by Hsuan Hua
The fifty-two Bodhisattva companions who stand up and bow to the Buddha along with Great Strength represent fifty-two stages of a Bodhisattva’s progress: the Ten Stages of Stabilizing the Mind, the Ten Abodes, the Ten Practices, the Ten Dedications, the Ten Grounds, Equivalent Enlightenment, and Wondrous Awakening. (V, 119)46
“Consider someone who is always thinking of another person. This second person, though, has completely forgotten about the first person. Even if these two people were to meet, they might as well not have met, and even if they were to catch sight of one another, they might as well not have seen each other. But consider two other people who always have each other in mind so much so that they will be, in lifetime after lifetime, as inseparable as a man and his shadow. Similarly, the Thus-Come Ones in all ten directions think of all beings with compassion, just as a mother always thinks of her child. If the child were to run away from home, the mother’s thinking of him will be of no use. But if the child is mindful of the mother, just as she is of him, the two will be inseparable in lifetime after lifetime. In the same way, beings who are always mindful of the Buddha, always thinking of the Buddha, are certain to see the Buddha now or in the future. They will never be far from Buddhas, and their minds will awaken by themselves without any special effort. Such people may be said to be adorned with fragrance and light, just as people who have been in the presence of incense will naturally smell sweet.
The Buddhas are always thinking about us; they are mindful of us, but we living beings aren’t mindful of the Buddhas. We may happen to study a little of the Buddhas’ Dharma, but we’re not very clear about what’s being said. “The Dharma is really wonderful!” we say, but we don’t realize how wonderful it actually is. Why are the Buddhas mindful of us? It is because they see that all beings share the same essence. The Buddhas regard all beings as their fathers and mothers of the past and as the Buddhas of the future. The Buddha Śākyamuni said that all beings are endowed with the Buddha-nature, and all of them can become Buddhas. There’s not a single being who cannot become a Buddha. It is this very point that makes the Buddhist teachings the most lofty and all-encompassing. It is why the Buddha Śākyamuni taught that we should abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants. These are the five fundamental Buddhist precepts, and to keep these precepts is a way of showing one’s regard for all beings. Since the Buddha sees all beings as identical in essence to himself, he wishes to teach them how to change so that they can become Buddhas themselves. We come into this world and ignore what is fundamental while craving what is superficial. We turn our backs on enlightenment and cleave to the mundane objects of the senses. That is why we forget the Buddhas and never remember to be mindful of them....
There are several ways to practice mindfulness of the Buddha:
You can be mindful of the Buddha by reciting his name. You can recite the name of whichever Buddha you choose. You can recite “Namo47 Buddha Amitābha”; or you can recite “Namo Buddha Śākyamuni, our First Teacher”: or maybe you’ll want to recite “Namo Master Healer, the Buddha Who Dispels Disaster and Lengthens Life.” No matter which Buddha it is whose name you choose to recite, the practice is the same. Your goal is to dispense with all extraneous thoughts and to consolidate your thoughts into the one mindful thought of the Buddha. If you don’t have extraneous thoughts, you won’t have any evil thoughts, and when nothing evil is arising in your mind, you’re on the road to goodness.
You can practice mindfulness of the Buddha Amitābha by visualizing him. You consider the ray of white light that shines from between the Buddha’s eyebrows. A hymn in his praise includes the lines: “The light of his brow shines five times as high as Mount Sumeru. His clear and pure eyes are as wide as the sea.” Are you able to visualize that? If the scope of your mind is small, your concept of the Buddha will be fairly limited as you contemplate him. If the scope of your mind is vast, your conception of him can be monumental.
You can practice mindfulness of the Buddha by contemplating an image. In this practice you gaze upon an image of the Buddha Amitābha while you recite his name. As you are mindful of him, you reflect upon his magnificent appearance adorned with hallmarks....
You can practice mindfulness of the Buddha in terms of his true attributes; this is the practice of meditation in stillness. You pursue the question, “Who is this who is mindful of the Buddha?”...
In this passage of the text, the Bodhisattva Great Strength tells of his practice of mindfulness of the Buddha, a practice which is a very appropriate method for people in the present age. It is quite effective. Why? The sutras tell us that in this time of the Dharma’s ending, not one person in a million will reach the goal of his or her practice, unless that practice involves mindfulness of the Buddha. Only then will people be able to reach enlightenment.
This practice of reciting the Buddha’s name is very easy. It allows us to escape the three realms as by a side door. We are like a beetle that chews its way out of a stick of bamboo by gnawing sideways instead of by gnawing the length of the stick. People who are mindful of the Buddha can escape the three realms on a horizontal plane at their current level. They carry their karma with them into rebirth in the Buddha Amitābha’s Pure Land. The karma they take with them is old karma; when they reborn in the Pure Land, they will not commit any new karma. However, once you know about reciting the Buddha’s name, don’t commit any more karmic offenses... because that will prevent your rebirth in the Pure Land. Once you know about mindfulness of the Buddha, you should change your ways....
This section of text concerning the Bodhisattva Great Strength breaking through to enlightenment through mindfulness of the Buddha is extremely important. We should be mindful of the Buddha Amitābha because he has affinities with us. Ten eons ago, before he became a Buddha, when he was a monk called Dharma-Treasury, he made forty-eight great vows, and one of them was this: “If beings throughout the ten directions say my name and do not become Buddhas, I will not attain right enlightenment.” But he did attain right enlightenment; and because of the power of Amitābha’s vows, everyone who recites his name can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. (V, 121–9)
“The basis of my practice was mindfulness of the Buddha. I became patient with the state of mind in which no mental objects arise. Now when people of this world are mindful of the Buddha, I act as their guide to lead them to the Pure Land. The Buddha has asked us how we broke through to enlightenment. In order to enter samādhi, I chose no other method than to gather in the six faculties while continuously maintaining a pure mindfulness of the Buddha. This is the best method.”
The Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World
[25] Then the Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World48 stood up, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and said to him respectfully: “World-Honored One, I can recall the time when a Buddha named He Who Hears the Cries of the World was in this world, as many eons ago as there are sand-grains in the River Ganges. Before this Buddha I made the resolution to become fully awakened, and he instructed me to enter samādhi through a practice of hearing and contemplating.
In a past eon, the Buddha Who Hears the Cries of the World taught the present Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World the practice of hearing and contemplating. Based on the wisdom of hearing, the wisdom of contemplating, and the wisdom of practice, he was able to enter samādhi. Here “contemplating” does not mean the thinking of the mind-consciousness. Rather, it has the meaning of quiet consideration — the skill of meditation in stillness. (V, 131)
“I began with a practice based on the enlightened nature of hearing. First I redirected my hearing inward in order to enter the current of the sages. Then external sounds disappeared. With the direction of my hearing reversed and with sounds stilled, both sounds and silence cease to arise. So it was that, as I gradually progressed, what I heard and my awareness of what I heard came to an end. Even when that state of mind in which everything had come to an end disappeared, I did not rest. M
y awareness and the objects of my awareness were emptied, and when that process of emptying my awareness was wholly complete, then even that emptying and what had been emptied vanished. Coming into being and ceasing to be themselves ceased to be. Then the ultimate stillness was revealed.49
To listen wisely is to listen inside, not outside. You do not allow your mind to chase after sounds. Earlier in the Sutra,50 the Buddha spoke of not following the six faculties and not being influenced by them. You reverse your hearing to listen to your own true nature.51 Instead of listening to external sounds, you focus inwardly on your body and mind, you cease to seek outside yourself, and you turn around the light of your attention so that it will shine within yourself. (V, 133)
“All of a sudden I transcended the worlds of ordinary beings, and I also transcended the worlds of beings who have transcended the ordinary worlds. Everything in the ten directions was fully illuminated, and I gained two remarkable powers. First, my mind ascended to unite with the fundamental, wondrous, enlightened mind of all Buddhas in all ten directions, and my power of compassion became the same as theirs. Second, my mind descended to unite with all beings of the six destinies in all ten directions such that I felt their sorrows and their prayerful yearnings as my own. World-Honored One, because I had made offerings to the Thus-Come One Who Hears the Cries of the World, I received from that Thus-Come One a hidden transmission of a vajra-like samādhi such that my power of compassion became the same as the Buddhas’. I was then able to go to all lands and appear in thirty-two forms that respond to what beings require.
[1]52 “World Honored One, suppose there are Bodhisattvas who have entered samādhi and have advanced in their practice such that they are free from outflows. If these Bodhisattvas wish to reach a more sublime understanding, I will appear to them as a Buddha, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to liberation.
[2] “Suppose there are sages who still need instruction but who have quieted their minds and have gained wondrous insight. If they wish to attain a more sublime and wondrous understanding, I will appear to them as a Solitary Sage who has reached enlightenment on his own,53 and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to liberation.
[3] “Suppose there are sages who still need instruction but who have broken free of the links in the chain of dependent co-arising.54 Because they have broken free, their transcendent nature appears. If they wish to attain a more sublime and wondrous understanding, I will appear to them as a Solitary Sage who has become enlightened through the contemplation of the conditioned world,55 and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to liberation.
[4] “Suppose there are sages who still need instruction but whose minds dwell in emptiness, in accordance with the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, as they practice on the Path that leads to nirvana. If they wish to attain a more sublime understanding, I will appear to them as a Hearer of the Teaching, and l will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to liberation.
The Bodhisattva appears in the body of an Arhat because in that way he can communicate with Arhats easily. He and they can become trusted friends. If you have no affinities with people, then no matter how well you may speak, you won’t be believed. The Bodhisattva appears as various kinds of being in order to teach the beings of each kind to change so that they will awaken. (V, 141)
[5] “Suppose, further, that there are beings who clearly understand the desires of the mind, do not engage in the activities of desire, and wish to have bodies that are pure.56 I will appear to them as a Brahma King, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to liberation.
The ultimate aim of the Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World is to lead these beings to believe in the Buddha. But since at present their wish is to be born in the heavens, he teaches them how to do that. When they return from there, they will eventually come to believe in the Buddha. Ordinary people feel that the time involved in such a process is quite long, but actually from a Buddha’s or a Bodhisattva’s point of view, it is a mere moment, a mere blinking of the eye. In using this expedient, the Bodhisattvas are like parents who want their child to master an excellent profession which the child does not wish to enter. The parents comply and allow the child to study what he wishes, but after several false starts, he eventually decides to prepare for the very profession his parents had suggested. The Bodhisattva’s method of teaching beings how to change is to first fulfill their wishes. But the ultimate aim is always to bring beings to enlightenment. (V, 142–3)
[6] “To beings who desire to be celestial lords and to govern the heavens, I will appear as Lord Śakra,57 and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[7] “To beings who wish for a body that has the freedom and ease to roam throughout the ten directions, I will appear as the lord of the Heaven of Delight in Creating,58 and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[8] “To beings who wish for a body that has the freedom and ease to fly through space, I will appear as the lord of the Heaven of Pleasure Derived from What Others Create.59 I will instruct these gods in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[9] “To beings who would like to govern ghosts and spirits in order to protect their countries, I will appear as a great celestial general. I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[10] “To beings who would like to rule a world in order to protect its inhabitants, I will appear as one of the Four Celestial Kings. I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[11] “To beings who would like to be born into a celestial palace and to command ghosts and spirits, I will appear as a prince of one of the Four Celestial Kingdoms. I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[12] “To beings who would like to be kings among people, I will appear as a human king. I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[13] “To beings who would like to be heads of clans and would like to command everyone’s respect and deference, I will appear as an elder, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[14] “To beings who would like to be able to discuss celebrated writings and to live a pure life, I will appear as a layperson and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[15] “To beings who would like to govern a country or to decide the affairs of a province or a district, I will appear as a minister of state, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[16] “To beings who would like to employ numerology and other esoteric disciplines out of a wish to protect and nurture themselves, I will appear as a Brahmin, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[17] “To men who would like to learn about becoming a monk and about observing the monastic precepts and regulations, I will appear as a monk, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[18] “To women who would like to learn about becoming a nun and about observing the monastic precepts and regulations, I will appear as a nun, and I will instruct them in Dharmas that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[19] “To men who would like to observe the five precepts of the laity,60 I will appear as a precepted layman, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[20] “To women who would like to ground themselves on the five precepts of the laity, I will appear as a precepted laywoman, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[21] “To virtuous women of high standing who would like to manage the affairs of a household or of a country, I will appear as a queen, or as the wife of a lord, or else as some other n
oblewoman, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[22] “To young men who wish to remain celibate, I will appear as a pure young man, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[23] “To young women who wish to remain celibate, never to be violated, I will appear as a pure young woman, and I will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[24] “To celestial beings who no longer wish to be celestial beings, I will appear in celestial form and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[25] “To dragons who no longer wish to be dragons, I will appear as a dragon and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[26] “To yakṣas61 who wish to be free of being yakṣas, I will appear as a yakṣa and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[27] “To gandharvas62 who wish to be free of being gandharvas, I will appear as a gandharva and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[28] “To asuras63 who wish to be free of being asuras, I will appear as an asura and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[29] “To kinnaras64 who wish to be free of being kinnaras, I will appear as a kinnara and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[30] “To mahoragas65 who wish to be free of being mahoragas, I will appear as a mahoraga and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
[31] “To beings who enjoy being human and who wish to continue as humans, I will appear in human form and will instruct them in the Dharma that will lead them to fulfillment of their wish.
