Overall Teaching

Sarvavṛkṣapraphullanasukhasaṃvāsā attained a liberation under a past king who gave away all that beings needed, who became Vairocana Buddha.

Summary

1.     Sudhāna, further cultivating the liberation of the previous goddess, proceeded to the night goddess Sarvavṛkṣapraphullanasukhasaṃvāsā[1] who was on a lion throne of jewel tree shoots inside a tower of branches of jewel trees of all fragrances surrounded by thousands of night goddesses. 

2.     He requested her to teach him bodhisattva practice. She explained:

a.     By her power when the sun goes down lotuses become fragrant and all beings go back to their dwellings to spend the night comfortably.

b.    To all beings she remedies their defilements and leads them to the knowledge of bodhisattvas, e.g. teaches the lazy the vigorous effort of bodhisattvas, and the distracted are taught meditation.

c.     She attained a liberation called ‘manifestation of contentment with the treasure produced from great joy.’[2]

3.     Sudhana asked what the sphere of this liberation was, and she explained:

a.     The scope is the knowledge and means to take care of beings by the goodness of those who arrive at thusness. In fact, whatever well-being any being experiences is ultimately due to the power of goodness and teachings of the awakened.

b.    She knows this because as she enters into this liberation, as Vairocana Buddha was a bodhisattva he concentrated on the stages of the path and seeing the suffering of beings, there arose in him a mind of compassion for the welfare of all beings, as well as complete non-attachment in thusness.

c.     Having both comprehended the essence of all things as they are, and having ultimate compassion to impartially satisfy all sentient beings, and pervading all worlds throughout the cosmos being empowered with the mystic knowledge of all bodhisattvas, he manifested before all beings and undertook to engage in infinite giving to all beings according to their mentalities to save them from their miseries, develop and guide them, and gradually purify them.

d.    He undertook to purify and teach all beings in each moment of thought in all worlds, all forms, and with all means, showing bodies of all buddhas to beings according to their minds in each moment of thought.

e.     Thus, as Vairocana carried out bodhisattva practice in the past, he gave rise to compassion for all suffering and miserable beings, removing their suffering and awakening them on the origin of all deeds and lands and about the buddhas.

4.     Sudhana asked how long ago it was that she set out for awakening, and she explained:

a.     Only those empowered by buddhas with the help of spiritual benefactors can understand this because it is the sphere of the buddhas and is non-dual in thusness.

b.    She reiterated this point in verse form.

c.     In a past aeon, a Buddha illuminated a world-system, and there were countless world systems at that time in that world-system, in each of which was another buddha who taught the Dharma.

d.    In the central world system, which rested on flowers made of jewels, and which was shaped like a celestial palace, and there was a great king who protected the entire southern continent.

e.     When the end of the kalpa was approach, beings developed the five corruptions and became miserly and more lost in views and developed diseases. The people of that world approached the great king’s palace and told them of their sufferings, and asked him for help, thinking he was their saviour.

f.      The king, hearing their pleas, gave rise to great compassion. He wondered how he could be a refuge or saviour for these people who had no resort and who lacked supreme knowledge and had declined.

g.     The king announced that he would undertake a great sacrifice and open all the storehouses and treasuries of the kingdom and allow everyone to take what they wished.

h.    He prepared a great place of sacrifice in a flat part of the city which was well adorned by the deeds of bodhisattvas.

i.      In the middle of the ground was a great adorned lion throne on which the king sat endowed with good qualities.

j.      In the sky above him a parasol appeared as he sat down and all the people joined their palms to him in respect.

k.     Seeing all the people the king was flooded with immense compassion and generosity.

l.      The king had joy greater than if he had conquered the whole world because he was a bodhisattva and thought of all the petitioners as though they were his only son.

m.   The king them fulfilled the wishes of all the petitioners, giving whatever they needed.

n.    In the gathering, there was a grandee’s daughter called Jewel Light with a retinue of sixty girls, and she had already set on the bodhisattva path, and thought of the king as her spiritual friend and benefactor. She threw her jewellery before the king and vowed that whatever the king realises as a buddha, may she also realise and be born wherever he is born.

o.    The king said she may have whatever she wishes, and in reply, in verse, the girl praised the king, describing how before he appeared the earth was in need and in great suffering, but now the world is needless and beings have become kindly.

p.    The king said to her, it is so rare for people to recognise those with virtues, or bodhisattvas, but by virtue of higher knowledge of superior people she has appeared.

q.    The king gave her a priceless robe to her and her companions, which were made of jewels, and they circumambulated the king. People praised them.

r.     The night goddess revealed that the king was Vairocana, the queen was Queen Māyā, the king’s father was Śuddhodana, and the girl was the night goddess herself.

The people who were taken care of by the king were the bodhisattvas now gathered before the Buddha, each of which are in one of the ten stages now.[3]

5.     In verse the night goddess explained the qualities of her liberation:

a.     Her vision observes all lands, seeing buddhas teaching in all lands.

b.    She has a non-dualistic mind which knows others’ minds.

c.     She knows buddhas’ initial vows and how they undertook to attain buddhahood.

d.    She knows their methods of teaching, and how long their Dharma remained.

6.     She said she knows only this liberation but cannot tell of the virtues of bodhisattvas in the presence of all buddhas who have plunged into the ocean of commitment to omniscience.

Thus, in the same awakening site, the night goddess Sarvajagadrakṣāpraṇidhānavīryaprabhā in the presence of the Buddha. Sudhana should ask her how to engage in bodhisattva practice.

7.     Sudhana, paying respects to her, left.

[1] She represents the seventh stage: Far Going.

 “This goddess symbolizes using expedients in the midst of freedom from birth and death to enter into birth and death and carry out practices everywhere.”

[2] “The goddess said she had attained liberation producing the light of great joy, meaning that she had clearly penetrated the four integrative methods [giving, affectionate speech, benefiting others, and co-operation with and adaptation of oneself to others] and the four infinite minds [joy, loving kindness, compassion, and equanimity].”

[3] In this story there are many characters I excluded for summary, Li writes, “This [story] represents the stage of practical compassion in a bad time when there is a lot of suffering. The king represents knowledge, the five hundred ministers represent the five ranks being practiced in concert, the six thousand concubines represent compassion pervading the six realms of being, the seven hundred princes represent the practices of the seven limbs of awakening, the woman Jewel Light represents compassion, the sixty maidens at the assembly represent the compassion of the six ranks combining with knowledge. That the king was Vairocana Buddha represents knowledge being the fruit of action in the ordinary world.” (1611)