Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (177)

The Realm of an Eighth-Bhūmi Bodhisattva

If one contemplates where all the myriad phenomena of the world come from, where the conscious mind comes from, and how the five aggregates and all the myriad phenomena of the world arise, one can attain a Mahāyāna fruit. It would be even better to further study the example of the World-Honored One's father, attain the patience with the non-arising of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti), and become a first-bhūmi bodhisattva. After attaining the first bhūmi as a bodhisattva and then being reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), what fruit would one attain? By listening to Amitābha Buddha personally expound the profound dharma of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātratā), one can quickly attain the fruit of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva. An eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can, within a single thought-moment, transform and create a trichiliocosm (trisāhasra-mahāsāhasra-lokadhātu); countless planets can instantly be transformed and created. Holding the earth in one hand and sentient beings in the other, the bodhisattva can move sentient beings to another galaxy without their perceiving it in the slightest. When an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva opens His mouth, the waters of the four great oceans pour into the bodhisattva's mouth, and the fish, shrimp, dragons, and other sentient beings do not know they have been drawn into the bodhisattva's belly, unable to detect it. When a planet is about to be destroyed, an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva moves all the sentient beings of that planet to another planet, and the sentient beings are unaware of it. Ten billion earths, ten billion Mount Sumerus, ten billion sixfold desire-realm heavens—all the heavens number ten billion—ten billion hells, ten billion Yāma realms, and ten billion four great oceans together constitute one trichiliocosm, which is exceedingly vast, and an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can manifest all of it completely.

The realms of the great bodhisattvas are very difficult for us to imagine. When we cannot imagine them, it is hard to believe that such inconceivable things exist. In fact, when our roots of goodness, merit, and conditions are truly all complete, attaining realization of these dharmas is not difficult, let alone believing in them. We must have faith in the Buddha and the Dharma, faith in the saṅgha of bodhisattvas, and also faith in ourselves. Diligently cultivate precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom; merit is the foundation. We must continuously perfect and fulfill the provisions and conditions for practicing the bodhisattva path and being bodhisattvas, so that the causes and conditions for enlightenment may manifest soon, and our aspirations will be realized.