Entering the Maṇḍala
Part 1 stated the whole sūtra's doctrine directly. This chapter — its longest by a wide margin, continuing into Part 3 — works the same doctrine out as ritual and image: what makes someone fit to teach it, how a site is chosen and a disciple accepted, why a teaching that insists all dharmas are without mark still requires an elaborately painted maṇḍala at all, and, at last, the full iconography of the Womb Maṇḍala's central and inner courts — the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and wrathful protectors this sūtra gave to the whole later tradition of esoteric Buddhist art.
The Qualifications of a Master
爾時執金剛祕密主白佛言：「希有世尊！說此諸佛自證三菩提不思議法界超越心地，以種種方便道，為眾生類如本性信解而演說法。惟願世尊次說修真言行大悲胎藏生大漫茶羅王，為滿足彼諸未來世無量眾生、為救護安樂故。」爾時薄伽梵毘盧遮那於大眾會中遍觀察已，告執金剛祕密主言：「諦聽。金剛手！今說修行漫茶羅行滿足一切智智法門。」爾時毘盧遮那世尊本昔誓願成就無盡法界度脫無餘眾生界故，一切如來同共集會，漸次證入大悲藏發生三摩地，世尊一切支分皆悉出現如來之身，為彼從初發心乃至十地諸眾生故，遍至十方還來佛身本位，本位中住而復還入。時薄伽梵復告執金剛祕密主言：「諦聽。金剛手！漫茶羅位初阿闍梨應發菩提心，妙慧慈悲兼綜眾藝，善巧修行般若波羅蜜，通達三乘，善解真言實義，知眾生心，信諸佛菩薩，得傳教灌頂等妙解漫茶羅畫，其性調柔離於我執，於真言行善得決定，究習瑜伽，住勇健菩提心。祕密主，如是法則阿闍梨，諸佛菩薩之所稱讚。」
At that time Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets, said to the Buddha: "How rare, World-Honored One, that you should teach this inconceivable dharma-realm, this ground of mind transcended, self-realized by every buddha in their own attainment of the three-fold bodhi — and expound it through every kind of skillful path, according to each being's own inborn faith and understanding. I beg only that the World-Honored One next teach the great king of maṇḍalas born from great compassion, the practice of mantra conduct, so as to bring to fulfillment the measureless beings of ages yet to come, and to save and give them ease." At that time the Bhagavān Mahāvairocana, having surveyed the whole assembly, said to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets: "Listen closely, Vajrapāṇi — I shall now teach the practice of maṇḍala conduct, the gateway that fulfills the wisdom of all-wisdom." At that time, because Mahāvairocana's own ancient vow was to bring the inexhaustible dharma-realm to fulfillment and liberate every being without exception, all the Tathāgatas gathered together as one and, by degrees, entered the samādhi of the arising of the great matrix of compassion — the World-Honored One's every limb and feature manifesting the Tathāgata's own body, so that beings from their very first arousing of the mind up through the ten grounds might, reaching every direction, return again to the buddha-body's own original station, abide in that station, and enter it once more. Then the Bhagavān said again to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets: "Listen closely, Vajrapāṇi. The one who first serves as master of the maṇḍala's stations should have aroused bodhicitta, possess wondrous wisdom and compassion, be versed in every art, be skillfully accomplished in the practice of prajñāpāramitā, have penetrated the three vehicles, rightly understand the true meaning of mantra, know the minds of beings, have faith in every buddha and bodhisattva, have received the empowerment that transmits the teaching and rightly understand how to paint the maṇḍala, be gentle and pliant in nature, free of self-grasping, be settled and resolute in mantra practice, have thoroughly mastered yoga, and abide in a bodhicitta both courageous and firm. Lord of Secrets, a master such as this is one every buddha and bodhisattva praises."
Yixing reads "master" (阿闍梨, ācārya) here at four simultaneous depths rather than one fixed rank: in its plainest sense, anyone who has mastered every ritual element of the maṇḍala well enough to confer initiation; more deeply, anyone who has passed beyond the eight worldly minds and realized the still, quiet realm described in Part 1; more deeply still, anyone whose mind has become sovereign over itself, awakened to its own unborn nature; and at the furthest depth, Vajrasattva, and beyond even him, Mahāvairocana himself — so that a master beginning this rite is instructed to first regard their own body as identical with Vajrasattva's and Mahāvairocana's own, and only then to act. He is unusually direct that some of the ten qualities just listed are not optional extras: without bodhicitta, he writes, "what would there be for the matrix of great compassion to nurture?" — a master lacking it cannot even establish good roots in themselves, "how much less serve as another's teacher?" On "gentle and pliant, free of self-grasping," he notes a manuscript problem worth recording directly: the Sanskrit word here, he says, literally corresponds to something closer to "consecration" than to "self-grasping," and previous generations of teachers had simply agreed the sense did not fit and should be read the way it appears in the received Chinese instead — an editorial judgment call preserved candidly rather than smoothed into silence.
Choosing a Disciple, and a Site
復次祕密主！彼阿闍梨，若見眾生堪為法器、遠離諸垢，有大信解、勤勇深信、常念利他，若弟子具如是相貌者，阿闍梨應自往勸發，如是告言：
「『佛子此大乘， 真言行道法，我今正開演， 為彼大乘器。過去等正覺， 及與未來世，現在諸世尊， 住饒益眾生。如是諸賢者， 解真言妙法，勤勇獲種智， 坐無相菩提。真言勢無比， 能摧彼大力，極忿怒魔軍， 釋師子救世。是故汝佛子， 應以如是慧，方便作成就， 當獲薩婆若。行者悲念心， 發起令增廣，彼堅住受教， 當為擇平地。山林多華果， 悅意諸清泉，諸佛所稱歎， 應作圓壇事。或在河流處， 鵞雁等莊嚴，彼應作慧解， 悲生漫茶羅。正覺緣導師， 聖者聲聞眾，曾遊此地分， 佛常所稱譽；及餘諸方所， 僧坊阿練若，華房高樓閣， 勝妙諸池苑；制底火神祠， 牛欄河潬中，諸天廟空室， 仙人得道處。如上之所說， 或所意樂處，利益弟子故， 當畫漫茶羅。』」
Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, when the master sees a being fit to be a vessel of the Dharma, one free of every defilement, of great faith and understanding, courageous and deeply trusting, one who is always mindful of benefiting others — should a disciple show marks such as these, the master should go to them of their own accord and encourage them, speaking words such as these:
"'Child of the Buddha, this is the Great Vehicle, the way of mantra conduct — I now expound it truly, for you, a vessel of the Great Vehicle. The Perfectly Awakened Ones of the past, and those of the future age, and every World-Honored One now present, all abide bringing benefit to beings. Sages such as these, who understand mantra's wondrous Dharma, and courageously attain the wisdom proper to their own family, sit upon markless bodhi. Mantra's power is beyond compare — able to overthrow that great force, the most furious army of Māra — Śākya's own lion, savior of the world. Therefore you, child of the Buddha, should, with wisdom such as this, accomplish it through skillful means, and thereby attain all-wisdom.' The practitioner's compassionate mind, once aroused, should be made to grow ever wider; once the disciple stands firm and accepts the teaching, a level ground should then be chosen for them. Mountains and forests rich in flower and fruit, delightful and every clear spring — such places, praised by every buddha, are fit for the work of a round platform. Or a place beside flowing water, adorned with geese and wild geese — there too, with discerning wisdom, the maṇḍala born of compassion should be made. Places where the Perfectly Awakened One and the pratyekabuddha guides, where holy śrāvakas, once walked — these the Buddha has always praised; and other such places besides — monastic dwellings, forest hermitages, flowering chambers, lofty pavilions, wondrous ponds and gardens; shrines, fire-temples, cattle pens, riverbanks and sandbars, the empty halls of the gods' own temples, places where sages attained the way. In places such as these described above, or wherever the mind delights, for the disciple's benefit, there the maṇḍala should be painted.'"
Yixing reads the master's obligation to seek out a qualified disciple, rather than simply waiting to be approached, on two grounds at once: an unwary disciple's own doubt is the greater risk — "for fear that, lacking wisdom, doubt and regret might cause the teaching to be permanently lost, one does not offer it carelessly to just anyone; but once a person is truly fit to receive it, one seeks them out and gives it, rather than waiting for them to come and ask" — and a master's own stinginess is the lesser but real risk it also guards against: "even in the midst of the Avīci fire itself, if the teaching can still be transmitted there, one should go — how much less refuse someone met by good fortune, simply because they have not yet asked?" On the catalogue of suitable sites, he glosses "mountain" (梵云娜伽, nāga, which he takes here in its secondary sense of "unmoving") as standing for a disciple's own settled firmness in the eight worldly minds described in Part 1 — filial devotion, reverence for a teacher, and the rest — with "flower and fruit" as that same firm ground beginning, at last, to put out visible good. On why a river-bank counts among the praised sites even though it lacks a mountain's stillness, he notes only that different practitioners are drawn by different qualities, and the passage's real subject in either case is a settled, well-tended mind rather than any literal terrain.
Awakening the Earth Goddess
「祕密主！彼揀擇地，除去礫石碎瓦破器、髑髏毛髮、糠糟灰炭、刺骨朽木等，及蟲蟻蜣蜋毒螫之類，離如是諸過。遇良日晨、定日、時分、宿直、諸執皆悉相應，於食前時值吉祥相，先當為一切如來作禮，以如是偈警發地神：
「『汝天親護者， 於諸佛導師，修行殊勝行， 淨地波羅蜜。如破魔軍眾， 釋師子救世，我亦降伏魔， 我畫漫茶羅。』」
「彼應長跪舒手按地，頻誦此偈，以塗香華等供養。供養已，真言者復應歸命一切如來，然後治地。如其次第，當具眾德。」
"Lord of Secrets, having chosen this ground, one should clear away gravel, broken tiles and vessels, skulls and hair, chaff and ash and charcoal, thorny bones and rotten wood, and every kind of insect, ant, dung-beetle, and venomous sting, leaving behind faults such as these. Upon meeting a good day and hour, an auspicious date, the right division of time, the right lunar mansion, and every planetary influence in accord, and encountering a favorable sign before the meal hour, one should first bow to every Tathāgata, and awaken the earth goddess with a verse such as this:
"'You who are dearly protected by the gods, who among every buddha-guide have practiced surpassing conduct, the pāramitā of purified ground — just as, in breaking Māra's army, Śākya's own lion became savior of the world, so too I now subdue Māra, and paint this maṇḍala.'"
"One should kneel with both knees on the ground, extend the hand and press it to the earth, and recite this verse again and again, making offerings of scented paste and flowers. Once the offering is made, the mantra practitioner should further take refuge in every Tathāgata, and only then work the ground. In this order, every quality required will be complete."
Yixing reads the pressed-hand gesture and the verse together as a direct citation of the moment of Śākyamuni's own awakening — when Māra demanded proof of his right to the seat beneath the bodhi tree, and Śākyamuni, rather than argue, simply extended his right hand and touched the earth, calling it to bear witness to the innumerable lifetimes of self-sacrifice no one else had seen. "Countless earth-spirits sprang up from the ground and showed themselves in answer," Yixing writes, "and Māra's own army scattered on account of it" — and it is this same gesture, transmitted here as a body-seal (身密印), that a master repeats before laying out any maṇḍala at all, so that "the earth goddess, greatly rejoicing, thinks: this child of the buddhas is now undertaking a great work — I shall protect them, and see that they too are free of every demon's harm." He reads the goddess's own gender as doctrinally exact rather than incidental: "the earth spirit is a female deity, because 'female' here signifies samādhi" — she stands, on his account, for Mahāvairocana's own samādhi of holding and protecting the very ground of every being's mind, the same power Śākyamuni called on at his own awakening now invoked again for a disciple about to be initiated.
Why Teach Through Ritual, If All Dharmas Are Without Mark
爾時執金剛祕密主頭面禮世尊足，而說偈言：
「佛法離諸相， 法住於法位，所說無譬類， 無相無為作。何故大精進， 而說此有相，及與真言行， 不順法然道？」
爾時薄伽梵， 毘盧遮那佛，告執金剛手： 「善聽法之相，法離於分別， 及一切妄想。若淨除妄想， 心思諸起作，我成最正覺， 究竟如虛空。凡愚所不知， 邪妄執境界，時方相貌等， 樂欲無明覆；度脫彼等故， 隨順方便說，而實無時方， 無作無造者，彼一切諸法， 唯住於實相。復次祕密主！ 於當來世時，劣慧諸眾生， 以癡愛自蔽，唯依於有著， 恒樂諸斷常，時方所造業， 善不善諸相，盲冥樂求果， 不知解此道；為度彼等故， 隨順說是法。」
At that time Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets, bowed his head to the World-Honored One's feet, and spoke this verse:
"The Buddha's Dharma is free of every mark, the Dharma abides in the station of Dharma; what is taught is beyond every simile, without mark, without fabrication. Why then, Great Diligent One, do you now teach these things that bear marks, and this mantra conduct too — is this not out of keeping with the way things naturally are?"
Then the Bhagavān Mahāvairocana Buddha said to Vajrapāṇi: "Listen well to the mark of the Dharma. The Dharma is free of discrimination, and free of every false imagining. If one purifies away false imagining, and the mind's every stirring and construction, I attain the most perfect awakening, ultimate as space itself. What the foolish and the ignorant do not know, they wrongly grasp as an objective realm — such as the marks of time and place — covered over by their own craving and ignorance; to liberate them, I teach in accordance with skillful means, and yet in truth there is no time, no place, no maker and no thing made — every one of these dharmas abides only in reality as it actually is. Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, in the age yet to come, beings of inferior wisdom, self-obscured by ignorance and craving, will rely only on what they can grasp, forever delighting in either annihilation or permanence, in karma made of time and place, in marks of wholesome and unwholesome — blind and benighted, seeking only results, unable to understand this path; to liberate them, I teach this Dharma in accordance with skillful means."
Yixing treats this exchange as the sūtra's own answer to an objection its own first chapter invites: having just spent an entire chapter proving that mind, bodhi, and the wisdom of all-wisdom are all without mark, why does the text immediately turn to choosing calendar dates, clearing gravel, and painting elaborate images? He reaches for the same parable this site's own Lotus Sūtra pages translate at length: a father whose children, absorbed in play, will not leave a burning house no matter how plainly he warns them of the danger, until he promises them three wonderful carts waiting just outside — carts that, once the children are safely out, turn out to be something greater than what was promised, though not a lie either. "This Dharma-gate of the maṇḍala is exactly the same," Yixing writes: "the Tathāgata borrows worldly causes and conditions as a model and simile for the inconceivable dharma-realm, so as to reach down to where beings actually stand" — a disciple who can only be reached through image, ritual, and calendar dates is not being given something less true than emptiness, but a door built at their own height, which turns out from the inside to open onto exactly the same room. He adds a small, telling example of his own: told to recite for "three months," a practitioner should not therefore assume the text means ninety literal days any more than "the east" in this sūtra means literal geography — both are, in his phrase, "the Tathāgata's own secret names," worldly words carrying a sense that only becomes visible once the ritual has actually been practiced through to the point this chapter itself describes as seeing the mind's own dharma-illumination.
Consecrating the Ground, and Reading the Signs
「祕密主！如是所說處所，隨在一地治令堅固，取未至地瞿摩夷及瞿摸怛羅和合塗之。次以香水真言灑淨，即說真言曰：
「『南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 阿鉢囉底三迷(二) 伽伽那三迷(三) 三麼多奴揭帝(四) 鉢囉吃㗚底微輸睇(五) 達摩馱睹微戌達儞(六) 莎訶』
「行者次於中， 定意觀大日，處白蓮華座， 髮髻以為冠，放種種色光， 通身悉周遍。復當於正受， 次想四方佛，東方號寶幢， 身色如日暉；南方大勤勇， 遍覺華開敷，金色放光明， 三昧離諸垢；北方不動佛， 離惱清涼定；西方仁勝者， 是名無量壽。持誦者思惟， 而住於佛室，當受持是地， 以不動大名，或用降三世， 一切利成就。白檀以塗畫， 圓妙漫茶羅，中第一我身， 第二諸救世，第三同彼等， 佛母虛空眼，第四蓮華手， 第五執金剛，第六不動尊， 想念置其下。奉塗香華等， 思念諸如來，至誠發殷重， 演說如是偈：『諸佛慈悲者， 存念我等故，明日受持地， 并佛子當降。』
「如是說已，復當誦此真言曰：
「『南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 薩婆怛他蘗多 地瑟姹那 地瑟祉帝(三) 阿者麗(四) 微麼麗(五) 娑麼囉嬭(六) 鉢囉吃㗚底鉢[口*履]輸睇(七) 莎訶(八)』
「持真言行者， 次發悲念心，依於彼西方， 繫念以安寢，思惟菩提心， 清淨中無我。或於夢中見， 菩薩大名稱，諸佛無有量， 現作眾事業，或以安慰心， 勸囑於行者：『汝念眾生故， 造作漫茶羅，善哉摩訶薩， 所畫甚微妙。』復次於餘日， 攝受應度人，若弟子信心， 生種姓清淨，恭敬於三寶， 深慧以嚴身，堪忍無懈倦， 尸羅淨無缺，忍辱不慳悋， 勇健堅行願，如是應攝取， 餘則無所觀。或十或八七， 或五二一四，當作於灌頂， 若復數過此。」
"Lord of Secrets, at whatever place has been described above, one should work the ground firm, taking cow-dung and cow-urine not yet touched to the ground, mixing them, and coating the surface. Next, one should purify it by sprinkling scented water, empowered by mantra, saying this mantra:
"Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ apratisame gagana-same samatānugate prakṛti-viśuddhe dharmadhātu-viśodhane svāhā
The practitioner should then, at the center, settle the mind and contemplate Mahāvairocana, seated upon a white lotus throne, his hair bound up as a crown, radiating light of every color, filling his whole body through and through. And then, still in right absorption, one should further contemplate the buddhas of the four directions: in the east, named Ratnaketu, his bodily color like the sun's own radiance; in the south, the Greatly Diligent One, Saṃkusumitarāja, of golden hue, radiating light, his samādhi free of every defilement; in the north, Akṣobhya, untroubled, dwelling in cool and tranquil samādhi; in the west, the Benevolent Victor, known as Amitāyus. Let the one who recites reflect that he dwells within this very buddha-hall, and should hold and receive this ground under the great name of Acala, or, alternately, of Trailokyavijaya, so that every benefit is accomplished. With white sandalwood paste, one paints the wondrous round maṇḍala: at the center, first, one's own body; second, the saviors of every direction; third, together with them, the Buddha-Mother, Buddhalocanā; fourth, the lotus-handed one, Avalokiteśvara; fifth, the vajra-holder, Vajrapāṇi; sixth, the Immovable One, Acala — envisioned and placed beneath. Offering scented paste and flowers, holding all the Tathāgatas in mind, with utmost sincerity and earnestness, one recites a verse such as this: 'May the buddhas, in their compassion, hold us in mind, that tomorrow we may receive and hold this ground, and the children of the Buddha may then descend.'
Having said this, one should further recite this mantra:
"Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ sarva-tathāgatādhiṣṭhānādhiṣṭhite acale vimale smaraṇe prakṛti-pariśuddhe svāhā
The mantra practitioner should next arouse a mind of compassionate mindfulness, and, facing toward the west, hold this thought in mind as he lies down to rest, reflecting on bodhicitta, pure and without any self within it. He may then see, within a dream, bodhisattvas of great renown, buddhas beyond number, appearing to carry out every kind of work, or, with a comforting mind, exhorting and instructing the practitioner: 'Because you are mindful of beings, and undertake to build this maṇḍala — excellent, great being! What you have painted is exceedingly subtle and fine.' On a further day, one should accept and gather those fit to be liberated: disciples of faith, born of a pure lineage, reverent toward the Three Jewels, adorned with profound wisdom, capable of endurance without weariness, of pure and unbroken moral discipline, patient and free of miserliness, courageous and firm in their vows and conduct — such as these should be gathered in; beyond this, nothing further need be considered. Whether ten, or eight, seven, five, two, one, or four — initiation should be given accordingly, and may exceed even this number."
Yixing takes care to distinguish two different levels this passage operates on at once: taken plainly, cow-dung and cow-urine were simply the standard purifying agents of the region and period, "so as to accord with local custom, taken as clean"; taken at the deeper level he says the text also intends, 瞿 (cow) evokes the Sanskrit root for "going" and so signals that no dharma truly goes anywhere, 摩 evokes "I" and signals that no self is ultimately to be found, and the compound as a whole names the very absence of self and action this whole chapter has been building toward — an unusually direct example, preserved rather than smoothed over, of how this commentarial tradition reads a literal ritual ingredient and a philosophical claim as the very same gesture, seen from two different distances. On why dream-signs matter enough to warrant a night's wait built into the rite itself, he treats a favorable dream not as private encouragement alone but as the beginning of the maṇḍala's own confirmation, on the same continuum as the waking omens described earlier in this chapter — rainbows, sweet fragrance, birdsong at an unlikely hour — precisely because, he notes, a teaching this hard to credit on faith alone needs every register of confirmation a disciple can actually receive, "lest doubt of the teacher, or doubt of the Dharma, cost a hard-won confidence its footing before it has had the chance to take root."
The Womb Maṇḍala's Central Court
Vajrapāṇi asks how this maṇḍala is to be named. The Buddha answers that it is called the maṇḍala from which every buddha is born — "possessed of a taste beyond all comparison, a taste beyond which nothing else can rise" — arising from Mahāvairocana's own measureless accumulated merit, and offered out of pity for the boundless realm of beings, to any being of any capacity who has ever approached the mantra vehicle. What follows is the sūtra's founding description of the Womb (Garbhadhātu) Maṇḍala's central and inner courts — the source every later painted and sculpted version of this maṇḍala in the East Asian esoteric tradition ultimately derives from.
「持真言行者， 復修如是法，弟子在西南， 師居伊舍尼，學者復旋遶， 轉依於火方，師位移本處， 而住於風方。如是真言者， 普作四方相，漸次入其中， 三位以分之。已表三分位， 地相普周遍，復於一一分， 差別以為三。是中最初分， 作業所行道，其餘中後分， 聖天之住處。方等有四門， 應知其分劑，誠心以殷重， 運布諸聖尊。如是造眾相， 均調善分別，內心妙白蓮， 胎藏正均等。藏中造一切， 悲生漫茶羅，十六央具梨， 過此是其量。八葉正圓滿， 鬚蘂皆嚴好，金剛之智印， 遍出諸葉間。從此華臺中， 大日勝尊現，金色具暉曜， 首持髮髻冠，救世圓滿光， 離熱住三昧。彼東應畫作， 一切遍知印，三角蓮華上， 其色皆鮮白，光焰遍圍遶， 皓潔普周遍。次於其北維， 導師諸佛母，晃曜真金色， 縞素以為衣，遍照猶日光， 正受住三昧。復於彼南方， 救世佛菩薩，大德聖尊印， 號名滿眾願，真陀摩尼珠， 住於白蓮華。北方大精進， 觀世自在者，光色如皓月， 商佉軍那華，微笑坐白蓮， 髻現無量壽。彼右大名稱， 聖者多羅尊，青白色相雜， 中年女人狀，合掌持青蓮， 圓光靡不遍，暉發猶淨金， 微笑鮮白衣。右邊毘俱胝， 手垂數珠鬘，三目持髮髻， 尊形猶皓素，圓光色無主， 黃赤白相入。次近毘俱胝， 畫得大勢尊，彼服商佉色， 大悲蓮華手，滋榮而未敷， 圍遶以圓光。明妃住其側， 號持名稱者，一切妙瓔珞， 莊嚴金色身，執鮮妙華枝， 左持鉢胤遇。近聖者多羅， 住於白處尊，髮冠襲純帛， 鉢曇摩華手。於聖者前作， 大力持明王，晨朝日暉色， 白蓮以嚴身，赫奕成焰鬘， 吼怒牙出現，利爪獸王髮， 何耶揭利婆，如是三摩地， 觀音諸眷屬。復次華臺表， 大日之右方，能滿一切願， 持金剛慧者，鉢孕遇華色， 或復如綠寶，首戴眾寶冠， 瓔珞莊嚴身，間錯互嚴飾， 廣多數無量，左執跋折羅， 周環起光焰。金剛藏之右， 所謂忙莽雞，亦持堅慧杵， 嚴身以瓔珞。彼右次應置， 大力金剛針，使者眾圍遶， 微笑同瞻仰。聖者之左方， 金剛商朅羅，執持金剛鎖， 自部諸使俱，其身淺黃色， 智杵為幖幟。於執金剛下， 忿怒降三世，摧伏大障者， 號名月黶尊，三目四牙現， 夏時雨雲色，阿吒吒笑聲， 金剛寶瓔珞，攝護眾生故， 無量眾圍遶，乃至百千手， 操持眾器械。如是忿怒等， 皆住蓮華中。次往西方畫， 無量持金剛，種種金剛印， 形色各差別，普放圓滿光， 為諸眾生故。真言主之下， 依涅哩底方，不動如來使， 持慧刀羂索，頂髮垂左肩， 一目而諦觀，威怒身猛焰， 安住在盤石，面門水波相， 充滿童子形。如是具慧者， 次應往風方。復畫忿怒尊， 所謂勝三世，威猛焰圍遶， 寶冠持金剛，不顧自身命， 專請而受教。已說初界域， 諸尊方位等。」
"The mantra practitioner, further cultivating this rite: the disciple in the southwest, the master dwelling in the northwest, the initiate then circling again to turn toward the southeast, the master's own place shifting from its origin to dwell in the northeast. In this way the mantra practitioner marks out the four directions in full, and, entering it by degrees, divides it into three ranks. Having marked out these three ranks, the ground's own aspect is complete all around; and within each single rank, a further threefold distinction is made. Of these, the outermost rank is the path along which ritual action is carried out; the middle and inner ranks that follow are the dwelling-places of the holy and the divine. The square altar has four gates — know their proper measure — and with a sincere and earnest heart, one arranges every holy one in place. Having thus fashioned every image, evenly measured and rightly discerned, at the very center, a wondrous white lotus — the matrix, perfectly even and equal. Within that matrix is fashioned all: the maṇḍala born of great compassion, sixteen aṅgulas across — this is its measure. Eight petals, perfectly round and full, filament and pistil both finely adorned, the wisdom-seals of the vajra emerging throughout, between every petal. From within that lotus dais, the supreme lord Mahāvairocana appears, golden and radiant, his hair bound up as a crown, the saving light of perfect fullness, dwelling in a samādhi free of every heat. To his east should be painted the seal of all-gnosis, upon a three-cornered lotus, its color entirely bright and white, flames of light encircling it round about, pure and radiant, filling every quarter. Next, toward the northern quadrant, the guide, mother of every buddha — Buddhalocanā, gleaming with the color of true gold, clothed in plain white silk, shining everywhere like the light of the sun, abiding in right absorption, in samādhi. And in that southern quarter, the saving buddha-bodhisattva, the seal of a great and holy one named the Fulfiller of Every Wish, holding a cintāmaṇi jewel, dwelling upon a white lotus. To the north, the greatly diligent one, the Lord Who Observes the World's Sounds — Avalokiteśvara — his light the color of the bright moon, holding conch and kunda-flower, smiling as he sits on a white lotus, Amitāyus manifest in his crown. To his right, the greatly renowned holy one, the venerable Tārā, her color blue and white mingled, in the form of a woman of middle years, palms joined and holding a blue lotus, her halo of light reaching everywhere, radiant as pure gold, smiling, clothed in bright white. At the right side, Bhṛkuṭī, a rosary hanging from her hand, three-eyed, her hair bound up, her form as pure white as silk, her halo's color without a single hue predominating, yellow, red, and white interpenetrating. Next, near Bhṛkuṭī, paint the one who has attained Great Power — Mahāsthāmaprāpta — robed in the color of a conch shell, holding, in great compassion, a lotus flower still budding, not yet in bloom, encircled by a round halo of light. Beside her dwells a vidyā-consort called the Bearer of Renown, every wondrous jeweled ornament adorning her golden body, holding a fresh and wondrous flowering branch, and, in her left hand, a water-vessel. Near the holy Tārā dwells the one clothed in white — Pāṇḍaravāsinī — her crowned hair wrapped in unbleached silk, her hand holding a red lotus. Before these holy ones, paint the mighty vidyā-king — dawn-colored, like the sun's own radiance, adorned with a white lotus, blazing forth in a garland of flame, roaring with bared fangs, sharp of claw, his mane like a lion king's — Hayagrīva; such are these, the retinue of Avalokiteśvara's own samādhi. Furthermore, upon the lotus dais, to Mahāvairocana's right, the one who fulfills every wish, the holder of the vajra-wisdom — golden as a kadamba flower, or else like a green jewel, his head crowned with every kind of jeweled diadem, his body adorned with jeweled ornaments interlaced without measure, holding a vajra in his left hand, encircled all about by rising flames of light. To the right of the vajra-treasury is she who is called Māmakī, likewise holding a firm wisdom-vajra, her body adorned with jeweled ornaments. To her right should next be placed the mighty Vajra Needle, encircled by a host of messengers, smiling and gazing up together in reverence. To the left of these holy ones, Vajra-Śṛṅkhalā, holding a vajra chain, together with the messengers of her own family, her body a pale yellow, marked by a wisdom-vajra as her emblem. Beneath the vajra-holder, the wrathful Trailokyavijaya, who subdues every great obstruction, called also the Moon-Marked One, three-eyed, four fangs bared, the color of a summer rain-cloud, laughing with the sound aṭṭahāsa, adorned with jeweled vajra ornaments, encircled by a measureless host as he protects and gathers beings in, wielding every kind of weapon in hands numbering even into the hundreds and thousands. Wrathful ones such as these all dwell within a lotus flower. Next, toward the west, paint the measureless vajra-holders, each with different vajra seals, forms, and colors, radiating a perfect and complete light, for the sake of every being. Beneath the lord of mantra, toward the southwest, the Tathāgata's own servant, the Immovable One — Acala — holding a wisdom-sword and a lasso, his crown of hair hanging over his left shoulder, gazing intently with a single eye, his body wrathful and blazing fiercely, seated firmly upon a great rock, his face marked like rippling water, his whole form that of a young boy. Such a one, possessed of wisdom, should next be placed toward the northeast. Further paint a wrathful one called the Conqueror of the Three Worlds, encircled by fierce and blazing flames, jewel-crowned, holding a vajra, heedless of his own life, wholly devoted to receiving the teaching alone. Thus has the first boundary of this realm, and the stations of every holy one within it, now been described."
Yixing reads the maṇḍala's three concentric ranks as mapping directly onto the Buddha's own body, described in this chapter's opening as manifesting simultaneously at three levels: "from the navel down" appears as Śākyamuni's own historical, human-facing body and the beings of the six destinies — corresponding to the outermost court; "from the navel to the throat" appears as the countless bodhisattvas of the ten abodes holding the three secrets — the middle court; and "from the throat to the crown" appears as the fruit-body of the four wisdoms and four samādhis — the innermost eight-petal court where Mahāvairocana himself sits enthroned. On why a teaching built on the claim that mind cannot be found in any of twelve locations should nonetheless assign each buddha and bodhisattva a specific color, implement, and compass direction, he treats this as continuous with — not a retreat from — Part 1's own method: "colors and directions are, in themselves, worldly convention" (this site's translation-notes page records the parallel he draws to specific colors as signifying, respectively, the vajra-body, great compassion, great wisdom, great emptiness, and great strength), "yet fixed here as the Tathāgata's own secret language, so that a practitioner has an actual door to enter through, rather than being told only that no door is needed." The maṇḍala is not, on his reading, a picture of gods arranged by rank; it is the single mind of Part 1, differentiated into visible relation with itself.
The Second Court
「持真言行人， 次往第二院，東方初門中， 畫釋迦牟尼，圍遶紫金色， 具三十二相，被服袈裟衣， 坐白蓮華臺，為令教流布， 住彼而說法。次於世尊右， 顯示遍知眼，熙怡相微笑， 遍體圓淨光，喜見無比身， 是名能寂母。復於彼尊右， 圖寫毫相明，住鉢頭摩華， 圓照商佉色，執持如意寶， 滿足眾希願，暉光大精進， 救世釋師子。聖尊之左方， 如來之五頂，最初名白傘， 勝頂最勝頂，眾德火光聚， 及與捨除頂，是名五大頂， 大我之釋種，應當依是處， 精心造眾相。次於其北方， 布列淨居眾，自在與普華， 光鬘及意生，名稱遠聞等， 各如其次弟。於毫相之右， 復畫三佛頂，初名廣大頂， 次名極廣大，及無邊音聲， 皆應善安立。五種如來頂， 白黃真金色，復次三佛頂， 白黃赤兼備，其光普深廣， 眾瓔珞莊嚴，所發弘誓力， 一切願皆滿。行者於東隅， 而作火仙像，住於熾焰中， 三點灰為標，身色皆深赤， 心置三角印，而在圓焰中， 持珠及澡瓶。右方閻摩王， 手秉壇拏印，水牛以為座， 震電玄雲色，七母并黑夜， 妃后等圍繞。涅哩底鬼王， 執刀恐怖形，縛嚕拏龍王， 羂索以為印。初方釋天王， 安住妙高山，寶冠被瓔珞， 持跋折羅印，及餘諸眷屬， 慧者善分布。左置日天眾， 在於輿輅中，勝無勝妃等， 翼從而侍衛。大梵在其右， 四面持髮冠，唵字相為印， 執蓮在鵝上。西方諸地神， 辯才及毘紐，塞建那風神， 商羯羅月天，是等依龍方， 畫之勿遺謬。持真言行者， 以不迷惑心，佛子次應作， 持明大忿怒，右號無能勝， 左無能勝妃，持地神奉瓶， 虔敬而長跪。及二大龍王， 難陀拔難陀，對處廂曲中， 通門之大護。所餘釋種尊， 真言與印壇，所說一切法， 師應具開示。」
"The mantra practitioner should next proceed to the second court. At the very first gate, in the east, paint Śākyamuni, encircled by a purple-gold radiance, possessed of the thirty-two marks, robed in the kāṣāya, seated upon a white lotus dais — dwelling there and teaching the Dharma, so that the teaching may spread abroad. Next, to the World-Honored One's right, display the All-Gnosis Eye, her expression joyful and softly smiling, a perfect and pure light suffusing her whole form, a body of unmatched delight to behold — she who is called the Mother of the Silent Sage. Further, to that holy one's right, depict the radiance of the uṣṇīṣa mark, dwelling upon a padma flower, its round light the color of a conch shell, holding a wish-fulfilling jewel that satisfies every hope, radiant and greatly diligent — Śākya's own lion, savior of the world. To the holy one's left, the Tathāgata's five crowns: the first named the White Parasol, then the Victorious Crown, the Supreme Crown, the Mass of Fiery Light of Every Virtue, and the Crown of Relinquishment — these are called the five great crowns, the Śākya clan's own great self; in accordance with this place, one should fashion these images with focused and careful mind. Next, to the north, arrange the hosts of the Pure Abodes: Īśvara, and Samantapuṣpa, Mālādhara, and Manojava, and Yaśas-Widely-Heard, and the rest, each in their own proper sequence. To the right of the uṣṇīṣa radiance, further paint three buddha-crowns: the first named the Vast Crown, next the Utmost Vast, and the Boundless Voice — all should be rightly established. The five kinds of Tathāgata crowns are white, yellow, and true gold in color; the three further buddha-crowns combine white, yellow, and red — their light vast and deep on every side, adorned with every jeweled ornament, the power of the great vow they have made bringing every wish to fulfillment. In the eastern corner, the practitioner should fashion the image of the fire-sage, dwelling amid blazing flame, marked with three points of ash, his body a deep red throughout, a triangular seal placed at his heart, standing within a round flame, holding a rosary and a water-vessel. To the right, King Yama, his hand holding the daṇḍa-seal, seated upon a water-buffalo, the color of thunder and dark cloud, the seven mothers and Kālarātrī, together with his queens, encircling him. The rākṣasa-king of the southwest, holding a sword, of a terrifying form; the nāga-king Varuṇa, marked by a lasso. At the first, eastern quarter, King Śakra, dwelling upon Mount Sumeru, jewel-crowned and ornamented, holding the vajra-seal, and, together with his remaining retinue, arranged with wisdom and care. To the left, place the host of the Sun-god, within a carriage, attended and guarded by Vijayā and Ajitā and the rest of his queens. Great Brahmā to his right, four-faced, his hair bound in a crown, marked with the syllable oṃ, holding a lotus, mounted upon a goose. To the west, the earth deities, and Sarasvatī, and Viṣṇu, Skanda the wind-god, Śaṃkara, and the Moon-god — these should be painted in the nāga's own direction, without error or omission. The mantra practitioner, with a mind free of confusion, should next, as a child of the Buddha, fashion the great wrathful vidyā-king, called Aparājita on the right, and, on the left, his consort Aparājitā; the earth-holding deity offering a vase, reverently kneeling with both knees to the ground; and the two great nāga-kings Nanda and Upananda, placed opposite one another at the winding corners, the great guardians of the passageway gates. As for the remaining holy ones of the Śākya clan, their mantras, seals, and altar arrangements, and every teaching spoken of them — the master should fully disclose these as well."
This second court places Śākyamuni — the historical teacher of this Sahā world — inside a maṇḍala whose center is occupied by Mahāvairocana, the cosmic buddha-body Śākyamuni's own awakening is here read as one expression of; Yixing's earlier note on the sūtra's opening assembly, that the historical Buddha's teaching career belongs to the "navel-down" register of Mahāvairocana's single body appearing at three simultaneous depths, is the doctrinal move that keeps this from reading as two rival buddhas sharing one picture. The outer ring of this same court gathers, largely unchanged, the deities of the older Brahmanical and Vedic cosmos this sūtra's own first chapter catalogued as objects of the "eighth mind" — Indra, Brahmā, Yama, Varuṇa, the sun and moon gods, Viṣṇu — now given a place in the maṇḍala rather than excluded from it. This site's translation-notes page for this collection records Yixing's own account of why: a being who has only ever approached these figures through devotion is not asked to abandon that devotion outright, but finds it gathered into a single structure whose center is the very awakening those earlier, unexamined forms of reverence were, without knowing it, already reaching toward.
The Third Court
「持真言行者， 次至第三院，先圖妙吉祥， 其身欝金色，五髻冠其頂， 猶如童子形，左持青蓮華， 上表金剛印，慈顏遍微笑， 坐於白蓮臺，妙相圓普光， 周匝互暉映。右邊應次畫， 網光童子身，執持眾寶網， 種種妙瓔珞，住寶蓮華座， 而觀佛長子。左邊畫五種， 與願金剛使，所謂髻設尼， 優婆髻設尼，及與質多羅， 地慧并請召，如是五使者， 五種奉教者，二眾共圍遶， 侍衛無勝智。行者於右方， 次作大名稱，除一切蓋障， 執持如意寶。捨於二分位， 當畫八菩薩，所謂除疑怪， 施一切無畏，除一切惡趣， 救意慧菩薩，悲念具慧者， 慈起大眾生，除一切熱惱， 不可思議慧。次復捨斯位， 至於北勝方，行者以一心， 憶持布眾綵，而造具善忍， 地藏摩訶薩。其座極巧嚴， 身處於焰胎，雜寶莊嚴地， 綺錯互相間，四寶為蓮華， 聖者所安住。及與大名稱， 無量諸菩薩，謂寶掌寶手， 及與持地等。寶印手堅意， 上首諸聖尊，各與無數眾， 前後共圍遶。次復於龍方， 當畫虛空藏，勤勇被白衣， 持刀生焰光，及與諸眷屬， 正覺所生子，各隨其次第， 列坐正蓮上。今說彼眷屬， 大我菩薩眾，應善圖藻繢， 諦誠勿迷忘。謂虛空無垢， 次名虛空慧，及清淨慧等， 行慧安慧等，如是諸菩薩， 常勤精進者，各如其次第， 而畫莊嚴身。略說大悲藏， 漫茶羅位竟。」
"The mantra practitioner should next proceed to the third court. First depict the Wondrously Auspicious One — Mañjuśrī — his body the color of turmeric gold, five topknots crowning his head, in the form of a young boy, holding a blue lotus in his left hand, on which is displayed a vajra-seal, his compassionate countenance smiling all about, seated upon a white lotus dais, his wondrous features encircled by a perfect and universal light, radiance answering radiance all around. To his right should next be painted the youth of the net of light, holding every kind of jeweled net and every wondrous ornament, dwelling upon a jeweled lotus seat, gazing toward the Buddha's own eldest son. To the left, paint the five vajra-messengers who grant every wish — namely Keśinī, Upakeśinī, Citrā, Vasumatī, and the summoner — these five messengers, servants of the teaching, together encircling him on both sides, attending and guarding unsurpassed wisdom. To the right, the practitioner should next fashion the one of great renown, the Remover of Every Hindrance, holding a wish-fulfilling jewel. Setting aside two further stations, one should paint eight bodhisattvas: namely, the Remover of Doubt and Suspicion, the Giver of Every Fearlessness, the Remover of Every Evil Destiny, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom Who Rescues Intention, the Compassionately Mindful One Endowed with Wisdom, the Kindly One Who Arouses the Great Assembly of Beings, the Remover of Every Burning Affliction, and the One of Inconceivable Wisdom. Setting aside this station too, one comes to the northernmost, most excellent quarter: there the practitioner, with single mind, holding every color firmly in memory, should fashion the great being Kṣitigarbha, perfectly endowed with patient forbearance. His seat is most skillfully adorned, his body dwelling within a flaming lotus, the ground adorned with every mingled jewel, interwoven and interspersed, a lotus of four jewels — the holy one's own abode. And together with him, bodhisattvas of great renown beyond number: Ratnapāṇi, Ratnahasta, and Dharaṇidhara and the rest. Mudrāhasta and Dṛḍhamati, foremost among these holy ones, each surrounded before and behind by hosts beyond counting. Next, toward the nāga's own quarter, one should paint Ākāśagarbha, courageous, clad in white, holding a sword that gives rise to flaming light, together with his own retinue, children born of true awakening, each seated in due order upon a proper lotus. Now I shall speak of that retinue, this great host of bodhisattvas — depict and paint them well, with utmost care, and let none be forgotten: namely, Stainless-as-Space, and next Space-Wisdom, and Pure Wisdom, and Practice-Wisdom, and Peaceful Wisdom, and the rest — bodhisattvas such as these, ever diligent in effort, each in due order, their adorned bodies to be painted. Thus, in brief, the stations of the maṇḍala born of great compassion are now complete."
The third court gathers Mañjuśrī, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin ("the Remover of Every Hindrance"), Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha, each with their own retinue of eight further bodhisattvas — a structural echo, Yixing notes elsewhere in this fascicle, of the eight-petal court at the maṇḍala's own center, so that each of these four great bodhisattvas is himself surrounded the way Mahāvairocana himself is surrounded, "a lesser maṇḍala nested inside the greater one, the same pattern repeating at a smaller scale." Readers of this site's own Sūtra of Kṣitigarbha's Fundamental Vows collection will recognize the name; this earlier, esoteric-tradition Kṣitigarbha appears here as one of the four great bodhisattvas of the maṇḍala's third court rather than, as in that later apocryphal-suspected sūtra, principally as the vowed rescuer of beings in hell — two layers of the same figure's history that this site's translation notes page discusses further. Vajrapāṇi's own closing verses of praise, and the assembly's shared verse of assent that follow in the source but are omitted from this page for space, lead directly into the final exchange translated below — a question about the meaning of the maṇḍala's colors that the Buddha answers by naming the order in which they are painted, innermost first.
Colors, and the Meaning of Samādhi
爾時執金剛祕密主復白世尊而說偈言：
「云何彩色義？ 復當以何色？云何而運布？ 是色誰為初？門標旗量等， 廂衛亦如是。云何建諸門？ 願尊說其量。奉食華香等， 及與眾寶瓶，云何引弟子？ 云何令灌頂？云何供養師？ 願說護摩處。云何真言相？ 云何住三昧？」
如是發問已， 牟尼諸法王，告持金剛慧： 「一心應諦聽。最勝真言道， 出生大乘果，汝今請問我， 為大有情說。染彼眾生界， 以法界之味，古佛所宣說， 是名為色義。先安布內色， 非安布外色，潔白最為初， 赤色為第二，如是黃及青， 漸次而彰著，一切內深玄， 是謂色先後。建立門幖幟， 量同中胎藏，廂衛亦如是， 華臺十六節。應知彼初門， 與內壇齊等，智者於外院， 漸次而增加，於彼廂衛中， 當建大護者。略說三摩地， 一心住於緣，廣義復殊異， 大眾生諦聽。佛說一切空， 正覺之等持，三昧證知心， 非從異緣得。彼如是境界， 一切如來定，故說為大空， 圓滿薩婆若。」
At that time Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets, spoke once more to the World-Honored One in verse:
"What is the meaning of the colors? And with what colors should it be done? How should they be arranged, and which color comes first? The measure of the gate-markers and banners, and likewise of the flanking guardians — how should the gates be established? I beg the Honored One to explain their measure. The offering of food, flowers, and incense, and the many jeweled vessels — how should the disciple be led in, and how should initiation be given? How should the master be given offering? I beg you to explain the place of homa. What is the mark of a mantra? How does one abide in samādhi?"
Having asked these questions, the Silent Sage, king of every Dharma, said to Vajrapāṇi: "Listen closely with a single mind. The most supreme path of mantra, which brings forth the fruit of the Great Vehicle — you have now asked me of it, for the sake of great beings everywhere. To tint the realm of beings with the very taste of the dharma-realm — this, as the buddhas of old have taught, is called the meaning of color. Arrange the inner colors first, not the outer colors: pure white comes first of all, red comes second, and so, in turn, yellow, and then blue, appearing by degrees — every innermost color is the deepest and most mysterious; such is the proper sequence of the colors. In establishing the emblems of the gates, their measure should equal that of the inner matrix, and the flanking guardians likewise — the lotus dais itself measures sixteen sections. Know that the first gate should be level with the inner altar; the wise, in the outer court, should increase this measure by degrees, and at the flanking guardians, should establish the great protectors there. In brief, samādhi is the single mind abiding on its object — though its fuller meaning has still further distinctions; great beings, listen closely. The Buddha teaches that all is empty — this is the equipoise of perfect awakening; samādhi is the mind's own realized knowing, not something obtained from any other, external condition. Such is the very object of every Tathāgata's own meditative absorption — and it is for this reason called the great emptiness, all-wisdom brought to its own fulfillment."
The order given here — white, then red, then yellow, then blue, moving from the innermost court outward — matches the sequence a painter of this maṇḍala actually follows in practice, laying the ground colors in from the center before working outward toward the perimeter; the text is describing a working method, not only a symbolic scheme. On why the Buddha closes this long chapter on iconography by turning the conversation back to samādhi, Yixing reads it as a deliberate bracket around everything just described: every color, gate-measure, and deity's implement in the preceding verses is, on his account, a fully worked-out instance of exactly the ten similes for conditioned arising given in Part 1 — real in its function, empty of any fixed, self-existing nature beneath that function — and this closing exchange exists to make sure a practitioner who has just spent an entire chapter memorizing precise measurements and colors does not mistake the map's precision for the kind of solidity the whole sūtra has been arguing against from its very first line.
What the Word Maṇḍala Means
Vajrapāṇi interrupts the instructions to ask what the thing is called and why. The answer turns on a pun the Chinese keeps: 漢茶羅 is heard as containing maṇḍa, the cream or essence of milk — so the maṇḍala is what has the unsurpassed taste.
爾時金剛手祕密主復白佛言：「世尊！當云何名此漫茶羅？漫茶羅者其義云何？」佛言：「此名發生諸佛漫茶羅，極無比味、無過上味，是故說為漫茶羅。又祕密主！哀愍無邊眾生界故，是大悲胎藏生漫茶羅廣義。」
祕密主！如來於無量劫積集阿耨多羅三藐三菩提之所加持，是故具無量德，當如是知。祕密主！非為一眾生故如來成正等覺，亦非二非多，為憐愍無餘記及有餘記諸眾生界故，如來成正等覺，以大悲願力於無量眾生界如其本性而演說法。祕密主！無大乘宿習、未曾思惟真言乘行，彼不能少分見聞歡喜信受。又金剛薩埵！若彼有情昔於大乘真言乘道無量門進趣、已曾修行，為彼等故，限此造立名數。彼阿闍梨亦當以大悲心立如是誓願，為度無餘眾生界故，應當取彼無量眾生作菩提種子因緣。
Then Vajrapāṇi, the Lord of Secrets, again said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! What should this maṇḍala be called? And what is the meaning of ‘maṇḍala’?” The Buddha said: “This is called the maṇḍala that generates the buddhas. Its savor is utterly beyond compare, and no savor surpasses it — and therefore it is called maṇḍala. And further, Lord of Secrets, because it pities the boundless realm of living beings, this is the broad meaning of the maṇḍala born of the Womb of Great Compassion.”
Lord of Secrets! Across measureless kalpas the Tathāgata has been empowered by the accumulation of unsurpassed perfect awakening, and is therefore furnished with measureless virtues — so it should be known. Lord of Secrets! It was not for the sake of one being that the Tathāgata attained perfect awakening, nor of two, nor of many: it was out of pity for the realms of beings both with and without a determined destiny that the Tathāgata attained perfect awakening, and by the power of great compassionate vow he declares the Dharma to measureless realms of beings, each according to its own nature. Lord of Secrets! Those with no prior habituation to the Great Vehicle, who have never contemplated the practice of the mantra vehicle, cannot even in small part see, hear, rejoice and accept. And again, Vajrasattva: if those beings have in the past advanced through the measureless gates of the way of the Great Vehicle and the mantra vehicle and have practiced it already, it is for their sake that this name and number are set down as a limit. That ācārya too should make this vow with a mind of great compassion: in order to deliver the realm of beings without remainder, he should take those measureless beings as the causes and conditions of the seed of awakening.
Reading note — after Yixing
Yixing reads “its savor is utterly beyond compare” as the sūtra glossing maṇḍala through maṇḍa, the cream that rises when milk is churned — the essence separated out and nothing left behind. Whether or not that is the word’s actual derivation, it is what the text is doing with it, and the Womb of Great Compassion is named on the same principle: something is being brought to term inside something else.
The Tooth-Stick, and the Dream
The disciple’s preparation is unusually concrete. He is given a tooth-stick to chew and throw, and the direction it falls in is read; his arm is bound with a threefold cord; he is told a verse of encouragement; and then he is sent to sleep, because what he dreams that night is part of the examination.
「持真言行者， 如是攝受已，命彼三自歸， 令說悔先罪。奉塗香華等， 供養諸聖尊，應授彼三世， 無障礙智戒。次當授齒木， 若優曇鉢羅，或阿說他等， 結護而作淨。香華以莊嚴， 端直順本末，東面或北面， 嚼已而擲之，當知彼眾生， 成器非器相。三結修多羅， 次繫等持臂，如是受弟子， 遠離諸塵垢。增發信心故， 當隨順說法，慰喻堅其意， 告如是偈言：『汝獲無等利， 位同於大我，一切諸如來， 此教菩薩眾。皆已攝受汝， 成辦於大事，汝等於明日， 當得大乘生。』
如是教授已， 或於夢寐中，覩見僧住處， 園林悉嚴好，堂宇相殊特， 顯敞諸樓觀，幢蓋摩尼珠， 寶刀悅意華；女人鮮白衣， 端正色姝麗，密親或善友， 男子如天身；群牛豐牸乳， 經卷淨無垢。遍知因緣覺， 并佛聲聞眾，大我諸菩薩， 現前授諸果。度大海河池， 及聞所樂聲，空中言吉祥， 當與意樂果。如是等好相， 宜應諦分別，與此相違者， 當知非善夢。善住於戒者， 晨起白師已，師說此句法， 勸發諸行人：『此殊勝願道， 大心摩訶衍，汝今能志求， 當成就如來。自然智大龍， 世間敬如塔，有無悉超越， 無垢同虛空。諸法甚深奧， 難了無含藏，離一切妄想， 戲論本無故。作業妙無比， 常依於二諦，是乘殊勝願， 汝當住斯道。』
“When the holder of mantra practice has gathered him in thus, he bids him take the three refuges and has him confess his former offenses. Presenting unguent and flowers and the rest, making offering to the holy ones, he should then confer on him the precept of unobstructed wisdom in the three times. Next he should give him a tooth-stick — of udumbara, or of aśvattha or the like — bound in protection and made pure. Adorned with incense and flowers, held straight with root and tip in their proper order, facing east or facing north, he chews it and then throws it; and by this one knows whether that being has the aspect of a vessel or not. With a threefold cord he then binds his arm in the manner of composure — a disciple received in this way is far from every stain of defilement. And to increase the arising of faith he should teach in a way suited to him, console him and make his intention firm, and tell him this verse: ‘You have gained an unequalled benefit, a station equal to the Great Self; all the Tathāgatas, and this assembly of bodhisattvas in the teaching, have already gathered you in and accomplished the great matter. Tomorrow you shall be born into the Great Vehicle.’
“Having taught him thus, then in his sleep and dreaming he may see a dwelling of the saṅgha, with gardens and groves all splendid, halls and chambers of extraordinary aspect, open and lofty towers and belvederes, banners, canopies, maṇi jewels, jeweled blades and delightful flowers; a woman in fresh white robes, upright and lovely in color; a close kinsman or a good friend, a man with a body like a god’s; herds of cattle rich in milk; scrolls of scripture pure and stainless. The Perfectly Awakened, the solitary awakened, the Buddha and the community of hearers, the bodhisattvas who are Great Selves — appearing before him and conferring fruits. He may cross a great sea, a river or a pool; he may hear a sound he delights in; a voice in the air may speak good fortune, and give him the fruit his mind delights in. Such good signs as these should be carefully distinguished; and what runs contrary to these, know to be no good dream. One who abides well in the precepts, rising at dawn, reports to his master; and the master declares this teaching in verse, urging on the practitioner: ‘This is the way of the excellent vow, the Great Vehicle of the great mind; you are now able to aspire to it, and shall accomplish the Tathāgata. Spontaneous wisdom, the great dragon, revered by the world as a stūpa is revered, transcending being and non-being alike, stainless as space. The dharmas are profound and deep, hard to fathom, holding nothing in store, apart from every false conception, because frivolous elaboration is from the first not there. Its works are exquisite beyond compare, always resting on the two truths — this vehicle is the excellent vow, and in this way you should abide.’”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
The dream list is not a list of auspicious symbols to be decoded. Read it in order and it is a list of things that would reassure an anxious person the night before an initiation: a well-kept monastery, a kind face, cattle in milk, clean books, a voice saying it will be all right. The text calls the contrary sort “no good dream” and leaves it at that, without prescribing what to do about one.
The Precept That Gives the Body Away
The precept the disciple received before the tooth-stick is now defined, and it turns out to have one article. It is also defined by a piece of reasoning that the chapter states twice, in opposite directions.
爾時住無戲論執金剛白佛言：「世尊！願說三世無礙智戒。若菩薩住此者，令諸佛菩薩皆歡喜故。」如是說已，佛告住無戲論執金剛等言：「佛子諦聽。若族姓子住是戒者，以身語意合為一，不作一切諸法。云何為戒？所謂觀察捨於自身，奉獻諸佛菩薩。何以故？若捨自身則為捨彼三事。云何為三？謂身、語、意。是故族姓子！以受身語意戒得名菩薩。所以者何？離彼身語意故。菩薩摩訶薩應如是學。」
……爾時執金剛祕密主以偈問佛：「種智說中尊， 願說彼時分。大眾於何時， 普集現靈瑞，漫茶羅闍梨， 慇懃持真言？」爾時薄伽梵， 告持金剛慧：「常當於此夜， 而作漫茶羅。傳法阿闍梨， 如是應次取，五色修多羅， 稽首一切佛。大毘盧遮那， 親自作加持，東方以為首， 對持修多羅，至齊而在空， 漸次右旋轉，如是南及西， 終竟於北方。第二安立界， 亦從初方起，憶念諸如來， 所行如上說，右方及後方， 復周於勝方。阿闍梨次迴， 依於涅哩底，受學對持者， 漸次以南行，從此右旋遶， 轉依於風方，師位移本處， 而居於火方。
……爾時執金剛祕密主，於一切眾會中諦觀大日世尊，目不暫瞬而說偈言：「一切智慧者， 出現於世間，如彼優曇華， 時時乃一現。真言所行道， 倍復甚難遇，無量俱胝劫， 所作眾罪業，見此漫茶羅， 消滅盡無餘，何況無量稱， 住真言行法。行此無上句， 真言救世者，止斷諸惡趣， 一切苦不生，若修如是行， 妙慧深不動。」
Then the vajra-holder Abiding-Without-Frivolous-Elaboration said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! May you declare the precept of unobstructed wisdom in the three times; for if a bodhisattva abides in it, all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are gladdened.” When this had been said, the Buddha told him and the others: “Children of the Buddha, listen closely. If a son of good family abides in this precept, he joins body, speech and mind into one, and does not make any dharma at all. What is the precept? It is this: examining, he gives away his own body, and presents it to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Why so? Because if he gives away his own body, he has thereby given away those three. Which three? Body, speech and mind. Therefore, son of good family, it is by receiving the precept of body, speech and mind that one earns the name of bodhisattva. And why? Because one is thereby apart from that body, speech and mind. So should the bodhisattva-mahāsattva train.”
…Then Vajrapāṇi, the Lord of Secrets, asked the Buddha in verse: “Honored among those who speak the knowledge of every kind, may you declare the division of time. At what hour does the great assembly gather and the auspicious signs appear, and the maṇḍala-ācārya earnestly hold the mantra?” Then the Blessed One told the wisdom-holder of the vajra: “Always in this night should the maṇḍala be made. The ācārya who transmits the Dharma should then take up the five-colored cord and bow to all the buddhas. Great Mahāvairocana himself performs the empowerment. Beginning from the east, holding the cord opposite him, level with the navel and held in the air, he turns gradually to the right; so to the south and the west, ending at last in the north. The second setting of the boundary also begins from that first quarter: recollecting the Tathāgatas, he proceeds as was said above, to the right quarter and the rear, and around again to the excellent quarter. The ācārya then turns and takes his place in the southwest; the one under instruction who holds the cord opposite him proceeds gradually southward, and from there circles rightward and turns to the northwest quarter; and the master moves from his original place and takes his station in the southeast.”
Then Vajrapāṇi, the Lord of Secrets, amid the whole assembly, gazed on Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One without letting his eyes close for a moment, and spoke this verse: “The one of all wisdom appears in the world as the udumbara flower does — once in a long while and only once. The way that mantra travels is harder still to meet. The many offenses done across measureless koṭis of kalpas — seeing this maṇḍala, they are extinguished without remainder; how much more for one beyond reckoning who abides in the method of mantra practice. Walking this unsurpassed phrase, the mantra that saves the world stops and cuts off the evil destinies, and no suffering at all arises; and whoever practices such a practice, his exquisite wisdom is deep and unmoved.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
The precept has a single article and a doubled justification. One earns the name bodhisattva “by receiving the precept of body, speech and mind” — and, in the next sentence, “because one is thereby apart from that body, speech and mind.” The precept is received and what it consists of is being without the thing received. This is the same shape as the Diamond Sūtra’s 即非 formula, arriving here as a rite rather than an argument.
Part 2 Complete
This closes Part 2: the ten qualities of a mantra master, the courtship of a worthy disciple, the rite that calls on the same earth goddess who once bore witness for Śākyamuni's own awakening, the sūtra's direct answer to why a markless Dharma still requires ritual and image, and the full iconography of the Womb Maṇḍala's three courts — the central eight-petal lotus of Mahāvairocana and the buddha and bodhisattva families surrounding him, Śākyamuni's own court set within it, and the third court of Mañjuśrī, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha. Part 3 carries 具緣品之餘, "the remainder" of this same chapter — the disciple's own entry into the maṇḍala, the flower-throwing rite that reveals which deity a disciple is bound to, and the initiation proper.
Continue to Part 3 — The Disciple's Entry, and Initiation →