A Brief Explanation of the Mahayana Tathagatagarbha Sutra

Chapter 2  Prelude to the Dharma Assembly 

Original text: 如是我闻。一时佛在王舍城耆阇崛山中。宝月讲堂。栴檀重阁。成佛十年，与大比丘众百千人俱，菩萨摩诃萨六十恒河沙，皆悉成就大精进力，已曾供养百千亿那由他诸佛，皆悉能转不退法轮。

Explanation: The first sentence of the main text, following convention, is of course 如是我闻. The meaning of "Thus have I heard" is that after the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa, when Ānanda compiled the sūtras before the assembly, he recounted the Dharma that the Buddha had taught at the Dharma assemblies, saying at the beginning of each sūtra: "This is what I heard the World-Honored One teach." Then he would begin to narrate specifically how the World-Honored One taught this sūtra, and he could recount it from beginning to end. Among the World-Honored One's ten great disciples, Ānanda was renowned as foremost in hearing much; his memory was astonishing—nothing that passed his ears was ever forgotten.

一时佛在王舍城耆阇崛山中。宝月讲堂。栴檀重阁。 This passage describes the World-Honored One teaching the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra to the assembly at this place, Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain in Rājagṛha; this is called the accomplishment of the place. Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain is located to the northeast of Rājagṛha, the capital of the country of Magadha in central India. Rājagṛha was the largest city in India and a place where the Buddha constantly resided and frequently taught the Dharma. Within Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain there was the Jeweled Moon Lecture Hall; this lecture hall was a multi-storied pavilion built of candana wood. Candana wood is one of the better, superior grades of sandalwood in India, and the multi-storied pavilion was a two- or three-story building made of sandalwood; that is to say, this pavilion was not a single-story structure but a building with two and even three stories. In ancient times, architectural technology was not well developed; houses were all built of wooden planks, so pavilions could not be too tall—at most three stories, generally two stories, and the most common were single-story, single-level houses, unlike today when we can build high-rise buildings, as modern construction technology is exceptionally advanced. It was precisely at this place—the candana multi-storied pavilion of the Jeweled Moon Lecture Hall on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain in Rājagṛha—that the World-Honored One taught the Mahāvaipulya Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra to the assembly.

This was the first sūtra the World-Honored One taught after He had been a Buddha for about ten years, having finished teaching the Āgama sūtras and turned to the Mahāyāna Dharma. This sūtra certainly could not be too profound and detailed, otherwise sentient beings would be unable to understand it. Therefore, it must be the most foundational of Mahāyāna sūtras for laying the groundwork for the practice of the Mahāyāna Dharma, with the purpose of enabling all sentient beings to understand it, to gain some understanding of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha Dharma, to give rise to faith, to plant roots of goodness and merit, and to plant the seeds of buddhahood.

The great bhikṣus mentioned afterward are the Buddha's constant-following assembly—the one thousand two hundred and fifty-five bhikṣus who surrounded the Buddha's side; these are the renunciate śrāvaka assembly. Afterward there are also sixty Ganges-river-sands of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas. Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas are great bodhisattvas; "great bodhisattvas" generally refers to bodhisattvas at the level of seeing the mind and seeing the nature and above, though there is also a stricter saying that only bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis are called great bodhisattvas or bodhisattva-mahāsattvas. The number of these bodhisattvas was as many as sixty Ganges sands; "Ganges sands" refers to the sands in India's Ganges River, a number that simply cannot be counted, signifying that the bodhisattvas were extremely numerous—all of them were buddha-sons whom Śākyamuni Buddha had delivered over immeasurable kalpas. The great bhikṣu assembly numbered only one thousand two hundred and fifty-five people, whereas the bodhisattvas numbered sixty Ganges sands—immeasurable and boundless in multitude.

The World-Honored One had been a Buddha for only ten years—why were there so many bodhisattvas? It turns out that before Śākyamuni Buddha came to the Sahā world, He had already been propagating the Dharma and delivering sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions, and for who knows how many immeasurable kalpas He had been propagating the Dharma and delivering beings; this also shows that the Buddha had long since completed the cultivation of the three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. According to the records in the Buddhist sūtras, after attaining buddhahood, the World-Honored One came to our Sahā world eight thousand times in the capacity of a Buddha; as for how many times He went to other buddha-lands, that is beyond counting. Over such a long span of time, the Buddha propagated the Dharma and benefited beings, delivering countless bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.

Now, the bodhisattvas who came to this Dharma assembly to listen to the Dharma, serving as the influencing assembly, numbered only sixty Ganges sands; although uncountable, this number was still not the entirety—it was only a portion of them, and there were even more bodhisattva disciples who did not take part in the assembly. So many bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were not all propagating the Dharma in the Sahā world; rather, they were distributed throughout the various buddha-lands of the worlds of the ten directions, benefiting themselves and benefiting others. The worlds of the ten directions are immeasurably and boundlessly vast. These bodhisattvas had all cultivated supernatural powers; hearing that the Buddha was going to teach the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, they all made the vow to come and protect and uphold the Buddha's Dharma treasury, to support the Buddha in teaching this Mahāyāna sūtra. Therefore the bodhisattvas came from the worlds of the ten directions to Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain in the Sahā world to listen to the World-Honored One expound this sūtra; their supernatural powers being incomparably vast, they were able to fly from distant lands to the Sahā world to support the World-Honored One in teaching the Dharma.

These bodhisattvas were not only able to diligently cultivate and study the bodhisattvas' six perfections, bringing themselves to accomplishment, but in benefiting others they likewise possessed great power of diligence, treating sentient beings with loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and gathering in sentient beings through all manner of skillful expedient means. They had accomplished immeasurable samādhi and accomplished the undefiled practice of precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom—this is what is called "all had accomplished great power of diligence." What follows introduces that these sixty Ganges sands of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas had all made offerings to hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of buddhas, meaning that the number of buddhas to whom these bodhisattvas had made offerings was immeasurably and boundlessly great, and the roots of goodness and merit they had planted were exceedingly deep. "Nayuta" is a term from the ancient Indian language denoting an extremely large, uncountable number. That the bodhisattvas had already made offerings to so many buddhas shows that their roots of goodness and merit were very, very deep. That they had made offerings to so many buddhas and yet have not attained buddhahood shows that attaining buddhahood requires long and distant kalpas, requiring cultivation throughout three great immeasurable kalpas; it is not the case that so much merit and benefit can be achieved in a single lifetime, nor can one attain buddhahood in a single lifetime.

We were born in the Sahā world and study Buddhism under the Dharma teaching of Śākyamuni Buddha—this is itself making offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha. In past lives, we may all have made offerings to the other three buddhas of this Fortunate Kalpa, and perhaps before this Fortunate Kalpa we also made offerings to all the buddhas of other kalpas—that is by no means certain. But the buddhas to whom we have made offerings are still very, very few; the number is extremely limited. The fifth buddha of the Fortunate Kalpa is Buddha Maitreya; we have not yet made offerings to Him, because Maitreya Bodhisattva has not yet attained buddhahood and has not yet come to the Sahā world to transmit the Dharma, so we have not yet had the karmic opportunity to make offerings to Him; the one we make offerings to now is Śākyamuni Buddha. How our roots of goodness, merit, and karmic conditions from past lives are can be seen from how many buddhas each person made offerings to in past lives and through how many buddhas' Dharma teachings they have passed. Those whose roots of goodness and merit are not deep have made offerings to only a very small number of buddhas, and therefore at present they still cannot believe in and accept the Mahāyāna Buddhadharma, cannot believe in and accept the tathāgatagarbha Dharma. This shows that studying Buddhism and attaining buddhahood is not a matter of one lifetime or a few lifetimes.

Through the World-Honored One's cultivation over immeasurable kalpas, He delivered immeasurably many sentient beings and had immeasurably many disciples who supported Him and followed Him in studying the Dharma; only thus could the World-Honored One accomplish the buddha-way and manifest His own buddha-land to lead His disciples in practice. If the World-Honored One had not delivered sentient beings in past lives, He would have no disciples to follow and study with Him and to jointly establish a buddha-land. A single person alone cannot attain buddhahood; buddhas and bodhisattvas must have their own disciples, and together with their disciples form a buddha-land and together propagate the Tathāgata's Dharma teaching. Therefore, a bodhisattva who has not delivered sentient beings and has no disciples cannot advance in his cultivation of the Path. If a bodhisattva has not a single disciple, or only very few disciples, his merit and blessed merit are both incomplete, and wanting to attain buddhahood in this very life is impossible. A buddha-land must have immeasurably and boundlessly many sentient beings; those sentient beings are composed of the disciples delivered by the Buddha. It is impossible for there to be only the Buddha alone, and it is also impossible for only a few bodhisattva disciples to establish a buddha-land.

Therefore, for a bodhisattva to attain buddhahood, he must pass through the time of three great immeasurable kalpas, have made offerings to immeasurably and boundlessly many buddhas, delivered immeasurably and boundlessly many disciples, and be endowed with immeasurable roots of goodness, merit, and wisdom before he can attain buddhahood. These things certainly cannot be accomplished in one lifetime. Many people have neither taught the Dharma to transform sentient beings nor have disciples whom they have delivered; they do not possess great blessed merit, nor have they accomplished immeasurable samādhi—yet they claim they can attain buddhahood in one lifetime, attain buddhahood in this very life. That is impossible.

These bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were all able to assist the Buddha in turning the Dharma wheel, teaching the Dharma to deliver sentient beings. Turning the non-retrogressing Dharma wheel means expounding the sūtras and teaching the Dharma for sentient beings, enabling sentient beings to see the mind and see the nature, so that they never retrogress from the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha Dharma through which one attains buddhahood, and never retrogress from unsurpassed bodhi. These bodhisattvas could, in accordance with sentient beings' faculties and dispositions, teach the tathāgatagarbha Dharma at varying levels of depth; after hearing it, sentient beings would see the mind and see the nature, and thereby no longer retrogress from unsurpassed bodhi—this is the non-retrogressing Dharma wheel that these bodhisattvas turned. This shows that these great bodhisattvas were not only able to benefit themselves but also to benefit others.

Original text: 若有众生闻其名者。于无上道终不退转 。其名曰法慧菩萨、师子慧菩萨、金刚慧菩萨、调慧菩萨、妙慧菩萨、月光菩萨、宝月菩萨、满月菩萨、勇猛菩萨、无量勇菩萨、无边勇菩萨、超三界菩萨、观世音菩萨、大势至菩萨、香象菩萨、香上菩萨、香上首菩萨、首藏菩萨、日藏菩萨、幢相菩萨、大幢相菩萨、离垢幢菩萨、无边光菩萨、放光菩萨、离垢光菩萨、喜王菩萨、常喜菩萨、宝手菩萨、虚空藏菩萨、离憍慢菩萨、须弥山菩萨、光德王菩萨、总持自在王菩萨、总持菩萨、灭众病菩萨、疗一切众生病菩萨、欢喜念菩萨、餍意菩萨、常餍菩萨、普照菩萨、月明菩萨、宝慧菩萨、转女身菩萨、大雷音菩萨、导师菩萨、不虚见菩萨、一切法自在菩萨、弥勒菩萨、文殊师利菩萨，如是等六十恒河沙菩萨摩诃萨。从无量佛刹。与无央数天龙、夜叉、乾闼婆、阿修罗、迦楼罗、紧那罗、摩睺罗伽俱。悉皆来集尊重供养。

Explanation: If there are sentient beings who hear the names of these great bodhisattvas, then those sentient beings will never again retrogress from the unsurpassed buddha-way. This shows that the supernatural powers and spiritual might of these great bodhisattvas are extremely vast; merely by hearing their names, sentient beings can never retrogress from the unsurpassed way. Since this is so, please everyone recite the names of these bodhisattvas once with a respectful mind, so that after hearing them, all may never retrogress from the unsurpassed buddha-way.

The bodhisattvas attending the Dharma assembly were: Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva, Lion Wisdom Bodhisattva, Vajra Wisdom Bodhisattva, Tamed Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wondrous Wisdom Bodhisattva, Moonlight Bodhisattva, Jeweled Moon Bodhisattva, Full Moon Bodhisattva, Courageous Bodhisattva, Immeasurable Courage Bodhisattva, Boundless Courage Bodhisattva, Transcender of the Three Realms Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva, Fragrant Elephant Bodhisattva, Supreme Fragrance Bodhisattva, Foremost of Fragrances Bodhisattva, Chief Treasury Bodhisattva, Sun Treasury Bodhisattva, Banner Mark Bodhisattva, Great Banner Mark Bodhisattva, Undefiled Banner Bodhisattva, Boundless Light Bodhisattva, Radiating Light Bodhisattva, Undefiled Light Bodhisattva, Joy King Bodhisattva, Constant Joy Bodhisattva, Jeweled Hand Bodhisattva, Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva, Freedom from Arrogance Bodhisattva, Mount Sumeru Bodhisattva, King of Light-Merit Bodhisattva, Sovereign King of Dhāraṇī Bodhisattva, Dhāraṇī Bodhisattva, Eliminator of All Illnesses Bodhisattva, Healer of All Sentient Beings' Illnesses Bodhisattva, Joyful Mindfulness Bodhisattva, Contented Mind Bodhisattva, Ever Content Bodhisattva, Universal Illumination Bodhisattva, Luminous Moon Bodhisattva, Jeweled Wisdom Bodhisattva, Transformer of Female Forms Bodhisattva, Great Thunder Sound Bodhisattva, Guide Bodhisattva, Unerring Vision Bodhisattva, Sovereign Over All Dharmas Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva.

The names of the bodhisattvas have now been recited once. I do not know whether, after hearing them, everyone has seen the mind and seen the nature, and from now on will never again retrogress from unsurpassed bodhi. These sixty Ganges sands of bodhisattvas came from immeasurable buddha-fields, from the jeweled fields of the buddhas in the worlds of the ten directions, together with uncountable devas and nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, and other dharma-protecting deities, arriving in the Sahā world to make offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha and to protect and uphold Śākyamuni Buddha's Dharma teaching.