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For example, Étienne Lamotte once called the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa “perhaps the crown jewel of the Buddhist literature of the Great Vehicle,” in L’Enseignment de Vimalakīrti (Lamotte 1987, p. v), while more recently Jonathan Silk has made a softer claim, describing it as “one of the most radiant stars in the firmament of Mahāyāna sūtra literature,” on the back cover of Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Gómez and Harrison 2022). On the appreciation (or lack thereof) of the Lalitavistara as a literary work, see Silk 2022, especially pp. 285 and following. We would also like to acknowledge here our indebtedness to Gómez and Harrison’s translation of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. We have used many of their translation choices of terms and phrases in this translation, as well as their explanations for our glossary.
For the Sanskrit text of these passages, see Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature 2005, which also includes the Tibetan and Chinese translations. For a translation from Tibetan of the above passages, see Robert A. F. Thurman, trans., The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176, 6.13 and 4.1 (2017).
The relevant passages are noted in the body of the translation. For the Sanskrit editions of these works, see the following: Lévi 1907; La Vallée Poussin 1903; and Tucci 1971; and for a translation of the final work, which is not extant in Sanskrit, see Gareth Sparham, trans., The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines, Toh 3808 (2022).
The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. For the former, a partial Sanskrit manuscript has recently been identified in Tibet, on which see Wang et al., 2020. A complete translation of it was made from Tibetan into English by Bhikkhu Pāsādika and published serially in the journal Linh-Son publication d’études bouddhiques, beginning with “The Sūtrasamuccaya – An English Translation from the Tibetan Version of the Sanskrit Original (I).” For the latter, the classical Sanskrit edition is Cecil Bendall’s Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhistic Teaching; it has also been translated into English on two occasions: Cecil Bendall’s and W. H. D. Rouse’s Śikṣā Samuccaya (1922) and Charles Goodman’s The Training Anthology of Śāntideva (2016).
The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. Sanskrit edition: Bunyiu Nanjio, The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (1923); English translation: Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text (1932).
The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. It is also possible that the Tathāgataguhya reworks the passages as they are found in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, or that both texts share a common source or sources. Parts of both passages are also quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya and Sūtrasamuccaya, and there they are explicitly attributed to the Tathāgataguhya. A Sanskrit edition of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka will be published in Liland et al. (forthcoming).
The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. For the list of citations of the sūtra in this text, see Lamotte 1970, p. 1638, n. 1. On the question of authorship and the nature of this important work, see Zacchetti 2021.
For a recent approach to the study of Buddhist literature as a form of literature, see Shaw 2021. A classic in the field of literary studies of the Bible is Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative (2011).
For an English translation of the former, see Walshe 1995, p. 114; for the latter, see Bodhi and Ñāṇamoli 1995, p. 326.
For the quotation in the latter, see The Long Explanation, Toh 3808, 1.8 (Sparham 2022). It is also worth comparing this statement with what is found in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176, 1.24-1.27 (Thurman 2017).
On this point, see the remarks by Cecil Bendall on Cambridge MS Adds. 901, 1365, and 1617 in his Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (1883), pp. 15–17, 70–73, and 140–41.
Lewis 2000, pp. 15–16; Tuladhar-Douglas 2014, pp. 86 and 130 ff., especially pp. 132–33, and ch. 4, n. 46.
The bibliographic information for these articles by Ikuma and for several more by other Japanese and Chinese scholars may be found in the bibliographic entry for this sūtra on the website of the Open Philology project.
Étienne Lamotte, “Vajrapāṇi en Inde,” pp. 140–44, wherein Lamotte gives a three-page summary of the past-life story told in chapter 5 of the sūtra (according to the chapter divisions of the eleventh-century Chinese translation, which seems to follow those of the Tibetan translation), in which Brahmā and Vajrapāṇi each take a vow. The former vows to request each of the thousand buddhas of this fortunate era to teach the Dharma, and the latter vows to become the constant companion of each and every one of these buddhas. However, it seems as though Lamotte did not finish reading the sūtra, because after his synopsis of the story he claims that no mention is made in the sūtra of when or how Vajrapāṇi attains future awakening as a buddha, but this information is given in a later chapter of the sūtra (chapter 16 according to the Tibetan chapter divisions).
On this date and various scholarly opinions on the accuracy of its attribution to Dharmarakṣa, see the entry on Taishō 310 in the Chinese Buddhist Canonical Attributions database.
For more on this version of the text, see Taishō 312 in the Chinese Buddhist Canonical Attributions database. See also the entry on K 1486 in Lewis R. Lancaster’s Descriptive Catalogue of the Korean Buddhist Canon.
“Acceptance” (bzod pa, kṣānti) likely refers here to anutpattikadharmakṣānti, “acceptance of the fact that things do not arise,” which is said to constitute a definitive understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena. Possibly the same expression is used to describe Vimalakīrti in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, section 2.1, the Sanskrit for which reads pratilabdhakṣāntika. The Tibetan translation here and there is identical: bzod pa thob pa.
The Tibetan translation reads mngon par shes pa’i ye shes gyis rnam par rtsen pa, which we understand to be translating a Sanskrit compound similar to abhijñājñānavikrīḍita.
The Tibetan translation here is identical to what is also found in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, section 1.3, for which the underlying Sanskrit is likely nihatamārapratyarthika. The Tibetan renders this compound as a dvandva, “x and y,” whereas one could interpret it differently to say that the adversaries actually are Māra in all his forms. The idea behind the translation of “Māra in all his forms” is that Buddhist literature generally recognizes several types of Māra. See, for instance, the entry on Māra in Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.
This appears to be a minor translation variant upon a phrase also found in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 2.1, where it describes Vimalakīrti: sarvabuddhastutastomitapraśaṃsitaḥ.
A similar expression is found among the opening descriptions of the bodhisattvas in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, section 1.3: sarvaparṣadanabhibhūtavaiśaradyavikrāmibhiḥ. Comparing the two passages, the Tibetan here suggests a reading of sarvaparṣadabhibhūtavaiśaradyakulaśaḥ.
zla ba dang nyi ma mog mog por byed pa; literally “they darkened the sun and the moon.” This expression is also used to describe an eclipse.
Following Stok palace chos zab mo rnam par nges pa ye shes kyis ston pa la mkhas pa. Degé has a vertical line after rnam par nges pa, but this doesn’t require that we split the phrases into two.
This sentence and the preceding one are quoted in the Sūtrasamuccaya. For an English translation, see Pāsādika 1978b, p. 28. The Tibetan expression found here, dkon mchog gsum gyi rigs rgyun mi ’chad par byed pa, is identical to one also found in the Vimalakīrtinirdesa, section 1.3, for which the Sanskrit reads triratnavaṃśānupacchetṛbhiḥ. The same expression is attested later in the Sanskrit manuscript of the Tathāgataguhya, too.
Following Stok Palace mtha’ yas rnam par gnon pa. Degé lacks this name but instead reads blo gros mtha’ yas, which duplicates and transposes the next name: mtha’ yas blo gros. Yet, blo gros mtha’ yas is the name of a bodhisattva found later in chapter 4, for which the extant Sanskrit equivalent is Anantabuddhi.
This sentence is quoted by Kamalaśīla in the third Bhāvanākrama. For the passage in Sanskrit, see Tucci 1971, p. 12.
This sentence is quoted by Kamalaśīla in the third Bhāvanākrama. For the passage in Sanskrit, see Tucci 1971, p. 12.
The fragmentary Sanskrit manuscript kept in the library of the Asiatic Society in Bengal, MS G10765, preserves a block of text that begins with the second half of this sentence and runs to the beginning of folio 104.b of the Tibetan translation.
The Sanskrit manuscript suggests the alternative that the supply here is of “serving” (sevana) companions in what is good.
This sentence is cited by Kamalaśīla in the third Bhāvanākrama. For the passage in Sanskrit, see Tucci 1971, pp. 12–13.
The Lankāvatāra Sūtra asks about the meaning of the fact that Vajrapāṇi always accompanies the Buddha, using different terminology from what is found here, but touching on a similar theme. See Nanjio, pp. 240 and 242, for the Sanskrit, and the English translation in Suzuki, pp. 207 and 209.
The Sanskrit manuscript reads pratibhātu, perhaps an imperative form of pratibhā, “to shine light on,” but which is connected to the concept of pratibhāna, commonly translated as “eloquence” or “inspired speech.”
The first block of text in the Sanskrit manuscript ends here, right in the middle of this sentence at the following point: “… Blessed One, through the majestic pow-.” The next line of the manuscript continues another fragmentary passage beginning slightly further in the text on folio 105.b of the Tibetan translation.
Here the text seems to use the term “mystery” (bsam gyis mi khyab pa) or “inconceivable thing or quality,” acintya in Sanskrit, as almost a synonym for the term gsang ba (“secret”). This may help us to understand these terms better and even to see how they came to be combined so closely in the iteration of the title of this sūtra.
In the Śikṣāsamuccaya, a quotation is given ostensibly from the Ratnamegha Sūtra that discusses the concept of kāyakuhanā or “artifice of the body,” as well as verbal and mental forms of artifice, such as flattery (lapanā) and dissimulation (Bendall 1902, pp. 267–68), which are described as actions of body, speech, and mind that are intended to persuade donors and patrons to give gifts.
We see here a play on words between yongs su mi rtog pa (aparikalpa), rendered in the previous sentence as “involuntarily,” and rnam par mi rtog (avikalpa), rendered here as “[they] do not form concepts.” Both terms involve the lack of any supposition or application of false ideas or dualistic thinking onto the true nature of reality.
The second text block of the Sanskrit manuscript picks up right at the end of this sentence with the words ojo dadāti, “he [the bodhisattva] gives his physical vitality,” which is strangely affixed to part of the line that construes with the previous text block. In any case, the Sanskrit fragment makes it clear that the bodhisattva is being spoken of here in the third-person singular masculine form, he/him, and the Tibetan translation reflects this, too, but for the sake of style and inclusivity we have rendered the sequence using the plural, they/them. This tension between the default masculine pronouns and the attempt at a more inclusive rendering persists throughout the sūtra.
The translation here reflects the extant Sanskrit manuscript insofar as the Tibetan text seems to have taken the offering of flowered parasols with the previous sentence, whereas the Sanskrit suggests that we read it together with the offering of the baskets of flowers, but it also partly reflects the Tibetan translation in the parsing of this and the next three sentences.
This paragraph is one of several that is quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit passage, see Bendall 1902, pp. 158–59.
Beginning with this sentence and running until the end of this past life story and then a bit further, there is a parallel found in chapter 9 of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka (Toh 56). A comparison of the Sanskrit manuscript and the Tibetan translation of that text with the preserved fragments of the Sanskrit of this sūtra as well as its complete Tibetan translation reveals numerous differences in the precise language despite great similarities between the two texts. For instance, in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, the Buddha tells this story to Śāriputra in first-person voice, while in this sūtra Vajrapāṇi tells the story to Śāntamati. For this reason, we have based the translation of this section primarily on the Tibetan translation of this sūtra and any available Sanskrit fragments.
The terms “air” (vāta, lung), “heat” (pitta, mkhris pa), and “phlegm” (śleṣman, bad kan) refer to the three doṣas, the basic categories or properties of the human body and mind according to the traditional Indian medical system known as Ayurveda, which also influenced the development of traditional Tibetan medicine.
The end of this sentence marks the end of the second text block of text in the Sanskrit manuscript.
In the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, Śakra first speaks in prose for about a paragraph before continuing with a series of six verses, three of which are similar but not identical to what is found in this sūtra.
Here Vajrapāṇi resumes his narration of the story, but the text suggests that he does so with a verse. Therefore, we have rendered it as such in the translation. In the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, too, the voice shifts in the final verse from Śakra to the narrator, which in that text is the Buddha himself.
Here we have two verb forms, mi sems and mi rtog, which are likely translating the Sanskrit expressions na vicintayati and na vikalpayati, “he does not ponder” and “he does not ruminate,” respectively.
From this sentence through the penultimate sentence of the following paragraph, the Śikṣāsamuccaya also preserves the Sanskrit, for which see Bendall 1902, p. 159.
The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa may owe something here again to the sūtra, or vice versa, since the language used to describe this medicine-made girl is the same language the goddess uses therein to describe the flowers to Śāriputra. In section 6.14 of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the goddess says that the flowers do not form ideas (na kalpayanti) and they do not form conceptions (na vikalpayanti). For an alternative translation of the passage made from Tibetan see The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176, 6.14 (Thurman 2017). Though the Sanskrit preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya appears corrupted here, the Tibetan translation of these two sūtra passages is nearly identical, and again, we can take note of the use of the terminology related to the term vikalpa (rnam par rtog pa), and also its connection here (and there) to the forming or fashioning (kalpana) of bodies. Winternitz 1933, p. 394, n. 5 notes that this image appears to be a counterpart to the narrative trope of the “poison girl” (viṣakanyā). This trope is mentioned in the Arthaśāstra and in later narrative literature such as the Kathāsaritsāgara, as well as in modern Indian literature and film.
This same list of metaphors for the body is found in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, chapter 2, for which the Sanskrit reads tṛṇakāṣṭhakuḍyaloṣṭapratibhāsasadṛśah. The Tibetan translation of the two passages is identical except for the fourth member of the list, for which the Tibetan translation of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa gives bong ba and here the translation of the Tathāgataguhya has lam, or “road,” which seems as though it may be an error or corruption. The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa explains that all these things are examples of “inanimate” (jaḍa) objects. In general, it is worth comparing the descriptions of the Dharma body here in this sūtra with the descriptions of the physical body and of the Dharma body at the end of chapter 2 of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, sections 2.9–12. For a translation from Tibetan, see The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176, 2.8-2.12 (Thurman 2017).
The Śikṣāsamuccaya quotes the sūtra from the beginning of this sentence up to and including this word, and then it selectively includes several more terms from this long list of attributes of the realized one’s speech. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.
On the suspicion (perhaps wrong) that the Tibetan here, lung bstan pa la thogs pa, may be rendering the phrase kṣunavyākaraṇā, found in the passage quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126. See also Edgerton’s entries on kṣuṇa and kṣūna.
The previous four phrases are quoted in a passage in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.
This phrase, kha ’og tu lus ’khrus par mi byed pa’i tshigs, appears to correspond to the phrase pratijñottāraṇavacanā in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126. See also Edgerton’s entry on uttāraṇa, which discusses this phrase.
This phrase, mngon pa’i nga rgyal gyi brda sprod pa’i tshig, appears to correspond to the phrase ābhimānikavyākaraṇavacanā in the quotation in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.
The last several words in this list are hard to discern as specific numbers and have therefore been given as a list increasing by powers of three.
Here the sūtra is playing on two of the primary uses of the word dharma. It refers in a general way to “things” or “phenomena” and their component factors, but is also often used to mean “quality” or “attribute,” as it does here and elsewhere in the phrase buddhadharmāḥ, “the qualities of a buddha.”
Though the Sanskrit is not extant here, Ikuma 2013 argues that the first chapter, according to the divisions of the Sanskrit manuscript, must have concluded here.
The voice shifts back to the Buddha of the present narrating the story of the past, but he seems to continue in verse so we have likewise rendered it in verse.
This whole paragraph is quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 316.
Here again the reader can note the different sense of the word dharma, which is sometimes translated both here and above as “quality,” and left untranslated here in the expression “king of the Dharma.” One might consider translating the latter as “righteous king,” but that would likely not exhaust the range of meanings of the word dharma here.
Another fragmentary passage from the Sanskrit manuscript begins in the middle of this sentence and continues nearly to the end of this chapter.
The Tibetan translation here includes a sentence with a pair of names not found in the Sanskrit manuscript. The striking similarity of these names with the previous pair suggests that the Tibetan may have been an alternate translation of the previous name incorporated at some point into the text. Since this is not clear, however, we have included this pair in our translation, too, while giving the prince’s name, dri ma med pa’i ’od, as Vimalaprabhāsa, which is attested as an equivalent in the Lalitavistara, to signal the similarity with the previous pair. This name could also be Vimalaprabhā. The name of the tathāgata, spyan legs pa, is not attested, so far as we know, as a translation of the name Sunetra, but the meaning is the same.
The Sanskrit manuscript reads gaganadhātusamā here, which suggests that we interpret nam mkha’ in the Tibetan translation as nam mkha’i khams. Also, the Sanskrit has jina (“victor”), whereas the Tibetan has sangs rgyas (“buddha”). The translation follows the Sanskrit.
This sentence explains the name of the tathāgata, which is attested as Roca in the Sanskrit manuscript. Negi’s entry on the Tibetan term mos pa, used to translate the name here, makes it clear that the term translates both adhimukti (“strong inclination”) and ruci (“light”), but also “zest” or “longing.”
Though the Sanskrit here is not extant, Ikuma 2013 argues that the second chapter, according to the divisions of the Sanskrit manuscript, would have ended here.
The translation of this sentence reflects an emendation of the Tibetan text, which reads de bzhin (“thus”) whereas every other sentence has de bzhin gshegs pa (“the realized one (s)”) in the same position in the sentence. It has been translated as if it read the latter.
The fourth segment of the text preserved in the Sanskrit manuscript begins in the middle of this sentence and continues for about ten pages of the Tibetan translation.
The *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa quotes this passage among several in a compilation of quotes and paraphrases from this sūtra in describing the secret of the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind. See Lamotte 1981, p. 560.
The Sanskrit here reads dhṛtarāṣtrahaṃsarāja, perhaps referring to the story in the Mahābhārata explaining King Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s blindness. The Tibetan simply reads ngang pa’r rgyal po ngang skya (“light orangish white like the king of swans”).
The translation here reflects some of the particular syntax of the Tibetan translation. The Sanskrit suggests that we could alternatively translate this passage as follows: “Moreover, in this respect, the realized one would not be produced by a body or a mind” (na ca tatra tathā[ga]taḥ kāyena vā cittena vā vyāvṛto bhaved). Both translations would seem to be resolvable around the same basic idea, however.
The number here follows the Sanskrit manuscript. The Tibetan translation says here that he circled him three times, but slightly down further the Tibetan agrees with the Sanskrit that he circles the Buddha Padmaśrīrājagarbha seven times.
The translation here reflects the Tibetan translation, which also suggests a possible emendation of the third line of the verse in the Sanskrit manuscript from buddhānantaṃ na paśyāmi to mūrddhānante na paśyāmi or something similar.
The equivalent verse in the Sanskrit manuscript has some variances with the Tibetan here. They both have “moral conduct” (śīla, tshul khrims), “concentration” (samādhi, ting nge ’dzin), and “liberated knowledge and vision” (vimuktir jñānadarśana, rnam grol ye shes mthong), but the Sanskrit lacks “liberation” (vimokṣa, rnam grol) and includes “wisdom” (prajñā, shes rab) and “knowledge” (jñāna, ye shes). It is not entirely clear whether the Tibetan translators were working from a different iteration of the verse here or if perhaps the translation reflects the challenge of squeezing the Sanskrit into seven syllable lines of Tibetan.
This verse and the next one are quoted in the Sūtrasamuccaya in a different section from the one in which the preceding verses are quoted. See Pāsādika 1981, p. 27.
Here, the state of the buddhas is the “inconceivable (or mysterious) state” (acintyaṃ sthānam [sic]) and “the place of the secrets” or “the secret place” or “hidden place” (guhyasthānaṃ [sic]).
A genre of Buddhist literature, included in the list of nine or twelve types. There is a specific text in the Pali canon, the Itivuttaka, that compiles a number of such stories.
One of a common list of eleven positive mental states (kuśalacaittya) found in Buddhist abhidharma lists. Remorse is what one feels after having realized that one has done something wrong, and it serves as a mental state that hinders one from engaging in such wrong actions again. Often paired with hrī (ngo tsha shes pa).
One of a common list of eleven positive mental states (kuśalacaittya) found in Buddhist abhidharma lists. Shame is what one feels after having realized that one has done something wrong, and it serves as a mental state that hinders one from engaging in such wrong actions again. Often paired with apatrāpya (khrel yod pa).
The buddha domain of the Buddha Akṣobhya.
A realized one whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra.
A capital city of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the four continent world Lovely Illumination
A higher or more refined state of meditative equipoise than those listed as the four meditations (dhyāna); often listed as a second set of four states that follow the four dhyānas.
One of the perfections (pāramitā) as well as a term for a kind of mental receptivity to or acceptance of the way things are.
See “patience.”
The third and final stage of the three levels of intellectual receptivity or acceptance (kṣānti) of the Dharma. Tantamount to an acceptance of the emptiness of all things, the fact that they do not arise or cease as substantial or essentially real phenomena. It follows from the second level of acceptance, which brings one into conformity with the Dharma (ānulomikadharmakṣānti), which is in turn preceded by a first stage of acceptance in which one follows the voice (ghoṣānugā kṣānti) of the teacher of the Dharma. This is a distinctive but related use of the term kṣānti, which is also translated in this sūtra as “patience,” when it refers to the perfection (pāramitā) and virtue of patience more generally.
The second of three levels of intellectual receptivity or acceptance (kṣānti), following from an earlier stage in which there is an acceptance that “follows the voice” (ghoṣānugā) of the teacher of the Dharma. At this second stage, there is a deeper acceptance that results in one’s thoughts and actions coming into accord with (literally, “going with the grain of”) the Dharma; that is, with the teachings and the nature of things. The third stage is the acceptance of the fact that things do not arise (anutpattikadharmakṣānti). This is a distinctive but related use of the term kṣānti, which is also translated in this sūtra as “patience,” when it refers to the perfection (pāramitā) and virtue of patience more generally.
See “supply.”
Usually of two kinds, the supply of merit and the supply of knowledge, but also more generally the supplies or provisions that a bodhisattva accumulates and stores, which then provide the fuel for the pursuit of the goal of the path. This sūtra provides a long list of such supplies, which are mainly qualities or virtues the bodhisattva develops.
The name of the capital city in the abode of Vajrapāṇi, as attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra. The manuscript of the sūtra contains the variant spelling Abhagavatī, which could be a spelling error, though it occurs multiple times in the manuscript. The spelling of the name can vary in other texts, too, as the same term is attested for Alakāvatī, Aḍakavatī, and Aṭakāvatī in other sources. Its precise relationship to Alakāvatī, the capital of Vaiśravaṇa, as given in the Mahābhārata, is not entirely clear.
The fivefold basic grouping of the components out of which the world and the person are formed.
One of the three doṣas in traditional Indian medicine.
King of Magadha after his father, Bimbisāra, whom he is said to have imprisoned and had killed, an act to which this sūtra alludes. Both he and his father are often portrayed in Buddhist texts as great supporters of the Buddha and his community.
Lit. “Not Disturbed” or “Immovable One.” The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in Mahāyāna, regarded in the higher tantras as the head of one of the five buddha families, the vajra family in the east.
The Sanskrit name for a particular state of meditation the corresponding Pāli of which is appānaka or appāṇaka. An alternate Buddhist Sanskrit term is āspharaṇaka. This meditation is described most famously in the Mahāsaccaka Sūtta of the Majjhima Nikāya where it is explained as a type of meditation in which the breathing is fully stopped, which then prompts the Bodhisattva to experience a loud and unpleasant sound. He then abandons the meditation. Edgerton cites a different explanation found in the Lalitavistara in which the meditation involves pervading everything while not agitating or disturbing the space element at all.
A bodhisattva in the audience of this sūtra.
“Higher motivation”—an even stronger motivation to pursue the exalted goal of the Buddhist path.
A major śrāvaka disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha Śākyamuni during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was a cousin of the Buddha (according to the Mahāvastu, he was a son of Śuklodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana, which means he was a brother of Devadatta; other sources say he was a son of Amṛtodana, another brother of King Śuddhodana, which means he would have been a brother of Aniruddha).
Ānanda, having always been in the Buddha’s presence, is said to have memorized all the teachings he heard and is celebrated for having recited all the Buddha’s teachings by memory at the first council of the Buddhist saṅgha, thus preserving the teachings after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The phrase “Thus did I hear at one time,” found at the beginning of the sūtras, usually stands for his recitation of the teachings. He became a patriarch after the passing of Mahākāśyapa.
A bodhisattva whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra, which says he will become the last of the one thousand buddhas in this fortunate eon.
A realized one whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra.
A world visited by the Buddha, as narrated by Vajrapāṇi in this sūtra.
A bodhisattva in the audience of this sūtra, whose name is attested in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka.
A bodhisattva in the audience of this sūtra.
A nāga king in the audience of this sūtra whose name is attested in the Mahāvyutpatti.
The name of a world where a buddha named Ratnacandra dwells. The name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra.
One of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s wives in this sūtra, whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript.
One of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s wives in this sūtra, whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript. The name Anaupamyā is attested for the same Tibetan translation of the name of a goddess in the Amoghapāśakalparāja.
A nāga king whose name is attested in the Mahāvyutpatti.
A bodhisattva in the audience of this sūtra, whose name is attested by Negi as one found in the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana.
A world mentioned in this sūtra as the home of the bodhisattva Vegadhārin and the buddha domain of Campakavarṇa.
A general term for a person who is living a religious life, often involving renunciation, a broader category that includes both non-Buddhist religious renunciants and Buddhist monastics, used especially in the context of the phrase “ascetics and brahmins.”
In the general Mahāyāna teachings the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) is the intention to attain the complete awakening of a perfect buddha for the sake of all beings. On the level of absolute truth, the mind of awakening is the realization of the awakened state itself.
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).
An ascetic practice in which the practitioner lights four fires, one for each of the four directions, and then sits down in the middle of them as the sun, the fifth fire, blazes directly overhead. This practice is also said to be done especially during the hot season.
A type of Buddhist biographical tale, typically including a story of the present and a story of a past life and the karmic connection between them. It is listed as one of the twelve types of Buddhist literature.
A well-known bodhisattva featured in a number of Mahāyāna sūtras; in this sūtra, mentioned as one of the bodhisattvas in the audience.
These “qualities” (dharma) pertain to actions or states of body, speech, and mind. Often translated as “nonvirtues,” they are typically listed as a group of ten: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, senseless speech, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views.
A future buddha mentioned in this sūtra, but in a passage not found in the Sanskrit manuscript.
A term that can also mean a “stark naked” person. It is used to describe wrestlers’ and ascetics’ bodies, as well as beings who possess strong muscular bodies and those with perfect physical form. The Tibetan translation, tshan po che chen po, emphasizes the feature of great physical prowess.
The belief in a permanent, substantial, essentially real individuality or personhood. It is a difficult expression to translate literally, because the term kāya is a common word for the body. The Sanskrit word kāya apparently derives from the verb root ci (“to accumulate”), and this meaning is captured in the Tibetan translation, tshog. Sometimes this etymological sense of the word is drawn out in literary and doctrinal contexts, as it is in this sūtra. However, the term in this particular context refers more to the core of the person, and in common pan-Buddhist usage, as Edgerton points out, it is used in this expression more or less synonymously with ātman, the “self.”
A god whose name is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra.
One of two merchant brothers, the other being Trapuṣa, who make offerings to the Buddha shortly after his awakening.
A common epithet of great bodhisattvas, the precise meaning of which is contested but that seems to describe someone as possessing great courage, magnanimity, and great strength of character. The term is explained in the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, which has a short chapter on this term, also as a being who possesses great love and great compassion.
A class of yakṣa whose name means “having bowls in their hands.”
See “karoṭapāṇi yakṣa.”
A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).
A name for nickname for Brahmā, which could be rendered Brahmā, “the one with the topknot” (śikhin), who in this sūtra seems to be identical to Great Brahmā, sovereign of this Sahā world (mahābrahmā sahāṃpati).
A bodhisattva in the audience of this sūtra, whose name is attested in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa.
The mountain range made of vajra that forms the world’s perimeter, as described in this sūtra.
’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 47, Degé Kangyur vol. 39 (dkon brtsegs, ka), folios 100.a–203.a.
’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 39, pp. 289–542.
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In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma.
Translated by David Fiordalis and the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. A first draft was made from the Tibetan by Timothy Hinkle with the assistance of Tulku Tenzin Rigsang and others. David Fiordalis thoroughly revised the translation with close reference to the extant Sanskrit manuscript, as well as the Tibetan translation. Fiordalis also wrote the summary, introduction, annotations, and most of the glossary entries. Fiordalis would like to acknowledge Paul Harrison, who furnished him with his own digital images of the Sanskrit manuscript, and Péter-Dániel Szántó, who generously made his transcription of the manuscript available for readers.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Rory Lindsay and Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Jane and Leo Tong Chen, and their family.
The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya) can be called, without exaggeration, a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. It deserves to be considered a work of literature in the narrower sense of a form of verbal expression of enduring artistic merit, a work of the creative imagination that may elicit pleasure, wonder, and many other responses from an audience, and not simply in the broader sense of literature as a body of written (or oral) works in general. In that narrower sense, it is comparable to better known works of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature, such as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Toh 176), the literary merits of which are already well established, and The Play in Full (Lalitavistara, Toh 95), which deserves more recognition in this regard. Both of these latter works would seem to bear a close relationship to The Secrets of the Realized Ones in other respects as well, and it to them.
If The Teaching of Vimalakīrti is already recognized as a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature, what should we make of the fact that in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti itself, the goddess who lives in Vimalakīrti’s house informs Śāriputra (and consequently the audience) that among the eight “wonderful and marvelous things” (āścaryādbhutadharma) that occur in Vimalakīrti’s house, the seventh is the fact that countless buddhas, including Śākyamuni, come there whenever Vimalakīrti requests it and teach “the point of entry into the Dharma (dharmamukhapraveśa) named The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya)”? Also, earlier in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, when Mañjuśrī first responds to the Buddha’s request that he visit the sick bodhisattva to inquire about his health, Mañjuśrī describes Vimalakīrti as someone who has gained full access to the secrets (guhya) of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. From a text-historical point of view, at least, these passages are strong indications that The Teaching of Vimalakīrti knew The Secrets of the Realized Ones, and regarded it highly. In the current context, the fact that it is mentioned by another great work of Buddhist literature could be considered one piece of evidence of its own literary merit and status.
The Secrets of the Realized Ones also seems to have enjoyed a relatively high degree of popularity, for some time at least, among an elite group of Buddhist scholar-monks in India and abroad. It is quoted by Vasubandhu or whoever wrote The Commentary on the Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya), by Candrakīrti in The Clear Words (Prasannapadā), by Kamalaśīla in the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation (Bhāvanākrama), and by the author of the Bṛhaṭṭīkā or The Long Explanation of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. Several excerpts from it are also found in The Sūtra Anthology (Sūtrasamuccaya), the ancient anthology attributed to Nāgārjuna, and in Śāntideva’s compendium, The Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya). In addition to the references to it in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, it also seems to be referenced in The Descent into Laṅka (Laṅkāvatāra). Two longer passages from it also seem to be reworked in The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva (Bodhisattvapiṭaka, Toh 56). The sūtra is also quoted several times by whoever was responsible for The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論, *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa), the commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines attributed to Nāgārjuna and translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva at the beginning of the fifth century
Nonetheless, it may strike some readers as controversial or simply wrong to call such works as these “literature” in the first place, perhaps because of the common association of literature with fiction and religious works with nonfiction. Yet, many of the same arguments that have been used for decades to justify the claim that the Bible, whatever else it may be, is a great work of literature would hold for these works of Buddhist literature, too. Whether or not one believes that religious works such as The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dīgha Nikāya) or The Secrets of the Realized Ones portray actual historical events or individuals, it is demonstrably the case that these works contain the characteristics of sophisticated literature, such as the artful and carefully crafted use of figurative language, thematic unity, and narrative tension. One could argue further that the recognition and careful study of these literary characteristics enable one to appreciate more deeply the historical, doctrinal, and even practical significance of such literature.
While the literary dimensions of The Secrets of the Realized Ones have been emphasized above, that is not at all to suggest that the doctrinal elements are less worthy of serious and careful consideration. Indeed, the sūtra and the characters in it make some rather remarkable claims, and the doctrinal and literary dimensions are deeply interwoven throughout. For example, among the most striking claims in the sūtra is one made about the Buddha, a claim that is restated in The Descent into Laṅka and is quoted by Candrakīrti and also by the author of the Long Explanation (Bṛhaṭṭīkā) of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. At one point, Vajrapāṇi says the following:
“During the period of time, Śāntamati, from the night when the Realized One awakens to unsurpassable and perfect awakening until the night when, having relinquished his life force, the Realized One passes into complete cessation, the Realized One has not articulated and will not pronounce even a single syllable.”
If taken at face value, how can such an astonishing claim be true? Vajrapāṇi will explain further that over the same period of time the Buddha does not form any thought whatsoever but dwells in a constant state of meditative absorption. Nevertheless, Vajrapāṇi continues, various beings hear the Dharma and believe that the Buddha is speaking to them in accordance with their own aspirations and motivations. Here is an example of how the sūtra employs a literary device to explain this complex idea with a concrete analogy:
“Śāntamati, this is analogous to a well-crafted musical instrument, a wind bell, which makes a sweet sound without being touched by a hand, but rather when it is moved by the wind. It does not make any special effort to produce a sound, but still it makes a sweet sound because of the special nature of its previous preparation. In the same way, Śāntamati, a realized one’s speech comes out when it is moved by knowledge of beings’ motivations, but a realized one does not make any special effort in this regard to produce it. Rather, a realized one’s speech conforms to the sense perceptions of all beings because of the special nature of a realized one’s previous preparation.”
This is one of three analogies Vajrapāṇi uses to explain this idea, all of which are quoted in Candrakīrti’s Clear Words. It is just one example that serves to illustrate how the sūtra addresses one of the major questions posed by the work: what is the true nature of a buddha? In answering this question, the whole work could be said to promote the idea that a buddha, by the very nature of becoming awakened to the true nature of reality, exists in a state of all-pervasive, unlimited, and pure potentiality, a state that is identical to the true nature of reality itself. As a result, the Buddha simultaneously actualizes an infinite number of different forms while remaining constantly in that state of pure potentiality. The work explains the mechanism behind this process to some extent, using analogies like the one just quoted above, but at the same time it remains to a large degree mysterious or incomprehensible: it is the secret and the mystery of a realized one’s body, speech, and mind.
In this way, The Secrets of the Realized Ones expresses an idea about the Buddha that has sometimes been compared with docetism, which is the early Christian idea that the body of Jesus Christ was not a body of flesh and blood, but a phantasm. On the face of it, The Secrets of the Realized Ones would seem to make a similar claim about the body of the Buddha. Yet, its doctrinal and metaphysical framework is different enough from the one in which docetism arose that one can at least debate the appropriateness of the comparison. Nevertheless, it is a comparison that has been made and continues to be made, and thus it is worth mentioning here.
The title of the sūtra suggests that it discloses the secrets and mysteries of the Buddha, and from the point of view of its narrative, the same could be said about the one who discloses those secrets, namely Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa who is called throughout the sūtra “the lord of the guhyakas” (guhyakādhipati); that is, the lord of “the hidden ones” or perhaps even the lord of “the guardians of what is hidden.” Narratives tell of events, sequenced, structured into a plot, and featuring characters who perform actions and experience their effects. Since this narrative largely centers on Vajrapāṇi, he could be considered its protagonist or the “hero” of the story. He is called the Buddha’s constant companion, eyewitness to his many deeds, and guardian of his secrets. The Buddha tells of Vajrapāṇi’s past lives, explaining how he came to serve in that capacity and to possess such a capability. In this respect, he is put on the same level with Brahmā Sahāṃpati, who requests the Buddha to teach the Dharma. The Buddha also gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha in his own right, after which the Buddha accepts Vajrapāṇi’s invitation to come to his home for a meal. The sūtra tells of the Buddha’s visit and of the teachings the Buddha offers to the various nonhuman creatures who live in Vajrapāṇi’s abode. In this way, the sūtra develops the character of Vajrapāṇi and explains his close relationship with the Buddha.
Vajrapāṇi has been the subject of previous scholarly research, and yet he remains a mysterious figure. It is noteworthy that he makes an appearance in two suttas of the Pali canon, the Ambaṭṭha Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya and the Cūḷasaccaka Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya. Therein, he is described hovering over the heads of Ambaṭṭha and Saccaka, respectively, who are the Buddha’s interlocutors in those suttas, while brandishing his flaming vajra and threatening to break their heads into seven pieces if the proud young men do not answer the Buddha’s questions. Vajrapāṇi appears somewhat more frequently throughout Buddhist narrative literature, such as the avadānas and other story collections, as well as Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. For instance, in The Play in Full, there is a somewhat obscure passage that mentions Vajrapāṇi and “the lord of the guhyakas” together:
“Then Śakra, Lord of the Gods; the Four Great Kings; the twenty-eight great generals of the yakṣas; and the one named ‘Lord of the Guhyakas’ (guhyakādhipati) from whose yakṣa family Vajrapāṇi is arisen, having become aware of the fact that the Bodhisattva had entered his mother’s womb, all became bound to him constantly and perpetually.”
The grammar of this passage doesn’t make it entirely clear whether Vajrapāṇi or the Lord of the Guhyakas is an individual or a class of beings, or whether they are meant to be identified or not. The Indian epic literature, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, also speak of beings called guhyakas and associate them with Vaiśravaṇa or Kubera, the god of wealth. Vaiśravaṇa is himself sometimes called Lord of the Guhyakas (guhyakādhipati) therein, and the guhyakas carry his chariot. Vaiśravaṇa is also considered to be one of the Four Great Kings in Buddhist literature, and these characters feature in The Secrets of the Realized Ones as well. Furthermore, Vaiśravaṇa’s place of residence is called Alakāvatī in the Mahābhārata, while Vajrapāṇi’s place of residence is called Aḍagavatī in The Secrets of the Realized Ones, and there is even a point in this sūtra in which they seem actually to be the same place. Yet, Vaiśravaṇa and Vajrapāṇi are distinct characters in Buddhist literature. Throughout The Secrets of the Realized Ones, Vajrapāṇi is the one who is called Lord of the Guhyakas, and there seems to be a play on words in the work between guhya, “secret,” and guhyaka, maybe “keeper of what is hidden.” In general, The Secrets of the Realized Ones seems to establish some kind of close relationship between the Buddha and Vajrapāṇi, with the latter being an important representative of the heterogeneous class of nonhuman beings that serve and support the Buddha, including guhyakas, yakṣas, kinnaras, nāgas, gandharvas, and asuras.
Before concluding this section, it is also worth making a few further comments about the word tathāgata, translated throughout this work as “realized one” or capitalized “the Realized One,” when it refers specifically to the Buddha or another particular buddha. This term tathāgata has bedeviled translators for many centuries, and many translators today opt to leave it untranslated. The Tibetan translators chose to render it in a way that can be translated as “the one gone thus” (de bzhin gshegs pa), and “thus-gone one” has become a common translation into English, as well. One sometimes also finds “thus-come one,” which the grammar of the compound in Pali and Sanskrit can easily tolerate, and indeed, there is something quite compelling about the specific narrative context in which the Buddha, when he first approaches his five former companions shortly after he has attained awakening, refers to himself in the third person as “the one who has come thus” (tathāgata).
The term also comes to be used well outside this specific narrative context as one of the most common epithets of the Buddha and for the buddhas, generally speaking. In Pali literature, it is the most common way that the Buddha refers to himself, and when he does so in this way he is often also speaking by implication about the nature of a buddha in general. Oftentimes in The Secrets of the Realized Ones, however, as well as in many other contexts, it is not clear whether the speaker, such as the Buddha or Vajrapāṇi in this sūtra, is speaking in particular about the Realized One (the Buddha Śākyamuni himself), often on the basis of something the speaker has himself witnessed, or if a broader generalization is being made about the realized ones. So, when we have felt that the speaker is making a more general claim, we have sometimes translated the term tathāgata as “a realized one.” Even still, it is important for the reader to bear in mind that what goes for the Realized One in particular generally goes for all the realized ones, and vice versa.
Furthermore, the ancient Buddhist scholar-monks and commentators recognized the term tathāgata to have several semantic levels. For instance, in the Pali commentaries, the great scholar-monk Buddhaghosa offers eight different explanations of the meaning of the term. Without going into such depth of explanation here, one may note that the term suggests not only literal movement, “going” (gamana) and “coming” (āgamana), but also a sense of having “understood” (gata) or “realized” something, of becoming it or making it real. In this context, the adverb tathā, “thus” or “in that way,” is connected to tathatā, “the way things truly are.” In this way one can understand the comment made in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti about the love of a bodhisattva: “it is the love of a realized one (tathāgata), because it understands the way things truly are (tathatānubodhanatayā).” The point to be kept in mind is that whenever the term “realized one” is found in the translation—and it is found over four hundred times in this sūtra—it refers to the buddhas, to those who have come and gone in the way they do, and it carries the sense that they have understood directly the way things are, and even that this understanding has made them the way they are.
In summary, The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a work filled with entertaining stories, beautiful poetry, thought-provoking metaphors, surprising and sometimes even strange analogies and images, clever plays on words, sophisticated dialogue and argumentation, and profound insights into the nature of things and the human condition from a Buddhist point of view. It bears the marks throughout of creative imagination at work, an expert grasp of the categories and concepts of Buddhist doctrine and of its narrative and scholastic heritage, and the intent to put Buddhist concepts and concerns into a literary form.
While the narrative generally flows rather well, maintaining a sense of continuity and movement from beginning to end, The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a fairly long work. It covers just over two hundred pages in the Tibetan translation, which are divided into twenty-five chapters. The same material is divided into eleven chapters in the partially extant Sanskrit manuscript. Thus, it may be helpful for readers to have a short synopsis of its contents here.
The sūtra opens at Vulture Peak with a list of the characters in attendance and their various attributes. The Buddha Śākyamuni gives an opening teaching on the supplies (saṃbhāra) the bodhisattva must accumulate for the purpose of achieving awakening. Vajrapāṇi explains his understanding of what the Buddha has just taught, and then a bodhisattva named Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to explain the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the realized ones. Vajrapāṇi remains silent, but after the Buddha Śākyamuni intercedes on Śāntamati’s behalf, Vajrapāṇi begins to give the teaching.
Vajrapāṇi’s teaching of these secrets of bodhisattvas and of realized ones is structured in terms of their body, speech, and mind, and their mysterious or inconceivable nature. Beginning with an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s body, Vajrapāṇi provides a number of memorable images. He tells a story of the ancient past about the Buddha when he was still a bodhisattva and had been born as Śakra, King of the Gods, a close parallel telling of which is also found in the Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva. During a great pandemic, Śakra manifests himself as a magical creature that heals everyone by offering them its body to eat. Vajrapāṇi also gives an analogy that is quoted in The Training Anthology in which he compares the healing power of the bodhisattva’s body to the healing powers of a girl made from medicinal herbs by the king of physicians. In his teaching, Vajrapāṇi expounds upon the implications of the fact that bodhisattvas and buddhas possess the Dharma body (dharmakāya) and thereby manifest all forms but are bound by none. [Tibetan chapter 1 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then goes into an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s speech. The import of the teaching here is that bodhisattvas are capable of speaking and understanding all languages and teach by means of any kind of sound or means of communication whatsoever. Their speech is infused with their extraordinary knowledge and power. In this regard, Vajrapāṇi tells another past life story about Śāriputra when he was a renunciant with the incredible, superhuman knowledge to know how many leaves there are on a huge banyan tree without even looking at it or counting the leaves. [Tibetan chapter 2 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi concludes with an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s mind, focusing again on the superhuman nature of the bodhisattva’s knowledge, and making the connection between the bodhisattva’s extraordinary knowledge and other qualities and traits developed by the bodhisattva over the course of the path. At the conclusion of this teaching, there is an earthquake. [Tibetan chapter 3 ends.] Then, the voice of a bodhisattva from another buddha domain is heard, and this bodhisattva appears and pays homage to the Buddha and to Vajrapāṇi. [Tibetan chapter 4 ends; hypothetical end of Sanskrit chapter 1.]
At this point, an unnamed bodhisattva asks for background information on Vajrapāṇi and how he came to serve as the Buddha’s constant companion and to possess inspired eloquence. In his answer, the Buddha tells a story of the past about a king named Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his thousand sons who take vows to become the buddhas of this Fortunate Eon, different versions of which are told in other sūtras, such as The Fortunate Eon (Bhadrakalpika) and The Lotus of Compassion (Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka). In this version of the story, the Buddha explains not only the original vow of Vajrapāṇi, which explains why Vajrapāṇi is the Buddha’s constant companion, but also that of Brahmā Sahāṃpati, who vows to request all the buddhas of this Fortunate Eon to teach the Dharma. There is also a description of the bodhisattva vow of the last of the other nine hundred and ninety-nine buddhas of this Fortunate Eon. [Tibetan chapter 5 ends.] The Buddha then explains in brief the path to awakening. [Tibetan chapter 6 ends; hypothetical end of Sanskrit chapter 2.]
Śāntamati then asks Vajrapāṇi to explain the secret of the realized ones, and Vajrapāṇi begins by telling him that the secret of the realized ones is threefold, as it pertains to the body, speech, and mind. Vajrapāṇi begins with the body, which he explains can appear as virtually anything, depending on the inclinations of the ones who are seeing it. Vajrapāṇi also explains that the Buddha possesses the Dharma body and therefore does not eat any food, even though the Buddha may appear to eat food. The body of a realized one is vast as space. Vajrapāṇi’s explanation also features a wonderful story about a bodhisattva named Vegadhārin who attempts to look down upon the top of the Buddha’s head and finds himself unable to do so, even after traveling upward through millions upon billions of worlds. [Tibetan chapter 7 ends; Sanskrit chapter 3 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then explains the secret of a realized one’s speech. Perhaps the main idea of this chapter is that the Buddha never utters a single syllable, while all beings still hear his words and understand his message in their various languages and forms of communication as a result of the operation of their own desires. This statement is quoted in The Descent into Laṅka, by Candrakīrti in his Clear Words, and by the author of the Long Explanation of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. Vajrapāṇi uses three metaphors to illustrate this idea, perhaps the most famous of which compares the Buddha’s speech to a wind chime or wind bell that makes sound when the wind passes through it. The wind here is analogous to the wishes of beings. The chapter also contains a list of the sixty qualities of a realized one’s speech, which is quoted and explained in the commentary on The Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras.
This chapter also features a rather humorous story about Maudgalyāyana, cited in The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論). He uses his superhuman powers to travel to a distant buddha domain in a futile attempt to measure the limit of the Buddha’s voice. There is also an interesting and somewhat challenging passage in which the names of the four truths of the noble ones are given in all the languages of the different god realms in order to demonstrate the way the Buddha’s message can vary while remaining the same. The chapter also contains a long list of ethnic groups in the world of the reader or imagined audience in order to show the many languages in which the Buddha’s message can be heard here in our world. The chapter concludes with a series of wonders, including an earthquake, the appearance of a great light, and a jet of water that shoots out of the ground and rises up into the heavens. [Tibetan chapter 8 ends; Sanskrit chapter 4 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then describes, in brief, the secret of a realized one’s mind: it is a mind in which no conceptual thought is generated, and yet it serves the Buddha to meet the demands of all beings. The point is made, similar to the one about the Realized One’s speech, that from the night of the Buddha’s awakening until his final nirvāṇa, the Buddha experiences no modification of mind whatsoever. [Tibetan chapter 9 ends.] This concludes Vajrapāṇi’s explanation of the secrets of the realized ones, after which Śāriputra asks the Buddha whether it is true that Vajrapāṇi appears behind each and every bodhisattva leading the holy life throughout the cosmos. The Buddha enables Śāriputra to see Vajrapāṇi standing not only behind the Buddha himself but also behind Maitreya, and then he explains that Vajrapāṇi stands behind all the magically created forms of all the bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon, due to the power of his vow and his superhuman powers. [Tibetan chapter 10 ends; Sanskrit chapter 5 ends.]
The above comprises almost the first half of the sūtra. Next, Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to describe four events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Vajrapāṇi does so, and describes in detail various wonders and episodes related to these events. In the presentation of these events, there are some close similarities with versions found in other sūtras, particularly The Play in Full, but Vajrapāṇi’s telling emphasizes the fact that different beings perceive these events differently based on their own needs and suppositions. For instance, when the Buddha delivers the first sermon, Vajrapāṇi notes that the innumerable beings on hand to witness the event hear different teachings about different topics, based on their own thoughts and motivations. [Tibetan chapters 11 through 14 end.] After Vajrapāṇi completes his description of these events, the Buddha affirms the accuracy of Vajrapāṇi’s retelling. [Sanskrit chapter 6 ends.]
Then, after being prompted by Śāntamati, the Buddha offers some teachings of his own on the nature of calming the mind or bringing it to rest, as well as bringing one’s emotions and, indeed, all things to rest. It is a highly sophisticated dialogue that takes one deeply into the philosophy of emptiness and its connection to other elements of Buddhist doctrine, including the explanation of the process of cognition whereby the mind generates thoughts on the basis of specific objects or bases of cognition (ālaṃbana). This chapter is quoted at some length by Candrakīrti in The Clear Words, a few lines are quoted by Śāntideva in The Training Anthology, and Kamalaśīla also quotes from it in the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation. [Tibetan chapter 15 ends.] After this teaching, some bodhisattvas desire to know when Vajrapāṇi will become a buddha. Knowing their thoughts in his mind, the Buddha then smiles and gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening. [Tibetan chapter 16 ends; Sanskrit chapter 7 ends.]
This prediction then becomes the basis for a profound and rather complex dialogue between Śāntamati and Vajrapāṇi, reminiscent of certain dialogues in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti. In this dialogue, Śāntamati makes assertions and poses questions largely from a conventional point of view, beginning with the assertion that Vajrapāṇi has just received a prediction of his future awakening. Vajrapāṇi, on the other hand, responds to Śāntamati’s assertions and answers his questions from the standpoint of emptiness. The logic of the exchange employs a number of puns and plays on words, stretching the ordinary and technical meanings of terms and relying on dual meanings to argue for the nondual and empty nature of all phenomena. In some ways, the dialogue constitutes a further explanation of the paradoxical claims made earlier that the Buddha does not speak a word and yet the Dharma is expressed nonetheless. [Tibetan chapter 17 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then invites the Buddha to his home for a meal. The Buddha agrees, and Vajrapāṇi goes home to prepare for the Buddha’s visit. The whole episode includes a rather ornate series of miraculous performances, a marvelous display that again bears some similarities with wonders described elsewhere in Buddhist literature. The Buddha arrives and has a meal. [Tibetan chapter 18 ends.] Afterward, he gives a profound and difficult teaching on the Dharma to the nonhuman and divine beings gathered there, touching upon a variety of complex topics in the Buddhist philosophy of the path, organized around a number of themes and concepts, including the nature of faith or strong belief, how a person can know if a teacher is a true companion in the good, the twelvefold chain of dependent arising and its connection to emptiness, and the nature and benefit of being watchful and attentive to one’s thoughts. Parts of this teaching are quoted in both The Sūtra Anthology and The Training Anthology, and there is also a long parallel with The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva. Toward the end of the sermon, the four Lokapālas ask for a teaching on how to protect the world, which the Buddha gives to them in such a way that it forms a kind of synopsis of many key elements of Buddhist doctrine. [Tibetan chapter 19 ends.] As the Buddha gets ready to leave Vajrapāṇi’s abode, he asks Vajrapāṇi to recite a dhāraṇī for the protection and preservation of the Dharma, which Vajrapāṇi does, and then the Buddha returns to Vulture Peak. [Tibetan chapter 20 ends.]
Once the Buddha has returned to Vulture Peak, King Ajātaśatru comes to visit him, and he asks him a series of questions about Vajrapāṇi and the reasons why the Buddha visited his home. In response, the Buddha tells a past life story about a bodhisattva named Śūrabala, which serves to explain the reason for or source of Vajrapāṇi’s marvelous inspired eloquence. This story contains some rather complex teachings in the dialogue narrated by the Buddha between Śūrabala and a past buddha named Vaiśramaṇa about the nature of the bodhisattva path and the paradoxical nature of the bodhisattva’s field of action, a dialogue that concludes with a series of artful metaphors by Śūrabala. [Tibetan chapter 21 ends; Sanskrit chapter 9 ends.]
The next chapter features an entertaining episode in which Vajrapāṇi sets his vajra on the ground, and Ajātaśatru, Śakra, and Maudgalyāyana all try to lift it. None of them is able to do so. The Buddha then directs Vajrapāṇi to lift the vajra, which he does as a demonstration of his extraordinary power. He then throws it into the air, and after it circles the cosmos several times, it returns to him, like Thor’s hammer. The episode prompts a discussion of how it is possible for a bodhisattva to attain such incredible power. This, again, leads to another profound dialogue between the Buddha and Ajātaśatru on the natural consequences of practicing the Buddhist path. [Tibetan chapter 22 ends; Sanskrit chapter 10 ends.]
After this dialogue between the Buddha and the king has concluded, Śāntamati and Vajrapāṇi return to the foreground of the narrative. Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to request the Buddha to empower the teachings given in the sūtra so that they will last for a long time. This request forms the basis of a dialogue on the nature and means of remembering the Dharma, taking into account the ultimate perspective that nothing is truly grasped or retained. During the conversation, a god named Bhadrarāja stands up and offers some perspectives on the nature of the inspired eloquence needed to teach the Dharma. [Tibetan chapter 23 ends.]
Śāntamati asks the Buddha to explain how Bhadrarāja could possess such inspired eloquence, and the Buddha responds by exploring the connection between inspired eloquence and the development of a powerful memory and the mnemonic formulas that support it (dhāraṇī). The Buddha explains that Bhadrarāja possesses a powerful mnemonic formula that affords him the ability to teach the Dharma with inspired eloquence. What follows is another dazzling display of word play as the Buddha explains how this mnemonic formula provides access to the nature of reality as well as the true teachings. Bhadrarāja underscores the Buddha’s teaching with a series of beautiful analogies about the bodhisattva who has acquired a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. [Tibetan chapter 24 ends.]
The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and a second one by the Buddha. Both of them are spoken for the purpose of preserving the Dharma and seemingly this sūtra in particular. Afterward, the Buddha tells one more brief story from a past life of his own, about the value of remembering the Dharma. He then asks the audience to remember this sūtra. Various characters come forward and promise to do so, and finally the Buddha entrusts the sūtra to Ānanda and directs him to teach it to others. This draws the sūtra to a close. [Tibetan chapter 25 ends; Sanskrit chapter 11 ends.]
This sūtra seems to have been known by several different titles, and this has led at times to confusion and the need to disambiguate it from other works. The most stable title of the sūtra, the one most used across a variety of sources, appears to be its shorter title, The Secret(s) of the Realized One(s) (Tathāgataguhya). For this reason, we have referred to the work mostly by this shorter form of the title throughout this introduction and translation.
The question of how to understand and translate its fuller title, as it is given in the Tibetan translation and in a Sanskrit transliteration in the Kangyur, is a somewhat complicated issue. The Tibetan translation gives the title in Tibetan as ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, and it renders the title in Sanskrit as Āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśa. These titles correspond closely to one another, except for the fact that the order of the Sanskrit words corresponding to gsang ba and bsam gyis mi khyab pa—that is, guhya and acintya, respectively—are reversed in the Sanskrit title. There are various ways to account for the difference. The key issue is to decide on an interpretation of the relationship between these words. Since both terms can be used as a noun or an adjective, it must be decided if one is functioning as a noun and the other as an adjective, or if they should both be understood as nouns.
To answer this basic grammatical question, it is useful to consider the different titles the Buddha gives for this sūtra at the end of the sūtra itself, other key passages found in the sūtra, and the way other Indian Buddhist texts and authors refer to it. To take the last point first, The Commentary on the Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras refers to the sūtra by the title Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa, The Teaching of the Lord of the Guhyakas. In The Clear Words, Candrakīrti calls it Āryatathāgataguhyasūtra, The Noble Sūtra of the Secret(s) of the Realized One(s). So does Kamalaśīla. In Śāntideva’s Training Anthology, too, it is called the Tathāgataguhya Sūtra. And then beyond the Indian Buddhist texts extant in Sanskrit, The Sūtra Anthology (in Tibetan translation) and The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (in Chinese) also seem to refer to it in the same way Candrakīrti, Kamalaśīla, and Śāntideva do.
At the end of the sūtra itself, in a passage for which the Sanskrit is not extant, Ānanda asks the Buddha by what title the sūtra should be remembered, and the Buddha gives four different titles: (1) lag na rdo rje’i le’u (*Vajrapāṇiparivarta, The Chapter of Vajrapāṇi); (2) de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bstan pa’i le’u (*Tathāgataguhyanirdeśaparivarta, The Chapter of the Teaching of the Secret(s) of the Realized One(s)); (3) sangs rgyas kyi chos bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa (*Acintyabuddhadharmanirdeśa, The Teaching of the Mysterious/Inconceivable Qualities of the Buddha(s)); and (4) bsod nams tshad med pa ’byung ba (*Apramāṇapuṇyodaya, The Arising of Immeasurable Merit). None of these titles corresponds precisely to the full title of the sūtra as it is given in Tibetan or Sanskrit by the canonical Tibetan translation, nor to the shorter Sanskrit title by which the sūtra is often known.
However, there is another passage found earlier in the text in which the phrase tathāgatakāyaguhyācintyanirdeśa is extant in the Sanskrit manuscript. While the corresponding Tibetan translation of this phrase, de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, lacks the word for kāya (“body”), it is otherwise identical to it, and it is identical as well to the main part of the Tibetan title given for the sūtra as a whole. Furthermore, in another passage near the beginning of the sūtra, for which the Sanskrit is unfortunately lacking, Vajrapāṇi speaks of four “inconceivables” or “mysteries” (bsam gyis mi khyab pa ’di bzhi), one of which is “the mystery of the buddha(s)” (sangs rgyas bsam gyis mi khyab pa). Here, the term translated as “mystery”—that is, something incomprehensible or inconceivable—would seem to be used as a noun and as a shorter form of the phrase “the mysterious qualities of the buddha(s)” (sangs rgyas kyi chos bsam gyis mi khyab pa, *acintyabuddhadharma). It also appears to be used here almost as a synonym for the word guhya—that is, something “hidden” or “concealed,” or a “secret.”
Based on the evidence above, it looks as though the full title in the Tibetan translation may be the result of a process of development based on a combination of at least two of the ways the text refers to itself and to its subject matter. The terms guhya (gsang ba) and acintya (bsam gyis mi khyab pa) can be used as nouns and as near synonyms or close equivalents. That is to say, “the incomprehensible or mysterious qualities of the buddhas” (acintyabuddhadharma) are basically equivalent to “the secrets of the realized ones” (tathāgataguhya). At the same time, both terms can function as adjectives of one another, and thus it is still possible to understand the relevant phrases in the title as either “secret/hidden mysteries” or “mysterious/incomprehensible (number of) secrets.” Given all these possibilities, we have simply chosen to translate the phrase as if both terms were used as nouns and as near synonyms, and thus we have translated the long title as The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones.
At the same time, we should remember that the sūtra has been called The Teaching of the Lord of the Guhyakas (Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa), and the Buddha calls it The Chapter of Vajrapāṇi (*Vajrapāṇiparivarta) in the sūtra itself. Since Vajrapāṇi is called the Lord of the Guhyakas throughout the sūtra and he is arguably its main protagonist, as well as being the speaker of the majority of the teachings in the sūtra, it is easy to understand why it has acquired these titles. However, they also highlight the need to understand the relationship between the words guhya and guhyaka, as well as the relationship between the guhyakas and Vajrapāṇi, which is not a straightforward matter, as we have seen above.
There is still one more wrinkle to mention regarding the titles of the sūtra. At some point, it seems that the sūtra also came to be known by the title Tathāgataguhyaka. This is the title given to the manuscript G10765 by the archivists at the Asiatic Society in Bengal, perhaps because this phrase is part of the description of the work in the colophon to the final chapter, or perhaps it was because the first page of the manuscript seems to be from the Guhyasamāja Tantra, which for some reason also seems to have gone by the name Tathāgataguhyaka in Nepal. This has given rise to some confusion, such that Maurice Winternitz, who translated a couple of the passages from The Secrets of the Realized Ones that are quoted in The Training Anthology, felt it necessary to disambiguate this work from the Guhyasamāja Tantra. Precisely why the Guhyasamāja Tantra came to be known as the Tathāgataguhyaka in Nepal, apart from the fact that it also discusses the secrets of the body, speech, and mind of the realized ones, as well as the precise nature of the broader intertextual relationship between the Tathāgataguhya Sūtra, translated here, and the various Buddhist tantras, are topics that await further investigation.
One might still pose the question, if The Secrets of the Realized Ones is such a great work of Buddhist literature and had such an influence, why does it seem to have fallen into obscurity at a later point in time, even as the transmission and study of other Buddhist sūtras continued to flourish? It is true that a text called the Tathāgataguhyaka came to be listed among the nine dharmas or books (grantha) of Newari Buddhism in Nepal sometime in the early to middle of the second millennium, which suggests it may have continued to enjoy a high status there for some time. This conclusion, however, is mitigated by the fact that it is not clear whether this title was initially meant to refer to this sūtra or to the Guhyasamāja Tantra, which also came to be known in Nepal as the Tathāgataguhyaka. So, the popularity of this sūtra in Nepal is not a given; yet, neither can the possibility of its popularity there be entirely discounted. If it was meant to be one of the nine dharmas at one time, then perhaps the lack of availability of the sūtra as a complete manuscript contributed to its replacement by the Guhyasamāja Tantra in the list of nine dharmas at a later point, or perhaps it was not meant to be one of the nine dharmas in the first place. These historical questions require more research, as do the questions of its reception and influence in the Buddhist traditions of Tibet and East Asia.
If the lack of attention it has so far received from modern scholarship is any indication, however, then evidently the sūtra fell into relative obscurity at some point. If one were to indulge in further speculation, perhaps the fact that The Teaching of Vimalakīrti features a wealthy layman contributed to its popularity in China, which in turn led to the greater attention it has received to this point from modern scholars in Japan and the West. By contrast, the main character of The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a powerful, enigmatic, and somewhat threatening nonhuman creature who brandishes a mighty weapon. While Vajrapāṇi may be a crucial figure in the history of Buddhist literature for several reasons, including his association with the preservation and promulgation of the tantras, perhaps The Secrets of the Realized Ones came to be superseded at some point by other works, or perhaps Vajrapāṇi’s enigmatic status lessened its popularity over time. Then again, maybe it is just an accidental occurrence over the long history of Buddhism that The Secrets of the Realized Ones has only recently begun to receive the renewed attention it deserves.
Whatever the case may be, apart from a few notable exceptions, it is only since 2012 or so that the sūtra has begun to receive much more than a cursory footnote or simple acknowledgement of its existence in published scholarly research. The most sustained scholarly attention has come from Japanese and Chinese scholars, particularly from the Japanese scholar Ikuma Hiromitsu 伊久間洋光, who has published more than fifteen articles on the sūtra since 2012, as well as completing a doctoral dissertation on it in 2019. During this time, a handful of other scholars in East Asia have also published short studies of it, while Hamano Tetsunori 滨野哲敬 published a brief article on it in 1987. Among scholars in Europe, the Belgian scholar Étienne Lamotte devoted a short section to it in his longer article on the history of Vajrapāṇi in India, which he published in 1966. Additionally, in December 2021, a complete English translation of the eleventh-century Chinese translation of the sūtra was self-published by Shaku Shingan and made available online. About a month earlier, Péter-Dániel Szántó, then of the Open Philology Project at Leiden University, made available online his unpublished diplomatic edition of the partial Sanskrit manuscript of the sūtra held by the Asiatic Society in Kolkata, on which see below.
A single, incomplete Nepalese manuscript of the sūtra in the original Sanskrit is held in the library of the Asiatic Society in Kolkata, India. This paper manuscript has been dated to approximately the seventeenth century, and it preserves about 47 percent of the whole sūtra, according to Szántó’s estimation based on a comparison with the complete Tibetan translation. The various citations of the sūtra in other texts for which there is Sanskrit, including The Clear Words, The Training Anthology, The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva, and the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation, increase this percentage slightly, while the repetition of words and phrases within the sūtra also increases the percentage of the text for which one can be fairly confident about the underlying source text.
The colophon to the complete canonical Tibetan translation states that the sūtra was translated by Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Munivarman, along with the translator-monk Yeshé Dé, all of whom flourished in the late eighth and early ninth centuries
The Secrets of the Realized Ones was also translated into Chinese twice. The first translation (Taishō 310–3) is said to have been completed in 280
This English translation has been made on the basis of the preserved Sanskrit manuscript, the quotations preserved in other texts for which there is Sanskrit, and the complete Tibetan translation. For the Tibetan text, the Degé edition was used as the basis, but variations attested in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) were also consulted, and for large portions of the text, the Stok Palace edition was also read for comparison. The footnotes to the translation primarily describe differences between these various witnesses to the text, while also giving various notes on the translation of specific terms and phrases, intertextual references to other primary sources, and references to scholarly work. Unfortunately, the two Chinese translations were not taken into account as part of the translation or editing process.
[B1] Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha together with a great monastic assembly of forty-two thousand monks, as well as eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas of great courage, who were well known on account of their fame, a great many of whom had come from other buddha domains. All of them had attained the state of acceptance. They could not be turned back. They were limited to only one more life. They had acquired a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. They had acquired states of meditative concentration. Their inspired eloquence was without impediment. They were adept at traveling to limitless buddha domains throughout the ten directions. They had made child’s play of the forms of knowledge including the supernormal faculties. They were undefeated in argument by any and all proponents of rival doctrines. They had vanquished their adversaries and Māra in all his forms.
They knew the outcome of the conduct, motivations, and intentions of all beings. They were skilled in knowing their faculties to be of a greater or lesser caliber. They had gained access to the guiding principles of all the perfections. They had reached perfection of the most perfect mastery of skill in means. They were praised, lauded, and extolled by all the buddhas. They had come to the end of the endless path to awakening, which spans countless trillions of eons. Their minds were like earth, water, wind, and fire. They were fully engaged in a practice of the meditation on love that was limitless like space. They had risen above being disturbed, carried away, or overwhelmed by any object of attachment. They had obtained the body of a Nārāyaṇa. Their bodies were rock-solid and unbreakable as vajra.
They roared the great lion’s roar. They had mastered the self-assurance needed to stand out in every assembly. They outshone the sun and moon. They had attained the understanding that in reality all things are the same across the three times. They were adept at giving instructions with knowledge of the profound exegesis of the Dharma. By comprehending dependent arising they had abandoned the two extremes—the views that things are eternal and that they come to a complete end. They were adept at bringing about the emergence and stabilization of the meditations, the liberations, the concentrations, and the absorptions. Their voices resounded throughout the ten directions. They were in full possession of the treasury of jewels of the true Dharma. They made sure the lineage of the Three Jewels remained unbroken. They were fully equipped with a truly endless supply of merit and knowledge.
Among those eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas were the bodhisattvas named Candrottara, Candraketu, Śaśiketu, Prabhāketu, Prabhāśrī, Śrīkūṭa, Śrīgupta, He Whose Power Is Great, Nāganandin, Nāgottara, Nāgadatta, He Who Possesses a Beautiful Form, Marudeva, Guṇadīparāja, Dīpahasta, Nityotpalakṛtahasta, Nityotkṣiptahasta, Ratnamudrāhasta, Ratnapāṇi, Total Illumination, Nakṣatrarāja, Vajrapāṇi, Vajramati, He Whose Great Intelligence Is Strong as a Vajra, Vajravikrāmin, Sthirapadavikrāmin, Trailokyavikrāmin, Anantavikrāmin, Anantamati, Sāgaramati, Dṛḍhamati, He Whose Intelligence Is His Treasure, Uttaramati, Viśeṣamati, Vardhamānamati, Ever Faithful, Ever-Laughing and Joyful Lord, Apāyajaha, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, He Who Possesses a Refined and Immaculate Splendor, Uttaptavīrya, Prajñākūṭa, Always Watching, Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Merukūṭa, Gaganagañja, Unwavering Gaze, Inexpressible One, Sublime Jewel, Jewel Mind, He Who Has Thought Well, Suvicintitārtha, He Whose Intelligence Rests on What Is Certain, Dharaṇīśvararāja, Dharaṇīdhara, Vyūharāja, Kṣetrālaṃkṛta, Ratnākara, Guhyagupta, Indradeva, Varuṇa, Brahmajālin, the bodhisattva Jālinīprabha, Devamukuṭa, Subāhu, Sunetra, Gandhahastin, Gajagandhahastin, Siṃhaketu, Siddhārthamati, Sārathi, Śāntamati, Maitreya, and Prince Mañjuśrī.
Also present in the assembly were Śakra, Brahmā, and the Lokapālas of this cosmos of a billion worlds, as well as various other supreme deities, nāga lords, yakṣa lords, gandharva lords, asura lords, garuḍa lords, kinnara lords, and mahoraga lords, all of whom were renowned for their sovereign authority. Among them, the nāga king Anavatapta, as well as Sāgara, Varuṇa, Manasvin, Takṣaka, Hemavarṇa, Endless Colors, Susīma, and many hundreds of thousands of other nāga kings with their retinues had joined the assembly in order to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. The asura lords, such as Rāhu, Vemacitra, Subāhu, Sāla, Tāla, Śambara, Prahlāda, and The Huge One, as well as other yakṣas and asura lords and their retinues, had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. King Ajātaśatru, the women from the king’s inner chambers, and his relatives had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. Moreover, the fourfold assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. The gods who live in the sky, along with the gods from the realms of desire and form, as well as those gods from the pure abodes had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma.
On that occasion, surrounded by and at the head of an assembly of countless hundreds of thousands, the Blessed One taught the Dharma on the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage so that they could completely fill their stores. This is what he said:
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of generosity serves the purpose of bringing beings to maturity. The bodhisattvas’ supply of moral conduct serves the purpose of fulfilling their vows. The bodhisattvas’ supply of patience serves the purpose of acquiring the major and minor marks of a great person. The bodhisattvas’ supply of heroic effort serves the purpose of acquiring all the qualities of a buddha. The bodhisattvas’ supply of meditation serves the purpose of acquiring the mind of one who is well bred. The bodhisattvas’ supply of wisdom serves the purpose of eliminating all the afflictions.
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of teaching the Dharma serves the purpose of removing impediments to their inspired eloquence. The bodhisattvas’ supply of merit serves the purpose of sustaining all beings. The bodhisattvas’ supply of knowledge serves the purpose of removing impediments to their knowledge. The bodhisattvas’ supply of calm abiding serves the purpose of making the mind ready for any endeavor. The bodhisattvas’ supply of deep insight serves the purpose of becoming free from doubt.
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of love serves the purpose of ridding the mind of malice. The bodhisattvas’ supply of compassion serves the purpose of ridding the mind of despondency. Their supply of joy serves the purpose of finding happiness and satisfaction in the supreme joy of the Dharma. Their supply of equanimity serves the purpose of ridding themselves of attachment and aversion. The bodhisattvas’ supply of hearing the Dharma serves the purpose of becoming free from hindrances. The bodhisattvas’ supply of leaving home for the ascetic life serves the purpose of casting aside all their belongings. The bodhisattvas’ supply of dwelling in the forest serves the purpose of not squandering the work they have already done.
“Their supply of mindfulness serves the purpose of attaining a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. Their supply of intelligence serves the purpose of developing a discerning mind. Their supply of comprehension serves the purpose of enabling them to conform with their comprehension of the true meaning. Their supply of the applications of mindfulness serves the purpose of carefully observing the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects. Their supply of right effort serves the purpose of ridding themselves of all vicious qualities and filling up their reserves of all virtuous qualities.
“Their supply of the foundations for superhuman power serves the purpose of making the body and mind agile. Their supply of the five spiritual faculties serves the purpose of knowing beings’ faculties to be of a greater or lesser caliber. Their supply of the five powers serves the purpose of not being crushed under the weight of all the afflictions. Their supply of the constitutive factors of awakening serves the purpose of becoming awake to the true nature of all things.
“Their supply of the path serves the purpose of going beyond all bad paths. Their supply of the truths serves the purpose of acquiring an unshakeable knowledge of the true nature of things. Their supply of the special modes of knowledge serves the purpose of dispelling the doubts of all beings. Their supply of reliance serves the purpose of acquiring a knowledge that does not rely upon anyone else. Their supply of companions in what is good serves the purpose of becoming a source for the development of all good qualities.
“Their supply of motivation serves the purpose of keeping their word to all people. Their supply of ambition serves the purpose of becoming a superior being. Their supply of practice serves the purpose of bringing to completion everything they have begun. Their supply of seclusion serves the purpose of not wasting the teachings just as they have heard them. Their supply of the means of drawing others to oneself serves the purpose of bringing beings to maturity. Their supply of possession of the true Dharma serves the purpose of making sure the lineage of the Three Jewels remains unbroken. Their supply of mastery of the dedication of merit serves the purpose of purifying a buddha domain. The supply of the bodhisattvas’ mastery of skill in means serves the purpose of perfecting the knowledge of an omniscient one.”
Thus the Blessed One gave to the bodhisattvas of great courage a detailed formulation of the Dharma known as the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies.
As the Blessed One was giving this teaching, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was seated on his right-hand side while holding up his vajra. When the Blessed One had finished, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, said to him, “It is marvelous, Blessed One, how well the Realized One has expressed this formulation of the Dharma on the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage. If I were to state what I understood to be the import of the Blessed One’s words, then, Blessed One, I would say that all the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage are subsumed within the supplies of merit and knowledge, and can be accessed in this way.
“The reason for this, Blessed One, is that the supply of merit of bodhisattvas of great courage provides a foundation for all their accomplishments, and their supply of knowledge makes all beings satisfied with what has been well said. Therefore, Blessed One, bodhisattvas of great courage should make efforts to acquire the supplies of merit and knowledge. The reason for this, Blessed One, is that the supply of merit brings to completion the perfection that is the bodhisattvas’ mastery of skill in means. The supply of knowledge brings to completion their perfection of wisdom. These two paths of the bodhisattvas’ conduct serve the purpose of bringing together all paths.
“A bodhisattva who is on the path is difficult for the evil Māra to defeat, and the bodhisattva who has stepped beyond the path of Māra cannot be turned back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening. To such an irreversible bodhisattva, the blessed buddhas teach the secrets of the realized ones without concealing anything.”
Then the bodhisattva Śāntamati said to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Lord of the Guhyakas, you have been a close attendant and constant companion of the Realized One. Lord of the Guhyakas, the places containing the secrets of the realized ones are not within the purview of the disciples or the solitary buddhas, so what need is there to speak of their being within the purview of ordinary beings either. Would you please use your inspired eloquence to shine light on them for us?”
When this was said, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, remained silent. So the bodhisattva Śāntamati, understanding that Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was going to remain silent, spoke to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, would you please encourage Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, to give a teaching here in the assembly about the secrets of the realized ones? If the bodhisattvas of great courage could hear such a teaching, they would be delighted and they would work to acquire the constitutive factors of awakening and become diligent in the practice of perfecting the secrets of the realized ones.”
The Blessed One then said to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Lord of the Guhyakas, the assembly wishes to hear about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones. Therefore, I request you to use your inspired eloquence to shine light on the secrets of the realized ones for this assembly.”
Vajrapāṇi replied to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, I will give a teaching about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones to whatever small degree that I have understood them, and this much through the majestic power and the empowering authority of the Buddha. Indeed, Blessed One, just as the empowering authority of a lamp can make all forms visible in the darkest depths of night, in that same way, Blessed One, through the majestic power and empowering authority of the Buddha, I will explain the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones according to the small degree that I have understood them.”
Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then said to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, “Noble son, make sure that when you hear about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and realized ones, you do not become frightened, afraid, or terrified, and that you remain properly seated in the assembly.”
Then the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, said to the entire assembly, “Friends, the Realized One has spoken of four mysteries. They are the mystery of action, the mystery of speech, the mystery of concentration, and the mystery of a buddha. Furthermore, friends, after having awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening, the Buddha set forth these four mysteries. Among these four, he has taught that the mystery of a realized one is the foremost. Friends, when you hear of the mystery of a bodhisattva and the mystery of a realized one, do not become frightened, afraid, or terrified. Instead, when you hear of them, you should generate an abundance of pleasure, serene faith, and great joy.”
This statement by the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, made the entire assembly eager to hear about the secrets of the realized ones, and in order to empower the assembly with empowering authority he then scattered heavenly flowers among the retinue until they covered the ground up to everyone’s knees.
Then Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati: “In that case, Śāntamati, listen well and pay close attention. I will now explain the secret places of the bodhisattvas. Śāntamati, I have served as the Realized One’s close attendant from the time when he, as a bodhisattva, received the prediction of his future unsurpassable and perfect awakening from the realized one, the blessed Dīpaṃkara. Since that time, I never witnessed any alteration of the bodhisattva’s body or any physical artifice whatsoever. I never heard any alteration of the bodhisattva’s speech or any flattery either. I never witnessed any alteration of the bodhisattva’s mind or any dissimulation either. He brought beings to maturity with his body and the demeanor of his body, and thus he did not speak at all. In order to bring beings to maturity, his bodily demeanor manifested itself infinitely and endlessly.
“Śāntamati, the bodhisattvas’ bodily demeanor conforms to the bodily demeanor of all beings, spontaneously and effortlessly. For example, to beings who need to be guided by concentration, they show the conduct of concentration. To beings who need to be guided through playing stringed instruments and singing songs, they show the conduct of playing stringed instruments and singing songs. To beings who need to be guided by boys, they show the conduct of boys. To beings who need to be guided by girls, they show the conduct of girls. To beings who need to be guided by women, they show the conduct of women. To beings who need to be guided by men, they show the conduct of men. To beings who need to be guided by those who are young, they show the conduct of the young. To beings who need to be guided by those who are middle-aged, they show the conduct of the middle-aged. To beings who need to be guided by those who are elderly, they show the conduct of the elderly.
“To beings who need to be guided by those whose limbs are deformed or missing, they show the conduct of those whose limbs are deformed or missing. To beings who need to be guided by untouchables whose hands or feet have been cut off, they show the conduct of untouchables whose hands or feet have been cut off. To beings who need to be guided by those who are mentally or physical disabled, they show the conduct of the mentally and physically disabled. To beings who need to be guided by the blind and deaf, they show the conduct of the blind and deaf.
“To beings who need to be guided by the appearance of hell beings, they show the conduct of hell beings. To beings who need to be guided by beings in the animal realm, or those in the realm of Yama, or by human beings, they show the conduct of beings in the animal realm, or those in the realm of Yama, or human beings. To beings who need to be guided by gods, they show the conduct of gods. To beings who need to be guided by nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, or mahoragas, they show the conduct of nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. To beings who need to be guided by a śakra, they show the conduct of a śakra. To beings who need to be guided by a brahmā, they show the conduct of a brahmā. To beings who need to be guided by the lokapālas, they show the conduct of the lokapālas. To beings who need to be guided by cakravartins, they show the conduct of cakravartins. To beings who need to be guided by monks, they show the conduct of monks. To beings who need to be guided by nuns, they show the conduct of nuns. To beings who need to be guided by laymen, they show the conduct of laymen. To beings who need to be guided by laywomen, they show the conduct of laywomen. To beings who need to be guided by disciples, they show the conduct of disciples. To beings who need to be guided by solitary buddhas, they show the conduct of solitary buddhas. To beings who need to be guided by bodhisattvas, they show the conduct of bodhisattvas, and to beings who need to be guided by realized ones, they show the conduct of realized ones. However, none of that applies to beings in the formless realm.
“Śāntamati, in this manner the bodhisattvas’ physical appearance, caste, and demeanor conform spontaneously and involuntarily to the physical appearance, caste, and demeanor of all beings. In this respect, even though bodhisattvas, who do not form concepts and are in a state of equanimity, display their physical demeanors with their bodies, they do not deviate from the true nature of the body. Although they perform physical actions with their bodies, they do not lose sight of the separateness of the body. They bring joy to all hell beings with the radiance of their bodies brought about by the purification of their bodies. With no concern for their bodies, they offer their own flesh to satisfy carnivorous beings who desire meat for sustenance. They do so despite the fact that in giving their flesh to such beings they give up their lives in the process. They give their blood to those who drink blood, their bones to those who devour bones, and their physical vitality to those who consume the body’s vitality.
“Śāntamati, they nourish all beings with whatever kind of bodily nourishment they require, and do so from their own bodies, even at the cost of their lives. The infinitude of their bodies is not exhausted because it proceeds from the infinite nature of the realm of reality. Their realization of inexhaustible bodies arises because they are well acquainted with the realization of the inexhaustible nature of dependent origination. They bring beings to maturity with their bodies.
“In front of beings who actively pursue sense pleasures, who are attached to the signs and images of beauty, they appear as well-formed, beautiful, and attractive female bodies. When these beings become inflamed with passion, they caress them, massage them with oil, and sit on their laps. Then, as they are sitting on these men’s laps, they wither and decay. They become putrid and foul-smelling corpses so that those men become disenchanted and push them aside, but then the teaching of the Dharma issues from those corpses in such a way that those men become impossible to turn back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening.
“Furthermore, Śāntamati, such bodhisattvas can pervade this cosmos of a billion worlds with their body. They can cover it with a jeweled parasol or even with their finger just like someone can cover a mustard seed with a fingertip. Even if their finger were to cover the fire that consumes the cosmos at the end of a cosmic age, their body would not be harmed.
“With their bodies, they worship and serve the blessed buddhas. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they offer flowered parasols and baskets of flowers as large as Mount Meru. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they light a lamp with this cosmos of a billion worlds as the vessel filled with fragrant oil and a blazing wick the size of Mount Meru. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they light as many lamps as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they wrap their very own bodies in linen cloth soaked with oil and clarified butter, and then they set it aflame, and when they are blazing, the fire emits a great light that pervades as many buddha realms as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges. Beings see it and recognize it, and when they see the majesty of such bodhisattvas, immeasurable, countless numbers of beings conceive the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening.
“To beings made haughty by pride, conceit, and arrogance, these bodhisattvas make themselves appear in the form of Vajrapāṇi, a Nārāyaṇa, or a being with a great physique. These arrogant beings become terrified of bodhisattvas who appear in this way, and they bow and prostrate themselves before them. Then they wish to hear the Dharma from them.
“In the huge cremation grounds of great cities, where many hundreds of thousands of animals roam, these bodhisattvas of great courage display their own mighty bodies when they have died. The beings from the animal realm staying there feast on their flesh as much as they please, and then at the end of their lives, when their time comes to die, they are reborn among the gods of the higher realms and good places of rebirth. These bodhisattvas also become the cause of these beings’ eventual cessation, because of the purification of the previous vows of these bodhisattvas. They have long ago formed the vow that if, when they die, beings feast on their dead bodies and this becomes the cause for them to be reborn in the higher realms until they pass beyond anguish, then, for those who have maintained moral conduct, they achieve their aspiration, they accomplish their desire, they fulfill their vow.
“In precisely this manner, Śāntamati, you may understand the immeasurable and infinite nature of the bodhisattva’s body.
“A long time ago, Śāntamati, under this very same sky here on Jambudvīpa, there were once eighty-four thousand cities divided into four parts. There were many thousands of villages, hamlets, and market towns, as well as many hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of beings. At that moment and time, Śāntamati, there occurred a lengthy period of great pestilence. Most beings there were afflicted as various diseases spread: diseases of the body’s air, heat, and phlegm, resulting in symptoms like pus-filled boils, lesions, scabs, rashes, and blisters. Many thousands of doctors labored to relieve the symptoms of these beings, but they were unable to cure them of the disease. As no cure could be found for these beings, and they were without any protection or refuge, they gave a great cry:
“At that time, Śāntamati, the blessed Śākyamuni was a śakra, a lord of the gods, named Sunetra. With his pure divine eyesight surpassing that of ordinary human beings, he could see that these beings were afflicted with various diseases. With his pure divine hearing surpassing that of ordinary human beings, he heard the sound of their great cries. When he saw and heard them, he developed tremendous compassion. He thought, ‘I must help these helpless beings. I must protect and support these weak and defenseless beings.’ Right then and there in the center of Jambudvīpa, not far from the great city of Kuru, he spontaneously appeared as a creature by the name of Saumya, and the following verses offering encouragement to all the people of Jambudvīpa came from the sky:
“Thereupon, Śāntamati, when all the sick people of the cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and market towns heard this, they went to the great city of Kuru to the place where they found the creature Saumya, and even though they cut flesh from its body again and again, and carried it away, still the flesh of its body did not become depleted. Saumya then spoke this verse:
“Thus, Śāntamati, the sick people throughout the four directions never witnessed the body of this creature, Saumya, become depleted or exhausted, despite the fact that they cut flesh from its body again and again, and carried it away. Whatever they cut away simply grew back, and, Śāntamati, all persons who consumed the flesh from the creature Saumya found their symptoms alleviated immediately upon doing so. They became well, happy, and healthy. Finally, all the diseases of the people of Jambudvīpa were eliminated.
“Śāntamati, the men, women, boys, and girls of Jambudvīpa then thought, ‘Since this creature, Saumya, well and truly freed us from illness and made us happy and healthy, we should worship it.’ They all gathered together and went to the place where they found the creature Saumya. They stretched out their arms, palms together in a gesture of salutation toward the creature Saumya, and spoke the following verse:
“At that moment the body of the creature disappeared and Śakra appeared in his own body. He then spoke these verses to the assembled people:
“From that point forward, Śāntamati, among all the men, women, boys, and girls of Jambudvīpa, not even a single person was reborn in the lower realms. Thenceforth, when the time came for them to die and be reborn, each of them was reborn in the higher realms at the same level as the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. They were delighted by the instruction in the Dharma given by Śakra, Lord of the Gods. They took it completely to heart and felt truly encouraged by it. Some of them conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening. Some of them purified the spotless and immaculate Dharma eye in regard to things. Śāntamati, this is the secret of the bodhisattvas’ body and the purity of their physical activity. In this way, by giving up a single body, they bring countless, limitless beings to maturity.”
Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then spoke further to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “The body of a bodhisattva is unbreakable, Śāntamati; it is rock-solid, strong, not subject to change, and it arises spontaneously. This body disintegrates for the sake of guiding beings who need to be guided by its disintegration. This body stays whole for the sake of guiding beings who need to be guided by its wholeness. It cannot be burned by fire or pierced by weapons. It is rock-solid and strong like true vajra—it is unbreakable.
“Śāntamati, though bodhisattvas bring beings to maturity in this way by means of the body, the bodhisattvas do not ponder or ruminate on this, for they know well that the body has the nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic. Owing precisely to the body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic, they know that things have the nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic. The body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic and the nature of all things as being devoid of a defining characteristic cannot be separated into a duality. The fact that the essential defining characteristic of the body is precisely its being devoid of a defining characteristic is the essential defining characteristic of a thing’s being devoid of a defining characteristic. Thus, the bodhisattvas conform to the nature of things as being devoid of a defining characteristic. They make their own body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic equal to the nature of all beings’ bodies as being devoid of a defining characteristic. They know that their own body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic and the nature of all beings’ bodies as being devoid of a defining characteristic is the nature of the realm of reality as being devoid of a defining characteristic. Because they do not comprehend even the smallest particle of a thing, they consequently attain the realization of the nature of the realm of reality as being devoid of a defining characteristic and also the nature of all things as being devoid of a defining characteristic.
“Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way the bodies of all beings are. Owing to the way the bodies of all beings are, they know the way their own body is. Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way all things are. Owing to the way all things are, they know the way all buddhas are. Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way the past, present, and future are. The way the past is does not contradict the way the future will be. The fact that the past, present, and future are the way they are is the way the aggregates, sense spheres, and elements are. The fact that the aggregates, sense spheres, and elements are the way they are is itself the way defiled and purified things are. The fact that defiled and purified things are the way they are is itself the way saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are. The fact that saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are the way they are is the way unconditioned things are. The fact that unconditioned things are the way they are is itself the way all conditioned things are, and the fact that they are the way they are.
“Noble son, ‘the way things are’ is the nature of this; it is the nature of that; it is the nature of not being different; it is the nature of not changing; it is the nature of not arising; it is the nature of not being in conflict; it is the nature of being without a form. The way things are has no form at all, and what has no form is called the way things are. Just as the way things are has no form, in the same way all forms have no form. Although bodhisattvas display their forms to all beings, they do not turn the way things are into a form. Even though they are formless and beyond conflict and they display diverse bodies and forms, still they do not disturb the way things are.
“With knowledge of the way things are, one reflects on the body of a realized one. Owing to its equality with the body of a realized one, one reflects on the equality of one’s own body. Owing to the fact that the body is not born at all, one correctly perceives that nobody has a body. One knows that all bodies are dependently arisen. Knowing this, one acquires the Dharma body. By acquiring the Dharma body, one becomes this very Dharma body. This is not the body of the aggregates, elements, and sense spheres. When one manifests the Dharma body, then beings benefit just by seeing it. Beings benefit just by hearing it or touching it.
“I will draw an analogy, Śāntamati. Consider how the healer, the king of physicians, collects all types of medicinal substances, and with these many medicinal substances he fashions the figure of a well-formed, beautiful, and elegant girl. Having properly enlivened and properly prepared this figure, the girl may come and go, stand, sit, and lie down, and yet she does not form ideas and she does not form conceptions. Any sick monk, king, royal minister, prince, merchant, householder, government official, or regional ruler who comes and encounters this girl made from medicinal substances by the healer, the king of physicians, will then find themselves immediately cleansed of their maladies. They will be made well and truly happy and healthy. Śāntamati, no other physician can do that. Such is the knowledge of medicine possessed by the king of physicians with regard to the diseases of the world. In the same way, Śāntamati, bodhisattvas manifest the Dharma body so that whenever any beings who are afflicted by attachment, aversion, and ignorance—whether woman, man, boy, or girl—make contact with the body of a bodhisattva, all of their afflictions will cease immediately. They will experience their bodies free from all misery. This is due to the complete purification of that bodhisattva’s previous vows. Śāntamati, this cause of manifesting the Dharma body is also a secret of the body of bodhisattvas.
“Śāntamati, the bodies of those bodhisattvas who possess the Dharma body do not grow by means of food and drink. Their bodies are not nourished even by consuming food with their mouths. Because they possess an understanding of all foods, they eat food out of compassion for beings. Though they eat food, they do not swallow it, and it does not enter their bodies. The power of the Dharma body ensures that their health does not decline or diminish in any way.
“Śāntamati, though there is no birth, death, or rebirth for a bodhisattva who has the Dharma body, they display birth, death, and rebirth in order to bring beings to maturity. Though they die, they know that all things are unconditioned and nothing dies. Though they are reborn, they know that nothing is reborn. Though they are born, they know that nothing is born. They possess the Dharma body, Dharma food, and Dharma power, and since they rely on the Dharma, they know the body of the realized ones.
“Śāntamati, the body of a realized one is a body of space, a body that is equal to that which has no equal, a body that is the most distinguished in all the three worlds, a body in possession of the way all beings are. It is incomparable. It is unique. It is pure. It is immaculate. It is a body with no affliction. It is a naturally luminous body. It is naturally a body that is not born. It is a body that is naturally not arisen. It is a body that is not bound to thought, mind, or consciousness. It is a body the essential nature of which is a magical illusion, mirage, or reflection of the moon in water. It is a body of deep reflection on emptiness, groundlessness, and desirelessness. It is a body that pervades all space throughout the ten directions. It is a body that is equal to all beings. It is an infinite, boundless body. It is a body without change or conception. It is an unwavering body, a body without conceit. It is a body that has attained the states of remaining, not remaining, and not wavering. It is a body that does not have the essential nature of form, nor does it have the essential nature of feelings, conceptions, latent tendencies, or consciousness. It cannot be broken down into its earth element, nor can it be broken down into its water element, fire element, or air element. It does not arise and will never arise. It cannot be reduced to any of the great elements. It is not arisen; it is not something that can arise. It does not accord with anything in the world. It does not appear to the eye. It does not sound in the ear. It is not detected by the nose. It cannot be identified by the tongue. It does not possess a body. It is not encountered by the mind. It does not involve thought. It does not turn toward, turn away from, or follow after mental consciousness. Śāntamati, such is the body of a realized one.
“When bodhisattvas achieve equality with the body of a realized one, they undertake the pure conduct of the bodhisattva, and they make themselves seen throughout the cosmos of a billion worlds, and on all four continents, including Jambudvīpa, as well as in all of the many villages, towns, market towns, countries, and capital cities. However, they are not seen by any of the māras, nor do they become visible to them. They make themselves seen, yet they do not appear to be seen. Though they are not seen, they appear to be seen. They cannot be made apparent by sight, hearing, realization, or cognition. They become manifest, because they bring beings to maturity, but they do not abandon their faultless application of mindfulness applied to the body. While they teach beings that the body is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and without self, they know that the true nature of the body is tranquil. They also teach beings the analysis of the body, and although they see the causes and objective supports from which the body is created, they correctly perceive that there is no creator of these causes and objective supports. They know the body to be like a blade of grass, a piece of wood, a plastered wall, a clod of earth, and a reflection, and they teach to beings the purification of actions of the body.
“Śāntamati, this is the secret of the Bodhisattva’s body and the purity of the actions of his body since the time of the realized one Dīpaṃkara. However, the teaching of the purity of the actions of the bodhisattvas of great courage is far longer than that. It could go on for thousands of eons or even longer. Śāntamati, if the Realized One were to teach the secret of the bodhisattva’s body, eons as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River would not suffice. A teaching on the secret of the bodhisattva’s body is as immeasurable and inconceivable as that.”
This was the first chapter, “On Saumya.”
[B2] Once again, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “Śāntamati, what is the secret of the Bodhisattva’s speech and the purity of his verbal action? Śāntamati, the succession of the bodhisattvas’ rebirths continues for precisely so long as beings continue to be reborn, and for as long as they continue to be reborn, these bodhisattvas make use of language. The knowledge and vision of the bodhisattvas penetrates without impediment beings’ use of language in all the ways they express linguistic utterances, verbal expressions, explanations, conventions, speeches, descriptions of reality, signs, actions, and happiness and suffering. Their knowledge and vision even penetrate the languages used by worms, mosquitoes, flies, bees, and moths. Since their knowledge and expression of language enables them to relieve the bodies and minds of beings, such verbal expressions emerge from the mouths of those bodhisattvas who know and use language. This is in accordance with the nature of things. In this respect, it should be said:
“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas is expressed in the brahmās’ voices, the śakras’ voices, and in the voices of the lokapālas. It is expressed in the voices of the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. It is expressed in the voices of all beings. It satisfies the wishes of all beings. About this, it should be said:
“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas does not contain any sense of lust; aversion; delusion; affliction; impediment; obstruction; vulgarity; foulness; callousness; abusiveness; incompleteness; harshness; attachment; anger; carelessness; animosity; contradictory words; words influenced by the various afflictions; fickleness; flattery; arrogance; haughtiness; impatience; inappropriate speech; desirous speech; words praising physical appearance; aggrandizement; contrivance; overly relaxed speech; intent to shock; exhausting speech; speech resulting from an impairment of their faculties, from diminished vitality, or from a diminished mind; disingenuousness; deficiency; opacity; coarseness; rejecting others; contradicting others; causing distress; unproductiveness; scolding others; annoying others; causing oneself or others pain; inappropriate use of words; inappropriate choice of words; insincere words; irrational words; illogical words; vicious words; inauthentic words; false speech; unjust words; quarrelsome speech; harmful speech; inopportune speech; verbosity; bad grammar; hypocrisy; obsequiousness; speech intended to gain profit; ineffective demonstration; deceiving the eye; confusing the mind; expressing doubt; laconic expression; words that cause trauma and disgust; words of scornful disregard; boastful words about one’s own point of view; words that suppress the points of view of others; words that demonstrate an obsession with self-praise; words that demonstrate resistance to the praise of others; drunken speech; scornful words; excessive boasting to others; words that do not say what is needed; counterproductive words; leaking secrets; not guarding one’s words; using words that are condemned by the wise; condemning the noble ones; attacking another with abuse; public displays of praise; describing the faults of others at inopportune moments; twisting the knife; broadcasting the faults of others; words that fail to keep one’s promises; speech expounding upon the objects of one’s pride; speech that contradicts the workings of karma; or speech in which one fails to avoid using words that do not accord with reality.
“Śāntamati, the expression of the bodhisattvas’ speech is infused with the knowledge of the supernormal faculties, and because it results from the ripening of merit, it accords with the truth. Whatever they say is just exactly so. Suppose a bodhisattva were to pass by or sit under a tree and somebody were to ask, ‘Excuse me, sir, how many leaves does this tree have?’ Without looking at the tree and without counting the leaves, the bodhisattva would then be able to say exactly how many leaves there were without overestimating or underestimating the number.
“Also, if one were to ask, ‘How many hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, hundreds of billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions, sextillions, septillions, octillions, nonillions, decillions, undecillions, and duodecillions of grains of sand are there in the Ganges?’ then, without looking or counting, the bodhisattva’s speech could declare exactly how many grains of sand there are. He knows the grains of sand to be this precise number by using the knowledge of the realized ones. Śāntamati, only the realized ones can directly perceive this. It is not directly perceptible to gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, marutas, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, disciples, or solitary buddhas.
“Śāntamati, you can understand this through the following teaching: At one point in the past, Śāntamati, there was a sage named Light and a brahmin named Śyāmaka. At that time, there was a tree called the Excellent King of Banyan Trees, which was covered by many branches and leaves. The crown of the tree was several miles in circumference and the sage, Light, dwelled beneath that tree. While he was dwelling there, he used the power of his supernormal faculties to count the leaves on the branches of the Excellent King of Banyan Trees for twelve years and seven days until he came to a realization of that knowledge. At a certain point the brahmin, Śyāmaka, had been out seeking alms in the village, and because it was midday he went beneath that banyan tree to take his meal. He came before the sage, Light, and was truly delighted to see him. Sitting together, they spoke of many topics about which they were passionate. Then, the sage, Light, said to the brahmin Śyāmaka, ‘Excuse me, brahmin, but do you think there are any humans in this world of beings who have the ability to count, directly perceive, or know the number of leaves on this Excellent King of Banyan Trees?’
“ ‘Yes, revered one, there is.’
“ ‘Brahmin, who would that be?’ asked the sage.
“The brahmin replied, ‘Revered one, I can count them.’
“ ‘Well, count them, then, brahmin!’ said the sage.
“Immediately, without having to look at the tree or count the leaves, the brahmin knew how many leaves there were. He then spoke in verse, saying:
In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma.
Translated by David Fiordalis and the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. A first draft was made from the Tibetan by Timothy Hinkle with the assistance of Tulku Tenzin Rigsang and others. David Fiordalis thoroughly revised the translation with close reference to the extant Sanskrit manuscript, as well as the Tibetan translation. Fiordalis also wrote the summary, introduction, annotations, and most of the glossary entries. Fiordalis would like to acknowledge Paul Harrison, who furnished him with his own digital images of the Sanskrit manuscript, and Péter-Dániel Szántó, who generously made his transcription of the manuscript available for readers.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Rory Lindsay and Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Jane and Leo Tong Chen, and their family.
The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya) can be called, without exaggeration, a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. It deserves to be considered a work of literature in the narrower sense of a form of verbal expression of enduring artistic merit, a work of the creative imagination that may elicit pleasure, wonder, and many other responses from an audience, and not simply in the broader sense of literature as a body of written (or oral) works in general. In that narrower sense, it is comparable to better known works of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature, such as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Toh 176), the literary merits of which are already well established, and The Play in Full (Lalitavistara, Toh 95), which deserves more recognition in this regard. Both of these latter works would seem to bear a close relationship to The Secrets of the Realized Ones in other respects as well, and it to them.
If The Teaching of Vimalakīrti is already recognized as a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature, what should we make of the fact that in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti itself, the goddess who lives in Vimalakīrti’s house informs Śāriputra (and consequently the audience) that among the eight “wonderful and marvelous things” (āścaryādbhutadharma) that occur in Vimalakīrti’s house, the seventh is the fact that countless buddhas, including Śākyamuni, come there whenever Vimalakīrti requests it and teach “the point of entry into the Dharma (dharmamukhapraveśa) named The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya)”? Also, earlier in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, when Mañjuśrī first responds to the Buddha’s request that he visit the sick bodhisattva to inquire about his health, Mañjuśrī describes Vimalakīrti as someone who has gained full access to the secrets (guhya) of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. From a text-historical point of view, at least, these passages are strong indications that The Teaching of Vimalakīrti knew The Secrets of the Realized Ones, and regarded it highly. In the current context, the fact that it is mentioned by another great work of Buddhist literature could be considered one piece of evidence of its own literary merit and status.
The Secrets of the Realized Ones also seems to have enjoyed a relatively high degree of popularity, for some time at least, among an elite group of Buddhist scholar-monks in India and abroad. It is quoted by Vasubandhu or whoever wrote The Commentary on the Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya), by Candrakīrti in The Clear Words (Prasannapadā), by Kamalaśīla in the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation (Bhāvanākrama), and by the author of the Bṛhaṭṭīkā or The Long Explanation of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. Several excerpts from it are also found in The Sūtra Anthology (Sūtrasamuccaya), the ancient anthology attributed to Nāgārjuna, and in Śāntideva’s compendium, The Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya). In addition to the references to it in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, it also seems to be referenced in The Descent into Laṅka (Laṅkāvatāra). Two longer passages from it also seem to be reworked in The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva (Bodhisattvapiṭaka, Toh 56). The sūtra is also quoted several times by whoever was responsible for The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論, *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa), the commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines attributed to Nāgārjuna and translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva at the beginning of the fifth century
Nonetheless, it may strike some readers as controversial or simply wrong to call such works as these “literature” in the first place, perhaps because of the common association of literature with fiction and religious works with nonfiction. Yet, many of the same arguments that have been used for decades to justify the claim that the Bible, whatever else it may be, is a great work of literature would hold for these works of Buddhist literature, too. Whether or not one believes that religious works such as The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dīgha Nikāya) or The Secrets of the Realized Ones portray actual historical events or individuals, it is demonstrably the case that these works contain the characteristics of sophisticated literature, such as the artful and carefully crafted use of figurative language, thematic unity, and narrative tension. One could argue further that the recognition and careful study of these literary characteristics enable one to appreciate more deeply the historical, doctrinal, and even practical significance of such literature.
While the literary dimensions of The Secrets of the Realized Ones have been emphasized above, that is not at all to suggest that the doctrinal elements are less worthy of serious and careful consideration. Indeed, the sūtra and the characters in it make some rather remarkable claims, and the doctrinal and literary dimensions are deeply interwoven throughout. For example, among the most striking claims in the sūtra is one made about the Buddha, a claim that is restated in The Descent into Laṅka and is quoted by Candrakīrti and also by the author of the Long Explanation (Bṛhaṭṭīkā) of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. At one point, Vajrapāṇi says the following:
“During the period of time, Śāntamati, from the night when the Realized One awakens to unsurpassable and perfect awakening until the night when, having relinquished his life force, the Realized One passes into complete cessation, the Realized One has not articulated and will not pronounce even a single syllable.”
If taken at face value, how can such an astonishing claim be true? Vajrapāṇi will explain further that over the same period of time the Buddha does not form any thought whatsoever but dwells in a constant state of meditative absorption. Nevertheless, Vajrapāṇi continues, various beings hear the Dharma and believe that the Buddha is speaking to them in accordance with their own aspirations and motivations. Here is an example of how the sūtra employs a literary device to explain this complex idea with a concrete analogy:
“Śāntamati, this is analogous to a well-crafted musical instrument, a wind bell, which makes a sweet sound without being touched by a hand, but rather when it is moved by the wind. It does not make any special effort to produce a sound, but still it makes a sweet sound because of the special nature of its previous preparation. In the same way, Śāntamati, a realized one’s speech comes out when it is moved by knowledge of beings’ motivations, but a realized one does not make any special effort in this regard to produce it. Rather, a realized one’s speech conforms to the sense perceptions of all beings because of the special nature of a realized one’s previous preparation.”
This is one of three analogies Vajrapāṇi uses to explain this idea, all of which are quoted in Candrakīrti’s Clear Words. It is just one example that serves to illustrate how the sūtra addresses one of the major questions posed by the work: what is the true nature of a buddha? In answering this question, the whole work could be said to promote the idea that a buddha, by the very nature of becoming awakened to the true nature of reality, exists in a state of all-pervasive, unlimited, and pure potentiality, a state that is identical to the true nature of reality itself. As a result, the Buddha simultaneously actualizes an infinite number of different forms while remaining constantly in that state of pure potentiality. The work explains the mechanism behind this process to some extent, using analogies like the one just quoted above, but at the same time it remains to a large degree mysterious or incomprehensible: it is the secret and the mystery of a realized one’s body, speech, and mind.
In this way, The Secrets of the Realized Ones expresses an idea about the Buddha that has sometimes been compared with docetism, which is the early Christian idea that the body of Jesus Christ was not a body of flesh and blood, but a phantasm. On the face of it, The Secrets of the Realized Ones would seem to make a similar claim about the body of the Buddha. Yet, its doctrinal and metaphysical framework is different enough from the one in which docetism arose that one can at least debate the appropriateness of the comparison. Nevertheless, it is a comparison that has been made and continues to be made, and thus it is worth mentioning here.
The title of the sūtra suggests that it discloses the secrets and mysteries of the Buddha, and from the point of view of its narrative, the same could be said about the one who discloses those secrets, namely Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa who is called throughout the sūtra “the lord of the guhyakas” (guhyakādhipati); that is, the lord of “the hidden ones” or perhaps even the lord of “the guardians of what is hidden.” Narratives tell of events, sequenced, structured into a plot, and featuring characters who perform actions and experience their effects. Since this narrative largely centers on Vajrapāṇi, he could be considered its protagonist or the “hero” of the story. He is called the Buddha’s constant companion, eyewitness to his many deeds, and guardian of his secrets. The Buddha tells of Vajrapāṇi’s past lives, explaining how he came to serve in that capacity and to possess such a capability. In this respect, he is put on the same level with Brahmā Sahāṃpati, who requests the Buddha to teach the Dharma. The Buddha also gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha in his own right, after which the Buddha accepts Vajrapāṇi’s invitation to come to his home for a meal. The sūtra tells of the Buddha’s visit and of the teachings the Buddha offers to the various nonhuman creatures who live in Vajrapāṇi’s abode. In this way, the sūtra develops the character of Vajrapāṇi and explains his close relationship with the Buddha.
Vajrapāṇi has been the subject of previous scholarly research, and yet he remains a mysterious figure. It is noteworthy that he makes an appearance in two suttas of the Pali canon, the Ambaṭṭha Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya and the Cūḷasaccaka Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya. Therein, he is described hovering over the heads of Ambaṭṭha and Saccaka, respectively, who are the Buddha’s interlocutors in those suttas, while brandishing his flaming vajra and threatening to break their heads into seven pieces if the proud young men do not answer the Buddha’s questions. Vajrapāṇi appears somewhat more frequently throughout Buddhist narrative literature, such as the avadānas and other story collections, as well as Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. For instance, in The Play in Full, there is a somewhat obscure passage that mentions Vajrapāṇi and “the lord of the guhyakas” together:
“Then Śakra, Lord of the Gods; the Four Great Kings; the twenty-eight great generals of the yakṣas; and the one named ‘Lord of the Guhyakas’ (guhyakādhipati) from whose yakṣa family Vajrapāṇi is arisen, having become aware of the fact that the Bodhisattva had entered his mother’s womb, all became bound to him constantly and perpetually.”
The grammar of this passage doesn’t make it entirely clear whether Vajrapāṇi or the Lord of the Guhyakas is an individual or a class of beings, or whether they are meant to be identified or not. The Indian epic literature, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, also speak of beings called guhyakas and associate them with Vaiśravaṇa or Kubera, the god of wealth. Vaiśravaṇa is himself sometimes called Lord of the Guhyakas (guhyakādhipati) therein, and the guhyakas carry his chariot. Vaiśravaṇa is also considered to be one of the Four Great Kings in Buddhist literature, and these characters feature in The Secrets of the Realized Ones as well. Furthermore, Vaiśravaṇa’s place of residence is called Alakāvatī in the Mahābhārata, while Vajrapāṇi’s place of residence is called Aḍagavatī in The Secrets of the Realized Ones, and there is even a point in this sūtra in which they seem actually to be the same place. Yet, Vaiśravaṇa and Vajrapāṇi are distinct characters in Buddhist literature. Throughout The Secrets of the Realized Ones, Vajrapāṇi is the one who is called Lord of the Guhyakas, and there seems to be a play on words in the work between guhya, “secret,” and guhyaka, maybe “keeper of what is hidden.” In general, The Secrets of the Realized Ones seems to establish some kind of close relationship between the Buddha and Vajrapāṇi, with the latter being an important representative of the heterogeneous class of nonhuman beings that serve and support the Buddha, including guhyakas, yakṣas, kinnaras, nāgas, gandharvas, and asuras.
Before concluding this section, it is also worth making a few further comments about the word tathāgata, translated throughout this work as “realized one” or capitalized “the Realized One,” when it refers specifically to the Buddha or another particular buddha. This term tathāgata has bedeviled translators for many centuries, and many translators today opt to leave it untranslated. The Tibetan translators chose to render it in a way that can be translated as “the one gone thus” (de bzhin gshegs pa), and “thus-gone one” has become a common translation into English, as well. One sometimes also finds “thus-come one,” which the grammar of the compound in Pali and Sanskrit can easily tolerate, and indeed, there is something quite compelling about the specific narrative context in which the Buddha, when he first approaches his five former companions shortly after he has attained awakening, refers to himself in the third person as “the one who has come thus” (tathāgata).
The term also comes to be used well outside this specific narrative context as one of the most common epithets of the Buddha and for the buddhas, generally speaking. In Pali literature, it is the most common way that the Buddha refers to himself, and when he does so in this way he is often also speaking by implication about the nature of a buddha in general. Oftentimes in The Secrets of the Realized Ones, however, as well as in many other contexts, it is not clear whether the speaker, such as the Buddha or Vajrapāṇi in this sūtra, is speaking in particular about the Realized One (the Buddha Śākyamuni himself), often on the basis of something the speaker has himself witnessed, or if a broader generalization is being made about the realized ones. So, when we have felt that the speaker is making a more general claim, we have sometimes translated the term tathāgata as “a realized one.” Even still, it is important for the reader to bear in mind that what goes for the Realized One in particular generally goes for all the realized ones, and vice versa.
Furthermore, the ancient Buddhist scholar-monks and commentators recognized the term tathāgata to have several semantic levels. For instance, in the Pali commentaries, the great scholar-monk Buddhaghosa offers eight different explanations of the meaning of the term. Without going into such depth of explanation here, one may note that the term suggests not only literal movement, “going” (gamana) and “coming” (āgamana), but also a sense of having “understood” (gata) or “realized” something, of becoming it or making it real. In this context, the adverb tathā, “thus” or “in that way,” is connected to tathatā, “the way things truly are.” In this way one can understand the comment made in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti about the love of a bodhisattva: “it is the love of a realized one (tathāgata), because it understands the way things truly are (tathatānubodhanatayā).” The point to be kept in mind is that whenever the term “realized one” is found in the translation—and it is found over four hundred times in this sūtra—it refers to the buddhas, to those who have come and gone in the way they do, and it carries the sense that they have understood directly the way things are, and even that this understanding has made them the way they are.
In summary, The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a work filled with entertaining stories, beautiful poetry, thought-provoking metaphors, surprising and sometimes even strange analogies and images, clever plays on words, sophisticated dialogue and argumentation, and profound insights into the nature of things and the human condition from a Buddhist point of view. It bears the marks throughout of creative imagination at work, an expert grasp of the categories and concepts of Buddhist doctrine and of its narrative and scholastic heritage, and the intent to put Buddhist concepts and concerns into a literary form.
While the narrative generally flows rather well, maintaining a sense of continuity and movement from beginning to end, The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a fairly long work. It covers just over two hundred pages in the Tibetan translation, which are divided into twenty-five chapters. The same material is divided into eleven chapters in the partially extant Sanskrit manuscript. Thus, it may be helpful for readers to have a short synopsis of its contents here.
The sūtra opens at Vulture Peak with a list of the characters in attendance and their various attributes. The Buddha Śākyamuni gives an opening teaching on the supplies (saṃbhāra) the bodhisattva must accumulate for the purpose of achieving awakening. Vajrapāṇi explains his understanding of what the Buddha has just taught, and then a bodhisattva named Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to explain the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the realized ones. Vajrapāṇi remains silent, but after the Buddha Śākyamuni intercedes on Śāntamati’s behalf, Vajrapāṇi begins to give the teaching.
Vajrapāṇi’s teaching of these secrets of bodhisattvas and of realized ones is structured in terms of their body, speech, and mind, and their mysterious or inconceivable nature. Beginning with an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s body, Vajrapāṇi provides a number of memorable images. He tells a story of the ancient past about the Buddha when he was still a bodhisattva and had been born as Śakra, King of the Gods, a close parallel telling of which is also found in the Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva. During a great pandemic, Śakra manifests himself as a magical creature that heals everyone by offering them its body to eat. Vajrapāṇi also gives an analogy that is quoted in The Training Anthology in which he compares the healing power of the bodhisattva’s body to the healing powers of a girl made from medicinal herbs by the king of physicians. In his teaching, Vajrapāṇi expounds upon the implications of the fact that bodhisattvas and buddhas possess the Dharma body (dharmakāya) and thereby manifest all forms but are bound by none. [Tibetan chapter 1 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then goes into an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s speech. The import of the teaching here is that bodhisattvas are capable of speaking and understanding all languages and teach by means of any kind of sound or means of communication whatsoever. Their speech is infused with their extraordinary knowledge and power. In this regard, Vajrapāṇi tells another past life story about Śāriputra when he was a renunciant with the incredible, superhuman knowledge to know how many leaves there are on a huge banyan tree without even looking at it or counting the leaves. [Tibetan chapter 2 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi concludes with an explanation of the secret of the bodhisattva’s mind, focusing again on the superhuman nature of the bodhisattva’s knowledge, and making the connection between the bodhisattva’s extraordinary knowledge and other qualities and traits developed by the bodhisattva over the course of the path. At the conclusion of this teaching, there is an earthquake. [Tibetan chapter 3 ends.] Then, the voice of a bodhisattva from another buddha domain is heard, and this bodhisattva appears and pays homage to the Buddha and to Vajrapāṇi. [Tibetan chapter 4 ends; hypothetical end of Sanskrit chapter 1.]
At this point, an unnamed bodhisattva asks for background information on Vajrapāṇi and how he came to serve as the Buddha’s constant companion and to possess inspired eloquence. In his answer, the Buddha tells a story of the past about a king named Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his thousand sons who take vows to become the buddhas of this Fortunate Eon, different versions of which are told in other sūtras, such as The Fortunate Eon (Bhadrakalpika) and The Lotus of Compassion (Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka). In this version of the story, the Buddha explains not only the original vow of Vajrapāṇi, which explains why Vajrapāṇi is the Buddha’s constant companion, but also that of Brahmā Sahāṃpati, who vows to request all the buddhas of this Fortunate Eon to teach the Dharma. There is also a description of the bodhisattva vow of the last of the other nine hundred and ninety-nine buddhas of this Fortunate Eon. [Tibetan chapter 5 ends.] The Buddha then explains in brief the path to awakening. [Tibetan chapter 6 ends; hypothetical end of Sanskrit chapter 2.]
Śāntamati then asks Vajrapāṇi to explain the secret of the realized ones, and Vajrapāṇi begins by telling him that the secret of the realized ones is threefold, as it pertains to the body, speech, and mind. Vajrapāṇi begins with the body, which he explains can appear as virtually anything, depending on the inclinations of the ones who are seeing it. Vajrapāṇi also explains that the Buddha possesses the Dharma body and therefore does not eat any food, even though the Buddha may appear to eat food. The body of a realized one is vast as space. Vajrapāṇi’s explanation also features a wonderful story about a bodhisattva named Vegadhārin who attempts to look down upon the top of the Buddha’s head and finds himself unable to do so, even after traveling upward through millions upon billions of worlds. [Tibetan chapter 7 ends; Sanskrit chapter 3 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then explains the secret of a realized one’s speech. Perhaps the main idea of this chapter is that the Buddha never utters a single syllable, while all beings still hear his words and understand his message in their various languages and forms of communication as a result of the operation of their own desires. This statement is quoted in The Descent into Laṅka, by Candrakīrti in his Clear Words, and by the author of the Long Explanation of the longer Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. Vajrapāṇi uses three metaphors to illustrate this idea, perhaps the most famous of which compares the Buddha’s speech to a wind chime or wind bell that makes sound when the wind passes through it. The wind here is analogous to the wishes of beings. The chapter also contains a list of the sixty qualities of a realized one’s speech, which is quoted and explained in the commentary on The Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras.
This chapter also features a rather humorous story about Maudgalyāyana, cited in The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論). He uses his superhuman powers to travel to a distant buddha domain in a futile attempt to measure the limit of the Buddha’s voice. There is also an interesting and somewhat challenging passage in which the names of the four truths of the noble ones are given in all the languages of the different god realms in order to demonstrate the way the Buddha’s message can vary while remaining the same. The chapter also contains a long list of ethnic groups in the world of the reader or imagined audience in order to show the many languages in which the Buddha’s message can be heard here in our world. The chapter concludes with a series of wonders, including an earthquake, the appearance of a great light, and a jet of water that shoots out of the ground and rises up into the heavens. [Tibetan chapter 8 ends; Sanskrit chapter 4 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then describes, in brief, the secret of a realized one’s mind: it is a mind in which no conceptual thought is generated, and yet it serves the Buddha to meet the demands of all beings. The point is made, similar to the one about the Realized One’s speech, that from the night of the Buddha’s awakening until his final nirvāṇa, the Buddha experiences no modification of mind whatsoever. [Tibetan chapter 9 ends.] This concludes Vajrapāṇi’s explanation of the secrets of the realized ones, after which Śāriputra asks the Buddha whether it is true that Vajrapāṇi appears behind each and every bodhisattva leading the holy life throughout the cosmos. The Buddha enables Śāriputra to see Vajrapāṇi standing not only behind the Buddha himself but also behind Maitreya, and then he explains that Vajrapāṇi stands behind all the magically created forms of all the bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon, due to the power of his vow and his superhuman powers. [Tibetan chapter 10 ends; Sanskrit chapter 5 ends.]
The above comprises almost the first half of the sūtra. Next, Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to describe four events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Vajrapāṇi does so, and describes in detail various wonders and episodes related to these events. In the presentation of these events, there are some close similarities with versions found in other sūtras, particularly The Play in Full, but Vajrapāṇi’s telling emphasizes the fact that different beings perceive these events differently based on their own needs and suppositions. For instance, when the Buddha delivers the first sermon, Vajrapāṇi notes that the innumerable beings on hand to witness the event hear different teachings about different topics, based on their own thoughts and motivations. [Tibetan chapters 11 through 14 end.] After Vajrapāṇi completes his description of these events, the Buddha affirms the accuracy of Vajrapāṇi’s retelling. [Sanskrit chapter 6 ends.]
Then, after being prompted by Śāntamati, the Buddha offers some teachings of his own on the nature of calming the mind or bringing it to rest, as well as bringing one’s emotions and, indeed, all things to rest. It is a highly sophisticated dialogue that takes one deeply into the philosophy of emptiness and its connection to other elements of Buddhist doctrine, including the explanation of the process of cognition whereby the mind generates thoughts on the basis of specific objects or bases of cognition (ālaṃbana). This chapter is quoted at some length by Candrakīrti in The Clear Words, a few lines are quoted by Śāntideva in The Training Anthology, and Kamalaśīla also quotes from it in the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation. [Tibetan chapter 15 ends.] After this teaching, some bodhisattvas desire to know when Vajrapāṇi will become a buddha. Knowing their thoughts in his mind, the Buddha then smiles and gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening. [Tibetan chapter 16 ends; Sanskrit chapter 7 ends.]
This prediction then becomes the basis for a profound and rather complex dialogue between Śāntamati and Vajrapāṇi, reminiscent of certain dialogues in The Teaching of Vimalakīrti. In this dialogue, Śāntamati makes assertions and poses questions largely from a conventional point of view, beginning with the assertion that Vajrapāṇi has just received a prediction of his future awakening. Vajrapāṇi, on the other hand, responds to Śāntamati’s assertions and answers his questions from the standpoint of emptiness. The logic of the exchange employs a number of puns and plays on words, stretching the ordinary and technical meanings of terms and relying on dual meanings to argue for the nondual and empty nature of all phenomena. In some ways, the dialogue constitutes a further explanation of the paradoxical claims made earlier that the Buddha does not speak a word and yet the Dharma is expressed nonetheless. [Tibetan chapter 17 ends.]
Vajrapāṇi then invites the Buddha to his home for a meal. The Buddha agrees, and Vajrapāṇi goes home to prepare for the Buddha’s visit. The whole episode includes a rather ornate series of miraculous performances, a marvelous display that again bears some similarities with wonders described elsewhere in Buddhist literature. The Buddha arrives and has a meal. [Tibetan chapter 18 ends.] Afterward, he gives a profound and difficult teaching on the Dharma to the nonhuman and divine beings gathered there, touching upon a variety of complex topics in the Buddhist philosophy of the path, organized around a number of themes and concepts, including the nature of faith or strong belief, how a person can know if a teacher is a true companion in the good, the twelvefold chain of dependent arising and its connection to emptiness, and the nature and benefit of being watchful and attentive to one’s thoughts. Parts of this teaching are quoted in both The Sūtra Anthology and The Training Anthology, and there is also a long parallel with The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva. Toward the end of the sermon, the four Lokapālas ask for a teaching on how to protect the world, which the Buddha gives to them in such a way that it forms a kind of synopsis of many key elements of Buddhist doctrine. [Tibetan chapter 19 ends.] As the Buddha gets ready to leave Vajrapāṇi’s abode, he asks Vajrapāṇi to recite a dhāraṇī for the protection and preservation of the Dharma, which Vajrapāṇi does, and then the Buddha returns to Vulture Peak. [Tibetan chapter 20 ends.]
Once the Buddha has returned to Vulture Peak, King Ajātaśatru comes to visit him, and he asks him a series of questions about Vajrapāṇi and the reasons why the Buddha visited his home. In response, the Buddha tells a past life story about a bodhisattva named Śūrabala, which serves to explain the reason for or source of Vajrapāṇi’s marvelous inspired eloquence. This story contains some rather complex teachings in the dialogue narrated by the Buddha between Śūrabala and a past buddha named Vaiśramaṇa about the nature of the bodhisattva path and the paradoxical nature of the bodhisattva’s field of action, a dialogue that concludes with a series of artful metaphors by Śūrabala. [Tibetan chapter 21 ends; Sanskrit chapter 9 ends.]
The next chapter features an entertaining episode in which Vajrapāṇi sets his vajra on the ground, and Ajātaśatru, Śakra, and Maudgalyāyana all try to lift it. None of them is able to do so. The Buddha then directs Vajrapāṇi to lift the vajra, which he does as a demonstration of his extraordinary power. He then throws it into the air, and after it circles the cosmos several times, it returns to him, like Thor’s hammer. The episode prompts a discussion of how it is possible for a bodhisattva to attain such incredible power. This, again, leads to another profound dialogue between the Buddha and Ajātaśatru on the natural consequences of practicing the Buddhist path. [Tibetan chapter 22 ends; Sanskrit chapter 10 ends.]
After this dialogue between the Buddha and the king has concluded, Śāntamati and Vajrapāṇi return to the foreground of the narrative. Śāntamati asks Vajrapāṇi to request the Buddha to empower the teachings given in the sūtra so that they will last for a long time. This request forms the basis of a dialogue on the nature and means of remembering the Dharma, taking into account the ultimate perspective that nothing is truly grasped or retained. During the conversation, a god named Bhadrarāja stands up and offers some perspectives on the nature of the inspired eloquence needed to teach the Dharma. [Tibetan chapter 23 ends.]
Śāntamati asks the Buddha to explain how Bhadrarāja could possess such inspired eloquence, and the Buddha responds by exploring the connection between inspired eloquence and the development of a powerful memory and the mnemonic formulas that support it (dhāraṇī). The Buddha explains that Bhadrarāja possesses a powerful mnemonic formula that affords him the ability to teach the Dharma with inspired eloquence. What follows is another dazzling display of word play as the Buddha explains how this mnemonic formula provides access to the nature of reality as well as the true teachings. Bhadrarāja underscores the Buddha’s teaching with a series of beautiful analogies about the bodhisattva who has acquired a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. [Tibetan chapter 24 ends.]
The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and a second one by the Buddha. Both of them are spoken for the purpose of preserving the Dharma and seemingly this sūtra in particular. Afterward, the Buddha tells one more brief story from a past life of his own, about the value of remembering the Dharma. He then asks the audience to remember this sūtra. Various characters come forward and promise to do so, and finally the Buddha entrusts the sūtra to Ānanda and directs him to teach it to others. This draws the sūtra to a close. [Tibetan chapter 25 ends; Sanskrit chapter 11 ends.]
This sūtra seems to have been known by several different titles, and this has led at times to confusion and the need to disambiguate it from other works. The most stable title of the sūtra, the one most used across a variety of sources, appears to be its shorter title, The Secret(s) of the Realized One(s) (Tathāgataguhya). For this reason, we have referred to the work mostly by this shorter form of the title throughout this introduction and translation.
The question of how to understand and translate its fuller title, as it is given in the Tibetan translation and in a Sanskrit transliteration in the Kangyur, is a somewhat complicated issue. The Tibetan translation gives the title in Tibetan as ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, and it renders the title in Sanskrit as Āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśa. These titles correspond closely to one another, except for the fact that the order of the Sanskrit words corresponding to gsang ba and bsam gyis mi khyab pa—that is, guhya and acintya, respectively—are reversed in the Sanskrit title. There are various ways to account for the difference. The key issue is to decide on an interpretation of the relationship between these words. Since both terms can be used as a noun or an adjective, it must be decided if one is functioning as a noun and the other as an adjective, or if they should both be understood as nouns.
To answer this basic grammatical question, it is useful to consider the different titles the Buddha gives for this sūtra at the end of the sūtra itself, other key passages found in the sūtra, and the way other Indian Buddhist texts and authors refer to it. To take the last point first, The Commentary on the Adornment to the Mahāyāna Sūtras refers to the sūtra by the title Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa, The Teaching of the Lord of the Guhyakas. In The Clear Words, Candrakīrti calls it Āryatathāgataguhyasūtra, The Noble Sūtra of the Secret(s) of the Realized One(s). So does Kamalaśīla. In Śāntideva’s Training Anthology, too, it is called the Tathāgataguhya Sūtra. And then beyond the Indian Buddhist texts extant in Sanskrit, The Sūtra Anthology (in Tibetan translation) and The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (in Chinese) also seem to refer to it in the same way Candrakīrti, Kamalaśīla, and Śāntideva do.
At the end of the sūtra itself, in a passage for which the Sanskrit is not extant, Ānanda asks the Buddha by what title the sūtra should be remembered, and the Buddha gives four different titles: (1) lag na rdo rje’i le’u (*Vajrapāṇiparivarta, The Chapter of Vajrapāṇi); (2) de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bstan pa’i le’u (*Tathāgataguhyanirdeśaparivarta, The Chapter of the Teaching of the Secret(s) of the Realized One(s)); (3) sangs rgyas kyi chos bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa (*Acintyabuddhadharmanirdeśa, The Teaching of the Mysterious/Inconceivable Qualities of the Buddha(s)); and (4) bsod nams tshad med pa ’byung ba (*Apramāṇapuṇyodaya, The Arising of Immeasurable Merit). None of these titles corresponds precisely to the full title of the sūtra as it is given in Tibetan or Sanskrit by the canonical Tibetan translation, nor to the shorter Sanskrit title by which the sūtra is often known.
However, there is another passage found earlier in the text in which the phrase tathāgatakāyaguhyācintyanirdeśa is extant in the Sanskrit manuscript. While the corresponding Tibetan translation of this phrase, de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, lacks the word for kāya (“body”), it is otherwise identical to it, and it is identical as well to the main part of the Tibetan title given for the sūtra as a whole. Furthermore, in another passage near the beginning of the sūtra, for which the Sanskrit is unfortunately lacking, Vajrapāṇi speaks of four “inconceivables” or “mysteries” (bsam gyis mi khyab pa ’di bzhi), one of which is “the mystery of the buddha(s)” (sangs rgyas bsam gyis mi khyab pa). Here, the term translated as “mystery”—that is, something incomprehensible or inconceivable—would seem to be used as a noun and as a shorter form of the phrase “the mysterious qualities of the buddha(s)” (sangs rgyas kyi chos bsam gyis mi khyab pa, *acintyabuddhadharma). It also appears to be used here almost as a synonym for the word guhya—that is, something “hidden” or “concealed,” or a “secret.”
Based on the evidence above, it looks as though the full title in the Tibetan translation may be the result of a process of development based on a combination of at least two of the ways the text refers to itself and to its subject matter. The terms guhya (gsang ba) and acintya (bsam gyis mi khyab pa) can be used as nouns and as near synonyms or close equivalents. That is to say, “the incomprehensible or mysterious qualities of the buddhas” (acintyabuddhadharma) are basically equivalent to “the secrets of the realized ones” (tathāgataguhya). At the same time, both terms can function as adjectives of one another, and thus it is still possible to understand the relevant phrases in the title as either “secret/hidden mysteries” or “mysterious/incomprehensible (number of) secrets.” Given all these possibilities, we have simply chosen to translate the phrase as if both terms were used as nouns and as near synonyms, and thus we have translated the long title as The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones.
At the same time, we should remember that the sūtra has been called The Teaching of the Lord of the Guhyakas (Guhyakādhipatinirdeśa), and the Buddha calls it The Chapter of Vajrapāṇi (*Vajrapāṇiparivarta) in the sūtra itself. Since Vajrapāṇi is called the Lord of the Guhyakas throughout the sūtra and he is arguably its main protagonist, as well as being the speaker of the majority of the teachings in the sūtra, it is easy to understand why it has acquired these titles. However, they also highlight the need to understand the relationship between the words guhya and guhyaka, as well as the relationship between the guhyakas and Vajrapāṇi, which is not a straightforward matter, as we have seen above.
There is still one more wrinkle to mention regarding the titles of the sūtra. At some point, it seems that the sūtra also came to be known by the title Tathāgataguhyaka. This is the title given to the manuscript G10765 by the archivists at the Asiatic Society in Bengal, perhaps because this phrase is part of the description of the work in the colophon to the final chapter, or perhaps it was because the first page of the manuscript seems to be from the Guhyasamāja Tantra, which for some reason also seems to have gone by the name Tathāgataguhyaka in Nepal. This has given rise to some confusion, such that Maurice Winternitz, who translated a couple of the passages from The Secrets of the Realized Ones that are quoted in The Training Anthology, felt it necessary to disambiguate this work from the Guhyasamāja Tantra. Precisely why the Guhyasamāja Tantra came to be known as the Tathāgataguhyaka in Nepal, apart from the fact that it also discusses the secrets of the body, speech, and mind of the realized ones, as well as the precise nature of the broader intertextual relationship between the Tathāgataguhya Sūtra, translated here, and the various Buddhist tantras, are topics that await further investigation.
One might still pose the question, if The Secrets of the Realized Ones is such a great work of Buddhist literature and had such an influence, why does it seem to have fallen into obscurity at a later point in time, even as the transmission and study of other Buddhist sūtras continued to flourish? It is true that a text called the Tathāgataguhyaka came to be listed among the nine dharmas or books (grantha) of Newari Buddhism in Nepal sometime in the early to middle of the second millennium, which suggests it may have continued to enjoy a high status there for some time. This conclusion, however, is mitigated by the fact that it is not clear whether this title was initially meant to refer to this sūtra or to the Guhyasamāja Tantra, which also came to be known in Nepal as the Tathāgataguhyaka. So, the popularity of this sūtra in Nepal is not a given; yet, neither can the possibility of its popularity there be entirely discounted. If it was meant to be one of the nine dharmas at one time, then perhaps the lack of availability of the sūtra as a complete manuscript contributed to its replacement by the Guhyasamāja Tantra in the list of nine dharmas at a later point, or perhaps it was not meant to be one of the nine dharmas in the first place. These historical questions require more research, as do the questions of its reception and influence in the Buddhist traditions of Tibet and East Asia.
If the lack of attention it has so far received from modern scholarship is any indication, however, then evidently the sūtra fell into relative obscurity at some point. If one were to indulge in further speculation, perhaps the fact that The Teaching of Vimalakīrti features a wealthy layman contributed to its popularity in China, which in turn led to the greater attention it has received to this point from modern scholars in Japan and the West. By contrast, the main character of The Secrets of the Realized Ones is a powerful, enigmatic, and somewhat threatening nonhuman creature who brandishes a mighty weapon. While Vajrapāṇi may be a crucial figure in the history of Buddhist literature for several reasons, including his association with the preservation and promulgation of the tantras, perhaps The Secrets of the Realized Ones came to be superseded at some point by other works, or perhaps Vajrapāṇi’s enigmatic status lessened its popularity over time. Then again, maybe it is just an accidental occurrence over the long history of Buddhism that The Secrets of the Realized Ones has only recently begun to receive the renewed attention it deserves.
Whatever the case may be, apart from a few notable exceptions, it is only since 2012 or so that the sūtra has begun to receive much more than a cursory footnote or simple acknowledgement of its existence in published scholarly research. The most sustained scholarly attention has come from Japanese and Chinese scholars, particularly from the Japanese scholar Ikuma Hiromitsu 伊久間洋光, who has published more than fifteen articles on the sūtra since 2012, as well as completing a doctoral dissertation on it in 2019. During this time, a handful of other scholars in East Asia have also published short studies of it, while Hamano Tetsunori 滨野哲敬 published a brief article on it in 1987. Among scholars in Europe, the Belgian scholar Étienne Lamotte devoted a short section to it in his longer article on the history of Vajrapāṇi in India, which he published in 1966. Additionally, in December 2021, a complete English translation of the eleventh-century Chinese translation of the sūtra was self-published by Shaku Shingan and made available online. About a month earlier, Péter-Dániel Szántó, then of the Open Philology Project at Leiden University, made available online his unpublished diplomatic edition of the partial Sanskrit manuscript of the sūtra held by the Asiatic Society in Kolkata, on which see below.
A single, incomplete Nepalese manuscript of the sūtra in the original Sanskrit is held in the library of the Asiatic Society in Kolkata, India. This paper manuscript has been dated to approximately the seventeenth century, and it preserves about 47 percent of the whole sūtra, according to Szántó’s estimation based on a comparison with the complete Tibetan translation. The various citations of the sūtra in other texts for which there is Sanskrit, including The Clear Words, The Training Anthology, The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisattva, and the third Stages of Meditative Cultivation, increase this percentage slightly, while the repetition of words and phrases within the sūtra also increases the percentage of the text for which one can be fairly confident about the underlying source text.
The colophon to the complete canonical Tibetan translation states that the sūtra was translated by Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Munivarman, along with the translator-monk Yeshé Dé, all of whom flourished in the late eighth and early ninth centuries
The Secrets of the Realized Ones was also translated into Chinese twice. The first translation (Taishō 310–3) is said to have been completed in 280
This English translation has been made on the basis of the preserved Sanskrit manuscript, the quotations preserved in other texts for which there is Sanskrit, and the complete Tibetan translation. For the Tibetan text, the Degé edition was used as the basis, but variations attested in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) were also consulted, and for large portions of the text, the Stok Palace edition was also read for comparison. The footnotes to the translation primarily describe differences between these various witnesses to the text, while also giving various notes on the translation of specific terms and phrases, intertextual references to other primary sources, and references to scholarly work. Unfortunately, the two Chinese translations were not taken into account as part of the translation or editing process.
[B1] Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha together with a great monastic assembly of forty-two thousand monks, as well as eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas of great courage, who were well known on account of their fame, a great many of whom had come from other buddha domains. All of them had attained the state of acceptance. They could not be turned back. They were limited to only one more life. They had acquired a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. They had acquired states of meditative concentration. Their inspired eloquence was without impediment. They were adept at traveling to limitless buddha domains throughout the ten directions. They had made child’s play of the forms of knowledge including the supernormal faculties. They were undefeated in argument by any and all proponents of rival doctrines. They had vanquished their adversaries and Māra in all his forms.
They knew the outcome of the conduct, motivations, and intentions of all beings. They were skilled in knowing their faculties to be of a greater or lesser caliber. They had gained access to the guiding principles of all the perfections. They had reached perfection of the most perfect mastery of skill in means. They were praised, lauded, and extolled by all the buddhas. They had come to the end of the endless path to awakening, which spans countless trillions of eons. Their minds were like earth, water, wind, and fire. They were fully engaged in a practice of the meditation on love that was limitless like space. They had risen above being disturbed, carried away, or overwhelmed by any object of attachment. They had obtained the body of a Nārāyaṇa. Their bodies were rock-solid and unbreakable as vajra.
They roared the great lion’s roar. They had mastered the self-assurance needed to stand out in every assembly. They outshone the sun and moon. They had attained the understanding that in reality all things are the same across the three times. They were adept at giving instructions with knowledge of the profound exegesis of the Dharma. By comprehending dependent arising they had abandoned the two extremes—the views that things are eternal and that they come to a complete end. They were adept at bringing about the emergence and stabilization of the meditations, the liberations, the concentrations, and the absorptions. Their voices resounded throughout the ten directions. They were in full possession of the treasury of jewels of the true Dharma. They made sure the lineage of the Three Jewels remained unbroken. They were fully equipped with a truly endless supply of merit and knowledge.
Among those eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas were the bodhisattvas named Candrottara, Candraketu, Śaśiketu, Prabhāketu, Prabhāśrī, Śrīkūṭa, Śrīgupta, He Whose Power Is Great, Nāganandin, Nāgottara, Nāgadatta, He Who Possesses a Beautiful Form, Marudeva, Guṇadīparāja, Dīpahasta, Nityotpalakṛtahasta, Nityotkṣiptahasta, Ratnamudrāhasta, Ratnapāṇi, Total Illumination, Nakṣatrarāja, Vajrapāṇi, Vajramati, He Whose Great Intelligence Is Strong as a Vajra, Vajravikrāmin, Sthirapadavikrāmin, Trailokyavikrāmin, Anantavikrāmin, Anantamati, Sāgaramati, Dṛḍhamati, He Whose Intelligence Is His Treasure, Uttaramati, Viśeṣamati, Vardhamānamati, Ever Faithful, Ever-Laughing and Joyful Lord, Apāyajaha, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, He Who Possesses a Refined and Immaculate Splendor, Uttaptavīrya, Prajñākūṭa, Always Watching, Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Merukūṭa, Gaganagañja, Unwavering Gaze, Inexpressible One, Sublime Jewel, Jewel Mind, He Who Has Thought Well, Suvicintitārtha, He Whose Intelligence Rests on What Is Certain, Dharaṇīśvararāja, Dharaṇīdhara, Vyūharāja, Kṣetrālaṃkṛta, Ratnākara, Guhyagupta, Indradeva, Varuṇa, Brahmajālin, the bodhisattva Jālinīprabha, Devamukuṭa, Subāhu, Sunetra, Gandhahastin, Gajagandhahastin, Siṃhaketu, Siddhārthamati, Sārathi, Śāntamati, Maitreya, and Prince Mañjuśrī.
Also present in the assembly were Śakra, Brahmā, and the Lokapālas of this cosmos of a billion worlds, as well as various other supreme deities, nāga lords, yakṣa lords, gandharva lords, asura lords, garuḍa lords, kinnara lords, and mahoraga lords, all of whom were renowned for their sovereign authority. Among them, the nāga king Anavatapta, as well as Sāgara, Varuṇa, Manasvin, Takṣaka, Hemavarṇa, Endless Colors, Susīma, and many hundreds of thousands of other nāga kings with their retinues had joined the assembly in order to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. The asura lords, such as Rāhu, Vemacitra, Subāhu, Sāla, Tāla, Śambara, Prahlāda, and The Huge One, as well as other yakṣas and asura lords and their retinues, had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. King Ajātaśatru, the women from the king’s inner chambers, and his relatives had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. Moreover, the fourfold assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma. The gods who live in the sky, along with the gods from the realms of desire and form, as well as those gods from the pure abodes had also joined the assembly to see the Blessed One, to honor him, to worship him, to serve him, and to hear the Dharma.
On that occasion, surrounded by and at the head of an assembly of countless hundreds of thousands, the Blessed One taught the Dharma on the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage so that they could completely fill their stores. This is what he said:
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of generosity serves the purpose of bringing beings to maturity. The bodhisattvas’ supply of moral conduct serves the purpose of fulfilling their vows. The bodhisattvas’ supply of patience serves the purpose of acquiring the major and minor marks of a great person. The bodhisattvas’ supply of heroic effort serves the purpose of acquiring all the qualities of a buddha. The bodhisattvas’ supply of meditation serves the purpose of acquiring the mind of one who is well bred. The bodhisattvas’ supply of wisdom serves the purpose of eliminating all the afflictions.
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of teaching the Dharma serves the purpose of removing impediments to their inspired eloquence. The bodhisattvas’ supply of merit serves the purpose of sustaining all beings. The bodhisattvas’ supply of knowledge serves the purpose of removing impediments to their knowledge. The bodhisattvas’ supply of calm abiding serves the purpose of making the mind ready for any endeavor. The bodhisattvas’ supply of deep insight serves the purpose of becoming free from doubt.
“The bodhisattvas’ supply of love serves the purpose of ridding the mind of malice. The bodhisattvas’ supply of compassion serves the purpose of ridding the mind of despondency. Their supply of joy serves the purpose of finding happiness and satisfaction in the supreme joy of the Dharma. Their supply of equanimity serves the purpose of ridding themselves of attachment and aversion. The bodhisattvas’ supply of hearing the Dharma serves the purpose of becoming free from hindrances. The bodhisattvas’ supply of leaving home for the ascetic life serves the purpose of casting aside all their belongings. The bodhisattvas’ supply of dwelling in the forest serves the purpose of not squandering the work they have already done.
“Their supply of mindfulness serves the purpose of attaining a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. Their supply of intelligence serves the purpose of developing a discerning mind. Their supply of comprehension serves the purpose of enabling them to conform with their comprehension of the true meaning. Their supply of the applications of mindfulness serves the purpose of carefully observing the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects. Their supply of right effort serves the purpose of ridding themselves of all vicious qualities and filling up their reserves of all virtuous qualities.
“Their supply of the foundations for superhuman power serves the purpose of making the body and mind agile. Their supply of the five spiritual faculties serves the purpose of knowing beings’ faculties to be of a greater or lesser caliber. Their supply of the five powers serves the purpose of not being crushed under the weight of all the afflictions. Their supply of the constitutive factors of awakening serves the purpose of becoming awake to the true nature of all things.
“Their supply of the path serves the purpose of going beyond all bad paths. Their supply of the truths serves the purpose of acquiring an unshakeable knowledge of the true nature of things. Their supply of the special modes of knowledge serves the purpose of dispelling the doubts of all beings. Their supply of reliance serves the purpose of acquiring a knowledge that does not rely upon anyone else. Their supply of companions in what is good serves the purpose of becoming a source for the development of all good qualities.
“Their supply of motivation serves the purpose of keeping their word to all people. Their supply of ambition serves the purpose of becoming a superior being. Their supply of practice serves the purpose of bringing to completion everything they have begun. Their supply of seclusion serves the purpose of not wasting the teachings just as they have heard them. Their supply of the means of drawing others to oneself serves the purpose of bringing beings to maturity. Their supply of possession of the true Dharma serves the purpose of making sure the lineage of the Three Jewels remains unbroken. Their supply of mastery of the dedication of merit serves the purpose of purifying a buddha domain. The supply of the bodhisattvas’ mastery of skill in means serves the purpose of perfecting the knowledge of an omniscient one.”
Thus the Blessed One gave to the bodhisattvas of great courage a detailed formulation of the Dharma known as the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies.
As the Blessed One was giving this teaching, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was seated on his right-hand side while holding up his vajra. When the Blessed One had finished, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, said to him, “It is marvelous, Blessed One, how well the Realized One has expressed this formulation of the Dharma on the collection of gateways into the purity of the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage. If I were to state what I understood to be the import of the Blessed One’s words, then, Blessed One, I would say that all the supplies of the bodhisattvas of great courage are subsumed within the supplies of merit and knowledge, and can be accessed in this way.
“The reason for this, Blessed One, is that the supply of merit of bodhisattvas of great courage provides a foundation for all their accomplishments, and their supply of knowledge makes all beings satisfied with what has been well said. Therefore, Blessed One, bodhisattvas of great courage should make efforts to acquire the supplies of merit and knowledge. The reason for this, Blessed One, is that the supply of merit brings to completion the perfection that is the bodhisattvas’ mastery of skill in means. The supply of knowledge brings to completion their perfection of wisdom. These two paths of the bodhisattvas’ conduct serve the purpose of bringing together all paths.
“A bodhisattva who is on the path is difficult for the evil Māra to defeat, and the bodhisattva who has stepped beyond the path of Māra cannot be turned back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening. To such an irreversible bodhisattva, the blessed buddhas teach the secrets of the realized ones without concealing anything.”
Then the bodhisattva Śāntamati said to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Lord of the Guhyakas, you have been a close attendant and constant companion of the Realized One. Lord of the Guhyakas, the places containing the secrets of the realized ones are not within the purview of the disciples or the solitary buddhas, so what need is there to speak of their being within the purview of ordinary beings either. Would you please use your inspired eloquence to shine light on them for us?”
When this was said, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, remained silent. So the bodhisattva Śāntamati, understanding that Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was going to remain silent, spoke to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, would you please encourage Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, to give a teaching here in the assembly about the secrets of the realized ones? If the bodhisattvas of great courage could hear such a teaching, they would be delighted and they would work to acquire the constitutive factors of awakening and become diligent in the practice of perfecting the secrets of the realized ones.”
The Blessed One then said to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Lord of the Guhyakas, the assembly wishes to hear about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones. Therefore, I request you to use your inspired eloquence to shine light on the secrets of the realized ones for this assembly.”
Vajrapāṇi replied to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, I will give a teaching about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones to whatever small degree that I have understood them, and this much through the majestic power and the empowering authority of the Buddha. Indeed, Blessed One, just as the empowering authority of a lamp can make all forms visible in the darkest depths of night, in that same way, Blessed One, through the majestic power and empowering authority of the Buddha, I will explain the secrets of the bodhisattvas and the secrets of the realized ones according to the small degree that I have understood them.”
Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then said to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, “Noble son, make sure that when you hear about the secrets of the bodhisattvas and realized ones, you do not become frightened, afraid, or terrified, and that you remain properly seated in the assembly.”
Then the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, said to the entire assembly, “Friends, the Realized One has spoken of four mysteries. They are the mystery of action, the mystery of speech, the mystery of concentration, and the mystery of a buddha. Furthermore, friends, after having awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening, the Buddha set forth these four mysteries. Among these four, he has taught that the mystery of a realized one is the foremost. Friends, when you hear of the mystery of a bodhisattva and the mystery of a realized one, do not become frightened, afraid, or terrified. Instead, when you hear of them, you should generate an abundance of pleasure, serene faith, and great joy.”
This statement by the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, made the entire assembly eager to hear about the secrets of the realized ones, and in order to empower the assembly with empowering authority he then scattered heavenly flowers among the retinue until they covered the ground up to everyone’s knees.
Then Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati: “In that case, Śāntamati, listen well and pay close attention. I will now explain the secret places of the bodhisattvas. Śāntamati, I have served as the Realized One’s close attendant from the time when he, as a bodhisattva, received the prediction of his future unsurpassable and perfect awakening from the realized one, the blessed Dīpaṃkara. Since that time, I never witnessed any alteration of the bodhisattva’s body or any physical artifice whatsoever. I never heard any alteration of the bodhisattva’s speech or any flattery either. I never witnessed any alteration of the bodhisattva’s mind or any dissimulation either. He brought beings to maturity with his body and the demeanor of his body, and thus he did not speak at all. In order to bring beings to maturity, his bodily demeanor manifested itself infinitely and endlessly.
“Śāntamati, the bodhisattvas’ bodily demeanor conforms to the bodily demeanor of all beings, spontaneously and effortlessly. For example, to beings who need to be guided by concentration, they show the conduct of concentration. To beings who need to be guided through playing stringed instruments and singing songs, they show the conduct of playing stringed instruments and singing songs. To beings who need to be guided by boys, they show the conduct of boys. To beings who need to be guided by girls, they show the conduct of girls. To beings who need to be guided by women, they show the conduct of women. To beings who need to be guided by men, they show the conduct of men. To beings who need to be guided by those who are young, they show the conduct of the young. To beings who need to be guided by those who are middle-aged, they show the conduct of the middle-aged. To beings who need to be guided by those who are elderly, they show the conduct of the elderly.
“To beings who need to be guided by those whose limbs are deformed or missing, they show the conduct of those whose limbs are deformed or missing. To beings who need to be guided by untouchables whose hands or feet have been cut off, they show the conduct of untouchables whose hands or feet have been cut off. To beings who need to be guided by those who are mentally or physical disabled, they show the conduct of the mentally and physically disabled. To beings who need to be guided by the blind and deaf, they show the conduct of the blind and deaf.
“To beings who need to be guided by the appearance of hell beings, they show the conduct of hell beings. To beings who need to be guided by beings in the animal realm, or those in the realm of Yama, or by human beings, they show the conduct of beings in the animal realm, or those in the realm of Yama, or human beings. To beings who need to be guided by gods, they show the conduct of gods. To beings who need to be guided by nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, or mahoragas, they show the conduct of nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. To beings who need to be guided by a śakra, they show the conduct of a śakra. To beings who need to be guided by a brahmā, they show the conduct of a brahmā. To beings who need to be guided by the lokapālas, they show the conduct of the lokapālas. To beings who need to be guided by cakravartins, they show the conduct of cakravartins. To beings who need to be guided by monks, they show the conduct of monks. To beings who need to be guided by nuns, they show the conduct of nuns. To beings who need to be guided by laymen, they show the conduct of laymen. To beings who need to be guided by laywomen, they show the conduct of laywomen. To beings who need to be guided by disciples, they show the conduct of disciples. To beings who need to be guided by solitary buddhas, they show the conduct of solitary buddhas. To beings who need to be guided by bodhisattvas, they show the conduct of bodhisattvas, and to beings who need to be guided by realized ones, they show the conduct of realized ones. However, none of that applies to beings in the formless realm.
“Śāntamati, in this manner the bodhisattvas’ physical appearance, caste, and demeanor conform spontaneously and involuntarily to the physical appearance, caste, and demeanor of all beings. In this respect, even though bodhisattvas, who do not form concepts and are in a state of equanimity, display their physical demeanors with their bodies, they do not deviate from the true nature of the body. Although they perform physical actions with their bodies, they do not lose sight of the separateness of the body. They bring joy to all hell beings with the radiance of their bodies brought about by the purification of their bodies. With no concern for their bodies, they offer their own flesh to satisfy carnivorous beings who desire meat for sustenance. They do so despite the fact that in giving their flesh to such beings they give up their lives in the process. They give their blood to those who drink blood, their bones to those who devour bones, and their physical vitality to those who consume the body’s vitality.
“Śāntamati, they nourish all beings with whatever kind of bodily nourishment they require, and do so from their own bodies, even at the cost of their lives. The infinitude of their bodies is not exhausted because it proceeds from the infinite nature of the realm of reality. Their realization of inexhaustible bodies arises because they are well acquainted with the realization of the inexhaustible nature of dependent origination. They bring beings to maturity with their bodies.
“In front of beings who actively pursue sense pleasures, who are attached to the signs and images of beauty, they appear as well-formed, beautiful, and attractive female bodies. When these beings become inflamed with passion, they caress them, massage them with oil, and sit on their laps. Then, as they are sitting on these men’s laps, they wither and decay. They become putrid and foul-smelling corpses so that those men become disenchanted and push them aside, but then the teaching of the Dharma issues from those corpses in such a way that those men become impossible to turn back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening.
“Furthermore, Śāntamati, such bodhisattvas can pervade this cosmos of a billion worlds with their body. They can cover it with a jeweled parasol or even with their finger just like someone can cover a mustard seed with a fingertip. Even if their finger were to cover the fire that consumes the cosmos at the end of a cosmic age, their body would not be harmed.
“With their bodies, they worship and serve the blessed buddhas. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they offer flowered parasols and baskets of flowers as large as Mount Meru. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they light a lamp with this cosmos of a billion worlds as the vessel filled with fragrant oil and a blazing wick the size of Mount Meru. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they light as many lamps as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges. In the act of worshiping the realized ones, they wrap their very own bodies in linen cloth soaked with oil and clarified butter, and then they set it aflame, and when they are blazing, the fire emits a great light that pervades as many buddha realms as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges. Beings see it and recognize it, and when they see the majesty of such bodhisattvas, immeasurable, countless numbers of beings conceive the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening.
“To beings made haughty by pride, conceit, and arrogance, these bodhisattvas make themselves appear in the form of Vajrapāṇi, a Nārāyaṇa, or a being with a great physique. These arrogant beings become terrified of bodhisattvas who appear in this way, and they bow and prostrate themselves before them. Then they wish to hear the Dharma from them.
“In the huge cremation grounds of great cities, where many hundreds of thousands of animals roam, these bodhisattvas of great courage display their own mighty bodies when they have died. The beings from the animal realm staying there feast on their flesh as much as they please, and then at the end of their lives, when their time comes to die, they are reborn among the gods of the higher realms and good places of rebirth. These bodhisattvas also become the cause of these beings’ eventual cessation, because of the purification of the previous vows of these bodhisattvas. They have long ago formed the vow that if, when they die, beings feast on their dead bodies and this becomes the cause for them to be reborn in the higher realms until they pass beyond anguish, then, for those who have maintained moral conduct, they achieve their aspiration, they accomplish their desire, they fulfill their vow.
“In precisely this manner, Śāntamati, you may understand the immeasurable and infinite nature of the bodhisattva’s body.
“A long time ago, Śāntamati, under this very same sky here on Jambudvīpa, there were once eighty-four thousand cities divided into four parts. There were many thousands of villages, hamlets, and market towns, as well as many hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of beings. At that moment and time, Śāntamati, there occurred a lengthy period of great pestilence. Most beings there were afflicted as various diseases spread: diseases of the body’s air, heat, and phlegm, resulting in symptoms like pus-filled boils, lesions, scabs, rashes, and blisters. Many thousands of doctors labored to relieve the symptoms of these beings, but they were unable to cure them of the disease. As no cure could be found for these beings, and they were without any protection or refuge, they gave a great cry:
“At that time, Śāntamati, the blessed Śākyamuni was a śakra, a lord of the gods, named Sunetra. With his pure divine eyesight surpassing that of ordinary human beings, he could see that these beings were afflicted with various diseases. With his pure divine hearing surpassing that of ordinary human beings, he heard the sound of their great cries. When he saw and heard them, he developed tremendous compassion. He thought, ‘I must help these helpless beings. I must protect and support these weak and defenseless beings.’ Right then and there in the center of Jambudvīpa, not far from the great city of Kuru, he spontaneously appeared as a creature by the name of Saumya, and the following verses offering encouragement to all the people of Jambudvīpa came from the sky:
“Thereupon, Śāntamati, when all the sick people of the cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and market towns heard this, they went to the great city of Kuru to the place where they found the creature Saumya, and even though they cut flesh from its body again and again, and carried it away, still the flesh of its body did not become depleted. Saumya then spoke this verse:
“Thus, Śāntamati, the sick people throughout the four directions never witnessed the body of this creature, Saumya, become depleted or exhausted, despite the fact that they cut flesh from its body again and again, and carried it away. Whatever they cut away simply grew back, and, Śāntamati, all persons who consumed the flesh from the creature Saumya found their symptoms alleviated immediately upon doing so. They became well, happy, and healthy. Finally, all the diseases of the people of Jambudvīpa were eliminated.
“Śāntamati, the men, women, boys, and girls of Jambudvīpa then thought, ‘Since this creature, Saumya, well and truly freed us from illness and made us happy and healthy, we should worship it.’ They all gathered together and went to the place where they found the creature Saumya. They stretched out their arms, palms together in a gesture of salutation toward the creature Saumya, and spoke the following verse:
“At that moment the body of the creature disappeared and Śakra appeared in his own body. He then spoke these verses to the assembled people:
“From that point forward, Śāntamati, among all the men, women, boys, and girls of Jambudvīpa, not even a single person was reborn in the lower realms. Thenceforth, when the time came for them to die and be reborn, each of them was reborn in the higher realms at the same level as the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. They were delighted by the instruction in the Dharma given by Śakra, Lord of the Gods. They took it completely to heart and felt truly encouraged by it. Some of them conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening. Some of them purified the spotless and immaculate Dharma eye in regard to things. Śāntamati, this is the secret of the bodhisattvas’ body and the purity of their physical activity. In this way, by giving up a single body, they bring countless, limitless beings to maturity.”
Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then spoke further to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “The body of a bodhisattva is unbreakable, Śāntamati; it is rock-solid, strong, not subject to change, and it arises spontaneously. This body disintegrates for the sake of guiding beings who need to be guided by its disintegration. This body stays whole for the sake of guiding beings who need to be guided by its wholeness. It cannot be burned by fire or pierced by weapons. It is rock-solid and strong like true vajra—it is unbreakable.
“Śāntamati, though bodhisattvas bring beings to maturity in this way by means of the body, the bodhisattvas do not ponder or ruminate on this, for they know well that the body has the nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic. Owing precisely to the body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic, they know that things have the nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic. The body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic and the nature of all things as being devoid of a defining characteristic cannot be separated into a duality. The fact that the essential defining characteristic of the body is precisely its being devoid of a defining characteristic is the essential defining characteristic of a thing’s being devoid of a defining characteristic. Thus, the bodhisattvas conform to the nature of things as being devoid of a defining characteristic. They make their own body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic equal to the nature of all beings’ bodies as being devoid of a defining characteristic. They know that their own body’s nature of being devoid of a defining characteristic and the nature of all beings’ bodies as being devoid of a defining characteristic is the nature of the realm of reality as being devoid of a defining characteristic. Because they do not comprehend even the smallest particle of a thing, they consequently attain the realization of the nature of the realm of reality as being devoid of a defining characteristic and also the nature of all things as being devoid of a defining characteristic.
“Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way the bodies of all beings are. Owing to the way the bodies of all beings are, they know the way their own body is. Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way all things are. Owing to the way all things are, they know the way all buddhas are. Owing to the way their own body is, they know the way the past, present, and future are. The way the past is does not contradict the way the future will be. The fact that the past, present, and future are the way they are is the way the aggregates, sense spheres, and elements are. The fact that the aggregates, sense spheres, and elements are the way they are is itself the way defiled and purified things are. The fact that defiled and purified things are the way they are is itself the way saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are. The fact that saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are the way they are is the way unconditioned things are. The fact that unconditioned things are the way they are is itself the way all conditioned things are, and the fact that they are the way they are.
“Noble son, ‘the way things are’ is the nature of this; it is the nature of that; it is the nature of not being different; it is the nature of not changing; it is the nature of not arising; it is the nature of not being in conflict; it is the nature of being without a form. The way things are has no form at all, and what has no form is called the way things are. Just as the way things are has no form, in the same way all forms have no form. Although bodhisattvas display their forms to all beings, they do not turn the way things are into a form. Even though they are formless and beyond conflict and they display diverse bodies and forms, still they do not disturb the way things are.
“With knowledge of the way things are, one reflects on the body of a realized one. Owing to its equality with the body of a realized one, one reflects on the equality of one’s own body. Owing to the fact that the body is not born at all, one correctly perceives that nobody has a body. One knows that all bodies are dependently arisen. Knowing this, one acquires the Dharma body. By acquiring the Dharma body, one becomes this very Dharma body. This is not the body of the aggregates, elements, and sense spheres. When one manifests the Dharma body, then beings benefit just by seeing it. Beings benefit just by hearing it or touching it.
“I will draw an analogy, Śāntamati. Consider how the healer, the king of physicians, collects all types of medicinal substances, and with these many medicinal substances he fashions the figure of a well-formed, beautiful, and elegant girl. Having properly enlivened and properly prepared this figure, the girl may come and go, stand, sit, and lie down, and yet she does not form ideas and she does not form conceptions. Any sick monk, king, royal minister, prince, merchant, householder, government official, or regional ruler who comes and encounters this girl made from medicinal substances by the healer, the king of physicians, will then find themselves immediately cleansed of their maladies. They will be made well and truly happy and healthy. Śāntamati, no other physician can do that. Such is the knowledge of medicine possessed by the king of physicians with regard to the diseases of the world. In the same way, Śāntamati, bodhisattvas manifest the Dharma body so that whenever any beings who are afflicted by attachment, aversion, and ignorance—whether woman, man, boy, or girl—make contact with the body of a bodhisattva, all of their afflictions will cease immediately. They will experience their bodies free from all misery. This is due to the complete purification of that bodhisattva’s previous vows. Śāntamati, this cause of manifesting the Dharma body is also a secret of the body of bodhisattvas.
“Śāntamati, the bodies of those bodhisattvas who possess the Dharma body do not grow by means of food and drink. Their bodies are not nourished even by consuming food with their mouths. Because they possess an understanding of all foods, they eat food out of compassion for beings. Though they eat food, they do not swallow it, and it does not enter their bodies. The power of the Dharma body ensures that their health does not decline or diminish in any way.
“Śāntamati, though there is no birth, death, or rebirth for a bodhisattva who has the Dharma body, they display birth, death, and rebirth in order to bring beings to maturity. Though they die, they know that all things are unconditioned and nothing dies. Though they are reborn, they know that nothing is reborn. Though they are born, they know that nothing is born. They possess the Dharma body, Dharma food, and Dharma power, and since they rely on the Dharma, they know the body of the realized ones.
“Śāntamati, the body of a realized one is a body of space, a body that is equal to that which has no equal, a body that is the most distinguished in all the three worlds, a body in possession of the way all beings are. It is incomparable. It is unique. It is pure. It is immaculate. It is a body with no affliction. It is a naturally luminous body. It is naturally a body that is not born. It is a body that is naturally not arisen. It is a body that is not bound to thought, mind, or consciousness. It is a body the essential nature of which is a magical illusion, mirage, or reflection of the moon in water. It is a body of deep reflection on emptiness, groundlessness, and desirelessness. It is a body that pervades all space throughout the ten directions. It is a body that is equal to all beings. It is an infinite, boundless body. It is a body without change or conception. It is an unwavering body, a body without conceit. It is a body that has attained the states of remaining, not remaining, and not wavering. It is a body that does not have the essential nature of form, nor does it have the essential nature of feelings, conceptions, latent tendencies, or consciousness. It cannot be broken down into its earth element, nor can it be broken down into its water element, fire element, or air element. It does not arise and will never arise. It cannot be reduced to any of the great elements. It is not arisen; it is not something that can arise. It does not accord with anything in the world. It does not appear to the eye. It does not sound in the ear. It is not detected by the nose. It cannot be identified by the tongue. It does not possess a body. It is not encountered by the mind. It does not involve thought. It does not turn toward, turn away from, or follow after mental consciousness. Śāntamati, such is the body of a realized one.
“When bodhisattvas achieve equality with the body of a realized one, they undertake the pure conduct of the bodhisattva, and they make themselves seen throughout the cosmos of a billion worlds, and on all four continents, including Jambudvīpa, as well as in all of the many villages, towns, market towns, countries, and capital cities. However, they are not seen by any of the māras, nor do they become visible to them. They make themselves seen, yet they do not appear to be seen. Though they are not seen, they appear to be seen. They cannot be made apparent by sight, hearing, realization, or cognition. They become manifest, because they bring beings to maturity, but they do not abandon their faultless application of mindfulness applied to the body. While they teach beings that the body is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and without self, they know that the true nature of the body is tranquil. They also teach beings the analysis of the body, and although they see the causes and objective supports from which the body is created, they correctly perceive that there is no creator of these causes and objective supports. They know the body to be like a blade of grass, a piece of wood, a plastered wall, a clod of earth, and a reflection, and they teach to beings the purification of actions of the body.
“Śāntamati, this is the secret of the Bodhisattva’s body and the purity of the actions of his body since the time of the realized one Dīpaṃkara. However, the teaching of the purity of the actions of the bodhisattvas of great courage is far longer than that. It could go on for thousands of eons or even longer. Śāntamati, if the Realized One were to teach the secret of the bodhisattva’s body, eons as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River would not suffice. A teaching on the secret of the bodhisattva’s body is as immeasurable and inconceivable as that.”
This was the first chapter, “On Saumya.”
[B2] Once again, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “Śāntamati, what is the secret of the Bodhisattva’s speech and the purity of his verbal action? Śāntamati, the succession of the bodhisattvas’ rebirths continues for precisely so long as beings continue to be reborn, and for as long as they continue to be reborn, these bodhisattvas make use of language. The knowledge and vision of the bodhisattvas penetrates without impediment beings’ use of language in all the ways they express linguistic utterances, verbal expressions, explanations, conventions, speeches, descriptions of reality, signs, actions, and happiness and suffering. Their knowledge and vision even penetrate the languages used by worms, mosquitoes, flies, bees, and moths. Since their knowledge and expression of language enables them to relieve the bodies and minds of beings, such verbal expressions emerge from the mouths of those bodhisattvas who know and use language. This is in accordance with the nature of things. In this respect, it should be said:
“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas is expressed in the brahmās’ voices, the śakras’ voices, and in the voices of the lokapālas. It is expressed in the voices of the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. It is expressed in the voices of all beings. It satisfies the wishes of all beings. About this, it should be said:
“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas does not contain any sense of lust; aversion; delusion; affliction; impediment; obstruction; vulgarity; foulness; callousness; abusiveness; incompleteness; harshness; attachment; anger; carelessness; animosity; contradictory words; words influenced by the various afflictions; fickleness; flattery; arrogance; haughtiness; impatience; inappropriate speech; desirous speech; words praising physical appearance; aggrandizement; contrivance; overly relaxed speech; intent to shock; exhausting speech; speech resulting from an impairment of their faculties, from diminished vitality, or from a diminished mind; disingenuousness; deficiency; opacity; coarseness; rejecting others; contradicting others; causing distress; unproductiveness; scolding others; annoying others; causing oneself or others pain; inappropriate use of words; inappropriate choice of words; insincere words; irrational words; illogical words; vicious words; inauthentic words; false speech; unjust words; quarrelsome speech; harmful speech; inopportune speech; verbosity; bad grammar; hypocrisy; obsequiousness; speech intended to gain profit; ineffective demonstration; deceiving the eye; confusing the mind; expressing doubt; laconic expression; words that cause trauma and disgust; words of scornful disregard; boastful words about one’s own point of view; words that suppress the points of view of others; words that demonstrate an obsession with self-praise; words that demonstrate resistance to the praise of others; drunken speech; scornful words; excessive boasting to others; words that do not say what is needed; counterproductive words; leaking secrets; not guarding one’s words; using words that are condemned by the wise; condemning the noble ones; attacking another with abuse; public displays of praise; describing the faults of others at inopportune moments; twisting the knife; broadcasting the faults of others; words that fail to keep one’s promises; speech expounding upon the objects of one’s pride; speech that contradicts the workings of karma; or speech in which one fails to avoid using words that do not accord with reality.
“Śāntamati, the expression of the bodhisattvas’ speech is infused with the knowledge of the supernormal faculties, and because it results from the ripening of merit, it accords with the truth. Whatever they say is just exactly so. Suppose a bodhisattva were to pass by or sit under a tree and somebody were to ask, ‘Excuse me, sir, how many leaves does this tree have?’ Without looking at the tree and without counting the leaves, the bodhisattva would then be able to say exactly how many leaves there were without overestimating or underestimating the number.
“Also, if one were to ask, ‘How many hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, hundreds of billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions, sextillions, septillions, octillions, nonillions, decillions, undecillions, and duodecillions of grains of sand are there in the Ganges?’ then, without looking or counting, the bodhisattva’s speech could declare exactly how many grains of sand there are. He knows the grains of sand to be this precise number by using the knowledge of the realized ones. Śāntamati, only the realized ones can directly perceive this. It is not directly perceptible to gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, marutas, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, disciples, or solitary buddhas.
“Śāntamati, you can understand this through the following teaching: At one point in the past, Śāntamati, there was a sage named Light and a brahmin named Śyāmaka. At that time, there was a tree called the Excellent King of Banyan Trees, which was covered by many branches and leaves. The crown of the tree was several miles in circumference and the sage, Light, dwelled beneath that tree. While he was dwelling there, he used the power of his supernormal faculties to count the leaves on the branches of the Excellent King of Banyan Trees for twelve years and seven days until he came to a realization of that knowledge. At a certain point the brahmin, Śyāmaka, had been out seeking alms in the village, and because it was midday he went beneath that banyan tree to take his meal. He came before the sage, Light, and was truly delighted to see him. Sitting together, they spoke of many topics about which they were passionate. Then, the sage, Light, said to the brahmin Śyāmaka, ‘Excuse me, brahmin, but do you think there are any humans in this world of beings who have the ability to count, directly perceive, or know the number of leaves on this Excellent King of Banyan Trees?’
“ ‘Yes, revered one, there is.’
“ ‘Brahmin, who would that be?’ asked the sage.
“The brahmin replied, ‘Revered one, I can count them.’
“ ‘Well, count them, then, brahmin!’ said the sage.
“Immediately, without having to look at the tree or count the leaves, the brahmin knew how many leaves there were. He then spoke in verse, saying: