Overall Teaching

The night goddess Sutejomaṇḍalaratiśrī explains ten births of bodhisattvas, and how she attained her liberation by being the wet nurse for a buddha in the past.

Summary

1.     Remembering the previous night goddess’ instruction and cultivating it, Sudhana proceeded to the Lubmini[1] grove and saw Sutejomaṇḍalaratiśrī[2] on a lotus lion seat in a tower of jewels. He requested her to teach him how to engage in Bodhisattva practice. She replied:

a. There are ten kinds of birth by which a bodhisattva is born in the buddha-family, namely, she gave and explained the birth of bodhisattvas as:

i. offspring of the undertaking of the vow to serve all buddhas.

• Honouring buddhas just as when one first made offerings to one.

ii.         offspring of consummation of all elements of the determination for enlightenment.

• Arousing the will for awakening out of compassion and for attaining omniscience.

iii.        offspring of meditation on the principles of the Teaching.

• Having minds turned towards the principles of the Dharma, and being intent on fulfilling its path.

iv.        offspring of purification of the intent in viewing past, present, and future.

• Developing intent as strong as steel so that one is unshakable in one’s vows from the past, to break through barriers now, and become a refuge in the future.

v.         offspring of the light of universal awareness. 

• Becoming free of the notion of things, dwelling in the sphere of one who has arrived at thusness.

vi.        offspring of the family of all buddhas.

• Becoming accomplished in the vows of buddhas, their goodness, and qualities so that they become one with them. 

vii.       offspring of the array of lights of the manifestation of powers of buddhas. 

• Not regressing on the path, becoming frightened by wisdom, and engage in manifestations, knowing the teachings and teacher also to be like echoes.

viii.     offspring of consummation of contemplation of the way to omniscience. 

• Contemplating the way to omniscience and gaining holistic concentration on various objects, having mastery of distinct knowledge of all things.

ix.        offspring of manifestation of emanations throughout the cosmos. 

• Setting up buddha-lands in an instant of thought and showing awakening to beings through various practices.

x.         offspring of momentum going into the stage of the enlightened.

• Being initiated into the realm of oneness of all buddhas of all times and knowing the continuum of awakening of all buddhas and knowing the arising and ceasing of the world.

b. She said that these ten births produce magical projections of bodhisattvas in all directions and time in order to aid beings through all methods, senses, and arrays expounding according to their mentalities.[3]

c.     She then summarized the ten births in verse form.

2.     Shen then said she has attained the liberation called vision of the birth of bodhisattvas in all objects for incalculable aeons. She explained its scope as follows:

a.     She vowed to see all manifestations of bodhisattvas’ births.

b.    She entered the ocean of births of Vairocana, and she saw when he was about to be born in Lumbini, and knew when he would descend from Tusita one hundred years earlier.[4]

c. Then Lumbini became magnificently adorned (as in the Lalitavistara Sūtra) and lights emerged from the navels of the buddhas of the ten directions appeared,[5] which foretold the birth of Vairocana.

d. As Māyā went out to Lumbini, ten omens of great lights appeared which foretold the bodhisattva’s career as a buddha.

e. As she leaned against the holy fig tree, all the devas gathered6 and lights emanated from her pores. In these lights everything in the universe, and the past deeds of Vairocana, his forms, sacrifices, manifestations, and ways in which he helped beings appeared. Countless bodhisattvas adorned in the same way as Vairocana also appeared. Then a light emerged from her abdomen, after which he was born.

f.      But in just this way here, she also perceived the birth of Vairocana throughout the entire universe, in all lands and in all times, with infinite miracles and unceasing power.[6]

3.     Sudhana asked how long ago she attained this liberation. She answered:

a.     Countless aeons ago, in a land with eighty decillion buddhas,[7] there was a king and queen in the capital of the southern continent of the world Ubiquitous Jewel. At that time the queen, like Māyā, was the mother of the first buddha of that land called Invincible Paragon of Virtue, and she had twenty decillion ladies in attendance.[8] She gave birth to him also in a park in the same way as Māyā of our world.[9]

b.    The wet nurse called Light of Purity was flooded by joy after taking him into her hands and this liberation entered into her and she attained visions of countless buddhas and their teachings.[10]

c. That wet nurse was the night goddess herself, and the queen was of course Queen Māyā of our world, the king was Śuddhodana. From that time the night goddess was never separated from Vairocana and perceives the ocean of lands of Vairocana and the buddhas born of the totality of great vows in each thought moment in each inter-penetrating atom in the ten directions.

d.    She reiterated what she had said in verse form.

4.     She said that she just knows this liberation, but cannot tell of the virtues of practices of the bodhisattvas whose minds are the sources of all aeons from moment to moment of consciousness. Thus, Sudhana should go to the girl of the Śākya clan, Gopa, and ask her about bodhisattva practice.

5.     Paying respects to her, Sudhana left.

[1] “Lumbini is the garden where Buddha was born, called Supreme in Pleasure because of the bliss produced in people by the Dharma.”

[2] She represents the ninth stage: Good Mind.

 “In the stage of good mind, subtle insight and intellect are completed, and one is good at explaining teachings; hence the spirit is called Glory of the Sphere of Good Power.”

[3] These ten births “mean that having attained effortless knowledge and being on the verge of rising to receive a buddha’s work, in this stage one studies buddhas’ powers of elucidation—this is called being reborn.

[4] “The ascent from this stage to the tenth stage is referred to as a hundred years.”

[5] “Being born in all places means that since unfabricated knowledge is like space, like magic, even a single moment of the descent of the spirit pervades the real universe, without any here or there, coming or going, or interruption in time. 6 “Goddesses bearing gifts awaited the birth of the Buddha, illustrating the ancient saying, “Sages act, and all beings observe.”

[6] Thus, all buddhas are said to be Vairocana, hence why he is usually called Mahāvairocana, i.e. Great Vairocana. His name means shining light, thus he is like a great sun illumining the entire cosmos: hence his name in Chinese is 大日如来, Tathāgata of the Great Sun.

[7] “The number of buddhas in the aeon, eighty decillion, represents the issue of the effortless knowledge of the eighth stage. 

[8] The number of ladies with the queen, twenty decillion, represents the fulfillment of joy in truth produced by the buddhas’ twin practice of compassion and knowledge.”

[9] “That the queen gave birth while holding onto a tree represents the development of great knowledge through focus on great compassion.”

[10] “The role of the wet nurse also symbolizes compassion.” (1613–14)