The Assembly, and the Radiant Countenance

Thus have I heard: at one time the Buddha was dwelling on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, near Rājagṛha, together with a great assembly of monks, twelve thousand in all — every one of them a great sage who had already fully mastered the spiritual powers. Their names were: the venerables Fully Comprehending the Ultimate, True Vow, True Speech, Great Renown, Benevolent and Worthy, Free of Defilement, Widely Renowned, Truly Good, Fully Endowed, Lord of Cattle, Uruvilvā Kāśyapa, Gayā Kāśyapa, Nadī Kāśyapa, Mahākāśyapa, Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Kapphiṇa, Great Abiding, Great Pure Resolve, Mahācunda, the Fulfiller of Vows, Free of Obstruction, Flowing Consecration, Firmly Subdued, Lord of Countenance, the Uncommon Vehicle, Benevolent Nature, Auspicious Joy, Svāgata, Rāhula, and Ānanda — every one of them foremost within the assembly. And with them were bodhisattvas of the Great Vehicle: the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva Maitreya, and all the bodhisattvas of this Fortunate Aeon.

And with them were Bhadrapāla and fifteen other noble ones, sixteen in all: the bodhisattvas Wondrous Contemplation, Faith and Wisdom, Emptiness, Flower of Spiritual Power, Radiant Splendor, Supreme Wisdom, Banner of Wisdom, Tranquil Faculties, Vow and Wisdom, Fragrant Elephant, Jeweled Splendor, Abiding in the Mean, Disciplined Conduct, and Liberation. All of them followed the virtues of the great being Samantabhadra, were endowed with the bodhisattvas' immeasurable conduct and vows, and abided in the Dharma of every kind of merit. They walked freely through the ten directions, acting with skillful and expedient means; they had entered the treasury of the Buddha-dharma and reached its farthest shore. In immeasurable worlds they appeared as fully awakened buddhas: dwelling in the Tuṣita heaven, they proclaimed the true Dharma there; then, leaving that heavenly palace, they descended in spirit into a mother's womb, were born from her right side, and at once took seven steps, their light shining out to illumine the immeasurable buddha-lands of the ten directions, while the earth shook in six ways and they raised their voice to declare: "In this world I shall be the unsurpassed one." Śakra and Brahmā waited upon them in service, and gods and humans turned to them in reverence. They showed themselves learning calculation, letters and the arts, archery and charioteering; broadly versed in every skill and discipline, they mastered every book. They wandered the rear gardens, practiced arms, and tested their skill; they appeared to dwell amid the pleasures of form and taste within the palace — and then, seeing old age, sickness, and death, awakened to the impermanence of the world. They renounced their kingdom, wealth, and rank, and went into the mountains to study the way; giving up their carriage, their white horse, their jeweled crown, and their necklace, they sent these back, put aside their fine and precious robes, and put on the robes of a renunciant. They shaved their hair and beard and sat upright beneath a tree, enduring six years of hardship, practicing exactly as was fitting. They appeared in lands of the five turbidities, following and according with the beings there, showing themselves stained with the dust of the world — and then bathed in a stream of gold; a deva bent down a branch of a tree so they could climb out of the pool, and wondrous birds flew beside them as their escort to the seat of awakening. Auspicious signs responded and made manifest their merit. They accepted, in compassion, an offering of grass, spread it beneath the bodhi tree, and sat there cross-legged. They roused a great light, so that Māra would know; Māra led his host to press them with trials, but they mastered them by the power of wisdom, and every one submitted. They attained the subtle and wondrous Dharma and became perfectly, completely awakened. Śakra and Brahmā entreated and urged them to turn the Dharma wheel. Walking with a buddha's gait, they roared with a buddha's roar; they struck the Dharma drum, blew the Dharma conch, wielded the Dharma sword, raised the Dharma banner, thundered the Dharma thunder, flashed the Dharma lightning, poured down the Dharma rain, and proclaimed the gift of the Dharma. They constantly awakened every world with the sound of the Dharma, their light shining everywhere across immeasurable buddha-lands. Every world shook in six ways at once; they wholly overcame the realm of Māra and shook Māra's own palace. Every host of demons trembled in fear, and none failed to submit and return. They tore apart the net of wrong views and dissolved every false opinion; they scattered the dust and toil of affliction and broke down every trench of desire. They guarded the city of the Dharma with vigilance, and threw open the gate of the Dharma. They washed away every stain and defilement, and made manifest what is pure and clear. Their light fused with the Buddha-dharma, and they spread abroad its true transforming influence. Entering towns to beg for alms, they received a bountiful meal; they stored up merit, and showed themselves as a field of blessing for others. Wishing to proclaim the Dharma, they showed a joyful smile; with every medicine of the Dharma they healed the three sufferings, and made manifest their immeasurable merit and their intention toward the path. They bestowed on bodhisattvas the prophecy of buddhahood, becoming themselves perfectly, completely awakened; they showed themselves entering final nirvāṇa, and yet went on rescuing beings without limit. They eliminated every outflow of affliction, and planted every root of virtue; their merit was so complete, so subtle and wondrous, that it could not be measured. They traveled through every buddha-land and everywhere made manifest the teaching of the path, and all that they practiced was pure and without stain. It is like a master of illusion, who conjures every kind of form, appearing as a man or a woman, changing into anything at all, because he has thoroughly mastered his craft and can do as he wills — these bodhisattvas were exactly the same. Having studied every teaching, and mastered it thoroughly, wherever they dwelled they brought about transformation, and there was nowhere they failed to reach; in countless buddha-lands they showed themselves everywhere, and never once, in arrogance, did they show contempt for or harm any being. All such qualities they possessed in full. The bodhisattva scriptures they had penetrated to their essential subtlety, and their renown reached everywhere, guiding the ten directions; immeasurable buddhas together kept them in mind and watched over them. Whatever state the buddhas abide in, they had already attained; whatever the great sages had established, they too had already established. Every guiding transformation of the Tathāgatas they were each able to proclaim abroad, and for all bodhisattvas they served as great teachers. With the deepest meditative wisdom they opened and guided all people; they penetrated the nature of every dharma and understood the true character of every being. They understood every land clearly, and made offerings to every buddha; the bodies they manifested were like flashes of lightning. Well trained in fearlessness, they thoroughly understood the illusory nature of all things; they tore apart the net of Māra and untied every fetter. They had gone beyond the stages of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and had attained the samādhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. Skilled in establishing expedient means, they revealed the three vehicles, and in the middling and lower of these they showed themselves entering final extinction — and yet, in truth, there was nothing they did and nothing that they had, for they neither arose nor ceased, having attained the Dharma of true equality. They had fully accomplished immeasurable dhāraṇīs and hundreds of thousands of samādhis; their faculties and their wisdom were vast, universal, tranquil, and settled. They had entered deeply into the bodhisattvas' treasury of the Dharma, and attained the buddhas' Flower Adornment samādhi. They proclaimed and expounded every scripture, and abided in the gate of profound concentration, beholding all the immeasurable buddhas of the present in a single instant of thought, with nothing left unreached. They rescued beings from every extremity of hardship, whether at leisure or without it, and clearly distinguished and revealed the bounds of what is truly real. They had attained the wisdom and eloquence of every Tathāgata, and could enter into the speech of every kind of being, awakening every one. They had gone beyond every phenomenon the world possesses, and their mind constantly and truly abided in the path of saving the world. Amid all the myriad things, they were free and at ease exactly as they wished. For beings of every kind they became a friend unasked, taking up the heavy burden of every living thing on their behalf. They upheld the Tathāgatas' most profound treasury of the Dharma, protecting the buddha-lineage so that it would never be cut off. They raised up great compassion and had pity on all beings; they set forth compassionate eloquence and bestowed the Dharma-eye. They blocked off the three lower paths and opened the gate of goodness; with a Dharma that no one had asked for, they gave freely to the multitude — like a filial child who loves and reveres their parents, they looked on every being as they would look on themselves, and every root of goodness was carried by them to the farthest shore. They had gained the immeasurable merit of every buddha, and their wisdom, sagely and bright, was beyond conception. Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas such as these, beyond all counting, had all come together at once to this assembly.

At that time the World-Honored One's faculties were joyful and at ease, his countenance pure and clear, his radiant face towering and magnificent. The venerable Ānanda, sensing the Buddha's sacred intent, at once rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with palms joined, and said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, today your faculties are joyful and at ease, your countenance pure and clear, your radiant face towering and magnificent — like a bright, unclouded mirror, its reflection reaching through to what lies within. Your majestic bearing shines forth, surpassing anything I have known; never before have I beheld such rare splendor as I see today. And yet, Greatly Sagely One, this thought has arisen in my mind: today the World-Honored One abides in a rare and extraordinary Dharma. Today the Hero of the World abides in that in which all buddhas abide. Today the Eye of the World abides in the conduct of a guide. Today the Finest of the World abides in the most supreme of paths. Today the Honored One of the Heavens practices the very virtue of a Tathāgata. Buddhas of the past, the future, and the present are ever mindful of one another — can it be that the Buddha, even now, is calling to mind the other buddhas? Why else would this majestic radiance shine so?"

Then the World-Honored One said to Ānanda: "Why is this, Ānanda — did some deva teach you to come and question the Buddha? Or did you ask about this majestic countenance from your own wise insight?" Ānanda said to the Buddha: "No deva came to teach me this; I asked about what I myself observed, for its own meaning." The Buddha said: "Well said, Ānanda — this is a very fine question indeed. It arises from a deep wisdom and a true and wondrous eloquence, and from a mind mindful of, and moved by compassion for, all beings, that you should ask about this meaning. The Tathāgata, out of a boundless great compassion, has pity on the three realms; this is why he appears in the world, illuminating and setting forth the teaching of the path, so as to grant every living being the true benefit of the Dharma. It is hard, across immeasurable koṭis of aeons, to meet with this or to see it — like the miraculous udumbara flower, which blooms only once in a very long while. What you have asked today will bring great benefit, and will open and transform every deva and every human being. Ānanda, you should know that the wisdom of the Tathāgata's perfect awakening is hard to measure, and guides and directs a great many; his insight is unobstructed and cannot be checked or exhausted. By the strength of a single meal he is able to sustain his life for a hundred thousand koṭis of aeons, immeasurable and beyond number, and even longer still than this; his faculties remain joyful and undiminished, his countenance unchanged, his radiant face no different. And why is this? Because the Tathāgata's concentration and wisdom have reached their utmost, complete and without limit, and he has attained mastery over every dharma. Ānanda, listen carefully — I shall now explain this for you." Ānanda replied: "Yes indeed, World-Honored One — we would gladly hear it."