Overall Teaching

The dhāraṇī of the Letter A embodies the bodhisattva’s attainment of undefiled wisdom, non-attachment, and inexhaustible eloquence, enabling them to nurture and guide beings with boundless compassion and clarity. Through analogies, it is shown that diligent practice and reliance on skilful means allow bodhisattvas to illuminate the Dharma for others, while their mastery of this dhāraṇī establishes them in the highest consecration of the Dharma King, ensuring inexhaustible merits and the universal, impartial benefit of all beings.

Summary

1. The Dhāraṇī Door of the Entry into the Characteristics of Dharmas: The Letter A

   • Bodhisattvas who attain this dhāraṇī possess undefiled minds, pure intentions, exceptional wisdom, and are unassailable by negative forces, exhibiting profound understanding and teaching abilities. Such Bodhisattvas are likened to various powerful and nurturing entities, symbolising their virtues in guiding and protecting sentient beings. They are endowed with meritorious qualities, unbounded wisdom, and the ability to teach Dharma effectively to all types of sentient beings, possessing pure morality, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. Bodhisattvas possessing this dhāraṇī will achieve the highest Dharma King consecration, receiving immeasurable merits, surpassing even the Tathāgata's supernormal powers. Śāntamati then addresses devaputra Bhadrarāja, encouraging him to appreciate his good benefits and praise the Tathāgata's boundless merits.

2. Analogies for the Ineffable Dharma

   • Devaputra Bhadrarāja tells Śāntamati Bodhisattva that in ultimate truth, no dharma can be praised as Dharma has no characteristics or form, making it beyond the limits of praise. Bhadrarāja explains to the Buddha that all dharmas lack possession, self, and grasping; they are taught using skilful means tailored to beings' capacities, and diligent practice leads to direct attainment of the Dharma. He compares diligent Dharma practice to digging a well for water, emphasising the necessity of effort for gaining wisdom. Bhadrarāja uses several analogies: blind individuals unable to see without help, those in darkness needing a torch, and the pure divine eye, to illustrate the importance of guidance in understanding Dharma.

   • He likens the diligent Bodhisattva to various entities: a human in the womb unaware of growth, the Himalaya supporting many trees, and a wheel-turning king with seven treasures, symbolizing the growth and support provided by diligent practice. Bhadrarāja continues with analogies: the wheel-turning king unifying continents with a non-discriminatory mind, similar to Bodhisattvas using four means of conversion (giving, kind words, beneficial deeds, and a common goal) to gather beings. He compares the Bodhisattva's journey to Mount Sumeru and the ocean, symbolizing the initial aspiration for enlightenment, and the sun illuminating a mountain, representing the spreading of wisdom to sentient beings. Finally, he describes the Bodhisattva with dhāraṇī as the great earth nurturing all life, symbolizing imparting Dharma equally and without attachment.

3. The Merits of Bodhisattvas who Obtain the Dhāraṇī

   • The Buddha commends devaputra Bhadrarāja for using analogies, comparing it to the inexhaustible merits of the bodhisattva who attains the dhāraṇī. The Buddha states that those who attain the dhāraṇī have clarity beyond the sensory perceptions and their eloquence and wisdom penetrate inexhaustibly into all aspects without force, affliction, or attachment. They embody three Dharmas of non-attachment (to self, to beings, and to dharmas), three kinds of penetrating purity (Dharma-realm, thusness, reality-limit), and three kinds of inexhaustible aspects (Dharma, words, teachings). They have three kinds of penetrating powers (eloquence, Dharma meaning, Dharma entry), three achievements of joy (wisdom, knowledge, doubt elimination), and three Dharmas of speed (mindfulness, wisdom, practice). 800 bodhisattvas in the assembly attained the dhāraṇī door.

Extra Commentary: Kukai on the Letter A

• The superficial meaning of the letter A:

  • "it is, namely, the mother of all letters, the essence of all sounds, and the source of all reality. Any sound uttered when one first opens the mouth is accompanied by the sound A, and without the sound A there would be no speech at all. Therefore, it is deemed to be the mother of all sounds. If one sees the letter A, then one realizes that all things are empty and nonexistent.

• On the profound meaning of the letter A:

  • The letter A means 'non-birth,' 'empty,' and 'existent.' It signifies 'existent' as birth from causes and lacks inherent nature, making it 'empty.' It aligns with the Middle Path as 'non-birth.' The Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise differentiates three omniscience knowledges within one mind.

  • A, the mother of all letters, embodies the non-birth of all things. Recognizing the original non-birth is understanding one's true mind, akin to omniscient wisdom. Ordinary people, unaware of this origin, are caught in birth-and-death cycles. The Tathāgata, aware, establishes the Maṇḍala of Great Compassion. The profound secret treasury is concealed by beings themselves, not by Buddha.

  • A also signifies 'bodhicitta,' 'Dharma gateways,' 'nonduality,' 'all dharmas' result,' and 'absolute freedom.' These meanings are explored in the Sutra of the Dhāraṇī for Protecting State Rulers.

Summarised from The Meanings of the Word HŪṂ