.

On the proper nondual path, demonic obstructions naturally disappear. Defilement does not arise, like the deep and vast sea. The individual mark is composed, transcending self and other.

Causes have no boundaries, and all conceptual proliferation ceases. What comparison or analogy could adequately express it? The source is exhausted, and inversion is no more.

This is where afflictions lack any wholesome and wondrous cause. When karma ends contention and conceptual proliferation, forms do not appear. Transformation is perfected, like a boundless sea.

Seeking rewards for oneself is no secret or wondrous practice. The defiled and binding appearance is fearful. When wholesome conduct is not cultivated, afflictions are like this.

In the ultimate discourse, wisdom enters. Over a long time, all component forms become empty in an open, boundless abode. Repenting and leaving delusion, the profound mind rests in quiescence, far removed from the bonds of contention and conceptual proliferation.

Because they never cease, defiling bonds are the root.

What is the binding cause that makes beings difficult to teach?

Sentient beings come together without causes for cultivating goodness. Pure dharmas appear in various kinds. In the true place, self and other do not increase.

Like an ocean containing gold, the place accords with conditions; transformations appear, adorned in manifold ways. Like a blazing fire, the countenance becomes more radiant. Wholesome excellence is expressed, difficult for the world to equal, like the vast sea.

Evil karma is like fire and as immeasurable as the sea. Ever free from bondage, its power and function are vast. A mother’s instructional kindness is supremely genuine.

How can one teach so as not to be caught in the torrent? In sovereign form, one does not cultivate defilement or contention. Practice the Ten Wholesome Actions.

Give to beings. Cultivation accords, and wisdom is like the sea. Nurture all creatures, never abandoning their peace and joy.

Conceptual proliferation ceases, and ultimate meaning is perfected. Power and function increase, while form is not displayed. Such exemplary power and function are wholesome and wondrous.

Though hurrying after a livelihood, the mind is always at ease. Pure speech benefits beings. Establishing undefiled causes, one perfects every practice.

One should always relinquish. Signless quiescence has wondrous function like the sea. Fully possessing wholesome and pure causes, one perpetually ends afflictions.

The nature of bondage is empty, diminishing conceptual proliferation. Increasing and developing, it is immense as the sea. The bodhisattva’s cultivation can leave defiling causes behind.

Modes of practice appear, and sovereignty arises. Actions are composed, and the cause of cultivation arises.

What is excellent generosity, through which inexhaustible blessed rewards are attained?

It is the realm of truth, where in every place appearance, body, and mind are all settled. The Tathagata’s secret Dharma is true and unborn. The excellent cause is completed and arises in conformity.

Signless peace is a Dharma transcending the world. Cultivating in reliance upon it, beings attain freedom from contention and conceptual proliferation, in accordance with the true meaning of liberation. The evil torrent and arrogant intent cease, as in the conduct of a benevolent mother.

Evil karma, illness, and calamity arise through self-binding. Abandoning deluded thought, one cultivates the practice of suchness. Its pure wondrous function is as immeasurable as the sea.

Establishing a Dharma sanctuary, one sets forth the signless principle. Through selfless karmic conduct, one aspires to fulfill the vow. Such wondrous quiescent function is excellent.

The signless and selfless foundation is quiescent. Wisdom is like fire, and afflictions are like firewood. Beings comprehend and cultivate the three kinds of practice.

With the power and function of quiescence, one gathers blessed fruits. The true cause of afflictions is not created by intention. According with equality, one proceeds toward the supramundane.

Through the quiescence of ultimate meaning, causes are established and transformed. Strive to uphold it and end every karmic fabrication. Thus anger and rage are roots, derivative afflictions whose development is difficult to stop.

Pursuing evil karma makes cessation still more difficult. One destroys the pure Dharma and rejects the benevolent mother. This is what causes me to create dark karma.

Beings burdened by karma are difficult to teach the Dharma. Maintaining harmonious conduct, one establishes peace. Wandering on without destruction, they aspire to escape hunger and thirst.

Penetrating the ultimate meaning, one overcomes every difficulty. Cultivating true liberation, one comprehends speech and conduct. Pure and non-retrogressive, one should practice truthfully.

Falsehood and truth transform according to intrinsic nature. The principle is difficult to attain; cultivate quiescence wholeheartedly and awaken to “unattainability.” With wisdom in study and mind in cultivation, diligently seek the fruit. Purity appears, and one abides still and free.

Cultivating thus, one aspires to end delusion and defilement. Speech accords, and afflictions withdraw. Ultimately wholesome and pure, harmonious and true, the mind fully possesses compassion.

Wondrous true suchness perpetually abides in perfection. By according with virtue... beings thereby attain corresponding, non-retrogressive stillness in a pure abode.

Defilement and contention cease entirely, allowing the mind to become sovereign. That cause is not lost, but through delusion it was abandoned. Power and function are perfected, and every deluded thought disappears. One penetrates verbal teachings, and form and marks harmonize.