Chapter 4

4.1“Noble sons, what is the bodhisattvas’ accumulation of the qualities of the buddha realms ? Noble sons, whenever compassionate bodhisattva great beings are born in this buddha realm inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities, they ripen beings who commit the acts with immediate retribution, who reject the sacred Dharma, who denigrate the noble ones, and who involve themselves with the roots of nonvirtue. They motivate them to adopt all the virtuous qualities, and they completely ripen beings from their habitual tendencies pertaining to the afflictions and views. They withstand the many types of suffering of the eon in order to benefit each and every being, they liberate those beings from the swamp of saṃsāra, and they make offerings to one buddha up to myriads of buddhas.

4.2“When beings who rely on roots of virtue have accomplished deeds on behalf of the blessed buddhas and perfected the powers of miraculous transformation, [F.130.a] supernormal faculty, and absorption, their miraculous powers will enable them to travel to buddha realms in the ten directions as numerous as all the grains of sand in the Ganges. They will serve the blessed buddhas there, they will behold the multitude of buddha realm qualities, and they will perceive the great multitude of qualities of those pure buddha realms just as they are. Then those noble sons will develop intense craving for those qualities.

4.3“Those noble sons will ask the thus-gone ones, ‘Which actions will lead bodhisattvas to be reborn in pure buddha realms? Which actions will lead them never to stop beholding the buddhas, listening to the Dharma, and serving the saṅgha? Which actions will prevent them from mingling with the followers of the vehicles of the hearers and the solitary buddhas? Which actions will prevent them from being contaminated by afflictions? Which actions will prevent them from being disconnected from all of the absorptions and retentions?’

4.4“As long as they do not take rebirth in buddha realms that are inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities, they will not awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood. Those buddha realms where one attains awakening are vast, and they abound with a multitude of qualities of the buddha realms. Those buddha realms are pervaded by bodhisattvas who follow the Great Vehicle, and they are devoid of beings who follow the vehicles of the hearers and the solitary buddhas.

4.5“The blessed buddhas will teach those noble sons accordingly about the actions, conduct, and efforts that will lead them to attain those qualities, and those noble sons will exert themselves in pursuit of those qualities and endeavors in their successive lives until they are reborn there. They will perfect all those qualities, and the buddha realm will be pervaded with the entire vast multitude of qualities of the buddha realms. [F.130.b] The place where those noble sons awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood will be completely devoid of the vehicles of the hearers and the solitary buddhas. Only the pure discourses of the Great Vehicle are delivered among the pure bodhisattva great beings‍—not the discourses of the hearers and the solitary buddhas. The Dharma is taught to beings who have created roots of virtue, who have purified themselves, who have the many qualities of a bodhisattva, and who are experts in the wisdom that penetrates the unfathomable qualities of a buddha. All those who teach the Dharma to them teach them so that they may be reborn in the pure buddha realms and not in the impure buddha realms. In order to perfect the six perfections, they praise the conduct of awakening in the pure buddha realms, not in the impure buddha realms. Beings who have a pure motivation praise associating with and having the support of those virtuous friends, being established in the vows, and making pure offerings, but those with an impure motivation do not.

4.6“Noble sons, all of the thus-gone ones‍—the worthy, perfect buddhas of the past in pure buddha realms‍—first planted the seeds and gave rise to the mind set on unsurpassed and perfect awakening in impure buddha realms inundated with the five impurities long ago. The blessed buddhas of the present who reside in infinite, countless pure buddha realms in all directions and watch over them‍—all those thus-gone ones who deliver pure discourses of the Great Vehicle to bodhisattvas who follow the Great Vehicle‍—first planted the seeds and gave rise to the mind set on unsurpassed and perfect awakening in this buddha realm inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities long ago. They relied upon the roots of virtue here in the past, [F.131.a] purified the buddha realm with their supernormal faculties, and developed the supernormal faculty of traveling to other buddha realms. When they understood and realized the extent of the multitude of good qualities of those buddha fields, they aspired to take rebirth there from that point forward for as long as it might take to actually attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete buddhahood. All those in the pure realms of the ten directions who will awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood in the future will first plant the seeds of roots of virtue and give rise to the mind set on unsurpassed and perfect awakening in impure buddha realms that are inundated with the five impurities. When those who have given rise to the mind set on awakening have attained the supernormal faculties, they reside in pure buddha realms from the point that they attain the highest level until they awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete buddhahood. All the bodhisattvas who have now been freed from the various afflictions by the various sounds of the Dharma, who are experts in the wisdom that comprehends the way of the profound Dharma, who have reached the level of nonregression, and who have achieved the acceptance of the profound Dharma will experience joy and happiness in the pure buddha realms of the ten directions.

4.7“All of you from pure buddha realms who have assembled here today in Śākyamuni’s buddha realm, the Sahā buddha realm that is inundated with the five impurities, first planted the seeds of roots of virtue and gave rise to the mind set on unsurpassed and perfect awakening in buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities long ago. All of you exerted yourselves in the six perfections first and then developed the supernormal faculties that led you to attain the supernormal faculty of traveling to the different pure buddha realms of the ten directions. When with that supernormal faculty you completely understood and realized the multitude of good qualities of those buddha realms, you made aspirations to be reborn there in the future, and you fulfilled your wish by diligently pursuing those qualities. [F.131.b] Since other buddhas and those who have taken birth in pure buddha realms are flourishing, this impure buddha realm that is inundated with the five impurities is undesirable to them. Those who denigrate it for being hindered by afflictions and filled with wrong views and doubts, and who do not give rise to great compassion here, might be referred to as ‘bodhisattvas,’ but they cannot be referred to as ‘great beings.’

4.8“Here is an analogy, noble sons. A skilled surgeon partially alleviates the eye diseases of people with only one eye or those who are blind by using extremely foul-smelling medicines. Thinking that they are cured, those persons will tell each other, ‘We have started to see physical forms. We should leave the house of this physician who is like a lamp and go!’ Thinking in that way, many of them will leave that physician’s house, never to return. Since they have not been completely cured, they will notice that their eye diseases are continuing for a long time and come back. They will stay at the physician’s house, and before long their diseases will be completely cured. Similarly, noble sons, those bodhisattvas in afflicted buddha realms inundated with the five impurities who are beings that have been continually plagued by desire, anger, ignorance, pride, conceit, and wrong views will be accepted by a virtuous friend, correctly understand those good qualities, and then want to leave that buddha realm inundated with the five impurities. Those who leave and set off for the pure buddha realms will then undoubtedly want to return to those buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities. They will traverse infinite, countless buddha realms more numerous than all the tiniest particles of dust and be willing to suffer for a long time. It is when bodhisattvas do not become awakened to unsurpassed, perfect, complete buddhahood [F.132.a] that they purify the multitude of qualities of the buddha realms.

4.9“Why is that, noble sons? In a single morning spent in those buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities, bodhisattvas will have maintained and cultivated discipline, practiced generosity, practiced concentration, exercised diligence, cultivated patience, and developed the qualities of insight, whereas bodhisattvas do not practice the six perfections with such diligence in the pure buddha realms even after spending a hundred thousand eons there. Why is that, noble sons? It is because they initially planted the seeds of unsurpassed and perfect awakening in buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities. By just going to those buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities and making an effort to exercise the slightest diligence there, they maintain constant effort in the pursuit of virtuous qualities. The light of wisdom they achieve in such realms will become the unwavering wisdom that investigates all philosophical positions, and they will rise above all worldly concerns. Visions of the realms of all of the buddhas will appear to them, and they will gain mastery over the wisdom that perceives the ineffable modes of conduct of beings. They will not make gifts to those with unsuitable bodies or those who involve themselves with the roots of nonvirtue. When they encounter beings whose bodies are troubled by afflictions, they will show them the appropriate medicines to improve and completely cure their minds of mental illness. When they encounter beings whose afflictions have led them to engage in negative behaviors, they will develop compassion for them and eliminate their afflictions.

4.10“They will tame beings by striving to eliminate the afflictions. Thinking, ‘How shall I liberate them from their afflictions?’ [F.132.b] they will pacify those who indulge in desire with practices that focus on what is repulsive. They will pacify those who indulge in anger with practices that focus on love. They will pacify those who indulge in ignorance with practices that focus on dependent arising. They will pacify those who indulge in their good fortune with practices that focus on being mindful of the movements of inhalation and exhalation. They will pacify those who indulge what is connected to desire with practices that focus on love and the unpleasant. They will pacify those who indulge in what is connected to anger with practices that focus on love and what is repulsive. They will pacify those who indulge in what is connected to ignorance with practices that focus on what is repulsive and dependent arising. They will pacify those who adhere to wrong views with practices that focus on the realization of emptiness and maintaining powerful conducive circumstances. They will pacify those who understand nonapprehension, insubstantiality, and the absence of utterance with practices that focus on profound peace. They will pacify those who understand conceptual elaboration with elaborate discourses and practices that focus on special insight. They will pacify those who wish for certainty with practices that bring together and focus on gradually ceasing all speech and verbal expression, and with practices that focus on tranquility and special insight. They will pacify those who are devoted to special insight with practices that focus on the sphere of infinite space, and they will pacify those who are devoted to the sphere of infinite space with practices that focus on the sphere of infinite consciousness. They will pacify those who are devoted to the sphere of infinite consciousness with practices that focus on the sphere of nothing whatsoever. They will pacify those who are devoted to the sphere of nothing whatsoever with practices that focus on the absence of marks. They will pacify those who are devoted to having a purpose with practices propounding the view that there is no purpose. They will pacify those who are devoted to discipline with practices that focus on complete liberation from the three lower realms. They will pacify those who are conceited about their erudition with practices that focus on the nonorigination of all forms of craving. They will pacify those who are diligent and proud about their isolation and who are diligent and proud about having the qualities of a pure ascetic with practices that focus on the immeasurables. They will pacify those who perceive the aggregates as permanent with practices that focus on origination and destruction. [F.133.a] They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the idea of possession with respect to the elements with practices that focus on the metaphor of a mirage. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the sense fields with practices that focus on the metaphor of a clump of foaming bubbles. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the desire realm with practices that focus on the metaphor of the hollowness of plantain trees. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the form realm with practices that focus on the impermanence of compounded phenomena. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the formless realm with practices that focus on the suffering associated with all compounded phenomena. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned the joy and bliss of concentration with practices that focus on the fact that all phenomena lack a self. They will pacify those who desire the suffering of saṃsāra with practices that focus on the peace of nirvāṇa. They will pacify the views of those who have completely abandoned unwholesome paths with practices that focus on the path of the ten virtuous actions. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned attractive beings with practices that focus on what is repulsive. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned their attachment to the body with practices that focus on blue corpses. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned their attachment to sounds with practices that focus on the origination and destruction of echoes. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned their attachment to smells with practices that focus on understanding the breath. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned their attachment to tastes with practices that focus on various unpleasant tastes. They will pacify those who have completely abandoned their attachment to tactile objects with practices that focus on the thirty-six impure substances. They will pacify those who lack compassion with practices that focus on love. They will pacify those who lack generosity with practices that focus on the five great forms of generosity. They will pacify those who are obscured by ignorance with practices that focus on recitation. They will pacify those who are disciplined with practices that focus on delighting the family of the noble ones. They will pacify those who have tamed their suffering with practices that focus on gradually concentrating their minds one-pointedly. And they will pacify those for whom mental formations lead to conceptual elaborations with practices that focus on the metaphor of being like an illusion. Those are the ways that they will pacify the afflictions of beings. [B5]

4.11“Furthermore, they will motivate those who want to be reborn as gods and humans to practice the ten pure virtuous actions. [F.133.b] They will motivate those who are intent upon the vehicle of the hearers to contemplate the four noble truths. They will motivate those who are intent upon the vehicle of the solitary buddhas to contemplate the discourses on dependent arising. They will motivate beings who follow the Great Vehicle to practice the six perfections. They will motivate those who have given rise to the mind set on awakening for the first time to practice higher motivation and the intent to reach the level of nonregression. They will motivate beings who are engaging in practicing the six perfections to never grow weary in their pursuit of great compassion and thus practice so that they can ripen beings. They will motivate the bodhisattvas who have reached the level of nonregression to adopt the practice of purifying the multitude of qualities of the buddha realms.

4.12“As bodhisattvas travel to other pure buddha realms, they will display miracles using the supernormal faculties for those below who have adopted the practice of purifying the multitude of qualities of the buddha realms. As bodhisattvas travel to other pure buddha realms, all of the beings below who want to be among the multitude of their buddha field and wish to take birth in a place where there are such supernormal faculties and miraculous transformations will be reborn there. Even when they do not travel to afflicted buddha realms, the beings who want to be born there but have no desire to purify the multitude of qualities of a buddha realm will be born there. And those who do not want to be reborn in buddha realms that are inundated with afflictions will remain there until they become a fully manifest buddha who has attained unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.

4.13“In buddha realms inundated with the five impurities, bodhisattvas will put an end to beings who hold on to views and are filled with doubts, who commit the acts with immediate retribution, who reject the sacred Dharma, who denigrate the noble ones, and who involve themselves with the roots of nonvirtue. They will perform the deeds of the buddhas for beings in pure buddha realms who have pure intentions, and they will teach the Dharma to bodhisattvas who are experts in the wisdom that comprehends the immeasurable and innumerable buddha qualities. [F.134.a]

4.14“In the pure buddha realms, bodhisattvas are unable to exert the same level of strength as the level of strength exerted by bodhisattvas in buddha realms inundated with the five impurities. In this buddha realm inundated with the five impurities, if bodhisattvas recognize the 21,000 different expressions of desire in a single being, they will accordingly apply 21,000 different skillful means to pacify that being’s desires. If they recognize the 21,000 different expressions of anger in a single being, they will accordingly apply 21,000 different skillful means to pacify that being’s anger. If bodhisattvas recognize the 21,000 different expressions of a single fortunate being, they will accordingly apply 21,000 different skillful means to pacify that being. That is how bodhisattvas who are able to pacify the continual arising of the afflicted behaviors of a single fortunate being exercise great strength. When bodhisattvas who recognize the 84,000 different types of behavior that generate afflictions in a single being are brave and committed to steadfast effort, they apply the 84,000 skillful means. Look at the great strength of those bodhisattvas and what they overcome with their bravery! Just as they are able to pacify the afflictions of a single being, they can also pacify the 84,000 characteristics of the afflicted behavior of anywhere from two, three, or four beings up to all the beings living in an entire continent. Similarly, they can liberate all the beings from all their afflictions living on two and even four continents, up to all the beings living in buddha realms in the ten directions as numerous as all the grains of sand in the Ganges. This is why it is said that bodhisattvas achieve acceptance in buddha realms inundated with the five impurities. [F.134.b]

4.15“They engage the afflicted faculties of each being with 84,000 types of conduct and also recognize the 84,000 different interests of a single being. They also know everything from the characteristics of decrease and increase, the characteristic of abiding, the characteristic of realization, the characteristic of impermanence, the characteristic of suffering, the characteristic of the absence of self, the characteristic of being, the characteristic of emptiness, and the characteristic of isolation, up to the absence of characteristics. They know the characteristic of nirvāṇa, and the 84,000 various characteristics of the attachment of every being. This is why the bodhisattvas actually know the characteristics of beings’ behavior. Since they know the way they think, they are able to liberate beings who are bound by the shackles of the afflictions. This is how bodhisattvas ripen beings in buddha realms inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities. They remain in those places to ripen them, continuously manifesting their great compassion for those who involve themselves with roots of nonvirtue. This is the great strength of the bodhisattvas!”

4.16As the bodhisattva Uncovering the Enemies delivered this teaching, the bodhisattvas who had arrived from countless buddha realms in the ten directions and other bodhisattvas as numerous as all the grains of sand in thirty Ganges Rivers achieved the acceptance of the unborn nature of phenomena. Bodhisattvas as numerous as all the grains of sand in the Ganges achieved the absorption known as giving joy. All of them prostrated to the Thus-Gone One Śākyamuni with their palms together and uttered the following verses in unison: [F.135.a]

4.22All of those present in that assembly that pervaded this entire buddha realm applauded, saying, “Good man, you are extremely eloquent and this teaching on courage and exerting oneself in steadfast, supreme, vast effort, a gateway to the Dharma that liberates beings, is excellent, excellent! All these good men as numerous as all the grains of sand in the Ganges have left behind their practice of the conduct of awakening in the pure buddha realms and will now diligently practice that conduct in buddha realms that are inundated with the five impurities. They will generate great compassion to ripen beings who commit the five acts with immediate retribution, who reject the sacred Dharma, who denigrate the noble ones, whose bodies are burning, and who involve themselves with the roots of nonvirtue. They will teach afflicted buddha realms about unsurpassed buddha realms. They will teach the ultimate position of the body’s nonexistence and abandoning the aggregates. If the world with its gods makes vast and supreme offerings to beings who express their diligence with mere words, [F.135.b] there is no need to mention those who possess steadfast effort and courage, and direct their efforts to these realms! All their goals will be fulfilled just as promised.”

4.23At that point, the Thus-Gone One Śākyamuni gave his approval, saying, “Excellent, my good man, excellent! Noble son, if the world with its gods makes vast and supreme offerings to those who undertake such things using mere words, there is no need to mention the great strength they will exert through their wisdom in this buddha realm inundated with the afflictions and the five impurities! They will ripen all beings from those who commit the acts with immediate retribution, up to those who involve themselves with the roots of nonvirtue, through the appropriate skillful means of steadfast effort and courage.”

4.24As soon as the bodhisattva Uncovering the Enemies had finished teaching the gateway to the Dharma of the skillful means of insight that ripens beings, and the Blessed One had said those words, the great earth of this trichiliocosm shook in six ways. A rain of divine flowers fell from the sky, divine music resounded everywhere, and all the assemblies of gods, gandharvas, and humans began to worship the bodhisattva Uncovering the Enemies and those bodhisattvas as numerous as all the grains of sand in the Ganges with magnificent offerings, while reciting the following verses:

4.35After they praised him with these verses, they tossed blue, pink, red, and white lotus flowers.

4.36This was the fourth chapter of the Great Vehicle sūtra entitled “The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct.”