The Sūtra of
Ananda’s Query
Concerning the Ultimate
Results of Practicing
the
Buddha’s Teachings as Good or
Translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by
Master Parthamansiris
Prince & King of
Translated from Chinese into English by
Suncrates
Sandra A. Wawrytko
The Kumārajīva Project
Thomé H. Fang Institute
2003
I.
Thus, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha:
“Of all those who have practiced the Buddha’s
teachings some have acquired wealth and honor, power and position, everything
seems to be going well with them -- as they wish. Some, on the contrary, have
acquired just the opposite, everything seems to be
going ill with them. Why and how is it that they differ so widely in the
results of their practice of the Buddha’s teachings.
Our Lord, the Deva of Devas, please, tell us, all of us, why and how?”
The Buddha answered Ananda:
“Of those who have practiced my teachings some have
the good luck to meet with good mentors, and have kept the accepted precepts
unswervingly, without deviation or violation: They practice them with vigor;
they keep the statues of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas bright and vivid; they
never miss their worships in the morning and evening; they light the lamps
devotedly; they donate alms with pure motivation; they never do what the Dharma
and precepts have forbidden them to do; their heart are always filled with joy;
they are always protected by all the Devas and the Spiritual Beings of
Goodness; of course, everything seems to be going well with them in every
direction, and all things around them grow and prosper a hundredfold. They are,
in addition, protected by all the Devas, Nagas, Ghosts, and Spiritual Beings,
and all human beings as well. Eventually, these people definitely will attain
to the stage of Dharma and Tathāta [Notice: not Tathāgata]. Verily I
say unto you, such good men and women are truly my followers and disciples.
“On the other hand, there are people who claim to have
practiced my teachings, yet they never have the good luck to meet with good
mentors or read the instructions in the Sūtras. They have attended
the initiation of receiving precepts; they are precept holders only in name;
they are filled with folly, lacking in faith; they violate the precepts and
rules, now believing, and now disbelieving; they always hesitate in their
hearts, without showing reverence towards the Sūtras and the
statues; they neither burn the incense, nor light the lamps, during worship.
hey are always filled with doubts; indulging in angry speech and harsh words,
name-calling and condemnation; with venomous tongue they launch their jealousy
and rancor upon the worthy and good; they never observe the fasting ritual on
the six holy days each year; they kill sentient beings with their own hands;
they show no respect for the Buddhist Sūtras; they leave them at
will in worn-out baskets or among dirty clothing or unclean places on their
wives’ beds, or have them hung up on the wall; they treat them as in no way
different from books of the ordinary sort in the world, without the reverential
heart to receive them as esteemed guests into the seat of honor. In illness,
for lack of true faith in the Buddha, they call upon sorcerers for aide; they
appeal to divination and sorcery for dissolving any previous grievances and
feuds they had with others; they appeal to the perverse worship of demons for
help. No wonder all the Devas are turned off and, naturally, they are denied
the protection by the Good; consequently, demons make their way into their houses,
and devils station themselves right at their doors, thus causing them
misfortunes and putting them at odds with any and every thing they might be
doing. Or, they may have come here in this world from the evil track of
wrong-doings in their previous lives, appearing now as sinners in this present
life of theirs. Verily I say unto you, such kind of men and women are truly not
my followers and disciples! Moreover, upon death they shall be sent to Hell for
purgation; they will be duly punished there by flogging and caning until they
are rehabilitated. It is due to their previous sinfulness that well-deservedly
they must suffer from misfortunes in this life, and will continue to suffer
more until the moment of death. Then, they will be taken back again to the evil
track for endless rounds of torture, with sufferings unspeakably horrible. All
this is due to the accumulated evils of bad deeds in their past lives.
“The foolish people are twice blind: blind in mind and
blind in eye. They never reflect upon their previous conduct and the
consequences involved; they never reflect upon the response and retribution of
Spiritual Beings; they never trace all these happenings back to their original,
fundamental causes in karma. Yet, they all claim that their ill luck, their
misfortunes, are caused by their practicing the Buddha’s teachings, without blaming themselves for lack of sufficient
meritorious virtues accumulated in their previous lives! They keep hating
Heaven and Earth, blaming the Saints and Devas.
“The world is replete with such kind of fools, who
have lost their way and are as ignorant as ever. Alas, common people can be so
incredibly ignorant and stupid! Those who are incredibly ignorant and stupid
are neither stable in mind, nor solid and firm in character, nor always
rational in conduct and behavior. They are unworthy of the grace of Buddha the
Compassionate One; they are ungrateful, being unable to repay Him. Thus, they
are caught in a threefold bondage, caught in the
karma-web of their own making. Their stored-consciousness, wherein the evil
seeds always exceed the good ones, turns out to be the sinful
guilt-consciousness, culminating in negative retributions, of course. How can
one fail to take this matter seriously!
“There are ten kinds of evil -- [three kinds for the
body: killing sentient beings, stealing, and adultery; four kinds for the
mouth: lying, double talk, boldfaced bragging and being flatteringly obsequious
in speech; and three kinds for intention: greed, anger, and ignorance]. These
are our worst enemies. On the other hand, there are ten kinds of goodness --
[the opposite of the above listed]. These are our gracious friends. Attainment
to the stage of Dharma or Tathāta by a tranquil and peaceful spirit is
generated by Goodness. Goodness is the great shield, fearless of swords and
weapons; Goodness is the big ship, capable of carrying us across the waters (of
greed). Those who abide in Goodness faithfully can enjoy harmony and peace at
home in their family life; naturally they enjoy the reward of bliss. It is a
journey from goodness to goodness, not a matter of a divine free gift. Those
who do not believe in it now will only continue to become worse and worse, and
worse, afterwards.”
The Buddha continued:
“Ananda, Good and Evil follow human beings as
inseparably as does the shadow follow the body! So it is the case with sin and
bliss. Never doubt it, and fall into the evil track yourself. Distinguish sin
from bliss, have sincere faith in Dharma, and free yourself from bewilderment.
You will then be able to be completely at ease wherever you are. Every word
spoken by the Buddha is absolutely sincere, never deceiving us.”
Again the Buddha spoke:
“The Buddha has no deceit in speech, and the era of
the Buddha is extremely hard to come by. The Dharmas of the Sûtras are
rarely to be heard. It is due to all the bliss accumulated in all your previous
lives, Ananda, that you have been selected to serve as Attendant to the Buddha,
now -- in this life of yours. You shall therefore always keep in mind how, in appreciation
of the grace and compassion of the Buddha, you shall dedicate yourself to the
cause of declaring the teachings of Dharma to the common people by our
exemplary deeds and conduct so as to till for them the fertile field of bliss,
wherein those with faith can plant their seeds of Goodness, so that all their
descendants may be worry-free and trouble-free.”
Having thus received the Buddha’s teachings as
inspiration, Ananda swore that, in appreciation, he would put all of them into
practice, spread them universally and share them with all.
II.
Later, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha:
“There are people who do not kill sentient beings with
their own hands. Does this make them innocent?”
The Buddha emphatically remarked:
“Ananda, to abet others in killing is more sinful than
to kill with one’s own hand! Why? Some are made to kill as servants, maids,
foolish or petty fellows; they know not what is sinful and what is blissful;
some are commanded to kill as executioners carrying out the orders of their
county mayors as superiors, not out of their own will. In such cases, though
they are not guiltless of killing, yet they did it with different motivations,
accordingly the consequences must vary in terms of gravity. Those who abet
others in killing, called instigators, commit the sin of killing on purpose,
i.e., deliberately. They have harbored in their heart both folly and
viciousness; their very act of abetting and hiring others to kill shows that
they have utterly no compassion in their hearts. They have betrayed the Three
Noble Treasures -- the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Samgha. They have proven
unworthy of their own conscience; because doing injury to sentient beings
causes them uneasiness at their hearts. They have committed a capital sin of
the gravest kind.
“They are caught in the vicious circle of hatred
against hatred, feud against feud, and must suffer from generation to
generation to come -- endlessly. They cannot be at ease in this present life of
theirs, confronted frequently with various kinds of misfortunes. Upon death
they will be sent to Hell, where they will be cast out of the human shape and
degraded into the lower realm as beasts to be slaughtered by men. Throughout
the entire course of their time in hell they will undergo the Eight Tribulations
as ordeals, including the three paths of punishment [by fire, by eating each
other’s raw flesh, and by swords and clubs]. They will serve men with the flesh
of their bodies as meat for hundreds of millions of Kalpas to come --
endlessly. Physically, they are subjected to suffering from all sorts of
hardship. Like herd animals, they are fed only the grass on the meadows and
allowed to drink only from the streams in the field.
“Now, the present world is replete with multitudes of
beasts of this sort, because they were violent, perverse, unrighteous,
instigating others to do violence to sentient beings and, moreover, faithless,
during their previous lives when they had the good fortune to be reborn as
humans. With grievances and feuds accumulated from generation to generation,
and from life to life, followed by mutual retributions against one another,
essentially their have remained the same; yet, alas, what an infinite variety
of forms and shapes they must have assumed accordingly in the course of Śamsāra!
All this is due to the profound sinfulness accumulated in their previous
lives!”
III.
Thus, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha:
“There have been people in the world, and some
students and disciples, too, who direct their ill-will towards men of Dharma
and Virtue as good teachers, so to speak. How serious are their sins?”
The Buddha answered Ananda:
“As a human being worthy of the name, one should love
and rejoice at the good of others, and should never be jealous of them. He who
directs his ill-will towards men of Dharma and Virtue as good teachers is doing
the same towards the Buddha Himself. He should draw the mightiest bow in the
world and shoot the arrow at himself rather than direct his ill-will towards
men of Dharma and Virtue as good teachers.”
The Buddha asked:
“Ananda, does shooting oneself
hurt?”
Ananda said:
“It hurts, indeed! it hurts,
very much! our Lord, the World-Honored One!”
Thus, the Buddha commented:
“He who directs his ill-will towards men of Dharma and
Virtue as good teachers will suffer far more than those who shoot arrows at
themselves!
“On the other hand, we should realize that, as
students and disciples, one should not treat teachers without respect, nor
direct one’s ill-will towards men of Dharma and Virtue. Rather, one should look
up to them as the Buddha Himself, and by no means should one slight them, or be
jealous of them. Instead, at seeing the good in others one should rejoice on
their behalf. Men of Virtue by observing the precepts would be able to move
multitudes of the Devas; they are respected alike by the Devas and Nagas
(Dragons), and by the Ghosts and Spiritual Beings as well. It is better to
commit oneself to the flames, or have one’s flesh sliced into pieces by the
sharpest swords and knifes, than be jealous of the goodness of others. Jealousy
of the goodness of others is no small sin. One cannot be too cautious in this
regard!”
Thus, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha:
“Can a teacher be permitted to reprimand and chide
disciples at will, without regard for the principle of righteousness, and make
a big fuss over a small error? Can such a teacher be immune from sinfulness?”
The Buddha strongly warned:
“By no means! By no means! The good relationship between teacher and disciple is
based on the principle of righteousness. Out of righteousness originates
spontaneously a genuine affection towards one another. They should be gracious
towards one another; each should treat the other party as oneself. The teacher
must rectify disciples in accordance with reason, and guide them properly by
the right path of Dharma. What one does not practice oneself, never ask others
to do. We should develop and exalt the Rules of Propriety so that there will be
no need to Appeal for Grievance.
“The same with the disciple. Apply the principle of righteous-ness reciprocally:
The teacher should be like a teacher; the disciple should be like a disciple.
Never should they slander one another, harboring venomous seeds of grievance
and feuding turning petty cases into major issues until finally they bring
about self-destruction upon them-selves by inviting the flames. As students and
disciples, one should be filial and compliant towards their good teachers.
Never should one direct one’s ill-will towards teachers. Directing one’s
ill-will towards teachers is no different than directing one’s ill-will towards
the Buddha Himself, towards the bhikhsus and monks, and towards one’s parents.
Such a sin is a capital offence; neither covered by Heaven, nor supported by
Earth.
“Now, let us take a closer look at the people of this
era of decadence! The world is replete with all kinds of crooks and the wicked:
They have neither loyality nor filiality, neither benevolence nor
righteousness; they never follow the way of humanity. The
bhikhsus of the mundane world, as one of the four divisions of monasties [the
bhiksu, bhiksurikā, sśrāmanera, and
sśrāma-nerikā], are only mindful of the evils of others, without
making any effort to correct and stop their own evil. For instance:
“Being so jealous of the worthy and the good that
there is nothing they would not do to destroy them.
“Having no idea of practicing good deeds, jealous of
the worthy by being violent and rude towards them,
“Being unable to accomplish something good, yet never missing
any opportunity to vitiate the good efforts of others. “Nipping any good
motivations in the bud so that they never prevail.
“Being greedy and lustful, caring only for worldly
vanity, and the vanity of vanities, and indulging in profit and luxury for
enjoyment
“accumulating possessions to
speed up the loss of one’s true self as authentic nature, and worshipping money
above Dharma.
“Being degraded upon death into evil tracks, down to
the capital Hell, becoming there one of the hungry ghosts and various sorts of
beasts.
“Never should one have any such tendencies! What does
one ask for in this world? -- Be mindful of the Buddha and repay his grace!
“We shall observe the precepts of the Sūtras, and
lead the masses aright by the path of Dharma!
“The Dharma must be learned; the Sūtras must be
[studied] and chanted; the good deeds must be performed.
“Performing good deeds and offering virtues as if
offering alms.
“Redeeming souls and transcending the realm of
Śamsāra [life and death].
“When seeing the worthy, never slight them. When
seeing the good, never slander them. Never get another implicated in a major
crime by means of some small error. There is no crime greater than the
violation of law and lack of reason. Sin and bliss are to be determined by
checking the evidence. We cannot be too cautious in this regard.”
Thus, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha:
“The disciples of the era of decadence are produced by
interdependent origination as a result of karmic interactions. Oh, our Lord,
the World-Honored One, how should they conduct their
daily life, manage their household, and make money to support their family
members?”
Thu Buddha answered Ananda:
“Ananda, there are people who have accepted the
precepts of the Buddha and performed them faithfully: they are compliant and
filial, awe-inspired, cautious and prudent; reverentially they take refuge in
the Three Noble Treasures -- the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Samgha. They have
supported their parents, they have fulfilled their duties of loyalty, they are cautious and good both inwardly and outwardly.
Nevertheless, they may well attend to human worldly affairs but not with any
human worldly-mindedness!”
Thus, Ananda respectfully asked the Buddha for
clarification:
“Our Lord, the Deva of Devas, what do you mean by
human worldly-affairs as distinct from the human worldly-mindedness?”
The Buddha answered Ananda:
“Though, as disciples of the Buddha, of course they
may pursue business and live as businessmen, yet in making deals with people
they must be fair-minded so as to conduct their transactions with the square of
fair measure. By no means should they wrong any person. And never should they
handle any transactions by violating the principles of the divine and those of
nature. Attending funeral and obituary services, moving and transportation
rituals, and wedding ceremonies, etc., are all matters of human worldly affairs
[for one to attend to].
“But by [freedom from] human worldly-mindedness I mean
that as disciples of the Buddha, they should keep themselves away from such
activities as an appeal to divination for consultation, sorcery and reading
magic signs, exorcising specters, perverse worship, etc., to dissolve any
previous grievances and feuds with others; nor should they attempt to pick out
any particular days and times as auspicious.
“Blessed are those who have received the precepts from
the Buddha! No matter what they are about to do, they should appeal for
approval to the Three Noble Treasures -- the Buddha, the Dharma, and the
Samgha. No matter how subtle one’s motivation might be, nothing could escape
the Buddha’s sharp discernment and perfect understanding. For men with the
virtues of precepts, there is no greater protection than the one provided by
Dharma. With all the Devas at their disposal, they are respected alike by all
the Dragons, Ghosts, and Spiritual Beings throughout the universe. One becomes
noble only with the advance of one’s observation of the noble precepts. For
such a person the course of events is always auspicious, ubiquitously. How could
there be any ominous taboos to bother him? The world of Dharma is all-embracing
and all-supportive as Heaven and Earth. Only the unenlightened, the foolish,
fail to understand; they are victimized by the hindrances and bondage of their
own making. The karmas of good and evil originate within the human heart. Good
and evil follow the person as closely as does shadow follow the body, and as
readily as the echo responds to the sound! The virtues of those who have
practiced the precepts taught, under the protection of the Devas, will be
answered spontaneously. All their wishes will come true and be fulfilled. All
their appeals will receive a response from all of the ten quarters of Space, as
participating in the augmentation of virtue with Heaven. Their magnificent
merits are admired by all the saints and sages, in immeasurable ways. The wise
comprehend Destiny immediately, never would they be
subject to any perverse worship. In so far as one acts in perfect accordance
with the Buddha’s teachings, one will always find the path of emancipation
available.”
Hearing this, Ananda straighteded out his robe
[Kasaya] and bowed deeply, touching his head to the ground. He answered:
“Indeed, one will! But, our Lord, the World-Honored
One, how blessed we are to be born contemporaneous with the Buddha! who, with the great grace of universal compassion, and with
profound sympathy and pity for all sentient beings, has appeared in this world
to till the field of bliss for them, so that all of them may be relieved of
sufferings. Every word spoken by the Buddha is absolutely sincere! Alas, it has
few believers! This world is full of evils! All people are cursing one another.
How painfully deplorable! Even if there were to be some believers, it is at
most but a few of them, or so, in number. Why and how has the whole world found
itself in such a miserable state of evil? After the Buddha has entered into
Nirvāna, what is the use of the Sūtras and Dharmas remaining extant
while there is none to believe them? Gradually, all will fade away, gone and
lost! How woeful! Whom are we going to rely upon? We only wish, Oh, our Lord, the World-Honored One, that, for the sake of
the great mass of the common people, you would not enter into Nirvāna!”
Thus, Ananda offered his earnest petition for the
Buddha to stay, in the form of a long verse as Eulogy:
“In all Three World of Desire, of Forms,
as well as
of No-Forms
Buddha the Compassionate One is esteemed
as their
Guardian and Protector Supreme!
Great indeed is his grace of universal compassion!
our Lord. For
the sake of all sentient beings,
please, don’t
leave for Nirvāna, we you entreat!
For, verily, so few can ever meet
Dharma in a life time. They are twice blinded:
blind in eye,
and blinded in mind!
unable to Truth
recognize;
Woe to him who has eyes,
yet in Truth
sees not!
with sins so
deep, poor lot!
How many, with bliss accumulated
in their
past lives, can Dharma meet ever once?
at most, a
few of them or so, as is estimated!
The Sūtras fade away and Dharma wanes,
without being
noticed!
With all of these to be missed,
what and who
is there for them to rely upon, below or above?
Not that the Buddha’s grace is not great enough,
but that, for
all their sins the masses themselves are to blame!
The Drum of Dharma can, in fact, not in name
only, alarm
all the Chiliocosm
---- Trisahasra-mahā-sahasra-loka-dhātu;
How can it be so seldom
heard, or not
at all? ‘Tis a pity, as ‘tis true!
This turbid world of ours is full of crooks of all sorts,
they’ve fallen
into topsy-turvyness, of their own accord!
They worm their way into Dharma by flattery as lip-service,
and by
slandering the saints and sages!
They aim to undermine and destroy
the righteous
and true
by perverse
worship for them to enjoy;
by spell,
and by charm, too!
They believe not that the Buddha has already appeared
in this
world right now, and right here!
They deny that the Buddha
is the Great
Dharma,
They assume human shape, and human form withal,
but, to tell
the truth, they are not human, not at all!
Rather, of all sorts of evils they are the source.
At the end of their life, of course,
they have no
choice, but Hell to be bound for!
Their bodies are to be dismembered
by knife and
sword!
as gourmet
food for the devouring devils, thirsty for slaughter.
In the huge tripod shaped melting pot
the oils are
boiling, damned hot.
Those who in life have committed adultery
are to be
tied up there, so tightly,
right there to
the hot bronze columns all around,
with glaring
fires, to be burnt alive as thus bound.
Those who in life have slandered men of principle and
character
are sent
there to get their tongues plucked out with iron pliers.
Those who in life have indulged in alcohol or liquid,
and with bad
behavior have rules of propriety
broken, are
completely at a loss for a path-finder:
knowing not
whither the human way to pursue any further!
Upon death, of course, they are all sent to Hell, and
right into
their opened mouths does the ward pour
the fluids of
melted bronze all made of various brands
in foreign
lands! With harsh ordeals for hour after hour,
Nay, unlike the common sort,
the feast of
torture is beyond words!
In case they are reborn as humans again,
they will find
themselves well, in vain,
They are among the lowly and the poor,
And miserable, for sure!
Non-killing results in longevity,
immune from
illness, always strong and healthy.
Non-stealing results in great wealth, for instance:
with money
growing upon money,
and property
upon property.
Non-adultery results in fragrance
of bodies,
so refreshing, and so pure!
made to
pervade and to endure!
From the body emits a unique fragrance
highlighting an imposing appearance
that
scintillates
with the
charisma of the high-bred
like the noble
kings of great states!
Non-cheating results in absolute sincerity,
to be looked
up to, by all, as the lofty
measure for the
conduct of life.
Non-drunkenness results in sobriety,
revered by men of
virtue and wisdom. The Five
Great Blessings
[to wit: longevity, great wealth,
purity, social respectability, and virtue]
are
transcending the Worldly Realm and merged with the Heavenly Realm, too:
The joint fruitfulness
are
multiplied a hundred million times, as we witness.
The Truth of Five Precepts is crystal clear.
This era of decadence of ours, oh, my dear,
abounds in crooks
and the wicked of any sort:
what a
faithless, suspicious, foolish, and dull bore!
utterly unable to
distinguish Dharma from Untruth.
Prompted by piles of sins upon sins, they have truth
abandoned, and are
all hell-bound, moving towards
Darkness, ever the darker.
Those who have blocked other’s conscience-way
have destroyed
self-awareness as the righteous way.
Upon death they are taken to the
where their
souls will be imprisoned, what a pity!;
On their heads they will soon be crowned as kings,
with
Iron-Wheels, white-burning. Glaring
like diadems?
You bet!
They only wish for quick death! But it cannot be Granted.
Their bodily shape at once becomes a hotchpotch of smears
as being
stabbed hard, incessantly, with spears
soaked in
poison, weird-shaped, yet forceful to dart!
Their bodies, thus permanently damaged, fall apart,
fatally maimed
and disabled.
Why must the world be in such a state, unable
to figure it
out? Nay, people have abandoned the righteous Way
of Dharma;
instead, they have taken to the devil’s Way,
Foolish and superstitious:
by
consulting divination to get their previous
grievances and feuds
all dissolved;
by indulging
in pompous shows of sacrificial offerings involved,
Thus, they have done great violence:
to
Compassion and Benevolence
Upon death they are dropped into Hell,
all the way
down to the 18th layer at the bottom. Well,
For sightseeing all around
they are led
through and shown
the
horrendous scenes of the Hell of Black-Ink Rope,
so named
because they are used to mark, by square inches
for scope,
the flesh of human body for slicing,
inch by inch].
The Eight Hindrances
and Difficulties are placed
on top of the differentiated realms,
as if at a pinch.
Extremely hard for them to be recast as humans again. In case
they are, they find themselves among
the barbarians,
rude, without the principle of
righteousness. Hence,
Some are so silly and idiotic as in no way to be illuminated.
Some are crippled with
one leg, some with both amputated.
Some are deaf, some
hopelessly dumb.
Some are so senseless as to have eyes but see not; in sum,
All being damn fools
ignorant of the world. Worst above all,
they are caught in the vicious
circle of evil. Moreover,
after numerous turns of rebirths, they
will all
assume the form of any of the
six species of beasts
[namely,
cow, sheep, horse, dog, chicken, & swine, for feasts];
In herds they are
turned over to the butcher to be slaughtered,
Yet examined in the throat before de-skinning is ministered.
Thus, they have come to this world, right here,
to have
their previous debts somewhat cleared
with their own
flesh serving for meat,
hopefully, to repay
their debt.
Those who against Dharma dare to beat,
Again will be thrown back
unto the evil
track!
Out of it t’s extremely hard to get!
To regain human shape is surely rare;
To be able to attend lectures on the Sūtras, even far
rarer!
Blessed and protected are all of us by Bhagavan,
our Lord, the
World-Honored One!
His grace permeates Three Worlds throughout.
Upon all He spreads the lessons of Dharma Truth as ever new,
As He sprinkles the most succulent, cool, and sweet dew,
so that by
practice people may follow them all about!
Be compassionate
to
illuminate!
Those who have already obtained wisdom
should open up a
New Path of Dharma for them
all, and show
them new ways-out for new vistas,
by dint of
pity for the masses as asses!
Yet, the intelligent and sharp can be relieved of pain,
right away!
Blessed are those who have both the goal and the way
to the goal
at their disposal!
Upon seeing the Dharma as Truth, all
at once they
realize the Realm of Aśamsāra
and take
refuge in the Great Buddha
as the
geatest field of bliss,
wherein to till
the land of No-Death.
There has been no greater Grace than the Buddha Himself,
who urges us
to turn the Wheel of Dharma each by our true self,
not the other
way round,
So that all men and women around
the world can
enjoy the most succulant
sweet
Dharma-Dew. And thus can
all get
across Śamsara to the other shore by Wisdom
as Ferry
Boat! The Dharma Compass navigates the Chiliocosm
to the
blissful Realm of Non-Duality of I-Thou.
For abiding in Supreme Tathāgata is our Supreme vow!
IV.
Thus, Ananda concluded his Eulogy of the
Buddha. All the participants at the Assemblage were at once inspired to believe
and understand, They all started to direct their Dharma-Hearts at the Realm of
Ultimate Rightness as Ultimate Reality, and to march on bravely, shielded by
fearlessness, intent upon the fruits of the refreshing sweet Dharma-dew. The
fragrance permeated the entire Chiliocosm, the
Trisahasra-mahā-sahasra-loka-dhātu. Thus, we were redeemed [by self-realization
and self-fulfilment], so that we shouldl point out to others and show them the
solid ground of Dharma as Bridge. The King of the State, and all his ministers
and subjects, all the Devas and Dragons, all the Ghosts and Spiritual Beings,
rejoiced at the rare opportunity to hear in person this Sūtra Spoken by
the Buddha Himself. As to what Ananda had just related, they were filled with a
mixed feeling, composed partly of pity and partly of alarm. They bowed deeply
to the Buddha, touching heads to His feet. With clasped hands, they bowed
courteously to Ananda in thanks, before they eventually departed, feeling so
well instructed, at the bottom of their hearts.
（Finis）
[*]Editor’s Note: Sincere thanks are due to
Mr. Cheah Teck-huat of