寶授菩薩菩提行經

Thus indeed have I heard: At one time the Buddha, together with one thousand two hundred and fifty great bhikṣus, was assembled in the storied pavilion of the Great Forest, in the city of Vaiśālī.

These ones were all great arhats, their outflows already exhausted, free of afflictions, having attained benefit for themselves, no longer bound by the fetters of existence, having laid down the heavy burden, their cultivation already accomplished. These ones were like the great dragon kings: their minds well liberated, their wisdom well liberated, having entered deeply into the realm of liberation, their minds attaining the right path, their faculties subdued, dignified and serene in deportment. Among them, only the venerable pudgala Ānanda alone had received the Buddha's prophecy to reverently uphold and guard the treasury of the Dharma.

There was also assembled a thousand great bodhisattvas. These ones had all attained the stage of non-retrogression, gathering and upholding the various dharma-gates, with the equanimous forbearance of the Dharma. They were all ones of great wisdom, endowed with firm and steadfast faith, their words and deeds in accord, having severed all doubts and confusions, their features perfect and complete, also never frowning but ever most joyful, possessing the power of diligence.

These ones were also Princes of the Dharma, knowing the self-nature of all dharmas, expounding the Dharma without weariness. The Dharma they spoke was free of all frivolous discourse; in liberating sentient beings they aroused the wisdom of the Buddha, and their meritorious benefit in guiding sentient beings was never in vain. They had attained the great forbearance of patience, were free of all inverted realms, had accomplished the Ten Grounds, well knew the three times, clearly understood that the self-nature is neither arising nor ceasing, had severed all bonds, were complete in dignified deportment, and had realized the Emptiness samādhi, the Signlessness samādhi, and the Wishlessness samādhi.

Though they had emerged from birth-and-death, they constantly roamed within saṃsāra. They did not delight in the practices of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, but, solely because they had aroused the vast and great bodhi-mind, they expounded the Dharma in accord with the capacities of sentient beings. Among them were the foremost great bodhisattvas: the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, the Bodhisattva Eloquent Accumulation, the Bodhisattva Jewel Hand, the Bodhisattva Fragrant Light, the Bodhisattva Boundless Light, the Bodhisattva Remover of Hindrances, the Bodhisattva Mind of Supreme Meaning, the Bodhisattva King of Attained Light, the Bodhisattva Severer of All Sorrowful Gloom, the Bodhisattva Sarva-viṣama-li-thi, the Bodhisattva Inner Practice,

the Bodhisattva Boundless Intent, the Bodhisattva Endowed with Great Diligence and Striding Intent, the Bodhisattva Supreme Intent, the Bodhisattva Universal Fullness, the Bodhisattva Anāvaraṇa-nār-thi, the Bodhisattva Ever Joyful, the Bodhisattva Supreme Golden Light, the Bodhisattva Contemplating the Meaning of All Dharmas, the Bodhisattva Aśu-gandhana-rāla-kusumita, the Bodhisattva Hand Accumulation, the Bodhisattva Sorrowless Auspiciousness, the Bodhisattva Sumeru Treasury, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva Fragrant Sovereign King, the Bodhisattva Joyful King, the Bodhisattva Boundless Wisdom Treasury, the Bodhisattva Upholder of the Treasury of All Wondrous Dharmas, and the Bodhisattva Lion's Roar Sound.

At that time, when the hour for taking food had arrived, the World-Honored One, together with the assembly of two thousand bhikṣus, donned their robes, took up their bowls, and entered the city of Vaiśālī to beg for alms. As they reached the city gate, the World-Honored One, with a mind of great loving-kindness and compassion, manifested the power of spiritual penetration, emitting a great radiance that illumined all things, transforming the city of Vaiśālī into vaiḍūrya, so that all the crossroads became clean and pure.

Where that radiance shone, the blind gained sight, the deaf gained hearing, the mute were all able to speak, those who were deluded all gained right mindfulness, and heavenly flowers rained down, filling the entire city. Heavenly music sounded forth of itself, its tones clear and exceedingly fine, resounding down to the Avīci hell and rising up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven. The sentient beings therein enjoyed only great delight.

At that time, King Tiṣya-cakṣ-tha-vi had a son named Jewel Tree, just three years old, who was carried up onto the palace hall in the arms of his wet-nurse. At that moment, Jewel Tree suddenly beheld the rare and auspicious signs of radiance, and further heard all manner of marvelous events within the city. He then stepped down to the ground, stood upright before his wet-nurse, and spoke this verse:

Who possesses such majestic power

That he manifests this rare sign,

Like a koṭi of sun-rays

Illumining the three-thousandfold realms?

The evil realms therein

Are all made pure and clean—

A power of spiritual penetration such as this,

Quickly explain it clearly to me!

Heaven pours down beautiful flowers

Throughout all the buddha-lands,

Transforming into fine, beautiful canopies

That cover over the open sky.

In the ten directions are strange birds

That circle and sing, then gather together;

Men and women are all most joyful,

Adorned in a most extraordinary way.

The blind can once again see,

The deaf can once again hear,

The mute can once again speak,

The deluded gain right mindfulness.

The coarse and evil ugly signs

Are transformed into beautiful forms;

All those who were unwholesome

Arouse minds of loving-kindness and compassion.

Whoever it is within the world

That arouses this power of spiritual penetration—

This is the most supreme of matters;

Mother, quickly tell it to me.

The wet-nurse also answered the youth Jewel Tree with a verse:

The Jewel of Merit and Virtue appears,

Pure and inconceivable;

Supreme in pure conduct,

Without taint, without increase or decrease.

The eyes of the World-Honored One

Look upon people as kindred;

He teaches and transforms throughout the world,

Without discriminating near from far.

He appears begging for alms as he comes,

Yet abides not in the marks of the world,

Untainted by the dharmas of the world,

Like a lotus flower amid the water.

He resolves the doubts of sentient beings;

With compassion he ever benefits beings.

The sufferings of sentient beings—

Only the Buddha can extinguish them.

Praised, he is not gladdened;

Reviled, he is also not angered;

Without obstruction and also without hindrance,

He roams the world like a cool breeze.

The Tathāgata, teacher within the world,

The supreme Great Dharma King,

Well understands the profound Dharma,

Thoroughly comprehends the Supreme Truth.

He ever expounds the Dharma of the Middle Way,

His words free of grasping and rejecting;

His phrasing of the Dharma is utterly pure and still,

Far removed from all places.

His wisdom is without the mark of self,

His accumulation of merit lofty and supreme;

The Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World,

The Tathāgata of boundless marks.

The Buddha's body is like Sumeru,

Lofty and supreme, none can equal it;

Like a nyagrodha tree,

Above and below in due proportion.

His form-marks are like refined gold,

His radiance truly resplendent,

Clear and translucent like vaiḍūrya,

Like the full bright autumn moon.

The crown of his head is round like a canopy,

His hair has a reddish-purple hue,

His topknot like a coiled conch,

Each strand curling to the right.

His countenance is like the full moon,

Serene and pure;

The white tuft between his brows

Curls round to the right.

His eyes are like blue lotus flowers,

Bright and clear, skilled in contemplation;

His beautiful lips are like the bimba fruit,

His teeth white, even, and close-set.

The mark of his tongue is like a lotus petal,

Broad and long, covering his whole face;

His nose is high, straight, and true,

His forehead broad and even.

His pair of brows are reddish-purple,

Extending to the corners of his ears;

His pair of ears are most upright,

Their lobes hanging down to his shoulders.

The Tathāgata's Brahma-voice

Is clear as the kalaviṅka's call,

Most fine and also gentle;

Sentient beings hear it with great joy.

The sounds of the kinnara,

The peacock, the goose, the parrot,

The myna, the kokila,

The kuṇāla, the mandarin duck,

The nirmukta, the jīvaṃjīva—

Such sounds as these,

Together with that heavenly music,

Are all utterly excellent.

Yet compared with the Tathāgata,

They do not equal even a single part;

Among sixteen parts, not even one.

His neck is slender yet round and full.

His shoulders are level and well-rounded,

His hands slender, fine, and long,

Complete with all the marks, round and curling,

Soft as tūla-silk.

His nails are beautiful, the color of red copper;

His chest is broad and level;

His navel is deep and concealed;

His private member is sheathed, like a king-horse's.

Hidden away and not revealed,

Down to the soles of his feet,

Whose color is like the pink lotus,

Level and also soft.

The mark of the thousand-spoked wheel,

Together with the marks of webbing and hooks—

All of these are fully complete,

Adorned with a hundred merits.

Endowed with the power of a Great Being,

Teacher of all within the world,

He ever roars the lion's roar,

Expounding the Dharma of non-duality.

The words that he speaks

Are true and without error,

Harmonious, loving, and also gentle;

Sentient beings hear them with great joy.

He awakens all sentient beings,

Opening forth in accord with their capacities;

He has merit, meaning, and benefit,

Being the foremost and most supreme.

Endowed with adornments such as these,

He is called the Buddha, the World-Honored One;

Throughout the worlds of the ten directions,

Neither the ordinary nor the holy can equal him.

After the wet-nurse had spoken this verse praising the Buddha, Jewel Tree then said:

"Mother! How may I be helped to behold the Buddha face to face?"

The Buddha, knowing the intent of the youth, then manifested his body, standing right at the gate of the palace. The wet-nurse pointed and said: "This very one is the Buddha." The youth Jewel Tree, atop the palace hall, gazed from afar upon the World-Honored One, joined his palms and bowed his head in reverence, and then thought: "If there be any sentient being who, seeing the Tathāgata so fully endowed with the marks of merit and virtue, does not arouse the vast and great bodhi-mind, then truly it is hard for him to gain benefit for himself." Jewel Tree further thought: "Throughout a hundred thousand koṭis of kalpas it is hard to encounter a Buddha;

now that I have been able to meet one, it is truly rare—I should cast aside this body in offering to the Buddha." Having thought thus, the youth then took up a thousand-petaled golden lotus flower and hurled himself down from the high palace hall toward the ground.

At that very moment, sustained by the majestic power of the Buddha, this youth abided in the open sky and offered up the golden lotus flower to the Buddha. At once this golden flower departed from the youth's hand, flew up, and came to rest in the open sky above the Buddha, then transformed into a canopy of flowers, adorned with a great many jeweled things, exceedingly beautiful.

At that time, the youth Jewel Tree, in the midst of the open sky, joined his palms toward the Buddha and spoke this verse:

I offer to you this lotus flower

Not in order to sever the afflictions

And all the dharmas,

But solely for the sake of the Buddha's bodhi.

As bodhi is unarisen,

Neither existent nor non-existent,

Neither grasped nor rejected,

I follow the Buddha's manifestation,

Without foolish attachment

To marks or to no-marks.

I depart from all marks

In making offering to the Buddha, the World-Honored One;

The merits thereby attained

Also depart from all marks.

Now in offering this flower,

I do not hope to realize the Two Vehicles;

Rather, by that Supreme Vehicle,

I shall ever turn the wheel in the buddha-lands.

At that time, the venerable Maudgalyāyana, standing in attendance at the Buddha's right side, seeing such events, then spoke a verse to question the youth Jewel Tree:

The Buddha Śākya, such as he is—

You faithfully revere and make offering to him;

Why then is your mind inverted,

Saying that bodhi is unarisen?

Jewel Tree answered with a verse:

All dharmas are fundamentally unarisen;

That which is given is "empty," unconditioned;

The nature of dharmas is fundamentally thus—

How could there be any place of arising?

Round of head, draped in the kāṣāya,

Abiding in the marks of an arhat—

If one does not understand the dharma of emptiness,

How can one know the wisdom of the Buddha?

If you still harbor deluded thoughts,

Though you make offerings to koṭis of Buddhas—

Though you make offerings to Buddhas in this way,

It is truly not an offering at all.

Venerable one, even up to this day

You too have not severed deluded thinking;

Why then does your mind

Speak of the signless as having signs?

The venerable Maudgalyāyana again questioned the youth:

"Does the Tathāgata not realize Unsurpassed, Right and Equal, Perfect Awakening, nor expound the Dharma?"

The youth Jewel Tree answered:

"The one of great wisdom abides neither in the mark of bodhi nor in the mark of the Tathāgata. The nature of all dharmas is unconditioned; dharmas are fundamentally unarisen. If one knows it just so, then one immediately understands the nature of dharmas,[1] without fear, departing from near and far, neither coming nor going, without action, without mark, abiding neither in the dharma of the Buddha, nor abiding in the dharma of the pratyekabuddha, nor abiding in the dharma of the śrāvaka; neither abiding in the dharma of greed, the dharma of anger, the dharma of delusion, and so on, nor abiding in the dharmas of deluded sentient beings, of ignorance and the afflictions;

neither abiding in form or formlessness, perception or non-perception, the pure or the impure, body, speech, mind, the equal or the unequal.

He abides in none of all the dharmas."

The venerable Maudgalyāyana again questioned the youth:

"Does the Tathāgata realize anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi?"

The youth answered:

"He does not!

If there were something realized, that would be to abide in the mark of the Tathāgata, to abide in the mark of bodhi, to abide in the mark of liberation. If one still abides in marks, that is foolishness."

The Great Maudgalyāyana said:

"Youth! I too am signless, yet you take me to have signs. Moreover, the things I asked before all belong to conventional truth."

The youth answered:

"Great Maudgalyāyana! All sentient beings, owing to foolish and false delusion, come to give rise to faculties that are not in harmony."

The Great Maudgalyāyana asked:

"If the beings are wholly false, then the dharmas too are false. If they are false, then in what way do you expound the Dharma?"

The youth answered:

"Great Maudgalyāyana! To expound the Dharma yet be signless—this alone is called expounding the Dharma. One who expounds the Dharma in this way has no place of coming, no place of realization, no place of knowing, and no place of seeing."

The Great Maudgalyāyana said:

"Youth! If it is just so, then why do you today make offering to the Tathāgata?"

The youth answered:

"Great Maudgalyāyana! If you see the mark of the Tathāgata in this way, that is to see the mark of the one who gives."

When the Great Maudgalyāyana had heard the youth speak, he fell silent and questioned no further.

At that time, the youth spoke again:

"Great Maudgalyāyana! If there be any sentient being who sees that there is such a mark, that one cannot be liberated, has no benefit for himself, departs far from the still and quiescent nirvāṇa of the Tathāgata, and will surely incline toward the Śrāvaka Vehicle."

The Great Maudgalyāyana again spoke a verse:

Though the youth is small in years,

His wisdom is like the great ocean;

In no long span of time

He has accomplished the dharma of non-arising.

The youth also spoke a verse:

That which is learned is in fact non-learning;

I learn that all things are without nature.

The one of great wisdom learns just so,

And I too learn in this way.

The things you ask of me

Grasp at the mark of sentient beings;

Sentient beings are fundamentally signless,

And all dharmas are unobtainable.

To say that bodhi has a mark

Is foolish, not right view.

Venerable one, how is it now—

Do you too abide in the various views?[2]

The wise one, with regard to the various views,

Sees all of them as pure;

The dharma of the Buddha, the dharma of folly,

And all the other kinds of dharmas—

Contemplated, they are all "empty" just so:

This is to know the nature of dharmas.

If one abides in the marks of existence and non-existence

While seeking to realize bodhi—

Dharmas are fundamentally neither existent nor non-existent;

How then could bodhi be attained!

The expounding of the Dharma is without bound or border,

And sentient beings are likewise so.

Abiding not in marks of distinction—

This indeed is nirvāṇa.

Practicing within saṃsāra in this way,

Teacher and disciple are without possession.

Within this signless Dharma,

The wise one is not deluded;

The deluded speak of there being realization,

And all of them abide in saṃsāra.

Ignorance grows ever greater—

This is to be possessed by Māra.

Sitting at peace upon the bodhimaṇḍa[3]

Is in order to point out conventional truth.

What the Buddhas realize

Is neither conventional nor quiescent.

Bodhi cannot be spoken,

Far removed from view and non-view.

If one sees it just as it truly is,

Then one penetrates the wondrous Dharma.

At that time, the venerable Śāriputra addressed the Buddha: "World-Honored One! Since when has this youth Jewel Tree cultivated this Dharma?"

The Buddha said: "Śāriputra! When I first aroused the mind of anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, this youth Jewel Tree had already realized the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas more than three hundred thousand kalpas earlier.

"Furthermore, Śāriputra! In the distant past, when I, having been given the prophecy by Dīpaṃkara, had just realized the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, at that time the youth Jewel Tree was already the great bodhisattva foremost in understanding emptiness within the Dharma of that Buddha."

Śāriputra again addressed the Buddha: "World-Honored One! By what cause and condition has the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree passed through such a span of time without realizing anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi?"

The Buddha said: "Śāriputra! Concerning this, you should ask the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree; surely he will explain it."

Śāriputra, receiving the Buddha's instruction, then went and asked the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree:

"Why is it that even to this day you have not become a Buddha?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"Venerable one! Because anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi is unobtainable, therefore I do not become a Buddha."

Śāriputra asked the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree:

"What do you think? Is the Tathāgata's becoming a Buddha then without a mark?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"The Tathāgata! If with regard to bodhi there is something realized, then that is grasping at a mark. If one grasps at a mark, that is deluded thinking."

Śāriputra asked:

"Bodhisattva Jewel Tree! From where do you come, in what forbearance of the Dharma do you abide, and in what practice? And by what dharma do you liberate impartially?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"With regard to a single dharma I do not even abide—how much less to four dharmas. Śāriputra! Do not say that I have a Dharma to expound! That I realize bodhi! That I am the Tathāgata! That I have attained liberation!"

Śāriputra said: "How truly rare, good son! If you can clearly know the Dharma in this way, then you should go to the Buddha and seek to go forth into homelessness."

At that time, the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree spoke this verse:

All those who go forth into homelessness

Grasp at the mark of going forth;

Their minds, deluded and confused by false thinking,

Take it that there is something attained.

Grasping at views and at the matters of dharmas,

Cultivating the cause of giving,

They wish to seek the unconditioned fruit,

Yet the place of their realization is conditioned.

Not awakening to the realm of signlessness,

They see arising and non-arising,

The marks of attainment and non-attainment,

And take it for the flavor of sweet dew.

Such a person, with regard to the Buddha-Dharma,

Is precisely one who destroys the Dharma.

The Tathāgata, the Śākya Lion,[4]

Expounds the quiescent, signless Dharma;

He abides neither in mind nor in non-mind,

He abides neither in nature nor in non-nature.

If one sees that he expounds in this way,

That is to see the Buddha's expounding.

If a person sees that there is a mark,

That person's eye is not pure;

The view of self is not liberation—

The wise one should not do this.

The view of self is precisely foolishness,

Grasping and seeing that there is a permanent mark;

Seeing from out of having-marks,

They take it that nirvāṇa is attained.

Not knowing the nature of illusion and dream,

And turning against "emptiness" and signlessness—

The Buddha says that such a person

Truly has no wisdom.

Furthermore, harmonizing the faculties,

Upholding the precepts, grasping at meditative absorption,

They arouse a mind of deluded thinking,

Abide in marks, and deludedly seek the fruit.

These are thieves within the Dharma;

The wise one must know this.

Owing to these various dharmas,

What benefit is there in going forth into homelessness?

Not discriminating among the dharmas,

Like an echo within the mountains—

The wise one does not see marks.

One should abide in suchness,

With no other nature or mark.

If one understands the Dharma in this way,

Why abide in the mark of going forth?

The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī said to the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree:

"What is it that is called bodhi?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"To depart from all language is called bodhi."

Mañjuśrī asked:

"Why do you speak thus?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"The Dharma is fundamentally wordless; therefore I speak thus."

Mañjuśrī asked:

"For the sake of bodhisattvas of the First Ground, what Dharma should be expounded? What dharma should they be told to learn?"

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree answered:

"Do not sever greed and desire or anger and hatred, do not cast off folly and delusion, do not sever the afflictions, and so on do not depart from the five hindrances, the six sense-bases, and the rest. Furthermore, with regard to wisdom and folly, give rise to no doubt or confusion; do not set the mind to recollect the Buddha, do not contemplate the Dharma, do not make offering to the saṃgha, nor uphold the precepts, nor seek the quiescent Dharma from good and virtuous friends, and so on do not even surmount the various calamities.

"Mañjuśrī! For the sake of bodhisattvas of the First Ground you should expound such a Dharma, and tell them to learn such a dharma. What do you think? With regard to those dharmas one should also not abide in marks. If one abides in marks, that is precisely to abide in dharmas. Such a person is foolish and deluded, arousing the dharma of arising and ceasing. If one harbors no doubt about this Dharma, then one knows the nature of the Dharma-realm. If any bodhisattva can clearly understand the nature of the Dharma in this way, then it is called expounding bodhi.

"Mañjuśrī! If there be any bodhisattva who, hearing this Dharma, is not in the least frightened, then that one has already attained non-retrogression."

At that time, eight bhikṣus in the assembly, suddenly hearing the Buddha expound this signless true Dharma, found no delight in their hearts, and so left the Dharma assembly, vomited blood, and met their end. All of them fell into the great Avīci hell.

At that time, the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! Why is it that these eight bhikṣus, having heard this true Dharma, manifested such evil and ugly signs?"

The Buddha answered:

"Mañjuśrī! Do not speak thus. These bhikṣus, throughout ten thousand kalpas, did not get to hear the Dharma, did not draw near to good friends; therefore, hearing this true Dharma today, they found no delight in their hearts.

Mañjuśrī! These eight bhikṣus, in a future life within the Avīci hell, will suddenly recall this true Dharma, and so will at once meet their end and be reborn up in the Tuṣita heaven as devaputras, or be born among humankind as Wheel-Turning Kings. After passing through sixty-eight kalpas they will serve ten nayutas of Buddhas.

In the final kalpa there will appear in the world a Buddha named Stainless Light Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Right and Equal, Perfectly Awakened. The Buddha Stainless Light at that time will be just as I am today, expounding the Dharma and bestowing prophecies upon devas and humans in the city of Vaiśālī. At that time, those devaputras, with their heavenly ears, will hear from afar the Buddha Stainless Light expounding the Dharma and bestowing prophecies, and will then, together with eighty thousand devaputras, go to where the Buddha is.

Having arrived, the devaputras will scatter all manner of heavenly flowers, filling the entire city of Vaiśālī, and will then make offerings, gaze upon, and reverently bow to the Buddha, and then withdraw to sit to one side and address the Buddha:

"'World-Honored One! We rejoice in concord and delight to hear the true Dharma. We beg you, for our sake, to expound the practice of bodhi.'

"At that time, the Stainless Light Tathāgata, for their sake, will expound the true Dharma, causing all of them to arouse the great bodhi-mind. As soon as those devaputras arouse the mind, they will all at once become non-retrogressive in anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. At that time, within the city of Vaiśālī there will also be eighty-four thousand people who likewise become non-retrogressive in anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. And there will further be one thousand two hundred people who, departing far from dust and defilement, attain the pure Dharma-eye."

At that time, the World-Honored One said to Mañjuśrī: "Suppose a bodhisattva, throughout a hundred thousand kalpas, were to cultivate the six pāramitās yet lack the wisdom of skillful means—this would not equal hearing this true Dharma for a brief span of time. Why so? Because when one hears this Dharma one attains immeasurable merit, how much more so to delight in hearing and accepting it, even up to copying it out, upholding it, reading and reciting it, and expounding it for others. Mañjuśrī! If there be a person who seeks the fruit of arhatship or pratyekabuddhahood, that one should not cultivate and learn this Dharma. If a person seeks the fruit of anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, that one should learn this Dharma."

At that time, the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree, knowing that the Buddha, the World-Honored One, and the bhikṣus had as yet no place from which food was offered, then said to his wet-nurse: "Quickly bring food from the palace to here, to make offering to the Buddha and the saṃgha!" The wet-nurse at once took fragrant, fine, and excellent food, filling a single bowl with it, and handed it to the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree. The bodhisattva then carried the bowl of food before the Buddha and made this vow: "All the Dharma that the Tathāgata expounds is truly inexhaustible. If these words are true, then may this food, however much it is used, never be exhausted, so that all the bhikṣus may partake of it to full satisfaction!"

Jewel Tree then ladled out a bowl filled with rice, offered it to the Buddha, and then said to the bhikṣus: "I beg you, venerable ones, out of compassion for me, that each of you accept this food! What I offer, I give not for the sake of body, nor give for the sake of mind; departing from the three karmic actions I seek no fruit of merit, I abide neither in conditioned dharmas nor in unconditioned dharmas, I grasp not at worldly dharmas, nor do I abide in the bodhi of the śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, or the Buddha!" Yet at that time not a single bhikṣu held out a bowl to accept the food.

The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree spoke again: "Venerable ones, please accept this food. The venerable ones delight in begging for alms; I now likewise delight in making offering. I, together with the venerable ones, likewise have nothing that is sought." The Bodhisattva Jewel Tree again made a vow: "The Buddha's words are true!

Just as Mañjuśrī, together with a hundred thousand koṭis of bodhisattvas, will in a future life, in the land of the Buddha Merit-Adornment King, all attain Buddhahood under one and the same title—if these words are true, then all the food in this bowl, even though it be ladled to fill the bowls held by the bhikṣus, the food therein shall still not be exhausted." By the power of this vow, the bowls of the assembly of bhikṣus were naturally filled with food.

At that time, the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree took the food remaining in his own bowl and gave it to all the people in the city of Vaiśālī, causing them all to be fully satisfied, yet the food in the bowl still was not exhausted.

At that time, the World-Honored One said to the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree: "There are five things most precious; if a bodhisattva accordingly practices giving, he attains purity. First, to practice giving without hope or seeking; second, not to grasp at a mind of giving; third, not to give rise to the mark of that which is given; fourth, not to see the recompense of giving; fifth, not to hope for the recipient to repay." The Buddha further said: "There are four things most precious that a bodhisattva practicing giving should bear in mind: First, ever to bear in mind the samādhi of 'emptiness'; second, ever to bear in mind the Buddha; third, ever to bear in mind great compassion; fourth, ever to think that one hopes for no recompense oneself.

If a bodhisattva practices giving in this way, it is called pure giving."

The Buddha said to Mañjuśrī: "This Bodhisattva Jewel Tree, after passing through thirty future kalpas, will realize anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, with the title Unfailing Power Renowned Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Rightly and Universally Knowing, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Beings, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One. When this Buddha appears in the world, his assembly will have boundless bodhisattvas. Those bodhisattvas will all abide in the stage of non-retrogression, their majestic power boundless, and their lifespan likewise immeasurable."

The World-Honored One, together with the assembly of great bhikṣus, having accepted the food, then returned to their own dwelling places.

At that time, the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One! What is this sūtra named? How should we uphold it?"

The Buddha said:

"This sūtra is named The Practice of Bodhi, and is also called The Foremost of All Dharmas; you should uphold it just so."

When they had heard the Buddha expound this sūtra, the Bodhisattva Jewel Tree and the great assembly, the devas, humans, asuras, gandharvas, and the rest, all rejoiced greatly, and faithfully accepted and respectfully practiced it.

Notes:

[1] Nature of dharmas (法性, dharmatā): refers to the true essential nature of all dharmas, that is, the unchanging true nature fully possessed by all phenomena in the universe.

[2] The various views (諸見): refers to all wrong views.

[3] Bodhimaṇḍa (菩提場), also rendered the bodhimaṇḍa-place of awakening: belonging to the country of Magadha, it is the place where the Buddha expounded the Dharma.

[4] Śākya Lion (釋師子) is an epithet of the Śākya-Honored One: the Buddha, within the three realms, is fearless and self-mastered, like the lion king among the beasts; therefore he is called the Śākya Lion.