Vimalakīrti Sutra (維摩詰所說經)

Vimalakīrti Sutra, Scroll 3

Translated by the Tripitaka Master Kumarajiva of the Later Qin Dynasty

Chapter 10: Fragrance Land Buddha

Shariputra thought to himself, "The time for the midday meal is approaching. Where will these bodhisattvas eat?"

Then Vimalakirti, understanding his thought, said: "The Buddha speaks of the eight liberations. You, good sir, practice them sincerely. How could you be distracted by desire for food while listening to the Dharma? If you wish to eat, wait a moment, and I will give you food such as you have never tasted before."

At that time, Vimalakirti entered a state of deep concentration and, through his miraculous powers, revealed to the assembly a realm in the upper regions. Beyond forty-two rivers of sand Buddha-lands, there existed a world called Fragrant Land, where the Buddha was known as Fragrance King, and he was present at that very moment. The fragrance of this realm surpassed all fragrances of humans and celestial beings in the Buddha-worlds of the ten directions, ranking as the very finest. In that land, there were no disciples of the Lesser Vehicle or solitary realizers; instead, only a multitude of pure great bodhisattvas were taught by the Buddha. The entire realm crafted its pavilions from fragrance, its grounds for walking were fragrant, and its gardens and groves were all fragrant. The fragrance of its food flowed throughout countless worlds in the ten directions. At that time, that Buddha and his bodhisattvas were seated together partaking of a meal, and many celestial beings, all named Fragrance Adornment, had awakened the aspiration for supreme enlightenment and were making offerings to that Buddha and his bodhisattvas. All of this the great assembly before Vimalakirti could witness with their own eyes.

Then Vimalakirti asked the assembled bodhisattvas, "Good sirs, who among you can bring that Buddha's rice here?" Through the mighty power of Manjushri, they all remained silent. Vimalakirti said, "Is this assembly not ashamed?"

Manjushri said: "As the Buddha has taught, do not look down upon those who have yet to learn."

Then Vimalakirti, without rising from his seat, transformed himself before the assembly into a bodhisattva—radiant with excellence, majestic and awe-inspiring, overshadowing all present—and said to him: "Go to the upper realms, crossing lands as numerous as forty-two rivers of sand, where there is a country called Land of Fragrance, with a Buddha named Fragrance Accumulation, who is seated with his bodhisattvas sharing a meal. Go there and convey my words: 'Vimalakirti bows at the World-Honored One's feet! Offering boundless respect, inquiring after your health, whether you are free from illness and affliction, and whether your strength is well. May I receive the remnants of the World-Honored One's meal, to perform Buddha-work in the Saha world, so that those who delight in lesser teachings may attain the Great Way, and so that the Thus-Come One's name resounds everywhere.'"

Then the manifested bodhisattva rose into the air above the assembly, and all present saw him depart. He arrived at the Land of Fragrance, paid homage at the feet of the Buddha there, and they heard him say: "Vimalakirti bows in reverence at the World-Honored One's feet, offering boundless greetings and inquiring after your health—whether you are free from illness and affliction, and whether your strength is well. He wishes to receive the leftover food from the World-Honored One, to perform a Buddha's work in the Saha world, so that those who delight in lesser paths may attain the Great Way, and so that the Tathagata's name may be heard far and wide."

Those great bodhisattvas saw the manifested bodhisattva and marveled, saying, "Never has such a thing been seen! Where has this superior being come from? Where is the Sahā World? What does it mean to delight in lesser teachings?" They then asked the Buddha.

The Buddha told them, "Passing downward through lands equal in number to the sands of forty-two Ganges Rivers, there is a world called Sahā. Its Buddha is named Shakyamuni, and he is presently there. In this evil age of the five defilements, he expounds the teachings of the Path for beings who delight in lesser teachings. There is a bodhisattva named Vimalakīrti, who dwells in inconceivable liberation. Because he teaches the Dharma to the bodhisattvas, he sent this manifested being here to proclaim my name and praise that land, so that those bodhisattvas may increase their merit."

The bodhisattva said, "What must that person be like to perform such transformations? Such virtue, power, fearlessness, and supernatural powers!" The Buddha said, "Immense! In all ten directions, emanations are sent forth everywhere, performing the Buddha's work and benefiting sentient beings."

Then Fragrant Accumulation Tathagata filled a fragrant bowl with fragrant rice and gave it to the emanation bodhisattva. At that time, the nine million bodhisattvas all spoke together, saying: "We wish to go to the Saha world to make offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha, and we also wish to see the assembly of bodhisattvas such as Vimalakirti."

The Buddha said: "You may go. Restrain the fragrance of your bodies, so that the living beings there do not give rise to deluded attachment. Also, you should set aside your original forms, so that those in that land who seek the bodhisattva path do not feel ashamed by comparison. Also, do not harbor contempt toward that land and form obstructive thoughts about it. Why? The lands of the ten directions are all like empty space, and the Buddhas, wishing to guide those who delight in lesser teachings, do not fully reveal their pure lands."

Then the emanation bodhisattva, having received the bowl of rice, together with those nine million bodhisattvas, by the spiritual power of the Buddha and the power of Vimalakirti, suddenly vanished from that world, and in an instant arrived at Vimalakirti's dwelling.

At that time, Vimalakirti instantly manifested nine million lion seats, as magnificent as before, and all the bodhisattvas sat upon them. The manifested bodhisattva then offered the full bowl of fragrant rice to Vimalakirti, and the fragrance of that rice filled the entire city of Vaishali and the three-thousand great-thousand worlds. When the brahmins and householders of Vaishali smelled that fragrance, their bodies and minds were filled with joy, and they exclaimed that such a thing had never been before! Then the elder Candanashri, together with eighty-four thousand people, came into Vimalakirti's house. Seeing the great multitude of bodhisattvas in that room and the lion seats so lofty, vast, and magnificent, they were all overjoyed. They paid homage to the assembled bodhisattvas and the great disciples, then withdrew to one side. The earth deities, sky deities, and the heavenly beings of the desire realm and form realm, smelling this fragrance, also all came into Vimalakirti's house.

At that time, Vimalakirti said to Shariputra and the other great disciples: "Venerable ones, you may eat. This rice of the Tathagata, flavored with sweet dew and perfumed by great compassion, should not be eaten with a limited mind, or it will not be digested."

Some of the disciples thought: "This rice is little, yet everyone in this great assembly is to eat."

The transformed bodhisattva said: "Do not measure the Tathagata's immeasurable merit and wisdom by the small virtue and small wisdom of a disciple! Though the four seas may dry up, this rice will never be exhausted. Even if all people were to eat it, taking handfuls as large as Mount Sumeru, for as long as an eon, it still could not be used up. Why? Because it is the remainder of the food eaten by one who is complete in the merits of inexhaustible precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation, and so it can never be exhausted."

Thereupon the rice in the bowl fully satisfied the whole assembly, and still it was not used up. All the bodhisattvas, disciples, devas, and humans who ate this rice found their bodies peaceful and joyful, like the bodhisattvas of any land adorned with every pleasure; and from all their pores came forth wonderful fragrance, like the fragrance of the trees in the land of Many Fragrances.

At that time, Vimalakirti asked the Bodhisattvas of the Fragrant Assembly: "How does the Tathagata Fragrant Accumulation teach the Dharma?"

That bodhisattva replied: "The Tathagata of my land does not teach by means of words and letters. He simply uses various fragrances to enable devas and humans to enter into disciplined conduct. Each bodhisattva sits beneath a fragrant tree, and upon smelling that wonderful fragrance, immediately attains the Samadhi of the Treasury of All Virtues. Having attained this samadhi, bodhisattvas perfect all their merit."

Those bodhisattvas asked Vimalakirti, "How does the World-Honored One Shakyamuni teach the Dharma now?"

Vimalakīrti said: "The beings in this land are stubborn and hard to tame, so the Buddha teaches them with stern words in order to subdue them. He speaks of hell, of animal rebirth, of hungry ghosts, of the realms of difficulty, of the places where the foolish are born; of bodily wrongdoing and the retribution of bodily wrongdoing; of verbal wrongdoing and the retribution of verbal wrongdoing; of mental wrongdoing and the retribution of mental wrongdoing; of killing and the retribution of killing; of taking what is not given and the retribution of taking what is not given; of sexual misconduct and the retribution of sexual misconduct; of false speech and the retribution of false speech; of divisive speech and the retribution of divisive speech; of harsh speech and the retribution of harsh speech; of meaningless talk and the retribution of meaningless talk; of greed and envy and the retribution of greed and envy; of anger and the retribution of anger; of wrong views and the retribution of wrong views; of stinginess and the retribution of stinginess; of breaking the precepts and the retribution of breaking the precepts; of rage and the retribution of rage; of laziness and the retribution of laziness; of a scattered mind and the retribution of a scattered mind; of ignorance and the retribution of ignorance; of formulating precepts, of keeping precepts, of violating precepts; of what should be done and what should not be done; of what is an obstacle and what is not an obstacle; of incurring offense and of being free from offense; of purity and of defilement; of the contaminated and the uncontaminated; of the wrong path and the right path; of the conditioned and the unconditioned; of the worldly and of Nirvana. Because the minds of those hard to tame are like monkeys, he governs their minds by various means, and only then can they be subdued — just as elephants and horses, wild and untrainable, are only subdued after being subjected to pain and punishment that reaches to the bone. In the same way, for stubborn beings who are hard to tame, only through all manner of painful and cutting words can they be brought into the discipline."

When those bodhisattvas heard this, they all said, "This is unprecedented! Shakyamuni, the World-Honored One, conceals his immeasurable powers of sovereign freedom and teaches the Dharma that pleases the poor in order to liberate living beings. These bodhisattvas too can labor humbly, giving rise to great compassion to be born in this Buddha-land."

Vimalakīrti said: "The bodhisattvas in this land have a firm and great compassion for all living beings, truly as you have said. Yet the benefit they bring to living beings in a single lifetime exceeds the practice of a hundred thousand kalpas in that other land. Why is this? This Sahā world has ten wholesome practices that no other pure land possesses. What are these ten? Through generosity, they gather in the poor. Through pure precepts, they gather in those who break the precepts. Through patience, they gather in those who are angry. Through diligence, they gather in the lazy. Through meditation, they gather in those with scattered minds. Through wisdom, they gather in the foolish. They teach the methods for eliminating difficulties and save those in the eight difficult circumstances. They save those who delight in the Small Vehicle with the Great Vehicle. They help those lacking virtue with various roots of goodness. They always bring living beings to fulfillment through the four means of gathering. These are the ten."

That bodhisattva said, "How many qualities must a bodhisattva perfect to walk in this world without blemish and be born in a pure land?"

Vimalakirti said, "A Bodhisattva who accomplishes eight practices can live in this world without blemish or scar and be reborn in a Pure Land. What are the eight? To benefit sentient beings without expecting reward; to bear all kinds of suffering and affliction on behalf of all sentient beings, and to dedicate all merit thus produced to them; to regard all sentient beings with an equal mind, and to be humble and free of obstruction; to look upon all Bodhisattvas as one would look upon a Buddha; to hear teachings never heard before without doubt; to hold no opposition toward the hearers of the teachings; not to envy others' offerings nor exalt one's own gains, but to tame one's own mind within this; to always examine one's own faults and never speak of others' shortcomings; and to single-mindedly seek all merit at all times. These are the eight practices."

When Vimalakirti and Manjushri were teaching this Dharma amid the great assembly, a hundred thousand devas and humans all brought forth the aspiration for supreme perfect Enlightenment, and ten thousand bodhisattvas attained the acceptance of the non-arising of all phenomena.