Overall Teaching

The Buddha's voice encompasses all sounds, yet remains unique and unchanged. Its vastness is beyond comprehension, like attempting to measure infinity. The Buddha's mind understands all sentient minds. Even the collective contemplation of countless enlightened beings can't fully grasp one sentient being's mind. By this understanding, he can adapt his words to suit their needs. The Buddha conveys the Four Noble Truths universally, tailoring to various beings' languages and understandings. The Buddha's speech removes uncertainties and reveals the truth of existence. Despite his vast teachings, Buddha remains centred and unchanged. Vajrapāṇi Reveals the profundity of the Tathāgata's speech, leading to celestial wonders and deep spiritual insights. 

Summary

1. The Tathāgata does not Utter a Single Word

   • Vajrapāṇi begins by addressing the topic of the secret of the Buddha's speech.

     • "from the day and night that he attained the fruit of anuttarasamyak-saṃbodhi to the day and night that he will enter Mahāparinirvāṇa, within that period, the Tathāgata has never once uttered a single word, he has not expressed any meaning."

   • He is always in meditative concentration; doesn't inhale/exhale; lacks discursive thought.

   • Beings hear his teachings in his silent state, thinking he teaches just for them, yet his mind remains undisturbed.

   • Ultimately, he lacks lips, teeth, tongue, throat; sounds seem to come from empty space, but are perceived as from his mouth.

2. The Sixty-Four Characteristics of the Tathāgata’s Speech

   • The Fifty-Eight Basic Characteristics 

     • Vajrapāṇi explains that the Buddha’s speech possesses sixty-four unique qualities, fifty-eight of which form the basic characteristics.

       • Voice & Sound: Gentle, clear, sweet, harmonious, and majestic, yet indomitable. His voice resounds like the lion’s roar, the nāga king’s call, thunderclouds, the song of kiṃnaras, or the kalaviṅka bird. It is neither high nor low but perfectly attuned to all sounds.

       • Effect on Listeners: His words inspire resilience, joy, bliss, and rapture; they are agreeable, truthful, efficacious, and universally pleasing.

       • Clarity & Purity: His speech is pure, stainless, untainted by hatred, and without roughness.

       • Teaching & Communication: It tames beings, suits the body and mind, is free of repetition, and accords with all assemblies.

       • Stability & Consistency: His voice is unwavering, irreproachable, unchanging, and free of affliction.

   • The Kinds of Dharma Teachings Suit the Character of the Assembly

     • The Buddha’s speech encompasses the full range of Dharma categories—sūtras, gāthās, jātakas, vaipulya, adbhutadharma, avadānas, and more. Each assembly, whether of monks, devas, or nāgas, perceives his teaching as tailored specifically to them. His words bring widespread joy and clarity, without repetition.

   • The Tathāgata's Speech Accords with the Uncountable Temperaments of Beings

     • The Buddha symbolically speaks of eighty-four thousand teachings, though the true diversity of mental temperaments is limitless. By skilful means, he adjusts his words to suit the greed, hatred, dullness, or other tendencies of beings, guiding them progressively toward awakening.

   • The Tathāgata's Speech Only Emerges from Empty Space

     • Although beings perceive his words as issuing from various physical features—ushṇīṣa, ūrṇā, eyes, mouth, or even body pores—the speech of the Tathāgata actually arises from empty space. Its origin depends on the listener’s perspective, not on a fixed bodily source.

   • The Tathāgata's Speech Comes forth Only as a Representation in Beings' Minds

     • His voice corresponds directly to the minds of beings, shaped by their karmic winds and predispositions. Analogies explain this:

       • Musical instruments: like strings sounding in the breeze.

       • Echo: sound without internal or external source.

       • Wish-granting jewel: speech that fulfils all needs impartially.

     • Thus, his words are mere reflections in beings’ minds, emerging without discrimination .

   • Maudgalyāyana Discovers that the Tathāgata's Speech is Unlimited

     • Curious about its extent, Mahāmaudgalyāyana travelled vast distances with the aid of Maitreya. Even in faraway worlds, he heard Śākyamuni’s voice as if nearby. In Rashmi-dhvaja, its Buddha affirmed that this was only possible due to Śākyamuni’s power. After penitently returning, Mahāmaudgalyāyana realised the futility of measuring the immeasurable—Śākyamuni confirmed that his speech is as boundless as space.

   • The Mind of the Buddha can Know all minds

     • The mind of even one being is unfathomably vast, beyond the comprehension of pratyekabuddhas or the collective efforts of many. Yet the Buddha knows the minds of all beings without discrimination. His words, like echoes, adapt to each mental state, while remaining empty of inherent nature.

3. The Adaptation of the Explanation of the Four Noble Truths to Sentient Beings

   • The Tathāgata universally teaches the Four Noble Truths in every language and form, from deva realms to nāgas, yakṣas, and humans. On Earth alone, thousands of tongues exist, yet each assembly perceives the truths in their own idiom. Despite the diversity of expression, their essence remains unchanged: suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path.

4. The Tathāgata's Speech can Eradicate all Doubt

   • Even if countless beings posed questions simultaneously, the Buddha could answer all instantly with a single sound, erasing their doubts in one moment. His capacity surpasses all wisdom combined, and yet his speech remains undisturbed, always revealing the true nature of things.

5. The Praise of Vajrapāṇi's Teaching

   • After Vajrapāṇi expounds these secrets, beings across realms rejoice, offer reverence, and set their minds on awakening. The Buddha praises him for elucidating the profound Dharma. Cosmic signs—earthquakes, celestial lights, and rising waters—manifest to signify the inconceivable depth of the true Dharma, which, like the sudden welling up of water, has a mysterious and untraceable source.