English
he would pick out that very sesame seed. So pure is the natural flesh-eye of the Blessed One. Thus, the Blessed One is endowed with sight even with the flesh-eye. How is the Blessed One endowed with sight even with the divine eye? With the divine eye, purified, surpassing human vision, the Blessed One sees beings passing away and being reborn, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate; he understands beings according to their karma: "Indeed, these beings, sirs, are endowed with misconduct of body, endowed with misconduct of speech, endowed with misconduct of mind, revilers of the noble ones, holding wrong views, undertaking actions based on wrong views, they, at the breaking up of the body, after death, are reborn in a state of woe, a bad destination, a downfall, hell. Or again, these beings, sirs, are endowed with good conduct of body, endowed with good conduct of speech, endowed with good conduct of mind, not revilers of the noble ones, holding right views, undertaking actions based on right views, they, at the breaking up of the body, after death, are reborn in a good destination, a heavenly world." Thus, with the divine eye, purified, surpassing human vision... With divine eye he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate; he discerns beings according to their karma. If the Blessed One wishes, he can see one world-system, he can see two world-systems, he can see three world-systems, he can see four world-systems, he can see five world-systems, he can see ten world-systems, he can see twenty world-systems, he can see thirty world-systems, he can see forty world-systems, he can see fifty world-systems, he can see a hundred world-systems, he can see a thousand small world-systems, he can see two thousand medium world-systems, he can see three thousand world-systems, he can see a great thousand world-systems, he can see as many as he wishes. So pure is the divine eye of the Blessed One. Thus the Blessed One is endowed with vision through his divine eye. How is the Blessed One endowed with vision through his wisdom eye? The Blessed One is greatly wise, widely wise, joyfully wise, swiftly wise, keenly wise, penetratingly wise, skilled in the analysis of wisdom, with knowledge differentiated, attained to the analytical knowledges, reached the four confidences, holder of the ten powers, foremost of men, lion among men, elephant among men, thoroughbred among men, leader of men, of infinite knowledge, of infinite splendor, of infinite fame, rich, very wealthy, possessing wealth, a leader, a trainer, a persuader, an instructor, a contemplator, a beholder, a gladdener. Indeed, the Blessed One is the producer of the unproduced path, the generator of the ungenerated path, the proclaimer of the unproclaimed path, the knower of the path, the understander of the path, the expert in the path, and his disciples now dwell following the path, having come after him. Indeed, the Blessed One, knowing, knows; seeing, sees; he is vision-become, knowledge-become, Dhamma-become, Brahma-become, a speaker, a proclaimer, a bringer of meaning, a giver of the deathless, the master of Dhamma, the Tathāgata. There is nothing for that Blessed One unknown, unseen, unperceived, unrealized, untouched. This is by wisdom. Taking hold of past, future, present, all phenomena in every way come into the range of the Buddha, the Blessed One's, knowledge. Whatever is knowable, whether one's own good, or another's good, or the good of both, or good in this life, or good in the next life, or shallow meaning, or deep meaning, or hidden meaning, or concealed meaning, or knowable meaning, or led meaning, or blameless meaning, or undefiled meaning, or purified meaning, or ultimate meaning, all that revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. In the past, the Buddha, the Blessed One, has unobstructed knowledge. In the future, unobstructed knowledge. In the present, unobstructed knowledge. All bodily action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, follows knowledge. All verbal action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, follows knowledge. All mental action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, follows knowledge. As far as the knowable, so far is knowledge. As far as knowledge, so far is the knowable. Knowledge has the knowable as its limit. The knowable has knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable. There is no path for the knowable beyond knowledge. Those phenomena stand with mutual limits. Just as two casket lids, when properly joined, the lower casket lid does not go beyond the upper, the upper casket lid does not go beyond the lower, they stand with mutual limits; even so, the knowable and the knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, stand with mutual limits. As far as the knowable, so far is knowledge. As far as knowledge, so far is the knowable. Knowledge has the knowable as its limit. The knowable has knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable. There is no path for the knowable beyond knowledge. Those phenomena stand with mutual limits. In all phenomena, the knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, proceeds. All phenomena are bound by the Buddha, the Blessed One's, attention, bound by his aspiration, bound by his mental application. are bound by the arising of thought. The knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, extends to all beings. The Blessed One knows the dispositions of all beings, knows their latent tendencies, knows their character, knows their inclinations, knows beings who are of little dust, of much dust, with keen faculties, with dull faculties, of good disposition, of bad disposition, easy to teach, difficult to teach, capable, incapable. The world with its devas, with its Māra, with its Brahmā, with its recluses and brahmins, with its devas and humans, revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as whatever fish and tortoises, down to the Timi and Timingala, revolve within the great ocean; even so the world with its devas, with its Māra, with its Brahmā, with its recluses and brahmins, with its devas and humans, revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as whatever birds, down to the Garuda, the Venateyya, revolve in the region of the sky; even so those who are like Sāriputta in wisdom, they too revolve in the region of the Buddha's knowledge; the Buddha's knowledge pervades and surpasses the wisdom of devas and humans. And those Khattiya scholars, Brahmin scholars, householder scholars, recluse scholars, who are subtle, who have refuted others' doctrines, who are like hair-splitters, who, I think, wander about breaking down views with their wisdom, they formulate questions again and again, and approaching the Tathāgata, they ask questions that are hidden and concealed. Those questions, when spoken and answered by the Blessed One, have their reasons pointed out, and are made clear. They become clear to the Blessed One. Then the Blessed One alone shines forth there, that is to say, in wisdom. Thus the Blessed One is endowed with vision even with the eye of wisdom. How is the Blessed One endowed with vision even with the Buddha-eye? The Blessed One, looking upon the world with the Buddha-eye, saw beings of little dust, of much dust, with keen faculties, with dull faculties, of good disposition, of bad disposition, easy to teach, difficult to teach, some dwelling seeing danger in faults in the other world, some dwelling not seeing danger in faults in the other world. Just as, for example, In a lotus pond, or a water-lily pond, or a white lotus pond, some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses, born in the water, grown in the water, not emerged from the water, nourished submerged within; some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses, born in the water, grown in the water, standing even with the water; some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses, born in the water, grown in the water, standing above the water, unsmeared by the water; Even so, the Blessed One, surveying the world with the Buddha-eye, saw beings: with little dust, with much dust, with keen faculties, with dull faculties, of good disposition, of bad disposition, easy to teach, difficult to teach, some dwelling seeing fear in the faults of the other world, some dwelling not seeing fear in the faults of the other world. The Blessed One knows: "This person is of a lustful nature, this one of a hateful nature, this one of a deluded nature, this one of a speculative nature, this one of a faithful nature, this one of a knowing nature." For a person of a lustful nature, the Blessed One teaches the discourse on impurity; for a person of a hateful nature, the Blessed One explains the development of loving-kindness; for a person of a deluded nature, the Blessed One establishes them in instruction, in questioning, in listening to the Dhamma at the right time, in discussing the Dhamma at the right time, in associating with teachers; for a person of a speculative nature, the Blessed One explains mindfulness of breathing; for a person of a faithful nature, the Blessed One explains a pleasing sign: the Buddha's perfect enlightenment, the Dhamma's perfect well-taughtness, the Sangha's perfect practice, and one's own virtues; for a person of a knowing nature, the Blessed One explains the sign of insight: the aspect of impermanence, the aspect of suffering, the aspect of non-self. "As one standing on a mountain peak, would see the people all around; So too, O wise one, having ascended the Dhamma-palace, O all-seeing one; Look down upon the people immersed in sorrow, you who are sorrow-free, upon those overcome by birth and aging." Thus the Blessed One is endowed with the Buddha-eye. How is the Blessed One also endowed with the all-seeing eye? All-seeing... "The Eye" is called omniscience. The Blessed One is endowed, fully endowed, attained, fully attained, possessed, fully possessed,