The Disciple's Entry, and the Sūtra's Close
The final fascicle: a maṇḍala this sūtra insists is fit for absolutely anyone — the gravest sinner, the pleasure-seeker, the earnest meditator alike — a blindfolded flower cast to reveal which family a disciple belongs to, the unveiling and consecration that follow, four kinds of siddhi, and, closing the entire text, the release of every seal that has bound the maṇḍala together since Part 2.
Who May Enter
「次當廣說金剛弟子入金剛大曼荼羅儀軌。於中我先說令入盡無餘有情界拔濟利益安樂最勝悉地因果故入此大曼荼羅，是器非器，不應簡擇。何以故？世尊！或有有情作大罪者，彼入此金剛界大曼荼羅，見已、入已，離一切惡趣。世尊！或有有情諸利、飲食、貪欲染著、憎惡三昧耶，為先行等，如是等類隨意愛樂入已，則得滿一切意願。世尊！或有有情愛樂歌舞、嬉戲、飲食、翫具，由不曉晤一切如來大乘現證法性故，入餘天族曼荼羅，於滿一切意願攝受無上，能生愛樂歡喜。一切如來族曼荼羅禁戒怖畏不入，為彼入惡趣壇路門，應入此金剛界大漫荼羅，為令一切適悅最勝悉地安樂悅意受用故，能轉一切惡趣現前道故。世尊！復有住正法有情，為一切眾生求一切如來戒定慧最勝悉地、方便佛菩提故，久修禪定、解脫地等，勞倦彼等。入此金剛界大曼荼羅，纔入已，一切如來果尚不難，何況餘悉地類？」
"Next I shall fully explain the rite of a vajra disciple's entry into the great Vajra Maṇḍala. Here I first state: for the sake of every being without exception, to rescue, benefit, and bring ease to them, and for the cause and fruit of supreme siddhi, this great maṇḍala admits entry — whether one is a fit vessel or not should not be a matter of discrimination at all. Why is this so? World-Honored One, should there be a being who has committed the gravest offenses, once they enter this Vajra Realm Great Maṇḍala, the very seeing of it and the very entering of it leaves every evil destiny behind. World-Honored One, should there be beings attached to profit, food and drink, and desire, or who hold the samaya itself in aversion, and act accordingly — beings of every such kind, entering freely, according to their own delight, will have every one of their wishes fulfilled. World-Honored One, should there be beings who delight in song and dance, in play, in food and drink, in playthings, and, not having understood the true nature of every Tathāgata's own direct realization of the Great Vehicle, enter instead the maṇḍala of some other, lesser divine family, gathering there an unsurpassed fulfillment of their every wish, and giving rise to delight and joy — those who, out of fear, do not enter the family maṇḍala of every Tathāgata's own precepts, and so enter instead the gateway leading to an evil destiny, should enter this Vajra Realm Great Maṇḍala instead, so that every pleasure, every supreme siddhi, and every ease and enjoyment may be theirs, and every evil destiny already before them may be turned aside. World-Honored One, further, there are beings who abide in the true Dharma, who, for the sake of every being, seek every Tathāgata's own supreme siddhi of discipline, concentration, and wisdom, the skillful means of buddha-bodhi, and who have long cultivated meditation and the grounds of liberation, and grown weary in that labor — for them too, entering this Vajra Realm Great Maṇḍala, the very instant they enter it, even the fruit of every Tathāgata is no longer difficult to reach, how much less any lesser siddhi."
This opening declaration is worth reading slowly against the ten precepts and their exceptions the Mahāvairocana Sūtra gave at length in its own Part 8: where that sūtra carefully weighed each compassionate exception against a matched act of harm, this text states its own inclusiveness in the plainest possible terms, naming four distinct kinds of person by name — the gravest offender, the pleasure-seeker, the one drawn to lesser deities out of fear of stricter precepts, and the exhausted long-term ascetic — and offering each one the identical maṇḍala rather than a graduated series of lesser gateways suited to their capacity. The declaration "is a fit vessel or not should not be a matter of discrimination at all" reads as a deliberate answer to a tension this whole esoteric tradition carries since its beginning: teachings this powerful are, in the same breath, hedged everywhere with warnings about who may receive them (the Mahāvairocana Sūtra's own closing entrustment named specific facial and bodily marks a worthy disciple should bear); this text's opening move is to state, before any of its own considerable ritual apparatus is described, that the maṇḍala itself refuses no one.
Four Prostrations, and Entering the Maṇḍala
「次當且先以四禮禮一切如來，全身舒臂，金剛合掌，以心臆著地，禮東方……即前金剛合掌住心，以額禮南方……即前金剛合掌，安於頭，以口著地，禮西方……即前金剛合掌當心，以頂著地，禮北方……則以緋繒角絡披，以緋帛覆面，令弟子結薩埵金剛印，以此心：『三摩耶薩怛鑁』則以二中指令持花鬘，以此心真言令入三摩耶吽。……金剛阿闍黎自應結薩埵金剛印，反安弟子頂，作是言：『此是三昧耶金剛，摧汝頂不應說。』加持誓水一遍，令弟子飲誓水……則告弟子：『自今已後，汝觀娑跢我如金剛手。我所應言，汝當如是作。汝不應輕慢於我，勿令汝招災禍死已當墮地獄。』」
"Next, one should first offer four prostrations to every Tathāgata: extending the whole body and arms, joining the palms in the vajra gesture, and touching the heart to the ground, bow to the east…keeping the same vajra-joined palms held at the mind, touch the forehead to the ground, bow to the south…keeping the same vajra-joined palms, place them at the head, and touch the mouth to the ground, bow to the west…keeping the same vajra-joined palms held at the heart, touch the crown of the head to the ground, bow to the north…One should then drape the disciple with a crimson silken sash, and cover their face with crimson cloth, and have the disciple form the seal of Vajrasattva, with this heart-mantra: Samaya-sattvaṃ. One should then have them hold a flower garland between the two middle fingers, and, with this heart-mantra, bring them to enter the samaya: hūṃ…The vajra master should then form the seal of Vajrasattva himself, and place it in reverse upon the crown of the disciple's head, saying: 'This is the vajra of samaya. It presses upon your crown; you should not speak of it.' Having empowered the vow-water once, one gives the disciple the vow-water to drink…and then tells the disciple: 'From this day forward, regard me as Vajrapāṇi himself. Whatever I instruct, you should carry out exactly. You should never treat me with contempt, lest you bring calamity upon yourself, and, upon death, fall into hell.'"
The instruction that the vajra of samaya "presses upon your crown; you should not speak of it" is this text's own formal establishment of what later esoteric tradition calls the samaya seal — a specific piece of ritual knowledge a newly consecrated disciple is bound never to disclose outside the initiation itself, on pain of the vow's own protective power turning against them. The stern warning that follows — treat the master as Vajrapāṇi in person, or risk calamity and hell — reads sharply against the previous section's insistence that no one is unfit to enter this maṇḍala; the two are not in tension so much as sequential: entry itself is offered without discrimination, but what a disciple owes once inside is treated as no less serious for having been so freely given.
The Blindfolded Flower, and What It Reveals
「則以其花鬘令弟子擲於大曼荼羅，以此心真言：『鉢囉底車嚩日囉斛』隨花落處，則彼尊成就，則取彼花鬘繫弟子頭上……由此則大薩埵攝受速得成就，成入已則解面……則誦見真言：『係嚩日囉波捨』則令弟子次第而視大曼荼羅，纔見已，一切如來加持護念，則金剛薩埵住彼弟子心。則見種種光相、遊戲、神通，由見曼荼羅、由如來加持故，或見婆伽梵大持金剛示現本形、或見如來。從此已後，一切義利、一切意所樂事、一切悉地乃至獲得。」
"One then has the disciple, still blindfolded, cast that flower garland onto the great maṇḍala, with this heart-mantra: Pratīccha vajra hoḥ ["Receive it, vajra"]. Wherever the flower falls, that very deity is thereby accomplished as the disciple's own — one then takes up that flower garland and ties it upon the disciple's head…Through this, the great being's own reception is swiftly accomplished; once this entry is complete, the blindfold is removed…One then recites the mantra of seeing: He vajra-paśya ["Behold, vajra"]. One then has the disciple look upon the great maṇḍala in due sequence — the very instant they see it, every Tathāgata's own empowerment and protective mindfulness, and Vajrasattva himself, come to abide within that disciple's own heart. They then behold every kind of radiant sign, spiritual play, and supernatural power; through beholding the maṇḍala, and through the Tathāgatas' own empowerment, some behold the Bhagavān, the Great Vajra-Holder, manifesting his own true form; some behold a Tathāgata directly. From this moment on, every aim, every wish of the mind, and every siddhi is, in time, obtained."
This is the origin, within the canonical literature, of the flower-casting consecration ritual (投花得佛, "casting a flower to obtain a buddha") still performed today in Japanese Shingon and Tendai initiations — a blindfolded disciple throws a flower onto a painted maṇḍala, and whichever deity's own position the flower happens to land on is taken as that disciple's particular affinity within the maṇḍala, the deity whose family they belong to for the purposes of their own practice going forward. The ritual logic is worth noting: the flower's landing is treated neither as pure chance nor as a test the disciple might fail, but as itself an expression of the same non-discrimination the previous section already stated outright — every disciple who enters is, by definition, already received by some specific deity within the maṇḍala, and the blindfolded cast simply makes visible an affinity the text assumes was already there.
Consecration, and a New Name
「持金剛及如來示大曼荼羅已，則以金剛加持香水瓶，灌弟子頂，以此心真言：『嚩日囉毘詵遮』……則以金剛名灌以此心，真言曰：『唵嚩日羅薩怛嚩左摩毘詵遮弭嚩日囉那摩毘篩羯哆儞嚩日羅麼麼』金剛某甲若與弟子受名號，應加係用。呼之已，廣說入一切曼荼羅儀，則問弟子言：『汝愛樂出生悉地智耶？神通悉地智耶？持明悉地智耶？乃至一切如來智最勝悉地智耶？』隨彼所樂，應說之則教，義利悉地成辦印智。」
"Once Vajrapāṇi and every Tathāgata have shown the disciple the great maṇḍala, one then empowers a vase of scented water with the vajra, and pours it upon the disciple's crown, with this heart-mantra: Vajrābhiṣiñca ["Vajra consecration"]…One then consecrates them with a vajra name, with this heart-mantra: Oṃ vajrasattva cāmābhiṣiñca me vajranāmābhiṣekatena vajra māma ["Oṃ, Vajrasattva, consecrate me with a vajra name; I am now Vajra-[so-and-so]"]. Whatever name is given the disciple should be joined with the word "Vajra" itself, and called by that name from then on. Having done so, one fully explains the rite of entry into every maṇḍala, and then asks the disciple: 'Do you delight in the wisdom of siddhi that arises spontaneously? The wisdom of supernatural-power siddhi? The wisdom of vidyā-holding siddhi? Or the wisdom of the very supreme siddhi of every Tathāgata's own wisdom?' According to their own wish, one should then teach and explain to them accordingly, bringing about the seal and wisdom that accomplishes that very aim and siddhi."
The new "vajra name" every initiate receives here (attaching the word "Vajra" to whatever name the master gives them) is the direct precedent for the practice, still followed in Shingon ordination today, of a monastic or lay initiate receiving a dharma name compounded with 金剛 (Vajra) upon full esoteric consecration. That the disciple is then asked, directly and by name, which of four kinds of siddhi they themselves want — rather than being assigned one by the master — marks this text's ritual structure as responsive to a practitioner's own stated aspiration at every major juncture: the flower determines an affinity the disciple did not choose, but the specific practice built on that affinity is then chosen by the disciple in conversation with their own teacher.
Four Kinds of Siddhi
「金剛形住藏， 當於心中觀，觀已住於地， 則當見伏藏。……次應教金剛悉地成辦印智。金剛入生已， 水成金剛形，由觀速成就， 於水上遊行。復生金剛入， 身色如自形，修習於如是， 自然如佛形。……次則教金剛持明悉地成辦印智。應觀月形像， 上踊於虛空，手攀於金剛， 得金剛持明。……次則教一切如來最勝悉地成辦印智。住諸金剛定， 思於虛空界，隨樂金剛身， 剎那成騰空。住諸淨等持， 修習於最勝，獲得五神通， 速疾智成就。」
Treasure-siddhi: "Contemplate the vajra form dwelling hidden, held in the very heart; having contemplated it, dwelling upon the earth, you shall then behold the buried treasure."
Vajra-siddhi: One next teaches the seal and wisdom that accomplishes vajra siddhi. "Having generated the vajra's own entry, water itself takes the vajra's own form; through this very contemplation, swiftly accomplished, one walks freely upon the water's own surface. Generating the vajra's entry once more, the body's own color becomes as its own true form; cultivating in just this way, one spontaneously takes the very form of a buddha."
Vidyā-holder siddhi: One next teaches the seal and wisdom that accomplishes the siddhi of a vidyā-holder. "Contemplate the very form of the moon, rising upward into the realm of space; grasping hold of the vajra with the hand, one attains the very holding of vidyā."
The supreme siddhi of every Tathāgata: One next teaches the seal and wisdom that accomplishes the supreme siddhi of every Tathāgata. "Abiding in every vajra samādhi, contemplating the very realm of space, the vajra body, according to one's own wish, in a single instant rises into flight. Abiding in every pure equipoise, cultivating what is most supreme, one obtains the five superknowledges, wisdom itself swiftly accomplished."
These four graded siddhis — locating buried treasure, walking on water and transforming the body's own appearance, rising as a vidyā-holder into the sky, and finally the five superknowledges and buddhahood itself — read, at first glance, as a strange descent from the sublime to the almost folkloric, treasure-finding sitting alongside the supreme siddhi of every Tathāgata as though they belonged to the same order of accomplishment. The text's own logic, stated a few lines earlier when the disciple was asked which siddhi they themselves wanted, treats this not as a ranking a serious practitioner should be embarrassed to start low on, but as four genuinely distinct aims a practitioner might have — and, notably, the text does not insist a beginner work through treasure-finding before earning the right to attempt buddhahood; each is taught as its own complete practice, available to whichever disciple has asked for it specifically.
The Full Assembly of Mudrās
The sūtra's final long stretch catalogues, in extremely compressed verse, a mudrā for nearly every deity and function already named across this collection — the thirty-seven deities of the maṇḍala, four kinds of consecration, and a closing "universal mudrā" that seals and then releases the entire rite. Unlike the more expansive mudrā descriptions in the Mahāvairocana Sūtra's own Part 6, this text's verses compress each hand position into a handful of characters, evidently meant to be learned directly from a teacher's own demonstration alongside the text rather than reconstructed from the words alone — a limitation this translation states honestly rather than resolving with invented precision.
「堅固結合掌， 諸指互交結，名為金剛掌， 極結金剛縛。……堅薩埵金剛， 中指竪如牙，大中如寶形， 中指而反屈。……由結智拳故， 能遍入佛智；由結阿閦毘， 獲得無傾動；由結寶生印， 能攝受於他；由結法輪印， 則能轉法輪；……堅作金剛護， 成身如金剛，金剛牙勝印， 能摧諸惡魔，堅結金剛拳。」
"Firmly forming the joined palms, every finger interlaced with its counterpart — this is named the vajra palm, the most tightly bound vajra clasp…Firming Vajrasattva's own vajra, the middle fingers raised like fangs, the two thumbs shaped like a jewel, the middle fingers bent back upon themselves…Through forming the wisdom-fist, one fully enters the Buddha's own wisdom; through forming Akṣobhya's own seal, one obtains what cannot be shaken; through forming Ratnasambhava's own seal, one is able to gather others in; through forming the dharma-wheel seal, one is thereby able to turn the wheel of the Dharma…Firmly forming Vajrarakṣa's own protection, the body becomes as the vajra itself; the supreme seal of Vajrayakṣa's own fangs is able to crush every evil demon; firmly form the seal of Vajrasandhi's own fist."
This section's compression is itself worth noting rather than smoothing over: where the Mahāvairocana Sūtra's own mudrā chapter names each finger by its elemental correspondence (earth-finger, water-finger, and so on) and describes a hand position in a full sentence or two, this text's verses often reduce the same information to a handful of characters — "middle fingers raised like fangs," "thumbs shaped like a jewel" — clearly composed for an audience already receiving the actual hand positions from a living teacher's own demonstration, the text serving as a versified memory aid rather than a self-sufficient manual. This translation renders what the verses actually say rather than filling in the specific finger-by-finger mechanics the text itself leaves to oral transmission; a reader wanting to reconstruct the precise physical form of any one of these mudrās should consult a living teacher in this tradition, exactly as this text itself assumes they will.
Releasing the Seals, and the Sūtra's Close
「我今廣說一切印都結儀則。先當金剛縛摧拍自心，誦心真言曰：『嚩日囉滿馱怛羅吒』則一切印縛於自身口心金剛得自在，即結金剛遍入三昧耶印，誦此心真言：『噁』則成遍阿尾捨，如親友加持，則三昧耶印想念大薩埵，誦此心金剛真言：『摩訶三昧耶薩怛無唅』由此真言，一切印皆得成就。……婆伽梵一切如來金剛薩埵作如是說：『我今都說一切印解脫儀則。從彼彼出生所有一切印，於彼彼當解，由此真言心：「嚩日囉穆。」』」
"I shall now fully explain the rite that gathers together every seal at once. One should first strike one's own heart with the vajra-bond, reciting this heart-mantra: Vajra bandha traṭ ["Vajra bind, traṭ"]. Every seal thereby attains sovereignty over one's own body, speech, and heart, the vajra itself; one then forms the samaya-seal of the vajra's own pervasive entry, reciting this heart-mantra: aḥ. This accomplishes complete entry, as though empowered by a close friend; one then holds the samaya-seal in mind, contemplating the great being, reciting this vajra heart-mantra: Mahāsamaya-sattva haṃ. By this mantra, every seal is thereby accomplished…The Bhagavān, Vajrasattva of every Tathāgata, then spoke thus: 'I shall now fully explain the rite that releases every seal at once. Whatever seal arose from any particular deity should be released back to that same deity, by this heart-mantra: Vajra muḥ ["Vajra, release"].'"
The Chinese text preserved in Taishō ends at this point, the closing formula and colophon lost or never transmitted in the manuscript tradition — a gap this translation records honestly rather than supplying an invented ending.
Every Seal, and Four Attainments
Near the close, the sūtra compresses its whole ritual apparatus into a short procedure: form your seal, see yourself as the sattva, empower, and then ask for what you came for. Four attainments are named, each with its own heart-mantra, in ascending order of ambition.
此是一切印成就廣儀，則我說都廣儀則。「初結自印，結已，自印薩埵觀自身，以此心真言：「三摩庾唅「則自印薩埵觀自身已，以此真言加持：「三摩耶薩怛嚩(二合)地瑟姹(二合)薩嚩(二合)[牟*含]「則然後應成就，此是成就儀則。「次說初欲求義利成就，以此真言：「遏他悉地「由此真言，隨意得金剛成就。「次說金剛悉地成就，以此心真言：「嚩日囉悉地「次說持明成就，以此心真言：……婆伽梵一切如來金剛薩埵作如是說：「我今都說一切印解脫儀則。「從彼彼出生所有一切印，於彼彼當解，由此真言心：『嚩日囉穆。』「從自心起金剛寶印，安於灌頂處，以勝指自灌頂，分手纏頭繫鬘。「次結甲冑，以此心真言：「唵嚩日囉囉怛那毘詵者[牟*含]薩嚩母捺羅(二合)咩捺哩(二合)摨矩嚕嚩囉迦嚩制那鑁「被甲已，以齊掌拍令歡喜，以此心真言：「嚩日囉覩使耶斛(引)「
This is the extensive procedure for the accomplishment of every seal; and now I shall declare the complete extensive rule. “First form your own seal; having formed it, with that seal contemplate yourself as the sattva, with this heart-mantra: …Then, having contemplated yourself as the sattva of your own seal, empower with this mantra: …Then afterward accomplishment should be made — this is the rule of accomplishment.
“Next is declared the first seeking, the accomplishment of good and benefit, with this mantra: …By this mantra one obtains vajra accomplishment at will. Next is declared vajra attainment, with this heart-mantra: …Next is declared the attainment of the vidyā-holder, with this heart-mantra: …By this one obtains the vidyā-holder’s attainment at will; and for one who seeks the most excellent attainment, let him seek accomplishment with the mantra of his own seal.
“I now declare, for the whole of one’s own body, speech and mind — within the vajra — how to perform the vajra procedure. If the empowerment of the seal grows slack, or if the mind would release it, then with this heart-mantra let it be made firm. …From your own heart raise the vajra-jewel seal and set it at the place of consecration; with the foremost finger consecrate yourself, and parting the hands, wind them about the head and bind on the garland. Next form the armor, with this heart-mantra: …Having put on the armor, clap the palms together evenly to make gladness, with this heart-mantra…”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
The four attainments are ranked by what they ask for: worldly good and benefit first, then vajra accomplishment, then the station of a vidyā-holder, and last — with no mantra of its own supplied — “the most excellent”, for which the practitioner is told simply to use the mantra of his own seal. The highest of the four is the only one the text does not give a formula for, because by then the practitioner is the formula.
The Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha: Complete
Three parts, covering the whole of this sūtra's three fascicles: Sarvārthasiddhi's asceticism interrupted and the five-stage process that makes him Vajradhātu; the birth of the sixteen great bodhisattvas, four pāramitā bodhisattvas, eight goddesses of offering, and four gate-guardians who complete the maṇḍala's thirty-seven deities; a hundred and eight names for Vajrapāṇi; and, in this final part, a maṇḍala this text insists refuses no one, the blindfolded flower that reveals a disciple's own affinity, consecration and a new vajra name, four kinds of siddhi, and the release of every seal that bound the rite together. Read together with its companion text, the Mahāvairocana Sūtra, this collection completes the doctrinal foundation of what this site's own sūtra index calls 唐密, the Tang lineage of Chinese esoteric Buddhism — the Womb Maṇḍala and the Vajra Realm Maṇḍala together, the two halves later Japanese Shingon teaching holds as one complete and inseparable path.
Return to the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha collection overview →