The Cultivation Practice of Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva (2)

The Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha introduced himself, saying: "(My) body can well enter the lands as numerous as fine dust motes." Since the lands as numerous as fine dust motes in the ten directions have all entered into the physical body of the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, then the physical body of the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha can enter into the lands as numerous as fine dust motes in the ten directions; that is to say, the lands as numerous as fine dust motes in the ten directions and the physical body of the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha mutually interpenetrate without obstruction, merging into one another without hindrance. Such is the marvelousness of the bodhisattva's spiritual power; in this way he can widely perform the Buddha's works, broadly benefit sentient beings, and greatly carry out the Buddha's work within the dream. The Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha can accord with the conditions of sentient beings in the ten-direction worlds and broadly deliver immeasurable sentient beings. The spiritual power of a bodhisattva on the tenth bhūmi is beyond our imagination. Why does he possess such great spiritual power? Because he has extremely profound and wondrous wisdom, as well as an extremely deep state of meditative concentration (samādhi); immeasurable and boundless powers of supernatural ability can thereby be brought forth.

Why does the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha have such great spiritual power? The Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha introduced himself, saying: "此大神力，由我谛观，四大无依，妄想生灭。" The Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha used deep and wondrous wisdom to carefully observe and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), giving rise to the mind of wisdom within meditative concentration; deliberation (manasikāra/manana) within samādhi is called careful observation (谛观). Only with the dual operation of śamatha and vipaśyanā, the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, is there such careful observation. Bodhisattvas of the seventh bhūmi and above are in samādhi thought after thought, with no time when they are not in samādhi. The result of this careful observation verified that the physical body composed of the four great elements has nothing to rely on and nowhere to abide, that there is no substantial physical body or material form in existence. From this deep and wondrous wisdom, immeasurable and vast supernatural powers were brought forth, and boundless and vast spiritual power was attained.

This boundless spiritual power is jointly accomplished by samādhi and wisdom. Therefore, the content of the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha's careful observation is that the four great elements have nothing to rely on. The four great elements are the four greats formed by the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. Then the tathāgatagarbha uses these four great elements to extensively create form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, and to extensively create the universe, the material world (bhājana-loka). The universe, the material world, is created by the four great elements, and the physical bodies of all sentient beings are constituted by the four great elements. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha expounded that the four great elements are fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha nature; in essence they are also the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, all dharmas constituted by the four great elements have nothing to rely on and nowhere to abide; they are all illusory transformations, with no substantial material form in existence.

Material form is generated by the four great elements of the tathāgatagarbha, and the four great elements also have nothing to rely on; they arise due to the deluded thinking of sentient beings. Because of the deluded thinking of sentient beings, the tathāgatagarbha relies on it and accordingly transforms and creates the material world composed of the four great elements. This deluded thinking is the perception (想) of the seven consciousnesses, the deliberation of the seven consciousnesses, the attention (作意) of the seven consciousnesses, the attention, contact, feeling, perception, and deliberation of the seven consciousnesses. Thereupon the tathāgatagarbha uses the four great elements to generate the worlds of the ten directions. The worlds of the ten directions are formed by the four great elements; the tathāgatagarbha, relying on the deluded mind, relying on the mind of the seven consciousnesses, produced the lands as numerous as fine dust motes in the ten directions.