Taishō no. 807

Trepiṭaka Lokakṣema (fl. 147–186) of Tokhara during the Later Han (c. 168–186)

Translated into English by Shaku Shingan (22.2.2026)

The Buddha was in Rājagṛha on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa. At that time, there were twelve thousand bhikṣus and seventy-two thousand bodhisattvas sitting together.

The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rose from his seat, came forward and said to the Buddha, "Now, in this great assembly of bodhisattvas, we wish to hear from the Buddha the matters of engaging in upāyakauśalya (skilful expedient means). By what causes and conditions do bodhisattvas distinguish and know internal and external matters?"

The Buddha said to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, "Listen to what I say. Descending (avatāra) into the teachings in accordance with worldly customs, the Buddha's wisdom is immeasurable, and the Dharma of the sūtras is incalculable. If arhats and pratyekabuddhas cannot know them, how much less could worldly people hear and know them? The actions of worldly people are all attached, whereas the actions of the Buddha are without attachment. Only buddhas and buddhas can know each other, just as the Buddha's sūtras and Dharmas state, and just as the Buddha's internal and external mind and wisdom.

"For what reason does the Buddha appear in the world? By what cause should this be specifically known? Although he is in the world, he is entirely unattached and serves as a light for the world in all respects. The actions of his body, the words of his mouth, and the thoughts of his mind descend in accordance with worldly customs. He practises internal matters and practises all the Dharmas of the buddhas. There is no one who can surpass what he practises, and no one who can equal the actions of the Buddha. He descends in accordance with worldly customs, and no one can know it.

"Because the Buddha pities the people of the ten directions, he manifests completely as a light, and in accordance with what the world delights in, he teaches the Dharmas of the sūtras.

"A bodhisattva is not born from the union of the vital essences of parents; his body is magically created. Yet, like an illusion, he manifests having parents. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The blazing light of the Buddha is incalculable and illuminates the ten directions. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests an aura of seven feet.

"The Buddha has never placed his feet upon the ground, yet the patterns and marks manifest upon the earth. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Since thousands of millions of asaṃkhyeya kalpas ago, the Buddha has perfected prajñāpāramitā. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests as an infant.

"The Buddha illuminates the people of the ten directions who are in the darkness of lust. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he also manifests having a wife and child.

"When the bodhisattva was born and fell to the ground, he said of himself: 'In the heavens above and the earth below, there is no one who surpasses me. I shall liberate the people of the ten directions.' Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he also asked, as the crown prince, when sitting under a Jambu tree. Arising from there and going forth, he endured ascetic toil for six years. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests to people, enduring ascetic toil like this.

"When the Buddha's path was about to be completed, he sat alone under the tree. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he emitted light to make Māra aware of him.

"The Buddha's wisdom was already complete, fully equal, and none could surpass it. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he attained buddhahood, sat peacefully, and manifested to the world like this.

"Although he had attained buddhahood, because he pitied the people of the ten directions, he ought to speak the sūtras to liberate them. Śakra and Brahmā sought his compassion, and for the sake of people, caused the Buddha to speak the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's wisdom has nothing that can increase or decrease. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests having much or little wisdom like this.

"The Buddha also has nowhere he comes from, and in going, he has nowhere he reaches; his abiding is like original non-existence. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, people say the Buddha goes out and comes in. He manifests like this.

"The Buddha has nowhere he enters and goes to abide, just as space also has nowhere it goes to abide. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, people say the Buddha abides. He manifests like this.

"The Buddha's feet are like lotus flowers, not receiving dust and dirt. Yet the Buddha washes his feet. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body is like gold, not receiving dust and dirt. Yet the Buddha manifests entering a bath. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's mouth is originally pure and clean, like the fragrance of saffron. Yet the Buddha conversely uses a willow branch (toothbrush) to clean his mouth. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha has never had a time of hunger. Because he pities the people of the ten directions, he manifests hunger for them. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body is like a vajra, pure and clean without blemish or defilement, and without urine or faeces. Yet he manifests to people as passing urine and faeces. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body has no time of decay or old age; it only has manifold virtues. Yet he manifests a body of decay and old age. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body has never had illness, yet he manifests illness, calls a physician, and takes medicine, so that those who offer medicine obtain immeasurable merit. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's strength cannot be withstood; holding up one finger, he can move the buddha-fields of the ten directions. Yet he manifests to people as emaciated and exhausted. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha, in a single mind-moment, can fly to an innumerable number of buddha-fields. Yet he manifests as exhausted. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body is like an illusion, and the Dharmas of the sūtras are named as his body (the Dharma Body or Dharmakāya). Yet he manifests to people a body of vile discharges. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha originally possesses nothing. In accordance with what the world delights in, he manifests possessing things. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The strength of the Buddha's body is incalculable; ultimately, he has no sitting down or rising up, walking or stepping, lying down or going out. Yet he manifests to people as sitting down and rising up, walking and stepping, lying down and going out. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's body is ultimately never moved by cold or warmth. Yet he complies with experiencing cold, warmth, shade, and coolness. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha is like space, yet he manifests to people as constantly wearing robes without ever removing them, just as the devas of the Brahmā heavens constantly wear robes. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's head has never lost its hair; the Dharma merely manifests it to people, and no one has ever seen him take a razor to remove it. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha has no moment of sitting, yet he manifests to people as toiling and sitting upon a stone. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's throat has a tongue, but he has never had a moment of hunger. Because he pities the people of the ten directions, if someone offers him coarse and unwholesome things, he completely receives them. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The merit and blessings of the Buddha cannot be exhausted, and there is no one who can surpass them. Yet the Buddha enters the city to beg for alms and departs with an empty bowl. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The merit and blessings of the Buddha cannot be exhausted. If he wished to obtain the famous and fine robes of the heavens above and the earth below, he could obtain them all. Yet he deliberately wears patched robes. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"If the Buddha wished to obtain houses, beds, bedding, and the precious jewelled palaces of the heavens above and the earth below, he could obtain them all. Yet he manifests to the people of the world as sitting, exposed, upon a grass mat, in focused thought. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha, possessing majestic supernormal power, could blow upon the seawater and cause it all to dry up. Yet, seeing the heavenly rain, he holds an umbrella canopy. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha, in the space of a single thought, can cause thousands of millions of Māras to not know the Buddha's location. Yet he manifests to people as being harassed by Māra. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha completely understands all the Dharmas of the sūtras of the incalculable buddhas of the ten directions. Yet he manifests to people as repeatedly asking questions. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Because the Buddha pities the ten directions, he appears in the world wishing to teach and deliver. Furthermore, he manifests to people that making offerings results in immeasurable merit. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha has no origin. In accordance with the forms that the world delights in, he manifests a body like this, whose origin is one. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"If one were to gather together the sounds of thunder and lightning from the ten directions to make a single sound, it could not move a single hair of the Buddha. Yet he manifests entering into dhyāna and samādhi, needing to be in a soundless place. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"All the Dharmas of the sūtras originally have no names. Yet the Buddha manifests the innumerable Dharmas of the sūtras to people. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's conceptualisations are originally completely severed, and he never departs from samādhi. Yet he manifests to people as speaking various kinds of Dharmas of the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Regarding what the Buddha did in previous lives, whether wholesome or unwholesome, one cannot reap the results in previous lives; they must inevitably be reaped in later lives. The Buddha manifests to people that what one does oneself, one reaps oneself. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha knows that the world is originally non-existent, and that all that people possess originally has no form. Yet the Buddha manifests, liberating an innumerable number of people. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha knows that all the Dharmas of the sūtras are originally empty, and originally also possess nothing. Yet he manifests to people experiencing death and birth. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Originally, there are no matters of this life or later lives. Yet the Buddha manifests to people that there are matters of this life and later lives. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The five aggregates, the six sense objects, and the four great elements, together, originally do not exist. Yet the Buddha manifests to people the desire realm, the form realm, and the realm without conceptualisation. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Originally, there are no people of the past, future, or present. Yet the Buddha manifests to people as dying and being born within the five realms. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha manifests completely that folly and delusion are entirely exhausted. Yet he manifests to people original almsgiving. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha completely knows the origin of the Dharmas of the sūtras of the past, future, and present. Yet the Buddha manifests to people that there are things that can be spoken and things that cannot be spoken. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha knows that the origins and ends of all sūtras are completely profound. Yet the Buddha distinguishes and individually speaks of their matters. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"In what the Buddha says, there are no differing doctrines. Yet he speaks the Dharma of the four noble truths in accordance with what people understand. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The monastic saṅgha of bhikṣus is difficult to ruin or destroy. Even if thousands of millions of māras and various unwholesome forces were to come, they could not destroy the monastic saṅgha of bhikṣus. Yet the Buddha manifests to people the destruction of the monastic saṅgha of bhikṣus. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Dharmas of the sūtras originally have no one from whom to learn, and there is also no one who does not learn them. Yet the Buddha manifests to people the Dharmas of the sūtras, saying this one receives the precepts, and this one does not receive the precepts. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Emptiness of emptiness is also without bondage, and there is also no liberation from the world. Yet the Buddha manifests liberation to people. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"When the Buddha attains parinirvāṇa, there is nowhere he is directed; when an arhat attains parinirvāṇa, there is nowhere he is directed. Yet the Buddha speaks the Dharma to manifest it to people. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha says that having nothing produced and nothing destroyed is the essential; there is also nothing obtained and nothing lost. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha speaks of nirvāṇa, and it is like the extinguishing of a lamp, being without form; it merely has a name. The Dharmas of the sūtras cannot be destroyed by anyone. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha completely knows that all the Dharmas of the sūtras originally have no form. Yet the Buddha manifests to people speaking a very great multitude of the Dharmas of the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The minds of all buddhas are entirely without hindrance, and they have never had a time of departing from samādhi. Yet they manifest to people as producing thoughts. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's unwholesome qualities are completely exhausted, and he solely possesses all virtues in completion. Yet the Buddha manifests to people as having unwholesome qualities that are not yet exhausted. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The bodily actions, verbal words, and mental thoughts of the Buddha are inevitably endowed with wisdom, which is their origin. Yet the Buddha manifests to people as causing a bhikṣu to speak a sūtra, while he himself furthermore wishes to listen. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"What the Buddha's wisdom understands is without exhaustion or bottom, and the past, future, and present are originally empty. Yet the Buddha manifests to people speaking the Dharmas of the sūtras, individually speaking for each in accordance with what they delight in. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"All buddhas unite into a single body, taking the Dharmas of the sūtras as their body. Yet the Buddha manifests to people speaking the Dharmas of the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"For buddhas, pratyekabuddhas, arhats, and those who have not yet attained the path, he manifests death, birth, and attaining nirvāṇa. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha manifests speaking the Dharmas of the sūtras to arhats in complete fullness. Although he knows they are complete, they do not reach sarvajña. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's wisdom cannot be surpassed by anyone, and he completely knows there is no past, future, or present. Yet the Buddha manifests speaking the Dharmas of the sūtras according to causes and conditions. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"If among them there are those who wish to know the Buddha and understand the Dharma of the buddhas, the origins, ends, and realms of the sūtras are all entered into. Such a person understands the Buddha. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"A bodhisattva also does not enter a mother's womb, nor does he emerge from a mother's womb. Why is this? The original realm of the Dharmas of the sūtras is nowhere it does not enter. Yet the bodhisattva manifests to people entering a mother's womb. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The bliss of the Dharma is born from nowhere, and all the Dharmas of the sūtras are also born from nowhere. Yet the bodhisattva manifests to people his initial birth. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The empty concentration of the bodhisattva's mother's womb contains and receives the realm of a single buddha. Yet the bodhisattvas individually manifest to people as being born from causes and conditions. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha emanates divided-bodies in innumerable numbers, completely pervading incalculable buddha-fields, yet the Buddha's body neither increases nor decreases. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"A bodhisattva constantly manifests birth without a time of cessation, constantly abiding in original non-existence without ascetic toil. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's wisdom, merit, and supernormal power are incalculable. Yet the Buddha manifests to people as having limits of length or shortness, allowing people to know them. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The original realm of the Dharmas of the sūtras cannot be surpassed by anyone, because the past, future, and present are all empty. Yet the Buddha manifests to people revering the Dharmas of the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Originally, there is nothing produced and nothing destroyed, and the original realms of the sūtras are completely entered. Yet the Buddha manifests to people a time when realms decay and are destroyed. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Dharmas of the sūtras originally have nowhere they are born from, abiding without form. Yet the Buddha manifests the Dharmas of the sūtras. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Contemplating original non-existence, there is also nothing seen and nothing looked at. Yet the Buddha looks at people, completely seeing, completely understanding, and completely knowing them. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"All the Dharmas of the sūtras have no creator, and there is also nothing brought forth. Yet the Buddha manifests to people that the Dharmas of the sūtras originally have nothing brought forth. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Nirvāṇa and emptiness have no form or sound, and also have no name. Yet the Buddha manifests the four great elements as well as form and sound. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's strength has no parallel, is incalculable, and also has no time of decreasing or exhaustion. Yet he manifests to people as old and decayed, seeking people to provide service. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha's compassion completely pervades equally, and ultimately, there is no time of distress or extreme hardship. Yet the Buddha manifests to foolish people that one should not engage with them. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"All the Buddha's merits and achievements are completely full. Yet the Buddha manifests having few merits. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The origin of being born from nowhere, from within it there is also nothing brought forth. Yet the Buddha manifests the three doors of liberation. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha manifests that origins and ends are without hindrance, and his merit and blessings cannot be surpassed by anyone. Yet the Buddha manifests to people that if there are those who offer alms, he does not receive them excessively but only takes what is sufficient, manifesting non-greed. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"If people have the utmost sincerity and wholesome intent to be mindful of the Buddha, the Buddha immediately manifests for them. The Buddha also has no location. Yet the Buddha manifests a body to those who practise the bodhisattva path. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"The Buddha has liberated an incalculable, asaṃkhyeya number of people, yet he has not liberated a single person. Why is this? Because of original non-existence. Descending in accordance with worldly customs, he manifests like this.

"Regarding this, the Buddha's precious Sūtra of the Inner Treasury, if people hear it, there are none who will not obtain peace, liberating them across thousands of millions of kalpas without number. Like this, what the bodhisattva practises lifetime after lifetime is for the sake of the people of the ten directions. The bodhisattva, lifetime after lifetime, practises the precepts of the sūtras, and there has never been a time of violation. By means of this, he attains the Buddha's wisdom; those who practice it attain buddhahood swiftly. The bodhisattva practises compassion, bringing limitless benefit to the ten directions. Those who undertake these practices attain buddhahood swiftly. Who, upon hearing this, would not respectfully practise it? The Buddha's supernormal power is lofty and majestic; of those who hear the Dharmas of the sūtras, there are none who will not cross over to liberation."

After the Buddha had spoken the sūtra, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and all the bodhisattvas were completely filled with joy. They came forward, paid their respects to the Buddha, and departed.