The Merit and Virtue from First Bringing Forth the Mind

Chapter Seventeen

 

 

Sutra:

With respect to all worlds he does not discriminate.
Regarding all dharmas he is without false thinking.
Although he contemplates all dharmas, he does not grasp at them.
He always rescues living beings, yet none are crossed over.

All worlds are only thoughts:
Within each of them are all kinds of differences.
He knows that the state of thoughts is dangerous and deep,
And manifests spiritual penetrations to rescue beings.

Just like the free and easy power of a magician,
So too are the Bodhisattva’s spiritual transformations.
His body pervades the Dharma realm and space;
According with the minds of living beings, none do not see him.

He is apart from the differentiations of subject and object,
And there is no grasping at defilement or purity.
Whether bound up or liberated, his wisdom is totally forgotten.
He only wishes to bestow happiness on living beings everywhere.

All worlds are only the force of thoughts;
With wisdom he enters them with a fearless heart.
He considers all Dharmas in the same way:
Investigating throughout the three periods of time, there is nothing which can be obtained.  

Commentary:

With respect to all worlds he does not discriminate. When the Bodhisattva teaches and transforms living beings in the world, he uses wisdom light to clearly understand all living beings’ basic natures, yet he does not discriminate between good and bad. Regarding all dharmas he is without false thinking. He is equal towards all dharmas and does not give rise to false thinking and say, “I should use this particular dharma and transform that particular living being.” He doesn’t produce this kind of false thinking.

Although he contemplates all dharmas, he does not grasp at them. Although he uses wisdom to contemplate all dharmas, yet he doesn’t grasp or become attached to any of them. He always rescues living beings, yet none are crossed over. He constantly rescues and crosses over living beings but he doesn’t grasp at the thought of crossing over living beings. He doesn’t say, “Do you know? I now teach and transform living beings. I now am doing doing this good thing for living beings. I am cultivating the Bodhisattva path.” He doesn’t have this kind of consideration. “Everyday he crosses over living beings, yet there are nore which are crossed over.” Everyday he is teaching and transforming living beings, yet everyday there are no living beings that are crossed over.

This is also like what is said in the Ch’an school, “Everyday eating rice, yet not a single grain is eaten. Everyday wearing clothes, yet not a single thread is worn.” Why does it say this? This is just describing the state of one who is without attachment.

All worlds are only thoughts. All worlds come into being from thoughts. Living beings’ false thoughts create illusory worlds. Within each of them are all kinds of differences. In the world there are all kinds of false thinking. Each living being has his own different kind of false thinking. He knows that the state of thoughts is dangerous and deep. He knows that the state of false thinking is extremely dangerous and very difficult to understand.

We cultivate the Way in order to cut off false thinking. Fasting is just for the purpose of striking down one’s false thinking, to beat it to death. So I’ve asked those who are fasting, “Have you died yet?” I’m not asking whether your false thinking has died. I’m also asking if you still have your greedy mind, a mind which thinks about how you haven’t eaten, or how many days have gone by since you haven’t eaten. If you have those considerations, then you have false thinking, and you haven’t stopped your heart of greed yet. You want to stop your greedy mind.

Although you like to eat and drink good things, you’re not getting anything to eat or drink. You’re battling with your false thinking. This is the purpose of those who cultivate the Way: to stop false thinking. If you wish to touch money, that is false thinking. If you wish to take advantage of situations, that is false thinking. The Bodhisattva knows that false thinking is dangerous, And so he manifests spiritual penetrations to rescue beings. Living beings revolve in the dangerous paths. The Bodhisattva manifests all kinds of spiritual penetrations in order to cross over and liberate living beings. But these spiritual penetrations are by no means real. What are they like then?

Just like the free and easy power of a magician…This is like a magician possessed of the free and easy power of transforming something into nothing, and nothing into something. He cane make things suddenly become big, and suddenly become small. Just as the magician’s powers are unknowable and endless. So too are the Bodhisattva’s spiritual transformations. The transformations from the Bodhisattva’s spiritual penetrations are like those conjured by a magician. His body pervades the Dharma realm and space. His single body totally fills up all of the Dharma Realm and the realm of space. According with the minds of living beings, none do not see him. He accords with the minds of beings so that none do not see his form.

He is apart from the differentiations of subject and object. He does not discriminate between subject and object, because both of these discriminations are non-existent. They are both “separated from.” And there is no grasping at defilement or purity. Within the heart of the Bodhisattva, there isn’t any defilement of purity. So it is said in the Heart Sutra, “not defiled and not pure,” which means having no dwelling place. One can’t be attached to defilement or purity.

Whether bound up or liberated, his wisdom is totally forgotten. Perhaps living beings are bound by karma or maybe they have attained liberation. Regardless of whether they are one way or the other, this kind of wisdom is non-existent. It is forgotten. The kind of wisdom which is connected with being bound or liberated is totally forgotten. He only wishes to bestow happiness on living beings everywhere. The Bodhisattva wants to benefit all living beings. Because living beings wish to strive for benefit they fight. Why are there wars in the world? Because groups of people strive for benefit.

People who are stupid are cheated by those who are intelligent, and those intelligent people not only cheat others, they also cheat themselves. The wars in the world arise because of this. Sot he Bodhisattva wishes to transfer his advantages to all beings. He doesn’t want them for himself. He just wants you to obtain some advantage, which is whatever you happen to like. He has forgotten himself for the sake of others. He doesn’t have a “self”. This is the Bodhisattva’s motivating principle. So no one fights with the Bodhisattva. Even the demon kings are happy when they see him, and they don’t fight with him.

All worlds are only the force of thoughts. All worlds come into being by means of the force of false thinking. False thinking has brought about the illusory worlds. With wisdom he enters them with a fearless heart. He uses wisdom to understand that all worlds are false, and so he is fearless. He’s able to see through them and put them down. He considers all Dharmas in the same way. He cultivates all kinds of dhyana concentrations and meditations, the dharmas of hearing and considering, and various samadhis. He sees they are all equal.

Investigating throughout the three periods of time, there is nothing which can be obtained. The past, present, and future are not obtainable. This also means that past, present and future thoughts are not obtainable. Why? Because the past has already gone by. You say this is the past, well that’s already passed. You say this is the present, well the present doesn’t stop. And the future has yet to come. In searching for the three periods of time, nothing can be obtained. Everything is without a substance. It does not matter how you seek, there is nothing that can be found. Nothing is obtainable, and nothing is real.

Sutra:

He’s able to enter the past and exhaust the boundary of before,
He’s able to enter the future and exhaust the boundary of afterwards.
He’s able to enter all places in the present,
Constantly and diligently observing them as being non-existent.

He goes along with the still extinct Dharma of nirvana,
Dwelling without striving and without any reliance.
His mind, like ultimate reality, is unequalled.
He only goes towards Bodhi without ever retreating.

He cultivates supreme conduct without turning back in fear;
He’s established in Bodhi and unmoving.
The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the worlds
Exhaust the Dharma Realm, so everything is understood.

He wishes to obtain the most supreme, foremost path,
And acts as the king of liberation of all wisdom.
He must quickly bring forth the Bodhi mind,
And forever exhaust all outflows and benefit the flocks of beings.

He tends towards Bodhi with a mind of purity,
His merit and virtue is expansive, great and ineffable,
Which in order to benefit living beings, he names and describes in detail.
All of you worthy ones should well listen to him.

Commentary:

The Bodhisattva who first brings forth the Bodhi mind meditates on all dharmas and discovers that in the end, the three periods of time are unobtainable. He’s able to enter the past and exhaust the boundary of before. The boundary of before is non-existent. He’s able to enter the future and exhaust the boundary of afterwards. Al though the future hasn’t come yet, still he is able to enter it, so the boundary of afterwards is also non-existent. He’s able to enter all places in the present. He’s able to enter all the worlds and places of the present, Constantly and diligently observing them as being non-existent. All the places in the present are also not real, thus he always diligently regards all dharmas as being totally unobtainable.

He goes along with the still extinct Dharma of nirvana. Why are all dharmas completely unobtainable? Because he goes along with the still extinct dharma of Nirvana, Dwelling without striving and without any reliance. This means he abides in the non-striving samadhi. He does not contend with anyone at all, and he also does not rely one any dharma. His mind, like ultimate reality, is unequalled. The mind is just reality and reality is just the mind, so there is nothing which can be compared to it. He only goes towards Bodhi without ever retreating. He only does towards the Bodhi way, and he never thinks of turning back. His mind is non-retreating. Cultivation is just going forward with vigor and not turning back.

He cultivates supreme conduct without turning back in fear. The Bodhisattva cultivated all the superior doors of practice, without fearing any suffering and difficulty. He’s established in Bodhi and unmoving. He’s always secured and unmoving in the Bodhi way. One who leaves home to cultivate the Way should always have a very solid mind for the Way. One can’t have a retreating mind when being tested by any state or experience. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the worlds, the Buddhas and all of the Bodhisattvas within all worlds, Exhaust the Dharma Realm, so everything is understood. All the principles in the Dharma Realm are understood by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

He wishes to obtain the most supreme, foremost path. The Bodhisattva cultivates in order to achieve the Unsurpassed, Right and Equal Enlightenment, And acts as the king of liberation of all wisdom. Therefore, he’s able to obtain all wisdom and the liberation within liberation. He must quickly bring forth the Bodhi mind. How does one attain the foremost path of the king of liberation? By quickly bringing forth the Bodhi mind, And forever exhaust all outflows and benefit the flocks of beings. One forever cuts off all of one’s bad habits, faults, ignorance and afflictions, ignorance, or a heart of desire. The desire mind is the greatest outflow of human beings. Whoever has a desire mind has outflows. Whoever doesn’t have a heart of desire has forever expelled outflows. The “desire mind” refers particularly to sexual desire. If your thoughts of sexual desire move you, you have outflows. You out flow into the triple realm and undergo birth and death. If you have no outflows you can forever benefit the flocks of beings. Then one can enable living beings to obtain some advantage.

He tends towards Bodhi with a mind of purity. If you always go towards the Bodhi path, your mind is pure. His merit and virtue is expansive, great and ineffable. If you are able to bring forth the Bodhi mind, then the kind of merit and virtue you will reap will be the most vast and ineffable. This is the kind of merit and virtue Which in order to benefit living beings, he names and describes in detail. The merit and virtue from first bringing forth the Bodhi mind is ineffable, so why does one still wish to speak about it? Because one wishes to cause all living beings to similarly bring forth the Bodhi mind, and in the same way, achieve the unsurpassed path. So, within what cannot be spoken of, one speaks of this kind of merit and virtue. All of you worthy ones should well listen to him. All of you good people who have entered the flow of the sages, should listen well to the principles that the Bodhisattva explains.

Sutra:

Rendering all measureless world systems into dust;
Within each particle of dust are measureless kshetras.
Within each of these are all the measureless Buddhas:
He is able to clearly see them all without any grasping.

Knowing well living beings, without giving rise to thoughts;
Knowing well speech, without thoughts of speech,
In all worlds his mind is without obstruction,
And all is understood well without any attachment.

His mind is vast like space,
The affairs of the three periods of time are all clearly penetrated.
All doubts and delusions are totally annihilated,
And he properly contemplates the Buddhadharma without any grasping.

To all the limitless lands of the ten directions,
In a single thought he goes with an unattached mind.
He penetrates the multitude of Dharmas of suffering in the world,
And totally abides in the unproduced, ultimate reality limit.

To the measureless and difficult to conceive of places
of the Buddhas’ assemblies, He goes and pays homage.
He is always a superior leader who inquires of the Thus Come Ones,
About all the vows and practices cultivated by the Bodhisattva

Commentary:

Rendering all measureless world systems into dust. If one takes so many immeasurable and limitless world systems and grinds them up into separate particles of dust, Within each particle of dust are measureless kshetras. This number is extremely great. Within each of these are all the measureless Buddhas. Within each world system there are all the immeasurable Buddhas teaching and transforming living beings. But the Bodhisattva who first brings forth the mind, is able to clearly see them all without any grasping. He is able to discriminate such a large, astounding number very clearly without any attachment.

Knowing well living beings, without giving rise to thoughts. The Bodhisattva knows well all living beings’ minds – what they want -- yet when he teaches and transforms them, he is not attached to teaching and transforming. Knowing well speech, without thoughts of speech. The Bodhisattva understands all speech. He uses all kinds of speech to teach and transform beings, yet he is not attached to speech. In all worlds his mind is without obstruction. He understands everything there is in the world, sot here is nothing that can trouble the Bodhisattva, And all is understood well without any attachment. Because he understands worldly dharmas and world-transcending dharmas, he has no attachments.

His mind is vast like space. The Bodhisattva’s thoughts and actions are the same as space. The affairs of the three periods of time are all clearly penetrated. He not only knows the affairs of the present, he also knows the affairs of the past and future, that is, the phenomena and noumenon of the three periods of time are penetrated without obstruction. All doubts and delusions are totally annihilated. All ignorance and confusion have been cut off so they exist no more, And he properly contemplates the Buddhadharma without any grasping. Although he properly contemplates the Buddhadharmas and receives and upholds all of them, yet he ahs no attachment to any of them.

To all the limitless lands of the ten directions – all the worlds of the ten directions and all the immeasurable limitless Buddha lands -- In a single thought he goes with an unattached mind. In a single thought he is able to travel to the immeasurable, limitless Buddha lands of the ten directions. Yet wherever he goes, his mind is not attached. He penetrates the multitude of Dharmas of suffering in the world. He understands that in the world, all happuness is the cause of suffering. As it is said,

A myriad sufferings scorch and burn;
A multitude of evils fills the world.

And he totally abides in the unproduced, ultimate reality limit. The Bodhisattva always abides in the substance of reality, which is the true, still, extinct appearance of dharmas.

To the measureless and difficult to conceive of places of the Buddhas’ assemblies – no number can measure them – all the Buddhas’ places of the way cannot be conceived of or expressed in words. To them He goes and pays homage. The Bodhisattva goes to all those Buddhas’ Way Places and bows to all of them. He is always a superior leader who inquires of the Thus Come Ones. He is a superios leader who inquires amongst Bodhisattvas, before each Buddha. He questions the Buddhas about all of the Buddhadharmas and About all the vows and practices cultivated by the Bodhisattva. This means all of the vows and practices which Bodhisattvas want to cultivate.

Sutra:

He always recollects the Buddhas of the ten directions,
Yet he is without any reliance or grasping.
He forever exhorts living beings to plant good roots,
Adorning countries and causing them to be pure.

All the destinies of birth in the three states of existence,
He contemplates with the eye of non-obstruction.
The nature of all of their habits, roots and understandings,
Which are measureless and boundless, are all clearly seen.

The delight of the hearts of living beings are all clearly known;
In this way he accords with the opportunities to speak Dharma.
Defilement and purity he totally penetrates,
Causing beings to cultivate and enter the path.

All measureless and countless samadhis:
The Bodhisattva in a single thought is able to enter.
From them, his thoughts of wisdom and that which is conditioned,
Are all well understood, and he obtains freedom and ease.

The Bodhisattva attains this vast, great wisdom,
And swiftly goes toward Bodhi without any obstruction.
Because he wishes to benefit the flocks of beings,
In every place he propagates the Dharma of great heroes.

Commentary:

He always recollects the Buddhas of the ten directions. The Bodhisattva who practices the path of the Bodhisattva, “above cultivates the path of the Buddha,” and “below, transforms living beings.” He is always mindful of all the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods of time, Yet he is without any reliance or grasping. Although he is mindful of all the Buddhas of the three periods of time, he is not dependent on them. He does not grasp or reject them. This is because the Bodhisattva knows that the Buddhas have already become Buddhas, living beings will become Buddhas, and he himself is on his way to becoming a Buddha. So he is without any attachment or a place of reliance. He has broken through them all. He forever exhorts living beings to plant good roots. The Bodhisattva always uses various expedient dharma doors and words to teach all living beings to plant many good roots and not plant any seed of evil. At the same time he is Adorning countries and causing them to be pure. He adorns all the Buddha lands of the ten directions, thereby causing them all to become pure.

All the destinies of birth in the three states of existence— all living beings int eh three states of existence: the desire, form and formless realms -- He contemplates with the eye of non-obstruction. The Bodhisattva uses the unobstructed eye of wisdom to contemplate all living beings’ causes and circumstances. The nature of all of their habits, roots and understandings, all of living beings’ various habits, roots and understandings, Which are measureless and boundless, are all clearly seen. The Bodhisattva understands them all. This means that he clearly sees what delights the hearts of living beings.

The delight of the hearts of living beings are all clearly known. The Bodhisattva knows the various things that living beings want. In this way he accords with the opportunities to speak Dharma. Because he understands the root natures of living beings and all the things they like, he speaks the Dharma for them. Defilement and purity he totally penetrates. The Bodhisattva understands all defiled and pure dharmas, thus Causing beings to cultivate and enter the path. He encourages all living beings to rely on various expedient dharma doors to cultivate and put an end to all their habits and faults, thereby causing them to enter the Way and unite with reality.

All measureless and countless samadhis, so many measureless and countless samadhis and liberations, The Bodhisattva in a single thought is able to enter. Within a single thought, the Bodhisattva is able to enter all these various samadhis. From them, his thoughts of wisdom and that which is conditioned, all conditioned circumstances, all objects of thought, and the mind which tries to take advantage if situations, Are all well understood, and he obtains freedom and ease. With concentration, his false thoughts cease and his wisdom manifests, and he understands everything very, very clearly, so that he is able to obtain true freedom and ease.

The Bodhisattva attains this vast, great wisdom. The Bodhisattva who first brings forth the mind has obtained this kind of vast wisdom and understands all states, And swiftly goes toward Bodhi without any obstruction. He quickly goes towards the Bodhi way without the slightest bit of obstruction. Because he wishes to benefit the flocks of beings, because the Bodhisattva wishes to benefit all beings, In every place he propagates the Dharma of great heroes. In all places and at all times he explains and extols the Eight Dharmas taught by great people. In a Sutra entitled The Eight Types of Enlightenment of a Great Person, the Buddha discusses eight dharmas which great people enlighten to. They are very similar to the eight teachings found in the sutra called The Buddha Bequeaths The Last Teaching. The first dharma of a great person is reducing desire. This means not having any thoughts of desire – not wanting fame, benefit, to be a leader, or any of the other desires. The second teaching is “contentment.” Contentment means always being happy. “Able to be patient, one is naturally at ease.” If you have contentment, you will always be satisfied and blissful. If you are without contentment, you are continually troubled.

Therefore, if one is satisfied with everything, one is always content. The third is quietude. This means there’s no sound whatsoever. One always cultivated the dharma or quietude. The fourth is vigor. If one is continuously vigorous one will awaken. So don’t be lazy. The fifth is proper mindfulness. In being mindful it is important to have ‘proper’ mindfulness, so don’t have deviant mindfulness. The sixth is proper concentrations. One always cultivates proper concentration and doesn’t enter deviant concentrations. The seventh is proper wisdom. One doesn’t want to have worldly knowledge and still in debate, which is deviant knowledge. The eight is not having idle discussions one shouldn’t indulge in small talk. When a person who doesn’t usually engage in small talk speaks, his words are sincere, without any idle speculations. This idea is also discussed in The Buddha Bequeaths The Last Teaching Sutra. If one wishes to ascend to Nirvana, one has to change idle discussions to extolling of liberation. One should use these eight teachings to teach and transform living beings about Nirvana. So people who cultivate the Way always want to practice the eight principles taught and understood by great persons.

Sutra:

He well knows long and short kalpas of the worlds,
A single month, or half a month, down to a day and night.
Countries are each different, but their natures are level and equal;
He constantly contemplates them diligently without becoming lax.  

Commentary:

He well knows long and short kalpas of the worlds. A Bodhisattva is able to regard the events berond 80,000 great kalpas, whereas an Arhat can only regard the events within 80,000 great kalpas. This Bodhisattva is not only able to contemplate the vents beyond and within 80,000 great kalpas, he also knows the causes and circumstances of the longest and shortest kalpas, as well as their stages of coming into being, dwelling, destruction, and being empty. A kalpa is made up of “one increase and one decrease.” An increase means that for every hundred years, the average lifespan of human beings increases one year and their height increases one inch.

During a decrease, their lifespan and height decrease according to the same ratio. A decrease begins when the average human lifespan is 84,000 years and ends when it has decreased to ten years. At that point, the average lifespan again increases until it reaches 84,000 years. One decrease and increase is known as one kalpa. One thousand of these kalpas is called a small kalpa. Twenty of these small kalpas is called a middle-sized kalpa. And four middle-sized kalpas make up a great kalpa. These long and short kalpas of coming into being, dwelling, destruction and being empty, represent an inconceivable number of years.

The Bodhisattva knows them all. He also knows the short periods of time which are A single month, or half a month, down to a day and night, and so forth. Countries are each different, but their natures are level and equal. Although lands are not all the same, their natures are identical. He constantly contemplates them diligently without becoming lax. The Bodhisattva who studies all types of wisdom and has enlightened to all the circumstances and causes of coming into being, dwelling, destruction, and being empty, never becomes lax. He follows the rules and does not play. He’s always vigorous.

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