Countless Demons and Their Heavenly Maidens

"Son of the Buddha! What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's own practice of benefiting others? This bodhisattva guards and upholds the pure precepts, their mind clinging to nothing at all toward form, sound, fragrance, taste, or touch, and likewise teaches living beings in just this way; they seek no worldly power, seek no noble lineage, seek no abundant wealth, seek no fine appearance, and seek no royal rank — clinging to none of these at all, they simply hold firm to the pure precepts, reflecting in this way: 'By upholding the pure precepts, I shall surely leave behind every entanglement and bondage, every craving, every feverish affliction, every calamity, every oppression, every slander, and every turbid confusion, and attain the equal, true Dharma that the Buddha himself has praised.'

Son of the Buddha, when the bodhisattva upholds the pure precepts in this way, suppose that, within a single day, countless hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of great and evil demons were to come to that bodhisattva's own place, each one bringing with them immeasurable, countless hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of heavenly maidens — every one of them skilled in the arts of the five desires, beautiful and alluring, captivating the human heart — holding every kind of precious and delightful object, wishing to come and confuse and disturb the bodhisattva's own resolve for the path. At that time, the bodhisattva reflects in this way: 'These five desires are dharmas that obstruct the path, and even obstruct unsurpassed bodhi itself.' For this reason, they give rise to not even a single thought of desire, their mind pure just like a buddha's own. The one exception is skillful means employed to teach and transform living beings, and even then, they never let go of the mind of all-knowing wisdom.

Son of the Buddha, the bodhisattva never, because of desire as a cause or condition, troubles even a single living being; they would rather give up their own body and life than ever, in the end, do anything that troubles living beings. From the very moment the bodhisattva first attained the sight of the Buddha, they have never once given rise, even for a single thought, to any notion of desire; how much less would they ever act upon it — and were they ever to act upon it, that would simply be impossible!

At that time, the bodhisattva simply reflects in this way: 'Every living being, throughout the long night of ignorance, dwells on the five desires, turns toward the five desires, and craves and clings to the five desires; their mind is decisively steeped and sunk in them, carried along by their own current, unable to attain sovereign freedom. I should now cause these demons and these heavenly maidens, and every living being, to abide in the unsurpassed precepts; once abiding in the pure precepts, their mind, toward all-knowing wisdom, shall never turn back, and they shall attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and, in the end, enter into nirvāṇa without remainder. Why is this? Because this is the very work we ourselves should undertake, and we should study and cultivate accordingly, following every buddha. Having studied in this way, leaving behind every evil deed, every reckoning of self, and every ignorance, entering, through wisdom, into every buddha-dharma, and teaching it to living beings, causing their delusion to be removed.'