NAAM OR WORD
by
Sant Kirpal Singh Ji
(1894 - 1974)
[PART 3]
EVIDENCE FROM OTHER RELIGIONS
Spiritual Experiences of Highest Bodhisattvas - Extracts
taken from The Surangama Sutra - From "A Buddhist Bible"
edited by Dwight Goddard (E. P. Dutton & Co.):
. . . Thereupon, the Blessed Lord revealed to the
assembled highest Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great
Arhats free from all intoxicants, this most sacred
teaching. He said:
Honored Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great Arhats!
You have now been under my instruction for a
long time and have attained to perfect emancipation.
As an introduction to what I am about to say, I want
to enquire of each of you as to how you attained
Samadhi.
When you began to realize in the early stages of your
devotion and practice the falseness of the eighteen
spheres of mentation in contact with objects by the
sense organs,* which one of the spheres first became
thoroughly enlightened, by means of which you
attained to Samadhi?"
(*The eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects by
the sense organs are as follows, in the case of sight.
(a) Organ of sight.
(b) Object of sight.
(c) Consciousness of sight, which results from the contact of the
organ of sight with the object.
Hence a, b and c in regard to all the six senses (Cognition-Sight-
Hearing-Smell-Taste and Touch) add up to 18.)
. . . Then Maha-Kasyapa with the Bhikshuni
Suvarna and other nuns of his spiritual family, rose
from their seats and bowed down to the Lord Buddha
saying:
Blessed Lord! In previous Kalpas when Buddha
Kandrasuryapradipa was living, I served him faithfully
and listened to his teaching and practiced it
faithfully. After he passed into Nirvana, I continued
to make offerings to his sacred relics and kept his
image freshly gilded, so that his teaching, like a lamp,
continued to illumine my life by its brightness.
By my faithful reverence for his relics and his image, my
mind was illumined by a purple-golden brightness
that reflected itself in all my following lives and be-
came a permanent purple-golden brightness with my
body.
Then Sariputra rose from his seat and bowing
down before the Lord Buddha, said:
Blessed Lord! Since many Kalpas, as many as the
sands of the Ganges, my mind has continued its pur-
ity and because of it, there have been many pure
rebirths. As soon as my eyes perceived the differences
in the ever-flowing process of changes, both in the
world and in the Way of Emancipation, my mind
immediately understood them and, because of it, I
acquired the attainment of perfect freedom.
When I was on the road one day, I met the brother
Kasyapa who kindly explained the principle of the Lord's
teaching that everything rose from causes and conditions
and, therefore, was empty and transitory, and
I realized the infinitude of Pure Mind Essence. From
that time, I followed my Lord and my perception of
mental sight became transcendental and perfectly
enlightened, so that I instantly acquired an attainment
of great fearlessness and confidence. Because of it I
attained to the degree of Arhat and became, in fact,
the first Prince of my Lord Buddha, begotten by the
Lord's true words and nourished and transformed by
his intrinsic Dharma.
In reply to my Lord's enquiry as to our first
experience of attainment, I would answer that my
first thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres
of mentation in contact with objects through the
sense-organs, was by reason of the transcendent
brightness within my own mind whose shining beams
illuminated my intelligence and reached as far as my
insight could penetrate. . . .
Then Samantabhadra rose from his seat and bow-
ing down to the Lord, said:
I became a Prince of my Lord's Dharma many long
Kalpas ago, and all of the innumerable Tathagatas of
the ten quarters of the Universe, taught their
disciples, who had the qualifications for becoming
Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas, to practice the devotion of
Samantabhadra's unceasing compassion for all sentient
beings for his name's sake.
The transcendental and intrinsic hearing of my
Essential Mind became very pure and transparent, so
that I could use it to discriminate the understanding
and ideas of all sentient beings. Should there be any
sentient beings in whatever quarter of the Universe -
past, present or future - to develop the devotion of
Samantabhadra unceasing compassion within his mind,
I would become aware of its vibrations through the
transcendental sensitiveness of my hearing and I would
thereupon ride to them on the mysterious elephant of
six tusks, in a hundred thousand different
manifestations of my likeness, at the same time, to
attend upon them each in his own place.
Whatever might be his hindrances, however deep or
serious, able to appreciate my presence or not, I
would be near him to lay my hand upon his head, to
give him encouragement and support, peacefulness and
comfort, so that he might accomplish his supreme
attainment. As my Lord has enquired of us as to our
first attainment of accommodating our eighteen spheres
of mentation in contact with sense-objects through our
sense organs, I would say that in my case it was
through the intrinsic hearing of my Essential Mind
and its spontaneous understanding and response.
Then Purna Metaluniputra rose from his seat and
bowed down to the feet of the Lord Buddha, saying:
Blessed Lord! For an infinity of Kalpas I have had
great freedom in preaching the Dharmas of emptiness
and suffering and because of it have realized my own
Essence of Mind. In the course of my preaching, I
have interpreted profoundly and wonderfully the
many Dharma Doors, with great confidence and with
no feeling of fear, everywhere, and before great
assemblies.
Because of my eloquence, my Lord has encouraged me to
make use of it in propagating the Dharma by means of
the wheel of my voice. Since these ancient days, since
the Lord has been among us, I have offered my services
in turning the Dharma wheel, and have lately attained
to the degree of Arhat by means of the development of
my hearing, by reason of which I am conscious of the
Transcendental Sound of the Dharma reverberating like
the roar of a lion.
Consequently, my Lord has honored me by regarding me as
the greatest preacher of his Mysterious Dharma.
As my Lord has enquired of us which was our
earliest accommodation of the eighteen spheres of
mentation in contact with objects through sense
organs, I would answer that my first thorough
accommodation of mentation was the subjugation of my
internal attachment and enemies and the extermination
of all intoxicants by means of the Intrinsic Sound
of the Mysterious Dharma.
Then the great Maudgalyana rose from his seat and
bowed to the Lord Buddha, saying:
Blessed Lord! When I was begging on the road, I
met the three Kasyapa brothers who taught me the
Lord Tathagata's profound principle of causes and
conditions. I was greatly influenced by the teaching
and very soon acquired and realized particularly clear
intelligence. My Lord was so kind as to bestow on me
the true robe for my true body, my beard and head
were shaved and I became a follower of my Lord.
Since then my transcendental powers have become
wonderfully developed, I have made visits to all the
ten quarters of the Universe, without hindrance by
space, passing instantly from one Buddha-land to
another without being conscious of how it was done.
I thus attained the degree of Arhat and was accounted
by all and by my Lord Tathagata as being highest
among the disciples in perfect enlightenment,
great purity of mind, spontaneity and fearlessness in
manifestation of transcendental powers.
As my Lord has inquired of us which was our
most perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres
of mentation in contact with objects through the sense
organs, I would answer that my first perfect accom-
modation of the eighteen spheres of mentation was
my mind becoming abstracted in tranquil reflection
that mysteriously developed its enlightening bright-
ness, as if my mind that had been a muddy stream
had suddenly become clear and transparent like a
crystal ball.
Then the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Akshobya rose
from his seat and bowed to the feet of the Lord
Buddha, saying:
Blessed Lord! My Lord Tathagata and I had already
acquired a transcendental body of infinitude at
the time, long ago during the advent of the Buddha
Camatha-prabasha. At that time, I had in possession
four precious pearls having the transcendental
penetrating power of the Element of Fire, by reason of
which everything was luminously clear to my intuitive
insight, even to the farthermost Buddha-lands of
the most remote Universe.
In the light of these magic pearls everything became
as empty and transparent as Pure Space. Moreover,
within my mind, there manifested a great mirror that
was marvelously self illuminating that radiated ten
kinds of wonderful, glorious, far-reaching rays as the
infinitude of all-embracing space.
In this marvelous mirror were reflected all the
royal continents of the Blessed, and like the mingling
of different-colored lights, merged with my body into
pure brightness and clarity of infinite space, there
being no hindrance to their entrance or passing. By
this magical power, I was able to enter into all the
Buddha-lands and engage in all their Buddha-services
of adoration with great ease and perfect accommodation.
This transcendental power was due to my deep intuitive
insight into the source of the Four Great Elements, by
reason of which I was able to see that they were nothing
but the appearing and disappearing of false imaginations,
which were intrinsically as empty as pure space and with
no more differentiation as pure space.
And I realized that all the innumerable Buddha-lands
within and without the mind were of the same
inconceivable purity. From this intuitive insight I
consequently acquired the Samadhi of perseverance of
non-rebirth.
As my Lord has enquired of us which was our most
thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres of
mentation in contact with objects through the sense
organs, I would answer that in my case it was through
my perfect intuitive insight into the infinity of open
space as illumined by the Element of Fire, and by
that power I attained to the highest Samadhi and the
transcendental power of Samapatti.
Then the Prince of the Lord's Dharma, Vejuria
rose from his seat and bowed down to the feet of the
Lord Buddha and said:
Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago
there appeared in the world a Buddha called Amitayus,
teaching all Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas the intuitive and
essential nature of the wonderful Essence of Mind,
and urging them to concentrate their minds on the
essential sameness of Samsara World, and all sentient
beings in it, that they were all alike manifestations
of the Element of Wind (or Ether) and its rhythmic-
vibrations revealing and manifesting all else.
In my practice of Dhyana, I concentrated on this and
reflected on how the great world was upheld in space,
on how the great world was kept in perpetual motion,
on how my body was kept in motion, moving and
standing, on the rhythmic vibration of its life
established and maintained by breathing, upon the
movement of the mind, thoughts rising and passing.
I reflected upon these various things and marvelled at
their great sameness without any difference save in
the rate of vibration. I realized that the nature of
these vibrations had neither any source for their
coming nor destination for their going, and that all
sentient beings, as numerous as the infinitesimal
particles of dust in the vast spaces, were each in his
own way topsy-turvy balanced vibrations, and that each
and every one was obsessed with the illusion that he
was a unique creation.
All sentient beings, in all the three thousand Great
Chillicosms are obsessed with this hallucination. They
are like innumerable mosquitos shut up in a vessel and
buzzing about in wildest confusion. Sometimes, they are
roused to madness and pandemonium by the narrow limits
of their confinement.
After meeting my Lord Buddha, I attained to a state of
intuitive realization and non-rebirth perseverance,
whereupon my mind became enlightened and I was able to
view the Buddha-land of Immovability in the Eastern
Heavens, which is the Pure Land of Buddha Amitayus.
I was acknowledged as a Prince of the Lord's Dharma
and vowed to serve all Buddhas everywhere, and because
of my enlightenment and great vow my body and mind
became perfectly rhythmic and alive and sparkling,
mingling with all other vibrations without hindrance to
its perfect freedom.
As my Lord has enquired of us as to which was
our first thoroughly perfect accommodation of the
eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects
through the sense-organs, I will say that in my case
it was through my intuitive insight into the nature of
the Element of Ether, and how by its balanced and
rhythmic vibrations everything was embraced in perfect
purity in the Enlightening Mind, and how concentrating
my mind upon it I attained Samadhi and in that Samadhi
I realized the perfect oneness of all the Buddhas in
the purity of the Wonderful Mind Essence, that is the
Bliss-body of Buddhahood . . .
Then Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Maitreya rose from
his seat and bowing down to the Lord Buddha, said:
Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago
there was a Buddha appeared in this world called
Chandra-suryapradipa-prabasha whom I followed as
his disciple. At the time I was inclined to the worldly
life and liked to associate with the nobility. The Lord
Buddha, noticing it, instructed me to practice meditation,
concentrating my mind on its consciousness.
I followed his instructions and attained Samadhi. Since
then I have served numberless other Buddhas using
this same method, and by it have now discarded all
desire for worldly pleasures. By the time Buddha
Dipankara appeared in the world, gradually I had
attained to the supreme, wonderful, perfect Samadhi
or Transcendental Consciousness.
By this highest Samadhi I was conscious of infinite
space, and realized that all of the Tathagata-lands
whether pure or impure, existent or non-existent were
nothing but the manifestation of my own mind.
My Lord! because of my perfect realization that all
such skillful devices of the Tathagatas were nothing
but evolvements of my own mental consciousness, the
essential nature of my consciousness flowed out in
innumerable manifestations of Tathagatas, and I came
to be selected as the next Coming Buddha, after my Lord
Shakyamuni Buddha . . .
As my Lord has enquired of us as to our first
perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of
mentation in contact with objects through the sense organs,
I answer that my first perfect accommodation of the
eighteen spheres of mentation was by my perfect
realization that all the ten quarters of the Universes
were nothing but activities of my own consciousness.
It was by that that my consciousness became perfectly
enlightened and that the limits of my mind dissolved
until it embraced all Reality forsaking all prejudices
of conditional and unconditional assertions and denials,
I acquired perfect non-birth perseverance . . .
Then Maha-sthama-prapta, Prince of the Lord's
Dharma, rose from his seat and bowed down to the
feet of the Lord Buddha, together with the fifty-two
members of his Brotherhood of Bodhisattva-Maha-
sattvas, and said:
Blessed Lord! I recall that in a past Kalpa long
ago, as many Kalpas ago as there are grains of sand
in the river Ganges, there appeared in this world a
Buddha, called Amitabha-prabhasa Buddha, whose
Buddha-land was in the Eastern Heavens. In that
Kalpa there were twelve Tathagatas following each
other in close succession, the last one being called
Buddha-Chandra-surya-gomin, who taught me to practice
meditation upon the name of Amitabha, saying: Namo
Amitabha-Buddhaya.
The value of this practice lay in this: so long as one
practices his own method and other practices a different
method, they balance of each other and meeting, it is
just the same as not meeting. Whereas, if two persons
practice the same method, their mindfulness would become
deeper and deeper, and they would remember each other
and develop affinities for each other life after life.
It is the same with those who practice concentration
on the name of Amitabha - they develop within their minds
Amitabha's spirit of compassion toward all sentient life.
Moreover, whoever recites the name of Amitabha Buddha,
whether in the present time or in the future time, will
surely see the Buddha Amitabha and never become separated
from him.
By reason of that association, just as one associating
with a maker of perfumes became permeated with the
same perfumes, so he will become perfumed by Amitabha's
compassion, and will become enlightened without any other
expedient means.
Blessed Lord! My devotion to reciting the name of
Amitabha had no other purpose than to return to my
original nature of purity and by it I attained to the
state of non-rebirth perseverance. Now in this life, I
have vowed to teach my disciples to concentrate their
minds by means of reciting the name of Amitabha
(Namo-Amitabha-Buddhaya) and also I teach them
to wish to be born in his Land of Purity and to make
that their only Refuge.
As my Lord has asked us which is our first perfect
accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation
in contact with objects through sense organs, I
answer that my first perfect accommodation of the
eighteen spheres of mentation was that I recognized
no separation or differences among my six senses, but
merged them into one transcendental sense from
which arises the purity of Transcendental Wisdom, by
reason of which I attained highest Samadhi and the
graces of Samapatti.
Then the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Avalokiteshvara
rose from his seat and bowing down to the Lord
Buddha said:
Blessed Lord! I recall that ages ago, as numerous
as the sands of the river Ganges, that there was
present in the world a Buddha, called Avalokiteshvara,
by whose instruction I was encouraged to begin seeking
enlightenment. I was taught to begin practicing
by concentrating my mind on the true nature of
Transcendental Hearing, and by that practice I
attained Samadhi.
As soon as I had advanced to the stage of Entering
the Stream, I determined to discard all thoughts
discriminating as to where I was or had been. Later I
discarded the conception of advancing altogether, and
the thought of either activity or quietness in this
connection did not again arise in my mind.
Continuing my practice, I gradually advanced
until all discrimination of the hearing nature of my
self-hood and of the Intrinsic Transcendental Hearing
was discarded. As there ceased to be any grasping
in my mind for the attainment of Intrinsic Hearing,
the conception of enlightenment and enlightened
nature were all absent from my mind.
When this state of perfect Emptiness of Mind was attained,
all arbitrary conceptions of attaining to Emptiness of
Mind and of enlightened nature, were discarded. As
soon as all arbitrary conceptions of rising and
disappearing of thoughts were completely discarded, the
state of Nirvana was clearly realized. Then all of a
sudden, my mind became transcendental to both
celestial and terrestrial world, and there was nothing
in all the ten quarters but empty space, and in that
state I acquired two wonderful transcendencies.
The first was a "Transcendental Consciousness" that my
mind was in perfect conformity with the Essential,
Mysterious Enlightening Mind, of all the Buddhas in
all the ten quarters, and also it was in like perfect
conformity with the Great. Heart of Compassion of all
the Buddhas.
The second transcendency was that my mind was in perfect
conformity with the minds of all sentient beings of the
six Realms and felt with them the same earnestness and
longing for deliverance.
Blessed Lord! because of my adoration for that
Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, he taught me how to attain
the Diamond Samadhi by the single method of con-
centrating my mind upon Transcendental Hearing.
And, moreover, he helped me to attain the same
compassionate capacity that all the Tathagatas had, by
reason of which I attained the thirty-two kinds of
transformations that are instantaneously available in
response to the prayer for deliverance from any part
of the world at any time.
These transformations have all been attained and
exercised with perfect freedom and spontaneity in
the mysterious Diamond Samadhi which I attained
by concentrating my mind in the practice of Dhyana
on the nature of Transcendental Hearing.
Blessed Lord! I have also, because of the mysterious
powers that accompany the Diamond Samadhi, and because
of my being in perfect conformity and with the same
earnestness and longing for deliverance with all
sentient beings, in the Six Realms of all the
ten quarters of all the universes, past, present and
future, been able to bestow upon all sentient beings
the same Fourteen kinds of Fearlessness, which ani-
mate my own mind . . .
As my attainment to the original nature of perfect
accommodations is wonderfully developed from the
hearing organ to include all the sense-organs and dis-
criminating mind, my body and mind profoundly and
mysteriously embrace all the phenomenal world, so
that if any disciple should recite my name, his bless-
ing and merit would be like and equal to that of any
Prince of the Lord's Dharma, whether he uses the
same name or some other name.
Blessed Lord! The reason why their merit is like and
equal for one to recite my name, and for another to
recite some other name, is because of my practice of
Dhyana by which I acquired the True and Perfect
accommodation.
Blessed Lord! this is what is meant by the Fourteen
kinds of Fearlessness of Powers of Deliverance which
bring blessing to all sentient beings. But in addition
to the acquirement of perfect accommodation by
means of my attainment of Supreme Enlightenment,
I have also acquired another Four kinds of
inconceivable, wonderful Transcendencies of
Spontaneity.
The First is as it is, because when I first attained
to my Transcendental Hearing, my mind became abstracted
into its essential nature, and all the natural
powers of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching
and understanding attained to a state of pure, glorious,
enlightenment of perfect mutuality and accommodation in
one perfect unity of Awareness. Because of this, I have
acquired this great Transcendental Freedom, so that when
I give deliverance to sentient beings, I can transform
myself into wonderful appearances . . .
Sometimes I appear in a form of kindness, or in a
form of justice, or in a state of concentration, or in a
state of intelligence. But in all I do it for the sake of
deliverance and protecting of sentient beings so that
they might acquire a like Great Freedom.
The Second inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency
of Spontaneity is as it is because of my emancipation of
hearing and thinking from the contaminations of the six
sense-objects. It is as if sound were passing through walls
without any hindrance. Thus I can skillfully transform into
different kinds of appearances and recite different Dharanis,
and can transform these appearances and recitation of
Dharanis, to give the Transcendental Power of Fearlessness
to sentient beings. Thus in all the countries of the ten
quarters, I am known as the Giver of Transcendental Power of
Fearlessness.
The Third inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency
of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my practice upon
the pure, original Essence of perfect accommodation,
so that wherever I go, I lead sentient beings to
willingness to sacrifice their lives and valuable
possessions in order to pray for my compassion and mercy.
The Fourth inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency
of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my acquirement of
the Buddha's Intrinsic Mind and because of my attainment of
the supremacy so that I can give all different kinds of
offerings to all of the Tathagatas of all the ten quarters
of the universes.
As my Lord has enquired of us as to what was our
first perfect accommodation, of the eighteen spheres
of mentation in contact with objects through the
sense-organs, I answer that my first perfect
accommodation was, when I attained to the state of
perfectly accommodating reflection of Samadhi by means
of my Intrinsic Hearing and Transcendental Mental
Freedom from objective contaminations, so that my
mind became abstracted and absorbed into the Divine
Stream, and thus acquired the Diamond Samadhi and
attained Enlightenment.
Blessed Lord! in those far off days, my Lord, the
Buddha Avalokiteshvara, praised me for my skillful
acquirement of the all-accommodating Door of Dharma,
and in one of his great Assemblies, he announced
that I, too, should be called Avalokiteshvara, The
hearer and answerer of Prayer," the Bodhisattva of
Tenderest Compassion.
As such, my Transcendental Hearing reaches to the ten
quarters of all the universes, and the name of
Avalokiteshvara prevails over all the extremes of
human suffering and danger.
Manjusri's Summation:
Thereupon, the blessed Lord, sitting upon his
throne in the midst of the Tathagatas and highest
Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas from all the Buddha-lands,
manifested his Transcendent Glory surpassing them
all. From his hands and feet and body radiated
supernal beams of light that rested upon the crowns
of each Tathagata, Bodhisattva-Mahasattva, and
Prince of the Dharma; in all the ten quarters of the
universes, went forth rays of glorious brightness that
converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha and
upon the crowns of all the Tathagatas, Bodhisattva-
Mahasattvas and Arhats present in the assembly.
At the same time all the trees of the Jeta Park, and
all the waves lapping on the shores of its lakes, were
singing with the music of the Dharma, and all the
intersecting rays of brightness were like a net of
splendor set with jewels and over-reaching them all.
Such a marvelous sight had never been imagined and
held them all in silence and awe. Unwittingly, they
passed into the blissful peace of the Diamond Samadhi
and upon them all, there fell like a gentle rain,
the soft petals of many different colored lotus
blossoms - blue and crimson, yellow and white - all
blending together and being reflected into the open
space of heaven in all the tints of the spectrum.
Moreover, all the differentiations of mountains and
seas and rivers and forests of the Saha World blended
into one another and faded away leaving only the
flower - adorned unity of the Primal Cosmos, not dead
and inert but alive with rhythmic life and light,
vibrant with transcendental sound of songs and
rhymes, melodiously rising and falling and merging
and then fading away into silence.
Then the Lord Tathagata addressed Manjusri,
Prince of the Dharma, saying:
Manjusri! you have now heard that these Bodhisattva-
Mahasattvas of greatest and highest attainments
have testified regarding the expedient means that
were involved, and the results seen in spiritual graces
and powers of Samapatti, that followed in their
devout lives and practices.
Each one stated that the beginning was seen in the
perfect accommodation of some one mental sphere in
contact with its sense object, and from that followed
the perfect accommodation of all the spheres of
mentation and the attainment of Samadhi, Samapatti
and the perfect awareness of their Intuitive and
Essential Mind.
So we see that their devout practices, in spite of
their variations, all eventuated in the same good
result irrespective of their attainments and the times
involved.
I want Ananda to fully understand and realize
these different attainments of Enlightenment and note
which of them is adapted to him. And I wish also,
that after my Nirvana, as future disciples of this world
wish to attain highest Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi,
that from these experiences they may know which
door of expedient means appears to each most easily
entered.
Having listened to the Blessed Lord, Manjusri,
Prince of the Lord's Dharma, rose from his seat
bowed down to the Lord Buddha, and sobered by the
influence of the Lord's profound dignity uttered the
following stanza:
The keeping of the Precepts is a necessary part of
the practice of Dhyana, but the novice cannot depend
upon them alone to bring him to the nature of perfect
accommodation . . .
Then Manjusri addressed the Lord Buddha, saying:
Blessed Lord! Since my Lord has descended from
the Deva Realms to this Saha World, he has helped
us most by his wonderful Enlightening Teaching. At
first we receive this Teaching through our sense of
hearing, but when we are fully able to realize it, it
becomes ours through a Transcendental and Intuitive
Hearing.
This makes the awakening and perfecting of a
transcendental faculty of hearing of very great
importance to every novice. As the wish to attain
Samadhi deepens in the mind of any disciple, he can
most surely attain it by means of his Transcendental
Organ of Hearing.
For many a Kalpa - as numerous as the particles
of sand in the river Ganges - Avalokiteshvara Buddha,
the hearer and answerer of prayer, has visited all
the Buddha-lands of the ten quarters of the universe
and has acquired Transcendental Powers of Boundless
Freedom and Fearlessness and has vowed to emancipate
all sentient beings from their bondage and suffering.
How sweetly mysterious is the Transcendental Sound of
Avalokiteshvara! It is the pure Brahman Sound. It is
the subdued murmur of the seatide setting inward. Its
mysterious Sound brings liberation and peace to all
sentient beings who in their distress are calling for
aid; it brings a sense of permanency to those who are
truly seeking the attainment of Nirvana's Peace . . .
While I am addressing My Lord Tathagata, he is
hearing at the same time, the Transcendental Sound
of Avalokiteshvara. It is just as though, while we are
in the quiet selection of our Dhyana practice, there
should come to our ears the sound of the beating of
drums. If our minds, hearing the sound, are undisturbed
and tranquil, this is the nature of perfect accommodation.
The body develops feeling by coming in contact
with something, and the sight of eyes is hindered by
the opaqueness of objects, and similarly with the
sense of smell and of taste, but it is different with the
discriminating mind. Thoughts are arising and mingling
and passing. At the same time it is conscious of
sounds in the next room and sounds that have come
from far away.
The other senses are not so refined as the sense of
hearing: the nature of hearing is the true reality of
Passability.
The essence of sound is felt in both motion and
silence, it passes from existent to non-existent. When
there is no sound, it is said that there is no hearing,
but that does not mean that hearing has lost its
preparedness. Indeed, when there is no sound, hearing
is most alert, and when there is sound the hearing
nature is least developed. If any disciple can be freed
from these two illusions of appearing and disappearing,
that is, from death and rebirth, he has attained
the true reality of Permanency.
Even in dreams when all thinking has become quiescent,
the hearing nature is still alert. It is like a
mirror of enlightenment that is transcendental of the
thinking mind because it is beyond the consciousness
sphere of both body and mind. In this Saha world,
the Doctrine of Intrinsic, Transcendental Sound, may
be spread abroad, but sentient beings as a class
remain ignorant and indifferent to their own Intrinsic
Hearing. They respond only to phenomenal sounds and are
disturbed by both musical and discordant sounds.
Nothwithstanding Ananda's wonderful memory, he
was not able to avoid falling into evil ways. He has
been adrift on a merciless sea. But if he will only turn
his mind away from the drifting current of thoughts,
he may soon recover the sober wiseness of Essential
Mind.
Ananda! Listen to me! I have ever relied upon
the teaching of the Lord Buddha to bring me to the
Indescribable Dharma Sound of the Diamond Samadhi.
Ananda! You have sought the secret lore from
all the Buddha-lands without first attaining
emancipation from the desires and intoxications of
your own contaminations and attachments, with the
result that you have stored in your memory a vast
accumulation of worldly knowledge and built up a
tower of faults and mistakes.
You have learned the Teachings by listening to the
words of the Lord Buddha and then committing them
to memory. Why do you not learn from your own self
by listening to Sound of the Intrinsic Dharma within
your mind and then practicing reflection upon it?
The perception of Transcendental Hearing is not developed
by any natural process under the control of your
own volition. Sometimes when you are reflecting upon
your Transcendental Hearing a chance sound suddenly
claims your attention and your mind sets it apart and
discriminates it and is disturbed thereby.
As soon as you can ignore the phenomenal sound, the
notion of Transcendental Sound ceases and you will
realize your Intrinsic Hearing.
As soon as this one sense perception of hearing is
returned to its originality and you clearly understand
its falsity, then the mind instantly understands the
falsity of all sense perceptions and is at once
emancipated from the bondage of seeing, hearing, smelling,
tasting, touching and thinking, for they are all alike
illusive and delusive visions of unreality and all the
three great realms of existence are seen to be what
they truly are, imaginary blossoms in the air.
As soon as the deceiving perception of hearing is
emancipated, then all objective phenomena disappears
and your Intuitive Mind-Essence becomes perfectly
pure. As soon as you have attained to this Supreme
Purity of Mind-Essence, its Intrinsic Brightness will
shine out spontaneously and in all directions and, as
soon as you are sitting in tranquil Dhyana, the mind
will be in perfect conformity with Pure Space.
Ananda! As soon as you return to the phenomenal
world, it will seem like a vision in a dream. And your
experience with the maiden Pchiti will seem like a
dream, and your own body will lose its solidity and
permanency. It will seem as though every human being,
male and female, was simply a manifestation by some
skillful magician of a manikin all of whose activities
were under his control. Or each human being will
seem like an automatic machine that once started goes
on by itself, but as soon as the automatic machine
loses its motive power, all its activities not only
cease, but their very existence disappears.
So it is with the six sense organs, which are
fundamentally dependent upon one unifying and
enlightening spirit, but which by ignorance have
become divided into six semi-independent compositions
and conformities. Should one organ become emancipated
and return to its originality, so closely are they united
in their fundamental originality, that all the organs
would cease their activities also.
And all worldly impurities will be purified by a single
thought and you will attain to the wonderful purity of
perfect Enlightenment. Should there remain some minute
contamination of ignorance, you should practice the more
earnestly until you attain to perfect Enlightenment,
that is, to the Enlightenment of a Tathagata.
All the Brothers in this Great Assembly, and you
too, Annnda, should reverse your outward perception
of hearing and listen inwardly for the perfectly unified
and intrinsic sound of your own Mind-Essence, for as
soon as you have attained perfect accommodation,
you will have attained to Supreme Enlightenment.
This is the only way to Nirvana, and it has been
followed by all the Tathagatas of the past. Moreover, it
is for all the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of the present
and for all in the future if they are to hope for perfect
Enlightenment. Not only did Avalokiteshvara attain
perfect Enlightenment in long ages past by this Golden Way,
but in the present, I also am one of them.
My Lord enquired of us as to which expedient
means each one of us had employed to follow this
Noble Path to Nirvana. I bear testimony that the
means employed by Avalokiteshvara is the most
expedient means for all, since all other means must
be supported and guided by the Lord Buddha's
Transcendental Powers. Though one forsake all his
worldly engagements, yet he cannot always be practicing
by these various means; they are especial means
suitable for junior and senior disciples, but for
laymen, this common method of concentrating the mind
on the sense of hearing, turning it inward by this
Door of Dharma to hear the Transcendental Sound
of this Essential Mind, is most feasible and wise.
O Blessed Lord! I am bowing down before my
Lord Tathagata's Intrinsic Womb, which is immaculate
and ineffable in its perfect freedom from all
contaminations and taints, and am praying my Lord to
extend his boundless compassion for the sake of all
future disciples, so that I may continue to teach
Ananda and all sentient beings of the present kalpa,
to have faith in this wonderful Door of Dharma to the
Intrinsic Hearing of his own Mind-Essence, so surely
to be attained by this most expedient means.
If any disciple should take this Intuitive Means for
concentrating his mind in Dhyana Practice on this organ
of Transcendental Hearing, all other sense organs would
soon come into perfect harmony with it and thus by
this single means of Intrinsic Hearing, he would attain
perfect accommodation of his True and Essential
Mind.
Then Ananda and all the great assembly were purified
in body and mind. They acquired a profound
understanding and a clear insight into the nature of
the Lord Buddha's Enlightenment and experience of
Highest Samadhi. They had confidence like a man
who was about to set forth on a most important
business to a far off country, because they knew the
route to go and return.
All the disciples in this great assembly realized their
own Essence of Mind and proposed henceforth to live
remote from all worldly entanglements and taints, and
to live continuously in the pure brightness of the
Eye of Dharma.