Bodhisattvas Asks for Clarification

Chapter Ten

 

 

SUTRA:

Into every land in all the worlds,
The Buddhas enter in accord with beings there.
Yet those beings are unable to perceive
The Buddhas’ formless wisdom body. 

COMMENTARY:

This verse explains what the entry into the state of a Buddha is like, and what the wisdom of the state of a Buddha is like. It is talking about the Buddha’s wisdom. 

Into every land in all the worlds, / The Buddhas enter in accord with beings there. All the Buddhas, according with sentient beings, enter every world, every land, excepting none. They enter those worlds by means of their wisdom, that is, the wisdom body. Yet those beings are unable to perceive / The Buddhas’ formless wisdom body. The wisdom body is without any form or appearance, and so ordinary people are unable to see the Buddhas. They cannot perceive how is it the Buddhas enter all worlds, and how is it they depart from all those worlds.

SUTRA:

The Buddhas’ wisdom is free and at ease,
Unimpeded in the Triple Realm.
This state of their wisdom
Is equal and impartial, just like space. 

COMMENTARY:

This verse explains what the wisdom of the state of a Buddha is like. The Buddhas’ wisdom is free and at ease, / Unimpeded in the Triple Realm. The wisdom of all Buddhas refers to the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, Wonderful Observing Wisdom, and the Wisdom of Accomplishment. The Buddhas’ Four Types of Wisdom are free, at ease and unimpeded. Nothing in the three periods of time—past, present, and future—can hinder them.

This state of their wisdom, the Four Types of Wisdoms being perfect and bright, unimpeded in the Three Realms, is equal and impartial, just like space. They impartially teach and transform sentient beings, using wisdom that resembles space, without form or characteristics, pervading all places.

SUTRA:

The Dharma Realm and the realms of sentient beings
Are ultimately undifferentiated, 
And yet are fully understood.
Thus is the Thus Come Ones’ state. 

All the different sounds
Throughout the various worlds,
The Buddhas, in their wisdom, constantly discern,
Without making any distinctions. 

Imperceptible to our subjective consciousness,
This state cannot be cognized by the mind.
It is from the clarity of the pure, inherent nature
That instructions to benefit beings well forth. 

COMMENTARY:

The Dharma Realm and the realms of sentient beings / Are ultimately undifferentiated. That which pervades space and the Dharma Realm is essentially not different from the realm of sentient beings. And yet are fully understood. Although they are essentially not different, yet their various states must be understood. The Buddhas, without using a discriminating mind, can understand and know these differences. Thus is the Thus Come Ones’ state. The state of the Thus Come Ones is not like that of ordinary people, who must speculate and calculate in order to understand something. The Buddhas need not do that. The Buddhas’ state, like a great, perfect mirror, clearly reflects the true appearance of all dharmas. It responds to whatever phenomenon appears. When the phenomenon goes, it is still once again. Whatever state comes, it manifests it; when the state leaves, nothing remains. One does not use the discriminating mind, but rather makes use of genuine wisdom. Genuine wisdom is without any discrimination. Such is the extent of the state of a Thus Come One.

All the different sounds of every single sentient being throughout the various worlds, / The Buddhas, in their wisdom, constantly discern… The Buddhas’ wisdom is able to understand these sounds at all times, without making any distinctions. Such states cannot be discriminated and known by the discriminating mind.

This state is imperceptible to our subjective consciousness, not something that the discriminating, conscious mind is able to distinguish. This state cannot be cognized by the mind. It is not a state that can be discerned by the mind that thinks and considers.

It is the clarity of the pure, inherent nature. Wisdom’s original nature is pure and clear.

The Buddhas use their original wisdom, rather than intellectual thought, to understand. The Buddhas’ pure nature is what responds with instructions to benefit beings. Using this wisdom, they elucidate the true essence of the Dharma for all sentient beings, dispelling their karma of doubts and revealing true principles for sentient beings, so that they awaken to the essence of the Dharma and realize the pure wisdom of their inherent nature.

SUTRA:

Without karma, without afflictions,
With nothing whatsoever, and no place to dwell,
Without reflection or any activity,
They travel impartially through all worlds. 

The minds of all sentient beings,
Exist throughout the three periods of time.
The Thus Come Ones, in a single thought,
Comprehends them one and all. 

COMMENTARY:

The Buddhas are without karma, without afflictions. Karma is empty in nature, and so there is no karma. Afflictions likewise have no nature of their own, and thus are empty as well. Because of this it can also be said that there is nothing whatsoever, and no place to dwell. As the Sixth Patriarch said, “Originally there is nothing; where can the dust alight?”

Without reflection or any activity, / They travel impartially through all worlds. There is also no reflective illumination, nor any activity. The Buddhas, with an understanding that is impartial and equal, travel through all worlds.

The minds of all sentient beings, / Exists throughout the three periods of time. The thoughts in the minds of all sentient beings exist within the wisdom of all Buddhas of the three periods of time.

The Thus Come One, in a single thought, / Comprehends them one and all. The Thus Come Ones, in a single thought, without using a mind of discrimination, can understand the thoughts of all sentient beings, like a mirror that clearly reflects objects. The state of the Buddhas’ wisdom is boundlessly vast.

XI. The Manifestation of Sentient Beings’ Situations Everywhere

SUTRA:

At that time, in this Saha world, all sentient beings’ distinct dharmas, distinct karma, distinct worlds, distinct bodies, distinct dispositions, distinct births, distinct results from maintaining precepts, distinct results from violating precepts, and distinct results of lands, were clearly manifested by the Buddhas’ spiritual power. 

Just as to the east, in hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of numberless, measureless, boundless, incomparable, innumerable, inestimable, inconceivable, immeasurable, ineffable worlds pervading space throughout the Dharma Realm, all sentient beings’ distinct dharmas, up to and including their distinct results of lands, were clearly manifested by the Buddhas’ spiritual power, so, too, was this the case in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, above, and below. 

COMMENTARY:

At that time, when Manjushri Bodhisattva had finished using verses to answer the questions posed by all those great Bodhisattvas, in this Saha world, the world where beings are able to endure suffering. Then the Buddhas made appear all the various kinds of sentient beings’ distinct dharmas. All their dharmas are not the same. All their distinct karma is not the same. The distinct worlds that they inhabit, which is known as their dependent retribution, and their distinct bodies that they receive, which is their proper retribution, are all different, too.

Sentient beings also have distinct dispositions, which are not the same. Their distinct births they receive, the rebirths they must undergo, are all different. Their distinct results from maintaining the precepts, all the rewards sentient beings receive from upholding the Five Precepts and cultivating the Ten Good Deeds are different, as are the results from their violating precepts, violating the Five Precepts and committing the Ten Evils. And their results of lands, of worlds, are different as well.

Those things were all clearly manifested by the Buddhas’ spiritual power. Due to the Buddhas’ spiritual power, the power of the Buddha’s spiritual penetrations, all the various states just mentioned were displayed.

What are spiritual penetrations? The spirit refers to the divine nature. Penetrations refer to the wisdom nature. This nature can know without knowing, be capable of what is beyond its abilities, see without seeing, and hear without hearing. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind—the six faculties—can function interchangeably. That is also a form of spiritual penetrations. The eyes are able to eat, the ears can talk, the nose can hear, and the tongue can see. Thus, the functions of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and knowing—can be switched around. That is what is meant by spiritual penetrations.

The Buddhas’ spiritual powers extended to the east, in hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of numberless, measureless, boundless, incomparable, innumerable, inestimable, inconceivable, immeasurable, ineffable worlds pervading space throughout the Dharma Realm. It was like that in the eastern direction for hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of worlds. How many worlds is that? There is no way to estimate. There is no way to imagine. There is no way to measure. There is no way to speak of how many worlds there were to the east. It is as the saying goes, “The path of words is cut off; the mind’s activities has ceased.”

How many worlds were there? There were worlds pervading space throughout the Dharma Realm, and in those worlds, all the sentient beings’ distinct dharmas, the dharmas they cultivated, up to and including their distinct results of worlds, the worlds where their retributions and rewards were experienced, were not the same. Just as all these differences were clearly manifested by the esoteric functioning of the Buddhas’ spiritual power, so, too, was this the case in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions—northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest, above, and below. In all the other directions, there was that kind of clear manifestation.

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