“Having said this, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, tathāgatas have not come from anywhere and have not gone anywhere. They do not move from suchness. The Tathāgata is suchness.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in what is not produced. The Tathāgata is not produced.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in the very limit of reality. The Tathāgata is the very limit of reality.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in emptiness. The Tathāgata is emptiness.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in things as they really are. The Tathāgata is things as they really are.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in what is separated from greed. The Tathāgata is separated from greed.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in a cessation. The Tathāgata is a cessation.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in the element of space. The Tathāgata is the element of space.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, the Tathāgata is not other than those dharmas. Son of a good family, the suchness of those dharmas and the suchness of the Tathāgata is a single suchness. Suchness, son of a good family, cannot be divided. Son of a good family, the one suchness is beyond being counted as two or three because of this—namely, it is not a state of being.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: a man oppressed by the sun at midday in the middle of the last month of the hot season might see a shimmering mirage and run after it, thinking, “I will drink some water from it.” What do you think, son of a good family, has that water come from somewhere and gone somewhere? Has it gone anywhere, to the ocean in the eastern direction, or the ocean in the southern direction, or the ocean in the western direction, or the ocean in the northern direction?’
EN
“Sadāprarudita said, ‘Son of a good family, given that a mirage has no water, how could it come or go? Son of a good family, a man with a naturally childish disposition, a naturally confused disposition, oppressed by the sun, sees a mirage and forms the notion of water where there is no water, even though, in its basic nature, water does not exist there.’
EN
“ ‘Exactly so, son of a good family, exactly so,’ replied Dharmodgata. ‘And so too, son of a good family, do those with deep-seated attachment to a tathāgata’s form or voice mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those who mentally construct a coming and going of a tathāgata are all said to have naturally childish dispositions, naturally confused dispositions, just like the person who forms the notion of water where there is no water. And why? It is because a tathāgata should not be viewed as a form body; the tathāgatas are dharma bodies. Son of a good family, the true nature of dharmas does not come or go, and similarly there is no coming or going of the tathāgatas.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: there is no coming or going of a group of elephants, or a group of horses, or a group of chariots, or a group of infantry conjured up by a magician. Similarly, son of a good family, there is no coming or going of a tathāgata’s body.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: in a dream a person who has fallen asleep sees one or two or three or four or five or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty or even more tathāgatas than that, but when they wake up, they do not see even a single tathāgata. Son of a good family, what do you think, did those tathāgatas come from anywhere or go anywhere?’
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family,’ replied Sadāprarudita, ‘there is no dharma established at all in a dream. A dream is lie. It is not real.’
EN
“ ‘Exactly, son of a good family,’ said Dharmodgata. ‘The Tathāgata has said, “All dharmas are like a dream.” Son of a good family, those who do not understand that the Tathāgata’s teaching “all dharmas are like a dream” is in accord with reality have a deep-seated attachment to a tathāgata as a name body or form body. Those who do not understand the true nature of dharmas like that mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those foolish, ordinary people who accept that a tathāgata has come or has gone, they all have gone, are going, and will go through the six forms of life in cyclic existence, and they are all far from the perfection of wisdom; they are all far from the buddhadharmas.
EN
“ ‘Furthermore, son of a good family, those who know that the Tathāgata’s teaching “all dharmas are like a dream” is in accord with the reality that all dharmas are like a dream do not mentally construct the coming or going or production or stopping of any dharma. Those who do not mentally construct the coming or going or production or stopping of any dharma know a tathāgata as the true nature of dharmas. Those who know a tathāgata as the true nature of dharmas do not mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those who know that the true dharmic nature of a tathāgata is like that are close to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and they are practicing the perfection of wisdom. A city’s almsgiving to those śrāvakas of the Lord will not be in vain. They are each of them worthy of the world’s gifts.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: The jewels that are in the ocean do not come from the eastern direction, and they do not come from the south, west, or north, the intermediate directions, or below or above—from anywhere in the ten directions—but still those jewels arise in the ocean based on the wholesome roots of those beings. They do not arise without a cause; they have originated dependently, contingent on cause, conditions, and support, and the jewels that are held back have not changed places to be somewhere else in the worlds of the ten directions. But still, when the conditions are right, those jewels separate themselves out, and when conditions are not right, the separating out of those jewels does not occur.
EN
“ ‘Similarly, son of a good family, when a body of those tathāgatas comes into being, it does not come from anywhere and it does not go anywhere in the worlds of the ten directions, but still the body of those lord buddhas is not without a cause. It has come into being from earlier practice, contingent on cause and conditions, from the maturation of past actions, originated from its cause. When those conditions are right, that body comes into being, and when conditions are not right, the coming into being of that body does not manifest.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: When a sound is produced from a vīṇā, it does not come from anywhere, and when it stops it does not go anywhere—it does not change places to be somewhere else. It originates dependently, contingent on causes and contingent on conditions— namely, contingent on an oval-shaped trough, contingent on a leather skin, contingent on strings, contingent on a bow, contingent on the neck, and contingent on the energy the person expends on it. The sound originates from the vīṇā but that sound does not come out of the oval-shaped trough of the vīṇā, does not come out of the leather skin, does not come out of the strings, does not come out of the bow, does not come out of the neck, and does not come out of the energy the person expends on it. Rather, it resounds from the complete collection of them. Also, the stopping of that sound does not go anywhere.
EN
“ ‘Similarly, son of a good family, the bodies of those lord buddhas come into being contingent on causes and contingent on conditions. They come into being not from a single cause and from a single condition but from many wholesome roots. The separating out of a body of a buddha is not from a single wholesome root, and itis also not without a cause, coming into being from the complete collection of many causes and conditions. It has not come from anywhere, and, when the collection of causes and conditions is not there, it also has not gone anywhere.
EN
“ ‘So, son of a good family, you should view the coming and going of those tathāgatas like that. Son of a good family, you should comprehend the true dharmic nature of all dharmas like that as well. Son of a good family, so long as you have the awareness that all dharmas have not been produced and have not stopped, you will be destined for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening and will definitely be practicing the perfection of wisdom and skillful means.’
EN
“When this explanation of tathāgatas not coming or going had been given, the earth shook greatly: the entirety of this great billionfold world system shook in six ways, that is, it shook, shook greatly, and shook violently; it quaked, quaked greatly, and quaked violently. All of Māra’s habitations were churned up and unnerved, and the grass, branches of the trees, and forests, as many as there were, in the great billionfold world system all bowed specifically in the direction of the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata. Flowers out of season were strewn from the sky above and a rain of flowers descended. Śatakratu, head of the gods, and the Four Mahārājas also showered down on, showered over, and showered right over the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita divine sandalwood powder and divine flowers and said, ‘Through your power today we have also heard a lecture sprung from the ultimate that is an explanation that is antithetical to all worlds and is not for those who take a stand on the perishable collection.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita asked the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, ‘Son of a good family, what caused this great shaking of the world to happen? What is the reason for it?’
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family,’ replied Dharmodgata, ‘it is because, on account of my explanation, when you asked about tathāgatas not coming and not going, eight thousand beings gained forbearance for the nonproduction of dharmas, eighty billion produced the thought of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and for sixty-four thousand beings the dust-free and stainless Dharma eye became clear.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita became endowed with an immense joy and delight, thinking, ‘I have found something excellent to find, because this explanation from my asking about the perfection of wisdom, and about tathāgatas not coming and going, has worked for the welfare of so many beings. Just because of this, I, with the finest wholesome root to bring unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening to completion, will have no more uncertainty in regard to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. I will, without doubt, become a tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete buddha.’ Endowed with that joy and delight he levitated to the height of seven palm trees into the sky and, standing there at the height of seven palm trees, thought, ‘Standing in the sky, I should show respect to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata.’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, seeing the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita levitating, and knowing in his mind what he was thinking, gave him divine mandārava flowers and said, ‘Son of a good family, show respect to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata with these flowers. This is my assistance to you, because, son of a good family, through your power, the needs of many thousands of beings have been looked after. Son of a good family, those enthusiastic beings who remain with such enthusiasm as you have for infinite, incalculable eons for the sake of all beings are hard come by.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then took those flowers from Śatakratu, head of the gods, and showered them down on, showered them over, and showered them right over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata and with his own body hovered over him and said to him, ‘Son of a good family, I give myself to you from now on, to wait on you and to serve you.’ Having offered himself, he stayed in front of him with his palms cupped together in a gesture of supplication.
EN
“Then that merchant’s daughter and the retinue of five hundred said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, we too give ourselves to you. Through this wholesome root, may we too acquire those dharmas and may we too wait on the buddhas and bodhisattvas along with you and remain close by you.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then said to that merchant’s daughter and the five hundred, ‘Young women, if you are here with a surpassing intention in regard to me, then give yourself to me with that noblest intention and I will accept you.’
EN
“The young women replied, ‘Out of an absolutely surpassing intention in regard to you we are imitating you. With the noblest of intentions we give ourselves to you to do with as you want.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, having adorned the five hundred led by the merchant’s daughter with all adornments, and having decked out the five hundred carriages, gave them all to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, saying, ‘I offer these attendants and these five hundred carriages to you for your enjoyment and use.’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, complimented that son of a good family, ‘Excellent, excellent, son of a good family! Bodhisattva great beings should give all their personal possessions away like that. Bodhisattva great beings with that sort of thought to give things away will quickly and fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. In that way, having worshiped the Dharma preachers, they are able to hear about the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, because those previous tathāgatas, worthy ones, unsurpassed, perfectly complete buddhas while they were previously pursuing the career of a bodhisattva also continually gave things away like that, inquired about the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, and fully accomplished unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.’
EN
“Then, to fully grow the wholesome root of the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata accepted the five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter and the five hundred carriages and, having accepted them, returned them to the son of a good family, Sadāprarudita.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata got up from his seat and went into his house. When the sun had set it occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to think, ‘I have come like this on account of wanting the Dharma, so were I to sit or lie down it would not be becoming of me. It would not be good, so I will remain in these two ways of carrying myself—either standing or walking about—until the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata comes back to teach the Dharma.
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata then became absorbed in a meditative stabilization for seven years, remaining in the countless, infinite meditative stabilizations of a bodhisattva that come about from the perfection of wisdom and skillful means. And during those seven years the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita did not think about sense experience, did not think a malicious thought, did not think a violent thought, and was not greedy for a taste. On the contrary, he only thought, ‘When will the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata emerge? We must arrange the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata’s Dharma seat on which the son of a good family will sit and expound the Dharma, and we must sprinkle water on the ground in the place where the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata will be teaching the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, and we must smooth it out well and strew various flowers upon it.’ Those five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter followed the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita in the training, passing the time in the two ways of carrying themselves and using him as the model for everything they had to do.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita heard a divine sound announcing, ‘In a week the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata will emerge from meditative stabilization, and having emerged he will take a seat in the middle of the city and teach the Dharma.’ Having heard that divine voice, the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita felt great pleasure, rapture, and joy; he was overjoyed and felt a mental happiness. Together with the five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter, he swept that spot and set up a Dharma seat decorated with all the jewels. Then those young women each took off their upper shawls and spread them over that seat on which the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata was to sit and teach the Dharma.
EN
“Then, when the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita wanted to sprinkle water on that spot, Māra the wicked one made all the water disappear so that the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, unable to find water anywhere, would become depressed and unhappy and change his mind, so that his wholesome root would shrivel up and those acts of worship would lose their luster. Māra having made the water disappear, Sadāprarudita sought everywhere but could not find water.
EN
“It then occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to think, ‘I will stab my body and sprinkle my blood on this spot. Why? Because this spot is very dusty, and it would not be proper were dust particles to come from here and land on the body of the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata. What should I do with this body of mine that is definitely subject to destruction? It is better my body is destroyed in this sort of action than in an action over which I have no power. Put there because of the desire for sense gratification caused by sense objects, it is absolutely not appropriate that many hundreds and thousands of such bodies of mine have been destroyed under such conditions.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then took a sharp sword, stabbed all over his body, and sprinkled his blood all around on that very spot; and all those five hundred young ladies led by the merchant’s daughter, following the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita in their training, took sharp swords, stabbed all over their own bodies, and sprinkled their blood on that spot too. Māra the wicked one found no change in the minds of the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita and those young ladies that would have provided him an opportunity to stand in the way of their virtuous practice.
EN
“Then it occurred to Śatakratu, head of the gods, to think, ‘It is amazing how much this bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita wants the Dharma, how firm he is in his commitment, how armed he is with the great armor, how little he concerns himself with his body, life, and possessions, and how he has set out in order to reach unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, which is to say, with the surpassing aspiration, “Having fully awakened to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, I will free beings from the infinite sufferings of saṃsāra.” ’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, employed his controlling power to turn all that blood into divine sandalwood water, and the supreme, sublime, inconceivable fragrance of that divine sandalwood water completely filled five hundred yojanas around that spot with its aroma.
EN
“Śatakratu, head of the gods, then said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Excellent, excellent, son of a good family! Your perseverance is inconceivable, and your desire for the Dharma and your search for the Dharma are unsurpassed. Son of a good family, those previous tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas also fully accomplished unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening with such a surpassing aspiration, such perseverance, and such a desire for the Dharma.’
EN
“Then it occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to wonder, ‘I have spread out the Dharma seat for the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, I have swept this spot, and I have sprinkled it, but now, where am I going to find flowers to strew over this spot and to strew over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata when he is explaining the Dharma?’
EN
“Śatakratu, head of the gods, then said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, take these divine mandārava flowers and spread flowers around on those places. You should also strew them over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata when he is sitting on the lion throne explaining the Dharma.’ Saying that, he gave him a thousand loads of mandārava flowers. The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita took those flowers and spread some of them on that spot, and some of them he kept to strew over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata.
EN
“Then, after seven years had passed, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata emerged from meditative stabilization, came specifically to where the seat for teaching the Dharma was, sat on the seat that had been spread out, and taught the perfection of wisdom at the head of a surrounding retinue of many hundreds of thousands. The moment the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita saw the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, he obtained a happiness just like that of a monk when he is absorbed in the first concentration with single pointed attention.
EN
“You should know this bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata’s exposition of the perfection of wisdom as this: All dharmas are the same, so the perfection of wisdom is the same; all dharmas are isolated, so the perfection of wisdom is isolated; all dharmas do not move, so the perfection of wisdom does not move; all dharmas do not falsely project anything, so the perfection of wisdom does not falsely project anything; all dharmas are not puffed up, so the perfection of wisdom is not puffed up; all dharmas have one taste, so the perfection of wisdom has one taste; all dharmas are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; all dharmas do not arise, so the perfection of wisdom does not arise; all dharmas do not cease, so the perfection of wisdom does not cease; space has no limits, so the perfection of wisdom has no limits; the ocean has no limits, so the perfection of wisdom has no limits; Sumeru is a complex of colors, so the perfection of wisdom is a complex of colors; space is without thought construction, so the perfection of wisdom is without thought construction; form is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless, and similarly, feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the earth element is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the water element, fire element, and wind element are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the space element is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the diamond-like dharma, is the same so the perfection of wisdom is the same; all dharmas are unadulterated, so the perfection of wisdom is unadulterated; all dharmas are unfindable, so the perfection of wisdom is unfindable; all dharmas are in the same state of disintegration, so the perfection of wisdom is in the same state of disintegration; all dharmas are without exertion, so the perfection of wisdom is without exertion; and all dharmas are inconceivable, so the perfection of wisdom is inconceivable.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, while seated just like that, generated the sarvadharmasamatā meditative stabilization. He also came into the possession of the sarvadharmavivikta meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmācalana meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāmanana meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāstambhita meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmaikarasa meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāparyanta meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmānutpāda meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmānirodha meditative stabilization, the gaganāparyata meditative stabilization, the samudrāparyanta meditative stabilization, the meruvicitra meditative stabilization, the gaganākalpa meditative stabilization, the rūpāparyanta meditative stabilization, the vedanā -, saṃjñā -, saṃskāra -, and vijñānāparyanta meditative stabilizations, the pṛthivīdhātvaparyanta meditative stabilization, the abdhātu -, tejodhātu -, and vāyudhātvaparyanta meditative stabilizations, the ākāśadhātvaparyanta meditative stabilization, the vajropama meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāsaṃbheda meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmasvabhāvānupalabdhi meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāvibhāvanāsamatā meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmaniśceṣṭa meditative stabilization, and the sarvadharmācintya meditative stabilization. Starting with those, the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita came into possession of six million meditative stabilization gateways.”
“Having said this, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, tathāgatas have not come from anywhere and have not gone anywhere. They do not move from suchness. The Tathāgata is suchness.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in what is not produced. The Tathāgata is not produced.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in the very limit of reality. The Tathāgata is the very limit of reality.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in emptiness. The Tathāgata is emptiness.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in things as they really are. The Tathāgata is things as they really are.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in what is separated from greed. The Tathāgata is separated from greed.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in a cessation. The Tathāgata is a cessation.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, there is no coming or going in the element of space. The Tathāgata is the element of space.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, the Tathāgata is not other than those dharmas. Son of a good family, the suchness of those dharmas and the suchness of the Tathāgata is a single suchness. Suchness, son of a good family, cannot be divided. Son of a good family, the one suchness is beyond being counted as two or three because of this—namely, it is not a state of being.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: a man oppressed by the sun at midday in the middle of the last month of the hot season might see a shimmering mirage and run after it, thinking, “I will drink some water from it.” What do you think, son of a good family, has that water come from somewhere and gone somewhere? Has it gone anywhere, to the ocean in the eastern direction, or the ocean in the southern direction, or the ocean in the western direction, or the ocean in the northern direction?’
EN
“Sadāprarudita said, ‘Son of a good family, given that a mirage has no water, how could it come or go? Son of a good family, a man with a naturally childish disposition, a naturally confused disposition, oppressed by the sun, sees a mirage and forms the notion of water where there is no water, even though, in its basic nature, water does not exist there.’
EN
“ ‘Exactly so, son of a good family, exactly so,’ replied Dharmodgata. ‘And so too, son of a good family, do those with deep-seated attachment to a tathāgata’s form or voice mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those who mentally construct a coming and going of a tathāgata are all said to have naturally childish dispositions, naturally confused dispositions, just like the person who forms the notion of water where there is no water. And why? It is because a tathāgata should not be viewed as a form body; the tathāgatas are dharma bodies. Son of a good family, the true nature of dharmas does not come or go, and similarly there is no coming or going of the tathāgatas.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: there is no coming or going of a group of elephants, or a group of horses, or a group of chariots, or a group of infantry conjured up by a magician. Similarly, son of a good family, there is no coming or going of a tathāgata’s body.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: in a dream a person who has fallen asleep sees one or two or three or four or five or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty or even more tathāgatas than that, but when they wake up, they do not see even a single tathāgata. Son of a good family, what do you think, did those tathāgatas come from anywhere or go anywhere?’
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family,’ replied Sadāprarudita, ‘there is no dharma established at all in a dream. A dream is lie. It is not real.’
EN
“ ‘Exactly, son of a good family,’ said Dharmodgata. ‘The Tathāgata has said, “All dharmas are like a dream.” Son of a good family, those who do not understand that the Tathāgata’s teaching “all dharmas are like a dream” is in accord with reality have a deep-seated attachment to a tathāgata as a name body or form body. Those who do not understand the true nature of dharmas like that mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those foolish, ordinary people who accept that a tathāgata has come or has gone, they all have gone, are going, and will go through the six forms of life in cyclic existence, and they are all far from the perfection of wisdom; they are all far from the buddhadharmas.
EN
“ ‘Furthermore, son of a good family, those who know that the Tathāgata’s teaching “all dharmas are like a dream” is in accord with the reality that all dharmas are like a dream do not mentally construct the coming or going or production or stopping of any dharma. Those who do not mentally construct the coming or going or production or stopping of any dharma know a tathāgata as the true nature of dharmas. Those who know a tathāgata as the true nature of dharmas do not mentally construct the coming or going of a tathāgata. Those who know that the true dharmic nature of a tathāgata is like that are close to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and they are practicing the perfection of wisdom. A city’s almsgiving to those śrāvakas of the Lord will not be in vain. They are each of them worthy of the world’s gifts.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: The jewels that are in the ocean do not come from the eastern direction, and they do not come from the south, west, or north, the intermediate directions, or below or above—from anywhere in the ten directions—but still those jewels arise in the ocean based on the wholesome roots of those beings. They do not arise without a cause; they have originated dependently, contingent on cause, conditions, and support, and the jewels that are held back have not changed places to be somewhere else in the worlds of the ten directions. But still, when the conditions are right, those jewels separate themselves out, and when conditions are not right, the separating out of those jewels does not occur.
EN
“ ‘Similarly, son of a good family, when a body of those tathāgatas comes into being, it does not come from anywhere and it does not go anywhere in the worlds of the ten directions, but still the body of those lord buddhas is not without a cause. It has come into being from earlier practice, contingent on cause and conditions, from the maturation of past actions, originated from its cause. When those conditions are right, that body comes into being, and when conditions are not right, the coming into being of that body does not manifest.
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family, it is just like this: When a sound is produced from a vīṇā, it does not come from anywhere, and when it stops it does not go anywhere—it does not change places to be somewhere else. It originates dependently, contingent on causes and contingent on conditions— namely, contingent on an oval-shaped trough, contingent on a leather skin, contingent on strings, contingent on a bow, contingent on the neck, and contingent on the energy the person expends on it. The sound originates from the vīṇā but that sound does not come out of the oval-shaped trough of the vīṇā, does not come out of the leather skin, does not come out of the strings, does not come out of the bow, does not come out of the neck, and does not come out of the energy the person expends on it. Rather, it resounds from the complete collection of them. Also, the stopping of that sound does not go anywhere.
EN
“ ‘Similarly, son of a good family, the bodies of those lord buddhas come into being contingent on causes and contingent on conditions. They come into being not from a single cause and from a single condition but from many wholesome roots. The separating out of a body of a buddha is not from a single wholesome root, and itis also not without a cause, coming into being from the complete collection of many causes and conditions. It has not come from anywhere, and, when the collection of causes and conditions is not there, it also has not gone anywhere.
EN
“ ‘So, son of a good family, you should view the coming and going of those tathāgatas like that. Son of a good family, you should comprehend the true dharmic nature of all dharmas like that as well. Son of a good family, so long as you have the awareness that all dharmas have not been produced and have not stopped, you will be destined for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening and will definitely be practicing the perfection of wisdom and skillful means.’
EN
“When this explanation of tathāgatas not coming or going had been given, the earth shook greatly: the entirety of this great billionfold world system shook in six ways, that is, it shook, shook greatly, and shook violently; it quaked, quaked greatly, and quaked violently. All of Māra’s habitations were churned up and unnerved, and the grass, branches of the trees, and forests, as many as there were, in the great billionfold world system all bowed specifically in the direction of the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata. Flowers out of season were strewn from the sky above and a rain of flowers descended. Śatakratu, head of the gods, and the Four Mahārājas also showered down on, showered over, and showered right over the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita divine sandalwood powder and divine flowers and said, ‘Through your power today we have also heard a lecture sprung from the ultimate that is an explanation that is antithetical to all worlds and is not for those who take a stand on the perishable collection.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita asked the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, ‘Son of a good family, what caused this great shaking of the world to happen? What is the reason for it?’
EN
“ ‘Son of a good family,’ replied Dharmodgata, ‘it is because, on account of my explanation, when you asked about tathāgatas not coming and not going, eight thousand beings gained forbearance for the nonproduction of dharmas, eighty billion produced the thought of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and for sixty-four thousand beings the dust-free and stainless Dharma eye became clear.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita became endowed with an immense joy and delight, thinking, ‘I have found something excellent to find, because this explanation from my asking about the perfection of wisdom, and about tathāgatas not coming and going, has worked for the welfare of so many beings. Just because of this, I, with the finest wholesome root to bring unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening to completion, will have no more uncertainty in regard to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. I will, without doubt, become a tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete buddha.’ Endowed with that joy and delight he levitated to the height of seven palm trees into the sky and, standing there at the height of seven palm trees, thought, ‘Standing in the sky, I should show respect to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata.’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, seeing the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita levitating, and knowing in his mind what he was thinking, gave him divine mandārava flowers and said, ‘Son of a good family, show respect to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata with these flowers. This is my assistance to you, because, son of a good family, through your power, the needs of many thousands of beings have been looked after. Son of a good family, those enthusiastic beings who remain with such enthusiasm as you have for infinite, incalculable eons for the sake of all beings are hard come by.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then took those flowers from Śatakratu, head of the gods, and showered them down on, showered them over, and showered them right over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata and with his own body hovered over him and said to him, ‘Son of a good family, I give myself to you from now on, to wait on you and to serve you.’ Having offered himself, he stayed in front of him with his palms cupped together in a gesture of supplication.
EN
“Then that merchant’s daughter and the retinue of five hundred said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, we too give ourselves to you. Through this wholesome root, may we too acquire those dharmas and may we too wait on the buddhas and bodhisattvas along with you and remain close by you.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then said to that merchant’s daughter and the five hundred, ‘Young women, if you are here with a surpassing intention in regard to me, then give yourself to me with that noblest intention and I will accept you.’
EN
“The young women replied, ‘Out of an absolutely surpassing intention in regard to you we are imitating you. With the noblest of intentions we give ourselves to you to do with as you want.’
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, having adorned the five hundred led by the merchant’s daughter with all adornments, and having decked out the five hundred carriages, gave them all to the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, saying, ‘I offer these attendants and these five hundred carriages to you for your enjoyment and use.’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, complimented that son of a good family, ‘Excellent, excellent, son of a good family! Bodhisattva great beings should give all their personal possessions away like that. Bodhisattva great beings with that sort of thought to give things away will quickly and fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. In that way, having worshiped the Dharma preachers, they are able to hear about the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, because those previous tathāgatas, worthy ones, unsurpassed, perfectly complete buddhas while they were previously pursuing the career of a bodhisattva also continually gave things away like that, inquired about the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, and fully accomplished unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.’
EN
“Then, to fully grow the wholesome root of the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata accepted the five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter and the five hundred carriages and, having accepted them, returned them to the son of a good family, Sadāprarudita.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata got up from his seat and went into his house. When the sun had set it occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to think, ‘I have come like this on account of wanting the Dharma, so were I to sit or lie down it would not be becoming of me. It would not be good, so I will remain in these two ways of carrying myself—either standing or walking about—until the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata comes back to teach the Dharma.
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata then became absorbed in a meditative stabilization for seven years, remaining in the countless, infinite meditative stabilizations of a bodhisattva that come about from the perfection of wisdom and skillful means. And during those seven years the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita did not think about sense experience, did not think a malicious thought, did not think a violent thought, and was not greedy for a taste. On the contrary, he only thought, ‘When will the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata emerge? We must arrange the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata’s Dharma seat on which the son of a good family will sit and expound the Dharma, and we must sprinkle water on the ground in the place where the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata will be teaching the perfection of wisdom and skillful means, and we must smooth it out well and strew various flowers upon it.’ Those five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter followed the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita in the training, passing the time in the two ways of carrying themselves and using him as the model for everything they had to do.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita heard a divine sound announcing, ‘In a week the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata will emerge from meditative stabilization, and having emerged he will take a seat in the middle of the city and teach the Dharma.’ Having heard that divine voice, the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita felt great pleasure, rapture, and joy; he was overjoyed and felt a mental happiness. Together with the five hundred girls led by the merchant’s daughter, he swept that spot and set up a Dharma seat decorated with all the jewels. Then those young women each took off their upper shawls and spread them over that seat on which the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata was to sit and teach the Dharma.
EN
“Then, when the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita wanted to sprinkle water on that spot, Māra the wicked one made all the water disappear so that the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, unable to find water anywhere, would become depressed and unhappy and change his mind, so that his wholesome root would shrivel up and those acts of worship would lose their luster. Māra having made the water disappear, Sadāprarudita sought everywhere but could not find water.
EN
“It then occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to think, ‘I will stab my body and sprinkle my blood on this spot. Why? Because this spot is very dusty, and it would not be proper were dust particles to come from here and land on the body of the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata. What should I do with this body of mine that is definitely subject to destruction? It is better my body is destroyed in this sort of action than in an action over which I have no power. Put there because of the desire for sense gratification caused by sense objects, it is absolutely not appropriate that many hundreds and thousands of such bodies of mine have been destroyed under such conditions.’
EN
“The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita then took a sharp sword, stabbed all over his body, and sprinkled his blood all around on that very spot; and all those five hundred young ladies led by the merchant’s daughter, following the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita in their training, took sharp swords, stabbed all over their own bodies, and sprinkled their blood on that spot too. Māra the wicked one found no change in the minds of the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita and those young ladies that would have provided him an opportunity to stand in the way of their virtuous practice.
EN
“Then it occurred to Śatakratu, head of the gods, to think, ‘It is amazing how much this bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita wants the Dharma, how firm he is in his commitment, how armed he is with the great armor, how little he concerns himself with his body, life, and possessions, and how he has set out in order to reach unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, which is to say, with the surpassing aspiration, “Having fully awakened to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, I will free beings from the infinite sufferings of saṃsāra.” ’
EN
“Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, employed his controlling power to turn all that blood into divine sandalwood water, and the supreme, sublime, inconceivable fragrance of that divine sandalwood water completely filled five hundred yojanas around that spot with its aroma.
EN
“Śatakratu, head of the gods, then said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Excellent, excellent, son of a good family! Your perseverance is inconceivable, and your desire for the Dharma and your search for the Dharma are unsurpassed. Son of a good family, those previous tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas also fully accomplished unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening with such a surpassing aspiration, such perseverance, and such a desire for the Dharma.’
EN
“Then it occurred to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita to wonder, ‘I have spread out the Dharma seat for the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, I have swept this spot, and I have sprinkled it, but now, where am I going to find flowers to strew over this spot and to strew over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata when he is explaining the Dharma?’
EN
“Śatakratu, head of the gods, then said to the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, ‘Son of a good family, take these divine mandārava flowers and spread flowers around on those places. You should also strew them over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata when he is sitting on the lion throne explaining the Dharma.’ Saying that, he gave him a thousand loads of mandārava flowers. The bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita took those flowers and spread some of them on that spot, and some of them he kept to strew over the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata.
EN
“Then, after seven years had passed, the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata emerged from meditative stabilization, came specifically to where the seat for teaching the Dharma was, sat on the seat that had been spread out, and taught the perfection of wisdom at the head of a surrounding retinue of many hundreds of thousands. The moment the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita saw the bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata, he obtained a happiness just like that of a monk when he is absorbed in the first concentration with single pointed attention.
EN
“You should know this bodhisattva great being Dharmodgata’s exposition of the perfection of wisdom as this: All dharmas are the same, so the perfection of wisdom is the same; all dharmas are isolated, so the perfection of wisdom is isolated; all dharmas do not move, so the perfection of wisdom does not move; all dharmas do not falsely project anything, so the perfection of wisdom does not falsely project anything; all dharmas are not puffed up, so the perfection of wisdom is not puffed up; all dharmas have one taste, so the perfection of wisdom has one taste; all dharmas are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; all dharmas do not arise, so the perfection of wisdom does not arise; all dharmas do not cease, so the perfection of wisdom does not cease; space has no limits, so the perfection of wisdom has no limits; the ocean has no limits, so the perfection of wisdom has no limits; Sumeru is a complex of colors, so the perfection of wisdom is a complex of colors; space is without thought construction, so the perfection of wisdom is without thought construction; form is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless, and similarly, feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the earth element is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the water element, fire element, and wind element are limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the space element is limitless, so the perfection of wisdom is limitless; the diamond-like dharma, is the same so the perfection of wisdom is the same; all dharmas are unadulterated, so the perfection of wisdom is unadulterated; all dharmas are unfindable, so the perfection of wisdom is unfindable; all dharmas are in the same state of disintegration, so the perfection of wisdom is in the same state of disintegration; all dharmas are without exertion, so the perfection of wisdom is without exertion; and all dharmas are inconceivable, so the perfection of wisdom is inconceivable.
EN
“Then the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita, while seated just like that, generated the sarvadharmasamatā meditative stabilization. He also came into the possession of the sarvadharmavivikta meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmācalana meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāmanana meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāstambhita meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmaikarasa meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāparyanta meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmānutpāda meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmānirodha meditative stabilization, the gaganāparyata meditative stabilization, the samudrāparyanta meditative stabilization, the meruvicitra meditative stabilization, the gaganākalpa meditative stabilization, the rūpāparyanta meditative stabilization, the vedanā -, saṃjñā -, saṃskāra -, and vijñānāparyanta meditative stabilizations, the pṛthivīdhātvaparyanta meditative stabilization, the abdhātu -, tejodhātu -, and vāyudhātvaparyanta meditative stabilizations, the ākāśadhātvaparyanta meditative stabilization, the vajropama meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāsaṃbheda meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmasvabhāvānupalabdhi meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmāvibhāvanāsamatā meditative stabilization, the sarvadharmaniśceṣṭa meditative stabilization, and the sarvadharmācintya meditative stabilization. Starting with those, the bodhisattva great being Sadāprarudita came into possession of six million meditative stabilization gateways.”
Sutraya