The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Five: Bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhimukti among the Twenty-Five Sages' Methods of Perfect Penetration

Original text: 持地菩萨即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我念往昔。普光如来。出现于世。我为比丘。常于一切要路津口。田地险隘。有不如法。妨损车马。我皆平填。或作桥梁。或负沙土。如是勤苦。经无量佛出现于世。或有众生。于阛阓处。要人擎物。我先为擎。至其所诣。放物即行。不取其直。毗舍浮佛现在世时。世多饥荒。我为负人。无问远近。惟取一钱。或有车牛被于陷溺。我有神力。为其推轮。拔其苦恼。时国大王筵佛设斋。我于尔时。平地待佛。毗舍如来。摩顶谓我。当平心地。则世界地。一切皆平。我即心开。见身微尘。与造世界所有微尘。等无差别。微尘自性。不相触摩。乃至刀兵。亦无所触。我于法性。悟无生忍。成阿罗汉。回心今入菩萨位中。闻诸如来。宣妙莲花佛知见地。我先证明。而为上首。佛问圆通。我以谛观。身界二尘。等无差别。本如来藏。虚妄发尘。尘销智圆。成无上道。斯为第一。

Explanation: The Bodhisattva Holding the Earth (Dharanīdhara) rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: I recall that in the past, when the Puṣya Buddha (Pragbhāsā) appeared in the world, I was a bhikṣu who often went to all the important road junctions and ferry crossings, as well as the dangerous and narrow places between fields, and wherever there were gullies, pits, and bumps that were not in accordance with the Dharma and obstructed or damaged carts and horses, I would silently fill them in and level them. In those places, I would either build a bridge or personally carry sand and earth on my back to level the road, so that carts and horses could pass without obstruction. Laboring diligently in this way for sentient beings, I passed through the appearance in the world of countless Buddhas. During such long kalpas, besides repairing roads, I also carried burdens for people. For example, when some sentient being in a very bustling place wanted to find someone to help carry heavy objects, I would come to his side first, help him carry his things, and upon arriving at the place he designated, I would set the things down and walk away, taking no payment whatsoever. When the Puṣya Buddha (Viśvabhū) appeared in this world, the world was plagued by famine. As a laborer who carried burdens for others, no matter how far or near the residence of the person who asked me to carry things, I would only take one coin. Or when an ox and cart became mired in the mud, I would use my great strength to push out the wheels for them and relieve their distress. At that time, the king of the country held a banquet and offered a meal to the Buddha, and I, at that time, leveled the road the Buddha was to travel, awaiting the arrival of the Puṣya Buddha. The Puṣya Tathāgata touched my head and told me: You should level your own mind-ground, and then the roads of the world will all be level. Upon hearing these words, my mind immediately opened up, and I understood the connection between the mind-ground and the great earth of the world, and the relationship between the material body and the world. With the wisdom eye I beheld that the fine dust particles of the material body and all the dust particles that constitute the world are identical, without any difference; the self-nature of the dust particles is such that they do not touch or collide with one another, and even weapons and blades cannot touch them. On the dharmatā of these dust particles, I realized the patience of non-arising (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) and became an arhat. I have long since turned my mind from being an arhat to entering the ranks of the Mahāyāna bodhisattvas, and having heard the various Buddhas proclaim the wondrous lotus and reveal the Buddhas' knowledge and vision, I was the first to give proof and became the foremost among the assembly. Now the Buddha asks about the gateway to perfect penetration. It was because I carefully contemplated the two kinds of dust particles that constitute the material body and the world, which are equally without difference, fundamentally dust manifested illusorily from the tathāgatagarbha. After the appearance of the dust particles was extinguished in my mind, wisdom became perfectly luminous, and I accomplished the unsurpassed Buddha Way. This is my foremost gateway to perfect penetration.

When the Bodhisattva Holding the Earth met the Puṣya Buddha, why was it that upon hearing just one sentence from the Puṣya Buddha, his mind-ground opened up and became luminous and he became an arhat? This is because the Bodhisattva Holding the Earth, over countless kalpas, had made the bodhicitta resolve, extensively benefited sentient beings, accumulated great merit, subdued the nature of self-clinging, and attained profound meditative concentration (dhyāna); the causes and conditions for awakening were completely fulfilled. Therefore, upon hearing the Puṣya Buddha say that if one leveled one's own mind-ground, the ground of the world would all become level, he immediately reflected and awakened to the subtle relationship between the material body and the material world (inanimate world), attaining the fourth fruit of arhatship. Therefore, practitioners should accumulate as much as possible the meritorious provisions for seeing the Way; as long as the provisions for awakening are complete, when the causes and conditions ripen, one will awaken to the Way, without obstruction.