The Mapaharinirvana (Selections)

Chapter Twenty-Two: On Pure Actions

“Also, next, O good man! The -mahasattva, having practised loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy attains the stage of the best-loved only son. O good man! Why do we call this stage that of the “best-loved” and also “only son”? A father and mother, for example, greatly rejoice when they see their son in peace. The same with the Bodhisattvamahasattva who abides in this soil [“bhumi”]. He sees all beings just as though they were his only son. On seeing a person practising good, he greatly rejoices. So we call this stage that of the best-loved. “O good man! As an example: a father and mother become worried in their hearts when they see their son ill. Commiseration [anguish] poisons their hearts; their minds cannot get away from the illness. It is thus, too, with the Bodhisattva-mahasattva who abides in this stage. When he sees beings bound up by the illness of defilement, his heart aches. He is worried, as if over his own son. Blood comes from all the pores of his skin. That is why we call this stage that of the only son. “O good man! A person, in his childhood, will pick up earth, dirty things, tiles, stones, old bones, and bits of wood and put them into his mouth, at which his father and mother, fearful of the harm that may ensue therefrom, take hold of the child with their left hand and take these things away from him with their right. It is the same with the Bodhisattva of thisstage. He sees that all beings have not grown up to the stage of the -Body and that non-good is performed with body, mouth and mind. The Bodhisattva sees this and extracts [the harmful things] with the hand of Wisdom. He does not wish any person to repeat birth and death, receiving thereby suffering and worry. Hence, this stage is also called the “bhumi” of an only son. “O good man! When, for example, a son dies and the father and mother have to part from their son whom they love, their hearts so ache that they feel that they themselves will die too. It is the same with the Bodhisattva. When he sees an icchantika [person of the most deluded, twisted views on life] falling into hell, he himself wishes to be born there, too. Why so? Because this icchantika, as he experiences pain, may gain a moment of repentance when I speak to him of Dharma in various ways and enable him to gain a thought of good. Hence, this stage is called that of an only son. “O good man! As an example: all a father and mother have is their only son. Asleep or awake, while walking, standing, sitting or reclining, their mind is always on their son. If any sin occurs, they give kindly advice, and the boy is thus guided not to do evil again. It is the same with the Bodhisattva-mahasattva, too. When he sees beings falling into the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals, his mind is ever upon them and not away from them. He may see them doing all kinds of evil, and yet he does not become angry or punish them with evil things. Hence, this stage is called the “bhumi” of an only son.” Bodhisattva Kasyapa said to the Buddha: “O World-Honoured One! What the Buddha speaks is closely guarded words. I am shallow in Wisdom. How can I arrive at the meaning? If it is the case that all abide in the stage of the only son and can do all such things, why was it that the Tathagata, when born as a king, practising the Bodhisattva Way, took the life of a Brahmin of a [certain] place? If this stage was gained, there must be some protection. If it was not yet attained, why did he not fall into hell? If all beings are viewed as an only son, like Rahula, why did you say to Devadatta: “You eat the tears and spittle of one ignorant and shameless!”? Why was he made to hear this and to entertain anger and enmity and evil thoughts, so as to cause blood to come out of the Buddha’s body? When Devadatta had committed this evil, the Tathagata went on to prophesy, saying: “Devadatta will fall into hell, where punishment will persist for a .” O World-Honoured One! How could a Bodhisattva who has attained the “bhumi” of an only son, O Tathagata, speak thus rudely and cause people [to entertain] extremely heavy ill-will?” The Buddha said to Kasyapa: “Now, you should not use such harsh words and say that the Buddha-Tathagata causes any kind of worry of defilement [any mental affliction due to the “asravas”] to arise within beings. O good man! The proboscis of a mosquito could sooner gain the bottom of the sea than that the Tathagata would ever occasion any worry of defilement to any being. O good man! The great earth could sooner turn out to be immaterial, or water become solid, fire cool, wind static, the Three Jewels, Buddha-Nature and space impermanent, than that the Tathagata would ever occasion a cause of worry to any being. O good man! Even those who have committed the four heavy transgressions, or an icchantika, or those who slander Wonderful Dharma, could sooner attain in this present life the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the 32 signs of perfection, and the 80 minor marks of excellence than that the Tathagata would ever occasion the worry of defilement to any being. O good man! All the Bodhisattvas of the ten abodes could sooner commit the four grave offences, become icchantikas and slander Wonderful Dharma than that the Tathagata would ever give occasion for defilement worry to any being. O good man! One could sooner live with vipers, or put both hands into the mouth of a famished lion, or wash one’s body with the charcoal of khadira, than ever say that the Tathagata occasions the worry of defilement to any being. O good man! The Tathagata truly extirpates the bond of worry of all beings and does not occasion the worry of defilement to any of them. “O good man! You say that the Tathagata, in days gone by, killed a Brahmin. O good man! “The Bodhisattva- mahasattva would not purposely kill an ant.” How could he kill a Brahmin? “ The Bodhisattva always, through various means, gives unending life to beings.” When the Bodhisattva-mahasattva practises perfected vigour, he always urges beings to do good. Having done as told, those beings are blessed with a long life. Thus, when the Bodhisattva practises perfected vigour he already gives beings an immeasurably long life. When the Bodhisattva-mahasattva practises perfected-meditation he urges beings to develop the all-equal mind. Having practised this, beings will be blessed with long life. A person who is not indolent regarding Dharma gains a long life. When the Bodhisattva-mahasattva practises perfected Wisdom he urges all beings to practise all kinds of good [things] and is not indolent. Having thus practised, beings in consequence gain a long life. For this reason, when the Bodhisattva practises the prajnaparamita, he already bestows on beings unlimited life. O good man! Because of this, the Bodhisattva- mahasattva does not take the lives of any being to the end. “O good man! You asked if one could gain this “bhumi” or not when one has killed a Brahmin. O good man! I already gained it. Out of love, I took his life. It was not done with an evil mind. O good man! For example, a father and mother have an only son. They love him greatly and act against the law. At that time, the father and mother, out of fear, drive him away or kill him. Though they drove him away or killed him, they had no evil mind. In just the same way, the Bodhisattva-mahasattva acts likewise for reasons of protecting Wonderful Dharma. Should beings slander Mahayana, he applies kindly lashings, in order to cure them. Or he may take life in order that what obtained in the past could be mended, thus seeing to it that the law [Dharma] could be accorded with. The Bodhisattva always thinks: “How might I best make beings aspire to faith? I shall always act as is best fitted to the occasion.” The Brahmin fell into Avichi Hell after his death. He gained three thoughts. The first thought was: “Where have I come from to be born here in this way?” And the realisation dawned on him to the effect that he had been born there from the world of men. His second thought was: “What is this place where I have now been born?” The realisation dawned that this was Avichi Hell. The third thought [then] arose: “Through what causal concatenations have I been born here?”He then came to realise that things had taken this turn because of his slandering of the Mahayana and by his not believing, and by his being killed by the king (the Buddha in a previous life) - thus had he been born there. Thinking in this way, respect arose towards the . Then, after his death, he was born in the world of Tathagata Amrta-Drum. There he lived for 10 kalpas. O good man! I thus, in days gone by, gave this person a life of 10 kalpas. How could it be said that I killed him?” “O good man! There is a man who digs up the ground, mows the grass, fells trees, cuts corpses into pieces, slanders and beats [people]. Would this cause him to be born in hell?” Bodhisattva Kasyapa said to the Buddha: “O World-Honoured One! From what I gather from what you said, this would be a cause of hell. Why? It is as the Buddha once said to the sravakas: “O all you Bhiksus! Do not bear any ill will towards any grass or trees. Why not? Because, due to an evil mind [bad thoughts], all beings fall into hell.” Then the Buddha praised Bodhisattva Kasyapa: “Well said, well said! It is as you say. Hold fast to the precepts. O good man! If a person falls into hell through an evil mind, this tells us that the Bodhisattva does not have any evil mind. Why not? Because the Bodhisattvamahasattva always pities and desires to benefit all beings, down to insects and ants. Why? Because he is versed in all causal relations and expedients. Through the power of expedients, he desires to cause beings to plant the seeds of all varieties of virtue. O good man! For this reason, I, at that time, took life as the best expedient. Yet I did not entertain any evil in my mind. O good man! According to the doctrine of the Brahmins, there is no karmic result even if one kills tens of wagons of ants. All such insects and animals that harm man, such as the mosquito, gadfly, flea, louse, cat, lion, tiger, wolf and bear may be killed in an amount as great as ten wagon-loads [according to the Brahmins]. Such beings as demons, rakshasas, kumbhandas, kataputanas and all those made and dried-up devils who harm human beings may well be killed, without any evil result arising from the killing [according to the Brahmins]. But if one kills an evil person, karmic consequences ensue. If one kills and there is no repentance that follows, one gains life in the hell of hungry ghosts [according to the Brahmins]. If one repents and fasts for three days, the sin dies out and nothing remains behind. If any harm is caused to an upadhyaya [teacher of the Vedas, grammar, etc.], to one’s father, mother, a woman or a cow, one will have to go to hell for innumerable thousands of years [according to the Brahmins]. “O good man! The Buddha and Bodhisattva see three categories of killing, which are those of the grades 1) low, 2) medium, and 3) high. Low applies to the class of insects and all kinds of animals, except for the transformation body of the Bodhisattva who may present himself as such. O good man! The Bodhisattva-mahasattva, through his vows and in certain circumstances, gets born as an animal. This is killing beings of the lowest class. By reason of harming life of the lowest grade, one gains life in the realms of hell, animals or hungry ghosts and suffers from the downmost “duhkha” [pain, mental or physical]. Why so? Because these animals have done somewhat of good. Hence, one who harms them receives full karmic returns for his actions. This is killing of the lowest grade. The medium grade of killing concerns killing [beings] from the category of humans up to the class of anagamins. This is middle-grade killing. As a result, one gets born in the realms of hell, animals or hungry ghosts and fully recieves the karmic consequences befitting the middle grade of suffering. This is medium-grade killing. Top-rank killing relates to killing one’s father or mother, an , pratyekabudda, or a Bodhisattva of the last established state. This is top-rank killing. In consequence of this, one falls into the greatest Avichi Hell [the most terrible of all the hells] and endures the karmic consequences befitting the highest level of suffering. This is top-grade killing. O good man! A person who kills an icchantika does not suffer from the karmic returns due to the killings of the three kinds named above. O good man! All those Brahmins are of the class of the icchantika. For example, such actions as digging the ground, mowing the grass, felling trees, cutting up corpses, ill-speaking, and lashing do not call forth karmic returns. Killing an icchantika comes within the same category. No karmic results ensue. Why not? Because no Brahmins are concerned with the “five roots” of faith, vigour, , concentration, and Wisdom. For this reason, killing [of this kind] does not carry one off to hell. (a) 473 “O good man! Because the icchantikas are cut off from the root of good. All beings possess such five roots as faith, etc. But the people of the icchantika class are eternally cut off from such. Because of this, one may well kill an ant and gain the sin of harming, but the killing of an icchantika does not [constitute a sin].” “O World-Honoured One! The icchantika possesses nothing that is good. Is it for this reason that such a person is called an “icchantika”? The Buddha said: “It is so, it is so!”