Selected Buddhist Sutras

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THE EIGHTFOLD AWAKENING

(Sutra of the Eightfold Awakening)

Disciples of the Lord Buddha ceaselessly recite the eightfold awakening of the Great Ones day and night.

I

This world is impermanent and the divisions of the universe are transitory. The four elements are a source of pain, being empty. The five skandhas do not constitute the real Self. The endless alternations between birth and death, death and birth, are empty, false and beyond control. The mind is the source of delusion and the body and abode of misdeeds. By awakening to this, one is gradually released from the cycle of birth and death.

II

To have a multitude of desires is an affliction. The cycle of birth and death — a source of great weariness — results from desire. When desires are diminished and all action to satiate them is renounced, the mind and body are sovereign.

III

When the mind remains unsatisfied, desires wantonly proliferate and misdeed is heaped upon delusion. A Bodhisattva is not thus. His thoughts are ever those of contentment; in tranquility lie accepts his lot, however poor; he keeps to the Wav and indulges in no action other than the pursuit of knowledge.

IV

Laziness and neglect result in backsliding. Diligent and continuous effort is necessary to root out the asavas — desire, hatred and ignorance — and to subdue the four demons — birth, death, sickness and senility — and in order to escape from the prison of the skandhas and realms of sense.

V

The ignorant are infatuated with the circle of life and death. But the Bodhisattva continually ponders the way, studying it deeply and attentive to the Teachings, that he may grow in knowledge and attain the powers of convincing speech in order to rescue all beings. Every success inspires great joy.

VI

Constant complaints against poverty and affliction enmesh the complainer in much evil karma. The Bodhisattva lavishes his help on all, without distinction between those who ill treat him and those who hold him dear. He dwells not on old wrongs nor feels hatred for evil men.

VII

The desires of the senses are delusions, bringing calamities in their train. Even worldly men should not become contaminated by worldly enjoyments, but should think constantly of the three garments and the earthen begging bowl — symbols of the Teaching — and form the unshakeable intention of leaving the world and cleaving to the Way in purity. They should practice the pure life in the highest degree and show compassion to all beings.

VIII

The cycle of life and death is like a raging fire attended by immeasurable sorrow. Cultivate the Mahayana Heart and be ready to rescue all beings. Be willing to suffer afflictions without number on their behalf. and lead them all to Find joy at last. It was by means of this awakening that the Great Ones, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, attained Enlightenment. Diligently following the Way, exercising compassion and knowledge, they boarded the Dharmakaya raft and sailed to Nirvana's shore. They returned to the world of birth and death to ferry others across. By these eight means, they instruct all beings and lead them to awaken to the sorrow or birth and death, to put away the desires of sense, and to cultivate the Noble Path in their hearts. If a disciple of Lord Buddha intones them, if he recites and ponders them, he will be cleansed immeasurably. He will progress towards the attainment of supreme Wisdom and the Terrace of Enlightenment. For him birth and death will be forever finished and he will abide in eternal bliss.

LOOKING WITHOUT WORDS

(Lankavatara Sutra XLII)

Mahamati addressed the Buddha: "Blessed One, do not all things exist because of the reality of words? Without words, Blessed One, there would be no rising of things. Hence, all things depend on the reality of words."

The Blessed One spoke: "Even where there are no corresponding objects, Mahamati, there are words — for example, a hare's horns, the tortoise's hair, or a barren woman's child. They are not to be found in the world, but the words are. They are neither entities nor non-entities, but they are expressed in words. If you say that objects exist because of the reality of words, this makes no sense.

"Words are not known in all the Buddha-lands, Mahamati. Words are an artificial creation. In some Buddha-lands, ideas are indicated by a steady look, in others by gestures, and in still others by a frown, by the movement of the eyes, by coughing or by yawning, by clearing the throat, by recollecting or by trembling. For example, Mahamati, in the worlds of the Steady-Looking as well as in those of Exquisite Odours, and in the Buddha-land of the Tarhagata Samantabhadra, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened One, the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas attain the realization of all things as unborn and equally attain unsurpassed Samadhis by steadily looking, without so much as a wink. Therefore, Mahamati, the validity of things has nothing to do with the reality' of words. Even in this world, one can observe the kingdoms of such remarkable creatures as ants and bees and see them carry on their work without words."

Thus it is said: Just as space, the horns of a hare, and a barren woman's child are non-entities save as constituted by verbal expression, so is this whole existence imagined.

When the causes and conditions are in combination, the ignorant imagine the birth of this world. Since they fail to understand the true cause, they wander about in the triple world which is their dwelling.

EMPTINESS

(Lalitavistara Sutra XIII, 175 - 177)

All things conditioned are impermanent, unstable,
As fragile in essence as an unfired pot;
Like a borrowed object, like a city on sand,
They endure only for a little time.

Without exception they are destroyed
Like plaster washed away by rain;
Like the river's sandy bank,
They are conditioned, their nature frail.

They are like the flame of a lamp
That quickly flares up and quickly goes out.
Without strength to endure, they are like wind,
Or like foam, without substance, in essence feeble.

They have no power, being empty within —
Like the plantain stem — to pellucid thinking,
Like conjurers' delusions taking in the mind
Or a fist closed on nothing, teaming a child.

From strands of grass a rope is woven
By the force of effort.
The turning wheel draws up the well-bucket,
But each revolution in itself is naught.

Thus the turning of all that compose existence
Arises from mutual interaction.
The fuming is traceless in each part alone,
Either at the beginning or in the end.

Wherever the seed, there is the young plant.
But the seed is not the plant's nature:
Though not tile-plant, it is not something oilier —
Thus is the Righteous Law, neither passing nor permanent.

All things conditioned are confined by ignorance;
Pursued to the core, they do not exist,
For they along with ignorance are alike sunyata
In their true nature, devoid of power.

The mystic discerns the beginning and end
Of consciousness produced and passing away.
From nowhere it came, to nowhere returns,
Of reality as empty as the conjurer's trick.

Through the drawing together of three elements —
Firesticks, fuel and the hand's labour -
Fire is kindled. Having served its purpose,
Fire soon burns out again.

A wise man may search here, there, everywhere,
Whence it came and whither it goes,
Through all regions in every direction,
But he will not discover its ultimate nature.

Thus all things in this contingent world
Depend on causes and conditions.
The mystic knows the heart of reality
And sees lesser things as empty, without power.

THE WORLD AS ILLUSION

(Rajaparikatha-ratnamala 101 - 115)

   Just as nothing remains when a banana palm is torn to bits, so too with a person divided into the six elements — earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness.

   Hence the Victorious Ones declare: "Phenomena are without a self." Thus, the six elements are to be regarded as without a self. Therefore neither self nor non-self are to be taken as real. The Great Subduer has spurned assertions of self and non-self. He rejected sights, sounds and the like as neither true nor not-true, for if from one view the other follows, neither holds. This world at root is beyond the true and the false, and so he refrained from saving that it truly is or is not. Given the emptiness of things, the All-Knower could not declare them either to have limits or no limits, or both or neither.

Countless Buddhas have arisen, will arise and are present now; there are myriads of sentient beings, and the Buddhas abide in the past, the present and the future. The emancipation of beings from the world of the three times brings about no increase in it. Why then does the All-Knower remain silent about the limits of the world?

Hidden from common view, the profound doctrine of the world as illusion is the ambrosial teaching of the Buddha. The formation and disappearance of an illusory elephant may be witnessed, yet neither formation nor disappearance exists. Just so, the formation and disappearance of the illusory world are seen, but ultimately neither exist. An illusory elephant is but a mere obscuration of consciousness, neither coming from any place nor going forth nor persisting. Just so, this illusory world is such an obscuration of consciousness — neither coming nor going nor persisting.

Thus, in its nature, the world is apart from time. Except for convenience of speech, what world could there be that either is or Is not? Thus the Buddha remained silent at all times regarding the tour views of the world — that it is limited, not limited, both or neither.

NIRVANA

(Lankavatara Sutra XIII)

"Master, tell us about Nirvana", Mahamati asked the Blessed One.

The Buddha replied: "The word 'Nirvana' has many different meanings for different people, but these people may be divided into four groups. First, there are people who are suffering or fear suffering and therefore think of Nirvana. Then there are philosophers who attempt to characterize Nirvana, and, thirdly, there are those disciples who think of Nirvana only in relation to themselves. Finally, there is the Nirvana of the Buddhas.

"Those who are suffering or fear suffering think of Nirvana as an escape and a recompense. Imagining that Nirvana consists in the eventual annihilation of the senses and their mental synthesis, they ire not aware that Alayavijnana and Nirvana are one, that Samsara and Nirvana should not be separated. Being ignorant, they do not meditate on the imagelessness of Nirvana, but rather speak of different modes of liberation. They fail to understand the teachings of the Tathagata and cling to a notion of Nirvana which is external to the mind, and thereby remain self-chained to the revolving wheel of life and death.

"The Nirvanas of which the philosophers speak do not exist. Some hold that Nirvana is found where the whole system of the mind ceases to operate because the elements of the personality have ceased to be. Others say this occurs where there is utter indifference to the objective world and to its impermanent nature.

"Some philosophers think that Nirvana is a state where there is no recollection of past or present, as a lamp extinguished, a seed burnt up, a fire gone out. For them all substrata cease to be. This is called the non-arising of mental distinctions. Yet this is not Nirvana, because Nirvana cannot be mere annihilation and vacuity.

"Again, other philosophers speak of Nirvana as though it were simply the cessation of discursive thought, as the wind stops blowing, or when one overcomes the dualistic view of knower and known through self-effort, or dispels the notions of permanency and impermanency, good and evil, or when one transcends passion through knowledge. Nirvana means deliverance for these philosophers.

"Others see in rupa the vehicle of pain and, frightened by the very notion of rupa, seek for happiness in an arupa world. Some hold that individuality and universality are recognizable in all inner and outer things and hence that there is no real destruction of beings, and in this eternality they see Nirvana. Others recognize the eternalitv of things in a Nirvana which is the absorption of the finite consciousness in the Supreme Atman, or who see the manifestation of the vitality of a Supreme Spirit in all things and to which all things return. Among thinkers w-ho are especially foolish, some teach two primary elements, a primary7 substance and a primary soul, which mutually interblend and produce all things through the transformation of qualities. For some, action and interaction alone are sufficient to explain the birth of the world, and for others, Ishwara freely creates all things. Because they cling to these feeble notions, there is no awakening, and so they believe that Nirvana consists in the fact of no awakening.

"Philosophers sometimes imagine that Nirvana is identical with the existence of self-nature (tathata), unaffected by other self-natures, like the variegated feathers of a peacock or a variety of precious crystals, or the pointedness of a thorn. While some identify Nirvana with being, others with non-being, yet others say that Nirvana is inseparable from everything. Again, some teach that time produces the world which depends on time and that Nirvana is the realization of its identity with time.

"Orthodox religionists may think that Nirvana is the attainment of heaven, or the consequence of royal piety.

"These many views, taught by philosophers, supported by many forms of reason, are neither consistent with logic nor sufficient to the wise. At root, all such conceptions of Nirvana are dualistic and are bound up with causality. Nirvana is conceived discursively, but where there is no emergence or disappearance, how can there be discursive thought? These philosophers rely on their special manuals and understand accordingly, and so obscure the truth because truth is not simply one's imagination of it. Their minds become increasingly confused, for Nirvana cannot be found by mental searching alone. The confusion of the philosophers becomes the confusion of the people. "Those disciples and teachers who think of Nirvana in relation to some conception of the ego, and who search for it by retiring into personal solitude, seek Nirvana as the eternal bliss of Samadhi for themselves alone. They see that the world is a manifestation of mind, that all discursive thought is a product of the mind, and so they abandon society to practice a variety of spiritual disciplines. In solitude they seek realization in Prajnaparamita through self-effort. They follow the stages up to the sixth, that of the Swadbis, but since they still cling to egotism they cannot attain the deepest turning around of consciousness. They are never free from the thinking mind and the karma of inertia. Attached to the bliss of the Samadhis, they indeed enter their Nirvana, but this is not the Nirvana of the Tathagatas. Though they have entered the stream, they must return to this world of life and death."

Mahamati addressed the Blessed One: "When Bodhisattvas yield up their merit for the emancipation of every being, they become spiritually inseparable from all life. But, though Bodhisattvas may be utterly pure, other beings are tainted with unexhausted evil and unprecipitated karma. How, 0 Blessed One, are Bodhisattvas confident of Nirvana? And what is the Nirvana of the Bodhisattvas?"

Lord Buddha replied: "This confidence, Mahamati, is an assurance neither of numbers nor logic. It is not the mind that is assured, but the heart. The Bodhisattva's assurance arises with the intuition released through removal of the hindrances of passion, dissolution of the hindrances of knowledge, and awakening of the clear perception and patient acceptance of egolessness. When discriminations of the mortal mind cease, the fourfold thirst — for life, sexual indulgence, learning and eternal existence — disappears. Its extinction ends the accumulation of habit-bound energies, and the obscurations on the face of Universal Mind are dissolved. Thus the Bodhisattva attains the enlightenment of Prajnaparamita. This is the heart's assurance of Nirvana.

"But here and in other Buddha-fields are Bodhisattvas, devoted to the Bodhisattva Path, who have not yet fully renounced the bliss of Samadhi or the peace of Nirvana. The teaching of the Nirvana without substratum contains a hidden meaning for the benefit of those disciples who still cling to the thought of Nirvana. This is so that they may be inspired to exert themselves on the Bodhisattva Path for the enlightenment of all beings. The Buddhas, adept in transformation teach a doctrine of Nirvana which accommodates beings as they are. Thus they encourage the timid and the selfish. The sustaining power of the Buddhas of Transformation, though not that of the Dharmata-Buddha, gives assurance of the future and aids in turning thought for self into profound compassion and earnest zeal for others.

"The Dharma basis of Prajnaparamita, however, belongs to the plane of the Dharmata-Buddha. To the Bodhisattvas who have attained the seventh and eighth stages, the Dharmata-Buddha reveals Transcendental Intelligence and show us the Path. The Bodhisattva's separative will  dies in an inconceivable transformation that is followed by perfect self-realization of Prajnaparamita. No longer living for himself, his life is now the universal life of the Tathagata, manifest in its myriad transformations. The Bodhisattva, perfect in self-realization of Prajnaparamita, realizes that for the Buddhas there is no discrete Nirvana.

"Paranirvana—upon the passing of a Buddha — is no destruction. Nor is it death, for that could only produce birth and continuation. If it were a destruction, the deed would produce effects, but no effects follow from Paranirvana. It is neither vanishing nor abandonment, neither attainment nor non-attainment, neither significant nor non-significant, for there is no distinct Nirvana for Buddhas.

"Tathagata Nirvana is recognition of there being nothing outside the mind. Comprehending the self-nature of mind, there is an end to cherishing the dualisms of discrimination, a cessation of all thirsting and grasping, and a detachment from any sense of  externality.   The Nirvana containing a residuum of thinking-mind — including discrimination, attachments, aversions and egoism — is forever dissolved, along with dead logic and even the notion of truth. The four propositions are dispelled and there is insight into the realm of Reality.

"Tathagata Nirvana arises wherever there is a waning of the twofold passions, a disappearance of the twofold hindrances, and a patient acceptance of the twofold egolessness. It follows upon attainment of the turning around of consciousness within its deepest seat, and upon full blossoming of the self-realization of Prajnaparamita. "Nirvana lies in the passage through the Bodhisattva stages one by one, in the sustaining power of the Buddhas upholding Bodhisattvas in the bliss of the Samadhis, in the compassion for others transcending all thought of self, and in the realization of the Tathagata.

"Nirvana, then, is the very realm of Dharmata-Buddha, where prajnaparamita or Buddhahood manifests in Perfect Love for all, where Perfect Love or the Tathagata state expresses itself in prajnaparainita for the enlightenment of every being. That truly is Nirvana.

"Two types of beings do not enter Tathagata Nirvana: those who abandon the Bodhisattva ideal, holding it not to conform with the sutras, codified morality, or emancipation; also, those true Bodhisattvas who keep their vows, made for the sake of every being, saying, 'So long as they do not attain Nirvana, I will not attain it myself.' These true Bodhisattvas voluntarily renounce Nirvana.

"But no being is excluded from Nirvana by the will of the Tathagata. Eventually, each being will he touched by the wisdom and love of the Tathagatas of Transformation and will ascend the stages through merit.

"If only all beings realized it, they are already in the Tathagata Nirvana. In Prapiaparamita, all beings are ever in Nirvana."