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 |
To determine the qualities they gain from the first resolve and onwards it was said:
This is the time when they a hundred buddhas see,
And likewise come to know that by them they are blessed.
For hundred aeons on this stage they can remain,
And know precisely what has passed and what will be. (11.1)
These wise ones enter and depart a hundred concentrations, and
Are able to make tremble and illuminate a hundred worlds;
Displaying miracles they can mature a hundred sentient beings,
And have the means to travel to a hundred realms of purity. (11.2)
The scions of the Mighty One unlock a hundred Dharma doors,
And in their bodies they reveal a hundred manifested forms.
The beauty and the riches of their retinue promotes their own,
Reflected in each of the hundred victor’s heirs they make appear. (11.3)
As stated:
Having gone forth, they attain and enter repeatedly a hundred concentrations each second, each moment, each instant. They see a hundred buddhas and perfectly understand their blessings. They cause a hundred world systems to shake, travel to a hundred pure realms, illuminate a hundred worlds, mature a hundred beings, remain for a hundred aeons, have access to a hundred aeons into the past and future, unlock a hundred doors of Dharma, display a hundred bodies, each body again displaying a retinue of a hundred bodhisattvas.1
Such are the qualities the wise ones gain upon
The Joyous ground, and on Immaculate the same
Is gained but then increased a thousandfold. …
And these same hundredfold qualities that the bodhisattvas gain when developing the first resolve, are then expanded as they gain them a thousandfold when developing the second resolve.
And upon the development of the third resolve these same qualities are then:
… And on
The five succeeding ones their qualities increase: (11.4)
They gain these qualities a hundred thousandfold,
A billionfold, ten billionfold, a trillionfold,
And then ten million trillionfold – thus multiplied
In stages by the thousands, all of this they gain. (11.5)
As explained, the bodhisattvas developing the third resolve gain a hundred thousand of these qualities. On developing the fourth they gain a billion. On developing the fifth they gain ten billion. On developing the sixth they gain a trillion. And on developing the seventh resolve the bodhisattvas gain ten quintillion of these same qualities.
Beyond this the qualities become impossible to calculate, equal to the number of the most minute particles:
When dwelling on the ground Immovable they are
Beyond conceptual thought, and qualities they gain
As many as the particles one finds within
A hundred thousand trichiliocosmic worlds. (11.6)
The bodhisattvas who develop the eight resolve gain as many of these mentioned qualities are there are particles within a hundred thousand trichilocosm worlds.
And when they find themselves on Perfect Intellect,
Such bodhisattvas gain the mentioned qualities
Ten times as many as the particles one may
Encounter in a hundred thousand countless worlds. (11.7)
The bodhisattvas who develop the ninth resolve gain as many of these former qualities as there are particles within a million countless2 trichiliocosms.
So many are their qualities upon the tenth
They cannot be expressed by any verbal means.
When added up they are in number equal to
All atoms that exist, indeed unutterable. (11.8)
The bodhisattvas who develop the tenth resolve gain as many of the mentioned qualities as there are minute particles in the inexpressibly many untold buddha realms. In the phrase so many are the qualities upon the tenth, the words so many (tāvat?) are saying that to indicate the qualities attained on this level by for instance saying that they amount to such and such a number, is not possible.
Furthermore, regarding these bodhisattvas:
They have the power to continuously display
Within each pore of their own bodies numberless
Awakened buddhas with their bodhisattva hosts,
As well as humans, demigods and gods alike. (11.9)
The bodhisattvas who have developed the tenth resolve are able to display within each pore of their body, and without any conceptual effort, innumerable illustrious buddhas and their pure realms presiding over immeasurable retinues of bodhisattvas, and can alter these appearances every moment. Furthermore, in each instant they have the power to display within each of their pores, the five types of beings of samsara, humans and so forth, without any confusion between them. The words as well as (api) include also other beings not mentioned, as when it states, ‘… Indra, Brahma, the world-guardians (lokapāla), kings of men, hearers, solitary buddhas – the Tathāgata assumes the forms of Indra and so forth to teach the Dharma to beings receptive to the training.’3 Detailed descriptions of the qualities may be found in the same sutra.4
This completes the presentation of the qualities related to the bodhisattva grounds.
Something must now be mentioned in relation to the qualities of the ground of buddhahood, and this is done in hymnic form and directed at the illustrious Buddha. As stated:
Because the moon is at its brightest shining from a cloudless sky,
Ahead you ventured on this ground wherein ten powers are produced,
And found in Akanishta what you sought, the stage of utmost peace,
Accomplishing the peerless goal endowed with every quality. (11.10)
Just as only from a clear sky will the moon illuminate all that lives, the Illustrious One removed the darkness obstructing the attainment of buddha qualities, saw that now having accomplishing the tenth resolve he had the potential to attain the qualities of a buddha, and thus applied himself towards this next stage, buddhahood. And what the Tathāgata strove to gain, the unsurpassable wisdom, he found in Akanishta. This is where all qualities are brought to completion, as it is where every quality becomes complete and perfect. Peerless, there is nothing like it and nothing beyond it.