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 |
And how the bodhisattvas gathered did appear;
How was their Dharma, and what standing they did have,
The way they studied, and the training they endured,
And what amounts were given them in offering. (11.21)
The illustrious ones can demonstrate fully and in a single form how they practiced the perfection of generosity in the past, and to which illustrious buddhas they showed reverence; how the buddha realms were, whether made of sapphire, ruby, emerald, crystal or the like, and how they were beautified by trees of precious materials here, there and everywhere; the beauty of the various different beings living there; and how the illustrious buddhas took birth there and so forth. The illustrious buddhas can demonstrate fully and in a single form how their eminent abilities of forms and activities were; how large and in what form the sanghas of hearers gathered were; in which ways these sanghas of hearers applied themselves to teachings that are in tune with the Dharma; the excellent marks and signs that adorned the bodhisattvas within these buddha realms of the illustrious buddhas; the beauty of the robes, food, accommodation and so forth that were enjoyed there; and how the distinction of Dharma were, the practice of a single vehicle or three vehicles. They can demonstrate fully and in a single form to which standing they adhered, whether of the brahmin caste or others, how their appearance and intellect were, whether they were householders or had gone forth; how they studied the Dharma and then trained by taking up the precepts with or without remainder; the amounts of offerings that were given to them, whether as different types of foods and so forth, as dharma robes or precious articles, offered to the sangha of illustrious buddhas, hearers and bodhisattvas, and for how long and in which amounts these things were offered.
And just as they can demonstrate the extent of their practice of the perfection of generosity:
And likewise all their prior discipline,
Their patience, effort, concentration and
Intelligence …,
To this may be added, ‘all of it they display in a single form.’ And not only can they demonstrate all this simultaneously in a single form, but:
… all of these practices
They clearly show within a single pore. (11.22)
And not only can they display their own activities, but also:
The buddhas of the past and those to come,
Those present now as far as space pervades,
How in the world they teach the Dharma’s tunes
Relieving beings seized by suffering; (11.23)
And all their works from making the resolve
Till wakening; these things they clearly know
And demonstrate within a single pore,
And instantly, as if they were their own. (11.24)
When ordinary individuals, learned in the arts of magic, are able to use the power of spells to make various things appear to happen with their own bodies, would not the lords of beings, the illustrious buddhas, and the bodhisattvas who understand that things are in nature no different than magical illusions, be able to do this? What wise individual would then doubt whether they haven’t realised this? This is thus a clarifying example that wise individuals will be convinced by.
And just as they are able to demonstrate their own activities and those of other tathāgatas in a single instant and within a single pore:
So too with every deed done throughout time
By bodhisattvas, solitary ones,
The noble hearers and all common folk,
They show at once and in a single pore. (11.25)
Having covered the splendour of their forms, what is now illustrated is their excellent and non-conceptual will power:
Through will power these pure ones can display the worlds
As far as space extends within a speck of dust,
The speck engulfing the entire universe
Without growth of the speck nor shrinking of the worlds. (11.26)
The illustrious buddhas can through their will power display the universe as far as space extends inside a single minute particle, without the worlds becoming any smaller or the particles any bigger; and then merely through their will power can show things the way they are again. The speck engulfing the entire universe: the illustrious buddhas show the entire universe, the universe including each and every world, contained by a single minute particle.
Likewise,
With no conceptual thought you can display
In every instant till the end of time
Diverse activities as countless as
All specks of dust on every continent. (11.27)
This is a verse of praise to the tathāgatas expressing their extraordinary qualities, saying that, ‘You entertain no concepts, yet the diverse activities you display in each moment as long as samsara exists is beyond reckoning – all the minute particles on every world continent wouldn’t even suffice to enumerate them.’
As the ground of buddhahood is recognised by its ten powers, a brief account of these were given by saying:
The might of knowing what is fact and what is not,
And likewise what will be the consequence of acts,
To understand the different preferences of beings
And what their various abilities might be; (11.28)
To know whose faculties are good and whose are not,
Where every path with lead; the might of knowing all
Samādhis (concentrations), liberated states,
Absorptions, states of equilibrium and such; (11.29)
To have the power to recount all previous lives,
To know the processes of death and then rebirth,
To know that all defilements have been fully spent;
This is a summary of all the powers ten. (11.30)