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Tathagatagarbha Buddhism (4)
"Or, good sons, it is like a master foundryman casting a statue of pure gold. After casting is complete, it is inverted and placed on the ground. Although the outside is scorched and blackened, the inside is unchanged. When it is opened and the statue taken out, the golden color is radiant and dazzling. Similarly, good sons, when the Tathagata observes all sentient beings, he sees that the buddhagarbha is inside their bodies replete with all its many virtues. After seeing this, he reveals far and wide that all beings will obtain relief. He removes klesas with his adamantine wisdom, and reveals the Buddha body like a person uncovering a golden statue.”
At that point, the World-honored One expressed himself in verses, saying:
“It is like a great foundry
With countless golden statues.
Foolish people look at the outside
And see only the darkened earthen molds.
The master foundryman estimates that they have cooled,
And opens them to extract their contents.
All impurity is removed
And the features clearly revealed.
With my Buddha vision
I see that all sentient beings are like this.
Within the mud shell of passions,
All have the Tathagata-nature.
By means of adamantine wisdom,
We break the mold of the klesas
And reveal the tathagatagarbha,
Like pure, shining gold.
Just as I have seen this
And so instructed all the bodhisattvas,
So should you accept it,
And convert in turn all other beings.”
At that point, the World-honored One spoke to Vajramati and the other bodhisattvas and great beings, saying, “Whether you are monks or laypersons, goods sons and daughters, you should accept, recite, copy, revere, and widely expound this “Tathagatagarbha Sutra” for the benefit of others. The virtues that you will derive from it are inestimable. Vajramati, if there were a bodhisattva who, for the sake of the Buddha path, worked diligently and assiduously, or who cultivated spiritual powers, or who entered all of the samadhis, or who desired to plant the roots of virtue, or who worshiped the Buddhas of the present, more numerous than the sands of the Ganges River, or who erected more seven-jeweled stupas than there are sands in the Ganges River, of a height of ten yojanas [one yojana equals about nine miles] and a depth and breadth of one yojana, or who set up in those stupas seven-jeweled couches covered with divine paintings, or who daily erected for each Buddha more seven-jeweled stupas than there are sands in the Ganges River, and who presented them to each Tathagata and bodhisattva and sravaka in the assembly, or who did this sort of thing everywhere for all the present-day Buddhas, whose number is greater than the sands of the Ganges River, or who erected fifty times more jewelled stupas than there are sands in the Ganges River and who presented them to each Tathagata and bodhisattva and sravaka in the assembly, or who did this sort of thing everywhere for all the present-day Buddhas, whose number is greater than the sands of the Ganges River, or who erected fifty times more jewelled stupas than there are sands in the Ganges River and who presented them as an offering to fifty times more Buddhas and bodhisattvas and sravakas in the assembly than there are sands in the Ganges River, and who did this for countless hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of eons, O Vajramati, that bodhisattva would still not be the equal of the person who finds joy and enlightenment in the ‘Tathagatagarbha Sutra’, who accepts it, recites it, copies it, or even reveres but a single one of its metaphors. O Vajramati, even though the number of good roots and virtues planted by those good sons on behalf of the Buddhas is incalculable, it does not come to a hundredth or a thousandth or any possible calculable fraction of the number of virtues attained by the good sons and daughters who revere the ‘Tathagatagarbha Sutra’.”
At that point, the World-honored One expressed himself in verses, saying:
“If there is a person seeking enlightenment
Who listens to and accepts this sutra,
And who copies and reveres
Even a single verse,
The subtle and profound garbha of the Tathagata
Will instantly come forth, accompanied with joy.
If you give yourself to this true teaching
Your virtues will be incalculable.
If there is a person seeking enlightenment
Who has attained great spiritual powers,
And who desires to make an offering
To the Buddhas of the ten directions
And to the bodhisattvas and sravakas of the assembly,
The number of which is greater
Than the sands of the Ganges,
A hundred million times incalculable;
If for each of the Buddhas
He constructed a marvellous jewelled stupa
Ten yojanas in height
And a breadth of forty li [one li equals about one-third of a mile],
Within which he would bestow a seven-jeweled seat,
With all the marvels
Appropriate for the august Teacher,
Covered with divine pictures and cushions,
Each one with its own unique designs;
If he offered to the Buddhas and the Sangha
An incalculable number of these,
More than the sands of the Ganges River,
And if he offered them
Without ceasing day or night
For hundreds and thousands
And tens of thousands of eons,
The virtues he would obtain in this manner
Could not be compared with
The far greater virtues of
The wise person who listens to this sutra,
Who accepts even a single metaphor from it
And who explains it for the benefit of others.
Beings who take refuge in it
Will quickly attain the highest path.
Bodhisattvas who devote their thought
To the profound tathagatagarbha,
Know that all beings possess it
And quickly attain the highest path.”
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Tathagatagarbha Buddhism 5
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