Chapter 68
Then the venerable Subhūti asked the Blessed One, “Blessed Lord, are bodhisattva great beings destined or are they those whose destiny is uncertain?”
“Bodhisattva great beings are destined; they are not those who destiny is uncertain,” replied the Blessed One.
“What category are they destined to be in—the category of the śrāvakas, the category of the pratyekabuddhas, or the category of the buddhas?” asked Subhūti.
“Subhūti,” replied the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings are not destined to be in the category of the śrāvakas and are not destined to be in the category of the pratyekabuddhas, but, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings are destined to be in the category of the buddhas.”
“Blessed Lord, are bodhisattva great beings who first set their mind on enlightenment said to be ‘destined,’ or are those who are irreversible said to be ‘destined,’ or are those in their last existence said to be ‘destined’?” asked Subhūti.
“Subhūti,” replied the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings who first set their mind on enlightenment are destined, those who are irreversible are destined, and those in their last existence are destined.”
“Blessed Lord, are bodhisattva great beings who are destined reborn in the lower realms?” asked Subhūti.
“No, Subhūti, they are not” replied the Blessed One. “Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings who are destined are not reborn in the lower realms. Subhūti, do you think that those who are the eighth, who have entered the stream, who are once-returners, who are non-returners, who are arhats, or who are pratyekabuddhas are reborn in the lower realms?”
No, Blessed Lord, they are not,” replied Subhūti.
“Similarly, Subhūti,” continued the Blessed One, “it is impossible that bodhisattva great beings who, starting from when they first set their mind, are generous with gifts, maintain ethical discipline, practice tolerance, undertake perseverance, become absorbed in meditative stability, cultivate wisdom, and dwell in order to abandon all nonvirtuous phenomena will be reborn in the lower realms. It is impossible that they will be reborn among the long-lived gods, impossible that will be reborn among those who do not practice the Dharma, impossible that will be reborn in a place where they become mentally impaired deaf mutes, impossible that will be reborn among criminal barbarians in a remote border area, impossible that they will be reborn in a family with wrong views, impossible that they will be reborn where the word buddha, the word Dharma, and the word saṅgha are not proclaimed, and impossible that they will fall into the view that actions have no consequences.1381 Subhūti, it is impossible that bodhisattva great beings who, starting from when they first set their mind, have set out with a higher aspiration for unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment will tread the paths of the ten nonvirtuous actions.”
Subhūti asked, “Blessed Lord, if bodhisattva great beings who are destined in that manner, and who are endowed with such a root of virtue, are not reborn in unsuitable1382 places, why has the Tathāgata taught about his own past lives as animals? Where were those roots of virtue then?”
“Subhūti,” replied the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings are not born as animals due to nonvirtuous action, but for the sake of beings. They voluntarily assume such corporeal forms by which they might be of benefit to beings.1383 Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings have taken birth in the animal realm in that manner with skill in means, and even when something has come to kill them, have sacrificed themselves through their unsurpassed tolerance and avoided harming those beings. Do śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas have such skill in means?
“Therefore, Subhūti, you should know also from this formulation that bodhisattva great beings complete great compassion for the sake of unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment for beings in this manner, and, even though they are born in the animal realm, they are untainted by the defects of animals.”
“Blessed Lord, while maintaining which virtuous attributes do bodhisattva great beings assume such a corporeal form?” asked Subhūti.
“Subhūti,” replied the Blessed One, “what is that virtuous attribute that bodhisattva great beings do not have to complete? The completion of all virtuous attributes is unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. Therefore, there is no virtuous attribute at all that should not be completed by bodhisattva great beings, starting from when they first set their mind, until they are seated at the site of enlightenment. There will be no attainment of fully awakening to unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment while any virtuous attribute has not been completed. It is impossible. So it is, Subhūti, that from when they first set their mind, bodhisattva great beings should train in completing all virtuous attributes, and when they have trained in that, they will attain all-aspect omniscience. They will also abandon all the connecting propensities.
“Blessed Lord, how are bodhisattva great beings who are endowed with such positive, uncontaminated attributes of the noble ones born in the lower realms or in the animal realm?” asked Subhūti.
“Subhūti, are the tathāgatas noble ones without contaminants?” asked the Blessed One.
“Yes, Blessed Lord, they are. Yes, Sugata, they are,” replied Subhūti. “The tathāgatas are noble ones and they are without contaminants.”
“Subhūti, are there, or are there not, tathāgatas who conjure up a creature within the animal realm, and, having conjured it up, do the work of a buddha?” asked the Blessed One.
“Yes, there are, Blessed Lord,” replied Subhūti.
“For that reason, Subhūti, do the tathāgatas become an animal?” asked the Blessed One.
“No, Blessed Lord, they do not,” replied Subhūti.
“Subhūti, do the tathāgatas experience the suffering of an animal?” asked the Blessed One.
“No, Blessed Lord, they do not,” replied Subhūti.
“Similarly, Subhūti,” continued the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings endowed with the uncontaminated attributes of the noble ones also voluntarily assume such corporeal forms, and in those bodies, whichever is appropriate, bring beings to maturity, in whatever way.
“Subhūti, do you think that if an arhat were to conjure up an emanation, that emanation could do the work of an arhat, and would that work give rise to somebody else’s virtue?”
“It is so, Blessed Lord. It would,” replied Subhūti.
“Similarly, Subhūti,” continued the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings endowed with the uncontaminated attributes of the noble ones also voluntarily assume such corporeal forms, whichever one is appropriate, and bring beings to maturity, in whatever way, but still they do not become subject to suffering, and they do not experience feelings of suffering because of that body.
“Subhūti, do you think that if an illusionist through magic makes the form of an elephant, the form of a horse, or the form of a bull appear, or else makes a diversity of different forms appear, those turn into the form of an elephant, the form of a horse, the form of an ox, or the form of any other sort of living creature?”
“They do not, Blessed Lord,” replied Subhūti.
“Similarly, Subhūti,” continued the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings endowed with the uncontaminated attributes of the noble ones also voluntarily assume such corporeal forms, and through those bodies act on behalf of beings, but they have no sensation of suffering at all.”
Subhūti then said, “O Blessed Lord, most wonderful is this extremely skillful means through which bodhisattva great beings endowed with the uncontaminated transcendental knowledge of the noble ones assume such bodies as those, bodies in which they act on behalf of beings.
“Blessed Lord, which pure attributes do bodhisattva great beings maintain when they employ such skill in means, but still practice without being tainted by such actions?”
“Subhūti,” replied the Blessed One, “bodhisattva great beings employ such skill in means while maintaining the perfection of wisdom. Through those skillful means they act on behalf of beings in the world systems in each of the ten directions, numerous as the grains of sand of the River Gaṅgā, but they are not affected1384 by anything at all. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings do not apprehend any of those three phenomena—those who are affected, the affecting, and something they are affected by. If you ask why, it is because all these phenomena are empty of essential nature and emptiness does not affect emptiness. Neither does emptiness affect any phenomenon, nor is emptiness affected by any. If you ask why, it is because emptiness does not apprehend emptiness. This, Subhūti, is the emptiness of that which cannot be apprehended. Abiding in it, bodhisattva great beings will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.”
Subhūti asked, “Why, Blessed Lord, do bodhisattva great beings, without abiding in other attributes, maintain the perfection of wisdom alone when they employ such skill in means?”
“Subhūti,” asked the Blessed One in return, “are there any attributes that are not included in the perfection of wisdom?”
“Blessed Lord, if the perfection of wisdom is empty of essential nature, in what way are all phenomena gathered within the perfection of wisdom?” asked Subhūti. “Blessed Lord, there is nothing at all that is either ‘included’ or ‘not included’ in emptiness.”
“Subhūti, are all phenomena not empty of all phenomena?” asked the Blessed One.
“They are empty, Blessed Lord,” said Subhūti.
“Subhūti, if all phenomena are empty of all phenomena, are all phenomena not gathered within emptiness?” asked the Blessed One.
“That is so, Blessed Lord,” replied Subhūti.
“For that reason, Subhūti,” said the Blessed One, “you should know that bodhisattva great beings employ such skill in means in this manner while maintaining the perfection of wisdom.”
Then the venerable Subhūti said to1385 the Blessed One, “Blessed Lord, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom, having dwelled in the emptiness1386 of all phenomena, clearly achieve the perfection of extrasensory powers, maintaining which extrasensory powers they proceed to the world systems in each of the ten directions, numerous as the grains of sand of the River Gaṅgā, and wait on all those lord buddhas who are residing and maintaining themselves and teaching the Dharma in those world systems. They listen to the Dharma and develop roots of virtue in the presence of those lord buddhas.”
The venerable Subhūti having said that, the Lord said to him, “Subhūti, here, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom, they see that all those world systems in each of the ten directions, numerous as the grains of sand of the River Gaṅgā, are empty of essential nature. They see that the lord buddhas who reside in those world systems—those lord buddhas, as many as there are—are also empty of essential nature. Other than that, besides being described based on designation through names and conventional terms, even all designation is empty of essential nature. If those world systems were not empty of essential nature; if all those lord buddhas, too, were not empty of essential nature; and if the habitual usage1387 of designation, too, were not empty of essential nature, there would be a limited emptiness, but indeed, emptiness is not limited. That is why all phenomena are empty of all phenomena, which is to say, it is for this very reason that bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom through skill in means clearly achieve the perfection of extrasensory powers. Maintaining those extrasensory powers, they clearly achieve the extrasensory powers: divine clairvoyance, divine clairaudience, the facets of miraculous ability, knowledge of the minds of others, recollection of past lives, and the knowledge of dying and rebirth.1388 Without having generated the extrasensory powers, great bodhisattva great beings cannot fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. If you ask why, it is because the enlightenment of bodhisattva great beings is gathered in the perfection of the extrasensory powers, and they should seek for enlightenment through those extrasensory powers. When they seek it, they themselves, with pure divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, see all the virtuous attributes, and they also connect others with all the virtuous attributes, but they do not become fixated on those virtuous attributes. If you ask why, it is because all those virtuous attributes are empty of essential nature, and emptiness does not fixate on anything that might be relished or be fixated on. Emptiness is without relishing.
“When bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they clearly achieve divine clairvoyance, which is to say, through divine clairvoyance they see all attributes as emptiness, and they maintain those attributes and clearly accomplish the task.1389 Those who have clearly accomplished the task teach the Dharma to beings, but do not apprehend either beings or the designation of beings. In that manner, without apprehending anything, bodhisattva great beings achieve the perfection of the extrasensory powers, and through those extrasensory powers do the things, as many as there are, that are to be done by the extrasensory powers.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the eastern direction. Through their miraculous ability, they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts, make yourself happy, and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves1390 and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Thus, the maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the southern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the western direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the northern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.
“Through that purified divine clairvoyance, surpassing that of human beings, they see all the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction. Through their miraculous ability they proceed there and act for the benefit of beings, doing what should be done for those beings by means of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, or wisdom; or the applications of mindfulness, the correct exertions, the supports for miraculous ability, the faculties, the powers, the branches of enlightenment, or the noble eightfold path; or the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, the meditative concentrations, the immeasurable attitudes, the formless absorptions, the liberations, the samādhis, or the serial steps of meditative absorption; or the powers of the tathāgatas, the fearlessnesses, the kinds of exact knowledge, or the distinct qualities of the buddhas; or the attributes of the śrāvakas, the attributes of the pratyekabuddhas, the attributes of the bodhisattvas, or the attributes of the buddhas.
“To those beings who are miserly, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘Be generous with gifts. Deprivation is suffering. Through deprivation you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. Therefore, be generous with gifts and make yourself happy and make others happy too, lest, oppressed by deprivation, you ruin yourselves and do not liberate yourselves from the three lower realms.’
“To those being beings who are unethical, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, unethical behavior is suffering. Through being unethical you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of unethical behavior is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest unethical thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who harbor malicious thoughts toward one another, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘You should not harbor malicious thoughts toward one another. No virtuous attributes at all will arise when you feel you have been provoked. If you each feel you have been provoked by the other, you will be reborn in the hells, you will be reborn in the animal realm, or you will be reborn in the world of Yama. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest feeling of provocation, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings who are indolent, as many as there are, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, indolence is suffering. Through being indolent you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of indolence is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest thought of indolence, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, whose thoughts are distracted, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having distracted thoughts is suffering. The maturation of distracted thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama. If you fall into the three lower realms in that manner, you cannot extricate yourself, let alone extricate others. Therefore, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest distracted thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“To those beings, as many as there are, who have intellectually stupid thoughts, they teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, having intellectually stupid thoughts is suffering. Through having intellectually stupid thoughts you cannot achieve your own welfare, let alone the welfare of others. The maturation of intellectually stupid thoughts is in the hells, the animal realm, or the world of Yama, so, you should give no opportunity for even the slightest intellectually stupid thought, lest you later come to feel remorse.’
“They connect those who act out of desire, as many as there are, with repulsiveness; connect those who act out of hatred, as many as there are, with loving kindness; and connect those who act out of delusion, as many as there are, with dependent origination. They connect those who have set out on bad paths, as many as there are, with the right path, which is to say, they connect them with the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, or the path of the buddhas and teach them the Dharma, saying, ‘O people, these phenomena, the phenomena on which you are fixated, are empty of essential nature. You cannot be fixated when phenomena are empty of essential nature. Emptiness is without fixation.’
“Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of wisdom in that manner, they maintain the extrasensory powers and act for the benefit of beings.