Overall Teaching

The night goddess Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī never parts from Samantabhadra and she can appear in all worlds and adapt to all conditions.

Summary

1.     Entering the previous night goddess’ liberation, with the intention to see spiritual benefactors, Sudhana turned to Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī.[1]

2.     Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī, in order to show him the majesty of her endless enlightening liberation, she emanated a light from between her brows, which, after it descended into Sudhana, he was able to see countless worlds and their various conditions and differences, from pure to defiled.

a.     He saw Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī in each of those worlds, adapting to the needs of sentient beings according to their needs and conditions, in order to free them from all kinds of fears, pains, and perils due to their wrong views and attachments.

b.     He thus saw her purifying all lands through her bodhisattva vows, based upon compassion and love, and developing awakening faculties and practices.

3.     Sudhana prostrated himself before her, and after she finished producing manifestations, he then in verse said to her:

a.     He has seen her immense body and its sublime radiance, pervading everywhere.

b.     On each ray of light she manifests and illumines each world.

c.     From her features comes forth to end fears and dangers.

d.     After the light descended onto him, he saw the infinite buddhas and saw how many atoms there were in all lands, as well as how they were either pure or impure, and where bodhisattvas are assembled and purify lands by Vairocana’s action.

e.     She is seen in the vast realm of Vairocana honouring infinite buddhas.

4.     After Sudhana asked her, the night goddess explained that:

a.     Her state is hard for devas, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas to attain because it is the sphere of bodhisattvas imbued with great compassion who have undertaken to attain great buddhahood and liberate beings in all lands.

b.     In a past land, where there were as many buddhas as atoms, which rested on rays of light and surrounded by a circle of jewelled mountains, and which had various kinds of pure or defiled beings, in the east of that land, in a set of continents, there was an abundance of food and wish-fulfilling trees raining flowers of various kinds and scents. There were millions of capital cities on those continents, and those who travelled between them in boats heard celestial music playing from the waters, which were lined with jewel trees. In the middle of those continents, there were many virtuous people and there was a king who was valiant. The king had a beautiful wife whose aura was seen for a thousand leagues, and their daughter was so beautiful that no one ever tired of her sight.

i.        Beings’ lifespans were measureless there. But gradually, because those with better looking appearance looked down upon those with worse appearance, and developed pride, due to the evil of their mutual contempt, lifespan decreased, appearances, strength, and happiness were all also lost.

ii.       At a bodhi tree north of that city, which had many adornments and lights, there was a pond in front of the tree, on the banks of which were millions of beautiful jewel trees and towers. In the middle of that pond was a ruby lotus, and in that lotus arose a buddha called Paragon of Virtue Radiant with the Light of Universal Knowledge.

1.     That buddha prepared to be born there for ten thousand years.

2.     That buddha was foretold there by various kinds of lights which emanated from that tree each successive century, and those lights each had mystical effects upon those who were touched by it, such as gaining psychic powers.

3.     In the final seven days before he arose, the world shook, and all beings who were ripe to see him stood facing that site.

4.     Then the supremacy of the buddha’s realm was proclaimed from all the landmarks, cities, and music in that world, as well as from all the clouds throughout that land. Then, prior to his appearance, clouds flashing lightning appeared at the ruby lotus, and countless ruby lotuses manifested themselves throughout the cosmos with bodhisattvas appearing cross-legged on them.

5.     As soon as that buddha attained full awakening, all buddhas in the ten directions attained awakening as well, and innumerable beings were developed to full awakening, or to various of the ten stages of the bodhisattva path. He thus guided all beings, according to their mentalities, through expediently projected bodies, in each moment of thought.[2]

6.     In order to counter the pride and contempt of the beings in that declining world, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva appeared in a superlative body in that city and shone a light that outshone all the bodies of the beings in the world, such that even the sun, moon, planets, and stars became too dark to see. They wondered who it was that it might be, that made them lose their lustre, but could not grasp his appearance. 

7.     Samantabhadra said to the king of that city, he should know that a

buddha has arisen in the world. The king’s daughter, hearing him, aspired to attain Samantabhadra’s body and produce the light of great knowledge. She thus gave rise to the aspiration to never part from Samantabhadra.

8.     Then, by the magical power of the king, all the people in the city rose a league into the air in order to fly to the Buddha. He praised the Buddha in verse:

a.     Buddhas appear but once in millions of aeons, conceive great compassion to perfect beings and end suffering, they are hard to find.

b.     He can be seen on the seat of awakening, defeated Māra, and soothes the world with various lights. Thus, muster energy to go to him.

9.     Going to the Buddha, the king covered the sky with clouds of jewels, parasols, and raining all kinds of presents. He sat in a throne before the Buddha flashing light in all directions.

10. The King’s daughter then scattered all her jewels over the Buddha, which magically created a parasol over the buddha. Around it jewelled parasols were formed, and they arrayed into the shape of a tower. In the centre of this display she saw Vairocana Buddha surrounded by as many bodhisattvas as atoms, all of whom were undertaking Samantabhadra’s vows and dwelling in the unity of all bodhisattvas. She saw Vairocana’s countless manifestations and his past practices. She saw all worlds reflected in the body of Samantabhadra, and knew all their names, locations, and arrays and the various ways of buddhas’ expressions of the Dharma.

11. She was thus enraptured, and the Buddha expounded to her countless sūtras. She then entered a million samādhis. With her mind concentrated and unwavering, focused on omniscience, and with great virtue and intent to practice Samantabhadra’s vows, she undertook those vows.

12. Then the Buddha made her aware of his past roots of virtue, and firmly established them, so that she would apprehend the incalculable past vows for awakening.

13. Ten aeons previously, that princess repaired a ruined image of a Buddha sitting on a lotus, painted, and adorned it, and then went to Samantabhadra. As a result, she always was born in good families and always associated with Samantabhadra who was pleased with her.

iii.     The king, at that time, was Mañjuśrī, the queen was the night goddess Praśāntarutasāgaravatī [who is in section 38], and she,

Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī, was the princess and who previously repaired the image of the Buddha on a lotus, which was the first determining factor for her awakening.[3] When she cast her jewellery over that Buddha, she attained her awakening liberation and since then saw all buddhas, their bodhisattvas, and their buddha-lands.

iv.     When that world passed away, another world arose, wherein many buddhas arose and taught countless sūtras. To each of these she honoured them, and they each taught her, as she was in various different types of births as divinities or divine humans.[4]

v.       With the last of one hundred and ten Buddha,[5] she was born as a dancing girl.[6] She offered a dance to the Buddha, and by his power she rose in the air and praised him with a thousand verses. He illuminated her body and she attained a liberation whereby she could contemplate the principles of the Dharmadhātu.

vi.     She honoured the five hundred buddhas in that age, and learned from each of them, and received an illumination from each of them. As she perceives each in each mental moment, she gets infinitely revealing flashes of omniscience from those buddhas by which she is never away from Samantabhadra’s practice. 

c.     In verse, Samantasattvatrāṇojaḥśrī explained what had happened again and explained that if Sudhana, having heard this, if he puts it into action, he will accomplish the teaching soon.

5.     She said despite knowing this liberation, she cannot tell the virtues or practices of bodhisattvas who live by various resolutions in the infinitely varied ocean of awakening practices. Thus, in the same site, sitting next to her on a lotus seat, is Praśāntarutasāgaravatī, who Sudhana should ask about bodhisattva practice.

6.     Paying respect to her, Sudha turned to Praśāntarutasāgaravatī.

[1] She represents the fourth stage: Blazing Radiance.

 “In this rank knowledge and compassion are completed and one is born in the house of the awakened, never parting from awakening; hence the goddess was in this assembly at the Buddha’s site of awakening.”

[2] The Buddha “being born from a lotus represents knowledge being undefiled.”

[3] “The buddhas as numerous as particles represents different fruits of knowledge realised in the course of progressive practice.”

[4] “The buddhas as numerous as particles represents different fruits of knowledge realised in the course of progressive practice.”

[5] “The interpenetration of the causes and results of the ten and eleven stages make a hundred and ten buddhas. When knowledge is complete and practice comprehensive, one’s own mind is like a buddha, all acts are like buddha, all insights are like buddha, nothing in all worlds in the ten directions is not buddha—this is ‘buddhas numerous as atoms in lands.’ To see any thing or any being as other than buddha is a false view.”

[6] “Entertainment represents delight in truth. These incarnations all represent practices according to rank within the realization of awakening.” (1608)

 “Therefore, when practice and realization reach each other, the buddhas spontaneously respond. If you see anything apart from your own practice and own realisation, this is not true seeing. Even if you get visions by forced seeking, these are only temporary hallucinations, not real buddhas.” (1609)