寶行王正論

PEACE AND LIBERATION

Chapter One

Liberated from every obstruction,

Perfectly adorned with all virtues,

I bow to all the wise ones,

The good friends of sentient beings.

Knowing the true Dharma well,

And cherishing the Dharma, O Great King,

For this reason I teach the Dharma;

May the Dharma wholly pervade you.

First, I shall explain the causes of worldly happiness;

Then I shall explain the Dharma of liberation.

Sentient beings first attain peace and happiness,

And afterward attain liberation.

A favorable course is called happiness;

Liberation means the exhaustion of the afflictions.

Briefly, the roots of these two

Are simply faith and wisdom.

Through faith one can uphold the Dharma;

Through wisdom one understands it as it truly is.

Of these two, wisdom is supreme,

Yet both arise through faith.

Because of delusion, greed, anger, and fear,

One may corrupt the Dharma.

Therefore, understand that this faith

Is called auspicious happiness.

Clearly knowing and discerning this,

With the three karmas of body, speech, and mind,

Always benefiting oneself and others—

This is taught for the sake of the wise.

Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct,

False speech and divisive speech,

Harsh speech and improper speech,

Covetousness, anger, and wrong views—

These are called the ten unwholesome deeds;

Their opposites are the ten wholesome deeds.

Abstain from intoxicants and live purely;

Do not torment or distress the mind.

Make offerings to those worthy of reverence—

Thus is the Dharma taught in brief.

Even if one can practice austerities,

They will certainly transform rebirth toward wholesome states;

Yet if one is bereft of wisdom and compassion,

And practices austerities alone,

One cannot remove the harm of others,

Nor rescue, relieve, and benefit them.

Generosity, morality, and cultivation shine clearly;

The true Dharma is the great path.

If one forgets it and follows a wrong path,

One torments oneself and is reborn as an ox.

In places of extreme suffering within samsara,

Without food, drink, or the shade of trees,

Or becoming food for wolves,

One remains there for a long time.

Because of killing, life is short;

Because of oppression, illnesses are many.

Because of greed, one is poor and lowly;

By violating others, one creates enmity.

False speech brings slander;

Divisive speech separates loved ones.

Harsh speech makes one’s words unloved;

Frivolous speech causes others’ resentment.

Because of covetousness, one seeks in two directions;

Through anger, one suffers the terrors of Mara.

Wrong views give rise to attachment;

Drinking alcohol makes the mind confused and agitated.

By failing to give, one becomes yet more avaricious;

Wrong livelihood leads to delusion and madness.

By denying others peace, one becomes a bandit;

Jealousy leaves one without dignity or virtue.

Wrath makes one resemble a ghost;

By failing to inquire and listen, one becomes ignorant.

These conditions found among human beings

Come from former births in the evil destinies.

Killing and all other offenses

Bear the fruits that have been described.

Freedom from greed and anger, together with wholesome deeds,

Is called a wholesome cause and condition.

Evil deeds and suffering

All arise from false doctrines.

The peace and security of favorable destinies

All arise from wholesome causes.

Always abandon every evil;

Constantly perform every good deed.

Through the karma of body, speech, and mind,

One should clearly understand these two teachings.

Through the first teaching one can escape

The hells and the four miserable realms.

The second teaching can bring about

Birth among humans or devas, or as a prosperous and joyful king.

Through meditative concentration, the Brahma-abodes, and the formless attainments,

One enjoys the bliss of the heavenly realms.

Thus, in brief, are named

The causes of happiness and the fruits of happiness.

The Dharma of liberation, moreover,

Is subtle and truly difficult to perceive.

When ordinary minds that have never heard it

Hear it, fear immediately arises:

“Here, the self is not born;

Neither now nor later does the self exist.”

The ordinary person thinks thus and is afraid;

The wise person’s fear is utterly ended.

The world sees the self as arising

And becomes attached to that notion.

The Buddha realized awakening through this path

And, moved by compassion, taught it to others.

“My self” and “what belongs to my self”

Are both empty.

By seeing the principle as it truly is,

These two attachments do not arise.

By grasping the skandhas, one conceives a self;

The grasping at self is baseless.

If the seed is not real,

How could the sprout exist?

If one sees that the skandhas are not real,

The notion of self no longer arises.

When this view has ceased,

Those skandhas also arise no more.

Just as a person, relying upon a clean mirror,

Immediately sees his own reflection,

Although this reflection can be seen,

In one respect it is not real.

Seeing the self is also like this:

It appears in dependence upon the skandhas.

When understood as it truly is, it does not exist,

Just as a reflection seen in a mirror.

When a person does not grasp at the mirror,

He does not see his own reflection.

Likewise, when the skandhas are dismantled,

The self does not exist.

Upon hearing the meaning of this teaching,

The greatly purified Venerable Ananda

Immediately attained the pure Dharma-eye;

Therefore, this was constantly taught to him.

When one grasps the skandhas as existing here,

The grasping at self also continually remains.

Because this self is regarded as existent,

Karma and becoming also continually exist.

Samsara turns through its three phases,

Revolving without beginning, middle, or end,

Like a wheel or a firebrand whirled in a circle;

Samsara is likewise.

From oneself, from another, or from both,

It does not exist in any of the three times.

Realizing this, one sees that the self is empty;

All karma and its results are likewise.

Thus seeing cause and effect,

Their arising and their complete cessation,

One does not cling as truly existent

To either the existence or nonexistence of the world.

If an ignorant person hears this Dharma,

All suffering can immediately end;

Yet through lack of wisdom, fear arises

Where there is nothing to fear.

In nirvana there is no such thing;

Why, then, do you become afraid?

As it has been taught, there is truly no self;

Why should this make you anxious?

In liberation there is neither self nor skandhas.

If you cherish this Dharma,

And relinquish the self and all the skandhas,

How could you not rejoice?

Without relinquishment, there is no nirvana;

How much less could there be becoming?

When grasping at existence and nonexistence is completely purified,

The Buddha calls this nirvana.

Briefly stated, wrong view

Denies the meaning of cause and effect.

It prevents the fulfillment of merit

And is precisely the cause of evil destinies.

Briefly stated, right view

Understands the principle of cause and effect.

It enables the fulfillment of merit

And is the supreme cause of favorable destinies.

Through wisdom, existence and nonexistence are stilled;

One passes beyond merit and demerit.

Thus one leaves both good and evil destinies;

The Buddha calls this liberation.

Seeing that arising has a cause,

The wise abandon attachment to nonexistence.

Seeing cessation together with its cause,

They therefore abandon attachment to existence.

The former two arise from causes,

But in ultimate truth they are causeless.

Mere names do not stand independently;

Arising itself is also not real.

When this exists, that exists,

Like long and short.

Because this arises, that arises,

Like a lamp and its light.

When there is first long, there is afterward short;

Therefore, they are not without dependent nature.

Yet light does not arise independently,

And the lamp itself is not truly real.

Thus cause and effect arise.

Seeing this, one does not cling to nonexistence.

This faith accords with worldly truth;

Phenomena arise because the mind is confused.

When false seeing ceases, this truth is not destroyed;

One then realizes suchness.

Therefore, one does not cling to existence;

Liberation depends upon neither of the two extremes.

A form seen from afar,

If approached, is readily distinguished.

If a mirage were truly water in appearance,

Why would it not be seen when approached?

If what is clearly seen from afar were real,

Then the world would truly exist;

But when reality is realized, it is no longer seen—

It is signless, like a mirage.

Like the water of a mirage,

It is neither water nor a real thing.

Likewise, these skandhas resemble a person,

Yet they are neither a person nor real dharmas.

By brief comparison, a mirage is mistaken for water;

If one goes there, where is that water?

If one does not cling to it as water,

One is not like those deluded fools.

The world is like a mirage;

If one grasps it as truly existent or nonexistent,

That itself is ignorance.

Because of delusion, one is not liberated.

Grasping nonexistence, one falls into an evil destiny;

Grasping existence, one is born in a favorable destiny.

If one understands things as they truly are,

Depending on neither extreme, one attains liberation.

One takes no delight in grasping existence or nonexistence,

Because one has discerned the true meaning.

If one falls into attachment to nonexistence,

Why is it not said that one falls into existence?

If it is said that, by refuting existence,

One’s position also falls into nonexistence,

Then, likewise, by refuting nonexistence,

Why would one not fall into existence?

No action or state of mind is asserted thus,

For they are directed toward bodhi.

If it is said that this falls into nonexistence,

For what reason does it not fall into existence?

The Samkhya followers and the Vaisheshikas,

And the Nirgranthas, speak of the skandhas as causes.

In worldly terms, you may question them.

If one says that what transcends existence and nonexistence

Is an inexpressible dharma,

Because it surpasses existence and nonexistence,

You should understand this profound meaning:

It is the nectar of the Buddha’s true teaching.

Just as beauty neither comes nor goes,

And does not abide for even a single thought-moment,

If one pays homage to the three past times,

Which time truly exists?

The past and future neither come nor go;

The present truly does not abide.

A time arises, abides, and perishes—

What in this is real?

If there can be change,

What dharma could be incapable of perishing?

If there is no thought-moment, what thought-moment perishes?

How, then, could there be alteration?

If it is said that each thought-moment perishes,

It is not yet complete and has not yet perished.

The two cannot be directly experienced together;

Therefore, neither is logically tenable.

If, when a thought-moment perishes, it is wholly extinguished,

How could anything remain?

If one realizes that no thought-moment perishes,

How, then, could a thing be formed?

Just as after a kshana,

There are again a beginning, middle, and end;

Because a kshana is divided into three,

It is said in the world that nothing abides.

The three realms are like this single thought-moment;

Therefore, they should be examined as one examines a thought-moment.

Beginning, middle, and end—all three—

Are produced neither by themselves nor by another.

They are neither one nor composed of many parts;

If they have no divisions, how could they exist?

Apart from one and many, what could they be?

Apart from existence, there is no dharma whatsoever.

Because of cessation and its antidote,

If it is said that existence becomes nonexistence,

Then this nonexistence and its antidote...

Are phenomena existent or nonexistent?

Therefore, the realm of nirvana,

In meaning, cannot be established as existent.

Concerning the world hereafter,

When questioned, the Buddha remained silent.

Out of reverence for omniscience,

The noble ones understood the Buddha;

Because this Dharma is profound,

It cannot be spoken or expressed.

Such is this Dharma of liberation:

Profound and free from bondage.

The Buddhas, possessed of omniscience,

Therefore taught that it has no basis,

And does not depend upon any phenomenon,

Transcending the two extremes of existence and nonexistence.

Worldly people cling with attachment;

Through delusion, they fear annihilation.

When this or that is destroyed,

They are terrified and have no refuge.

May you, O King, have no fear.

All this arises from the notion that the self is destroyed.

To establish for you that it is not destroyed,

I shall explain the truth.

By relying upon what is free from error,

One abandons the two attachments to existence and nonexistence.

Beyond these lie merit and demerit;

When the following meaning is understood,

One sees that the body is not the self and is unafraid.

Second, the sphere of the person will be explained.

The four great elements, space, and consciousness—

In any one of these there is no person.

Whether combined or separated, there is no person;

Why, then, cling to the existence of a person?

Just as there is no person in the six dhatus,

Their aggregate is not real.

Each dhatu is likewise;

Because it is an aggregate, it is unreal.

The skandhas are neither the self nor possessions of the self;

Apart from the skandhas, no self appears.

They are not intermingled like fire and firewood;

How could one rely on the skandhas to constitute a self?

Earth is not the other three great elements,

Nor are those three contained within earth;

Earth is not contained within those three;

Neither through separation nor combination can it be established.

The great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind

Are each unestablished in their own nature.

One cannot be established apart from the other three;

The three apart from the one are likewise.

Whether one and three, or three and one,

If separated, they cannot be established.

Since each is unestablished in itself,

How could they be divided from one another?

If each were independently established when separate,

How could fire exist apart from firewood?

Motion, obstruction, and aggregation—

Water, wind, and earth are likewise.

If fire is not established in itself,

How could the other three be established?

The meaning is that the three great elements arise dependently;

How, then, could their distinctions be established?

If each were established in itself,

Why would they then produce what exists?

If each were not established in itself,

How could they again become existent?

If it is said that they are inseparable,

Yet each great element is established in itself,

What is inseparable cannot coexist distinctly;

If separated, none is independently established.

Since the great elements are not independently established,

How could each possess its own nature and characteristic?

If each were established, there would not be multiplicity;

Therefore, their characteristics are said to be mere designations.

Form, sound, smell, taste, and touch

Are understood simply in the same way as the great elements.

Eye, form, consciousness, and ignorance,

As well as karma-born existence, are likewise.

The agent, the deed,

The accumulated causes and effects of many lives,

Short and long, name and conception,

And non-conception are likewise.

Earth, fire, wind, and water,

Long and short, small and great,

Good and bad—when clearly known,

They remain no more within wisdom.

As in the formless sphere of consciousness,

Boundless and pervading all,

Herein earth and the other great elements

Are all entirely extinguished.

Here, characteristics cannot be cognized:

Short and long, good and evil,

Name-and-form and all the skandhas—

Thus they are extinguished without remainder.

In this way, together with consciousness,

They previously existed through ignorance.

If wisdom arises with regard to consciousness,

Both this and what follows are exhausted.

Thus are these and worldly phenomena;

This is consciousness, fire, and firewood.

Through reality, like the radiance of a flame,

Worldly consciousness and its firewood are consumed.

Because delusion separately posits existence and nonexistence,

One subsequently accepts suchness.

When existence itself cannot be found upon examination,

How could nonexistence be found?

Because it is constituted without form,

It cannot be given a name.

How could form exist apart from the great elements?

Therefore, its sphere too is only a name.

Feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness

Should be understood like the four great elements.

The four great elements are like space and the self;

Within the six dhatus there is no phenomenon called a person.

BẢO HÀNH VƯƠNG CHÁNH LUẬN

Miscellaneous Chapter, Part Two

As when a plantain tree is peeled layer by layer,

Nothing whatsoever remains,

So too, when the person is stripped down into the six dhatus,

Nothing remains; therefore, the Buddha taught

That all things are without self.

Though the six dhatus are called phenomena,

It is definitively taught that there is truly no self.

The two notions of self and no-self,

As they truly are, do not exist.

Therefore, the Tathagata taught

That self and no-self are two extremes.

Seeing, hearing, discerning, knowing, and speech—

The Buddha said they are unreal and false.

These two characteristics are established in dependence upon each other;

As they truly are, neither exists.

What is regarded as real in the world

Goes beyond reality and further into falsity.

The world immediately relies upon reality,

And therefore falls into existence and nonexistence.

If phenomena change and are not thus,

Why did the Buddha again speak

Of a finite world and an infinite world,

Of both, and of neither?

The Buddhas of the past are immeasurable;

Those of the present and future are beyond number.

Sentient beings are beyond all reckoning;

The Buddhas appear throughout the three times.

The world is empty, yet its causes extend long;

At this time it appears in the world.

The world transcends existence and nonexistence;

Why, then, did the Buddha speak of its limits?

Because this Dharma is so profound,

It was not secretly taught to ordinary beings.

Teaching that the world is like an illusion,

The Buddha therefore bestowed the deathless nectar.

Just like an illusory image,

Its arising and ceasing are constantly seen;

Yet this image and its arising and ceasing

Have no existence in ultimate meaning.

The world is like an illusion;

Its arising and ceasing are seen in this way.

The world and its arising and ceasing,

Whether illusory or real, are empty of meaning.

An illusory image comes from nowhere;

When it departs, it goes nowhere.

Because the minds of sentient beings are deluded,

They take as real what does not abide.

The world together with the three times—

How could the world truly be thus?

Apart from the expressions “existent” and “nonexistent,”

Existence and nonexistence truly have no meaning.

Therefore, through the four propositions,

The Buddha did not explain the world.

Since both existence and nonexistence are false,

Even this falsity is not truly false.

This body's characteristics are impure;

Mirages, lamps, magical displays, mirrors, and the like

Are constantly seen in great profusion,

Yet still they do not enter the mind of faith.

How much more so the subtle true Dharma,

Profound and without foundation,

Difficult to realize with a distracted mind—

How could it be easily entered?

When the Buddha first attained awakening,

He wished to relinquish teaching and enter nirvana,

Because he saw that this true Dharma

Was profound and therefore difficult to understand.

If this Dharma is not clearly understood,

It will harm the unfit hearer.

By clinging to it contrary to reality,

One falls into the filthy pit of wrong views.

Not clearly understanding the person, consciousness, and phenomena,

One becomes conceited and disparages the Dharma,

Giving rise to slander and destroying oneself,

And ultimately falling into hell.

It is like craving food and drink

And thereby encountering danger;

If one eats a measured amount in accordance with reason,

One gains strength, joy, and health.

If the true Dharma is wrongly interpreted,

One encounters suffering in the same way;

But if one understands it in accordance with reason,

One experiences bliss and bodhi.

The wise, regarding the true Dharma,

Abandon slander and erroneous teachings.

They apply true wisdom,

And therefore accomplish their aims.

Because they do not understand this Dharma,

People perpetuate the view of self.

Through this cause they create many kinds of karma,

And are then born in good and evil destinies.

Until one has realized the Dharma

That can eliminate the view of self,

One should constantly arouse right effort

In morality, generosity, patience, and the rest.

Practice this Dharma at the beginning,

And practice it in the middle and at the end.

Its meaning is unerring, the truth;

Thus one will not sink now or in the future.

Because of the Dharma, one is presently called virtuous,

Lives joyfully, and has no fear at death;

In later births, one enjoys wealth and happiness.

Therefore, in accordance with this Dharma,

Only the Dharma can govern rightly.

Because of the Dharma, worldly people rejoice.

If you give rise to compassion for the people,

Neither now nor in the future will you be deranged.

If you govern and transform them through what is contrary to Dharma,

The ruler will encounter the evil oppression of his ministers.

As evil increases in the world,

There will be no happiness now or in the future.

That royal law of deceit

Is a great calamity leading to evil destinies.

With evil wisdom and false companions debating,

How could it be called right?

If a person devotes himself to such deception,

How could his actions be called righteous?

Because of this, throughout myriad births,

He will constantly encounter such falsehood.

If one wishes to make enemies,

One casts away what should be retained and retains what should be cast away.

When advantage is fully obtained through this,

It immediately becomes an enemy bringing grief and affliction.

Through generosity and loving speech,

Beneficial conduct and cooperation,

May you gather the world together

And thereby propagate the true Dharma.

If the king speaks one truthful word,

The people become virtuous and faithful.

Deceitful speech, by contrast,

Cannot make them peaceful.

When a truthful intention arises without deviation

And flows everywhere to benefit others,

This is called truthful speech;

Its opposite is falsehood.

If one clearly understands the relinquishment of wealth,

It may bring peace even when the king suffers loss.

Yet if a ruler loses his resources in this way,

It may harm both the king and his virtue.

If the king avoids evil deeds,

His virtue becomes abundant and the people honor him.

For this reason, the wise king is instructed

To undertake deeds of peace.

Through wisdom, the king is difficult to sway;

He understands for himself and does not merely trust others.

He will never encounter deception;

Therefore, he must resolutely cultivate wisdom.

Relying upon reason, abandoning impurity, and governing purely,

The king thereby possesses four virtues.

Like the four qualities of the true Dharma,

They are praised by gods and humans.

He is also able to speak with purity,

Because his wisdom and compassion are stainless.

Always associate with the wise,

So that the king's Dharma and wisdom may grow.

One who gives good counsel is hard to find;

To hear good counsel is harder still.

Better than both is a third kind of person:

One who admonishes others so they may do good.

If wholesome counsel is not pleasing,

Understand this and cultivate receptiveness to admonition.

Though medicine may taste bitter,

One gladly takes it for its powerful cure,

And thereby preserves the kingdom free from illness.

Constantly contemplate impermanence;

After birth, give rise to apprehension.

Again, devote your mind to practicing the Dharma,

Seeing with certainty that you must die.

Death arising from wrong views is suffering;

Therefore, for the sake of present happiness,

The wise commit no evil deeds.

Seeing only the present moment, one is unafraid;

But seeing what comes afterward, one fears.

If the mind is at peace for one moment,

Why should it not fear what follows?

Through drink, one meets with contempt,

Injury, and diminished bodily strength.

Through delusion, one does what should not be done;

Therefore, the wise abstain from alcohol.

It surrounds one with many pleasures,

Giving rise to greed, anger, and delight in deception;

False speech and harsh words arise from it;

Therefore, one should keep far away.

Sensual indulgence brings life to ruin

Through imagining the female body to be pure.

When the female body is examined,

Not a hair's breadth of purity is truly found.

A woman's mouth is a vessel of saliva;

Her teeth and tongue are foul and malodorous.

Her nose reeks because of nasal mucus,

And there are many kinds of tears as well.

The belly contains excrement, urine, and intestines;

The body's exterior is a mass of bones and flesh.

The deluded are not repelled,

And so become attached to this.

The sense gates are filled with foulness,

Yet one craves another's impure body.

If attachment arises within it,

By what condition can one become free of desire?

Just as a jar of urine

Is a place in which pigs delight,

So do the lustful delight

In the body's impure gates.

This gate is the place of birth,

A place for the body, a filthy ground.

The deluded cling through deviant love,

Not clearly understanding this truth.

You yourself behold one portion:

Urine together with impurity.

In the aggregate called the body,

Why do you still delight?

From red and white fluids the embryo arises,

And it is formed in a place of sweat.

Knowing the body to be impure,

Why would the mind painfully give rise to love?

One should loathe this mass of filth,

Malodorous and bound in skin.

If one delights in lying within it,

One is attached to the female body.

Whether the one you love or the one you hate,

Whether an old person or a woman,

All female bodies are impure;

In what, then, does your craving arise?

A heap of excrement may be beautifully colored

And have a truly lovely appearance,

Yet love for it should certainly not arise;

Love for a woman's body is likewise.

Within, it is foul and truly impure;

Without, it is enclosed by skin.

Its nature is that of a corpse;

Why do you see this unclearly?

Impure skin is like a garment

That cannot simply be washed clean.

Why take the filth upon the skin

And alter it to make it seem pure?

A vessel is filled entirely with filth;

If its outward color disgusts you,

This body is filled with such impurity—

Why are you not repelled by it?

If you detest all impurity,

Why do you not regard the body as ugly?

Perfumes, flowers, bathing, food, and drink

Can sully what was originally pure.

If you likewise loathe

Your own and others' filthy excrement,

Why are you not repelled by

The impurity of your own and others' bodies?

As the female body is impure,

So too is one's own body filthy.

Thus, abandon desire for others,

For internally and externally it is the same.

The nine apertures discharge impurities;

Know this yourself and cleanse yourself.

If, not recognizing impurity,

You give rise to sensual desire,

How extraordinary is such ignorance,

Neither ashamed nor disdainful of it!

In that impure body,

What benefit is there for you?

Because of this, many sentient beings,

Their minds obscured by ignorance,

Become enemies bound by minute particles of desire,

Like dogs fighting over excrement.

Like worms that delight upon seeing excrement,

Finding comfort though there is no itch,

So does sensual pleasure arise;

One free of desire has the greatest bliss.

Even if you contemplate this meaning,

Freedom from desire will not be achieved

If you think lightly of sensual craving

And fail to encounter the fruits of debauchery.

Seeing that life is fleeting as a mouse,

And fearing suffering and all its torments,

Which you will certainly undergo in the future,

You should diligently practice compassion.

Whoever beholds that state

Will truly give rise to fear,

For the filthy body is like excrement,

Entered and left by poisonous, vicious worms.

If this person reaches that state,

Sentient beings will attain happiness,

Just as, in summer when clouds abound,

People increasingly long for rain.

Therefore, abandon evil dharmas

And resolve to cultivate wholesome conduct,

So that both yourself and others may attain

The fruit of unsurpassed bodhi.

This is the foundation of bodhi,

Called firm as the king of mountains;

Its causes remain constant throughout the ten directions,

And it also relies upon nondual wisdom.

Great King, listen closely

To the causes I shall now explain,

Which produce the thirty-two marks

That can adorn your body with significance.

Honoring a single noble person,

Making offerings and drawing near,

Produces the precious marks upon the hands and feet;

You shall become a wheel-turning king.

The hands and feet will be truly soft,

And the great body will stand seven cubits tall,

Because you give fine food and drink

And bestow them in complete abundance.

The body will be full and handsome,

And the hands and feet complete and long.

You shall enjoy longevity

Because your compassionate mind pities prisoners.

Great King, steadfastly uphold the Dharma

And purify the causes of long life.

Through these secure and steady feet,

You shall become a bodhisattva.

Practice generosity and loving speech,

Beneficial conduct and cooperation.

Because these hands are closely webbed,

The hands and feet possess eighty features;

The ankles are high and lovely,

And every hair grows upward.

Because the calves are long and not low,

Their root lies in receiving and upholding the Dharma.

Through respectfully honoring donors

And assisting everywhere in their occupations,

You will obtain limbs like the king of deer

And possess keen, great wisdom.

When others seek what is available here,

I am able to give it generously;

Therefore, the arms become beautiful and long,

And one becomes the sovereign who transforms the world.

When loved ones become separated,

The bodhisattva brings them into harmony;

This produces the mark of the concealed male organ,

Which always remains hidden within.

By constantly giving dwellings and possessions,

Even trifling things, and delighting in beautiful colors,

One obtains a celestial body,

Supple, radiant, subtle, and wondrous.

By giving innumerable unsurpassed gifts

And rightly honoring one's superiors,

One produces a single hair in each pore

And the white urna in the center of the face.

By always speaking wholesome and loving words

And also conforming to the true Dharma,

The upper body becomes like a lion's,

Full and rounded like sweet milk.

By visiting the sick and providing medicine,

Or giving them food and drink,

One obtains a full lower abdomen,

With a thousand vessels containing a hundred flavors.

Regarding oneself, others, and the Dharma,

One always serves as their leader;

The crown of the head bears a jeweled diadem,

Broad, firm, beautiful, and marvelous.

Rather than speaking falsely in lofty halls,

One should speak truly and wholesomely.

Thus one obtains the eight qualities of the Brahma voice

And a tongue that is long and broad.

Knowing now that this is beneficial,

Repeatedly explain it to others.

One obtains the beauty of a lion,

With features truly lovely,

Because one does not despise others

But acts in accordance with right principle.

The teeth are whiter than all others,

Like genuine pearls,

Because one repeatedly speaks these words

Truthfully and without divisive speech.

Thus one possesses forty teeth,

Beautiful, firm, even, and excellent.

By regarding sentient beings with kindness,

Gentle and free from greed, anger, and delusion,

The eyes become blue, gentle, and beautiful,

With pupils like those of the king of bulls.

As has been briefly explained here,

These are the causes of a great person's marks.

You should know the beautiful form

Of a wheel-turning king or bodhisattva.

There are eighty secondary characteristics,

Arising from loving-kindness and compassion.

Great King, I shall not describe them,

For to explain them fully would require many more words.

Only wheel-turning kings

Share these excellent marks;

They are radiant, pure, and lovely,

Yet are not equal to those of the Tathagata.

From a bodhisattva's wholesome mind,

In every moment and in every respect,

Arise the causes of a wheel-turning king's excellent marks,

Yet these should never be compared with the Buddha's.

For myriad kotis of kalpas, each person

Cultivates wholesome roots and causes them to grow,

Yet even the cause of a single hair among the Buddha's marks

Cannot thereby be produced.

All the marks of Buddhas and wheel-turning kings,

Considered together even in a single part,

Are like comparing them with the sun:

There is some resemblance in radiance alone.

THE ORTHODOX TREATISE OF KING PRECIOUS CONDUCT

CHAPTER ON THE PROVISIONS FOR BODHI

Chapter Three

The excellent marks of all Buddhas

Arise from inconceivable merit.

I shall now explain them to you,

Relying upon the Mahayana Agama.

All the merit of pratyekabuddhas,

The merit of those in training and beyond training,

And the worldly merit throughout the ten directions—

Such merit is difficult to measure.

Ten times this merit

Produces one hair among the Buddha's marks.

Each of the ninety-nine thousand hairs

Is produced by the same measure of merit.

All the vast merit that thus

Produces every hair of the Buddha,

When increased another hundredfold,

Produces one minor mark of the Buddha.

With such a quantity of merit,

Each excellent characteristic is perfected,

Until all eighty

Secondary characteristics are complete.

The accumulated merit of this kind

That produces the eighty excellent characteristics,

Combined and increased a hundredfold,

Produces one major mark of the Buddha.

The vast merit of this kind

That produces the thirty major marks,

When further increased a hundredfold,

Produces the beautiful hair like the full moon;

It produces the merit of the beautiful white urna,

And when increased yet another thousandfold,

This merit produces the difficult-to-behold

Ushnisha crown upon the summit of the head.

Such immeasurable merit

Is provisionally described as measurable.

Throughout all the ten directions,

It is said to be ten times that of all worlds.

The causes of the Buddhas' form bodies

Are always immeasurable in this way;

How much more so the causes of the Buddhas' Dharma body—

How could they have any limit?

Though worldly causes may be small,

Their great fruits are difficult to equal.

Since the causes of Buddhahood are beyond comparison,

How could its fruits be expressed by comparison?

All Buddhas possess a form body

All arise from meritorious conduct.

Great King, the Buddha’s Dharma-body

Is accomplished through wisdom;

Therefore, the Buddha’s practices of merit and wisdom

Are the causal branches of bodhi.

Thus, may you be able to cultivate

The practices of merit and wisdom for bodhi,

And thereby accomplish the merit of bodhi.

You will not fall into anxiety,

For there are reasoning and the Agamas,

Which can give rise to serene faith.

Just as the ten directions are boundless,

As are space and earth, water, and fire,

So too are the suffering beings—

They likewise are boundless.

For these boundless sentient beings,

The bodhisattva, relying upon great compassion,

Rescues them from suffering

And vows that they attain parinirvana.

Having thus given rise to a steadfast mind,

Whether walking, standing, lying down, or recollecting,

Or even when slightly heedless,

Immeasurable merit will flow forth.

Merit as vast as the multitude of beings

Will flow constantly without interruption;

Cause and effect remain linked together,

And therefore bodhi is not difficult.

Time, sentient beings,

Bodhi, and merit—

For their sake, through the Four Immeasurables,

The bodhisattva steadfastly practices.

Although bodhi is immeasurable,

Its prior causes are the Four Immeasurables.

By cultivating both merit and wisdom,

How could it be difficult to attain?

The two kinds, merit and wisdom,

Are thus without boundary.

Though the bodhisattva undergoes bodily and mental hardship,

Afflictions are thereby eliminated.

The lower realms, including hunger and thirst,

And bodily suffering arise from evil karma.

The bodhisattva abandons evil

And practices goodness, so suffering does not arise.

Desire, anger, fear, and the rest—

Mental suffering arises from delusion.

By relying on nondual wisdom,

The bodhisattva abandons mental suffering.

Even if further suffering remains,

Can one not endure much of it?

If there is no suffering, though the course be long,

And happiness is present, how could it be difficult?

Bodily suffering certainly does not exist;

Suppose it is said that mental suffering exists:

Concerned about the two sufferings of the world,

One therefore continually remains in samsara.

Because the path to bodhi is long,

The wise do not let their minds become attached.

To extinguish evil and give rise to goodness—

This is uninterrupted cultivation.

Greed, anger, and ignorance—

May you consciously abandon them.

Freedom from greed, together with all suffering,

Should clearly be cultivated with reverence.

Through greed, one is born among hungry ghosts;

Through anger, one falls into hell;

Through delusion, one enters the animal realm;

By opposing these, one is born among gods and humans.

Abandoning evil and cultivating goodness—

This Dharma is the cause of happiness.

If this is the Dharma of liberation,

Through wisdom one relinquishes both attachments.

Images of the Buddha and caityas (accumulations of merit),

Shrines, halls, monasteries, and stupas,

Together with the most excellent and abundant offerings—

You should reverently establish them.

Seated upon a precious lotus,

Perfect in wondrous and beautiful form,

Made from every kind of gold—

You should fashion images of the Buddha.

The true Dharma and the noble Sangha—

Issue commands that they be protected and sustained.

Place golden plaques and canopies above them,

And respectfully offer these with meritorious intent.

Gold, silver, and many precious flowers,

Coral, vaidurya jewels,

Deep-blue Indra-nila gems,

And diamonds—offer them as meritorious gifts.

Those able to proclaim the true Dharma

Should be supported with the four requisites.

The six principles of harmony and reverence, together with the Dharma,

Should always be diligently practiced.

Revere, trust, and listen to it;

Diligently practice and preserve it.

A bodhisattva should do all these things,

And after death, continue to make offerings.

The gods and assemblies of non-Buddhist traditions

Should not be approached and worshiped,

For through lack of wisdom and misguided faith,

One does not clearly recognize evil deeds.

The Buddha’s Agamas and treatises—

Write, read, recite, and distribute them;

And also provide paper, brushes, and ink.

You should perform this meritorious deed.

For the kingdom, establish schools,

Employ teachers and scholars,

And build institutions that will long endure.

Do this for the sake of wisdom.

For medicine and the practical crafts,

Land should likewise be established,

So that the many aged and those suffering from illness

May receive aid within the kingdom.

Construct various monasteries,

Gardens, roads, ponds, pavilions, and houses;

Provide within them useful supplies,

Vegetables and foods for cooking.

Throughout the smaller territories,

Monasteries, pavilions, and lodgings should be built.

On distant roads where water is seldom found,

Construct wells, ponds, and reservoirs for drinking.

Those afflicted by illness, the destitute without support,

The weak, and those overcome by fear—

Embrace them with loving-kindness and compassion,

And diligently establish them in security.

Whenever fresh food and drink are available,

Fresh vegetables, fruit, and newly harvested rice,

Do not use them before first giving them

To the Sangha and practitioners.

Cloth, jars, and knives,

Golden thread and doors,

Fishing baskets, traps, and other such things

Should be given to monasteries and lodgings.

The three fruits and three wholesome practices,

Sugar, water, milk, and medicines—

These should always be made readily available,

Together with written incantations and remedies.

Medicinal substances and oils for anointing the body,

Oil to burn in lamps, and fruit,

Water vessels, knives, and axes

Should be provided to the lodgings.

Rice, grain, flour, food, and drink,

Sugar, honey, and things of every kind

Should be kept in cool places,

Together with jars filled with clean water.

Near anthills and holes dug by mice,

Place food, rice, sugar, and the like.

May you inspire people to have faith

And distribute these every day.

Before and after taking whatever you need,

Always give to hungry ghosts.

Dogs, mice, birds, ants, and the like—

May you be able to provide them with food.

During epidemics, famine, and thirst,

Drought, and the calamity of bandits,

Immediately deliver the kingdom from such disasters;

May you always provide relief.

When farmers suffer failed harvests,

May you grant them seed grain.

Collect taxes according to the season,

And govern them gently.

Give provisions to the poor;

Forgo interest so they need not grieve.

Prepare in advance during times of leisure,

And at such times receive honored guests.

When theft occurs within or beyond the borders,

Use skillful means to stop it immediately.

Whenever merchants or their companions are stranded,

Ensure that the prices of goods remain fair.

In your seat of authority and in conducting affairs,

Personally examine them according to reason.

Whatever will benefit the myriad people,

You should respectfully carry out.

You should also do what benefits yourself,

Just as you constantly consider.

How can the welfare of others be accomplished?

You should swiftly consider it in this way.

Earth, water, fire, wind, and the rest,

Medicinal herbs and wild trees—

Whether immediately or at a later time,

Let others receive them without refusal.

At seven steps, you should give rise to the resolve

To cultivate the giving of inner and outer wealth.

The bodhisattva’s merit thereby accomplished

Is as immeasurable as space.

Maidens endowed with beautiful marks

Were generously given to those who sought them;

Thus one should attain dharanis

Capable of dispelling all adverse phenomena.

Lovely colors and beautiful forms,

Together with every kind of useful possession,

Were given to eighty thousand maidens

By Shakyamuni Buddha in former times.

Radiant in many colors,

All adorned with garments,

Flowers and incense should likewise be given

To those who seek them, with compassionate wisdom.

If a person is deprived of such conditions

And does not cherish the Dharma,

Even so, gifts should be given in this manner.

If afterward you have not yet given,

You should separately promise to give to that person.

If something can benefit others,

Do not refuse to give the nectar of immortality.

If something would bring them complete harm—

As when a snake has bitten a person’s hand—

The Buddha permitted its immediate removal.

Or if the Buddha taught that it would benefit them,

It should be done even under compulsion.

Firmly preserve and protect the true Dharma

And those who are able to teach the Dharma.

Listen to and receive the Dharma with reverence,

Or bestow that Dharma upon others.

Do not delight in worldly praise;

Always rejoice in the world-transcending Dharma.

Just as you establish virtue within yourself,

Bestow it upon others in the same way.

When hearing, do not remain unclear or incomplete;

Reflect upon and cultivate the true meaning.

To repay the kindness of the Teacher with offerings,

You should act reverently and without deceit.

Do not study the treatises of heterodox outsiders

And thereby give rise to contentious pride.

You should not praise your own virtues,

Nor should you fail to acknowledge an enemy’s virtues.

Do not expose another’s affairs,

Or maliciously engage in divisive speech.

When you yourself have committed a fault,

Examine it according to reason and repent.

If the wrongdoing arose from you,

How could a wise person blame another?

Having freed myself from this fault,

I should then be able to help that person.

If that person seeks you out, do not become angry;

Instead, contemplate your former evil karma.

Do not repay that person’s evil with evil,

So that you will not undergo suffering afterward.

In relation to that person, you should reflect

Without expecting repayment from them:

May I alone undergo suffering,

And may all beings attain happiness.

If you obtain the splendor and wealth of the gods,

You should not become arrogant.

When encountering those who are like hungry ghosts,

Do not fail to perform compassionate deeds.

Even if you should lose the royal throne,

Or die because of speaking the truth,

You should still speak what is true;

If it brings no true benefit, remain silent.

In accordance with what has here been said,

May you devote yourself to wholesome conduct.

Through these causes, everything becomes excellent,

And sovereign freedom becomes beautiful.

You should make a pure and careful examination,

And then act in accordance with reason.

Do not act merely through trusting another;

You should personally understand the true meaning.

If you practice goodness in accord with reason,

Your good name will spread throughout the ten directions.

The line of princes and kings will never cease;

The king will be wealthy and joyful, and his dominion will expand.

Death depends upon one among a hundred and one causes,

While the causes sustaining life are not many.

Since any such cause or condition may bring death,

You should always be able to practice goodness.

If a person is able to practice goodness,

Then that person will attain peace and happiness.

If this is so for oneself and others,

This goodness brings complete happiness.

Relying on the Dharma as one’s very nature,

Whether sleeping or awake, one is always at ease.

In dreams, one beholds auspicious things,

Because inwardly there are no evil deeds.

If a person supports father and mother,

Reveres those of one’s own household,

Honors the virtuous with material offerings,

Practices patience and great generosity,

Speaks gently without divisive speech,

And speaks truthful words that bring joy—

These are the causes for birth in the nine celestial realms;

They should be practiced throughout one’s life.

Through having formerly practiced these nine dharmas

The celestial lord obtains the royal throne

Wherever there is a Dharma hall,

He goes there and often declares:

Giving alms three times each day,

Even three hundred kinds of delicious food,

The merit does not equal a single instant

Of practicing one hundredth part of loving-kindness.

Devas and humans rejoice and protect him;

Day and night he experiences joyful bliss.

Neither enemies, fire, poison, nor weapons harm him;

These are the present fruits of loving-kindness.

Without effort and without wealth,

Afterward he is born in the form realm

And obtains the ten virtues of loving-kindness.

If one has not yet attained liberation,

One should teach all sentient beings

To bring forth the mind of bodhi.

A bodhisattva’s virtue is like a mountain.

With the mind of bodhi firmly established,

Through faith one escapes the eight difficulties;

Through morality one is born in a good destination;

By cultivating suchness, like space,

One gains the virtue of heedfulness;

By being free of deceit, one gains the faculty of mindfulness;

By constant recollection, one gains the faculty of wisdom;

Through reverence, one comprehends the meaning and principles;

By protecting the Dharma in former lives,

And through generosity, one is able to hear the Dharma.

Even if one does not realize what one has heard,

One swiftly attains what one cherishes

And immediately encounters the Buddha.

Through freedom from greed, undertakings are accomplished;

Through freedom from miserliness, wealth becomes abundant;

Through freedom from pride, one attains the highest rank;

Through patience regarding the Dharma, one attains complete retention.

By truly practicing the five kinds of giving—

Including wisdom and fearlessness—

One becomes entirely free from fear

And therefore acquires great power.

By accumulating merit, as when making lamps,

There is illumination within the darkness.

By giving oil and lights,

One therefore obtains beautiful divine eyes.

When making offerings and practicing generosity,

One thereby creates the joyful sound of drums

And the wondrous sound of conches,

And always obtains pure divine ears.

When others’ faults are passed over in silence,

And one does not speak of another’s lesser virtues,

But accords with and protects that person’s feelings,

One thereby obtains knowledge of others’ minds.

Through giving, one obtains a vessel

That carries one forth to rescue the poor;

Through reverently looking up to one’s superiors,

One thereby obtains the supernormal power of going at will.

By causing others to recollect the Dharma

And the meanings of the phrases of the true Dharma,

Or by giving the Dharma with a pure mind,

One thereby acquires knowledge of former lives.

Through wisdom concerning the true meaning,

Knowing that all dharmas lack inherent nature,

One therefore attains the sixth superknowledge,

The supreme knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows.

Through impartial and universal compassion,

And by cultivating wisdom in accordance with reality,

One thereby personally attains Buddhahood

And constantly liberates sentient beings.

Through many kinds of pure vows,

The Buddha-land is therefore purified;

By offering every jewel as meritorious gifts,

One therefore emits many rays of light.

As with these deeds and their fruits,

I understand their meanings to be alike.

Therefore, one should cultivate benefit for others;

That itself is the self-benefit of bodhi.

THE KING’S TREATISE ON THE PRECIOUS CONDUCT

INSTRUCTION TO THE KING

Chapter Four

If a king acts contrary to the Dharma

Or does what is contrary to right principles,

And people nevertheless praise the king’s deeds,

That grave evil is difficult to discern.

Moreover, there are people in the world

Who do not delight in goodness and are difficult to teach;

How much more difficult for a great sovereign king

To be able to heed the words of virtuous people.

I now think compassionately of you

And extend compassion throughout the world;

Therefore, I earnestly counsel you.

This will truly benefit you, if you do not reject it.

With sincere intent and for meaningful benefit,

Relying upon compassion,

The Buddha skillfully teaches his disciples;

Therefore, I speak to you.

If you attentively listen to this,

You should remain free from anger

And retain all that you are able,

As bathing makes one clean.

I now speak these wholesome words,

Beneficial in the present and the future.

Having understood them, you should put them into practice

For yourself and for the world.

Because you gave to the poor in the past,

You now experience abundant wealth.

Do not, through greed and lack of reflection,

Abandon generosity and thereby gain nothing.

People in the world merely calculate,

Without considering whether there are people in need.

By giving even borrowed and inferior things,

In a later life one receives a hundredfold.

May you bring forth a great resolve

And constantly join in accomplishing great works.

If one acts with a great mind,

That person obtains a great result.

A petty intention makes a king narrow-minded;

Such aspirations have never gained encounters

With good renown and excellent deeds.

One should act in reliance upon the Three Jewels.

Remember that a king’s mind is as light as a hair;

If affairs do not proceed according to your wishes,

Upon your death they will create a bad name.

If a king does not perform good deeds,

Although great works could be accomplished,

Those rarely undertaken by great persons,

He may obstruct the humble aspirations of others

Who would bring these works to completion.

If one does not personally retain goods for giving,

In a future body, in lives to come,

When dwelling in a place of peaceful Dharma,

One may arrive first, yet must wait in adversity.

The enterprises established by former emperors,

If their origin is forgotten when a new king appears,

Can they bring the former king, in his next birth,

The joy of Dharma and good renown, or not?

Using wealth brings present pleasure;

If it is given, it brings future pleasure.

Without these two, both are lost,

And only suffering, without joy, is produced.

At the end of his life, when a king wishes to give,

His ministers, fearing the loss of their own authority,

May sever his wishes and cast aside their affection,

Seeking instead to please the new king.

If you relinquish all possessions,

You should use them to propagate the Dharma.

Moreover, life continually depends upon death,

Like a lamp exposed to the wind.

The impartial meritorious works

Established by former kings—

Shrines, temples, sanctuaries, and halls for devas and spirits—

May they be restored as of old.

Abstain from killing and constantly practice goodness;

Uphold the precepts and cherish gracious conduct.

Let livelihoods increase wealth without contention;

Diligently cultivate virtue.

Remain pure and do not hoard,

Yet do not abandon those undertakings.

Establish them and take the lead,

And you will receive their merit.

The blind, the sick, and those whose faculties are impaired

Should be treated with compassion, for they have no refuge.

They should not be hidden away in temples;

Let them eat equally with the others.

Those of virtuous conduct who ask nothing of you,

Or who dwell beyond the king’s lands,

Should be given offerings in the same way,

Without discrimination.

For all works pertaining to the Dharma,

You should appoint diligent persons

Who are free from greed and understand goodness,

Who do not violate the Dharma and fear wrongdoing,

Who understand right treatises and practice virtue,

Who are amiable, pure in the four contemplations,

Eloquent and not timid,

Who honor their superiors and uphold the precepts,

Who clearly understand the sufferings of others

And, in accordance with principle, resolutely eliminate harmful occupations.

Eight persons should assist together,

For the purpose of establishing eight offices.

One who is gentle and magnanimous,

Courageous and devoted to the king,

Upright and capable of managing wealth,

Heedful in practicing goodness,

And wisely considers what must be done,

Should be able independently to manage twelve tallies

And carry out the four skillful means;

Such a person should be appointed chief minister.

One who keeps the Dharma and the precepts pure,

Understands affairs and knows how to employ people,

Can increase and safeguard the treasury,

Understands meanings, writing, and calculation,

And is familiar with all matters there,

Who fears wrongdoing and is loyal to the king,

And possesses wealth and many attendants,

Should be publicly appointed to official office.

Every day, you should ask him

About all revenues and expenditures.

After making inquiry, concerning all Dharma affairs,

Joyfully and kindly instruct and admonish him.

For the Dharma realm is the purpose of kingship;

Do not seek fame or the objects of sensual desire.

Only then does the royal throne bring supreme benefit;

Anything other than this is not so.

Great King, the people of the world

Depend greatly upon one another for food and drink.

Regarding the Dharma, its meaning, and the royal office,

Listen carefully as I speak.

Let elders in the king’s domain,

Leaders of clans who understand right and wrong,

Who fear evil and are widely respected,

Observe the king’s affairs.

As for punishment, fettering, and beating with rods,

If these are carried out according to principle,

The king should constantly extend great compassion

And immediately bestow clemency upon those persons.

For the benefit of all people,

You should bring forth a mind of loving-kindness.

Even if they have truly committed grave evil,

You should still give rise to great compassion.

Those whose minds are most grievously harmed by evil

Should especially be regarded with compassion.

They themselves are objects of loving-kindness,

Not objects against whom punishment should be directed by the righteous.

If poor people are imprisoned,

They should be released after five days.

Others likewise, according to principle,

Should not be detained without due cause.

If, toward any single person,

You conceive the intention to bind him for a long time,

And hold him without regard for his life,

Evil may thereby persist.

Until his confinement has ended,

Although bound, let him still be comfortable;

Let clothing, food and drink,

And medicines all be fully provided.

If the king wishes to reform such persons,

Relying upon compassion, establish wholesome instruction.

Treat good and evil persons alike,

Without acting from anger or desire.

After clearly ascertaining and truly understanding

That a monk has risen in rebellion,

Do not kill him and do not associate with him;

May the king banish him to another land.

Regard your own household as though it were an enemy.

Because greed deceives even clear eyes,

Always remain mindful and heedful.

May you conduct affairs in accordance with the Dharma

And constantly make offerings with diligence.

When someone is able to render you a kindness,

Especially if that kindness is surpassing,

Repay that person in the same way.

Those who tend beautiful flowers

And give excellent fruits

Are like precious trees with many branches

Upon which birds find refuge.

A king who upholds the precepts and practices generosity

Possesses majesty and gains both hearts and goods.

Like a perfectly round sweetmeat,

Its fragrance and flavor are both distinctive.

If a king relies upon right principles,

He will not perform evil deeds.

Without hardship and without violating the Dharma,

He can possess the joy of the Dharma.

Kingship does not come from former ages,

Nor can one enter it at will.

The royal throne is obtained through the Dharma;

For the sake of the throne, do not destroy the Dharma.

Kingship is like a house,

And the suffering passed down with it is like its price.

Because it cannot immediately be obtained merely by seeking,

You should therefore act in this way.

Kingship is like a house,

And royal succession is like an exchange.

Because you wish to obtain it at once,

Use it for spiritual cultivation.

A wheel-turning king may gain dominion over the earth,

Or even possess all four continents;

Yet the two joys of body and mind—

Apart from these, wealth and honor are all false.

Always counteracting suffering

For the body's sensations of joy and bliss,

Mental pleasure is of the class of characteristics;

All are distinguished by their functions.

Counteracting suffering is its essence,

And differentiation is its class.

All worldly pleasures

Are illusory and therefore not true.

Every kind of dwelling and food,

Seats and garments,

Drink, food, and complete bedding,

Wife, carriage, and elephant—each is enjoyed.

If the mind follows a single condition,

Then pleasure arises because of it;

External objects are not such conditions,

Therefore they are illusory and useless.

The five faculties engage the five objects;

If the mind makes no distinctions,

Though the objects may still be present,

No pleasure arises from them.

These objects are conditions of the faculties;

Apart from them, the faculties cannot abide.

Therefore, beyond faculties and objects,

There is truly no meaning to be found.

When the mind engages the objects

That are conditions of these faculties,

It grasps past characteristics,

Discriminates, and produces the perception of purity;

Thereupon pleasant sensation arises.

When the mind engages a single object,

Mind and object do not exist at the same time;

Apart from mind, there is no object,

And apart from the object, likewise, there is no mind.

Taking father and mother as causes,

You say that a child is born;

Likewise, conditioned by form as a cause,

You say that consciousness arises together with it.

The faculties and objects of past and future

Cannot be established, for they have no reality;

Since they do not emerge from those two times,

Present objects and faculties have no meaning.

Just as the eye sees a wheel of fire

Because the faculty is confused,

So too, among present objects,

The faculties' engagement with objects is the same.

The five faculties and their objects

Are classes of objects constituted by the four great elements.

In each location, no great element exists independently;

Thus objects conditioned by faculties do not exist.

If each great element were separately established,

Only firewood and fire should burn.

Whether separated or not separated,

Objects are likewise the same.

The two meanings of the four great elements are illusory,

So their conjunction cannot be established.

Since the four realities do not conjoin,

The objects of form cannot be established.

Consciousness, sensation, perception, and formations—

The essences of these two classes cannot be established.

They do not arise through conjunction with conditions;

Since they do not exist, there is no conjunction.

Just as discriminated joy and pleasure

Are established in relation to the counteraction of suffering,

So what is reckoned here as suffering

Is established because its cause, pleasure, has been destroyed.

Attachment arises through conjunction with pleasure;

When conditioned by signlessness, it immediately ceases.

Craving is abandoned by separation from suffering;

Through this contemplation, it does not arise.

Suffering is spoken of in dependence upon the world;

The mind is what can perceive it.

Yet apart from what is perceived,

A perceiver cannot be established.

Through contemplation and practice, one sees the world

As unreal and nonexistent.

Neither grasping nor discriminating,

One attains parinirvana like a fire gone out.

A bodhisattva who sees in this way

Does not regress from bodhi.

Guided by great compassion,

He continues until he reaches Buddhahood.

The path cultivated by bodhisattvas

Was taught by the Buddha in the Mahayana.

Ignorant and wrathful people

Harm themselves by abandoning and not upholding it.

Not understanding, they lose merit;

Toward the arising of virtue, they conceive it as a loss.

Or, enraged and hostile toward its excellence,

Such people disparage the Mahayana.

If they understood the harm of that offense

And the beneficial power of merit,

They would know that those who slander it

Act from ignorance, anger, and hatred of goodness.

Through disbelief, they harm themselves;

Its single flavor is to benefit others.

The virtues cultivated by the Mahayana

Thus become a source of grief to its detractors.

Believers may burn with rigid attachment,

While unbelievers burn with hatred and anger.

If even believers who disparage it may be consumed,

How much more those filled with rage and delusion!

Countering poison with still stronger poison

May be prescribed by a skilled physician.

If evil is likewise thereby eliminated,

How could this teaching be any different?

All phenomena are preceded by mental activity;

They have mind as their foremost.

If suffering is used to eliminate that evil,

How does a person of wholesome mind transgress?

If suffering can bring benefit,

It should be accepted—how much more so pleasure!

Whether for oneself or for others,

This has been the root of the Dharma since ancient times.

Because a little pleasure may be forsaken

When much greater happiness will later be seen,

The wise abandon the lesser pleasure,

Contemplating the greater happiness to come.

If this assertion cannot be accepted,

Then when a physician prescribes painful treatment for well-being,

He would commit an unforgivable offense;

Therefore your reasoning is not so.

When a matter is clearly seen without doubt,

The wise act according to its meaning.

Whether something is prohibited or permitted,

This principle applies everywhere.

The deportment of bodhisattvas

Is accomplished through wisdom preceded by compassion.

The Mahayana teaches in this way;

For what reason, then, should it be maligned?

Lacking wisdom, people drift and sink;

The Supreme Vehicle is vast in meaning and profound.

By disparaging the Mahayana,

They become enemies of themselves and others.

Generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence,

Meditative concentration, wisdom, and compassion are its essence;

Thus did the Buddha teach the Mahayana.

How could it contain false doctrines or defilements?

Through generosity and moral discipline, others are benefited;

Patience and diligence bring benefit to oneself;

Concentration and wisdom liberate oneself and others;

This briefly encompasses the meaning of the Mahayana.

The Buddha's true teaching, stated briefly,

Means the liberation of oneself and others.

These six perfections constitute its treasury;

Who could cast them aside?

Merit and wisdom constitute its classes;

The Buddha taught them as the path to bodhi

And established for it the name Mahayana.

The foolish and blind cannot accept it,

As though it were difficult to consider

That it is accomplished through merit and wisdom,

And that the virtues of the Buddhas are inconceivable.

Regarding the Mahayana, aspire to patient acceptance.

Even the greatly virtuous Sariputra

Was warned by the Buddha that this was not his sphere;

Thus the virtues of the Buddhas are inconceivable.

Why, then, can this not be accepted?

The Mahayana teaches non-arising;

The Lesser Vehicle teaches non-cessation.

Non-arising and non-cessation are one in essence;

Their intrinsic meanings are not different.

True emptiness and the virtues of the Buddha—

If one investigates them according to the Dharma,

How could the wise dispute

Between the Great and Lesser Vehicles?

What the Buddha taught as definitive in meaning

Is not easily understood by lesser persons.

Within the teaching of one and three vehicles,

Guard your own being without causing harm.

If you abandon it, there is no merit;

If you become angry, that is evil and unwholesome.

If you wish to cherish yourself,

You should not disparage the Mahayana.

The vows and practices of bodhisattvas,

And dedication of merit, do not exist therein.

If one practices in reliance upon the Lesser Vehicle,

How can one embody the bodhisattva?

The four reliances of the bodhisattva path

Are not taught in the Lesser Vehicle.

What Dharma did the Buddha cultivate

That one could claim to be superior to it?

If reliance upon the truths and the aids to the path

Were the same for the Buddha and those practitioners,

Then the causes they cultivated would not differ;

Why, then, would their fruits be different?

The general and particular practices of bodhi

Are not taught within the Lesser Vehicle,

But are complete within the Mahayana;

Therefore the wise should believe and accept it.

As in the Vyakarana treatise,

Where one is first taught the alphabet,

The Buddha established his teaching in this way

To guide beings toward the supreme foundation.

In some places he taught the Dharma

To make them abandon all evils;

Sometimes to perfect merit and virtue;

Sometimes to rely fully upon both;

Sometimes to transcend these two

By teaching profundity to those of lesser capacity;

Sometimes he placed compassion foremost

So that they might accomplish bodhi.

Therefore, intelligent people

Should relinquish anger toward the Mahayana,

And should give rise to faith and accept it

In order to attain Unequaled Awakening.

Through believing in and accepting the Mahayana,

And practicing the Mahayana teaching,

One accomplishes the Unsurpassed Path,

Within which there is abundant joy.

Generosity, moral discipline, and patience

Are practiced largely by householders.

With compassion foremost in this Dharma,

May you cultivate them until they become your nature.

Because the world is inequitable,

If royal authority runs contrary to the Dharma,

For the sake of an excellent name and the Dharma,

The life of renunciation is superior.

THE KING'S TREATISE ON THE PRECIOUS CONDUCT

THE TRUE CONDUCT OF RENUNCIANTS

Chapter Five

Renunciants beginning their training

Should reverently cultivate the precepts.

Regarding the pratimoksha and Vinaya,

They should study extensively the principles of transgression and establishment.

They should then arouse right diligence

And abandon the coarse afflictions.

They number fifty-seven;

Listen as I explain them here.

Deceit makes the mind divergent and strange.

Anger is a fetter that destroys what is wholesome.

Concealment means hiding evil offenses,

And hypocrisy means displaying goodness while engaging in evil.

Boastfulness seeks a name through deception;

Deviousness means making the mind crooked.

Jealousy is distress over another's virtue;

Stinginess is an anxious unwillingness to relinquish.

Shamelessness and lack of moral dread

Feel no disgrace before oneself or others.

Disrespect means neither humbling oneself nor honoring others.

Agitation is the means by which anger acts.

Intoxication means disregarding others in one's thoughts.

Heedlessness means failing to cultivate virtue.

Pride has seven kinds;

I shall now explain them briefly.

If a person forms comparisons,

Regarding one lower than oneself, one's equal,

Or one inferior and one superior,

This is called ordinary pride.

An inferior person who regards himself

As merely equal to another inferior person—

This is called inferior pride,

Because he abases himself.

An inferior person who elevates himself

And considers himself equal to a superior person—

This affliction is called high pride,

Because he exalts himself as superior.

An inferior person who reckons himself

Superior even to those who are superior—

This is called pride beyond pride,

Like a boil swelling atop a blister.

Within the five appropriated skandhas,

Intrinsic nature is empty and there is no person;

Yet through delusion one conceives an "I"—

This is called self-pride.

Though one has not truly attained the noble path,

One claims that one has already attained it;

Because one has gone beyond one's own bounds,

This is called the pride of superiority.

If, because of committing evil,

A person regards himself as superior,

And furthermore destroys another's virtue,

This is called perverse pride.

One says, "I have no need of it,"

Though one's own being may be inferior;

This too is called inferior pride,

For it can arise in relation to one's own being.

Seeking gain, honor, and praise,

One restrains the six faculties,

While harboring craving, desire, and intention;

This affliction is called arrogance.

In order to obtain gain and offerings,

One speaks affectionate words to others.

Or, relying upon worldly conventions,

One speaks words of gratitude

Because one wishes to obtain that object.

If one praises this thing as beautiful,

This is called displaying signs.

One should thus examine one’s own mind.

Because one wishes to obtain what one seeks,

Or first refrains from opposing another,

This is called flattering speech,

Which can induce the other to comply.

Through giving, one desires to seek gain;

Or one first praises another’s virtues—

This is called seeking gain through desire.

These five wrong livelihoods encompass such conduct.

If a person, through conditions, falls into them,

That state of mind has many designations;

It is called covert self-aggrandizement.

This may be a collection of subsequent thoughts,

Fearful and unable to be at peace.

Through ignorance and illness,

One is content with what is base and coarse.

Frivolity and indolence,

Desire, anger, and deluded, defiled perceptions—

Their designations are exceedingly numerous.

Not observing things as they presently are

Is called lack of reflection.

Being indolent regarding proper conduct

Is called irreverence.

Failing to honor one’s teacher

Is called disrespect.

When desire has arisen in the mind,

Yet outwardly one merely maintains a reputation;

When the mind clings to what is superior and desire arises,

In the extreme this is called pervasive attachment.

When desire arises from possessions,

The unsatisfied mind is called greed.

Loving and clinging to that object

Is called improper desire.

Seeking illicit desire

Toward a woman who is not a proper object

Is contrary to Dharma.

Lacking virtue oneself yet displaying virtue

Is called evil desire.

Abandoning contentment and perpetually seeking

Is called great desire.

Wishing that others may know one’s virtues

Is called the desire for recognition.

Being unable peacefully to endure suffering

Is called impatience.

Regarding one’s teacher and proper, reverential duties,

Wrong conduct is called shamelessness.

When wholesome Dharma is taught and instructed,

Contemptuous arrogance is called being difficult to admonish.

Toward those one loves and holds dear,

Such reflection is called thoughts of relatives.

Through desire for various places,

Thinking of obtaining them is called thoughts of lands.

Not being concerned about or fearing death

Is called the thought of not dying.

Because of genuine merit and virtue,

One wishes that others will honor oneself;

This thought, conditioned by that recognition,

Is called the thought concordant with recognition.

Through attachment and a hateful mind,

One thinks of harming another;

Conditioned by oneself and by others,

This is called the thought of harming others.

Anxious recollection defiles the mind;

Having no support is called disquiet.

When the body sinks down, it is called torpor;

Sluggishness is called indolence.

Whether following deluded states of mind,

Or manifested through the body, it is called fidgeting.

When the body is unsettled and one eats without restraint,

This is called intoxication with food.

When body and mind are truly exhausted,

This is called debility.

Craving and attachment toward the five sense objects

Are called sensual desire.

The intention to cause harm concerning them

Arises from nine causes and conditions;

Suspecting calamity in the three times

Is called anger.

Because body and mind are heavy,

Being incapable of action is called weakness.

Mental regret is called drowsiness;

Because body and mind are shaken, there is agitation.

Regret arising from evil deeds,

Which afterward burns with sorrow, is so named.

Hesitation concerning the Three Jewels and Four Noble Truths

Is called doubt.

If a renunciant bodhisattva

Completely abandons these coarse states,

And can cast off these evils,

The virtues that counteract them readily arise.

Among these, the various virtues

That bodhisattvas should cultivate and correct

Are generosity, morality, and patience,

Diligence, concentration, wisdom, compassion, and the rest.

Relinquishing one’s possessions is specifically called generosity;

Acting for others’ benefit is called morality;

Freedom from anger is called patience;

Gathering wholesome qualities is called diligence;

A tranquil mind is called concentration;

Penetrating ultimate meaning is called wisdom;

Regarding all sentient beings,

Benefiting them with a single impartiality is called compassion.

Generosity produces wealth, and morality, happiness;

Patience brings love, while diligence burns away defilements;

Concentration brings serenity, and wisdom, liberation;

Compassion produces every benefit.

If these seven qualities are perfected,

They all reach consummation,

The inconceivable sphere of wisdom,

And bring one to the state of the Blessed One.

Just as within the Lesser Vehicle

The various stages of the sravakas are taught,

So too within the Great Vehicle

The Ten Grounds of the bodhisattva are taught.

The First Ground is Joyous,

Abiding in extraordinary joy,

Because the three have been utterly extinguished

And one is born into the family of the Buddhas.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of generosity becomes manifest.

Throughout a hundred Buddha-worlds,

One attains unshakable mastery.

Throughout the continents of Jambudvipa,

One becomes a great wheel-turning king,

Constantly turning in the world

Both the precious wheel and the Dharma wheel.

The Second is called Stainless.

Body, speech, mind, and deeds—

All ten kinds become purified,

And one gains mastery of their intrinsic nature.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of morality becomes manifest.

Throughout a thousand Buddha-worlds,

One attains unshakable mastery.

As the lord of the gods, Sakra,

One can eliminate the gods’ attachment to sensual desire.

Neither heavenly maras nor non-Buddhist teachers

Can ever cause one to waver.

The Third is called Luminous.

The radiance of pure wisdom arises;

Through concentration and supernormal powers,

Desire, anger, and delusion are extinguished.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of patience becomes manifest.

Throughout ten thousand Buddha-worlds,

One attains unshakable mastery.

As lord of the Yama Heaven,

One sees and removes habitual tendencies connected with embodiment.

All attachments upheld by false teachers

One can destroy and rightly correct.

The Fourth is called Radiant.

The blazing fire of wisdom gives forth light.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of diligence becomes manifest.

One extensively cultivates the factors of the path,

Extinguishing defilements and bringing forth the path.

As lord of the Tusita Heaven,

One eliminates the views and precepts of non-Buddhist paths.

Because one attains mastery over birth,

Throughout the Buddha-lands of the ten directions

One comes and goes without obstruction.

The remaining meanings are as on the preceding ground.

The Fifth is called Difficult to Conquer.

Maras and followers of the Two Vehicles cannot attain

The subtle and wondrous meaning of the Noble Truths

From which realization and vision arise.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of concentration becomes manifest.

One becomes lord of the Heaven of Delight in Transformations

And leads followers of the Two Vehicles toward the Great Vehicle.

The Sixth is called Manifest,

For one is rightly directed toward the Buddha-Dharma.

Through cultivating concentration and wisdom,

One realizes perfect cessation.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of prajnaparamita becomes manifest.

As lord of the Heaven of Mastery over Others’ Transformations,

One skillfully teaches the profound conventional truth.

The Seventh is called Far-Going.

Going far, one continues onward,

And in each successive thought attains

Non-arising and non-cessation.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of skillful means becomes manifest.

One becomes a Great Brahma King

Able to penetrate the ultimate meaning.

Realizing the supreme wisdom of skillful means,

One brings forth the Six Perfections without interruption.

Within the conventional teachings of the Three Vehicles,

One becomes the foremost teacher.

The Ground of the Immovable Youth

Is so called because one never departs from true contemplation.

It is nonconceptual and difficult to comprehend,

Beyond the spheres of body, speech, and mind.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of vows is constantly manifest.

As lord of the Brahma Heaven of Universal Radiance,

One has mastery over pure lands.

Followers of the Two Vehicles cannot attain it.

Regarding ultimate and conventional truth as one meaning,

One cultivates movement and stillness together,

Accomplishing the two benefits without relying on hearing.

The Ninth is called Good Wisdom,

The station of the Crown Prince of the Dharma King.

Herein wisdom is supreme,

Because one penetrates the four unobstructed eloquences.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of powers is constantly manifest.

One becomes the Brahma King of Universal Purity,

And none can confound one with the four kinds of difficult questions.

The Tenth is called Dharma Cloud,

For it can rain down the rain of true Dharma.

Bathed by the water of the Buddha’s radiance,

One receives the Buddha’s consecration.

As the fruition of this ground,

The perfection of knowledge is constantly manifest.

One becomes the Brahma King of the Pure Abodes,

The lord of the Heaven of Great Mastery.

One’s wisdom is truly inconceivable;

The secret treasury of all Buddhas

Is attained in complete mastery.

In one’s next birth, one occupies the place of a Buddha-to-be.

Thus have I taught

The ten kinds of bodhisattva grounds.

The Buddha Ground, distinct from those,

Is filled with supreme virtues beyond measure.

In brief, this ground

Is always described as corresponding to the Ten Powers.

Each one of these powers

Is immeasurable like empty space.

Thus, though it may be spoken of with ease,

The virtues of the Buddhas are limitless,

Like the empty space of the ten directions

And earth, water, fire, and wind.

The limitless virtues of the Buddhas

Are difficult for others to believe.

If they do not perceive these causes,

How could they fathom such results?

For the sake of these causes and results,

Before a Buddha shrine,

Three times each day and three times each night,

One should resolve to recite these twenty verses:

To the Buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha,

And to all bodhisattvas,

I bow my head and take refuge;

I shall honor and revere them.

I abandon every evil

And embrace and uphold every good.

In all the wholesome deeds of sentient beings

I rejoice and act in accord with them.

With head and face I bow to all Buddhas;

Joining my palms, I entreat them to remain.

I pray that they will turn the Dharma wheel

Throughout future lives in samsara.

Whatever virtue I have created from this,

Both that already created and that not yet created,

Through these causes, may sentient beings

All generate bodhicitta.

May they overcome every obstacle and adversity,

And perfect their stainless faculties.

May all possess pure livelihood,

And may their undertakings be accomplished with mastery.

May everything be boundless,

And may they possess precious hands,

Continuing without end throughout future lives.

May sentient beings be thus.

May all women

Become supreme persons.

At all times,

May they be endowed with knowledge and conduct.

May their forms be beautiful and awe-inspiring,

Their lovely complexions delightful to behold.

May they be free from illness and endowed with strength;

May their lives be long in this same way.

May they be freed from every suffering and fear,

And single-mindedly take refuge in the Three Jewels.

May they be skilled in skillful means,

Regard the Buddha-Dharma as their great treasure,

And possess loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, pure equanimity, and relinquishment.

Ever abiding in the Four Brahma Abodes,

Generosity, morality, patience, and diligence,

Meditative concentration, wisdom, hardship, and adornment,

Perfecting the practices of merit and wisdom,

With excellent marks radiating light—

May those qualities be inconceivable.

May I practice the Ten Bhūmis without obstruction

And be endowed with virtues corresponding to these.

Adorned with all other virtues,

May I attain liberation surpassing all.

May I cherish sentient beings

And perfect every wholesome quality;

May I bring happiness to sentient beings

And be able to dispel every suffering.

May I always remain thus.

If anyone is beset by fear,

At any time or in any place,

Merely by thinking of my name,

May they be freed from every suffering.

Whether they regard me with reverent faith or anger,

Whether they see me or keep me in mind,

Or even merely hear my name,

May they be assured of bodhi.

May I attain the five superknowledges

And constantly accompany all beings.

May I always be able to bring forth

Goodness and happiness for sentient beings.

If they wish to commit evil

Anywhere in all the worlds,

May I transform and put an end to that evil,

Causing them to cultivate virtue in accordance with truth.

Like earth, water, fire, and wind,

Medicinal herbs and forest trees,

In whatever way they wish to make use of me,

May I myself patiently endure it.

May I cherish them

As dearly as my own life.

May I remain mindful of sentient beings

Many times more than I cherish myself.

Whatever evil deeds they create,

May their full karmic results ripen upon me;

Whatever good deeds I perform,

May their karmic fruits ripen upon them.

So long as even one person remains unliberated,

Wherever they may be born among the realms of existence,

May I remain there for their sake

And not attain bodhi before them.

The merit of practicing in this way,

If it could take material form,

Could not be measured even in worlds

As numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

The Buddha, the Blessed One, himself declared

That the causes for this are inexhaustible:

As the realm of sentient beings is immeasurable,

So too are vows made for their benefit.

I have expounded this Dharma in brief

So that benefit may arise for oneself and others.

May you cherish this Dharma

As lovingly as you cherish your own body.

Whoever cherishes this Dharma

Truly cherishes their own self.

What should be cherished and what should be rejected—

Such rejection is accomplished through the Dharma.

Therefore, regard the work of Dharma as your own body,

And your own work as the work of Dharma.

If you act with wisdom,

Your deeds will be like the wise deeds of sages.

To those pure, compliant, and wise,

May you speak the truth of right principle.

If, because of your own faults, you suspect them,

You will harm your own affairs.

Such a person is a spiritual friend;

You should clearly recognize these initial signs:

Contentment, loving-kindness, compassion, morality,

Wisdom, and the ability to eradicate evil.

When a virtuous friend instructs you,

Understand, respect, follow, and put it into practice.

Through excellent inner and outer virtues,

You will surely reach a good destination.

Speak truthfully under solemn vow and use loving words;

Let your joyful disposition remain unshaken.

In proper affairs, avoid increasing deception;

May you make yourself easy to instruct.

Having relinquished something, harbor no regret;

Even when burned by fire, keep your mind serene.

Be neither indolent nor restless,

Neither arrogant nor discordant.

May you be radiant and pure like the moon,

Brilliantly blazing like the sun,

Profound like the great ocean,

And steadfast like the king of mountains.

Free from attachment to every result,

Adorned with manifold virtues,

And serving the needs of sentient beings,

May you attain omniscience.

Although I have not always been a king,

I have thus taught this wholesome Dharma,

In accordance with truth, for the sake of others,

Out of the wish to benefit all.

Great King! You should listen

To this Right Treatise every day,

So that you and others

May attain unsurpassed bodhi.

Maintain excellent morality and revere your superiors;

Practice patience, free from jealousy;

Do not flaunt your wealth, and remain content;

Bring relief amid difficult circumstances.

Be able to do good; toward evildoers,

Embrace and guide them, yet also restrain them.

Always protect the Buddha’s true Dharma;

Those who seek bodhi should act thus.

The Precious Garland of Advice for a King

End