Complete text |
Title |
Preface |
Chapter 1: Pramuditā |
Chapter 2: Vimalā |
Chapter 3: Prabhākarī |
Chapter 4: Arciṣmatī |
Chapter 5: Sudurjayā |
Chapter 6: Abhimukhī |
Chapter 7: Dūraṃgamā |
Chapter 8: Acalā |
Chapter 9: Sādhumatī |
Chapter 10: Dharmameghā |
Chapter 11: buddhabhūmi |
In terms of the eight resolve it was said:
To reach yet even greater virtue than before
These mighty beings enter the Immovable
Where they acquire irreversibility.
The bodhisattvas now enter Immovable, the eight bodhisattva ground where they become irreversible in order to achieve even greater virtue than previously. Concerning the attainment of even greater virtue than before, it is stated:
O sons of the Victor, it is just like an ocean-going ship. It needs to be dragged with much toil before it reaches the water, but as soon as it’s afloat it is propelled by the strength of the wind and no more effort is needed. The distance it can run across the ocean in a single day is infinitely longer than could be achieved in even a hundred years of dragging it across land. Likewise, O sons of the Victor, when bodhisattvas have gathered a great many roots of virtue in their practice of the Greater Vehicle, and then reach the ocean of bodhisattva activity, a single moment of spontaneous wisdom will take them infinitely closer to the wisdom of omniscience than all their previous effort could accomplish in a hundred thousand aeons.1
Their aspirations being fully pure, they are
Now roused from their cessation by victorious ones. (8.1)
The ten innumerable hundred thousand aspirations they made in the context of the first resolve, such as those expressed in the Ten Great Aspirations, now become completely purified, greatly increasing the present perfection of aspiration. But while the bodhisattvas on Immovable are defined as being on the ground of the heirs, they become regents on the ninth, and are crowned as wheel-turning monarchs on the tenth. So as the bodhisattvas on the Immovable ground have entered into cessation, the illustrious buddhas will then rouse them from this cessation.
As stated:
O heirs of the Victor. As the bodhisattvas on the Immovable bodhisattva ground are empowered by their past aspirations and have settled within the entrance to Dharma, the illustrious buddhas influence them with their tathāgata wisdom, and speak the following: ‘Excellent, O son of good family, excellent! You have now reached acceptance of the ultimate in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings. However, O son of good family, you still do not possess the ten powers, four confidences and so forth as I do, and must apply yourself in order to gain these perfect qualities of buddhahood. You must be diligent! But do not abandon this door of acceptance! O son of good family, although you are now resting within the liberation of peace, you must consider the ordinary immature beings who are not at peace, who being ravaged by many afflictions and beleaguered by swarms of conceptual thoughts, are not at all at peace. O son of good family, remember the aspirations you made in the past! …’
… If the illustrious buddhas did not2 thus influence the bodhisattvas with their omniscient wisdom, they would pass into complete nirvana … [and so forth].3
Because they have now been roused from cessation,
No blemish will maintain its hold upon the non-desirous mind,
And so, upon the eight ground stains are severed, utter peace attained.
Afflictions at an end, they now surpass the triple realm, and still
The space-like boundless wealth of all the buddhas lies beyond their reach. (8.2)
As the sun of non-conceptual wisdom rises, the gloom of the afflictions that has caused birth in the three realms is completely eradicated, and true peace ensues. But, even though they have abandoned this and are now supreme among the three levels of the world, at this stage the bodhisattvas are still not yet able to achieve the boon of the illustrious buddhas. To gain that they must exert themselves further. As it says, ‘they would pass into complete nirvana …,’4 since they can now be free from the attachment of the three realms. Without being free from attachment, nirvana is not possible.
It might be asked, ‘If they are now freed from the attachment of the three realms, how are they then able to perfect all the qualities of buddhahood when samsara has ceased?’
To explain:
Although samsara has been stopped, they have attained the powers ten,
And through these, manifest in various ways to beings of the world. (8.3)
Although samsara has ceased at this point, the ten powers are now born in them, and by means of these they can manifest their mental body in a variety of different forms. It is therefore not contradictory that they can continue to completely fulfil their accumulations.
As for the ten powers, they are as stated:
(1) They have mastery of life in terms of blessing their lifespan to last for inexpressible upon inexpressible aeons. (2) They have mastery of mind in terms of immersing themselves in the wisdom of immeasurable meditative concentrations. (3) They have mastery of material implements in terms of displaying the blessing of adorning all the realms of the world with many adornments. (4) They have mastery of karma in terms of revealing the impact of an action’s result at its particular time. (5) They have mastery of birth in terms of the ability to display birth within any world. (6) They have mastery of prayer as they can display true and complete buddhahood in any buddha field at any time desired. (7) They have mastery of aspirations as they can display within any world system vast arrays of buddhas. (8) They have mastery of miraculous abilities as they can display magical emanations in all buddha fields. (9) They have mastery of wisdom as they can display a Tathāgata’s powers, confidences, unique buddha qualities, perfect marks and signs, as well as true and complete awakening. (10) They have mastery of Dharma as they can teach the dharma in any form that is without centre or limit.5
The explanation of the eight resolve has thus been completed.
This was the eight resolve from the Commentary to Entering the Middle Way.