Translated into English by Rev. Jikai 慈海 Tyler Dehn
©Translation by Jikai Tyler Dehn @ The Saichō Repository 最澄典藏 Project, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Available at: [https://tendaiaustralia.com/text-74/].
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文曰。此觀者萬行之尊主。諸度之帝王。出凡之正門。入佛之直道。疑謗逆縁。猶優誓教戒行。信歸順因。誰比顯乘智觀。何況信修。何況深行。
A text states:
“This Contemplation, is Lord of the ten thousand practices;
And King of all the perfections (pāramitā).
It is the Proper-means for leaving the worldly;
And the Direct-path for entering among the Buddhas.”
[Through it, those who] doubt, slander or [enact] conditions which are contrary [to the Dharma], are still able to surpass [those who otherwise cultivate] Vows, the Teachings, Precepts, and the Cultivations. How then could one [even] compare [those who cultivate this contemplation, also have] faith, and [who enact] conditions conducive [to the Dharma], with the Wisdom and Insight [achieved in] the Exoteric Vehicle!? How much more so then, is this the case with those who have Faith, and who also cultivate [the practices]!? [And even further], how much more so is this the case for the those who deeply cultivate!?
三毒十惡。變爲曼荼功徳。四重五逆。轉歸瑜伽行業。一百
六十妄執。不假斷道自絶。八萬四千煩惱。弗待對治。三祇長劫。縮之半念。六度廣行。攝之一觀。煩惱生死暗睡今永斷。菩提涅槃覺月。斯始彰。
[Through this contemplation]:
The Three Poisons and the Ten Unwholesome [Acts], are transformed into the merits of the Maṇḍala;
The Four Grave [Offenses] and Five Heinous [Misdeeds], are converted back into [the very] Yoga of cultivation;
The One hundred and sixty Deluded Attachments, are of themselves cut off, without resorting to the Path of Severance (Prahāṇa-mārga);
The Eighty Four Thousand Afflictions (kleśa), are remedied, without relying upon their [respective] remedies;
The Three Lengthy Asaṃkhya Kalpas, are condensed into half a thought-moment (kṣaṇa);
The extensive cultivation of the Six Pāramitās, is contained within a single contemplation;
The Dark-slumber that is Afflictive Birth-and-Death (saṃsāra), is in the present severed forever;
And the Luminous Moon that is the Bodhi of Nirvāṇa, forthwith begins to manifest [its light].
淺觀小行人。不捨此身。轉得極樂之上品上生。深修大
勤類。不改彼心。變成密嚴大明大日。易修易證之道。既無超斯行。難値難聞之法。豈有過此門。
[Through it, even] those who contemplate [merely] superficially and practice it [but] sparingly, will transformationally attain the highest of the highest grade of rebirth in the [Land of] Utmost Bliss (Sukhāvatī), without giving up the present body;
And those who cultivate it deeply with great diligence, will revolutively become the Highly-adorned and Greatly-luminous Mahāvairocana (lit. ‘great-sun’) [Tathāgata], without altering their present mind.
[Among those] paths which are easy to cultivate and easy to realise, there can be nothing which surpasses this practice; [And among] those dharmas which are difficult to encounter and difficult to hear, how could there be any that are more so than this method!?
乃至已知。阿字與心月。既菩提心體性。未知。此心有幾差別。
When this is already understood, then the letter “A” and the Moon of the Mind, are the [very] essential nature of Bodhicitta. But when this is not yet understood, this [same] mind possesses the myriad distinctions.
答廣則無邊。略不過二。一能求菩提心。二所求菩提心。
[If these distinctions were to be] explained in full, then they would be boundless. But in summary, they do not go beyond [these] two:
1) the Bodhicitta which seeks (i.e. the seeking mind/subject), and
2) the Bodhicitta which is sought (i.e. the perceptual objects).
能求道心者。大日經曰。自心尋求菩提及一切智。何以。本性清淨故。菩提心論云。我今志求阿耨菩提。不求餘果(云云)。
On the Bodhicitta which seeks (i.e. the seeking mind/subject), the Mahāvairocana Sūtra states:
“One’s own mind which seeks after Bodhi, is equal to Sarvajña (i.e. the omniscient knowledge of Buddhahood). Wherefore? Because its fundamental nature is pure.”
And the Bodhicitta Śāstra states:
“My present will [is that which] seeks Anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, [for it] does not seek after other fruits. ” etc.
文曰。能求心者。譬如有人。欲爲善與惡。必先標其心而復行其行(云云)。
[And this is why] a text [also] states:
“The mind (citta) which seeks, is like unto when a person desires to do good or evil. [That is,] he must first pin his mind [to it,] and then act in accordance with it (其行=隨行)” etc.
求菩提之心。亦復如是。既知乃至。毘盧遮那。四種法身。四種曼荼羅。皆是一切衆生平等。
The Mind that seeks Bodhi is also like this. And when this is already understood, Vairocana, the Four Kinds of Dharmakāya (i.e. Dharma-bodies), and the Four Kinds of Maṇḍala, are in their entirety equal to all sentient beings.