SHANTIDEVA'S BODHICHARYAVATARA
EN CONSTRUCCIÓN
The translation used here of this classic treatise by Shantideva is by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace
The translation is based upon two Sanskrit editions:
1. Louis de la Vallee Poussin's edition (1901) of the Bodhicaryavatara and the Panjika commentary of Prajnakaramati.
2. P. L. Vaidya's edition (1960) of the Bodhicaryavatara and the Panjika commentary of Prajnakaramati
An additionl base of reference was the Tibetan Derge edition, entitled the Bodhisattva-caryavatara, translated by Sarvajnadeva and dPal brtsegs.
Important Comments by the translators
It is evident upon examination that the text is significantly different than the recension incorporated into the Tibetan canon.
This would seem to refute the contention that the canonical Tibetan translation by Bio Idan shes rab was based on the Sanskrit version available to us today. Moreover,
pronouncements concerning which of the extant Sanskrit and Tibetan versions is truer to the original appear to be highly speculative, with very little basis in historical fact.
This translation attempts to let these versions speak for themselves—as closely as the English allows—leaving readers to make their own judgments concerning the degree
of antiquity, authenticity, and overall coherence of the Sanskrit and Tibetan renditions of Santideva's classic treatise.
In those verses where the Tibetan differs significantly from the Sanskrit, the authors have included English translations of the Tibetan version in footnotes to the text.
Many of the Sanskrit verses of this text are concise and at times cryptic and they often entail complex syntax. Thus, at times the authors were forced to take certain freedoms
in the translation in order to make the English intelligible.
*************************************
THE BODHICHARYAVATARA
CHAPTER I – The Benefit of the Spirit of Awakening.
OM Homage to the Buddha.
1. Reverently bowing to the Sugatas, who are endowed with the Dharmakaya,
together with their Children and all who are worthy of veneration, I shall
concisely present a guide to the discipline of the Children of the Sugatas in
accordance with the scriptures..
2. There is nothing here that has not been said before, nor do I have any
skill in composition. Thus, I have no concern for the welfare of others, and
I have composed this solely to season my own mind..
3. Owing to this, the power of my faith increases to cultivate virtue. Moreover,
if someone else with a disposition like my own examines this, it may be
meaningful..
4. This leisure and endowment, which are so difficult to obtain, have been
acquired, and they bring about the welfare of the world. If one fails to take this
favorable opportunity into consideration, how could this occasion occur again?
5. Just as lightning illuminates the darkness of a cloudy night for an instant,
in the same way, by the power of the Buddha, occasionally people's minds are
momentarily inclined toward merit..
6. Thus, virtue is perpetually ever so feeble, while the power of vice is great
and extremely dreadful. If there were no Spirit of Perfect Awakening, what
other virtue would overcome it?.
7. The Lords of Sages, who have been contemplating for many eons, have seen
this alone as a blessing by which joy is easily increased and immeasurable
multitudes of beings are rescued..
8. Those who long to overcome the abundant miseries of mundane existence,
those who wish to dispel the adversities of sentient beings, and those who
yearn to experience a myriad of joys should never forsake the Spirit of
Awakening..
9. When the Spirit of Awakening has arisen, in an instant a wretch who is bound
in the prison of the cycle of existence is called a Child of the Sugatas and
becomes worthy of reverence in the worlds of gods and humans..
10. Upon taking this impure form, it transmutes it into the priceless image of
the gem of the Jina. So, firmly hold to the quicksilver elixir, called the Spirit of
Awakening, which must be utterly transmuted..
11. The world's sole leaders, whose minds are fathomless, have well examined
its great value. You who are inclined to escape from the states of mundane
existence, hold fast to the jewel of the Spirit of Awakening..
12. Just as a plantain tree decays upon losing its fruit, so does every other
virtue wane. But the tree of the Spirit of Awakening perpetually bears fruit,
does not decay, and only flourishes..L6: [h. The power of protection from
great fear].
13. Owing to its protection, as due to the protection of a powerful man, even
after committing horrendous vices, one immediately overcomes great fears.
Why do ignorant beings not seek refuge in it?.
14. Like the conflagration at the time of the destruction of the universe,
it consumes great vices in an instant. The wise Lord Maitreya taught its
incalculable benefits to Sudhana..
15. In brief, this Spirit of Awakening is known to be of two kinds: the spirit
of aspiring for Awakening, and the spirit of venturing toward Awakening..
16. Just as one perceives the difference between a person who yearns to
travel and a traveler, so do the learned recognize the corresponding difference
between those two..
17. Although the result of the spirit of aspiring for Awakening is great within
the cycle of existence, it is still not like the continual state of merit of the
spirit of venturing..
18. From the time that one adopts that Spirit with an irreversible attitude for
the sake of liberating limitless sentient beings,.
19. From that moment on, an uninterrupted stream of merit, equal to the sky,
constantly arises even when one is asleep or distracted..
20. The Tathagata himself cogently asserted this in the Subahuprccha for the
sake of beings who are inclined toward the Lesser Vehicle..
21. A well-intentioned person who thinks, "I shall eliminate the headaches of
sentient beings," bears immeasurable merit..
22. What then of a person who desires to remove the incomparable pain of
every single being and endow them with immeasurable good qualities?.
23. Who has even a mother or father with such altruism? Would the gods, sages,
or Brahmas have it?.
24. If those beings have never before had that wish for their own sake even in
their dreams, how could they possibly have it for the sake of others?.
25. How does this unprecedented and distinguished jewel, whose desire for
the benefit of others does not arise in others even for their own self-interest,
come into existence?.
26. How can one measure the merit of the jewel of the mind, which is the seed
of the world's joy and is the remedy for the world's suffering?.
27. If reverence for the Buddhas is exceeded merely by an altruistic intention,
how much more so by striving for the complete happiness of all sentient beings?.
28. Those desiring to escape from suffering hasten right toward suffering. With
the very desire for happiness, out of delusion they destroy their own happiness
as if it were an enemy..
29. He satisfies with all joys those who are starving for happiness and eliminates
all the sorrows of those who are afflicted in many ways..
30. He dispels delusion. Where else is there such a saint? Where else is there
such a friend? Where else is there such merit?.
31. Even one who repays a kind deed is praised somewhat, so what should be
said of a Bodhisattva whose good deed is unsolicited?.
32. The world honors as virtuous one who makes a gift to a few people, even
if it is merely a momentary and contemptuous donation of plain food and support
for half a day..
33. What then of one who forever bestows to countless sentient beings the
fulfillment of all yearnings, which is inexhaustible until the end of beings as
limitless as space?.
34. The Lord declared, "One who brings forth an impure thought in his heart
against a benefactor, a Child of the Jina, will dwell in hells for as many eons
as there were impure thoughts.".
35. But if one's mind is kindly inclined, one will bring forth an even greater fruit.
Even when a greatly violent crime is committed against the Children of the Jinas,
their virtue spontaneously arises..
36. I pay homage to the bodies of those in whom this precious jewel of the mind
has arisen. I go for refuge to those who are mines of joy, toward whom even an
offence results in happiness..
--------------36 verses.
**********************************************
CHAPTER II – The Acknowledgment of Transgression.
1. In order to adopt that jewel of the mind, I make offerings to the Tathagatas,
to the stainless jewel of the sublime Dharma, and to the Children of the Buddhas,
who are oceans of excellent qualities..
2. As many flowers, fruits, and medicinal herbs as there are, and as many jewels
as there are in the world, and clear and pleasant waters,.
3. Jeweled mountains, forested regions, and other delightful and solitary places,
vines shining with the ornaments of lovely flowers, and trees with branches
bowed with delicious fruit,.
4. Fragrances and incenses, wish-fulfilling trees, jeweled trees, lakes adorned
with lotuses, enchanting calls of wild geese in the worlds of gods and other
celestials,.
5. Uncultivated crops, planted crops, and other things that ornament the
venerable ones, all these that are unowned and that extend throughout space,.
6. I bring to mind and offer to the Foremost of Sages together with their Children.
May those worthy of precious gifts, the greatly merciful ones, compassionate
toward me, accept these from me..
7. Devoid of merit and destitute, I have nothing else to offer. Therefore, may
the Protectors, whose concerns are for the welfare of others, accept this by
their own power for my sake..
8. I completely offer my entire self to the Jinas and their Children. O Supreme
Beings, accept me! I reverently devote myself to your service..
9. Being free from fear of mundane existence due to your protection, I shall
serve sentient beings; I shall completely transcend my earlier vices, and
henceforth I shall sin no more..
10. In sweetly fragrant bathing chambers whose beautiful pillars are radiant
with jewels, glowing canopies made of pearls, and crystal floors transparent and
sparkling,.
11. I bathe the Tathagatas and their Children with many vases studded with
superb jewels and filled with pleasing, fragrant flowers and water, to the
accompaniment of songs and instrumental music..
12. I dry their bodies with scented, immaculate, exquisite cloths; then I offer
them beautifully colored and sweetly fragrant garments..
13. I adorn Samantabhadra, Ajita, Manjughosa, Lokesvara, and others with
those divine, soft, delicate, and colorful raiments and with the most precious
of jewels..
14. With perfumes permeating a thousand million worlds, I anoint the bodies of
the Lords of Sages that are blazing with the luster of well-refined, rubbed,
and polished gold..
15. I worship the most glorious Lords of Sages with all wonderfully fragrant and
pleasing blossoms—mandarava flowers, blue lotuses, and others—and with
splendidly arranged garlands..
16. I perfume them with enchanting clouds of incenses having a pungent and
pervasive aroma. I offer them feasts consisting of various foods and drinks..
17. I offer them jeweled lamps, mounted in rows on golden lotuses; and I scatter
lovely drifts of blossoms on the floor anointed with perfume..
18. To those filled with love I also offer brilliant multitudes of palaces, delightful
with songs of praise, radiant with garlands of pearls and jewels, and ornamented
at the entrances in four directions..
19. I bring to mind the great sages' exquisitely beautiful, jeweled parasols
perfectly raised with golden handles, lovely shapes, and inlaid pearls..
20. Thereafter, may delightful clouds of offerings rise high, and clouds of
instrumental music that enrapture all sentient beings..
21. May showers of flowers, jewels, and the like continually fall on the images,
reliquaries, and all the jewels of the sublime Dharma..
22. Just as Manjughosa and others worship the Jinas, so do I worship the
Tathagatas, the Protectors, together with their Children..
23. With hymns that are seas of melodies, I praise the Oceans of Virtues. May
the clouds of harmonies of praise ascend to them in the same way..
24. With prostrations as numerous as the atoms within all the Buddha-fields,
I bow to the Buddhas present in all the three times, to the Dharma, and to the
Sublime Assembly..
25. Likewise, I pay homage to all the shrines and to the resting-places of the
Bodhisattva. I prostrate to the preceptors and to the praiseworthy adepts as
well..
26. I go for refuge to the Buddha as far as the quintessence of enlightenment;
I go for refuge to the Dharma and the community of Bodhisattvas..
27. With folded hands I beseech the Fully Awakened Ones present in all
directions and the greatly compassionate Bodhisattvas..
28. Whatever sin I, a brute, have committed or caused others to commit in
this life and others throughout the beginningless cycle of existence,.
29. And anything in which I have deludedly rejoiced, thereby harming myself—
that transgression I confess, overcome by remorse..
30. Whatever offence I have committed, out of disrespect, with my body,
speech, and mind against the Three Jewels, against mothers and fathers,
and against spiritual mentors and others,.
31. And whatever terrible vices I, a transgressor, defiled with many faults, have done,
O Guides, I confess them all..
32. How shall I escape it? Rescue me quickly! May death not soon creep up on
me before my vices have vanished..
33. Death does not differentiate between tasks done and undone. This traitor
is not to be trusted by the healthy or the ill, for it is like an unexpected, great
thunderbolt..
34. I have committed various vices for the sake of friends and enemies. This I
have not recognized: "Leaving everyone behind, I must pass away.".
35. My enemies will not remain, nor will my friends remain. I shall not remain.
Nothing will remain..
36. Whatever is experienced will fade to a memory. Like an experience in a
dream, everything that has passed will not be seen again..
37. Even in this life, as I have stood by, many friends and enemies have passed
away, but terrible sin induced by them remains ahead of me..
38. Thus, I have not considered that I am ephemeral. Due to delusion,
attachment, and hatred, I have sinned in many ways..
39. Day and night, a life span unceasingly diminishes, and there is no adding
onto it. Shall I not die then?.
40. Although lying here on a bed and relying on relatives, I alone have to bear
the feeling of being cut off from my vitality..
41. For a person seized by the messengers of Death, what good is a relative
and what good is a friend? At that time, merit alone is a protection, and I have
not applied myself to it..
42. O Protectors, I, negligent and unaware of this danger, have acquired many
vices out of attachment to this transient life..
43. One completely languishes while being led today to have the limbs of one's
body amputated. Parched with thirst, and with pitiable eyes, one sees the world
differently..
44. How much more is one overpowered by the horrifying appearances of the
messengers of Death as one is consumed by the fever of terror and smeared
with a mass of excrement?.
45. With distressed glances I seek protection in the four directions. Which good
person will be my protection from this great fear?.
46. Seeing the four directions devoid of protection, I return to confusion. What
shall I do in that state of great fear?
47. Right now I go for refuge to the Protectors of the World whose power is
great, to the Jinas, who strive to protect the world and who eliminate every
fear..
48. Likewise, I earnestly go for refuge to the Dharma that is mastered by them
and that annihilates the fear of the cycle of existence, and to the assembly of
Bodhisattvas as well..
49. Trembling with fear, I offer myself to Samantabhadra, and of my own will I
offer myself to Manjughosa..
50. Terrified, I utter a mournful cry to the Protector Avalokita, whose conduct
overflows with compassion, that he may protect me, a sinner..
51. Seeking protection, I earnestly invoke noble Akasagarbha, Ksitigarbha, and
all the Compassionate Ones..
52. I bow to Vajri, upon the sight of whom the messengers of Death and other
malevolent beings flee in terror to the four directions..
53. After neglecting your counsel, in terror I go to you for refuge now as I face
this fear. Swiftly remove my fear!
54. Even one frightened by a fleeting illness would not disregard the physician's
advice; how much more so one afflicted by the four hundred and four diseases,.
55. Of which just one can annihilate all people living in Jambudvipa, and for
which a medicine is not found in any region..
56. If I disregard the counsel of the Omniscient Physician who removes every
pain, shame on me, extremely deluded one that I am!.
57. If I stand very attentive even on a smaller cliff, then how much more so on
an enduring chasm of a thousand leagues?.
58. It is inappropriate for me to be at ease, thinking, "Just today death will not
arrive." The time when I will not exist is inevitable..
59. Who can give me fearlessness? How shall I escape? I shall certainly not exist.
Why is my mind at ease?
60. What of value has remained with me from earlier experiences, which have
disappeared, and engrossed in which I neglected the counsel of spiritual mentors?
61. Upon forsaking my relatives and friends and this world of the living, alone I
shall go elsewhere. What is the use of all my friends and enemies?.
62. In that case, only this concern is appropriate for me day and night: How
shall I surely escape suffering on account of that nonvirtue?.
63. Whatever vice, whatever natural misdeed, and whatever misdeed by
prohibition, an ignorant fool, have accumulated,.
64. Terrified of suffering, all this I confess, standing with folded hands in the
presence of the Protectors and bowing repeatedly..
65. May the Guides be aware of my transgressions together with my iniquity.
O Protectors, may I not commit this evil again!.
--------------65 verses.
*********************************************
CHAPTER III – Adopting the Spirit of Awakening
1. I happily rejoice in the virtue of all sentient beings, which relieves the
suffering of the miserable states of existence. May those who suffer dwell in
happiness..
2. I rejoice in sentient beings' liberation from the suffering of the cycle of
existence, and I rejoice in the Protectors' Bodhisattva-hood and Buddhahood..
3. I rejoice in the teachers' oceanic expressions of the Spirit of Awakening,
which delight and benefit all sentient beings..
4. With folded hands I beseech the Fully Awakened Ones in all directions that
they may kindle the light of Dharma for those who fall into suffering owing to
confusion..
5. With folded hands I supplicate the Jinas who wish to leave for nirvana that
they may stay for countless eons, and that this world may not remain in
darkness..
6. May the virtue that I have acquired by doing all this relieve every suffering
of sentient beings..
7. May I be the medicine and the physician for the sick. May I be their nurse
until their illness never recurs..
8. With showers of food and drink may I overcome the afflictions of hunger
and thirst. May I become food and drink during times of famine..
9. May I be an inexhaustible treasury for the destitute. With various forms of
assistance may I remain in their presence..
10. For the sake of accomplishing the welfare of all sentient beings, I freely
give up my body, enjoyments, and all my virtues of the three times..
11. Surrendering everything is nirvana, and my mind seeks nirvana. If I must
surrender everything, it is better that I give it to sentient beings..
12. For the sake of all beings I have made this body pleasureless. Let them
continually beat it, revile it, and cover it with filth..
13. Let them play with my body. Let them laugh at it and ridicule it.
What does it matter to me? I have given my body to them..
14. Let them have me perform deeds that are conducive to their happiness.
Whoever resorts to me, may it never be in vain..
15. For those who have resorted to me and have an angry or unkind thought,
may even that always be the cause for their accomplishing every goal..
16. May those who falsely accuse me, who harm me, and who ridicule me all
partake of Awakening..
17. May I be a protector for those who are without protectors, a guide for
travelers, and a boat, a bridge, and a ship for those who wish to cross over..
18. May I be a lamp for those who seek light, a bed for those who seek rest,
and may I be a servant for all beings who desire a servant..
19. To all sentient beings may I be a wish-fulfilling gem, a vase of good fortune,
an efficacious mantra, a great medication, a wish-fulfilling tree, and a
wish-granting cow..
20. Just as earth and other elements are useful in various ways to innumerable
sentient beings dwelling throughout infinite space,.
21. So may I be in various ways a source of life for the sentient beings present
throughout space until they are all liberated..
22. Just as the Sugatas of old adopted the Spirit of Awakening, and just as
they properly conformed to the practice of the Bodhisattvas,.
23. So I myself shall generate the Spirit of Awakening for the sake of the world;
and so I myself shall properly engage in those practices..
24. Upon gladly adopting the Spirit of Awakening in this way, an intelligent
person should thus nurture the Spirit in order to fulfill his wish:.
25. Now my life is fruitful. Human existence is well obtained. Today I have been
born into the family of the Buddhas. Now I am a Child of the Buddha..
26. Thus, whatever I do now should accord with [the Bodhisattvas'] family, and
it should not be like a stain on this pure family..
27. Just as a blind man might find a jewel amongst heaps of rubbish, so this
Spirit of Awakening has somehow arisen in me..
28. It is the elixir of life produced to vanquish death in the world. It is an
inexhaustible treasure eliminating the poverty of the world..
29. It is the supreme medicine that alleviates the illness of the world. It is the
tree of rest for beings exhausted from wandering on the pathways of mundane
existence..
30. It is the universal bridge for all travelers on their crossing over miserable
states of existence. It is the rising moon of the mind that soothes the mental
afflictions of the world..
31. It is the great sun dispelling the darkness of the world's ignorance. It is the
fresh butter formed from churning the milk of Dharma..
32. For the caravan of beings traveling on the path of mundane existence and
starving for the meal of happiness, it is the feast of happiness that satisfies all
sentient beings who have come as guests..
33. Today I invite the world to Sugatahood and (meanwhile to) temporal
happiness. May the gods, asuras, and others rejoice in the presence of all the
Protectors!.
--------------33 verses.
************************************************
CHAPTER IV – Attending to the Spirit of Awakening
1. Thus, upon firmly adopting the Spirit of Awakening, a Child of the Jinas should
always vigilantly strive not to neglect his training..
2. Although one has made a commitment, it is appropriate [to reconsider]
whether or not to do that which has been rashly undertaken and which has
not been well considered..
3. But shall I discard that which has been examined by the sagacious Buddhas
and their Children, as well as by myself according to the best of my abilities?
4. If, upon making such a promise, I do not put it into action, then having
deceived those sentient beings, what destiny shall I have?.
5. It has been said that a person who intended to give away even a tiny thing
but does not do so becomes a preta..
6. Then all the more so, having deceived the entire world after loudly and
sincerely inviting it to unsurpassable happiness, what state of existence shall
I have?.
7. Only the Omniscient One knows the inconceivable course of action of those
people whom he liberates even when they forsake the Spirit of Awakening..
8. Therefore, for a Bodhisattva it is the heaviest downfall of all; for if he
commits such a downfall, he impairs the welfare of all sentient beings..
9. If someone else hinders his virtue, even for a moment, there will be no end
to his miserable states of existence, because he diminishes the welfare of
sentient beings..
10. One would be destroyed, obliterating the well-being of even one sentient
being; how much more so of beings dwelling throughout all of space?.
11. Thus, due to the power of downfalls and due to the power of the Spirit of
Awakening, one revolving in the cycle of existence is slow in attaining the
Bodhisattva Grounds..
12. Therefore, I should respectfully act in accordance with my commitment.
If I do not make an effort now, I shall go from lower to lower states..
13. Innumerable Buddhas have gone by, seeking out every sentient being; but
through my own fault, I have not come into the domain of their cure..
14. If I remain like this, as I am now, I will repeatedly come to the miserable
states of existence, illness, death, amputation, destruction, and the like..
15. When shall I encounter the extremely rare appearance of the Tathagata,
faith, human existence, and the ability to practice virtue,.
16. Health, daily sustenance, and lack of adversity? Life is momentary and
deceptive; and the body is as if on loan..
17. With such behavior on my part, a human state is certainly not obtained
again. When a human state is not achieved, there is only vice; and how could
there be blessing?.
18. If I do not perform virtue even when I am capable of it, what then shall I
do when fully dazed by the sufferings of miserable states of existence?.
19. For one who does not perform virtue but accumulates sin, even the
expression "favorable state of existence" will be lost for a thousand million eons..
20. Therefore, the Blessed One stated that human existence is extremely
difficult to obtain, like a turtle's head emerging into the ring of a yoke on a
vast ocean..
21. One dwells in the Avici hell for an eon as a consequence of a vice committed
in a single moment. What then can be said of a favorable state of existence,
since sin has been accumulated since beginningless time?.
22. Having experienced that alone, one is still not liberated. Therefore, while
experiencing it, one begets more vices..
23. Upon obtaining such leisure, if I do not practice virtue, then there is no
duplicity greater than this, and there is no delusion greater than this..
24. If I recognize this and still deludedly fall into sloth, then when I am
commanded by the messengers of Yama, I shall long remain in great anguish..
25. The unendurable fire of hell will scorch my body for ages, and afterward the
fire of remorse will torment my undisciplined mind for a long time..
26. I have somehow obtained the advantageous state that is very difficult to
achieve, and though aware of that, I am led back to those same hells..
27. I have no will in this matter, as if bewitched by spells. I do not know by
whom I am bewitched or who dwells inside me..
28. Enemies such as craving and hatred are without arms, legs, and so on.
They are neither courageous nor wise. How is it that they have enslaved me?.
29. Stationed in my mind, they ruin me, while remaining well-established
themselves; and yet I do not get angry at my forbearance with this shameful
and improper situation..
30. If all gods and humans were my enemies, even they would be unable to
bring me to the fire of the Avici hell..
31. When encountered, it consumes even the ashes of Mount Meru. Mental
afflictions, the mighty enemies, instantly throw me there..
32. For the longevity of all other enemies is not so enduring, beginningless,
and endless as that of my enemies, the mental afflictions..
33. Everyone becomes favorably disposed when tended with kindness, but
when these mental afflictions are honored, they bring about suffering all the
more..
34. How can I take delight in the cycle of existence when constant, long-lasting
enemies, who are the sole cause of the currents and floods of adversities,
fearlessly dwell in my heart?.
35. How can I be happy if the guardians of the prison of the cycle of existence,
these murderers and slaughterers in hells and the like, remain in the cage of
greed within the dwelling of my heart?.
36. Therefore, as long as these enemies are not destroyed before my eyes,
I shall not forsake my task. Those lofty with pride, who are enraged at someone
who gives them even a minor insult, will not sleep until they kill him..
37. At the height of a battle, ready to slaughter those who are in darkness and
who are naturally subject to suffering through death, those afflicted with injuries
from countless spears and arrows do not turn back without accomplishing their
goal..
38. What then when I am eager to destroy my natural enemies, which are the
perpetual cause of all miseries? Today, even if I am [beset] with a hundred
adversities, why am I weary and despondent?.
39. If they wear scars from their enemies for no reason as if they were
ornaments, then why do sufferings trouble me when I am set to accomplish a
great goal?.
40. If fishermen, outcasts, farmers, and others, whose minds are fixed merely
on their own livelihoods, withstand the adversities of cold and heat, then why
do I not endure for the sake of the well-being of the world?.
41. While I have promised to liberate beings throughout space in the ten
directions from their mental afflictions, I have not liberated even myself from
mental afflictions..
42. Without knowing my own limitations, I spoke at that time as if I were a bit
insane. Therefore, I shall never turn back from vanquishing mental afflictions..
43. I shall be tenacious in this matter; and fixed on revenge, I shall wage war,
except against those mental afflictions that are related to the elimination of
mental afflictions..
44. Let my entrails ooze out and my head fall off, but by no means shall I bow
down to my enemies, the mental afflictions..
45. Even if exiled, an enemy may acquire a residence and followers in another
country whence he returns with his full strength. But there is no such course for
the enemy, the mental afflictions..
46. Once the affliction that dwells in my mind has been expelled, where would it
go, and where would it rest and attempt to destroy me? Feeble in spirit, I am
lacking in perseverance. Mental afflictions are frail and conquerable with the eye
of wisdom..
47. Mental afflictions do not exist in sense objects, nor in the sense faculties,
nor in the space between, nor anywhere else. Then where do they exist and
agitate the whole world? This is an illusion only. Liberate your fearing heart and
cultivate perseverance for the sake of wisdom. Why would you torture yourself
in hells for no reason?
48. After pondering in this way, I shall make an effort to apply the teachings
as they have been explained. How can someone who could be cured by medicine
be restored to health if he strays from the physician's advice?.
-------------48 verses.
***********************************************
CHAPTER V – Guarding Introspection
1. Those who wish to protect their practice should zealously guard the mind.
The practice cannot be protected without guarding the unsteady mind..
2. Untamed, mad elephants do not inflict as much harm in this world as does
the unleashed elephant of the mind in the Avici hell and the like..
3. But if the elephant of the mind is completely restrained by the rope of
mindfulness, then all perils vanish and complete well-being is obtained..
4. Tigers, lions, elephants, bears, snakes, all enemies, all guardians of hells,
dakinis and demons become controlled by controlling the mind alone..
5. By subduing the mind alone, they all become subdued..
6. For the Propounder of the Truth said that all fears and immeasurable
sufferings arise from the mind only..
7. Who diligently constructed the weapons in hell? Who devised the floor of
heated iron? And from where have those women come?.
8. The Sage declared that all of that has arisen from the evil mind, so there is
nothing else in the three worlds more formidable than the mind..
9. If the perfection of generosity makes the world free of poverty, how is it
possible that the Protectors of the past acquired it, when the world is still
impoverished today?.
10. The perfection of generosity is interpreted simply as a state of mind due
to the intention of giving away everything, together with the fruits of that,
to all people..
11. Where can fish and the like be taken where I could not kill them? When the
mind of renunciation is obtained, that is considered the perfection of ethical
discipline..
12. How many malicious people, as [unending] as space, can I kill? When the
mind-state of anger is slain, then all enemies are slain..
13. Where would there be leather enough to cover the entire world? The earth
is covered over merely with the leather of my sandals..
14. Likewise, I am unable to restrain external phenomena, but I shall restrain
my own mind. What need is there to restrain anything else?.
15. Even when accompanied by body and speech, feeble mental activity does
not have results such as Brahmahood and alike, which the mind alone has when
it is clear..
16. The Omniscient One stated that all recitations and austerities, even though
performed for a long time, are actually useless if the mind is on something else
or is dull..
17. Those who have not cultivated the mind, which is the mystery and the very
essence of Dharma, uselessly wander in space in order to eliminate suffering and
find happiness..
18. Therefore, I should well control and well guard my mind. Once I have
forsaken the vow of guarding the mind, of what use are many vows to me?.
19. Just as those standing in the midst of boisterous people carefully guard
their wounds, so those standing in the midst of evil people should always
guard the wounds of their minds..
20. Fearing slight pain from a wound, I guard it with great care. Why don't I,
fearing the crushing of the mountains of the Samghata hell, guard the wound
of my mind?.
21. Living with this attitude even among evil people and among maidens, with
steadfast effort, a persevering sage will not be defeated..
22. Let my possessions freely vanish; let my honor, my body, livelihood, and
everything else pass away. But may my virtuous mind never be lost..
23. I appeal to those desiring to guard their minds: always diligently guard your
mindfulness and introspection..
24. Just as a person smitten by disease is unfit for any work, so the mind
lacking those two is not fit for any work..
25. What has been heard, pondered, and cultivated, like water in a cracked jar,
does not remain in the memory of the mind that lacks introspection..
26. Even many learned people who have faith and extraordinary perseverance
become defiled by vices on account of the fault of lacking introspection..
27. Even upon accumulating virtues, those who have been robbed by the thief
of non-introspection, who comes after the loss of mindfulness, enter miserable
states of existence..
28. This band of thieves, the mental afflictions, looks for an entrance. Upon
finding an entrance, it plunders and destroys life in fortunate realms of existence..
29. Therefore, mindfulness should never be displaced from the gate of the mind.
If it is gone, it should be reinstated while recalling the anguish of hell..
30. Mindfulness easily arises for those of good fortune because of their
association with a spiritual mentor, and for those who are reverent on account
of the instruction of a preceptor and because of their fear..
31. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have unobstructed vision in all directions.
Everything is in their presence; and I stand in front of them..
32. Meditating thus, one should remain filled with a sense of propriety, respect,
and fear; and one should repeatedly think of the Buddhas in this way..
33. When mindfulness stands guard at the gate of the mind, introspection
arrives, and once it has come, it does not depart again..
34. First, I should always establish this mind in such a manner, and I should
always remain still as if without sense faculties, like a piece of wood..
35. One should never cast one's gaze around without purpose. One should
always direct one's gaze downward as if in meditation..
36. However, one should occasionally look around in order to relax the gaze;
and if one notices a mere reflection of someone, one should look up to greet him..
37. In order to detect danger on the road and so forth, one should look to the
four directions for a moment. Pausing, one should look in the distance, looking
behind only after turning around..
38. Upon looking forward or behind, one should go ahead or turn back. Likewise,
in all situations one should proceed after realizing what needs to be done..
39. Thinking, "The body should remain like this," and resorting to action again,
one should periodically look afresh to see how the body is positioned..
40. In this way the mad elephant of the mind should be watched diligently so
that it is not loosed while tied to the great pillar of the thought of Dharma..
41. One should examine the mind in this way—where is mine engaged?—so that
it does not even for a moment leave the pole of concentration..
42. If one is unable to do so in the case of danger or a festive occasion, then
one should be at ease. It is said that at the time of giving, ethical discipline
may be held in abeyance..
43. Upon recognizing what needs to be undertaken, with a mind focused on
that, one should attend to nothing else until one accomplishes it..
44. For in this way everything is well done. Otherwise neither will occur, and
the mental affliction of non-introspection will increase as well..
45. One should eliminate yearning that arises for various idle conversations,
which often take place, and for all kinds of entertainment..
46. If useless crushing of the earth, ripping of grass, or drawing in the dirt takes
place, then fearfully recalling the teaching of the Tathagata, one should
instantly stop it..
47. When one intends to move or when one intends to speak, one should first
examine one's own mind and then act appropriately with composure..
48. When one sees one's own mind to be attached or repulsed, then one should
neither act nor speak, but remain still like a piece of wood..
49. When my mind is haughty, sarcastic, full of conceit and arrogance, ridiculing,
evasive, and deceitful,.
50. When it is inclined to boast, or when it is contemptuous of others, abusive,
and irritable, then I should remain still like a piece of wood..
51. When my mind seeks material gain, honor, and fame, or when it seeks
attendants and service, then I will remain still like a piece of wood..
52. When my mind is averse to the interests of others and seeks my own
self-interest, or when it wishes to speak out of a desire for an audience,
then I will remain still like a piece of wood..
53. When it is impatient, indolent, timid, impudent, garrulous, or biased in my
own favor, then I will remain still like a piece of wood..
54. Perceiving in this way that the mind is afflicted or engaged in fruitless
activities, the hero should always firmly control it by means of an antidote to
that..
55. Resolute, confident, steadfast, respectful and courteous, modest, meek,
calm, devoted to pleasing others,.
56. Undistressed by the mutually incompatible desires of foolish people, endowed
with compassion, knowing that they are like this as a consequence of the arising
of their mental afflictions,.
57. Always resorting to irreproachable things for the sake of myself and others,
I will maintain my mind free of pride, like an apparition..
58. Remembering over and over again that after a long time the best of moments
of leisure has been obtained, I will keep this mind unshakable, like Sumeru..
59. One does not object when the body is being dragged here and there by
vultures coveting its flesh. Then why do so now?.
60. Mind, why do you protect this body, appropriating it as your own? If it is
really separate from you, what good is it to you?.
61. O fool, if you do not consider as your own a pure wooden statue, why are
you guarding this foul machine composed of impurities?.
62. First, with your own intellect, peel off this sheath of skin, and with the knife
of wisdom loosen the flesh from the skeleton..
63. Breaking the bones, look inside at the marrow and examine for yourself,
"Where is the essence here?".
64. If searching carefully in this way, you do not see an essence here, then say
why you are still protecting the body today..
65. If you would not eat it, as impure as it is, and if you would not drink the
blood nor suck out the entrails, then what will you do with the body?.
66. However, it is proper to guard it for the sake of feeding the vultures and
jackals. This wretched body of humans is an instrument for action..
67. Even though you protect it so, merciless death will snatch the body away
and give it to the vultures. What will you do then?.
68. You do not give clothing and such to a servant if you think he will not stay.
The body will eat and pass away. Then why do you waste yourself?.
69. Therefore, mind, upon giving the body its wages, now serve your own needs,
because not everything earned by a laborer should be given to him..
70. Consider the body as a ship because it is the basis of coming and going.
Set the body in motion at your will in order to accomplish the welfare of sentient
beings..
71. One who has become self-controlled in that way should always have a
smiling face. One should give up frowning and grimacing, be the first to greet,
and be a friend to the world..
72. One should not inconsiderately and noisily throw around chairs and the like.
One should not pound on the door, and one should always delight in silence..
73. The crane, the cat, or the thief, moving silently and covertly, achieves its
desired goal. A sage should always move in such a way..
74. One must respectfully accept the advice of those skilled in directing others
and providing unsolicited aid. One should always be the pupil of everyone..
75. One should express one's appreciation for all good words. Having seen
someone engaging in virtue, one should cheer him on with praises..
76. One should speak of others' good qualities in their absence and relate them
again with satisfaction; and when one's own virtue is discussed, one should
consider it as appreciation for good qualities..
77. All endeavors are for the sake of satisfaction, which is difficult to obtain
even by means of wealth. So I will enjoy the pleasure of satisfaction in good
qualities diligently accomplished by others..
78. There will be no loss for me in this life, and there will be great happiness in
the hereafter. But due to animosities, there is the suffering of aversion and
great misery in the hereafter..
79. In a soft and gentle voice one should speak sincere, coherent words that
have clear meaning and are agreeable, pleasant to the ear, and rooted in
compassion..
80. One should always look straight at sentient beings as if drinking them in with
the eyes, thinking, "Relying on them alone, I shall attain Buddhahood.".
81. Great blessing arises from continuous yearning for the fields of virtues and
kindness, and from an antidote with regard to those who are suffering..
82. Skillful and vigorous, one should always do the work oneself. With respect
to all works, one should not leave the opportunity to someone else..
83. The perfections of generosity and so forth are progressively more and more
lofty. One should not forsake a better one for the sake of a lesser, unless it is in
accordance with the bridge of the Bodhisattva way of life.
(Tibetan: "...Do not forsake the greater for the sake of the lesser, and most
importantly, consider the welfare of others. ").
84. Realizing this, one should always strive for the benefit of others. Even that
which is prohibited has been permitted for the compassionate one who foresees
benefit..
85. Sharing with those who have fallen into miserable states of existence, with
those who have no protector, and with mendicants, one should eat moderately
small portions. Except for the three robes, one should give away everything..
86. For the sake of an insignificant benefit, one should not harm the body that
practices the sublime Dharma, for only in this way can one quickly fulfill the
hopes of sentient beings..
87. Therefore, when the thought of compassion is impure, one should not
sacrifice one's life, but it should be sacrificed when one's thought is unbiased.
Thus, life must not be wasted..
88. One should not teach the profound and vast Dharma to the disrespectful,
to a healthy person wearing a headdress, to a person with an umbrella, a stick,
or a weapon, to one whose head is veiled,.
89. To those who are inadequate, nor to women in the absence of a man.
One should pay equal respect to inferior and superior Dharmas..
90. One should not expose a vessel of the vast Dharma to an inferior Dharma.
Putting aside the Bodhisattva way of life, one should not seduce them with
sutras and mantras..
91. Flagrantly discarding a tooth-stick or spitting is undesirable, and urinating
and so forth into water or on land that is usable is contemptible..
92. One should not eat with a full mouth, noisily, or with the mouth wide open.
One should not sit with one's legs outstretched; and one should not rub one's
hands together..
93. One should not travel, lie, or sit alone with someone else's spouse. After
observing and inquiring, one should forsake everything that does not please
people..
94. One should not point out anything with one's finger but should respectfully
show the way with one's whole right hand..
95. One should not call out to someone and wave one's arms when there is little
urgency; instead, one should snap one's fingers or the like. Otherwise, one
would lose composure..
96. One should lie down in the preferred direction in the lion's posture of the
Lord's nirvana. One should get up quickly with vigilance and a prior determination..
97. The conduct of Bodhisattvas is described as immeasurable. One should first
surely engage in practices that purify the mind..
98. Three times by day and three times by night one should recite the
Triskandha. By that means one alleviates the remaining downfalls because of
one's reliance on the Jinas and the Spirit of Awakening..
99. One should diligently apply oneself to the trainings that pertain to those
situations in which one finds oneself, either of one's own accord or under the
influence of others..
100. For there is nothing that the Children of the Jina should not learn. For the
good person who behaves in this way, there is nothing that is non-virtuous..
101. One should do nothing other than benefit sentient beings either directly or
indirectly; and for the sake of sentient beings alone, one should subordinate
everything to Awakening..
102. Never, even at the cost of one's life, should one forsake a spiritual friend
who observes the vows of a Bodhisattva and who is well versed in the matters
of the Mahayana..
103. One should learn from the Srisambhavavimoksa respectful behavior toward
spiritual mentors. This and other advice of the Buddha should be known through
reciting the sutras..
104. The practices are found in the sutras; therefore one should recite them,
and one should study the primary downfalls in the Akasagarbhasutra..
105. One should definitely study the Siksasamuccaya again and again, because
good conduct is explained there in detail..
106. Alternatively, one should first look at it briefly, and then carefully read the
Sutrasamuccaya composed by Arya Nagarjuna..
107. Seeing what is forbidden and what is prescribed, one should implement
those teachings for the sake of protecting people's minds..
108. In brief, this alone is the definition of introspection: the repeated
examination of the state of one's body and mind..
109. I shall practice it with my body. What is the use of merely reading the
words? Will a sick person have any benefit merely by reading about medical
treatments?.
--------------109 verses.
CHAPTER VI – The Perfection of Patience
[Meditating on patience: the faults of anger, the benefits of patience.
Methods of practicing patience: preventing the causes of anger,
the three progressive levels of patience and tolerance: voluntary endurance,
definitively thinking about the dharma, not retaliating.
1. Anger destroys all the good conduct, such as generosity and worshiping
the Sugatas, that has been acquired over thousands of eons..
2. There is no vice like hatred, and there is no austerity like patience.
Therefore, one should earnestly cultivate patience in various ways..
3. The mind does not find peace, nor does it enjoy pleasure and joy,
nor does it find sleep or fortitude when the thorn of hatred dwells in the
heart..
4. Even dependents whom one rewards with wealth and honors wish to
harm the master who is repugnant due to his anger..
5. Even friends fear him. He gives, but is not served. In brief, there is
nothing that can make an angry person happy..
6. One who recognizes hatred as the enemy, knowing that it creates
sufferings such as these, and persistently overcomes it, becomes happy
in this world and in the other..
7. Finding its fuel in discontent originating from an undesired event and
from an impediment to desired events, anger becomes inflamed and destroys
me..
8. Therefore, I shall remove the fuel of that enemy, for that foe has no
function other than to harm me..
9. Even if I fall into extreme adversity, I should not disrupt my happiness.
When there is frustration, nothing is agreeable, and virtue is forsaken..
10. If there is a remedy, then what is the use of frustration? If there is
no remedy, then what is the use of frustration?.
11. For loved ones and for oneself, one does not desire suffering, contempt,
verbal abuse, or disgrace; but for an enemy, it is the opposite..
12. Happiness is obtained with great difficulty, whereas suffering occurs
easily. Only through suffering is there release from the cycle of existence.
Therefore, mind, be strong!.
13. The devotees of Durga and the people of Karnata needlessly endure
the pain of burns, cuts, and the like. Why then am I timid when my aim is
liberation?.
14. There is nothing whatsoever that remains difficult as one gets used to it.
Thus, through habituation with slight pain, even great pain becomes bearable..
15. Do you not consider the pain of bugs, gadflies, and mosquitoes, of thirst
and hunger, and the irritation of a serious rash and the like as insignificant?.
16. Cold, heat, rain, wind, traveling, illness, captivity, and beatings should
not induce a sense of fragility. Otherwise, the distress becomes greater..
17. Some, seeing their own blood, show extraordinary valor, while some faint
even at the sight of others' blood..
18. That comes from mental fortitude or from timidity. Therefore, one should
become invincible to suffering, and surmount pain..
19. Not even in suffering should a wise person disrupt his mental serenity,
for the battle is with the mental afflictions; and in battle pain is easily
obtained..
20. Those who conquer the enemy while receiving the enemies' blows on
the chest are the victorious heroes. The rest just kill the dead..
21. Suffering has another quality since arrogance diminishes because of
despair, and one feels compassion for beings in the cycle of existence, fear
of sin, and a yearning for the Jina..
22. I am not angered at bile and the like even though they cause great
suffering. Why be angry at sentient beings, who are also provoked to anger
by conditions?.
23. Just as sharp pain arises although one does not desire it, so anger forcibly
arises although one does not desire it..
24. A person does not intentionally become angry, thinking, "I shall get angry,"
nor does anger originate, thinking, "I shall arise.".
25. All offenses and vices of various kinds arise under the influence of
conditions, and they do not arise independently..
26. An assemblage of conditions does not have the intention, "I shall produce,"
nor does that which is produced have the intention, "I shall be produced.".
27. That which is regarded as the Primal Substance and that which is
construed as the Self (Atman) do not originate, thinking, "I shall come into
being.".
28. Since it has not arisen, how could it wish to come into existence? Since
it engages with objects, it cannot strive to cease either..
29. If the permanent Self is not sentient, it is obviously inactive like space.
Even in conjunction with conditions, what activity does the immutable have?.
30. What is the use of action to the Self which at the time of action is the
same as it was before? If the relationship is that it has action, then which
of the two is the cause of the other?.
31. Thus, everything is dependent on something else, and even that on which
something is dependent is not autonomous. Hence, why would one get angry
at things that are inactive, like apparitions?.
32.Averting anger is inappropriate, for who averts what?
[Response:] That is appropriate, because it is a state of dependent origination
and is considered to be the cessation of suffering..
33. Therefore, upon seeing a friend or an enemy committing a wrong deed,
one should reflect, "Such are his conditions," and be at ease..
34. If all beings would find fulfillment according to their own wishes, then no
one would suffer, for no one wishes to suffer..
35. People hurt themselves with thorns and the like out of negligence, with
fasting and so on out of anger, and by desiring to obtain inaccessible women
nd so forth..
36. Some kill themselves by hanging, by jumping from cliffs, by eating poison
or unwholesome substances, and by non-virtuous conduct..
37. When under the influence of mental afflictions, they kill even their own
dear selves in this way; then how could they have restraint toward the bodies
of others?.
38. If you do not even have compassion toward those who, intoxicated by
mental afflictions, commit suicide, then why does anger arise?.
39. If inflicting harm on others is the nature of the foolish, then my anger
toward them is as inappropriate as it would be toward fire, which has the
nature of burning..
40. If this fault is adventitious and if sentient beings are good by nature,
then anger toward them is inappropriate as it would be toward pungent smoke
in the sky..
41. Disregarding the principal cause, such as a stick and the like, if I become
angry with the one who impels it, then it is better if I hate hatred, because
that person is also impelled by hatred..
42. In the past, I too have inflicted such pain on sentient beings; therefore,
I, who have caused harm to sentient beings, deserve that in return..
43. Both his weapon and my body are causes of suffering. He has obtained
a weapon, and I have obtained a body. With what should I be angry?.
44. Blinded by craving, I have obtained this boil that appears as a human
body, which cannot bear to be touched. When there is pain, with whom
should one be angry?.
45. I do not desire suffering; yet, fool that I am, I desire the cause of
suffering. When suffering emerges due to my own fault, why should I be
angry with anyone else?.
46. Just as the forest of razor-leaves and the birds of hell are brought into
existence by my actions, so is this. With whom should I be angry?.
47. Those who hurt me are impelled by my actions, as a result of which
they will go to the infernal realms. Surely, it is I alone who have ruined them.
48. On account of them, many vices of mine diminish through forbearance.
On account of me, they enter the infernal realms with long-lasting agonies..
49. It is I alone who harm them, and they are my benefactors. Wicked mind,
why do you misconstrue this and become angry?.
50. If there is virtue in my intention, I will not enter the infernal realms.
If I protect myself, what will happen to them here?.
51. If I were to retaliate, they would not be protected and my conduct
would be impaired. Because of that, those in anguish would be lost..
52. Because of its immateriality, the mind can never be harmed by anyone.
However, due to its attachment to the body, the mind is tormented by
suffering.. 53. Neither contempt, abusive speech, nor disgrace harms the
body. Why then, mind, do you become angry?.
54. Will the unkindness of others toward me devour me in this life or
another, that I am so averse to it?.
55. If I am averse to it because it hinders my material gain, my acquisitions
will vanish in this life, but my sin will surely remain..
56. It is better that I die today than have a long, corrupt life. For even after
living a long time, I shall have the suffering of death..
57. One person wakes up after enjoying a hundred years of pleasure in sleep,
and another person wakes up after being happy for a moment..
58. Does happiness return to either once they have awakened? It is the
same at the time of death for one who lives a long time and for one who lives
a short time..
59. Even though I have acquired many possessions and have enjoyed
pleasures for a long time, I shall depart empty-handed and naked as if I had
been robbed..
60. What if I destroy vice and perform virtue while living off my acquisitions?
Do vice and the destruction of virtue not occur for one who gets angry on
account of material gains?.
61. If the meaning of my life vanishes, then what is the point of a life that
creates only non-virtue?.
62. If you think that your hatred toward one who disparages you is because
he drives away sentient beings, why does your anger not arise also when
others are defamed in the same way?.
63. You have patience toward those who are unkind because their
ungracious behavior is directed toward someone else, but you do not have
patience toward one who disparages you when he is subject to the arising
of mental afflictions..
64. My hatred toward those who revile and violate images, stupas, and the
sublime Dharma is wrong, because the Buddhas and the like are free of
distress..
65. As in the preceding case, one should ward off anger toward those who
injure spiritual mentors, relatives, and friends, by seeing this as arising from
conditions..
66. Harm is certainly inflicted on beings either by sentient beings or
non-sentient things. This distress is felt in a sentient being, so endure that
pain..
67. Some do wrong out of delusion, while others, being deluded, become
angry. Among them, whom do we call innocent, and whom do we call guilty?.
68. Why did I previously act in such a way that now I am harmed by others?
All are subject to their actions. Who am I to alter this?.
69. Realizing this, I shall strive for virtues in such a way that all will have
loving thoughts toward each other..
70. When fire spreads from one burning house to another, one should bundle
up the straw and the like, take it out, and discard it..
71. Likewise, when the mind burns with the fire of hatred due to attachment,
one should immediately cast it aside because of the fear of burning the body
of merit..
72. If one who is to be executed has a hand amputated and is released,
is this unfortunate? If a person is freed from hell by human suffering, is this
unfortunate?.
73. If one is unable to endure even this slight suffering of the present,
then why does one not ward off anger which is the cause of pain in hell?.
74. Thus, solely due to anger I have brought myself into hells thousands of
times, and I have not brought about benefit for myself or others..
75. But this suffering is not of that kind, and it will bring about great benefit.
Only delight in suffering that eliminates the suffering of the world is appropriate
here..
76. If others find pleasure and joy in praising the abundance of someone's
good qualities, why, mind, do you not praise it and delight in this way, too?.
77. This joy from your rejoicing is a blameless source of happiness. It is not
prohibited by the virtuous ones, and it is the most excellent way to attract
others..
78. If you do not like it, thinking that it is a pleasure for that person only,
then if you were to stop giving wages and the like, your seen and unseen
reward would be destroyed..
79. When your own good qualities are being praised, you want others to
rejoice as well. When good qualities of someone else are being praised,
you do not want happiness even for yourself..
80. Upon generating the Spirit of Awakening out of the desire for the
happiness of all sentient beings, why are you angry at sentient beings now
that they have found happiness themselves? (jealousy).
81. If you desire sentient beings' Buddhahood, which is worshiped in the
three worlds, then why are you burned up when you see them slightly
honored?
82. One who nurtures a person whom you should nurture is making you a gift.
Upon finding a person who supports your family, are you not delighted, but
angry?. 83. What does one who wishes Awakening for sentient beings not
wish for them? How can one who becomes angry at others' prosperity have
the Spirit of Awakening?.
84. If someone does not receive that gift and if it remains in the house of
the benefactor, then you do not have it anyway. So what use is it to you,
whether it is given away or not?.
85. Why would you have him ward off merits, kind people, and his own good
qualities? Let him not accept when he is being given something? Say, at what
are you angry?.
86. Not only do you not repent for sins you have committed, but you also
wish to compete with others who have performed virtues..
87. If something unpleasant happens to your enemy, would your satisfaction
make it happen again? It would not happen merely due to your desire, without
a cause..
88. Even if it is brought about by your desire, would you find happiness in
his suffering? Even if there were advantage in it for you, what other
disadvantage would come out of it?.
89. For this horrible fishhook is cast by the fishermen, the mental afflictions,
from whom the guardians of hells will buy you and will stew you in infernal
cauldrons..
90. Praise, fame, and honor are not conducive to my merit, long life, strength,
health, or physical well-being..
91. The wise person who knows what is best for himself would find benefit in
these. One desiring mental happiness would pursue drinking, gambling,
and the like..
92. For the sake of fame, some sacrifice their wealth and even kill themselves.
Can words be eaten? And when one dies, who feels that pleasure?.
93. At the loss of praise and fame, my own mind appears to me just like a
child who wails in distress when its sand castle is destroyed..
94. Since a word is not sentient, it cannot praise me. But knowing that
someone likes me is a cause of my delight..
95. Whether it is for someone else or for me, what good to me is the
affection of another? That joy of affection belongs only to that person.
Not even a tiny fraction of that belongs to me..
96. If I take pleasure in that person's pleasure, then I should take it in every
single case. Why am I unhappy when others are made happy through their
favor for someone else?.
97. Therefore, it is because I am being praised that pleasure arises in me.
But due to such absurdity, this is nothing more than the behavior of a child..
98. Praise and so forth obliterate my peace and disillusionment with the
cycle of existence. They stir up jealousy toward gifted people, and anger
at their success..
99. Therefore, are those conspiring to destroy my reputation and so forth
not protecting me from falling into hell?.
100. The bondage of acquisition and honor is unfitting for me who seeks
liberation. How can I hate those who are freeing me from bondage?.
101. How can I hate those who, as if due to the Buddha's blessing, block
the gate as I seek to enter suffering?.
102. It is wrong to feel anger toward someone, thinking that person impedes
my merit. As there is no austerity equal to patience, shall I not abide in that?.
103. If on account of my own fault I do not practice patience here, then
I myself have created an obstacle when grounds for merit have been
presented..
104. If one thing does not exist without another, and does exist when
the other is present, then that other thing is its cause. How can that be
called a hindrance?.
105. For a supplicant is not a hindrance to generosity at the time of
almsgiving; and when a person who bestows an ordination arrives, he is not
called a hindrance to the ordination..
106. Beggars are easy to meet in the world, but malefactors are difficult to
find, for no one will wrong me when I do no wrong..
107. Therefore, since my adversary assists me in my Bodhisattva way of life,
I should long for him like a treasure discovered in the house and acquired
without effort..
108. Thus, he and I have obtained this fruit of patience. It should be given
to him first, for patience is caused by him..
109. If an adversary does not deserve respect because his intention was not
that I accomplish patience, then why is the sublime Dharma honored? It too
has no intention to be a cause of that achievement..
110. If an adversary is not respected because his intention is to cause harm,
then for what other reason would I have patience toward him, if he is like a
physician who is intent on my well-being?.
111. Thus, patience arises only in dependence on that malicious intention,
so he alone is a cause of my patience. I should respect him just like the
sublime Dharma..
112. The Sage has declared that the field of sentient beings is the field of
the Jinas, because many have reached the highest fulfillment by honoring
them..
113. As the attainment of the Buddha's qualities is equally due to sentient
beings and to the Jinas, how is it that I do not respect sentient beings as
I do the Jinas?.
114. Their greatness is not in terms of their intention but in terms of the
result itself. The greatness of sentient beings is comparable to that, so they
are equal..
115. A friendly disposition, which is honorable, is the very greatness of
sentient beings. The merit due to faith in the Buddhas is the very greatness
of the Buddhas..
116. Therefore, sentient beings are equal to the Jinas in their share in the
acquisition of the qualities of the Buddha; but none of them are equal to
the Buddhas, who are oceans of good qualities with endless portions..
117. If even a minute good quality of those who are a unique collection of
the essence of good qualities is found in someone, not even the three worlds
would be enough to honor that one..
118. Sentient beings have the best portion of emerging qualities of a Buddha.
One should honor sentient beings in accordance with that share..
119. Apart from respecting sentient beings, what other repayment to true
friends, the immeasurable benefactors, is possible?.
120. One should render only service to those for whose sake they cut apart
their bodies and enter the Avici hell. Therefore, one should treat people
kindly even though they inflict great harm..
121. Why do I generate pride and not act like a servant toward those masters
for whose sake my Lords have no regard for their own selves?.
122. By pleasing those in whose happiness the Lords of Sages find delight
and in whose pain they experience grief, all the Lords of Sages are gratified;
and to wrong them is to wrong the Sages..
123. Just as there is no mental pleasure in all sensual gratification whatsoever
when one's body is on fire, likewise there is no way for the Compassionate
Ones to be happy when sentient beings are in pain..
124. Therefore, whatever pain I have brought to all those of great
compassion by harming sentient beings, that sin I now confess.
May the Sages forgive that which has aggrieved them..
125. In order to please the Tathagatas, today with my entire being I place
myself in the service of the world. Let streams of people step on my head
and strike me down. May the Protector of the World be pleased..
126. There is no doubt whatsoever that those Compassionate Beings regard
all beings as themselves. Are they not seen as the Protectors in the form of
sentient beings? Why then is there disrespect for them?.
127. This alone is pleasing to the Tathagatas. This alone is the
accomplishment of one's own goal. This alone removes the suffering of the
world. Therefore, let this alone be my resolve..
128. When some king's man tyrannizes the populace, the farsighted among
them cannot retaliate,.
129. Because that man is not alone and his power is the king's power.
So one should not disparage any weak person who has done wrong,.
130. Since his power is the guardians of hell and the Compassionate Ones.
Therefore, one should please sentient beings, just as a servant would a
hot-tempered king..
131. What could an angry king do that would equal the anguish of hell,
experienced as a result of inflicting mental pain on sentient beings?.
132. What could a gratified king give that would equal Buddhahood,
experienced as a result of delighting sentient beings?.
133. Let alone future Buddhahood, do you not see that in this life, fortune,
fame, and happiness ensue from pleasing sentient beings?.
134. While transmigrating, a patient person attains beauty, health,
charisma, long life, and the abundant joy of a Cakravarti..
134 verses.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************.
CHAPTER VII – The Perfection of Effort
1. Thus, one who has patience should cultivate zeal, because Awakening is established with zeal, and there is no merit without zeal, just as there is no movement without wind..
2. What is zeal? It is enthusiasm for virtue. What is said to be its antithesis? It is spiritual sloth, clinging to the reprehensible, apathy, and self-contempt..
3. Spiritual sloth arises from indolence, indulging in pleasures, sleep, and craving for lounging around due to one's apathy toward the miseries of the cycle of existence..
4. Scented out by the hunters, the mental afflictions, you have entered the snare of rebirth. Why do you not recognize even now that you are in the mouth of death?.
5. You do not see that those of your own kind are gradually being killed. You even fall asleep like a buffalo among butchers..
6. When Yama watches you and your path is blocked on all sides, how can you enjoy eating, and how can you sleep and have sexual intercourse?.
7. Since death will come swiftly, with its implements prepared, what will you do then even if you have abandoned spiritual sloth at this wrong time?.
8. Thinking: "I have not achieved this. I have just started this, but it remains half-done. Death has suddenly arrived. Oh, I am wretched,".
9. Seeing despondent relatives with their eyes swollen and red, with tears on their faces from the impact of their grief and the faces of the messengers of Yama,.
10. Tormented by the recollection of your own vices, hearing the sounds of hell, and befouling your body with excrement out of fear, what will you do when you are so terrified?.
11. Realizing "I am like a live fish," your fear is appropriate now. How much more when you have committed vices and face the intense suffering of hell?.
12. So, delicate one, you burn even when touched by hot water. Upon performing deeds leading to hell, how will you remain at ease?.
13. You expect results with no effort. So delicate you are and in so much pain. While in the clutches of death, you act like an immortal. Hey, miserable one, you are destroying yourself!.
14. Upon finding the boat of human birth now, cross the great river of suffering. O fool, there is no time for sleep, for this boat is hard to catch again..
15. Forsaking the supreme joy of Dharma, which is an endless stream of joy, how can you delight in frivolity and jokes, which are two causes of suffering?.
16. The absence of apathy, the array of abilities such as prudence, self-control, equality between oneself and others, and exchange of oneself for others.
17. Should be practiced without the discouragement of thinking, "How could I possibly attain Awakening?" For the truth-speaking Tathagata proclaimed this truth:.
18. "Even those who were gadflies, mosquitoes, bees, and worms attained supreme Awakening, which is difficult to attain, through the power of their effort.".
19. Human by birth and capable of knowing what is beneficial and what is not, why could I not attain Awakening as long as I do not forsake the guidance of the Omniscient One?.
20. If I fear, thinking, "I shall have to sacrifice my arms, legs, and the like," I may confuse the important with the insignificant due to my lack of discrimination..
21. For countless millions of eons I shall be cut, pierced, burned, and split open many times, but Awakening will not occur..
22. However, this limited suffering of mine, which yields perfect Awakening, is like the suffering of extraction when removing the pain of an embedded splinter..
23. All physicians cure with unpleasant treatments. Therefore, to destroy a multitude of pains, a slight one must be endured..
24. Although such treatment is customary, the Supreme Physician does not give it. He cures chronic diseases with gentle treatment..
25. At the beginning, the Guide prescribes giving vegetables and the like. One does it gradually so that later one can give away even one's own flesh..
26. When insight arises that one's own flesh is like a vegetable, then what difficulty is there in giving away one's flesh and bone?.
27. On account of abandoning vices, one does not suffer, and on account of being wise, one does not become troubled in mind; for mental pain is due to false conceptions, and bodily pain is due to sinful actions..
28. The body is well on account of merit; and the mind is joyful on account of wisdom. What can afflict a compassionate one who stays in the cycle of existence for the sake of others?.
29. Extinguishing previous vices and accumulating oceans of merit, owing to the power of the Spirit of Awakening alone, one moves ahead of the Sravakas..
30. Upon mounting the chariot of the Spirit of Awakening, which carries away all despondency and weariness, what sensible person would despair at progressing in this way from joy to joy?.
31. The powers of aspiration, steadfastness, delight, and letting go are for the sake of accomplishing the benefit of sentient beings. Out of fear of suffering, one should generate that aspiration as one contemplates its blessings..
32. Uprooting its opposite in this way, one should strive to increase one's zeal with the powers of aspiration, self-confidence, delight, letting go, dedication, and determination..
33. I must eliminate immeasurable faults for myself and for others. While the eradication of every single fault may take myriads of eons,.
34. There I do not see even a small fraction of a beginning of the elimination of faults. Why does my heart not burst open when I am to be allotted immeasurable suffering?.
35. I must acquire many good qualities for myself and for others; otherwise, the cultivation of every single good quality may not take place in myriads of eons..
36. I have never trained in even a small fraction of good qualities. It is astonishing that this life, which I have somehow obtained, has been spent in vain..
37. I have not found joy in great festivals and offerings to the Blessed One. I have not paid my respect to the teaching, nor have I fulfilled the hopes of the poor..
38. I have not granted fearlessness to the frightened, nor have I comforted the distressed. I became a spear in the womb just for my mother to suffer..
39. Due to my former lack of aspiration for Dharma, such a disaster has befallen me now. Who would forsake the aspiration for Dharma?.
40. The Sage declared that aspiration is a root of all virtues, and the root of that is constantly meditating on the results of the maturation of karma..
41. Miseries, depressions, various fears, and impediments to their desires befall those who do evil..
42. Wherever the heart's desire of those who perform virtue goes, there its own merits honor it with an offering of its results..
43. But wherever the desire for happiness of the evil-doers goes, there vices destroy it with weapons of sufferings..
44. On account of their virtues, the Children of the Sugata, who dwell in the hearts of spacious, fragrant, and cool lotuses, whose splendor is enhanced with the nourishment of the sweet voice of the Jina, and whose handsome bodies emerge from the lotuses blossomed by the rays of the Sage, are born in the presence of the Sugata..
45. On account of non-virtues, one cries out in distress, one's entire skin is ripped away by the agents of Yama, one's body is immersed into copper melted by the heat of fire, pieces of one's flesh are cut off by hundreds of strokes of blazing spears and swords, and one repeatedly falls on intensely heated iron grounds..
46. Therefore, one should nurture an aspiration for virtue, cultivating it with reverence. Once one has begun, one should cultivate self-confidence according to the method discussed in the Vajmdhvajasutra..
47. After first examining one's means, one should either begin or not begin. Surely, it is better not to begin than to turn back once one has begun..
48. This habit continues even in another life; and due to that sin, suffering increases. Another opportunity for action is lost, and the task is not accomplished..
49. One should apply self-confidence to these three: actions, secondary mental afflictions, and ability. "I alone should do it" expresses self-confidence with regard to action..
50. This world overwhelmed by mental afflictions is incapable of accomplishing its own self-interest. Therefore, I must do it for them. I am not as incapable as the world is..
51. Why should someone else do inferior work while I stand by? If I do not do it because of pride, then it is better to let my pride be destroyed..
52. Even a crow behaves like a garuda when attacking a dead water snake. If my mind is weak, even a small adversity is troubling..
53. When one is made powerless by despondency, adversities are easily caused, but one who is uplifted and zealous is invincible even in the face of great adversities..
54. Therefore, with an unswerving mind, I shall bring disaster to adversity. For as long as I am conquered by adversities, my desire for victory over the three worlds is ludicrous..
55. I should overcome everything and not be overcome by anything. I should acquire this self-confidence, for I am a Child of the Lions, the Jinas..
56. Beings who are overcome by pride are wretched and not self-confident; they are under the power of the enemy, pride. A self-confident person does not succumb to the power of the enemy..
57. Led by pride to miserable states of existence, they are devoid of joy even in human life. They are slaves who eat others' morsels, stupid, ugly, and feeble..
58. They are despised everywhere, puffed up with pride, and miserable. If they are included among the self-confident, they are pitiable. Say, of what kind are they?.
59. They are self-confident and victorious heroes who bear their self-confidence in order to conquer the enemy, pride. Upon killing that growing enemy, pride, they demonstrate the fruit of their victory to the world as they please..
60. Abiding amidst a multitude of mental afflictions, one should be vigorous in a thousand ways and unconquerable by the hosts of mental afflictions, like a lion by a herd of deer..
61. Even in great troubles, the eye does not perceive flavor. Likewise, upon encountering difficulty, one should not be overcome by mental afflictions..
62. One should diligently apply oneself to the action in which one engages. Intoxicated by that action, one should be of an insatiable mind, like one striving for the satisfaction of the result of a game..
63. An action is performed for the sake of happiness, and yet happiness may or may not occur. But how can one who delights in action itself be happy when inactive?.
64. In the cycle of existence, there is no satisfaction in sensual desires, which are like honey on a razor's edge. How can there be satiation with the nectar of merits, which are sweet in their maturation and beneficial?.
65. Therefore, even upon the completion of an action, one should immerse oneself in it again, just as an elephant, scorched by the midday sun, immediately approaches a lake..
66. And when one's strength begins to decline, one should quit so that one can re-engage later. When a task has been well completed, one should leave it with the desire for more and more..
67. One should ward off the blows of mental afflictions and severely attack them, as if engaged in a sword-combat with a trained enemy.
68. Just like one would quickly, fearfully pick up a dropped sword, so should one pick up the dropped sword of mindfulness, while bearing the hells in mind..
69. Just as poison spreads throughout the body once it has reached the blood, so does a fault spread throughout the mind once it has reached a vulnerable spot..
70. A practitioner should be like someone carrying a jar of oil while under the scrutiny of swordsmen, careful of stumbling out of fear of death..
71. Therefore, just as one quickly jumps up when a snake creeps onto one's lap, so should one swiftly counteract the advent of drowsiness and sloth..
72. At every single disgrace, one should burn with remorse and ponder: "How shall I act so that this does not happen to me again?".
73. One should seek for companionship or for an appointed task with this motive: "How may I practice mindfulness in these circumstances?".
74. Bringing to mind the teaching on conscientiousness, one should arouse oneself so that one is always prepared before encountering a task..
75. Just as cotton is swayed in the direction of the wind's coming and going, so should one surrender oneself to one's enthusiasm, and in this way one's supernormal powers will thrive..
--------------75 verses.
CHAPTER VIII – The Perfection of Meditation
1. Upon developing zeal in that way, one should stabilize the mind in
meditative concentration (i.e. Samatha), since a person whose mind is
distracted lives between the fangs of mental afflictions..
2. With bodily and mental seclusion, distraction does not arise.
Therefore, upon renouncing the world, one should renounce discursive
thoughts..
3. On account of attachment and craving for gain and the like, one does
not renounce the world. Thus, upon forsaking them,
the wise should contemplate in this way..
4. Realizing that one who is well endowed with insight through
quiescence eradicates mental afflictions, one should first seek quiescence.
Quiescence is due to detachment toward the world and due to joy..
5. For what impermanent person, who will not see his loved ones again
in thousands of births, is it appropriate to be attached to impermanent beings?
6. Failing to see them, one does not find joy nor does one abide in meditative
concentration. Even upon seeing them, one does not become satisfied but is
tormented by strong desire, just as before..
7. One does not perceive reality and loses disillusionment with the cycle
of existence. One is consumed by that grief—desire for the company of the
beloved..
8. Because of thinking of that person, life ever so swiftly passes in vain.
Due to a transient entity, the eternal Dharma is lost..
9. One who acts in the same manner as foolish people definitely goes to
a miserable state of existence. They do not like someone who is different.
What is gained from association with fools?.
10. One moment they are friends, and the next moment they are enemies.
On an occasion for being pleased, they become angry. Ordinary people are
difficult to gratify..
11. When given good advice, they become angry; and
they turn me away from good advice. If they are not listened to, they become
angry and go to a miserable state of existence..
12. They feel envy toward a superior, competitiveness with a peer, arrogance
toward one who is inferior, conceit due to praise, and anger due to reproach.
When could there be any benefit from a fool?.
13. Between one fool and another, something non-virtuous is inevitable, such
as glorification of one's own self, speaking ill of others, and conversation about
the pleasures of the cycle of existence..
14. Thus, on account of one's association with someone else, one encounters
adversity. I shall happily live alone with a non-afflicted mind..
15. One should flee far from a fool. One should gratify the encountered person
with pleasantries, not with the intention of intimacy, but in the manner of a kind
and impartial person..
16. Taking only what benefits Dharma, like a bee taking nectar from a flower,
I shall live everywhere without acquaintance, as if I had not existed before..
17. A mortal who thinks, "I am rich and respected, and many like me,
" experiences fear of approaching death..
18. Wherever the mind, infatuated by pleasures, finds enjoyment, there
a thousandfold suffering arises and falls to one's share..
19. Hence, the wise should not desire it. Fear arises from desire, yet it passes
away by itself. Generate fortitude and look at it with indifference..
20. Many have become wealthy and many have become famous, but no one
knows where they have gone with their wealth and fame..
21. If others despise me, why should I rejoice when praised? If others praise me,
why should I be despondent when reviled?.
22. If sentient beings of different dispositions have not been satisfied by the
Jinas themselves, then how could they be by an ignorant person like myself?
So, what is the point of attending to the world? (i.e. We are not ready now
to be a Bodhisattva among people. It is better to seek solitude.).
23. They revile a person without acquisitions and despise a person with
acquisitions. How can those whose company is by nature suffering bring forth
joy?.
24. The Tathagatas have said that a fool is no one's friend, because the
affection of a fool does not arise without self-interest..
25. Love due to self-interest is love for one's own sake, just as distress at the
loss of possessions is occasioned by the loss of pleasures..
26. Trees do not revile nor can they be pleased with effort. When might I dwell
with those whose company is a delight?.
27. After dwelling in an empty temple, at the foot of a tree, or in caves,
when shall I set forth, unconcerned and not looking back?.
28. When shall I dwell in unclaimed and naturally spacious regions, wandering
as I please and without a residence?.
29. When shall I dwell fearlessly, without protecting my body, having a clay bowl
as my only property and a garment useless to a thief?.
30. When shall I go to the local charnel grounds and compare my own body,
which has the nature of decay, with other corpses? (i.e. Once in solitude,
starting with a meditation about death and impermanence).
31. For this body of mine will also become so putrid that even the jackals will
not come near it because of its stench..
32. If the co-emergent pieces of bones of this single body will fall apart, how
much more so another person whom one holds dear?.
33. A person is born alone and also dies alone. No one else has a share in one's
agony. What is the use of loved ones who create hindrances?.
34. Just as one who has undertaken a journey takes lodging, so does one who
travels in the cycle of existence take lodging in a rebirth..
35. Until one is hoisted by four men and mourned by the world, one should retire
to the forest.. 36. Free of intimacy and free of conflict, one is in bodily solitude.
One has already died to the world and does not grieve when dying..
37. No one brings one distress, attending one and grieving, nor are there any
who distract one from the recollection of the Buddha and the like..
38. Therefore, I should always cultivate solitude, which is delightful, without
difficulties, having a favorable outcome, and subduing all distractions..
39. Free from all other concerns and having a single-pointed mind, I shall apply
myself to meditative concentration and to the subjugation of the mind.
(i.e. Once physical solitude and external calm is reached, seek mental solitude.
First free from sexual and material desire.).
40. For sensuous desires create calamities in this world and the next: through
imprisonment, beating, and dismemberment in this world, and in hell and the like
in the next..
41. She for whom you have supplicated male and female messengers many times
and for whose sake you have not considered the cost of either vice nor disgrace,
42. Throwing yourself into danger and wasting your wealth, embracing her with
the greatest pleasure—.
43. She is nothing but bones, indifferent and impersonal. Why do you not resort
to emancipation, fully embracing it to your heart's content?.
44. Either you have seen that bashfully lowered face before as being lifted up
with effort, or you have not seen it as it was covered by a veil..
45. Now, that face is revealed by vultures as if they are unable to bear your
anxiousness. Look at it! Why are you fleeing away now?.
46. Jealous one, why do you not protect what was guarded from the glances
of others, as it is being eaten now?.
47. Seeing this mass of flesh being eaten by vultures and others, should you
worship others' food with wreaths of flowers, sandalwood paste, and ornaments?.
48. You fear a skeleton that has been seen like this, even though it does not
move. Why do you not fear it when it moves as if set in motion by some ghost?.
49. Their saliva and excrement arise from the same food. Why then do you dislike
excrement and like sucking saliva?.
50. The enamored, deluded with regard to filth, do not delight in pillows stuffed
with cotton and soft to the touch because they do not emit a foul odor..
51. You had this passion for it even when it was covered, so why do you dislike
it when it is uncovered? If you have no use for it, why do you caress it when
covered?.
52. If you have no passion for the impure, why do you embrace someone else,
who is a skeleton of bones tied by sinews and smeared with a mire of flesh?.
53. You have plenty of filth yourself. Be satisfied with that alone. Voracious
for feces! Forget another sack of muck!.
54. You desire to look at it and touch it because you like its flesh. How can you
desire flesh, which by nature is devoid of consciousness?.
55. The mind that you desire cannot be seen or touched; and that which can
be is not conscious. Why do you embrace it in vain?.
56. It is not surprising that you do not look upon another person's body as
composed of filth, but it is astonishing that you do not perceive your own body
as comprised of filth..
57. Apart from the delicate, muck-arisen lotus, opening under the rays of the
cloudless sun, what delight is there in the cage of filth for a mind addicted to
filth?.
58. If you do not desire to touch soil and the like because it is smeared with
excrement, how can you desire to touch the body out of which it is excreted?.
59. If you do not have passion for what is impure, why do you embrace someone
else, who is a seed arisen from a field of filth and nourished by it?.
60. You do not desire a dirty worm originating from filth because it is small, but
you desire a body that consists of much filth and is also born from filth..
61. Not only do you not abhor your own filthiness, you, voracious for excrement,
long for other vessels of filth!.
62. Even the ground is considered impure when savory foods, such as camphor
or boiled rice and condiments, are spat out or vomited from the mouth..
63. If you do not trust that this is filth even though it is obvious, look at other
bodies too, repugnant and discarded in the charnel grounds..
64. Knowing that great fear arises when the skin is torn off, how can you have
attraction to that same thing again?.
65. Although applied to the body, this fragrance is from sandal-wood and not
from anything else. Why are you attracted to someone by the fragrance that
belongs to something else?.
66. If attraction does not arise due to a naturally foul smell, is that not good?
Why do people take pleasure in what is worthless and anoint it with fragrance?.
67. If it is sandalwood that is sweet-smelling, did it come from the body? Why is
one attracted to someone because of a fragrance that belongs to something
else ?
68. If the naked body, containing the slime of filth, is frightening in its natural
condition with its long hair and nails and stained yellowish teeth,.
69. Why do you meticulously polish it like a weapon for suicide? The earth is
crowned with insane people, diligent in deluding themselves..
70. Seeing a few corpses in a charnel ground, you are repelled, yet you delight
in a village which is a charnel ground crowded with moving corpses..
71. Also, although this body is filth, it is not acquired without a price. For its
sake there is exhaustion in earning it and there is agony in hells and the like..
72. A child is not able to earn money. When one is a youth, with what is one
happy? The prime of one's life passes away in making a living. What can an
old person do with sensual gratification?.
73. Some debased sensualists, exhausted by a full day's work, come home in
the evening and sleep like the dead..
74. Others are afflicted by the troubles of traveling abroad because of military
expeditions. Although longing for their sons and wives, they do not see them
for years on end..
75. Deluded by sensual desires, they sell themselves for that which they never
acquire. Instead, their life is uselessly spent in labor for others..
76. The wives of those who have sold themselves and who always carry out
commissions give birth at the feet of trees in the jungles and other inopportune
places..
77. In order to make a livelihood, they enter war that endangers their lives,
and they become servants for the sake of their self-respect. They are fools
ridiculed for their sensual desires..
78. Some other sensualists are mutilated, fixed on a stake. They are seen being
burned and slain with daggers..
79. Consider wealth as an unending misfortune because of the troubles of
acquiring, protecting, and losing it. Those whose minds are attached to wealth
on account of their distracted state have no opportunity for liberation from
the suffering of mundane existence..
80. Thus, sensualists have much distress and little enjoyment, like a beast that
has hold of a bit of grass while pulling a wagon..
81. For the sake of that bit of enjoyment, which is easily attainable even for an
animal, an ill-fated one has destroyed this leisure and endowment, which is very
difficult to find..
82. This exertion is constantly made for the sake of the body, which is definitely
transient, insignificant, and falls into hells and the like..
83. With even a billionth part of that diligence, there can be Buddhahood.
Sensualists have suffering greater than the suffering of the Path, but they
have no Awakening..
84. After bringing to mind the anguish of hell and the like, neither a weapon,
poison, fire, a precipice, nor enemies are comparable to sensual desires..
85. Fearing sensual desires in this way, one should generate delight in solitude
and in deserted woodlands devoid of strife and annoyances..
86. The fortunate ones, caressed by silent and gentle forest breezes, pace
on pleasant boulders, spacious like palaces, cooled by sandalwood-like moon
rays, and ponder how to benefit others..
87. Dwelling here and there for as long as one likes, freed from the exhaustion
of guarding one's possessions and free of care, one lives as one pleases in an
empty dwelling, at the foot of a tree, or in a cave..
88. Living as one wishes, homeless, and not tied down by anyone, one savors
the joy of contentment, which is difficult even for a king to find.
CHAPTER IX – The Perfection of Wisdom
1. The Sage taught this entire system for the sake of wisdom.
Therefore, with the desire to ward off suffering, one should develop
wisdom..
2. This truth is recognized as being of two kinds: conventional
andultimate. Ultimate reality is beyond the scope of the intellect.
The intellect is called conventional reality..
3. In the light of this, people are seen to be of two types: the
contemplative and the ordinary person. The ordinary folks are
superseded by the contemplatives..
4. Due to the difference in their intelligence, even contemplatives
are refuted by successively higher ones by means of analogies
acceptedby both parties, regardless of what they aim to prove..
5. Ordinary people see and imagine things as real and not illusory.
It is in this respect that there is disagreement between the
contemplatives and the ordinary people..
6. Even the objects of direct perception, such as form and the like,
are established by consensus and not by verifying cognition. That
consensus is false, as is the general agreement that pure things are
impure, for example..
7. The Protector taught things in order to bring people to
understanding. [Qualm:] If these things are not ultimately, but
only conventionally, momentary, this is inconsistent..
8. [Madhyamika:] There is no fault in the conventional truth of the
contemplatives. In contrast to ordinary people, they see reality.
Otherwise, ordinary people would invalidate the perception of women
as impure..
9. [Qualm:] How can there possibly be merit due to the Jina (the
Buddha) who is like an illusion, as is the case if he is truly
existent? If a sentient being is like an illusion, why is he born
again after he dies?.
10. [Madhyamika:] Even an illusion lasts for as long as the collection
of its conditions. Why should a sentient being truly exist merely
because its continuum lasts a long time?.
11.[Yogacarin:] If consciousness does not exist, there is no sin
in killing an illusory person. [Madhyamika:] On the contrary, when
one is endowed with the illusion of consciousness, vice and merit do
arise..
12.[Yogacarin:] An illusory mind is not possible, since mantras and
the like are unable to produce it.[Madhyamika:] Diverse illusions
originate on account of diverse conditions. Nowhere does a single
condition have the ability to produce everything..
13.[Yogacarin:] If one could be ultimately emancipated and yet
transmigrate conventionally, then even the Buddha would transmigrate.
So what would be the point of the Bodhisattva way of life?.
14.[Madhyamika:] When its conditions are not destroyed, an illusion
does not cease either. Due to a discontinuity of its conditions, it
does not originate even conventionally..
15.[Yogacarin:] When even a mistaken cognition does not exist, by
what is an illusion ascertained?.
16.[Madhyamika:] If for you an illusion itself does not exist, what
is apprehended? Even if it is an aspect of the mind itself, in
reality it exists as something different..
17. [Yogacarin:] If the mind itself is an illusion, then what is
perceived by what? [Madhyamika:] The Protector of the World stated
that the mind does not perceive the mind. Just as a sword cannot cut
itself, so it is with the mind..
18. [Yogacarin:] It illuminates itself, as does a lamp.
[Madhyamika:] A lamp does not illuminate itself, for it is not concealed
by darkness..
19. [Yogacarin:] A blue object does not require something else for its
blueness, as does a crystal. So something may or may not occur in
dependence on something else..
20. [Madhyamika:] As in the case of non-blueness, blue is not regarded
as its own cause. What blue by itself could make itself blue?.
21. [Yogacarin:] It is said that a lamp illuminates once this is
cognized with awareness. The mind is said to illuminate once this is
cognized with what?.
22. [Madhyamika:] If no one perceives whether the mind is luminous or
not, then there is no point in discussing it, like the beauty of a
barren woman's daughter..
23. [Yogacarin:] If self-cognizing awareness does not exist, how is
consciousness recalled? [Madhyamika:] Recollection comes from its
relation to something else that was experienced, like a rat's poison..
24. [Yogacarin:] It illuminates itself, because the mind endowed with
other conditions perceives.
[Madhyamika:] A jar seen due to the application of a magical ointment is
not the ointment itself..
25. The manner in which something is seen, heard, or cognized is not
what is refuted here, but the conceptualization of its true existence,
which is the cause of suffering, is rejected here..
26. If you fancy that an illusion is neither different from the mind
nor non-different, then if it is a really existing thing, how can it not
be different? If it is not different, then it does not really exist..
27. Just as an illusion can be seen even though it does not truly exist,
so it is with the observer, the mind.
[Yogacarin:] The cycle of existence has its basis in reality or else it
would be like space..
28. [Madhyamika:] How can something that does not exist have any efficacy
by being based on something real? You have approached the mind as being
an isolated unity..
29. If the mind were free of any apprehended object, then all beings
would be Tathagatas. Thus, what good is gained by speculating that only
the mind exists?.
30. [Yogacarin:] Even when the similarity to illusion is recognized, how
does a mental affliction cease, since lust for an illusory woman arises
even in the one who created her?.
31. [Madhyamika:] Because her creator's imprints of mental afflictions
toward objects of knowledge have not been eliminated, when seeing her,
his imprint of emptiness is weak..
32. By building up the imprints of emptiness, the imprint of existence
is diminished; and after accustoming oneself ( habituation ) to the fact
that nothing truly exists, even that diminishes..
33. [Yogacarin:] If it is conceived that a phenomenon that does not
really exist cannot be perceived, then how can a non-entity, which is
without basis, stand before the mind?.
34. [Madhyamika:] When neither an entity nor a non-entity remains before
the mind, then since there is no other possibility, having no objects,
it becomes calm..
35. Just as a wish-fulfilling gem or a wish-granting tree satisfies
desires, so the image of the Jina (Buddha) is seen, because of his vow
and his disciples..
36. When a charmer against poisons dies after completing a pillar, that
pillar neutralizes poisons and the like, even a long time after his
death..
37. Likewise, the pillar of the Jina, completed in accordance with the
Bodhisattva way of life, accomplishes all tasks, even when the
Bodhisattva has passed into nirvana..
38. [Hinayanist:] How could worship offered to something that has no
consciousness be fruitful?
[Madhyamika:] Because it is taught that it is the same whether he is
present or has passed into nirvana..
39. According to the scriptures, effects of worship do exist, whether
conventionally or ultimately, in the same way that worship offered to
the true Buddha is said to be fruitful..
40. [Hinayanist:] Liberation comes from understanding the [Four Noble]
Truths, so what is the point of perceiving emptiness?
[Madhyamika:] Because a (Mahayana) scripture states that there is no
Awakening without this path (the realization of emptiness)..
41. [Hinayanist:] The Mahayana is certainly not authenticated.
[Madhyamika:] How is your scripture authenticated?
[Hinayanist:] Because it is authenticated by both of us.
[Madhyamika:] Then it is not authenticated by you from the beginning..
42. Apply the same faith and respect to the Mahayana as you do to it.
If something is true because it is accepted by two different parties,
then the Vedas and the like would also be true..
43. If you object that the Mahayana is controversial, then reject your
own scripture because it is contested by heterodox groups and because
parts of your scriptures are contested by your own people and others..
44. The teaching has its root in the monkhood, and the monkhood is not
on a firm footing. For those whose minds are subject to grasping,
nirvana is not on a firm footing either..
45. If your objection is that liberation is due to the elimination of
mental afflictions, then it should occur immediately afterward. Yet
one can see the power of karma over those people, even though they had
no mental afflictions..
46. If you think that as long as there is no craving there is no
grasping onto rebirth, why could their craving, even though free of
mental afflictions, not exist as delusion?.
47. Craving has its cause in feeling, and they have feeling. The mind
that has mental objects (dharma) has to dwell on one thing or another..
48. Without emptiness (of all dharma), the mind is constrained and
arises again, as in non-cognitive meditative equipoise. Therefore, one
should meditate on emptiness (of all dharma)..
49. If you acknowledge the utterances that correspond to the sutras as
the words of the Buddha, why do you not respect the Mahayana, which for
the most part is similar to your sutras?.
50. If the whole is faulty because one part is not acceptable, why not
consider the whole as taught by the Jina because one part is similar to
the sutras?.
51. Who will not accept the teachings not fathomed by leaders such as
Mahakasyapa, just because you have failed to understand them?.
52. Remaining in the cycle of existence for the sake of those suffering
due to delusion is achieved through freedom from attachment and fear.
That is a fruit of emptiness..
53. Thus, no refutation is possible with regard to emptiness, so one
should meditate on emptiness without hesitation..
54. Since emptiness is the antidote to the darkness of (both) afflictive
and cognitive obscurations, how is it that one desiring omniscience does
not promptly meditate on it?.
55. Let fear arise toward something that produces suffering. Emptiness
pacifies suffering. So why does fear of it arise?.
56. If there were something called "I," fear could come from anywhere.
If there is no "I," whose fear will there be?.
57. Teeth, hair, and nails are not I, nor am I bone, blood, mucus,
phlegm, pus, or lymph..
58. Bodily oil is not I, nor are sweat, fat, or entrails. The cavity of
the entrails is not I, nor is excrement or urine..
59. Flesh is not I, nor are sinews, heat, or wind. Bodily apertures are
not I, nor, in any way, are the six consciousnesses..
60. If the awareness of sound were I, then sound would always be
apprehended. But without an object of awareness, what does it cognize
on account of which it is called awareness?.
61. If that which is not cognizant were awareness, a piece of wood would
be awareness. Therefore, it is certain there is no awareness in the
absence of its object..
62. Why does that which cognizes form not hear it as well?
[Samkhya:] Because of the absence of sound, there is no awareness of it..
63. [Madhyamika:] How can something that is of the nature of the
apprehension of sound be the apprehension of form? One person may be
considered as a father and as a son, but not in terms of ultimate
reality,.
64. Since sattva, rajas, and tamas are neither a father nor a son.
Moreover, its nature is not seen as related to the apprehension of
sound..
65. If it is the same thing taking another guise, like an actor, he too
is not permanent. If he has different natures, then this unity of his is
unprecedented..
66. If another guise is not the true one, then describe its natural
appearance. If it were the nature of awareness, then it would follow
that all people would be identical..
67. That which has volition and that which has no volition would be
identical, because their existence would be the same. If difference
were false, then what would be the basis for similarity?.
68. That which is not conscious is not "I," because it lacks
consciousness, like a cloth and the like. If it were conscious because
it has consciousness, then it would follow that when it stops being
conscious of anything, it would vanish..
69. If the Self is not subject to change, what is the use of its
consciousness? Thus, this implies that space, which lacks consciousness
and activity, has a Self..
70. [Objection:] Without the Self, the relationship between an action
and its result is not possible, for if the agent of an action has
perished, who will have the result?.
71. [Madhyamika:] When both of us have agreed that an action and its
result have different bases and that the Self has no influence in this
matter, then there is no point in arguing about this..
72. One who has the cause cannot possibly be seen as being endowed with
the result. It is pointed out that the existence of the agent and the
experiencer of the consequences depends on the unity of their continuum
of consciousness..
73. The past or future mind is not "I," since it does not exist. If the
present mind were "I," then when it had vanished, the "I" would not
exist any more..
74. Just as the trunk of a plantain tree is nothing when cut into pieces,
in the same way, the "I" is non-existent when sought analytically..
75. [Qualm:] If no sentient being exists, for whom is there compassion?
[Madhyamika:] For one who is imagined through delusion, which is
accepted for the sake of the task..
76. [Qualm:] If there is no sentient being, whose is the task?
[Madhyamika:] True. The effort, too, is due to delusion. Nevertheless,
in order to alleviate suffering, delusion with regard to one's task is
not averted..
77. However, grasping onto the "I," which is a cause of suffering,
increases because of the delusion with regard to the Self. If this is
the unavoidable result of that, meditation on identitylessness is the
best..
78. The body is not the feet, the calves, nor the thighs. Nor is the
body the hips, the abdomen, the back, the chest, or the arms..
79. It is not the hands, the sides of the torso, or the armpits, nor
is it characterized by the shoulders. Nor is the body the neck or the
head. Then what here is the body?.
80. If this body partially exists in all of these and its parts exist
in their parts, where does it stand by itself?.
81. If the body were located in its entirety in the hands and other
limbs, there would be just as many bodies as there are hands and so
forth..
82. The body is neither inside nor outside. How can the body be in the
hands and other limbs? It is not separate from the hands and the like.
How, then, can it be found at all?.
83. Thus, the body does not exist (we cannot find it). However, on
account of delusion, there is the impression of the body with regard to
the hands and the like, because of their specific configuration, just
as there is the impression of a person with regard to a pillar..
84. As long as a collection of conditions lasts, the body appears like
a person. Likewise, as long as it lasts with regard to the hands and
the like, the body continues to be seen in them..
85. In the same way (for the parts … we cannot find them), since it is
an assemblage of toes, which one would be a foot? The same applies to a
toe, since it is an assemblage of joints, and to a joint as well,
because of its division into its own parts..
86. Even the parts can be divided into atoms, and an atom itself can be
divided according to its cardinal directions. The section of a cardinal
direction is space, because it is without parts. Therefore, (even
elementary particles like) an atom does not exist..
87. What discerning person would be attached to form, which is just like
a dream? Since the body does not exist (we cannot find it), then who is
a woman and who is a man?.
88. If suffering truly exists, why does it not oppress the joyful? If
delicacies and the like are a pleasure, why do they not please someone
struck by grief and so forth?.
89. If it is not experienced because it is overpowered by something more
intense, how can that which is not of the nature of experience be a
feeling?.
90. [Objection:] Surely there is suffering in its subtle state while its
gross state is removed.
[Madhyamika:] If it is simply another pleasure, then that subtle state
is a subtle state of pleasure..
91. If suffering does not arise when the conditions for its opposite
have arisen, does it not follow that a " feeling" is a false notion
created by conceptual fabrication?.
92. Therefore, this analysis is created as an antidote to that false
notion. For the meditative stabilizations that arise from the field of
investigations are the food of contemplatives..
93. If there is an interval between a sense-faculty and its object,
where is the contact between the two? If there is no interval, they
would be identical. In that case, what would be in contact with what?.
94. One atom cannot penetrate another, because it is without empty space
and is of the same size as the other. When there is no penetration,
there is no mingling; and when there is no mingling, there is no contact.
95. How, indeed, can there be contact with something that has no parts?
If partlessness can be observed when there is contact, demonstrate this..
96. It is impossible for consciousness, which has no form, to have
contact; nor is it possible for a composite, because it is not a truly
existent thing, as investigated earlier..
97. Thus, when there is no (truly existing) contact, how can (resulting)
feeling arise? What is the reason for this exertion? Who could be harmed
by what?.
98. If there is no one to experience feeling and if feeling does not
exist, then after understanding this situation, why, O craving, are you
not shattered?.
99. The mind that has a dreamlike and illusion-like nature sees and
touches. Since feeling arises together with the mind, it is not
perceived by the mind..
100. What happens earlier is remembered but not experienced by what
arises later. It does not experience itself, nor is it experienced by
something else..
101. There is no one who experiences feeling. Hence, in reality, there
is no feeling. Thus, in this identityless bundle, who can be hurt by it?.
102. The mind is not located in the sense faculties, nor in form and
other sense-objects, nor in between them. The mind is also not found
inside, nor outside, nor anywhere else..
103. That which is not in the body nor anywhere else, neither
intermingled nor somewhere separate, is nothing. Therefore, sentient
beings are by nature liberated..
104. If cognition is prior to the object of cognition, in dependence on
what does it arise? If cognition is simultaneous with the object of
cognition, in dependence on what does it arise?.
105. If it arises after the object of cognition, from what would
cognition arise? In this way it is ascertained that no phenomenon comes
into existence ..
106. [Objection:] If conventional truth does not exist, how can there be
the two truths? If it does exist due to another conventional truth, how
can there be a liberated sentient being?.
107. [Madhyamika:] One is an ideation of someone else's mind, and one
does not exist by one's own conventional truth. After something has
been ascertained, it exists; if not, it does not exist as a conventional
reality either..
108. The two, conception and the conceived, are mutually dependent,
just as every analysis is expressed by referring to what is commonly
known..
109. [Objection:] But if one analyzes by means of analysis which itself
is analyzed, then there is an infinite regress, because that analysis
can also be analyzed..
110. [Madhyamika:] When the object of analysis is analyzed, no basis
for analysis is left. Since there is no basis, it does not arise, and
that is called "nirvana.".
111. A person for whom these two are truly
existent is in an extremely shaky position. If an object exists because
of the power of cognition, how does one arrive at the true existence of
cognition?.
112. If cognition exists because of the power of the object of cognition,
how does one arrive at the true existence of the object of cognition?
If their existence is due to their mutual power, neither can exist..
113. [Objection:] If there is no father without a son, how can there be
a son?
[Madhyamika:] Just as in the absence of a son there is no father, in
the same way, those two do not exist..
114. [Objection:] A sprout arises from a seed. The seed is indicated by
that sprout. Why does cognition that arises from the object of cognition
not ascertain the true existence of that object of cognition?.
115. [Madhyamika:] It is ascertained that a seed exists owing to a
cognition that is not the same as a sprout. How is the existence of a
cognition cognized, since the object of cognition is ascertained by
that cognition?.
116. People observe every cause through direct perception, since the
components of a lotus, such as the stalk and so forth, are produced by
a variety of causes..
117. [Qualm:] What makes the variety of causes?
[Madhyamika:] A preceding variety of causes.
[Qualm:] How can a cause give an effect?
[Madhyamika:] Because of the power of preceding causes..
118. [Nyaya-Vaisesika:] Isvara is the cause of the world.
[Madhyamika:] Then explain who Isvara is. If he is the elements, so be
it; but then why the tussle over a mere name?.
119. Moreover, the earth and other elements are not one; they are
impermanent, inactive, and not divine. They can be stepped on and are
impure. That is not Isvara..
120. Space is not the Lord because it is inactive. Nor is it the Self,
because that has been refuted. How can the inconceivable creatorship of
the Inconceivable One be described?.
121. What does he desire to create? If [he desires to create] a Self,
are not that Self, the nature of the earth and other elements, and
Isvara eternal? Cognition is due to the object of cognition and is
without beginning..
122. Happiness and suffering are the result of action. Say then, what
did he create? If the cause has no beginning, how can its effect have
a beginning?.
123. If he does not depend on anything else, why does he not always
create? There is nothing whatsoever that is not created by him, so on
what would he depend?.
124. If Isvara depends on a collection of conditions, then again, he is
not the cause. He cannot refrain from creating when there is a
collection of conditions, nor can he create in their absence..
125. If Isvara creates without desiring to do so, it would follow that
he is dependent on something other than himself. Even if he desires to
create, he is dependent on that desire. Whence is the supremacy of the
creator?.
126. Those who claim that atoms are permanent have been refuted earlier.
The Samkhyas consider a primal substance as the permanent cause of the
world..
127. The universal constituents—sattva, rajas, and tamas—remaining in
equilibrium, are called the primal substance. The universe is explained
by their disequilibrium..
128. It is implausible that a single thing has three natures, so it does
not exist. Likewise, the universal constituents do not exist, since they
would each be comprised of three constituents..
129. In the absence of the three universal constituents, the existence
of sound and other sense-objects is far-fetched. There is also no
possibility of pleasure and the like in unconscious things such as
cloth and so on..
130. If you argue that things have the nature of causes, have things
not been analyzed away? For you, pleasure and the like are the cause,
but cloth and the like are not a result of that cause..
131. Happiness and other feelings may be due to things such as a cloth,
but in their absence, there would be no happiness and so on. The
permanence of happiness and other feelings is never ascertained..
132. If the manifestation of happiness truly exists, why is the feeling
not apprehended? If you say that it becomes subtle, how can it be gross
and subtle?.
133. [Objection:] It is subtle upon leaving its gross state. Its
grossness and subtlety are impermanent.
[Madhyamika:] Why do you not consider everything as impermanent in that
way?.
134. If its gross state is not different from happiness, then the
impermanence of happiness is obvious. If you think that something
non-existent does not arise because it has no existence whatsoever,
then you have accepted, even against your will, the origination of
something manifest that was non-existent..
135. If you accept that the effect is present in the cause, then one
who eats food would be eating excrement, and a cotton-tree seed would
be bought at the price of a cloth and worn as a garment..
136. If you argue that ordinary people do not see this because of
delusion, this is the case even for one who knows reality..
137. Even ordinary people know that. Why do they not see it? If you
argue that ordinary people have no verifying cognition, then even their
perception of something manifest is false..
138. [Samkhya:] If verifying cognition is not verifying cognition, then
is that not verified falsely? In reality, the emptiness of phenomena is
not ascertained through that verifying cognition..
139. [Madhyamika:] Without detecting an imagined thing, its non-existence
is not apprehended. Therefore, if a thing is false, its non-existence
is clearly false..
140. Thus, when in a dream a son has died, the thought "He does not
exist" prevents the arising of the thought of his existence; and that
too is false..
141. Therefore, with this analysis, nothing exists without a cause, nor
is it contained in its individual or combined causal conditions..
142. Nothing comes from something else, nothing remains, and nothing
departs. What is the difference between an illusion and that which is
considered by fools as real?.
143. Examine this: As for that which is created by illusion and that
which is created by causes, where do they come from and where do they
go?.
144. How can there be true existence in something artificial, like a
reflection, which is perceived only in conjunction with something else
and not in its absence?.
145. For something that already exists, what need is there for a cause?
If something does not exist, what is the need for a cause?.
146. Something that does not exist will not be subject to change, even
with millions of causes. How can something in that state be existent?
What else can come into existence?.
147. If there is no existent thing at the time of non-existence, when
will an existent thing come into existence? For that non-existent thing
will not disappear as long as the existent thing is not produced..
148. When a non-existent thing has not disappeared, there is no
opportunity for the existent thing. An existent thing does not become
non-existent, since it would follow that it would be of two natures..
149. Thus, there is neither cessation nor coming into existence at any
time. Therefore, this entire world does not arise or cease..
150. States of existence are like dreams; upon analysis, they are
similar to plantain trees. In reality, there is no difference between
those who have attained nirvana and those who have not..
151. When all phenomena are empty in this way, what can be gained and
what can be lost? Who will be honored or despised by whom?.
152. Whence comes happiness or suffering? What is pleasant and what is
unpleasant? When investigated in its own nature, what is craving and
for what is that craving?.
153. Upon investigation, what is the world of living beings, and who
will really die here? Who will come into existence, and who has come
into existence? Who is a relative, and who is a friend of whom?.
154. May those who are like me apprehend everything as being like space.
They rage and rejoice by means of dispute and jubilation.
155. Seeking their own happiness with evil deeds, they live miserably
with grief, troubles, despair, and cutting and stabbing each other..
156. After repeatedly entering the fortunate states of existence and
becoming accustomed to pleasure again and again, they die and fall
into the miserable states of existence in which there is long and
intense anguish..
157. There are many pitfalls in mundane existence, but there is not
this truth there. There is mutual incompatibility. Reality could not be
like this..
158. There are incomparable, violent, and boundless oceans of suffering.
Strength is scanty there; and the life span is short there as well..
159. There, too, in practices for long life and health, in hunger,
fatigue, and weariness, in sleep and calamities, and in unprofitable
associations with fools,.
160. Life passes by swiftly and in vain. Discrimination is difficult to
obtain there. How could there be a way to prevent habitual distractions?.
161. There, too, Mara tries to throw them into very wretched states.
There, because of the abundance of wrong paths, doubt is difficult to
overcome,.
162. And leisure is hard to obtain again. The appearance of a Buddha is
extremely rare. The flood of mental afflictions is difficult to impede.
Alas, what a succession of suffering!.
163. Ah, there should be great pity for those adrift in the flood of
suffering, who, although miserable in this way, do not recognize their
wretched situation..
164. Just like one who repeatedly immerses himself in water but must
enter fire again and again, so they consider themselves fortunate,
although they are extremely miserable..
165. As they live like this, pretending that they are not subject to
aging and death, terrible calamities come, with death the foremost of
them..
166. Thus, when might I bring relief to those tormented by the fire of
suffering, with the requisites of happiness springing forth from the
clouds of my merit?.
167. When shall I respectfully teach emptiness (wisdom) and the
accumulation of merit (method) — in terms of (the two truths:)
conventional truth and without reification (emptiness) — to those whose
views are reified?.
--------------167 verses.
ACOMPLISHING THIS GROUND THEN ONE IS AVIAVARTIKA