Overall Teaching

In the past, Sadāprarudita seeks PW and a voice tells him to go east. He then is told by visions of the Buddhas to seek Dharmodgata in the city Gandhavatī, but wants to know from whence the Buddhas came and where they went. Arriving there he has nothing to offer, so tries to sell himself. Māra deafens people to him so he cannot sell himself. But Śakra appears in disguise and offers to buy his blood, heart, and marrow. After agreeing and beginning to dissect himself, a merchant’s daughter offers to use her riches to help him. Then Śakra restores Sadāprarudita and disappears. After arriving and paying homage to Dharmodgata, he asks him from whence the Buddhas came and where they went.

Summary with Illustrations by Christian Luczanits

1.     Sadāprarudita sets out to find Perfect Wisdom

a.     The Buddha tells Subhūti that one should search for PW like the Bodhisattva Sadāprarudita (“Always Weeping”), who currently practices with the Buddha Bhīṣmagarjitanirghoṣasvara.

b.     Sadāprarudita searched for PW in such a way that he cared not for his body, life, gain, honour, or fame.

c.     While in a remote forest, a voice in the air told him to “Go East!”

i.     In the East he will hear PW, and he must not pay heed to his needs or make any plans or allow himself to be shaken by the skandhas or views of a self, which would be turning away from the Buddha-dharmas. [481]

ii.     Turning away from BDs would be to wander in samsara and not in PW.

iii.     Sadāprarudita agrees to this.

d.     The voice then tells him he should search for PW after he is firmly convinced that all dharmas are empty, signless, and wishless, shun bad friends, and love good friends who teach PW. Then he will be able to study PW either in a book or from a monk.

i.     Such a person should be thought of as the good friend & teacher. [482]

ii.     Then you can know you are irreversible and will be reborn in Buddha-fields.

iii.     They should be followed only out of desire & respect for the Dharma.

iv.     The voice warns him against Māra who will suggest that the teacher enjoys sensuality, when he really does so only through skilful means.

v.     He should tell himself that he doesn’t know these skilful means, and thus trust him continually.

vi.     Then he should contemplate the nature of all dharmas: like an illusion. [483]

vii.     If the teacher appears to be disheartened, it is still a deed of Māra, and he should continue to follow the teacher.

e.     Sadāprarudita journeys east, but didn’t know how far, so he stayed where he was and weeped for seven days and paid homage to PW.

f.      He was sad like a man who lost his child [484] when he considered PW.

2.     Description of Gandhavatī, and of Dharmodgata’s Life

a.     Then a tathāgata frame (vigraha—body, form) appeared before him and praised him, as past tathāgatas searched for PW in the same way.

b.     He says he should go five hundred yojanas east to a town called Gandhavatī which is described with many good qualities like a buddha-field. [485] There are many rivers, ponds, trees, [486-8] and the people there have many enjoyments. There lives the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, [488] who usually teaches PW. Thousands of people listen to him there and practice accordingly.

c.     He says that Sadāprarudita should seek Dharmodgata, who will teach him PW. [489]

d.     Sadāprarudita only thought of how to find PW, like one struck with an arrow think only how to find a surgeon.

e.     From where he was, he already heard Dharmodgata teaching PW.

3.     List and Significance of Concentrations

a.     Consequently, he came face to face with many samādhis.

i.     Their names are given. [490-2]

b.     In those samādhis he saw countless buddhas teaching the PW.

i.     They praise him and say they also sought PW in the same way.

ii.     They gained their marks and attainments that way. [492]

iii.     They say PW is ungraspable even by tathāgatas and encourage him to seek the good friend.

c.     They tell Sadāprarudita that for a long time Dharmodgata has already been his good friend. So he should honour him, whose benefit is not repayable, [493] for by him he will gain PW.

4.     Sadāprarudita and the Merchant’s Daughter

a.     Sadāprarudita resolves to ask Dharmodgata from whence the buddhas came and whither they went.

b.     Resolving that he needs to make an offering of value to Dharmodgata, upon arriving at Gandhavatī, he resolves to sell himself and offer Dharmodgata the proceeds. [494-5]

c.     He advertised himself in the marketplace of the city.

d.     Māra knew he must stop Sadāprarudita, so he stopped everyone from being able to hear Sadāprarudita, so he could not find a buyer.

i.     Consequently Sadāprarudita wept that he could not find a buyer for his body.

e.     Śakra thought to himself he will test Sadāprarudita. So he appeared in the form of a young man and ask what he needed. [496]

f.      Sadāprarudita told him, and while the “young man” said he didn’t need a man, his father needed a man’s heart, blood, and marrow for a sacrifice, and will buy them from him.

g.     Sadāprarudita wilfully offers his body at any price. [497]

i.     He pierces his leg for the blood.

ii.     He cuts a piece of flesh from his thigh.

iii.     He then went up to a wall to break the bone against it.

h.     A merchant’s daughter saw him from her window and asked why someone would do this and asked Sadāprarudita, who said that it is to sell these things in order to offer and do honour to Dharmodgata and to be taught PW and skilful means. [498] After training he will become a Buddha with a Buddha’s qualities.

i.      The merchants daughter praises his deed, and says she will help him and come to Dharmodgata, so he does not have to inflict such harm on himself. [499]

j.      Śakra then threw off his disguise, praised Sadāprarudita, and restored him to his non-mutilated form, as he was not able to grant him PW (top left in the image), then both Śakra and Māra vanished. [500-1]

k.     After going to the merchant’s daughter’s house, and while Sadāprarudita stayed outside, the daughter asked her parents for permission to leave in order to find Dharmodgata. [501]

l.      The daughter told her parents all that had happened. [502-4]

m.   Her parents praise his deeds and give permission to go, and decide to accompany them in order to worship Dharmodgata. [504]

5.     The Meeting with Dharmodgata

a.     They went to Dharmodgata with many horses and carriages. [505]

b.    Dharmodgata saw Sadāprarudita from a distance in a pointed tower with garlands hanging down in strips, adorned with the seven jewels and various lamps; in the middle of the tower was a couch and a box made of four great gems on which the PW was placed, written on golden tablets.

c.     Dismounting from the carriages, they approached and saw devas honouring the tower. [506]

d.     Sadāprarudita asked Śakra why devas honour the tower.

i.     Śakra said that it is because PW gives rise to all qualities of buddhas.

ii.     He said in the centre is PW, and the devas cannot easily show it.

e.     Everyone paid homage to PW and each offered their offering for the honour of Dharmodgata. [507]

f.      The flowers they offered flew in the air and they wondered how great Dharmodgata’s power was. [508]

g.     All who accompanied them desired then to become buddhas and to honour PW as Dharmodgata does.

h.     Sadāprarudita then told Dharmodgata his story. [509-10]

i.     Dharmodgata praised his deeds.

i.      Sadāprarudita asked Dharmodgata from whence the Buddhas came and whither they went when they appeared to him in samādhi so that they may not be lacking in vision of the Buddhas. [511]