CHAPTER FOUR

The Seventh Vajra Point: Activity

An All-Embracing One always has spontaneous access

to the disciples’ temperaments, the means of training,

the [various] trainings that suit their temperaments,

and to seeking them wherever they are, at the right time.

Having multitudes of supremely precious qualities and the waters of the ocean of primordial wisdom, possessing the sunlight of merit and wisdom,

it is the definitive accomplishment of all vehicles without exception. [Enlightenment] is vast, without middle or end, and thus all-pervasive like space.

Fully seeing that buddhahood, the treasure of the unpolluted qualities, is [present] within all sentient beings without the slightest distinction,

the wind of the Buddhas’ sublime compassion totally dispels the clouds of afflictions and hindrances to knowledge, which have spun their net about it.

For whom? How? By which training?

Where? and When? Since ideation

as to such [questions] does not occur,

the Muni always [acts] spontaneously.

The temperaments of the disciples,

which of the many means for each,

which training at what place and time:

[He is not mistaken as to any of] these.

Since, with regard to the definitive revelation of release,

its support, its fruit, those being fully sustained,

their obscurations, and the condition cutting these veils,

there is no ideation, [buddha activity is uninterrupted].

The ten levels definitively reveal release.

The two accumulations provide their cause.

Supreme enlightenment is the fruit of these.

Enlightenment in beings is fully sustained.

These are obscured by the endless afflictions,

the secondary afflictions, and the latencies.

A buddha’s great compassion is the condition

that, at all times, vanquishes these [veils].

These six points: being similar

to an ocean, the sun, space,

a treasure, clouds, and wind

are to be grasped accordingly.

Holding wisdom’s waters and qualities

like gems, the levels are like an ocean.

Closely sustaining all sentient beings,

the two accumulations are like the sun.

Being vast and without any middle or end,

enlightenment is like the element of space.

Genuine perfect awakening is dharmata,

hence beings’ nature is like a treasure.

Adventitious, pervasive, and not existent,

its afflictions are like a host of clouds.

Always ready to dispel these [afflictions],

compassion is similar to a merciless wind.

Their release [is accomplished] for the sake of others.

They see the equality of themselves and sentient beings

and their activity is not completed to its full extent.

Thus their deeds will never cease while samsara exists.

A tathagata is similar to Indra,

to the drum [of the gods], clouds,

to Brahma, the sun, a precious gem,

to an echo, to space, and the earth.

If the surface of the ground here changed

into the nature of immaculate lapis lazuli,

because of its purity one would see in it

the [appearance of] the Lord of All Gods

with his following of many young goddesses.

One would see his sublimely beautiful palace

“the All-Victorious” and other divine abodes,

the gods’ various palaces and manifold wealth.

Once the assembly of men and women

who inhabit the surface of the earth

saw this appearance, each would say:

“Before a long time passes, may I too

become like this Lord of the Gods!”

Prayers like these they would utter

and to achieve this feat would adopt

genuine virtue and remain within it.

“This is just an appearance!” There would not be

any such understanding. Still their virtuous deeds

would lead them to be reborn in a divine existence

after they departed from the surface of the earth.

These appearances are totally free from ideation

and do not involve the slightest movement at all.

There is nothing of this kind, and yet nevertheless

they are accompanied by great benefit on the earth.

Those endowed with unpolluted faith and so forth,

having cultivated the qualities of faith and so on,

will see in their own minds the Buddha’s appearance,

which is perfect and has special signs and marks.

They will see the Buddha while he is walking,

while he is standing, sitting, or resting in sleep.

They will see him in manifold forms of conduct:

when explaining the teaching leading to peace,

when silently resting in meditative equipoise,

or when displaying various forms of miracles.

Possessed of great splendor and magnificence,

[the Buddha] will be seen by all sentient beings.

Once having seen this, they too will wish

to fully join what is named “buddhahood,”

and adopting its causes in a genuine way

they will attain the state they longed for.

These appearances are totally free from ideation

and do not involve the slightest movement at all.

There is nothing of this kind, and yet nevertheless

they are accompanied by great benefit in the world.

“This is the appearance of my own mind.”

Worldly beings do not have such insight.

Yet, their seeing of this visible kaya

will become meaningful for these beings.

Relying on gradually beholding this form,

all those who follow the [Great] Vehicle

will see their genuine inner dharmakaya

by means of the eye of primordial wisdom.

If the whole earth became rid of fearful places

and turned into an even surface of lapis lazuli

that was flawless, radiant, and beautiful,

having a gem’s qualities and unstained luster,

various divine abodes and the form of their Lord

would shine forth within it because of its purity.

Then, as the earth gradually lost these properties,

they would be invisible again and appear no more.

Yet, for their real attainment the men and women

would side with the vows of individual release,

with penitence, authentic giving, and so forth,

scattering flowers and so on with longing minds.

Likewise, to attain the state of a Lord of Munis shining forth in their minds, which is similar to pure lapis lazuli,

the heirs of the Victor, their vision filled with sheer delight, give rise to bodhichitta in the most perfect manner.

Just as mirrored by the purified lapis lazuli ground

the physical appearance of the Lord of Gods is seen,

likewise the kaya of the Lord of Munis is reflected

in the purified ground of sentient beings’ minds.

Whether these reflections will rise or set in beings

owes to their own minds being sullied or unstained.

Like the form [of Lord Indra] appearing in the worlds,

they are not to be viewed as “existent” or “extinct.”

By the power of the gods’ former virtue

the Dharma drum [arose] among them.

Involving no effort, origin, or thought,

no vibration and no intention at all,

the drum resounds again and again

with “impermanence” and “suffering,”

“non-existence of self” and “peace,”

admonishing all the careless gods.

Likewise, though free from effort and so on,

the buddha speech of the All-Pervading Ones

permeates sentient beings without exception,

teaching Dharma to those of karmic fortune.

Just as the sound of the drum arises

among the gods from their own deeds,

the Dharma spoken by the Muni arises

in the world from beings’ own deeds.

Just as the sound [of the drum] accomplishes peace

without effort, origin, visible form, or intention,

likewise the Dharma causes accomplishment of peace

without deliberate effort or any other such feature.

The sound of the drum in the city of the gods acts as the cause, yielding the gift of undauntedness and granting them victory

over the host of the asuras, when these, driven by their poisons, make war upon them, and it dispels the gods’ reveling in play.

Likewise, arising in the worlds from the cause of meditative stability, formless dimension, and so on, it expresses the mode

of the unsurpassable path, which will fully overcome all affliction and suffering and thus lead all sentient beings to peace.

Universal, of benefit, bestowing bliss,

and endowed with threefold miracle,

the Muni’s melody is by far superior

to the cymbals treasured by the gods.

The mighty sound of the drum in the divine realms

does not reach the ears of those dwelling on earth,

whereas the drumming sound of Buddha’s [speech]

even reaches the subterranean worlds of samsara.

Millions of divine cymbals resound among the gods

to set the fire of lust ablaze and to fan its flames.

The single melody of Those of Compassionate Being

manifests to fully quench all the fires of suffering.

The beautiful and bewitching sound of the cymbals

causes among the gods increase of their distraction,

whereas the speech of the compassionate Tathagata

exhorts [us] to reflect and commits the mind to samadhi.

Any cause of happiness for earthly beings and gods

in whichever sphere of the world without exception,

briefly spoken, fully depends upon this melody

that pervades all the worlds, not forsaking one.

Without [an intact sense of] hearing

one cannot experience subtle sound,

and all [its manifold variations]

do not even reach the ears of a god.

Likewise, as the field of experience

of the very finest primordial wisdom,

the subtle Dharma only reaches the ear

of someone whose mind is rid of poison.

The monsoon clouds in summertime

continuously and without any effort

pour down their vast masses of water,

causing on earth the best possible crops.

Just so, from the cloud of compassion

the rain of the Victor’s pure teaching

pours down its waters without ideation,

causing a harvest of virtue for beings.

Just as the wind-born clouds cause rain to fall

when the worldly beings follow the path of virtue,

from the buddha cloud called by compassion’s wind,

pure Dharma rains to nurture the virtue of beings.

Through great knowledge and compassionate love with regard to existence

it abides in the midst of space unsullied by change and non-change.

Holding the essence of the unpolluted waters of dharani and samadhi,

the cloud of the Lord of Munis is the cause of the harvest of virtue.

Water that is cool, delicious, soft,

and light when it falls from the clouds

acquires on earth very many tastes

by touching salty and other grounds.

When the waters of the noble eightfold [path]

rain from the heart of the vast cloud of love,

they will also acquire many kinds of tastes

by the different grounds of beings’ make-up.

Those of devotion towards the supreme vehicle,

those who are neutral, and those with animosity

are three groups [of beings] who are similar

to humans, peacocks, and craving spirits.

At the end of spring, when there are no clouds, human beings and the birds that rarely fly

[are unhappy or neutral, respectively]. When rain is falling in summertime, the craving spirits suffer.

Similar to this example, the arising and non-arising of the Dharma-rain from the host of clouds of compassion

also [leads to opposite reactions] in worldly beings who long for Dharma or are hostile to it, respectively.

When releasing a deluge of heavy drops or hurling down hailstones and thunderbolts,

a cloud does not heed any tiny beings or those who have sought shelter in the hills.

Likewise the cloud of knowledge and love does not heed whether its vast and subtle drops

will purify the afflictions or [increase] dormant tendencies towards holding the view of a self.

In this cycle of beginningless birth and death five paths are open for sentient beings to tread.

Just as no sweet scent is found in excrement, no happiness will be found among the five types of beings.

Their suffering resembles the continuous pain arising from fire and weapons, or [from a wound] being touched by salt, and so on.

The great rain of sacred Dharma pours down in cascades from the cloud of compassion, fully soothing and appeasing this [pain].

“[Even] gods have the suffering of death and transmigration, and man suffers from desperate strife!” Realizing this,

those endowed with discriminative wisdom have no desire for even the highest [state] of a lord of humans or gods.

There is wisdom [from the past] and they faithfully follow the sublime words of the Tathagata,

so insight makes them see: “This is suffering! This is its cause! And this is cessation of misery!”

In the case of disease, one needs to diagnose it, remove its cause,

attain the happy state [of health], and rely on suitable medicine;

similarly one needs to recognize suffering, remove its cause,

come in touch with its cessation, and rely on the suitable path.

Just like the way in which Brahma,

without departing from his abode,

effortlessly shows his appearance

in all the residences of the gods,

without moving from dharmakaya

the Muni effortlessly demonstrates

illusory appearances in every realm

to beings who have karmic fortune.

When Brahma, never departing from his palace, has manifested in the desire realm, he is seen by the gods.

This vision incites them to emulate him and to abandon their delight in [sensuous] objects.

Similarly, without moving from dharmakaya, the Sugata is seen in all spheres of this world

by beings of karmic fortune. This vision incites them to emulate him and to dispel all their pollution.

By his own former wishing prayers

and the power of the virtue of the gods

Brahma appears without deliberate effort.

So does the self-sprung illusory kaya.

He moves from [Tushita] and enters the womb, gets born, and goes to his father’s palace.

He enjoys amusement and then seeks solitude, undergoes austerity, and defeats all evils.

[In Bodhgaya] he finds great enlightenment and shows the path to the citadel of peace.

The Muni, having shown [these deeds], becomes invisible to those of no karmic fortune.

When the sun blazes down, lotuses and so on open

while simultaneously kumuta flowers totally close.

On the benefit and fault of the water-born flowers’ opening and closing

the sun does not shed any thought. The sun of the Noble acts likewise.

As the sun shining its own light

simultaneously and without thought

makes lotus flowers open their petals

and brings ripening to other [crops],

so the sun of the Tathagata manifests,

shedding its rays of the sacred Dharma

on the lotus-like beings to be trained

without harboring any thought or idea.

By the dharmakaya and the visible kayas

the sun of omniscience rises in the sky,

which is the very heart of enlightenment,

to shed light beams of wisdom on beings.

In all disciples, as in water vessels,

simultaneously the sun of the Sugata

is mirrored in countless reflections

owing to the purity [of these beings].

[From] within the space of dharmadhatu,

which continuously pervades everything,

the buddha sun shines on the disciples

[like] on mountains, as merited by each.

Just as the rising sun with thousands of far-reaching beams

illuminates all the worlds and then gradually sheds its light

on the highest mountains, then the medium-sized, and the small,

the buddha sun gradually shines on the assembly of beings.

The sun does not radiate to the depth of space in every field, nor can it show

the meaning of the knowable [to those] confined to the darkness of unknowing.

Appearing in clarity through a multitude of light emitting various colors,

Those of Compassionate Nature show the meaning of the knowable to beings.

When a buddha goes to the city [of the disciples], people without eyes become sighted.

Being freed from all meaningless things they see the meaningful and experience [happiness].

When blinded by delusion they fall into existence’s sea and are wrapped in the darkness of views,

the light of the buddha sun illumines their vision and they see the very point they never saw before.

A wish-fulfilling gem, though free from thought,

grants all those who dwell in its field of activity

each of their desires simultaneously,

doing so in the most perfect manner.

Likewise beings of different ways of thinking,

when they rely on the wish-fulfilling Buddha,

will hear various kinds of teachings,

though he generates no ideas of these.

As a precious gem, which is free from thought, fully bestows

the desired riches on others, doing so without any effort,

the Muni always stays for others’ sake, as merited by each

and as long as existences last, doing so without any effort.

The good jewel lying underground or in the ocean

is very hard to find for beings wanting it.

Likewise, one should understand that beings held in the grip of the poisons,

and whose karmic gifts are poor, will hardly see the Sugata in their minds.

Just as the sound of an echo arises

due to the perception of others,

without thought or purposeful labor

and neither abiding without or within,

so the speech of the Tathagata arises

due to the perception of others,

without thought or purposeful labor

and neither abiding without or within.

Space is nothing at all and does not appear.

It is neither an object [of the senses] nor a support.

It is totally beyond being a path for the eye.

It has no form and is not to be demonstrated.

Nevertheless it is seen as being high and low,

but it is not at all like that.

Likewise all [his appearances] are seen as Buddha,

but he is not at all like that.

Everything that grows from the earth

will increase and become firm and vast

on the support of its thought-free soil.

Likewise, relying on the Perfect Buddha,

who [like] the earth is free from thought,

every root of virtue of sentient beings

without exception will flourish and grow.

It is not obvious that one could act

without exerting deliberate effort.

Therefore nine examples are taught

to cut the doubts of the disciples.

The place where these nine examples

were explained in very great detail

is the sutra which through its very name

teaches their necessity and purpose.

Adorned with the far-reaching light

of knowledge arisen from hearing it,

those of insight will quickly enter

the field of experience of a buddha.

This point is made clear in the nine examples

of Indra’s reflection in lapis lazuli and so on.

Their concise meaning, when grasped precisely,

is to [illustrate] display [of physical form],

speech, and the all-pervasiveness [of mind],

illusory emanation, radiation of wisdom,

the secret aspects of body, speech, and mind,

and the fact that compassion itself is attained.

All streams of effort being fully appeased

and the mind being free from all ideation

is similar to Indra’s reflection appearing

within stainless lapis lazuli and so forth.

Appeasement of effort is the proposition;

mind free from ideation its justification.

In order to establish the meaning of this nature

the similes of Indra’s form and so on are given.

Here the meaning of the chapter is as follows:

The nine aspects of physical display and so on

[show] that the Teacher has no birth and death,

and yet perfectly manifests without any effort.

Something that, similar to Indra, the drum, clouds, Brahma,

the sun, the precious king of wish-granting gems, an echo, space,

and the earth, effortlessly and as long as existence may last

fulfils others’ benefit is only conceived of by [supreme] yogis.

[Kayas] are displayed like the Lord of Gods appearing [in] the gem.

Explanation being well bestowed resembles the drum of the gods.

With cloud-hosts of insight and deep concern, the All-Embracing

pervades the limitless number of beings up to existence’s peak.

Like Brahma, not moving from his sphere devoid of pollution,

he perfectly displays a manifold number of illusory appearances.

Like a sun, primordial wisdom perfectly radiates its brilliance.

Buddha mind resembles a pure and precious wish-fulfilling jewel.

Buddha speech has no letters, like an echo resounding from rock.

Similar to space, his body is pervasive, formless, and permanent.

Like the earth, a buddha is the ground holding without exception

and in any way all medicinal herbs of beings’ unstained qualities.

The cause for the Buddha to be seen in the mind

similar to pure lapis lazuli

is the purity of this ground,

[achieved] by a firm faculty of irreversible faith.

Since virtue arises and ceases,

the form of a buddha arises and ceases.

Like Indra, the Muni who is dharmakaya

is free from arising and ceasing.

Effortlessly, like [Indra] he manifests his deeds,

displaying [physical appearance] and so forth,

from birthless and deathless dharmakaya

for as long as samsaric existence may last.

The condensed meaning of the examples is [contained] herein.

Their order is also [not arbitrary], as they are abandoned such

that properties not in tune are eliminated

[progressing] from the former to the latter.

A buddha is like the reflection, and yet dissimilar,

since the reflection is not endowed with his melody.

He is like the drum of the gods, and yet dissimilar,

since the drum does not bring benefit everywhere.

He is similar to a vast cloud, and yet dissimilar,

since a cloud does not eliminate worthless seeds.

He is like the mighty Brahma, and yet dissimilar,

since Brahma does not continuously cause maturity.

He is like the orb of the sun, and yet dissimilar,

since the sun does not always overcome darkness.

He is like a wish-granting gem, and yet dissimilar,

since the gem’s appearance is not so rarely found.

He is similar to an echo, and yet dissimilar,

since an echo arises from cause and condition.

He is similar to space, and yet dissimilar,

since space is not a ground of pure virtue.

Being the lasting basis for every goodness,

the best possible for all without exception,

for worldly beings and those beyond the world,

[activity] is similar to the mandala of earth.

Because based upon all buddhas’ enlightenment,

the path beyond the world will arise, as will

the path of virtuous deeds, mental stability, and

the immeasurable and formless contemplations.

This was the section “Unfolding the Activity of the Tathagata,” the fourth chapter of The Commentary on the Highest Continuity of the Mahayana Dharma which Analyzes the Disposition of the Rare and Sublime Ones.