Heavenly Music, and Birds That Preach the Path

Third, clarifying the adornment of heavenly music and the rain of flowers. The subtle, wondrous music made by the various devas never ceases, hence it says "heavenly music is always playing." The pure ground, adorned with the seven treasures, has gold as its very substance, hence it says "the ground is made of gold." The first and latter portions of the day are called the day's three watches; the first, middle, and latter portions of the night are called the night's three watches — hence it says "the six periods of the day and night." Yet the buddha and bodhisattvas of that land each possess a bodily radiance of their own, and the beings born there likewise possess a bodily radiance, constantly bright and never dark, needing no light from sun or moon — how, then, could day and night even be distinguished? Perhaps it is that the flowers opening and the birds singing are taken as day, and the flowers closing and the birds roosting are taken as night; or perhaps, although there is truly no day and night at all, this is only spoken of provisionally as "day and night," following this world's own habitual usage. "Māndārava" is the name of a heavenly flower, meaning "pleasing to the mind," also called "white flower." Falling down from the sky, it is called a "rain." "The beings" here means everyone from those at the stage of equal enlightenment down to ordinary beings. "The folds of their robes" are vessels for holding flowers. "These wondrous flowers" are precisely the heavenly flowers that rain down, making clear that it is not the māndārava alone — one should understand this as the four kinds of flowers set out in the Lotus Sūtra, representing the four causal stages of abiding, practice, dedication, and ground. "Making offerings to the buddhas of other worlds" represents the true cause converging toward the ultimate fruit, the fruit's own virtue pervading everywhere without exception. That it names only "a hundred thousand million" is because this is reckoned from Utmost Bliss's own distance of a hundred thousand million lands from this sahā world — the meaning being that, once one has attained birth in the land of Utmost Bliss, returning to make offerings to Śākyamuni and Maitreya presents no difficulty whatsoever. And if one further relies on the empowering of Amitābha's own spiritual power, then how could any distance be too far to reach? "Then, in time for the midday meal, they return to their own land" makes clear that their spiritual feet move freely at will, requiring no passage of time at all. As for "take their meal, and walk in mindful exercise": since it has already said "in time for the meal," it therefore says "take their meal" — the moment food is thought of, the food itself arrives, requiring no preparation or arrangement; once the meal is finished, the bowl of itself departs, requiring no washing, wiping, or putting away — hence they simply walk about the jeweled ground, advancing spontaneously in their own cultivation. If the joy of the pure land of common dwelling is already like this, how much more so, then, when one may, from within that very land, also transcend directly into the expedient land, the realm of real reward, and tranquil light itself — what must that joy be like!

Fourth, clarifying the adornment of the Dharma sound, in two parts: first, distinguishing the two kinds of Dharma sound; second, closing by praising the accomplishment of merit. The first has two: first, the transformed birds' sound; second, the wind-and-trees' sound. The first again has two: first, directly clarifying the Dharma's benefit; second, raising and resolving a lurking doubt. Here is the first. "Rare and wondrous birds of every color" speaks of their great number and beauty. And this borrows, from among the birds prized in our own world, those most fitting to describe their likeness. The śārika is simply the shrike; together with the white crane, peacock, and parrot, these four kinds all exist in this land, prized in common by all people. The kalaviṅka translates as "wondrous sound" — before it has even broken from its shell, its voice already surpasses every other bird — and this land has none. The bird of shared life has one body with two heads, its consciousness distinct though its karmic reward shared — this land, too, has none. The snowy mountains of the western regions do have these last two kinds, and yet even these cannot compare to the rare and wondrous birds of Utmost Bliss — this is specially spoken of only as a likeness. Saying that they send out their gentle, elegant call throughout the six periods of day and night shows that the Pure Land, too, does not take the birds' roosting as marking night — one should understand that there is truly no day and night there, spoken of only provisionally as "day and night," precisely because a body born by transformation from a lotus is, by its very nature, never drowsy and requires no lying down to sleep at night.

As for "the five faculties, the five powers," and so on: these are the thirty-seven factors of the path. That the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, and the four bases of spiritual power are not named is merely a brevity of the text. The thirty-seven factors run through all Four Teachings alike. The four foundations of mindfulness are: first, mindfulness of the body; second, mindfulness of feeling; third, mindfulness of mind; fourth, mindfulness of dharmas. The four right efforts are: first, causing evil already arisen to be cut off; second, preventing evil not yet arisen from arising; third, causing good not yet arisen to arise; fourth, causing good already arisen to increase. The four bases of spiritual power are: first, the basis of aspiration; second, the basis of effort; third, the basis of mind; fourth, the basis of investigation. The five faculties are faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom: believing in the correct path and the dharmas that assist it is called the faculty of faith; practicing the correct path and every wholesome dharma that assists it, diligently seeking without rest, is called the faculty of effort; being mindful of the correct path and every wholesome dharma that assists it, with no other thought intervening, is called the faculty of mindfulness; gathering the mind within the correct path and its assisting dharmas, in accord with them and undistracted, is called the faculty of concentration; contemplating the Four Noble Truths of suffering and the rest, for the sake of the correct path and its assisting dharmas, is called the faculty of wisdom. The five powers: as the faculty of faith increases, it is able to break through doubt and confusion, break through every deviant belief, and break through affliction — this is called the power of faith; as the faculty of effort increases, it breaks through every kind of bodily and mental indolence, accomplishing the great matter of transcending the world — this is called the power of effort; as the faculty of mindfulness increases, it breaks through every deviant thought, accomplishing every merit of correct, world-transcending mindfulness — this is the power of mindfulness; as the faculty of concentration increases, it is able to break through scattered thinking, giving rise to meditative concentration in both phenomena and principle — this is the power of concentration; as the faculty of wisdom increases, it is able to obstruct every delusion, both shared and specific, giving rise to genuine, uncontaminated realization — this is the power of wisdom. The seven factors of awakening, also called the seven limbs of enlightenment: first, when wisdom contemplates every dharma, being well able to distinguish the true from the false, not mistakenly grasping at any false dharma — this is called the limb of discerning dharmas; second, when diligently cultivating every practice of the path, being well able to discern clearly, not mistakenly engaging in fruitless austerities, constantly and diligently keeping the mind engaged in the true dharma — this is called the limb of effort; third, when the mind attains joy in the Dharma, being well able to discern that this joy does not arise from any inverted dharma, joyfully abiding in the true joy of the Dharma — this is called the limb of joy; fourth, when cutting off the afflictions of every view, being well able to discern that removing every falsehood does not harm one's own genuine roots of goodness — this is called the limb of removal; fifth, when relinquishing whatever view or object of attachment one has held to, being well able to discern that the object relinquished is false and unreal, never to be recalled again — this is called the limb of relinquishment; sixth, when giving rise to meditative concentration of any kind, being well able to discern that every such concentration is illusory and false, giving rise to no craving, view, or false thought about it — this is called the limb of concentration; seventh, when cultivating the world-transcending path, being well able to discern how to keep concentration and wisdom constantly in balance — when the mind sinks, being mindful to use the three limbs of discerning dharmas, effort, and joy to rouse it; when the mind grows agitated, being mindful to use the three limbs of removal, relinquishment, and concentration to gather it in — harmonizing and adjusting to the proper measure — this is called the limb of mindfulness. The eightfold noble path, also called the eight right paths: first, cultivating uncontaminated practice, seeing the Four Noble Truths clearly — this is called right view; second, with an uncontaminated mind, thinking, stirring, discerning, and deliberating in accord with it, so as to increase and enter great nirvāṇa — this is called right intention; third, with uncontaminated wisdom, eliminating the four wrong livelihoods of speech, gathering every verbal karma into entirely right speech — this is called right speech; fourth, with uncontaminated wisdom, eliminating every wrong bodily karma, abiding in pure and correct bodily karma — this is called right action; fifth, with uncontaminated wisdom, thoroughly eliminating the five wrong livelihoods among the three karmas, abiding in pure right livelihood — this is right livelihood. (The five wrong livelihoods are: first, for the sake of gain, falsely displaying strange and extraordinary appearances; second, for the sake of gain, praising one's own merit and virtue; third, for the sake of gain, divining fortune and misfortune and preaching the Dharma to people accordingly; fourth, for the sake of gain, raising one's voice and displaying authority to inspire awe in others; fifth, for the sake of gain, speaking of the offerings one has received in order to stir people's hearts.) Sixth, with uncontaminated wisdom, diligently and vigorously cultivating the path to nirvāṇa — this is called right effort; seventh, with uncontaminated wisdom, being mindful of the correct path and the dharmas that assist it — this is called right mindfulness; eighth, with uncontaminated wisdom, entering into concentration — this is called right concentration.

If these factors of the path are cultivated in dependence on the Four Noble Truths of generation-and-extinction, they are the Tripiṭaka teaching's own factors of the path; if cultivated in dependence on the Four Noble Truths of no generation, they are the shared teaching's own; if cultivated in dependence on the Four Noble Truths of the immeasurable, they are the distinct teaching's own; if cultivated in dependence on the Four Noble Truths of the unconditioned, they are the perfect teaching's own. The Tripiṭaka teaching's factors of the path are called the half-word Dharma-gate — since the Pure Land's turbidity is light, they would seem unnecessary there, though for one whose small-vehicle seed has already ripened first, they may be used there temporarily. The shared teaching's factors of the path are called the initial gateway of the Mahāyāna, received in common by all three vehicles; the land of common dwelling should mostly teach these. The distinct teaching's factors of the path are called the dharma unique to bodhisattvas; the lands of common dwelling and expedient means, too, mostly teach these. The perfect teaching's factors of the path are called the unsurpassed Buddha-dharma; one of sharp faculties should be able to hear these across all four kinds of Pure Land. The closing phrase "teachings such as these" refers back to the foundations of mindfulness, right efforts, bases of spiritual power, and the rest, together with every other immeasurable Dharma-gate — the four means of attraction, the six pāramitās, the ten powers, the fearlessnesses, and so on. Although the thirty-seven factors gather in the whole of the Buddha-dharma without remainder, since capacities and conditions differ from one being to the next, various openings and closings, names and meanings, are given accordingly. To state the essential point: whatever a listener wishes to hear, it is expounded without exception, and so is able to cause every listener to give rise to a mind mindful of the Buddha, mindful of the Dharma, mindful of the Saṅgha — though the Three Jewels thus recollected also carry distinctions of specific mark and single essence, and even differences of meaning across the Four Teachings, as is set out at length in other sūtras and treatises.