The Bodhisattva Manjusri Sums It Up
So the Buddha said to Manjusri, “Now that these twenty-five great Bodhisattvas and Arhats have all shared the expedients that led them to their realization of Bodhi. In reality no method is superior or inferior to the others. But which one is most suitable for Ananda to practice? Which one is the easiest for sentient beings to follow, so that they may continue on the Bodhisattva Path after my nirvana, until ultimately attaining Supreme Bodhi?”
於是如來，告文殊師利法王子。汝今觀此二十五無學諸大菩薩，及阿羅漢，各說最初成道方便，皆言修習真實圓通。彼等修行，實無優劣前後差別。我今欲令阿難開悟，二十五行誰當其根。兼我滅後，此界眾生，入菩薩乘求無上道，何方便門得易成就。
Manjusri rose from his seat upon receiving the command, prostrated at the feet of the Buddha, then with great inspiration infused in him from the Buddha, he chanted the following verses:
“By nature the Bodhi ocean is clear and perfect,
So wonderful and pure is this flawless Bodhi in essence.
But then objects appear within the primordial brightness,
Obscuring the fundamental purity and diminishing its luminance.
Therefore, in confusion and delusion, one-sided emptiness appears,
In which all imaginary worlds come into being.
As attachment and clinging grow solid, thoughts create continents
And the illusory thinker becomes living being.
This one-sided emptiness created within the great Bodhi
Is but a bubble in the great ocean.
Worldly realms and beings with outflows thus arise, as countless as dusts
In this relative emptiness.
When the bubble bursts, naturally the voidness disappears –
How could the three realms not vanish too?
Although Bodhi is the One Nature we return to,
There are many expedient Dharma-gateways that can bring us there.
Such as these sages here, none of them failed in making breakthrough and realizing perfect insight,
Either they used direct or indirect methods, tracing inward or outward, rapid or slow,
They all nonetheless attained Samadhi and realized Bodhi.
Visual objects and cognitive activities interact with each other
And thus become opaque dusts.
How could such a state of nontransparency guide you towards enlightenment?
Sounds, voices, languages and speeches mix together to express meanings,
With each confined to certain definition
Which is not all embracing –
How could they guide you towards enlightenment?
Odors are perceived through the nose,
Lacking either condition, no smelling would occur.
How could you rely on such inconstant occurrence for enlightenment?
Taste is not part of our true nature,
But merely perceived when flavor is present.
Since tasting is conditional and ever varied,
How could it be a reliable guide towards enlightenment?
Touch occurs only when there is object touched;
Without an object, no touch takes place.
Since touch is intermittent,
How could beings rely on its help to achieve perfection?
Mental defilements are inner objects of the mind,
And each of them has its own location.
Since they are not all embracing,
How could they serve as reliable guide to enlightenment?
The faculty of seeing indeed functions well,
Seeing things in front but not what lies behind.
Of four directions it can only see two at once,
How could it lead one to perfection?
Breath comes in and goes out, with a pause in-between;
How could an on-and-off act like that lead beings to breakthrough?
The tongue has no constant function either.
It senses flavors when flavors are present,
And it tastes nothing when flavors are absent.
How could it help leading beings to enlightenment?
Likewise, the body needs an object in order to touch object.
All embracing meditation is beyond the limitation of subject and object.
While body and conditions do not always meet,
How could this serve to achieve perfection?
The faculty of cognition gives rise to turbulent thoughts,
And clear understanding is nowhere to seek.
Thinking and thoughts are impossible to eradicate,
How could intellect lead to enlightenment?
Eye-consciousness involves three components,
The eye, the sight, and the consciousness are dependent to each other.
How could something not independent be used as a means for enlightenment?
Ear-consciousness extends throughout the ten directions,
But it needs great cause from past practice to bring about such fruition.
Untrained beginners may not have such cause,
How could it lead them to perfection?
Meditating on the nose is an expedient means,
Serving only to control the mind for the moment by focusing it upon a single spot.
But the dwelling then becomes a confine,
How could it lead to breakthrough?
Preaching the Dharma plays upon sounds and words,
Awakening only those who have awakened by themselves.
Concepts and speeches never can go beyond the worldly streams and flows,
How could it ever guide beings to enlightenment?
Keeping the precepts regulates the body,
But never has any power over what goes beyond the body.
How could something that is not all-embracing
Guide beings towards perfection?
Transcendental powers are the effect of a former cause,
Having no relation to the discriminating consciousness.
The arising of cognition depends on objects,
How could it serve as reliable guidance to perfection?
Suppose you can instead meditate on the element of earth,
Which is solid and opaque.
But it belongs to the material world and lacks in spirituality.
How could it guide beings towards spiritual breakthrough?
Suppose you can contemplate the element of water,
Yet thoughts have no relation to reality.
‘Thus is’ can neither be felt nor seen.
How could water help to achieve perfection?
Suppose you can meditate on the element of fire,
However, dislike of desire is far from complete renunciation.
So it is not an expedient suited for beginners.
How could fire become a means to attain enlightenment then?
Suppose you can meditate on the element of wind,
But movement and stillness are opposite to each other,
And Supreme Bodhi cannot come out of duality.
How could wind serve as a guide to perfection then?
Suppose you can also contemplate the element of space,
Yet dimness and dullness are not awareness,
And lacking awareness is not Bodhi.
How could space be used as a means to achieve perfection?
Suppose you can meditate on the element of consciousness,
But consciousness keeps changing and never stays one way;
Every notion is but delusion.
How could you rely on so fitful and restless a thing to attain enlightenment?
All practices are inconstant,
Thoughts come and go,
And karma is a flux.
How could the element of perception lead all beings to enlightenment?
I now most reverently present my reckoning to the World-Honored One,
Who came to this Saha world to bestow upon us the most essential teachings,
That the best means to attain complete purity is hearing.
All those who wish to realize the state of Samadhi
Surely may enter it through the way of hearing,
Thereby eradicating suffering and attaining total liberation.
How powerful is this supreme method proclaimed by Honorable Avalokitesvara,
The Bodhisattva of Compassion!
Throughout countless eons the Bodhisattva of Compassion
Enters Buddha-lands as numerous as the River Ganges’ sands,
Extending His mastery of great ease, He bestows fearlessness upon all beings in danger.
Most compassionate and powerful is the Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World,
The seer of sounds, the purifier of sounds,
Who, as unfailing as ocean tides, keeps rescuing worldly beings who cry out for help,
Bringing them peace, helping them attain Nirvana in eternity!
Most reverently I declare to the Tathagata:
Exactly as Avalokitesvara said –
When one’s mind dwells in quietude,
One can hear drumbeats from all ten directions simultaneously,
Meanwhile each drumbeat is distinct and definite.
Therefore the hearing faculty is truly complete and perfect!
The eyes cannot see through anything solid;
Neither can the mouth nor the nose.
Body only feels when there is contact.
Mind too, its thoughts are confused and chaotic.
Yet sounds can be heard nearby or from afar,
Even walls fail in blocking them.
None of the other five sense organs can be as perfect,
Only the faculty of hearing truly is the one for breaking through.
We can hear both sound and silence;
When sound is absent, hearing is still present.
Neither is hearing born of sound,
Nor does it die with silence.
Beyond creation and cessation,
Hearing truly is the everlasting one.
Even when in a dream,
Thinking process may stop yet hearing carries on.
The ear awareness goes beyond all thoughts,
Really superior to any other faculty of both mind and body.
Now in this Saha world,
All sorts of noises, opinions and arguments are voiced.
Living beings, who don’t recognize their nature of hearing,
Are getting lost in the sounds.
Following the sounds they continue transmigrating,
Keeping themselves forever in bondage to the endless cycle of birth and death.
Even though Ananda was erudite and well-learned,
He couldn’t prevent himself falling prey to a lewd scheme,
Exactly because he followed the sounds and got lost in them.
If he could’ve gone against the current,
He would have been able to avoid the mistake.
Now, Ananda, listen closely!
Inspired by the almighty Power of the Buddha, I proclaim
The Vajra of Enlightenment –
The inconceivable wisdom beyond the reach of mundane thinking,
The true and marvelous Samadhi that begets all Buddhas!
You may have heard of all the esoteric Dharma-gateways
That numerous Buddhas have taught,
But if you cannot first eradicate your desires and stop your outflows,
The more you learn, the more mistakes you make.
The best way to realize your Buddha nature is to hear your own hearing!
Hearing external sounds is not true hearing,
For those sounds have names, relating to concepts of all sorts.
If you can turn your hearing inward, it is then freed from sounds,
And what is truly free cannot be named.
Return hearing back to its source,
And all six senses will thereby be freed.
What we see and hear are nothing but illusion,
All Three Realms are illusory flowers in the sky.
Once we turn the hearing inward,
All illusory objects vanish,
Awareness is completely purified, and Perfect Bodhi appears.
In such utter purity, the bright brilliance pervades all.
Embraced in this stillness and brightness is the great emptiness.
All worldly things now appear as illusions seen in dreams.
That young Matanga woman was but an apparition in a dream,
How could she really have any power to keep your body in hostage?
All of this is like a puppet show,
The puppet-master can make men and women move around by pulling on one string.
Once the string is dropped though,
Everything returns to stillness,
And all is realized to be just illusion.
The same is with the six sense faculties,
Which came from one pure bright source before getting divided into six.
If one of them is redirected back to the source,
All six may cease to function separately,
All defilements are to vanish,
And the Perfect Bodhi will manifest.
Those who still have residue of defilement must carry on the study;
Those who have realized ultimate enlightenment are the Tathagatas already.
The Assembly and Ananda, turn your hearing inward!
Listen to your own true nature –
It is the Path to Supreme Bodhi!
It is the Way of attaining breakthrough to Perfect Enlightenment!
It is the method that countless Buddhas in the past had followed,
Leading them straight into the gate of Nirvana!
All Bodhisattvas in the present,
They too are entering perfect brightness through it!
And all practitioners in the future
Should rely on this teaching!
I myself also attained realization through this means,
Avalokitesvara was not the only one.
The Buddha has asked me to choose one expedient,
Most suitable for all beings to take refuge in,
Thereby getting liberated from samsara and attaining Nirvana through it.
So now I proclaim that the best of all methods
Is the one taught by Avalokitesvara,
The Great Bodhisattva of Compassion,
The Most Honorable Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World!
The other expedients used by other sages
May not be as workable for practitioners of different levels.
I now bow to all the Buddhas and all the Dharma-treasuries,
Which are the most inconceivable and far beyond the worldly stream.
May beings of the future
Be so blessed that they have unwavering faith
In this easy-to-follow means of attaining enlightenment.
It is the best method recommended for Ananda
And all beings in the Dharma ending-age.
Just practice through the faculty of hearing,
And it will bring the practitioner to perfect realization!
Surpassing all other expedients,
Surely it is the most reliable path to the true nature of mind!”
Having received such profound guidance, everyone in the assembly felt like someone who has gone too far away from home on business trips – it is time to go home, and now they know the road that will lead them home. A nun named Like Nature even realized Arhatship right on the spot. The entire assembly, including those who only recently have made the resolution to follow the Great Vehicle, to become Bodhisattvas and to attain perfect enlightenment, all now opened their Dharma-eye and discovered their inherent true mind.
文殊師利法王子，奉佛慈旨，即從座起，頂禮佛足，承佛威神說偈對佛。
覺海性澄圓 圓澄覺元妙 元明照生所 所立照性亡 迷妄有虛空 依空立世界 想澄成國土 知覺乃眾生 空生大覺中
如海一漚發 有漏微塵國 皆依空所生 漚滅空本無 況復諸三有 歸元性無二 方便有多門 聖性無不通 順逆皆方便
初心入三味 遲速不同倫 色想結成塵 精了不能徹 如何不明徹 於是獲圓通 音聲雜語言 但伊名句味 一非含一切
云何獲圓通 香以合中知 離則元無有 不恆其所覺 云何獲圓通 味性非本然 要以味時有 其覺不恆一 云何獲圓通
觸以所觸明 無所不明觸 合離性非定 云何獲圓通 法稱為內塵 憑塵必有所 能所非遍涉 云何獲圓通 見性雖洞然
明前不明後 四維虧一半 云何獲圓通 鼻息出入通 現前無交氣 支離匪涉入 云何獲圓通 舌非入無端 因味生覺了
味亡了無有 云何獲圓通 身與所觸同 各非圓覺觀 涯量不冥會 云何獲圓通 知根雜亂思 湛了終無見 想念不可脫
云何獲圓通 識見雜三和 詰本稱非相 自體先無定 云何獲圓通 心聞洞十方 生於大因力 初心不能入 云何獲圓通
鼻想本權機 祇令攝心住 住成心所住 云何獲圓通 說法弄音文 開悟先成者 名句非無漏 云何獲圓通 持犯但束身
非身無所束 元非遍一切 云何獲圓通 神通本宿因 何關法分別 念緣非離物 云何獲圓通 若以地性觀 堅礙非通達
有為非聖性 云何獲圓通 若以水性觀 想念非真實 如如非覺觀 云何獲圓通 若以火性觀 厭有非真離 非初心方便
云何獲圓通 若以風性觀 動寂非無對 對非無上覺 云何獲圓通 若以空性觀 昏鈍先非覺 無覺異菩提 云何獲圓通
若以識性觀 觀識非常住 存心乃虛妄 云何獲圓通 諸行是無常 念性元生滅 因果今殊感 云何獲圓通 我今白世尊
佛出娑婆界 此方真教體 清淨在音聞 欲取三摩提 實以聞中入 離苦得解脫 良哉觀世音 於恒沙劫中 入微塵佛國
得大自在力 無畏施眾生 妙音觀世音 梵音海潮音 救世悉安寧 出世獲常住 我今啟如來 如觀音所說 譬如人靜居
十方俱擊鼓 十處一時聞 此則圓真實 目非觀障外 口鼻亦復然 身以合方知 心念紛無緒 隔垣聽音響 遐邇俱可聞
五根所不齊 是則通真實 音聲性動靜 聞中為有無 無聲號無聞 非實聞無性 聲無既無滅 聲有亦非生 生滅二圓離
是則常真實 縱令在夢想 不為不思無 覺觀出思惟 身心不能及 今此娑婆國 聲論得宣明 眾生迷本聞 循聲故流轉
阿難縱強記 不免落邪思 豈非隨所淪 旋流獲無妄 阿難汝諦聽 我承佛威力 宣說金剛王 如幻不思議 佛母真三昧
汝聞微塵佛 一切秘密門 欲漏不先除 畜聞成過誤 將聞持佛佛 何不自聞聞 聞非自然生 因聲有名字 旋聞與聲脫
能脫欲誰名 一根既返源 六根成解脫 見聞如幻翳 三界若空華 聞復翳根除 塵銷覺圓淨 淨極光通達 寂照含虛空
卻來觀世間 猶如夢中事 摩登伽在夢 誰能留汝形 如世巧幻師 幻作諸男女 雖見諸根動 要以一機抽 息機歸寂然
諸幻成無性 六根亦如是 元依一精明 分成六和合 一處成休復 六用皆不成 塵垢應念銷 成圓明淨妙 餘塵尚諸學
明極即如來 大眾及阿難 旋汝倒聞機 反聞聞自性 性成無上道 圓通實如是 此是微塵佛 一路涅槃門 過去諸如來
斯門已成就 現在諸菩薩 今各入圓明 未來修學人 當依如是法 我亦從中證 非唯觀世音 誠如佛世尊 詢我諸方便
以救諸末劫 求出世間人 成就涅槃心 觀世音為最 自餘諸方便 皆是佛威神 即事捨塵勞 非是長修學 淺深同說法
頂禮如來藏 無漏不思議 願加被未來 於此門無惑 方便易成就 堪以教阿難 及末劫沈淪 但以此根修 圓通超餘者 真實心如是
於是阿難及諸大眾。身心了然得大開示。觀佛菩提及大涅槃。猶如有人因事遠遊未得歸還。明了其家所歸道路。普會大眾天龍八部有學二乘。及諸一切新發心菩薩。其數凡有十恒河沙皆得本心。遠塵離垢獲法眼淨。性比丘尼聞說偈已成阿羅漢。無量眾生皆發無等等阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。
Buddha Mind 