The Five Syllables of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space
Part 5 carries three chapters on how siddhi — spiritual accomplishment — actually manifests. At its center is one of this sūtra's most consequential teachings: a five-syllable visualization mapping A, VA, RA, HA, and KHA onto the navel, heart, throat, forehead, and crown of the practitioner's own body, each syllable identified with one of the five elements. This is the direct scriptural source of the five-tiered stūpa (gorintō) still built across Japan today, and of the "A-syllable contemplation" (阿字観) that remains central to Shingon meditation practice.
The Universal Sound of Awakening
爾時世尊復觀諸大眾會，為欲滿足一切願故，復說三世無量門決定智圓滿法句：
「虛空無垢無自性， 能授種種諸巧智，由本自性常空故， 緣起甚深難可見，於長恒時殊勝進， 隨念施與無上果。譬如一切趣宮室， 雖依虛空無著行，此清淨法亦如是， 三有無餘清淨生，昔勝生嚴修此故， 得有一切如來行。非他句有難可得， 作世遍明如世尊，說極清淨修行法， 深廣無盡離分別。」
At that time the World-Honored One, surveying the great assembly once more, so as to fulfill every wish, spoke again this Dharma-phrase, the perfect and settled wisdom of the measureless gateways of the three times:
"Space, stainless and without any nature of its own, is able to bestow every kind of skillful wisdom — because its own nature is ever empty, dependent arising is profound and hard to see; over a long and constant span of surpassing progress, it bestows, according to mindful practice, the unsurpassed fruit. Just as every dwelling of every destiny rests upon space, and yet moves through it unattached, so too this pure Dharma: born pure, without remainder, from the three realms of existence — those of surpassing birth in ages past adorned themselves by cultivating just this, and so came to possess the conduct of every Tathāgata. This phrase, found in no other place, is hard indeed to attain — the World-Honored One alone illumines the world completely, and teaches this utterly pure practice, profound and vast, inexhaustible, free of all discrimination."
爾時毘盧遮那世尊說是偈已，觀察金剛手等諸大眾會，告執金剛言：「善男子！各各當現法界神力悉地流出句。若諸眾生見如是法，歡喜踊躍得安樂住。」如是說已，諸執金剛為毘盧遮那世尊作禮：「如是。法主！依所教勅。」復請佛言：「惟願世尊哀愍我等，示現悉地流出句。何以故？於尊者薄伽梵前而自宣示所通達法，非是所宜。善哉世尊！惟願利益安樂未來眾生故。」時薄伽梵毘盧遮那告一切諸執金剛言：「善哉善哉！善男子！如來所說法毘柰耶稱讚一法，所謂有羞。若有羞善男子善女人，見如是法速生二事，謂不作所不應作、眾所稱讚。復有二事，謂所未至令至，得與佛菩薩同處。復有二事，謂住尸羅、生於人天。善哉諦聽，善思念之，我當宣說真言成就流出相應句。」
爾時世尊復住三世無礙力，依如來加持不思議力，依莊嚴清淨藏三昧，即時世尊從三摩鉢底中，出無盡界無盡語表。依法界力、無等力、正等覺信解、以一音聲四處流出、普遍一切法界、與虛空等，無所不至。真言曰：
「南麼薩婆怛他蘖帝[口*驃](一) 微濕嚩目契弊(二) 薩婆他(三) 阿阿闇噁(四)」
Having spoken this verse, the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana surveyed Vajrapāṇi and the whole great assembly, and said to the vajra-holders: "Good sons, each of you should now manifest the phrase from which the spiritual power of the dharma-realm's siddhi flows forth. Should beings behold this teaching, they will leap with joy and dwell in ease." Having said this, the vajra-holders bowed to the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana: "So it is, Lord of the Dharma — we shall do as instructed." They further asked the Buddha: "We beg only that the World-Honored One, out of pity for us, disclose this phrase himself, from which siddhi flows forth. Why is this so? It would not be fitting for us to proclaim, in the presence of the Bhagavān himself, a teaching we ourselves have merely penetrated. Excellent, World-Honored One — we beg only that you do so for the benefit and ease of beings yet to come." The Bhagavān Mahāvairocana then said to all the vajra-holders: "Excellent, excellent, good sons! Among the Tathāgata's own teaching and discipline, there is one quality especially praised — namely, a sense of shame. A good son or daughter possessed of this sense of shame, on seeing a teaching such as this, will swiftly give rise to two things: they will not do what should not be done, and they will be praised by all. Two things further: what has not yet been reached will be reached, and they will come to dwell in the same place as the buddhas and bodhisattvas. And two things further still: they will abide in moral discipline, and be born among gods and humans. Listen well, and reflect on this carefully — I shall now proclaim the phrase of mantra accomplishment, from which every corresponding attainment flows."
At that time the World-Honored One abided once more in the power unobstructed across the three times, and, resting on the inconceivable power of the Tathāgata's own empowerment and the samādhi of the adorned and pure treasury, emerged from that absorption and gave voice to an inexhaustible realm's inexhaustible expression of speech. Resting on the power of the dharma-realm, on unequaled power, and on the confident understanding of perfect awakening, with a single sound it flowed forth into all four directions at once, pervading the entire dharma-realm, equal to space itself, reaching everywhere without exception. The mantra:
Namaḥ sarva-tathāgatebhyaḥ viśva-mukhebhyaḥ sarvathā a ā aṃ aḥ
The four syllables closing this universal mantra — A, Ā, AṂ, AḤ — are the same "four transformations" already introduced in Part 4's single-syllable treasury (bodhicitta, conduct, attained bodhi, nirvāṇa); their appearance here, spoken by Mahāvairocana himself in a voice the text says reaches every corner of the dharma-realm "equal to space itself," marks them as more than one entry among many in a list — this is the sūtra's own way of naming its single most condensed formula, the whole path from first arousing bodhicitta to nirvāṇa compressed into one breath. The Buddha's own reluctance to speak the accomplishment-phrase first, deferring instead to the vajra-holders and only stepping in once they have themselves deferred back to him, echoes a courtesy this collection has already seen once, in Part 1, when Vajrapāṇi asks permission before questioning the Buddha at all — a small, recurring point of etiquette this sūtra treats as inseparable from the teaching itself.
The Mirror Within the Mind
「於正等覺心， 而作成就者，於園苑僧坊， 若在巖窟中，或意所樂處， 觀彼菩提心，乃至初安住， 不生疑慮意。隨取彼一心， 以心置於心，證於極淨句， 無垢安不動，不分別如鏡， 現前甚微細。若彼常觀察， 修習而相應，乃至本所尊， 自身像皆現。第二正覺句， 於鏡漫茶羅，大蓮華王座， 深邃住三昧，總持髮髻冠， 圍繞無量光，離妄執分別， 本寂如虛空。於彼中思惟， 作攝意念誦，一月修等引， 持滿一洛叉，是為最初月， 持真言法則。次於第二月， 奉塗香華等，而以作饒益， 種種眾生類。又復於他月， 捨棄諸利養，時彼於瑜伽， 思惟而自在。願一切無障， 安樂諸群生，樂欲成如來， 所稱讚圓果。或滿足一切， 有情眾希願，應理無障蓋， 而生是攀緣。」
"One who accomplishes this within the mind of perfect awakening — whether in a garden, in a monastic dwelling, in a mountain cave, or in whatever place the mind delights — contemplates that very bodhicitta, and, from the first moment it is settled in place, gives rise to no doubt or hesitation. Taking up that single mind, one places mind upon mind, and bears witness to the utterly pure phrase, stainless, at ease, unmoving, free of discrimination like a mirror, appearing before one exceedingly fine and subtle. Should one contemplate this constantly, cultivating it until it is fully attuned, even the very deity one has taken as one's own will at last appear as one's own reflected image. This is the second phrase of perfect awakening: within the maṇḍala of the mirror, upon a great lotus-king throne, dwelling deep within samādhi, crowned with bound-up hair holding dhāraṇī, encircled by measureless light, free of false grasping and discrimination, fundamentally still as space itself. Contemplating within it, gathering the mind for recitation, one cultivates equipoise for one full month, reciting to one hundred thousand repetitions — this is the very first month, the rule for holding mantra. Next, in the second month, one makes offering of scented paste and flowers, and thereby brings benefit to every kind of being. And further, in yet another month, one relinquishes every worldly gain, and, at that time, in yoga, contemplation becomes fully at ease. One vows that every being, without obstruction, may dwell in peace, and wishes to accomplish the perfect fruit every Tathāgata has praised — or else to fulfill every wish of every being, rightly and without any hindrance, giving rise, in this way, to this very aspiration."
This "second phrase of perfect awakening" describes a maṇḍala made entirely of reflection rather than paint or sand — a practitioner who holds bodhicitta in mind steadily enough eventually sees, arising within that very stillness, an image of the deity they have taken as their own practice, "as one's own reflected image." The instruction is careful to specify that this vision arrives unbidden, the fruit of sustained contemplation rather than deliberate visualization — closer, in method, to Part 2's account of the master's own initiatory dream-signs than to the elaborate constructed iconography of the Womb Maṇḍala itself. The three-month structure here (one month of visualization proper, a second of offering and dedication, a third of relinquishing personal gain) extends the two-month schedule already given in Part 4, adding a further stage explicitly oriented toward the welfare of other beings rather than the practitioner's own attainment — a small but telling structural point: this sūtra's own account of spiritual progress does not end at personal siddhi, but requires that attainment be turned outward before the sequence is considered complete.
The Five Syllables of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space
What follows is this sūtra's single most consequential teaching for later esoteric practice and art: five Sanskrit syllables — A, VA, RA, HA, and KHA — each identified with one of the five elements, mapped in sequence onto the practitioner's own body from navel to crown. This is the direct textual source of the five-tiered stūpa (gorintō, 五輪塔) built at temples and gravesites across Japan to this day, and of the seated "A-syllable contemplation" (阿字觀) that remains a core Shingon meditation practice.
「若於真言門， 修行諸菩薩，阿字為自身， 內外悉同等，諸義利皆捨， 等礫石金寶，遠離眾罪業， 及與貪瞋等，當得俱清淨， 同諸佛牟尼，能作諸利益， 離一切諸過。復次於嚩字， 行者依瑜伽，解作業儀式， 利益眾生故，內身救世者， 一切皆如是，心水湛盈滿， 潔白猶雪乳，當生決定意， 出於一切身，悉遍諸毛孔， 流注極清淨，從此內充溢， 遍滿於大地，以是悲愍水， 觀世苦眾生。諸有飲用者， 或復身所觸，一切皆決定， 得成就菩提。思惟在等引， 一切囉字門，周輪生焰光， 寂然而普照，瑜祇光外轉， 而遍一切處。利世隨樂欲， 行者起神通，上身囉字門， 嚩字臍輪中，出火而降雨， 俱時而應現。地獄極寒苦， 囉字能消除，嚩字蠲熾然， 住真言法故。囉字為下身， 訶字為幖幟，作業速成就， 救重罪眾生，住大因陀羅， 作水龍事業，一切攝除等， 真言者勿疑。風遍一切處， 一切悉開壞，此種種雜類， 各各眾事業，色漫茶羅中， 依法而作之。觸心而念持， 逮得意根淨，輕舉習經行， 中誦獲神足。宴坐觀阿字， 想在於耳根，念持滿一月， 當得耳清淨。」
"Should bodhisattvas practicing conduct within the gateway of mantra take the letter A as their own body, inner and outer wholly equal, relinquishing every worldly aim — gravel and gold, jewel alike — and leaving far behind every karma of guilt, along with greed, anger, and the rest, they will attain a purity shared with every buddha, every silent sage, able to bring about every benefit, free of every fault. Further, at the letter VA, the practitioner, resting in yoga, understands the rites of ritual action, and, for the sake of benefiting beings, becomes, within, a savior of the world in every respect: the mind's own water, brimming full, pure white as snow-milk, gives rise to a resolute intention, streaming out through every pore of the body, flowing forth utterly pure — welling up from within, spreading out to fill the whole earth, this water of compassion regarding the suffering beings of the world. Whoever drinks of it, or whose body it merely touches, will without exception, and with certainty, accomplish bodhi. Contemplated in equipoise, at the letter RA a wheel of flame is born, blazing in stillness, shining everywhere; the practitioner's own light turns outward, reaching every place. To benefit the world according to its wishes, the practitioner arouses spiritual powers: the letter RA in the upper body, the letter VA at the navel's own wheel, fire and rain arising and manifesting together at once. The extreme cold-suffering of the hells is dispelled by the letter RA; the blazing fires there are quenched by the letter VA, resting on the very Dharma of mantra. The letter RA forms the lower body, the letter HA its emblem — ritual action is swiftly accomplished, rescuing beings of grave offense; abiding in the great Indra's own realm, one carries out the work of water and nāgas, gathering in and removing every affliction alike — the mantra practitioner should have no doubt of this. Wind reaches every place, opening and dissolving all things; every different kind of ritual action, each its own task, is carried out in the maṇḍala of color, in accordance with the teaching. Touching this to the mind and holding it in recitation, one attains a purified mind-faculty; moving lightly, practicing walking meditation, reciting all the while, one gains the base of miraculous power. Sitting in quiet meditation, contemplating the letter A held in mind at the ear, reciting for a full month, one attains a purified faculty of hearing."
The five-syllable system in this passage — A at the navel for earth, VA at the heart for water, RA at the throat for fire, HA at the forehead for wind, and KHA (introduced a few verses later in this same chapter, not translated at length here) at the crown for space — became, in the centuries after this sūtra reached Japan, the direct scriptural warrant for the gorintō: the five-tiered stone stūpa, its stack of cube, sphere, pyramid, crescent, and jewel-shaped tiers still the single most common form of grave marker at Japanese Buddhist cemeteries today, each tier a solid geometric translation of exactly the shape this passage assigns each syllable — square, circle, triangle, half-moon, jewel. The same five syllables, contemplated seated in meditation rather than built in stone, are the basis of ajikan (阿字観), the "A-syllable contemplation" that remains a foundational Shingon practice: a practitioner seated before a painted moon-disc bearing the single letter A, understood, exactly as this sūtra states of the letter A elsewhere, as "one's own body" rather than an external object of devotion. What the passage above adds to that later, more austere single-syllable practice is its own, more expansive claim: each of the five elements, correctly contemplated at its own place in the body, is said to actually do something in the world — VA's water genuinely quenches the fires of hell, RA's fire genuinely warms its cold — a continuity between inner visualization and outer effect this whole sūtra has been establishing since the ten similes of Part 1, where a mantra's efficacy was shown to require no fixed, independently existing substance behind it in order to be real.
Chapter Seven — The Mirror of the Heart
時吉祥金剛， 奇特開敷眼，手轉金剛印， 流散如火光，其明普遍照， 一切諸佛剎，微妙音稱歎： 「法自在牟尼，說諸真言行。 彼行不可得，真言從何來？ 所去至何所？諸佛說如是， 更無過上句，一切法歸趣， 如眾流赴海。」如是說已，世尊告執金剛祕密主言：
「摩訶薩意處， 說名漫茶羅，諸真言心位， 了知得成果。諸有所分別， 悉皆從意生，分辯白黃赤， 是等從心起。決定心歡喜， 說名內心處，真言住斯位， 能授廣大果。念彼蓮華處， 八葉鬚蘂敷，華臺阿字門， 焰鬘皆妙好，光暉普周遍， 照明眾生故，如合會千電， 持佛巧色形，深居圓鏡中， 應現諸方所，猶如淨水月， 普現眾生前，知心性如是， 得住真言行。次於其首上， 頂會交際中，標以大空點， 而思惟暗字，妙好淨無垢， 如水精月電，說寂靜法身， 一切所依持，諸真言悉地， 能現殊類形，得天樂解脫， 逮見如來句。囉字為眼界， 輝燭猶明燈，俛頸小低頭， 舌近於齶間，而以觀心處， 當心現等引，無垢妙淨清， 圓鏡常現前。如是真實心， 古佛所宣說，照了心明達， 諸色皆發光。真言者當見， 正覺兩足尊，若見成悉地， 第一常恒體。從此次思惟， 轉此囉字門，邏字大空點， 置之於眼位，見一切空句， 得成不死句。若欲廣大智， 或起五神通，長壽童子身， 成就持明等，真言者未得， 由不隨順之。真言發起智， 是最勝實知，一切佛菩薩， 救世之庫藏。」
At that time the auspicious Vajrapāṇi, his eyes opened in wonder, turned the vajra-seal in his hand, radiance scattering from it like fire, its light shining everywhere across every buddha-field, and spoke in a wondrous voice, praising the Buddha: "Silent Sage, sovereign of the Dharma, who teaches this mantra conduct — that conduct itself cannot be apprehended: whence does mantra come, and whither does it go? Every buddha has taught it thus: there is no phrase that surpasses it; every dharma flows toward it, as every river flows at last to the sea." Having said this, the World-Honored One said to Vajrapāṇi:
"The place of a great being's own mind — this is what is called the maṇḍala; once the very seat of every mantra's heart is known, its fruit is accomplished. Whatever discrimination there is arises entirely from the mind; the distinguishing of white, yellow, and red all arises from the mind as well. A mind resolute and joyful — this is called the inner heart's own place; a mantra abiding at this seat is able to bestow a vast and expansive fruit. Contemplate that lotus place, its eight petals with filament and pistil open in bloom, the letter-gate A upon the lotus dais, its garland of flame wondrous and fine, its radiance shining everywhere, illuminating every being — like a thousand lightning-flashes joined as one, holding the buddha's own skillfully wrought form, dwelling deep within a round mirror, manifesting in response in every direction, just as the moon appears in every body of clear water, showing itself before every being — knowing the nature of mind to be exactly this, one comes to abide in mantra conduct. Next, at the very crown of the head, at the meeting-point of the skull, mark the point of great emptiness, and contemplate the letter AḤ, fine and pure, free of every stain, like crystal, like moonlight, like lightning — this is spoken of as the tranquil dharma-body, the very support of all things; every mantra's siddhi is able, through it, to manifest in every different form, attain the bliss of the heavens and liberation, and at last behold the Tathāgata's own phrase. The letter RA forms the field of the eye, its brightness like a lit lamp; lowering the neck, bowing the head slightly, the tongue brought near the roof of the mouth, one thereby contemplates the seat of the mind — before the mind, equipoise appears, stainless, wondrously pure and clear, a round mirror ever present before one. This true and actual mind, as the buddhas of old have taught, illumines and clarifies the mind's own understanding, and every color thereby gives forth its own light. The mantra practitioner will thereby behold the Perfectly Awakened One, most honored among the two-footed; and having beheld him, siddhi is accomplished — the very first, ever-constant body. From this, next contemplate turning this same letter-gate RA into the letter LA together with the point of great emptiness, placed at the position of the eye; seeing the phrase of universal emptiness in this way, one accomplishes the phrase of deathlessness. Should one wish for vast wisdom, or to arouse the five superknowledges, the form of an ever-youthful, long-lived body, and the accomplishment of vidyā-holding and the rest — a mantra practitioner who has not attained these has simply failed to follow this teaching accordingly. The wisdom mantra gives rise to is the most supreme and true knowing there is — the very treasury of every buddha and bodhisattva, saviors of the world."
This short chapter returns to the mirror image of the "second phrase of perfect awakening" from earlier in this Part, but sharpens it into a specific technique: the letter RA visualized at the eye, functioning as a lamp that illuminates the mind's own seat "as a round mirror ever present," and then transformed — the text specifies the transformation directly, RA becoming LA with the addition of the point of great emptiness — into what the sūtra calls "the phrase of deathlessness." This deliberate letter-substitution technique, one Sanskrit consonant modified into a visually and phonetically related one to shift a visualization's function, recurs across this sūtra's remaining chapters and is one of the more technically demanding features of its ritual system for a reader encountering it for the first time; it depends on the same principle already established in Part 3's forty-two-gate teaching, that each letter is itself a specific gateway into emptiness, so that moving between related letters is understood as moving between specific, related aspects of the same single truth rather than switching to an unrelated formula.
The Wheel of Revolving Letters
Chapter Eight repeats the Womb Maṇḍala's construction from Parts 2–3, but in a compressed, more esoteric form: rather than full iconographic descriptions, each deity's position is now marked by a single seed-syllable alone. The chapter closes with a five-color visualization rite — white, red, yellow, blue, and black, each paired with its own contemplated letter and its own ritual purpose — and a final repetition of the initiation instructions from Part 3.
「彼阿闍梨先住阿字一切智門，持修多羅稽首一切諸佛，東方申之，旋轉而南以及西方，周於北方。次作金剛薩埵，以執金剛加持自身，或以彼印或以嚩字入於內心，置漫茶羅。……真言者應以潔白為先。」說伽陀曰：
「以此淨法界， 淨除諸眾生，自體如如來， 遠離一切過。如是而觀想， 思惟囉字門，寂然光焰鬘， 淨月商佉色。第二布赤色， 行者當憶持，思惟字明照， 本無大空點，煥炳初日輝， 最勝無能壞。第三真言者， 次運布黃色，定意迦字門， 當隨於法教。身相猶真金， 正受害諸毒，光明遍一切， 金色同牟尼。次當布青色， 超度於生死，思惟麼字門， 大寂菩提座，身色如虹霓， 除一切怖畏。最後布黑色， 其彩甚玄妙，思惟訶字門， 周遍生圓光，如劫災猛焰， 寶冠舉手印，能怖一切惡， 降伏諸魔軍。」
東方一切諸佛，以阿字門及大空點。伊舍尼方一切如來母虛空眼，應書伽字。火天方一切諸菩薩，畫真陀摩尼寶或置迦字。夜叉方觀世自在，蓮華印，并畫一生補處菩薩眷屬，或作娑字。焰摩方，越三分位置金剛慧印，持金剛祕密主并眷屬，或書嚩字。……次涅哩底方，於大日如來下，作不動尊坐於石上，手持羂索慧刀，周匝焰鬘擬作障者，或置彼印，或書字句所謂唅字。風天方，降三世尊摧大障者……或作彼印，或書字句所謂訶字。
"The master first abides in the letter A, the gateway of all-wisdom, and, holding a length of thread, bows to every buddha, extending it toward the east, then turning to circle south, and on to the west, and around to the north. He then forms Vajrasattva, empowering his own body with the vajra-holder, and, either with that seal or by bringing the letter VA into his own heart, sets it within the maṇḍala…the mantra practitioner should begin with pure white." He then spoke this verse:
"With this pure dharma-realm, every being is purified; one's own body becomes as the Tathāgata's own, far removed from every fault. Contemplating in this way, hold in mind the letter-gate RA, its still garland of flame the color of pure moonlight and conch-shell white. Second, lay in red, and the practitioner should hold in mind the letter A illumined, fundamentally unborn, together with the point of great emptiness, blazing bright as the sun's first rising, most supreme, unable to be destroyed. Third, the mantra practitioner next spreads yellow, settling the mind on the letter-gate KA, in accord with the teaching — the body's own form like true gold, truly receiving and destroying every poison, its light pervading everywhere, golden as the Silent Sage himself. Next, lay in blue, transcending birth-and-death, holding in mind the letter-gate MA, the great and still seat of bodhi, the body's color like a rainbow, dispelling every fear. Last, lay in black, its hue most deep and mysterious, holding in mind the letter-gate HA, a round light arising all around, fierce as the flame of the kalpa's own destruction, jeweled crown and raised hand-seal, able to terrify every evil, subduing every army of Māra."
In the east, every buddha, marked by the letter A together with the point of great emptiness. In the northwest, Buddhalocanā, the mother of every Tathāgata, should be inscribed with the letter GA. In the southeast, every bodhisattva — paint a cintāmaṇi jewel, or mark it with the letter KA. In the northeast, Avalokiteśvara, marked with the lotus-seal, together with the retinue of one-birth-bound bodhisattvas, or mark it with the letter SA. In the southwest, setting aside three of the usual divisions, place the vajra-wisdom seal, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets, together with his retinue, or mark it with the letter VA…Next, in the southwest quarter, beneath Mahāvairocana, fashion Acala seated upon a rock, holding a lasso and a wisdom-sword in hand, encircled all about by a garland of flame, poised against every obstructing spirit — or place his seal there, or mark it with the letter HĀṂ. In the northwest quarter, Trailokyavijaya, who crushes every great obstruction…or place his seal there, or mark it with the letter HŪṂ."
This chapter's method — reducing the same maṇḍala Part 2 painted in full iconographic detail down to a single seed-syllable per deity — is the "revolving wheel of letters" its title names: the same figures, the same positions, now represented at the level of pure sound rather than image, so that a practitioner who has internalized the full iconography can, at a more advanced stage, work with the compressed letter-form alone. The five-color rite that follows (white for RA, red for A with the point of great emptiness, yellow for KA, blue for MA, black for HA) maps onto the classical fourfold division of esoteric ritual purpose that later systematized into the "four" or "five great rites" (息災, 增益, 降伏, 敬愛, and 鉤召 — pacification, increase, subjugation, attraction, and summoning): white for pacifying obstacles and illness, yellow for increasing merit and prosperity, black for the forceful subjugation of what resists gentler means, with red and blue serving further specific purposes this chapter does not spell out at length. Together with the five-syllable body visualization earlier in this same Part, this color-and-letter system forms the working vocabulary nearly every later chapter of this sūtra continues to draw on.
Where the Power Is Not
Chapter six opens with a list of who may receive this, and then does something unexpected: it compares mantra to the powers of Īśvara, of Maheśvara, of stage-magicians, of asuras, of the spells that draw out poison and of the Mātṛ goddesses who send plague — and then states flatly that the power of mantra is in none of the places one would look for it.
若行者見漫茶羅尊所印可成就真語，發菩提心、深信慈悲、無有慳悋、住於調伏，能善分別從緣所生，受持禁戒善住眾學，具巧方便勇健，知時非時，好行惠捨心無怖畏，勤修真言行法，通達真言實義，常樂坐禪、樂作成就。
祕密主！譬如欲界有自在悅滿意明，乃至一切欲處天子於此迷醉，出眾妙雜類戲笑及現種種雜類受用遍受用，授與自所變化、他化自在天等而亦自受用之。又善男子！如摩醯首羅天有勝意生明，能作三千大千世界眾生利益，化一切受用、遍受用、授與淨居諸天亦復自受用之。又如幻術真言能現種種園林人物，如阿修羅真言現幻化事。如世呪術攝毒及寒熱等，摩怛哩神真言能作眾生疾疫災厲，及世間呪術攝除眾毒及寒熱等，能變熾火而生清涼。是故善男子！當信如是流出句真言威德。
此真言威德非從真言中出亦不入眾生，不於持誦者處而有可得。善男子！真言加持力故，法爾而生，無所過越，以三時不越故、甚深不思議緣生理故。是故善男子！當隨順通達不思議法性，常不斷絕真言道。
If the practitioner has seen the deity of the maṇḍala and had his true words approved and accomplished; if he has roused the awakening-mind, has deep faith and compassion, is without stinginess, abides in self-restraint, can distinguish well what arises from conditions, receives and upholds the precepts and stands well in the trainings; if he is furnished with skillful means and with courage, knows the proper time and the improper, delights in giving, has a mind without fear, diligently cultivates the methods of mantra practice, penetrates the true meaning of mantra, and always delights in sitting meditation and in performing accomplishment —
Lord of Secrets! Consider how in the realm of desire there is the vidyā called Sovereign Delight and Fulfillment of Wishes, at which even the sons of gods throughout the desire realm are intoxicated: it sends out every kind of exquisite amusement and displays every kind of enjoyment and total enjoyment, granting them to the gods who transform for themselves and to the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods, and enjoying them itself besides. And again, good man: as the Maheśvara gods have the vidyā called Supreme Mind-Born, which can work the benefit of beings throughout the three-thousandfold great-thousand world, transform every enjoyment and total enjoyment, grant them to the gods of the Pure Abodes, and enjoy them itself besides. And as the mantras of illusionists can produce all manner of gardens and people; as the mantras of the asuras produce illusory works. As worldly spells draw off poison and cold and fever and the rest; as the mantras of the Mātṛ spirits can visit disease and pestilence upon living beings, while worldly spells in turn draw off those poisons and that cold and fever, and can turn a blazing fire and make it cool. Therefore, good man, believe in the majesty of the mantras of these streaming-forth phrases.
This majesty of mantra does not come out of the mantra, nor does it enter into living beings, nor is it to be found in the place of the one reciting. Good man: by the empowering force of mantra it arises just so, by the nature of things, overstepping nothing — because the three times are not overstepped, and because the principle of dependent arising is profound and inconceivable. Therefore, good man, conform to and penetrate the inconceivable nature of things, and never let the way of mantra be broken off.
Reading note — after Yixing
“It does not come out of the mantra, nor does it enter into living beings, nor is it to be found in the place of the one reciting” (非從真言中出亦不入蠣生，不於持誰者處而有可得) is a threefold negation of exactly the three places power might be located: the formula, the recipient, the operator. What is left is the fourth option the sentence then names — dependent arising. Yixing reads the list of worldly analogies as set up precisely to be withdrawn: mantra looks like all of these, and is none of them, because none of them would survive that threefold denial.
The Site, and What Is Accomplished There
The bodhisattvas answer with verses, and the chapter turns practical: where to go at the full moon, how to draw the enclosure, and what the accomplished substance does when it begins to glow.
諸菩薩聞是已，得未曾有開敷眼，發微妙言音，於一切智離熱者前而說頌曰：「奇哉真言行， 能具廣大智，若遍布此者， 成佛兩足尊。是故勤精進， 於諸佛語心，常作無間修， 淨心離於我。……傍生相噉食， 所有苦永除，常令諸鬼界， 飲食皆充滿，地獄中受苦， 種種諸楚毒，當願速除滅。以我功德故， 及餘無量門，數數心思惟， 發廣大悲愍，三種加持句， 想念於一切，心誦持真言。以我功德力， 如來加持力，及與法界力， 周遍眾生界，諸念求義利， 悉皆饒益之，彼一切如理， 所念皆成就。」
……「行人於滿月， 次入作持誦，山峯牛欄中， 寒林或河洲，四衢獨樹下， 忙怛哩天室，一切金剛色， 嚴淨同金剛。彼中諸障者， 攝伏心迷亂，四方相周匝， 一門及通道，金剛互連屬， 金剛結相應，門門二守護， 不可越相向，擬手而上指， 朱目奮怒形。慇懃畫隅角， 輸羅焰光印，中妙金剛座， 方位正相直，其上大蓮華， 八葉鬚蘂敷。當結金剛手， 金剛之慧印，稽首一切佛， 數數堅誓願。應護持是處， 及淨諸藥物，於此夜持誦， 清淨無障礙，或於中夜分， 或於日出時。彼藥物當轉， 圓光普暉焰，真言者自取， 遊步於大空，住壽大威德， 於生死自在，行於世界頂， 現種種色身。具德吉祥者， 展轉而供養，真言所成物， 是名為悉地。以分別藥物， 成就無分別。」
Hearing this, the bodhisattvas, their eyes opened as never before, sent forth exquisite speech and spoke these verses before the One of All-Knowledge who is free of fever: “How marvelous is mantra practice, that it can be furnished with vast wisdom! Whoever spreads this abroad becomes a buddha, honored among those who walk on two feet. Therefore be diligent, and in the heart of every buddha’s word practice always without interruption, purifying the mind and leaving self behind. …May the sufferings of animals who devour one another be forever removed; may the realms of hungry ghosts be always filled with food and drink; may the many bitter torments of those who suffer in the hells be swiftly destroyed. By my merit, and by the other measureless gateways, contemplating again and again in the mind, may vast compassion arise; with the three empowering phrases, recollecting all of them, may he recite the mantra in his heart. By the power of my merit, by the empowering power of the Tathāgata, and by the power of the dharma-realm, pervading the whole realm of beings, may every thought that seeks good and benefit bring benefit to all; and may all of it, in accordance with principle, be accomplished as thought.”
…“At the full moon the practitioner enters upon recitation: on a mountain peak, in a cattle pen, in a cold forest or on a river island, beneath a solitary tree at a crossroads, in a shrine of the Mātṛ goddesses — everything the color of vajra, pure and adorned like vajra itself. Those there who obstruct, their deluded minds are subdued and gathered in. The four quarters are enclosed all around, with one gate and a passage; vajras linked one to another, vajra-knots answering to them; at each gate two guardians, facing one another so that none may pass, hands raised with fingers pointing upward, red-eyed and in wrathful form. Diligently he draws at the corners the seal of the triśūla’s blazing light; in the middle, the exquisite vajra seat, its quarters squarely aligned; and above it a great lotus, eight petals with filaments and anthers open. He should form Vajrapāṇi’s vajra wisdom-seal, bow to all the buddhas, and again and again make firm his vow. He should guard this place and purify the substances, and recite here through the night, pure and without obstruction, or at the middle watch, or at sunrise. Those substances will then turn, and a full halo of flame will blaze about them; the mantra practitioner takes them himself and walks abroad in the great sky, abiding in life-span and great majesty, sovereign over birth and death, journeying at the summit of the worlds, manifesting bodies of every kind. Endowed with virtue and good fortune, he makes offering in turn; and the substance accomplished by mantra — that is what is called attainment: by discriminating a substance, the undiscriminated is accomplished.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
“By discriminating a substance, the undiscriminated is accomplished” (以分別號物，成就無分別) is the chapter’s defense of its own materiality, and it is offered without elaboration. The whole apparatus of glowing substances, charnel grounds and wrathful gate-guardians is justified in eight characters by the claim that a discriminating act is what non-discrimination is reached through, not what it is obstructed by.
Attainment Has No Cause
Midway through, the chapter states its most uncompromising position: since a cause is not an agent, and this cause is itself empty, the fruit called attainment does not arise from the acts that seem to produce it. The practice that follows — three hundred thousand recitations of the syllable A — is prescribed immediately afterward, without any attempt to reconcile the two.
「祕密主！一切世界諸現在等如來、應、正等覺，通達方便波羅蜜。彼如來知一分別本性空，以方便波羅蜜力故，而於無為以有為為表，展轉相應，而為眾生示現遍於法界，令得見法安樂住、發歡喜心，或得長壽，五欲嬉戲而自娛樂，為佛世尊而作供養。證如是句，一切世人所不能信。如來見此義利故，以歡喜心說此菩薩真言行道次第法則。何以故？於無量劫勤求修諸苦行所不能得，而真言門行道諸菩薩即於此生而獲得之。
……祕密主！若具方便善男子善女人，隨所樂求而有所作，彼唯心自在而得成就。祕密主！諸樂欲因果者，祕密主！非彼愚夫能知真言諸真言相。何以故？「說因非作者， 彼果則不生，此因因尚空， 云何而有果？當知真言果， 悉離於因業。……乃至身證觸， 無相三摩地，真言者當得， 悉地從心生。」
……佛告祕密主：「以阿字門而作成就。若在僧所住處、若山窟中或於淨室，以阿字遍布一切支分時持三洛叉。次於滿月，盡其所有而以供養。乃至普賢菩薩、文殊師利、執金剛等或餘聖天現前，摩頂唱言：『善哉行者！』應當稽首作禮，奉閼伽水。即時得不忘菩提心三昧。又以如是身心輕安而誦習之，當得隨生心清淨、身清淨。置於耳上持之，當得耳根清淨。以阿字門作出入息，三時思惟，行者爾時能持壽命長劫住世。
“Lord of Secrets! All the Tathāgatas, Worthy Ones, Perfectly Awakened Ones present now throughout every world have penetrated the perfection of skillful means. Those Tathāgatas know that every discrimination is empty in its own nature; and by the power of that perfection of means they take the conditioned as the emblem of the unconditioned, answering one to the other in turn, and display themselves to living beings throughout the dharma-realm — so that beings may see the Dharma, abide at ease, give rise to a joyful mind; or gain long life and amuse themselves with the five desires, and yet make offering to the Buddha, the World-Honored One. That such a phrase is realized, no one in the world can believe. Because the Tathāgata saw the benefit of it, with a joyful mind he has spoken this graduated rule of the bodhisattva’s way of mantra practice. Why so? Because what cannot be obtained by diligent seeking and ascetic practice through measureless kalpas, bodhisattvas who walk the way by the gate of mantra obtain in this very life.”
…“Lord of Secrets! If a good man or good woman furnished with skillful means acts according to what he seeks, it is by sovereignty of mind alone that he reaches accomplishment. Lord of Secrets, as for those who delight in cause and fruit — Lord of Secrets, it is not the foolish who can know mantra and the aspects of mantras. Why so? Because the cause spoken of is not an agent, that fruit does not arise; and if this cause is itself empty as a cause, how should there be a fruit? Know that the fruit of mantra is wholly apart from cause and act. …And so, even to the bodily realization of contact and the formless samādhi, what the mantra practitioner attains is an attainment arising from the mind.”
…The Buddha said to the Lord of Secrets: “By the gate of the syllable A, accomplishment is made. Whether in a dwelling of the saṅgha, in a mountain cave, or in a clean chamber, spreading the syllable A over all his limbs, let him hold it for three hundred thousand recitations. Then at the full moon let him make offering with all that he has. And when Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, Vajradhara, or some other holy one appears before him, strokes his head, and calls out ‘Well done, practitioner!’ — he should bow in homage and present the argha water. At that moment he obtains the samādhi of not forgetting the awakening-mind. And reciting with body and mind thus at ease, he will attain, as it arises, purity of mind and purity of body. Holding it above the ear, he will attain purity of the faculty of hearing. Making the syllable A his outgoing and incoming breath, contemplating it at the three times, the practitioner is then able to hold his life-span and remain in the world for long kalpas.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
“Know that the fruit of mantra is wholly apart from cause and act” sits four lines before an instruction to recite three hundred thousand times. The sūtra does not treat this as a contradiction needing repair, and the sequence is the same one Part 1 established for bodhicitta: the thing is not produced by what is done, and what is done is prescribed anyway. What the practice produces, on this account, is not the attainment but the practitioner.
Five Syllables, Five Maṇḍalas
The chapter closes with its most systematic passage: A, VA, RA, HA and KHA, each with an element, a color, a shape, a place on the body, a set of substances, and the class of attainment it yields. This is the material that Part 10’s ritual appendix later compresses into five verses of daily liturgy.
最勝阿字同， 大因陀羅輪，當知內外等， 金剛漫茶羅，中思惟一切， 說名瑜伽座。阿字第一命， 是為引攝句，常安大空點， 能攝授諸果。行者於一月， 結金剛慧印，三時作持誦， 摧毀無智城，得不動堅固， 天脩羅莫壞，乃至隨自意， 增益事成就。……行者一緣想， 八峯彌盧山，上觀妙蓮華， 立金剛智印。瑜伽者於上， 字門威焰光，而用置其頂， 安住不傾動。百轉所持藥， 行者應服之，先世業生疾， 是等悉除愈。
佛子應復聽， 第一嚩字門，雪乳商佉色， 而自臍中起，鮮白蓮華臺， 而於彼中住，甚深寂然定， 秋夕素月光。如是漫茶羅， 諸佛說希有，思惟以純白， 輪圓成九重，住於霏霧中， 除一切熱惱，淨乳猶珠鬘， 水精與月光，普遍而流注， 一切處充滿。行者心思惟， 出離諸障毒，如是於圓壇， 等引作成就。乳酪生熟酥， 頗胝迦珠鬘，藕水等眾物， 次第成悉地。當得無量壽， 應現殊特身，一切患除息， 天人咸愛敬，多聞成總持， 善慧淨無垢，由斯作成就， 速證悉地果，是名寂災者， 吉祥漫茶羅。
第一攝持相， 安以大空點，囉字勝真實， 佛說火中上，所有眾罪業， 應受無擇報。瑜祇善修者， 等引皆消除，所住三角形， 悅意遍形赤，寂然周焰鬘， 三角在其心。相應觀彼中， 囉字大空點，智者如瑜伽， 以此成眾事，日曜諸眷屬， 及作一切火，攝取發怨對， 消枯眾支分，是等所應作， 皆於智火輪。
訶字第一實， 風輪之所生，及與因業果， 諸種子增長，彼一切摧壞， 并以大空點。今說彼色像， 深玄大威德，示現暴怒形， 焰鬘普周遍。住漫茶羅位， 智者觀眉間，深青半月輪， 吹動幢幡相，而於彼中想， 最勝訶字門。住彼漫茶羅， 成就所應事，作一切義利， 應現諸眾生，不捨於此身， 逮得神境通，遊步大空位， 而成身祕密，天耳眼根淨， 能開深密處，住此一心壇， 而成眾事業，菩薩大名稱。……佉字及空點， 尊勝虛空空，兼持慧刀印， 所作速成就。法輪及羂索， 朅伽那刺遮，并目竭嵐等， 不久成斯句。
The supreme syllable A is the same as the wheel of Mahendra; know that inner and outer alike are the vajra maṇḍala, and contemplating all within it is what is called the seat of yoga. The syllable A is the first life, and this is the phrase that draws in and gathers; setting always upon it the point of great space, it can gather and bestow every fruit. For a month the practitioner forms the vajra wisdom-seal and recites at the three times, and he crushes the citadel of ignorance; he attains what is immovable and firm, which neither gods nor asuras can break, and even to whatever he himself intends, the work of increase is accomplished. …The practitioner contemplates single-pointedly the eight-peaked Mount Meru, sees above it an exquisite lotus, and establishes there the vajra wisdom-seal. The one in yoga, above that, sets the blazing light of the syllable-gate upon its crown, and abides unmoved. The substance held through a hundred turnings, the practitioner should take; and the illnesses born of former deeds are all of them healed.
Children of the Buddha, listen again: the first is the syllable-gate VA, the color of snow, of milk, of a conch, which rises from his own navel; on a dais of fresh white lotus it abides there, in a profound and silent concentration, like the white light of an autumn evening’s moon. Such a maṇḍala the buddhas call rare: contemplated as pure white, a disc made round in nine layers, abiding within a fine mist, removing every fever and affliction; pure milk like a garland of pearls, crystal and moonlight, streaming out everywhere and filling every place. The practitioner contemplates in his mind that he goes free of every poison of obstruction, and in this round altar, in meditative composure, makes the accomplishment. Milk, curd, fresh and clarified butter, crystal and pearl-garlands, lotus-root water and the other substances bring attainment in their order. He will gain measureless life, manifest an extraordinary body; every affliction will cease, gods and humans alike will love and respect him; through much learning he will gain dhāraṇī, and his good wisdom will be pure and stainless. By making this accomplishment he swiftly realizes the fruit of attainment: this is what is called the pacifier of calamity, the auspicious maṇḍala.
The first aspect of gathering and holding is to set upon it the point of great space. The syllable RA is the supreme truth, which the Buddha calls highest among fires; and whatever acts of offense there are, even those whose retribution admits no interval — for the yogin who cultivates well, meditative composure destroys them all. Where it abides is a triangle, delightful and red throughout, silently encircled by a garland of flame, the triangle at his heart. Answering to it, he contemplates within it the syllable RA with the point of great space; and the wise one, in yoga, accomplishes by this the many works: the sun and its retinue, the making of every fire, the seizing of those who raise enmity, the withering of their limbs — all such works belong to the wheel of wisdom-fire.
The syllable HA is the first reality, born of the wind-wheel; and cause, act, and fruit, and the growth of every seed — all of these it destroys, together with the point of great space. Now its color and image are told: deep black, of great majesty, displaying a form of violent wrath, a garland of flame everywhere about it. Abiding in the place of the maṇḍala, the wise one contemplates between the brows a deep blue half-moon disc, with the aspect of banners blown in the wind; and within it he contemplates the supreme syllable-gate HA. Abiding in that maṇḍala he accomplishes what is to be done, works every good and benefit, and manifests himself to living beings; without forsaking this body he obtains the superknowledge of the spirit-realm, walks abroad in the station of great space, and accomplishes the secret of the body; the divine ear and the eye-faculty are purified, and he can open what is deep and secret. Abiding in this single-minded altar he accomplishes the many works — a bodhisattva of great renown. …The syllable KHA with the point of space is the supreme emptiness of space itself; holding besides the wisdom-blade seal, what he does is swiftly accomplished. The Dharma-wheel and the noose, the sword, the trident, the mudgara and the rest — before long he accomplishes this phrase.
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Each syllable here carries a full package — element, color, geometry, bodily station, material substances, class of work — and the packages are not interchangeable. VA is white, round, at the navel, works with milk and crystal, and pacifies; RA is red, triangular, at the heart, works with fire, and includes the seizing of enemies; HA is black, a blue half-moon between the brows, and destroys cause, act, and fruit together. Part 10’s appendix takes this and compresses it into five verses to be recited before dawn, which is what happens to a system when it becomes a liturgy.
The Letter That Every Buddha Empowers
Chapter eight turns the wheel of letters, and what it turns it to is a single syllable. The passage is short and its claim is total: the syllable A is empowered by every Tathāgata, and within its gate all dharmas turn.
爾時毘盧遮那世尊觀察一切大會，以修習大慈悲眼觀察眾生界，住甘露王三昧。……時毘盧遮那世尊尋念諸佛本初不生，加持自身及與持金剛者，告金剛手等上首執金剛言：「善男子！諦聽轉字輪漫茶羅行品。真言門修行諸菩薩，能作佛事普現其身。」
爾時執金剛從金剛蓮華座旋轉而下，頂禮世尊而讚歎言：「歸命菩提心！ 歸命發菩提！稽首於行體， 地波羅蜜等，恭禮先造作， 歸命證空者。」……時佛說此伽他，如是而作加持。以加持故，執金剛者及諸菩薩能見勝願佛菩提座，世尊猶如虛空無戲論無二行瑜伽相。是業成熟，即時世尊身諸支分皆悉出現是字，於一切世出世間、聲聞緣覺靜慮，思惟勤修成就悉地，皆同壽命、同種子、同依處、同救世者。
……「善男子！此阿字，一切如來之所加持。真言門修菩薩行諸菩薩，能作佛事普現色身，於阿字門一切法轉。是故祕密主！真言門修菩薩行諸菩薩，若欲見佛、若欲供養、欲證發菩提心、欲與諸菩薩同會、欲利益眾生、欲求悉地、欲求一切智智者，於此一切佛心當勤修習。」
……爾時薄伽梵， 安住於法界，而告金剛手： 「一心應諦聽，我說諸法教， 勝自在攝持。師以如來性， 加持於自體，或復以密印， 次應召弟子，令住法界性， 大蓮華王中。以四大菩薩， 所加持寶瓶，結支分生印， 而用灌其頂。髻中應授與， 大空暗字門，心置無生句， 胸表無垢字，或一切阿字， 髮髻金色光，住白蓮華臺， 等同於仁者。」
Then Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One surveyed the whole assembly, regarded the realm of living beings with an eye trained in great compassion, and abided in the samādhi of the King of Ambrosia. …Then Mahāvairocana, recollecting that the buddhas are from the first unarisen, empowered his own body and the vajra-holders with him, and said to Vajrapāṇi and the foremost of the vajra-holders: “Good man! Listen closely to the chapter on the practice of the maṇḍala of the turning wheel of letters. Bodhisattvas practicing by the gate of mantra can perform the work of a buddha and manifest their bodies everywhere.”
Then the vajra-holder came turning down from his vajra lotus seat, bowed his head to the World-Honored One, and praised him, saying: “Homage to the awakening-mind! Homage to the arousing of awakening! I bow to the substance of practice, to the perfections of the grounds and the rest; reverently I salute what was made before; homage to the one who has realized emptiness.” …Then the Buddha spoke this gāthā and by it made the empowerment. And because of that empowerment, the vajra-holders and the bodhisattvas could see the seat of awakening of the Buddha of Excellent Vows, the World-Honored One being like space itself, without frivolous elaboration, in the yogic aspect of non-dual practice. That work being ripened, at once this syllable appeared throughout every limb of the World-Honored One’s body; and for all meditation worldly and supramundane, of hearers and of solitary awakened ones, for contemplation and diligent cultivation and the accomplishment of attainment, all alike have the same life-span, the same seed, the same place of dependence, the same savior of the world.
…“Good man! This syllable A is empowered by every Tathāgata. Bodhisattvas who practice the bodhisattva conduct by the gate of mantra can perform the work of a buddha and manifest bodies of form everywhere; and within the gate of the syllable A all dharmas turn. Therefore, Lord of Secrets, bodhisattvas who practice the bodhisattva conduct by the gate of mantra — if they would see the Buddha, if they would make offering, if they would realize the arousing of the awakening-mind, if they would be gathered together with the bodhisattvas, if they would benefit living beings, if they would seek attainment, if they would seek the knowledge of all knowledge — should diligently cultivate this heart of every buddha.”
…Then the Blessed One, abiding in the dharma-realm, addressed Vajrapāṇi: “Single-mindedly listen closely; I shall declare the teaching of the dharmas, the supreme and sovereign gathering-in. The master, with the Tathāgata’s own nature, empowers his own body, or else does so with the secret seal; and next he should summon the disciple, and settle him in the nature of the dharma-realm, within the great king of lotuses. With the jar empowered by the four great bodhisattvas, forming the seal of the arising of the limbs, he uses it to consecrate the disciple’s crown. In the topknot he should bestow the syllable-gate AṆ of great space; at the heart he sets the phrase of non-arising; on the breast, the stainless syllable; or else the syllable A throughout, the topknot golden with light, abiding on a white lotus dais — equal to you yourself.”
Reading note — after Yixing
“Equal to you yourself” (等同於仁者) closes the consecration on an address to Vajrapāṇi: the disciple who has just been given the syllable is now the equal of the questioner to whom the whole sūtra has been spoken. Yixing takes the line as the reason the chapter is placed where it is — the wheel of letters turns, and what comes out of the turning is not a new teaching but a new teacher.
The Dance, and What It Produces
The rest of chapter six. Vajrapāṇi asks about a phrase the Buddha has just used — the Tathāgatas’ mind-born “play and dance of works” — and the answer is a contemplation, a set of verses on the lotus rising from mud, and a mantra for subduing the four Māras. The chapter ends by denying that attainment is made in time or place at all.
諸流出相應句，真言門修菩提諸菩薩，速於是中當得真言悉地。……正等覺心從是普遍，即時一切法界諸聲門從正等覺幖幟之音而互出聲。……復次祕密主！真言門修菩薩行菩薩如是計都朅伽、傘蓋、履屣、真陀摩尼、安膳那藥、盧遮那等，持三洛叉而作成就，亦得悉地。
……爾時金剛手白佛言：「世尊！惟願復說此正等覺句悉地成就句。諸見此法善男子善女人等，心得歡喜、受安樂住、不害法界。何以故？世尊！法界者，一切如來、應、正等覺說名即不思議界。是故世尊！真言門修菩薩行諸菩薩得是通達法界不可分析破壞。」……願囉闍等之所愛敬，即以訶字門作所應度者，授與鉢頭摩華，自持商佉而互相觀，即生歡喜。
……爾時毘盧遮那世尊復觀一切大會，告執金剛祕密主言：「金剛手！有諸如來意生，作業戲行舞，廣演品類，攝持四界安住心王等同虛空，成就廣大見非見果，出生一切聲聞及辟支佛、諸菩薩位，令真言門修行諸菩薩一切希願皆悉滿足，具種種業，利益無量眾生。……祕密主！云何行舞而作一切廣大成壞果？持真言者一切親證耶？」……爾時世尊而說偈言：「行者如次第， 先作自真實，如前依法住， 正思念如來，阿字為自體， 并置大空點，端嚴遍金色， 四角金剛標。於彼中思念， 一切處尊佛，是諸正等覺， 說自真實相。修行不疑慮， 自真實相生，當得為世間， 一切眾利樂。具廣大希有， 住於如幻句，無始時宿殖， 無智諸有迫，行者成等引， 一切皆消除。若觀於彼心， 無上菩提心，持真言業故， 於淨非淨果，應理常無染， 如蓮出淤泥，何況於自體， 得成仁中尊。」
……時金剛手祕密主等諸執金剛，普賢等諸菩薩，及一切大眾，得未曾有開敷眼，稽首一切薩婆若而說偈言：「此諸佛菩薩， 救世諸庫藏，由是一切佛， 菩薩救世者，及與因緣覺， 聲聞害煩惱，能遍所行地， 起種種神通。彼得無上智， 正覺無上智，是故願廣說， 此教諸方便，及與布想等， 種種眾事業。諸志求大眾， 無上真言行，見法安住者， 當得歡喜住。」說如是偈已， 大日世尊言：「普皆應諦聽， 一心住等引，大金剛地際， 時加持下身，為說此法故， 而現菩提座。
……行者一切常， 漫茶羅中作，金色光明身， 上持髮髻冠，正覺住三昧， 名大金剛句。金剛蓮華刀， 素鵝及金地，真陀末尼寶， 是等眾器物，觀大因陀羅， 而作諸悉地。今說攝持法， 一切一心聽。……初坐菩提場， 降伏魔軍眾，諸因不可得， 因無性無果。如是業不生， 彼三無性故，而得空智慧， 大德正遍知，宣說於彼色。
……「祕密主！如是等意生悉地句，祕密主！觀此無有形色種種雜類眾行生，於思念頃纔轉誦之，能作如是一切善業種子。復次祕密主！如來無所不作，於真言門修行諸菩薩同於影像，隨順一切處、隨順一切真言心悉住其前，令諸有情咸得歡喜，皆由如來無分別意離諸境界。」而說偈言：「無時方造作， 離於法非法，能授悉地句， 真言行發生，是故一切智， 如來悉地果，最為尊勝句， 應當作成就。」
These are the phrases of the streaming-forth that answer to it, and bodhisattvas cultivating awakening by the gate of mantra will swiftly gain mantra-attainment within them. …The mind of perfect awakening pervades from this, and at once every gateway of sound in the dharma-realm sends out sound, each from the emblem-tone of perfect awakening. …Further, Lord of Secrets: a bodhisattva practicing by the gate of mantra who thus takes up the banner, the sword, the parasol, the sandals, the wish-fulfilling jewel, the collyrium, the Vairocana herb and the rest, and holds them for three hundred thousand recitations to make the accomplishment, also gains attainment.
Then Vajrapāṇi said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! I pray you declare again this phrase of perfect awakening, the phrase of the accomplishment of attainment. Those good men and good women who see this Dharma gain a glad mind, abide at ease, and do no injury to the dharma-realm. Why so? World-Honored One, the dharma-realm is what all the Tathāgatas, Worthy Ones, Perfectly Awakened Ones call the inconceivable realm. Therefore, World-Honored One, bodhisattvas practicing by the gate of mantra gain this penetration of the dharma-realm, which cannot be analyzed or broken.” …Wishing to be loved and respected by kings and the rest, he uses the syllable-gate HA upon the one to be delivered, hands him a padma flower, holds a conch himself, and they regard one another — and gladness arises.
Then Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One again surveyed the whole assembly and said to Vajradhara, the Lord of Secrets: “Vajrapāṇi! There is what the Tathāgatas produce from mind: the play and dance of works, setting out its kinds at length, holding the four elements and abiding in the mind-king, the equal of space; accomplishing the vast fruit both seen and unseen; bringing forth the stations of all hearers, solitary awakened ones, and bodhisattvas; fulfilling every hope of bodhisattvas practicing by the gate of mantra; furnished with works of every kind, and benefiting measureless beings. Lord of Secrets! How does that dance perform every vast fruit of forming and breaking? Does the holder of mantra realize all of it directly?” Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse: “The practitioner, in order, first makes his own reality; abiding as the rule prescribes, as before, he rightly recollects the Tathāgata. The syllable A is his own substance, and he sets the point of great space upon it — upright and golden throughout, with vajra marks at its four corners. Within it he recollects the buddhas honored in every place; these are the Perfectly Awakened, who declare the aspect of their own reality. Practicing without doubt or hesitation, the aspect of his own reality arises, and he will become for the world every benefit and joy. Furnished with what is vast and rare, abiding in the phrase of illusion, whatever was planted in beginningless time, whatever the ignorant are pressed by — the practitioner reaching composure destroys all of it. If he contemplates that mind, the unsurpassed awakening-mind, then because he holds the work of mantra, in fruits pure and impure alike he is, in accordance with principle, forever unstained — as the lotus rises out of the mud; how much more in his own substance, where he becomes the Honored among men.”
…Then Vajrapāṇi the Lord of Secrets and the other vajra-holders, Samantabhadra and the other bodhisattvas, and the whole great assembly, their eyes opened as never before, bowed to the All-Knowing and spoke this verse: “These buddhas and bodhisattvas are the storehouses that save the world; by them all the buddhas, the bodhisattvas who save the world, the solitary awakened, and the hearers who destroy the afflictions, can pervade the grounds they walk and rouse every kind of supernormal power. They have gained unsurpassed wisdom, the unsurpassed wisdom of perfect awakening; and therefore we pray that you declare at length this teaching’s many means, and the spreading of conceptions and the various works. The great assembly that aspires to unsurpassed mantra practice, seeing the Dharma and abiding in it, will come to abide in gladness.” Having spoken this verse, Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One said: “All of you listen closely, single-mindedly abiding in composure. At the edge of the great vajra ground, at that time empowering the lower body — in order to declare this Dharma, the seat of awakening appears.
…The practitioner, always, within the maṇḍala, makes a body of golden light, wearing above it the topknot-crown, the Perfectly Awakened abiding in samādhi — this is called the great vajra phrase. The vajra, the lotus, the blade, the white goose, the golden ground, the wish-fulfilling jewel — with such implements he contemplates great Mahendra and performs the attainments. Now the method of gathering and holding is declared; let all of you listen single-mindedly. …When he first sat at the seat of awakening and subdued the armies of Māra: no cause could be found, and a cause without nature has no fruit. Thus action does not arise; and because those three are without nature, he gains the wisdom of emptiness — and the greatly virtuous Perfectly Awakened declares its color.”
…“Lord of Secrets! Such are the phrases of mind-born attainment. Lord of Secrets, contemplate this: without form or color, the many and various kinds of practice arise; and in the moment of a thought, merely by turning and reciting it, one can produce the seed of every such wholesome act. Further, Lord of Secrets: there is nothing the Tathāgata does not do, and for bodhisattvas practicing by the gate of mantra he is like an image — according with every place, according with every mantra-heart, abiding before them all, making all sentient beings glad; and all of this because the Tathāgata’s mind is without discrimination and apart from every object.” And he spoke this verse: “Made in no time and no place, apart from dharma and non-dharma, able to bestow the phrase of attainment, from which mantra practice arises — therefore the knowledge of all, the Tathāgata’s fruit of attainment, is the most excellent phrase, and should be brought to accomplishment.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
“Made in no time and no place” (無時方造作) is the last word chapter six has on attainment, and it withdraws the two coordinates the chapter has spent itself specifying — the full moon, the mountain peak, the river island, the middle watch of the night. The instructions are not retracted. They are simply said not to be where the thing is made.
The Second and Third Maṇḍalas
The remainder of chapter eight: the vidyā-queen of unobstructed power in the three times, the request that follows it, and a compressed set of directions for laying out the second and third maṇḍalas — the stations pared back, the boundary redrawn, the colors spread again.
……祕密主如是歎已，而白佛言：「惟願法王哀愍護念我等而演說之，為利益眾生故、如所說真言修圓滿故。」……爾時毘盧遮那世尊復決定說大悲藏生漫茶羅王敷置聖天之位三昧神通真言行不思議法。……如是第二漫茶羅，亦本寂加持自身故，無二瑜伽形、如來形、空性形。次捨所行道二分聖天處，遠離三分，住如來位。東方申修多羅，周匝旋轉。……所餘二漫茶羅，亦當以是方便作諸事業。復以大日加持自身，念廣法界而布眾色。
……爾時世尊毘盧遮那從三昧起，住於無量勝定。佛於定中顯示遍一切無能害力明妃於一切如來境界中生。……又請白世尊：「唯願仁中勝， 演說灌頂法。」
…The Lord of Secrets, having praised him thus, said to the Buddha: “I pray that the Dharma-king, out of pity, guard and keep us in mind and declare it — for the benefit of living beings, and so that the mantra practice as declared may be brought to fullness.” …Then Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One declared with certainty the inconceivable Dharma of the king of maṇḍalas born of the Womb of Great Compassion, the laying out of the stations of the holy ones, the samādhis, the supernormal powers, and the practice of mantra. So with the second maṇḍala: because it too empowers his own body out of original stillness, it has the non-dual yogic form, the form of a Tathāgata, the form of emptiness. Next he relinquishes two portions of the stations of the holy ones along the path of practice, keeps clear of three portions, and abides in the station of the Tathāgata. To the east he extends the cord and turns it all the way around. The remaining two maṇḍalas should likewise be made to perform their works by this same means. And again, empowering his own body with Mahāvairocana, he recollects the vast dharma-realm and spreads the various colors.
Then Mahāvairocana the World-Honored One arose from samādhi and abided in a measureless and excellent concentration. Within that concentration the Buddha displayed the vidyā-queen of all-pervading and unassailable power, born within the domain of every Tathāgata. …And again he entreated the World-Honored One: “May the Honored among men declare the method of consecration.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
“It too empowers his own body out of original stillness” is the reason the second maṇḍala can have fewer stations without being a lesser thing. The reduction is in the diagram, not in what the diagram is of.
Part 5 Complete
This closes Part 5: the universal mantra reaching every corner of the dharma-realm, the mirror-maṇḍala that arises from sustained contemplation rather than deliberate visualization, the five-syllable body meditation that later became both the gorintō stūpa and the ajikan practice, the letter-substitution technique that turns RA into LA, and the compressed "wheel of letters" version of the Womb Maṇḍala with its five-color rite. Part 6 turns to 密印品第九, the sūtra's largest single chapter on mudrās — the hand-seals that, together with mantra and visualization, complete the "three secrets" (三密) this sūtra has referred to since its opening chapter.
Continue to Part 6 — The Chapter of Seals →