English
"For you have not understood that in the mysterious Being of Tathagata, the nature of this discriminating power is the same as the substantial faculty of knowing, and the faculty of knowing the same as the power of discriminating, but accord- ing to circumstances these several powers are exercised, etc. 125. " At this time, Ananda and all the great congregation, gratefully attentive to the words of Buddha Tathagata, as he opened out these abstruse points of his argument, their bodies and minds both worn out with their exertion, obtained illumina- tion ; this great assembly perceived that each one's Heart was coextensive with the universe, seeing clearly the empty character of the universe as plainly as a leaf or trifling thing in the hand, and that all things in the universe are all alike merely the ex- cellently bright and primeval Heart of Bodhi, and that this heart is universally diffused, and comprehends all things within itself. 126. " And still reflecting, they beheld their generated bodies, as so many grains of dust in the wide expanse of the universal void, now safe, now lost ; or as a bubble of the sea, sprung from nothing and born to be destroyed. But their perfect and inde- pendent soul, not to be destroyed, but ever the same ; identical with the substance of Buddha ; incapable of increase or diminu- tion : and thus, standing before Tathagata, they uttered these verses of commendation in praise of his august presence. 127. " 0 ! the mysterious depth, the all-embracing extent, the undisturbed and unmoved Majesty ! Oh ! the rarely seen and inestimable Suraugama Rajah ! 128. " Oh ! would that, arriving at an end of the ignorance and perverse thoughts, which have kept us bound through end- less Kalpas, striving through successive asankheya Kalpas after the Eternal Body (body of the Law). 129. "Oh ! would that now we might obtain the fruit and per- fect the Royal Treasure (of Nirvana), and yet be the means of converting endless worlds of Beings, and causing them to experience this same deep heart of gratitude through endless worlds ! Thus would we return the boundless love of Buddha, and so humbly seek the illuminating energy of the World- honoured; passing through the various worlds, we would rescue 34i! A CATENA OF BDDDHIST the countless beings yet immersed in sin, and in the end with them find Rest. 130. " Oh, mighty power ! oh, mighty force of (Buddha's) in- finite compassion ! may its secret and mysterious influences cause us soon to arrive at Supreme Wisdom ! and seated on the sacred throne of the universe, possessed of the Sunyata nature, to overcome all that is false, and possessed of the Sukara heart, never to be moved. " KlOUEN IV. 1. " At this time Parna Maitrayani Poutra, having his place in the great congregation, rose forthwith from his seat, and baring his right shoulder and bending his right knee to the earth, closing his hands in reverence, he addressed Buddha, say- ing : ' Eminently virtuous ! World-honoured ! who illustriously declarest the mysterious and supreme Law of Tathagata for the sake of all sentient creatures !' 2. "World-honoured one! I, who have ever been pre-eminent in the promotion of the declaration of the Law among men, now as I hear the sounds of this superlatively excellent Law of Tathagata, I am as a deaf man, who, whenahundredpaces off, listens to hear the musquitoes humming ; he cannot even see them, much less can he hear them ; and so, although Buddha plainly declares his Law, for the purpose of enabling me to cast away error ; yet I still cannot grasp the limits of this science, so as to free myself from all doubt or suspicion. 3. " World-honoured ! I, like Ananda and his class, although possessed of some degree of enlightenment from your former in- structions, but not entirely freed from minor deficiencies, am now, equally with others in this congregation, desirous to arrive at perfect wisdom ; but although this is so, and I have attained somewhat my purpose, yet, hearing this Law of Tathagata, I am tilled with doubts and self-accusations. 4. " World -honoured ! If it be true that in the world the senses^ and the objects of sense, the five skandhas, the seats of ' The senses (kun) are the six ayatauas (chadayatanani), according to Burnouf, Int., 6;55. But a careful comparison of Hardy and Buruouf is desirable. Vide on the above the Essai of Burnouf and Lassen on Pali, in which it is clearly shown that the inchiyani are the senses (kun), and ayatauas the " chu." SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 345 apprehension and the provinces of knowledge be all one with the mysterious Being of Tathagata, pure and calm, unchanged and unchangeable, then tell me how it is that all at once were pro- duced the mountains, rivers, great earth, and all phgenomenal existence; and how arose this succession of changes and revivals in nature, this dying and ever beginning again ? 5. " And, again, I would inquire of Tathagata with respect to what he says about the earth, water, fire, and wind being in their original condition (Nature) all blended together, and every- where diifused throughout the great universe — what, then, was the form which water possessed when its nature was so uni- versally diffused ; and how could water and fire, which are mutually opposed in their natures, coexist in this universally difiused condition ; and so also matter and space, opposite as they are in their characteristics and natures, how could they be joined in one homogeneous substance ? There are difficulties I cannot understand in the Doctrine which Buddha now enun- ciates. Would that Tathagata, out of his great compassion, would explain and simplify them, both on my account and for the sake of all the great congregation! Having said these words, he prostrated himself on the earth, and respectfully waited for the supreme enunciation of the compassionate mind of Tathagata. 6. "At this time Tathagata addressed Puma and all the Rahats, free from defects, exempt from study,i in these words : ' To-day Tathagata, for the general advantage of this whole con- gregation, declares the true and most excellent Nature of the Doctrine, which resides in the body of his most excellent Teach- ing,^ in order that you who have arrived at the condition of Sravakas possessed of a fixed nature (Samvritisatyas ?), and all others who have not as yet attained to the conviction of the supe- rior grade of Rahats, by arriving at the conviction that all things around them (men and things) are unreal and empty — that all of you may obtain a fundamental knowledge of the one unmoved and unchanged condition — the condition of the true Araiiyaka (hermit) — the only ground of a right preparation of life. Now, therefore, listen and consider; for your sakes I speak, Purna and the rest. Then they all composed themselves to a silent and meditative frame of mind, awaiting the Divine Revelation.' 7. " Buddha said : Purna, according to what 3-ou now say, ^ Jul. ii, 415, n. - Paramartha. Vide Jul. iii, 485. 346 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST asking how the pure and original state of existence could admit of the sudden appearance of mountains and rivers and the great earth, have you not continually heard Tathiigata enunciate this doctrine — 'As to its Nature, the Divine Intelligence (Buddha) is mysteriously effulgent ; as to its essence, the Divine Intelligence is effulgently mysterious ?'i Pourna replied: Yes, verily, World- honoured one ! I have continually heard Buddha declare this Doctrine. 8. "Buddha said: With respect to that which you call the brightness or effulgence of the Divine Intelligence, is it an effulgence depending on the very Nature (of the Divinity), and so the name Divine Intelligence is given to it ? or is this Divine Intelligence not in its essence effulgent, but by acquiring this quality, does it come afterwards to be called an enlightened or effulgent Divinity ? 9. Purna replied : If this which we call the Divine Intelli- gence is not (naturally) effulgent, then what room is there for its ever becoming so ? 10. " Buddha said : If there is no room for the acquirement of this effulgence, then (in the disunion of these two conditions) the Divine Intelligence is essentially unenlightened. If there is a ground for acquiring this enlightenment, then it is something different from Intelligence ; if there is no ground, then there is no enlightenment ; but then again this absence of enlightenment is essentially opposed to the true Nature of what we term the Divine Intelligence.^ 11.