33. The Benefits of Possessing the Sūtra

Overall Teaching

The Buddha instructs Candraprabha that a bodhisattva should cultivate supernormal powers by gathering all wholesome dharmas without attachment to precepts, meditation, wisdom, or liberation. Realising the inherent emptiness and unattainability of all dharmas leads to awakening, enabling one to turn the Dharma Wheel and liberate others without clinging. By practicing non-attachment and understanding concepts like no-self and the formless nature of the Dharma-body, bodhisattvas transcend desires and delusions, achieving mastery over mind and body through meditation. Ultimately, maintaining precepts—especially during the age of decline of the Dharma—leads to great merit, resulting in liberation. Through faith, one can also be born in Sukhāvatī, encounter Amitābha Buddha, and swiftly attain ultimate liberation.

Summary

• The Buddha continues by emphasising to Candraprabha that a bodhisattva should deslight in cultivating the fundamental task of supernormal powers. The fundamental task is defined as:

  • Gathering all wholesome dharmas without attachment:

1. Without attaching to the accumulation of precepts.

2. Without clinging to the accumulation of meditation.

3. Without speculating on the accumulation of wisdom.

4. Without attaching to knowledge and vision regarding liberation.

• • As a result one will attain:

    • Great supernormal powers.

    • Freedom in manifesting anything.

    • The ability to expound the Dharma for beings.

• One should continue practising like this to embrace the Mahāyāna.

• In verse, the Buddha explains:

  • The fundamental task of supernatural powers is supreme. It represents seeking the path without attachment.

  • Supernormal powers are the inconceivable wisdom of the Buddha and dwelling in attachment hinders wisdom.

  • Inconceivable Dharmas are revealed through sound, but clinging to sound prevents understanding of skillful teaching and misinterpretation leads to taking non-Dharma as Dharma.

    • Various sūtras are taught with meanings beyond expression. Deep contemplation on one sentence of these can lead to understanding all of them.

    • As an example: understanding no-self leads to awakening to the Buddha-Dharma. Studying this Dharma aligns one naturally with emptiness.

  • Ultimately, all words are Buddha-words; but ultimate truth cannot be grasped. The Buddha's words are supreme, manifesting without ceasing.

• • The reason non-attachment is so powerful on the path is because all dharmas are unobtainable; realising this leads to awakening. After that awakening, one can be able to turn the Dharma Wheel.

  • The Four Gates of Liberation are: no practice, no aspiration, no form, and emptiness.

• • The six sense faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are inherently empty. Realization of this emptiness is the initial insight.

• • Knowing the true nature of dharmas ends conflicts. The reason for this is that bodhisattvas dwell in a domain free of doubt.

• • In that way, comprehending all dharmas leads one to become a Buddha, after which one liberates others.

• • Taking a step back, initially, the deeds of the Buddhas are attained by cultivating precepts. As such, the Buddha's words and precepts share an equal, pure nature.

• • But, one must not attach to these, as the Buddha-Dharma does not dwell anywhere; it transcends birth and death. The Dharma is beyond attributes; it is neither new nor old.

• • In regard to meditation, contemplating the Buddha's body after his parinirvāṇa leads to seeing him.

• • But one must not be attached to material form, as the nature of dharmas is like reflections in rivers. Knowing this, one transcends attachment to material form.

• • 1. • Ultimately, formless dharmas constitute the Buddha's Dharma-body. Seeing the Dharma-body is truly seeing the Buddha.

• • From the ultimate point of view, the unattainable cannot be presented as attained. Knowing this path is essential for true practitioners.

• • In this way, the Dharma is profoundly deep and challenging to express. 

  • The aggregates arise from delusion; they lack true existence. Similarly, the characteristics of all dharmas are unattainable. Dharmas are like empty space, without substance.

• • For this reason, bodhisattvas teach the Dharma without clinging. Within the Dharma [if practised correctly], nothing is seen; it is inconceivable.

• • Understanding the essence of dharmas leads to cessation of self. Freedom from attachment to those dharmas and realising their essence is achieved by abandoning concepts.

• • Even the reality limit (the goal of the path) cannot be found; it is a delusion if it is conceptualised as something. Thus, practising for bodhi involves inapprehensible actions.

• • 1. • As an analogy for this path, it is like a bird leaving no trace, true awakening leaves no footprint. Thus, wisdom is like an illusion but is not the same as illusion.

• • Deluded discrimination leads to unwholesome realms. Thus, sentient beings suffer endlessly due to ignorance and desire. Craving increases suffering; so, detachment is essential. Therefore, bodhisattvas avoid desires, following the Buddha's path.

• • By emulating the Buddha, one attains the unsurpassed path, achieving Buddhahood and guiding others to wisdom. One does that through no practice, no aspiration, no form, and emptiness.

• • Understanding dharmas ends disputes and so one can benefit all beings with a mind of equanimity. To attain that, one must achieve mastery over mind and body through meditative practices. As a result, one comes to cultivate supernormal powers and achieving freedom.

• • Practicing during the age of Dharma decline times leads to great merit. At that time, upholding the precepts safeguards the Dharma.

• • Practitioners who transcend worldly existence can journey to Buddha lands. They reach the Land of Peace and Bliss (Sukhāvatī) and see Amitābha Buddha, where they meet bodhisattvas adorned with auspicious marks and miraculous powers.

  • The power of Amitābha Buddha's mastery brings about superior faith in beings. This faith leads to swift rebirth in Sukhāvatī. Those who merely hear the praise of this land develop profound faith. When there, they attain bodies free from limitations and can journey to countless Buddha realms, realising equanimity in the attainment of enlightenment.

  • Offering to all Buddhas does not compare to the merit gained through compassion inspired by Amitābha.

  • Practicing precepts, meditation, and wisdom leads swiftly to the highest attainment. Maintaining precepts during difficult times especially safeguards the teachings. Such practitioners are assured of attaining awakening. Upholding morality is the highest offering to all Buddhas and buddhas of the ten directions see and praise those who uphold precepts in difficult times.

• • Moreover, it is vitally important to practice and preserve the teachings.

  • Due to all of these the profound benefits, one can come to have swift realization of awakening. Thus, maintain faith and practice in order to attain ultimate liberation.

Commentary

According to Thrangu Rinpoche, this chapter provides guidance on how to cultivate stability, overcome obstacles, and deepen one's practice. This is done through retaining, contemplating, chanting, and sharing the teachings, which benefit both oneself and others in developing the qualities of samadhi. 

This chapter also introduces the "five unconditioned aggregates," which serve as remedies for the five conditioned aggregates of samsaric existence. While not explicitly mentioned in the text, on a commentarial level, they are held to be implicit in the chapter (with the last two being discussed together):

1. The Unconditioned Aggregate of Discipline: Pure conduct free from defilements, forming the foundation of the other unconditioned aggregates.

2. The Unconditioned Aggregate of Samadhi: A pure meditative concentration, arising from the perfection of discipline, devoid of attachment, anger, and other afflictions.

3. The Unconditioned Aggregate of Wisdom: Insight that directly perceives the true nature of reality (dharmatā), encompassing wisdom of both the conditioned and unconditioned realms.

4. The Unconditioned Aggregate of Total Liberation: The natural purification of obscurations and disturbing emotions, achieving freedom from defilements.

5. The Unconditioned Aggregate of Perceiving the Liberated State of Wisdom: The recognition of original wisdom, inherently pure and undisturbed by afflictions, as the true nature of things.

Together, these aggregates represent the ultimate, originally liberated state, which does not require any new attainment or achievement but rather the realisation of inherent purity. By retaining the sutra's teachings, practitioners turn away from saṃsāric existence and realise these five unconditioned aggregates, reaching an understanding aligned with Mahāmudra.

In this chapter, I notice that the five unconditioned aggregates, as unconditioned elements, are ultimately expressions of our Buddha-nature (inherent purity). They aren’t something we achieve through personal effort or willpower but are instead revealed through insight, which can be seen as the power of the Buddha working within us. In this context, the chapter also describes how faith arises in the practitioner’s mind through Amitābha Buddha’s power, enabling birth in his Pure Land. This faith manifests as a deep conviction regarding saṃsāra and Buddhahood, yet it isn’t a propositional belief; rather, it’s a revelation of the mind’s true nature. This awakening occurs not randomly but through hearing about Amitābha Buddha and his Pure Land. Elsewhere, the chapter also discusses the benefits of upholding the sūtra, which means actively listening to and understanding the Dharma and connecting it to one’s own understanding.

Discussion

• The sutra mentions the Four Gates of Liberation: no practice, no aspiration, no form, and emptiness. How do these gates guide practitioners toward liberation, and in what ways do they shift us away from conventional ideas of spiritual attainment?

• The sutra describes the power of faith in Amitābha as a condition for rebirth in the Pure Land, where faith reveals the mind’s true nature rather than functioning as a propositional belief. How does this reframe our understanding of faith and its role on the path to liberation?