Overall Teaching

King Anala manifests illusory torturers and criminals in order to guide the evil beings of his land away from doing evil.

Summary

1. Recalling the past spiritual benefactors, Sudhana, with a controlled mind focusing on the ten powers, proceeded to Tāladhvaja.[1] He asked where king Anala[2] was and it was said he was doing just government in the palace, keeping the kingdom in order.

2. Proceeding to the palace, Sudhana saw Anala on a jewelled throne, wearing great robes, covered by garlands, and a canopy and great armour. His sovereignty was invincible to enemy armies.

3.     He was surrounded by ten thousand ministers governing justly.[3]

4. He also saw ten thousand terrifying torturers carrying out punishments at the orders of the king being. He saw violent ends of countless criminals. Seeing this butchery, Sudhana doubted the king and thought he was evil and doomed to a miserable fate.

a.     As Sudhana thought this, devas, reading his mind, asked if he remembered that Jayoṣmāyatana taught that he should not doubt spiritual benefactors’ knowledge of how to teach, restrain, care for, purify, perfect, and guide sentient beings is inconceivable, and encouraged him to ask the king how to engage in bodhisattva practice.

5. Sudhana thus went to the king, respected him, and asked how to engage in bodhisattva practice.

6. When the king finished his duties, he took Sudhana into his residence and invited him to look at his palace. Sudhana saw that it was made of countless jewels, covered with banners, had canopies, lotus ponds, jewelled ponds, and beautiful ladies. 

a.     The king asked Sudhana whether a villain could attain such a retinue and such powers.[4]

b.     Sudhana replied that he could not.

c.     The king explained that he had attained the magical liberation of bodhisattvas. He explained that the beings born in his land had all become given to all kinds of the most wretched evil doing. Even though he has no thought of evil conduct even towards an animal, much less a human, he is unable to turn these beings away from evil. Thus, he creates illusory executioners to create the experience of being punished for illusory criminals—seeing these illusory displays wherein no beings are really harmed, the beings in his realm have turned away from doing evil and are being established in the practice of good by the bodhisattva king.

7. Despite having this liberation, he cannot tell the practice of bodhisattvas who have attained the acceptance, knowledge, and ability to teach non-origination. Thus, Sudhana must go south to Suprabha where Mahāprabha lives, to learn from him.

8.     Respecting the king, Sudhana left.

[1] Meaning “Bright and Clean, because the bright and clean knowledge and wisdom that goes beyond the world also enters the world to practice compassion, observing people’s faculties so as to be able to harmonise with them, not contacting people randomly—hence the name of the city.”

[2] His name means Tireless “Because he helped beings masterfully and never tired of helping them.” He represents the seventh practice: nonattachment.

[3] “Because King Anala used myriad activities to enter the world, Sudhana saw him surrounded by ten thousand ministers, collectively ordering the affairs of state.” (1589)

[4] “he would, on the contrary, have been doomed if he had been torturing people intentionally because of his own subjective feelings.” (1590)