Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra

A Detailed Exposition by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu

Translated into English by the True Buddha School Vimala Sutra Translation Team 

Discourse 44, 22 October 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Chapter One—Buddhaverse 

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva/Bodhisattva of the Cumulation of Space, 
Holding Precious Torch Bodhisattva, 
Precious Courage Bodhisattva, 
Precious View Bodhisattva

Let’s now talk about the Vimalakirti Sutra:

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva/Bodhisattva of the Cumulation of Space, 
Holding Precious Torch Bodhisattva, 
Precious Courage Bodhisattva, 
Precious View Bodhisattva 

We will be talking about these four bodhisattvas today. The first one is:

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva.

He is one of the eight great bodhisattvas. Those who often chant the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra know that it includes the eight great bodhisattvas—Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Ksitigarbha, Maitreya, Akasagarbha, Vajrapani, and Vishkambin. The Marvelously Auspicious is another name for Manjusri Bodhisattva.

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva is one of the eight great bodhisattvas, which are part of the 52 bodhisattvas [mentioned in the Vimalakirti Sutra]. We will also talk about Manjusri Bodhisattva and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva later.

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva is a truly great bodhisattva; his attainment is the confirmation of the sky—the cosmic space. He knows that all dharma is within the cosmic space. All dharma spoken by Sakyamuni Buddha is in the sky.

For example, why do we name our temples Leizang? What does it mean? Leizang means Hidden Thunders, and it is equivalent to Akasagarbha. When it is silent, it is hidden. Yet when it resounds, it is thunderous—spreading buddhadharma all over the world. What is the loudest sound? Thunder. For our temples, Golden Mother bestowed the name Leizang (Hidden Thunders), meaning hidden in silence with action like thunder. 

When thunder—representing the True Buddha School—resounds, it is astonishing. The sound of thunder resounds under the heaven, and a true buddha is hidden amid it. A true buddha is concealed. This is the meaning of Leizang.

Akasagarbha Bodhisattva knows and has proven that all buddhadharma is within the cosmic space. This is the key meaning of Akasagarbha—the cosmic space encompasses and stores all dharma.

In addition, Akasagarbha Bodhisattva can also store all dharma (everything) inside his body, including flowers, the Moon, pagodas, all the purelands, and all buddhadharma. Such a great bodhisattva is called Akasagarbha Bodhisattva or the Bodhisattva of the Cumulation of Space. His body is like the cosmic space that stores all the tathagatas. Therefore, he is called the Bodhisattva of the Cumulation of Space. Now, do you understand the meaning?

In the past, we used to swim in the Toubiankeng. Was anyone there? When I did geomancy consultations, masters Lian Shi and Lian Zhu would follow me. Since the weather was hot, we often swam in the river before going home.

It was there at the river bank of Toubiankeng that I gave my first dharma teaching, and that was on the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra (Lotus Sutra). I was seated on top of a water tower to teach the Lotus Sutra to my disciples below. There is a photo of it.

When we swam there, one time I found a very rare stone on the riverbed and brought it home. That night, I had a dream of a dragon king. He was a water dragon king.[1] Belonging to the water dragon king family are the sea dragon kings, river dragon kings, stream dragon kings, and the smallest dragon kings of the wells—which were more common in the old times. There are indeed dragon kings who reside in wells. So this river’s dragon king appeared and told me, “You took my palace!” What?! It turned out that the palace of the Toubiankeng River Dragon King was within the beautiful stone that I brought home. This encounter was so rare and extraordinary!

This is also the meaning of Akasagarbha—miniscule things that look insignificant may hold great mystics and mysteries. Is that really possible? Of course! I picked up a stone and it turned out to be the palace of a dragon king. A stone is someone’s residence. That’s why I say that a stone may contain palaces and pavilions. This is unimaginable!

The whole sky—the cosmic space—and all the tathagatas are inside Akasagarbha Bodhisattva’s body. This is my explanation on Akasagarbha Bodhisattva.

The next one is:

Holding Precious Torch Bodhisattva.

What does Precious mean? It refers to the precious dharma—prajna. Sakyamuni Buddha’s treasure is called prajna, and it generates a kind of clear light luminosity. You can say that it gives brightness wherever it shines. This bodhisattva holds precious buddhadharma—prajna light—which shines like a torch that illuminates everything around it. This bodhisattva is like the sun.

Recently at my residence at the Southern Mountain Retreat, I discovered that ghosts gather under my bed. Every time I walked into my bedroom, they would make a loud sound. In fact, these sounds occur wherever I go, [as if] I am the Holding Precious Torch Bodhisattva. The Holding Precious Torch Bodhisattva brings brightness wherever he goes because he holds the illuminating wisdom (the prajna light) of the Buddha. This bodhisattva helps sentient beings by bringing light and dispelling darkness. Now, do you understand?

The next one:

Precious Courage Bodhisattva.

Precious Courage Bodhisattva is fearless and courageous because he embodies the light of wisdom. He brings light and brightness wherever he goes and has the courage to move forward.

He is like Guru Padmasambhava whom we talked about earlier. When Guru Rinpoche was invited to enter Tibet, he was challenged by many demons, monsters, ghosts, and evil spirits. He had to overcome these spirits prevalent in Tibet at that time. Because he embodied buddhadharma and transcendent power, he subdued them all. He also had to subjugate the yaksas too, prior to building Samye Monastery.

The Precious Courage Bodhisattva is like Guru Padmasambhava; he has buddhadharma and transcendent power. Evil spirits cannot impede him. He is fearless and courageous. And he is precious because he has prajna—great wisdom. A bodhisattva who is not afraid of anything is called the Precious Courage Bodhisattva.

This bodhisattva dares to go to dangerous places you wouldn’t want to go to. As for me, I sleep on my bed while the space underneath is full of ghosts. But I am the Precious Courage Bodhisattva, so I am not scared at all. They are there waiting for me to bardo deliver them and will come out during the bardo deliverance. So, I just sleep on my bed while they hide underneath. It is dark there under the bed’s cover and it is spacious. They are there since there are no other spaces available, and the fridges and cabinets are already full of ghosts. They always make loud sounds when I get into bed.

Because I have prajna light, I am not afraid. So, I sleep unperturbed. I am not bothered by any disturbances from the spirits, and I still sleep very well—not only on a bed, but also on the dharma throne. [laughing] I can sleep sitting up or lying down; I can even sleep standing up if I can hold onto something. I fall asleep very easily. Although I seemingly can sleep anywhere and anytime, when I am awake, I am very spirited and courageous. This is Precious Courage Bodhisattva. Because I have the prajna light, I am not scared of anything.

There are many ghosts at my house, and I have recently written about them in my 293rd book. Visitors won’t be able to see the ghosts because they are in hiding. They also know that even if they let the visitors know, visitors won’t be able to notice them anyway. Only after the visitors leave, the ghosts would come out. They are not afraid of me because they know I will not harm them.

It was Acala and Mahabala who drove them away and chopped off their heads. I will never want to harm them because evil spirits are sentient beings too, and they have buddhanature. It is just that they are not awakened yet and still enshrouded by bad thoughts. Hence, we should not harm any single being.

The next one is:

Precious View Bodhisattva.

View means sight. This Precious View Bodhisattva can see all the dharma treasures and prajna lights of the tathagatas. In True Buddha School, we often capture prajna lights or circles of lights in pictures. Don’t undermine them because there are mandalas inside the tiny prajna light. When you enlarge them, inside the prajna light you can see red threads and at its center, there is an altar where a bodhisattva is seated. In there, you will see mandalas with walls and four gates, platforms, pagodas, palaces, etcetera. In the center, a bodhisattva is sitting on an altar.

What does Precious View Bodhisattva mean? He is a bodhisattva who can see the true tathagatagarbha—the store of the tathagatas.

Lü Cheng, a Chinese Buddhist scholar, stated that there is no difference between Madyamaka and Yogacara. He wrote that Madyamaka is Yogacara and Yogacara is Madyamaka. Madyamaka is the middle path between emptiness and falsehood. While the so-called Madyamaka is deep, Yogacara is broad. According to Yogacara, all of existence is nothing but consciousness-only.

Actually, Madyamaka and Yogacara are the same. Buddhists from different traditions used to criticize each other, but actually, Madyamaka and Yogacara are the same. According to Lü Cheng, Madyamaka is a kind of Yogacara; thus, Madyamaka is Yogacara. The middle way was derived from emptiness and falsehood, and it is called Madyamaka. 

Yogacara relates to consciousness, where everything is related to all kinds of consciousness. Everything is inseparable from consciousness. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all consciousness. What you see is due to the eye-consciousness, what you hear is due to the ear-consciousness, and what you smell is due to the nose-consciousness. Then the mind-consciousness. Six consciousness of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, followed by the seventh consciousness of the root of the mind, and the eighth storehouse consciousness alaya. Alaya is also consciousness! When you go further, you have the ninth immaculate consciousness. And in Tantrayana, we go even further and talk about the tenth and highest consciousness, amala.

Tantrayana focuses more on Madyamaka school of thoughts and follows the Prasangika Madyamaka tradition. Madyamaka is divided into many sects too.

All dharma and everything is consciousness. All buddhadharma is related to consciousness. If you see this and can comprehend it, then you are the Precious View Bodhisattva.

Lü Cheng stated that Madyamaka is also Yogacara; therefore, Madyamaka followers should not criticize Yogacara, and vice versa, Yogacara followers should not criticize Madyamaka. They are essentially the same.

The Tang Great Master Xuan Zang researched all these at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda of Da Ci’en Temple. There is also a Ci’en Pagoda at the Sun and Moon Lake in Taiwan, where they enshrined the relics of Xuan Zang. Xuan Zang translated many scriptures, and so did Chen Zhendi (Chen Na) and Yi Jing.

I learned more about Madyamaka after reading Lü Cheng’s book. What he wrote makes a great deal of sense—Madyamaka and Yogacara should not be differentiated. There should never be any disputes between the two traditions because they are essentially the same.

If you can see the real consciousnesses and comprehend all of the most subtle, sublime, and marvelous aspect of consciousness and of buddhadharma, then you are a Precious View Bodhisattva. This bodhisattva can see prajna—the true wisdom. This wisdom is gained through understanding of Madyamaka and Yogacara. It is profound, subtle, marvelous, and sublime—and not easy to understand at all. To understand, you must first listen to the teachings of the precious gurus and additionally, also read many books.

The Great Master Xuan Zang studied Yogacara. Can any of you tell me which scripture represents the true essence of Yogacara? According to Lü Cheng, it is The Ornament of the Great Vehicle Discourses, translated by Xuan Zang into Chinese. Has anybody read Lü Cheng’s book? It’s in ancient Chinese. Luckily, I have a good literary ability, so I understood his writing. Perhaps not many people can understand. The Ornament of the Great Vehicle Discourses specifically talks about Yogacara.

Who was the author of this scripture? Some people said it was Asanga Bodhisattva, while others said it was Maitreya Bodhisattva. This is a minor issue because Asanga learned from Maitreya Bodhisattva, who was Asanga’s teacher. Maitreya Bodhisattva transmitted it to Asanga Bodhisattva. So, either one of them can be the author. Asanga and Vasubandu were brothers who authored Yogacara scriptures. Nagarjuna and Aryadeva were teacher and disciple, and both had authored Madyamaka doctrines.

In your Buddhist studies, you need to understand all these, including Yogacara and Madyamaka. The one who can use both Yogacara and Madyamaka to teach sentient beings is called the Precious View Bodhisattva.

Om mani padme hum.

Next discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 45, 23 October 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Previous discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 43, 16 October 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

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