The Flower Ornament Scripture

 

A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra

Thomas Cleary

BOOK THIRTY-FIVE

 

35. The Qualities of the Buddha’s Embellishments and Lights

 

 

THEN THE WORLD HONORED ONE said to the enlightening being Jewel Hand, " Offsp ring of Buddha, the perfectl y enlightened one has an em­ bellishment called the foremost sphere, from  which  emanates a  great light called effulgence, with seven million infinities oflight rays. When I was an enlightening being in the palace of Tushita heaven, I emanated a great light called lightbanner king, illuminating as many worlds as atoms in ten buddha-lands; the sentient beings in the hells of those worlds who were touched by this light gained respite from their torments, and they obtained ten kinds of pure eyes, ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and minds, and all danced for joy.  When their lives ended they were reborn in Tu­ shita heaven. In Tushita heaven is a  drum  called  most delightful;  when they had been born in heaven, this drum sounded, declaring to them, '0 godlings, because your minds were not indulgent and you planted  roots of goodness in the presence of buddhas, and because in the past you as­ sociated with the wise, and  by  the  great  spiritual  power  of Vairocana, you have been born in this heaven after the end of your life elsewhere.'

"The thousand-spoked wheels on the soles of my feet as an enlighten­ ing being were called king  of universal light. They  had  an embellish­ ment, called the foremost sphere, always emanating forty kinds of light, among them a light called pure virtue, illumining as many worlds as atoms in a hundred trillion buddha-lands, causing all sentient beings to develop maturity according to their various actions and inclinations. Sentient beings in excruciating pain in uninterrupted hell, encountering this light,  were born  in Tushita heaven  after their lives ended. When they were born in heaven, they heard the sound of the celestial drum declare to them, ' Very good ! Godlings,  the enlightening being  Vairo­ cana has entered undefiled concentration;  you should pay respects.' Then the godlings, hearing this exhortation from  the  sound  of the  celestial drum, thought, 'How wonderful-what  is the  cause  of this  subtle sound ?' Then the drum answered, 'The sound I make is produced by the power of roots of goodness. Godlings, just as I speak of m ysclf without

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attachment to self or to what is mine, so too do the buddhas say they are buddhas,  yet have no attachment to "I" or "mine. " Just as my sound does not come from the east or from the west, the south,  the north, or the intermediate directions or the zenith or nadir, in the same way the achievement of buddhahood as a consequence of actions  does not come from any of the ten directions. It is as when you were in hell before: the hell and your bodies did not come from any of the ten directions; it was only due to your deluded evil deeds and bondage by folly that you were incarnated in hell-this  has no basis,  it does not come from anywhere. The enlightening being Vairocana, by spiritual power, emanated great light, yet this light did not come from any of the ten directions; in the same way, my sound does not come from any of the ten directions-it is just the power  of good roots of concentration and by the spiritual  power of transcendent wisdom  that produces  th is pure sound   and   manifests these various abilities. Just as Sumeru,  the polar mountain,  has  thirty­ three celestial palaces  of exalted splendor,  with various  appurtenances that do not come from any of the ten directions, likewise my sound does not come from any of the ten directions. Just as I teach as many sentient beings as there are atoms in a trillion worlds, each in accord with their inclinations,  causing  them great joy, yet do not get tired of them or shrink from them,  and I do not become proud or heedless, so also does the enlightening being Vairocana do the same,  while abiding  in un­ defiled concentration. From one embellishment on his right palm he emanates one ray of light  that manifests innumerable  magical  powers such as even individually liberated ones cannot know, much less sentient beings.  You should go to that enlightening being and attend and serve him. Do  not indulge  in the pleasures of the senses anymore-attachment to sensual desires obstructs roots of goodness. Just as the world-ending holocaust completely burns away the polar mountain, so also does crav­ ing bind up the mind and prevent it from developing the will to remem­ ber Buddha.  You should be grateful for your blessings and requite the favor you have received. Many ingrates meet untimely  deaths and are rebo.rn in hell. You were formerly in hell, when your bodies were illu­ mined  with light and you left there and were reborn here.   You   should now quickly rededicate and increase your roots of goodness. Just as I, the heavenly drum, am not male or female, yet can produce measureless, boundless, inconceivable things, so too you gods and goddesses are not male or female yet are able to enjoy all kinds  of sublime palaces and groves. Just as my heavenly drum is not born and does not perish, the same is true of material form, sensation, perception, action, and con­ sciousness. If you can understand this, know that you will then enter the concentration defined by independence.'

"The godlings, having heard this message, realized unprecedented wonder. Then they all magically produced myriad clouds of flowers, fragrances,   music, banners, parasols,  and eulogies, and went together to the palace where the enlightening being Vairocana was staying. Joining

 

their palms in respect, they stood to one side and wished to behold him, but they could not see him. The godlings then said,  'The enlightening being Vairocana has already passed away from here and been born in the human world, in the house of K ing Shuddhodana. He has mounted the sandalwood bower and is in the womb  of Lady Maya.' Then the god­ lings, by means of the celestial eye, saw the body of the enlightening being in the family of the king Shuddhodana in the human realm, being attended by gods of the Brahma heavens and heavens  of desire. The godlings then thought,   'If we do not go to the enlightening  being and pay our respects, and should give rise to even a single thought of attach­ ment to these celestial palaces, that would not be right.'

"Then each of the godlings, with a retinue of a hundred million, was going to go down to earth. At that point the celestial drum produced a voice telling them, 'The great enlightening  being has not ended his life here and been reborn there: it is just that he has,  by spiritual power, caused sentient beings to perceive him according to their psychological needs. Just as I now am not visible to the eye, yet can produce a voice, so also the great enlighening being, in undefiled concentration, is not visible to the eye, yet can appear to be born anywhere, without vain discrimina­ tion, free from conceit, without attachments. You should arouse the determination for unexcelled,   complete  perfect   enlightenment,   purify your minds, lead well-behaved lives , and repent of and get rid of all obstructions due to past actions, obstructions due to afflictions, obstruc­ tions due to retribution,  and obstructions due to views; with bodies as many as beings in the cosmos, with tongues as many as beings in the cos­ mos, with good deeds of body,  speech, and mind as many  as beings in the cosmos, repent of and get rid of all obstructions and faults. '

"The godlings, hearing this, attained unprecedented wonder and were very joyful.   They asked,  'How  does the great enlightening  being repent of and get rid of all faults?' The celestial drum, by the power of roots of goodness of concentration of the enlightening  being,  said, 'The enlight­ ening being knows that conditioning acts do not come from any particu­ lar location, yet they accumulate and dwell in the mind. They come only from delusion and have no abode.  The enlightening  being clearly sees this with certainty and has no doubt or confusion . Just as I, the celestial drum,  speak of actions and consequences, of practice and discipline,  of joy and peace, and of various concentrations, so do buddhas and enlight­ ening beings speak of "I" and "mine," speak of sentient beings, of covet­ ousness, wrath, and delusion and their various actions,  yet there really is no   self or possession-all  actions performed,   the   resulting consequences of the six paths  of transmigration,  cannot be found wherever you may seek. Just as my voice is not born and does not perish, while the celestials who do evil do not hear my voice but the voice waking  them up by means of hell, so also are all actions neither born nor perishing,  while according to their practice and accumulation their consequences are ex­ perienced. My drum sound is eternally inexhaustible and uninterrupted,

 

and neither coming nor going can be apprehended in it;  if there were coming or going,  there would be extinction and permanence-the buddhas never say there is extinction or permanence, except as an ex­ pedient to develop sentient beings. Just as my sound n1akes itself avail­ able to beings in infinite worlds according to their mentalities, so do all buddhas make themselves visible according to the mentalities of beings. Suppose there is a glass mirror called "reflector," clearly reflecting, equal in size to ten worlds, with the images of all the mountains and rivers, and all the sentient beings, including in the hells, the animals and ghosts, all reflected therein-what  do you   think,  can   you say those images  enter and exit the mirror?' The godlings answered, 'No.' 'All actions are also like this; though  they can produce resulting consequences, there is no place they come or go. Just as a magician deceives people's eyes by illu­ sion, so do actions also do the same. If you know this, this is true repen­ tance of all evils so that all are cleared.'

"When this teaching was spoken, the Tushita godlings in worlds as numerous as atoms in ten quintillion  buddha-lands attained acceptance of the nonorigination of all things;  immeasurable, inconceivable infi­ nities of godlings of the six heavens of the realm of desire were inspired to seek unexcelled, complete perfect enlightenment; all the goddesses of the heavens of the desire realm relinquished the female body and became determined to attain supreme enlightenment.  Then the godlings, because of attaining the ten stages on hearing the tremendous dedication of Uni­ versal Good told, because of attaining concentration adorned by various powers, and because of repenting of and clearing away  all serious hin­ drances by means of pure physical, verbal, and mental actions equal in number to living beings, thereupon saw lotus blossoms made of all pre­ cious substances, as many blossoms as atoms in ten quintillion buddha­ lands, with an enlightening  being sitting on each blossom  emanating great beams of light; in those beams of light were as many buddhas as there are living beings, sitting in the lotus posture expounding the teach­ ing   in   accordance   with   the    mentalities   of   sentient   beings-yet   still not even a little of the power of undefiled concentration  was as yet manifested .

"Then the godlings,  by means of the flowers and  other things  they had produced before, again  magically  produced in each pore of their bodies as many clouds of fine flowers and so on as there are living beings, to offer to the realized one Vairocana, and took them and scattered them on the Buddha; all of them hovered over the Buddha's body while the fragrant clouds rained over worlds as many as atoms in countless buddha­ lands. Any sentient beings who were enveloped in that fragrance became physically peaceful and blissful, like a mendicant who has entered the fourth stage of meditation, in whom all obstructions due to past actions vanish. Sentient beings have five hundred internal afflictions and five hundred external afflictions relating to form, sound,  smell,  flavor, and tactile feeling ; those rife with covetousness have 21 ,000 , those rife with

 

anger have 21 ,000, those rife with delusion have 21 ,000, and those equal­ ly habituated to all three also have 21,000-but if they smell this fra­ grance, they realize that all these are unreal. Once they realize this, they develop pure roots of goodness with the  light  of mystic  power,  like clouds of fragrant banners.

"Those  who see the canopies produced  by the enlightening beings plant the innumerable  roots of goodness  of universal monarchs  of the pure gold net of the tenth stage of enlightening.  When enlightening beings are in this status of universal monarch, they edify beings in worlds as numerous as atoms in ten quintillion buddha-lands. In the case of the buddha called Knowledge  Like the Moon,  of the world called Clear Mirror, there are always  monks, nuns,  laymen,  laywomen, and others from countless worlds who project their bodies to come listen to the Teaching; that buddha, without a moment's  pause, relates to them the events of former lives. Any sentient beings who hear the name of the buddha will surely be reborn in the land of the Buddha. That case of enlighening beings in the rank of universal monarch  with   the   pure golden net is also like this: any who encounter their light will surely at­ tain   the tenth stage of enlightening beings, because  of the power of roots of goodness previously cultivated. When one has attained the first medi­ tation, though one's life has not yet ended, one can see the palaces in the Brahma heaven and can experience the bliss of the Brahma world; like­ wise those who attain the other stages of meditation.  The great enlight­ ening beings in the rank of universal monarch with the pure golden net radiate pure light such that any beings who are touched by it all gain the tenth stage of enlightening and attain immeasurable light of knowledge, acquire ten kinds of pure eyes, ten kinds of pure ears, noses,  tongues, bodies, and ten kinds of pure intellects; they accomplish immeasurable profound concentrations and achieve such a pure physical eye.

"Suppose someone  took ten trillion buddha-lands  and  reduced them to atoms,  and then reduced to atoms as many buddha-lands as those atoms, then put all those atoms in his left hand and carried them past an equal number of worlds to the east, and then put down one atom,  and continued this way to the east until all the atoms were exhausted, and did the same in the other nine directions: if all the worlds in the ten direc­ tions, both those in which he had deposited an atom and those in which he had not, were all assembled to form a single buddha-land,  do you think that the immeasurable vastness of this buddha-land would be con­ ceivable or not?"

Jewel Hand said, " It would not be conceivable. The enormous size of such a land would be immeasurable, extraordinary, inconceivable. If any sentient beings heard this comparison  and believed and understood it, that would be even more extraordinary."

The Buddha said, "This is so, Jewel Hand. It is as you say. Ifany good man or woman should hear this example and believe in it, I would give them the prediction that they will certainly attain unexcelled, complete

 

perfect enlightenment and will acquire the unsurpassed knowledge of buddhas.

"Suppose again, Jewel Hand, that someone reduced to atoms as many enormous  buddha-lands  of the   magnitude described   above  as atoms  in a hundred   billion buddha-lands,  and deposited each   of these atoms,  as in the foregoing example,  and all of these worlds,  those on which an atom was deposited as well as those in between, were united in a single buddha-land.  Then again suppose this buddha-land   were   reduced   to atoms, and so on, repeating this process eighty times: the enlightening being's pure physical eye, a consequence of action, can clearly see in a single instant every particle in all those immense buddha-lands, and also see buddhas as numerous as atoms in ten billion immense buddha-lands, just as the pure light  of the crystal mirror reflects as many  worlds as atoms in ten buddha-lands. Jewel Hand, all this is accomplished by the virtues of the   most p rofound   concentration   of the universal   monarch   of the pure gold net. "