Appendix: The Verses Spoken by Bodhisattva Jue Lin in the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*

In the Chapter of Verse Praise in the Palace of Yama from the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, Bodhisattva Jue Lin, empowered by the Buddha, recited a verse containing these four lines: "The mind is like a skilled painter, able to depict all worlds. The Five Aggregates entirely arise from it; there is nothing it cannot create." These four lines are printed at the beginning of every copy of the *Kṣitigarbha Sūtra*. They mean that the Tathāgatagarbha is like a master painter skilled in painting, capable of depicting the material universe of the Three Realms and the Five Aggregates that form the physical bodies of sentient beings. All phenomena are created and painted by it.

First, consider how a painter creates: he first prepares pigments, brushes, and canvas, then uses the brush to sketch and reproduce images based on concepts in his mind or scenes before his eyes. If he thinks of a mountain, he dips the brush in pigment and paints a mountain; if he thinks of a river, he paints a river; if he thinks of a Buddha statue, he paints a Buddha statue. Similarly, the Tathāgatagarbha, like a painter, can depict our Five Aggregates and Eighteen Realms, painting the world of the Three Realms. Yet the Tathāgatagarbha has no conceptualization, no imagination; it does not paint according to its own will but entirely based on the stored karmic seeds.

For human karmic seeds, it uses the Seven Elements to paint a human; for male karmic seeds, it paints a man; for female karmic seeds, it paints a woman; for animal karmic seeds, it paints an animal; for hungry ghost karmic seeds, it paints a hungry ghost. To paint mountains, rivers, and the earth, the Tathāgatagarbha transmits the Four Great Elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—to manifest mountains, rivers, the earth, the planet, the cosmos, stars, Mount Sumeru, and the palaces of various heavenly realms. It can manifest the four great oceans beneath the earth, the seven golden mountains, and even the hell realms below. All these ever-changing phenomena of the Five Aggregates and the material world manifest according to the karmic seeds of sentient beings; they do not arise without cause, basis, or arbitrarily.

The Tathāgatagarbha is like the painter; karmic seeds are like the concepts in the painter’s mind; the Seven Elements are like the pigments the painter uses; the mental factors of the Tathāgatagarbha are like the painter’s brush. Whatever karmic seeds are stored within it, it uses the Seven Elements to paint the corresponding world of the Five Aggregates. It paints with reason and basis. How exactly the Tathāgatagarbha manifests mountains, rivers, and the earth; how it transmits the Seven Elements; how it creates our physical body of Five Aggregates; how it gives rise to our seven consciousnesses—these details require gradual observation and contemplation after attaining the wisdom of the path-seed (*mārgajñāna*). Through this, increasingly vast wisdom arises, the path of cultivation continuously advances, and blessings continually increase. Studying and practicing Buddhism is truly the most supremely blissful and free endeavor!

The explanation of the *Prajñāpāramitā Heart Sūtra* concludes here. May all beings master the Dharma without hindrance, advance diligently on the path, and swiftly attain Bodhi!

General Dedication of Merits:

May all three hindrances and afflictions be eliminated,

May true wisdom become clear and bright;

May all karmic obstacles be eradicated universally,

Life after life, may we always practice the Bodhisattva Path!

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Completed　　　　　　　March 15, 2016

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Proofread again　　　December 20, 2018