Explanation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Revelation of Consciousness

Original text:于去来今。照了无碍。是大那伽。如佛之教。所作已办。弃大重担。获于己利。已断流转。生死有苦。以正智力。善知众生。心之所趣。如是大声闻众。长老舍利弗。而为上首。复有无量。菩萨摩诃萨众。俱在会集。

The suffering taught by the Buddha includes three kinds: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of formation, and the suffering of deterioration. Celestial beings, although free from the suffering of suffering, still have the suffering of formation and the suffering of deterioration, because their kind of bliss is not permanent and cannot be retained; it will vanish sooner or later. This kind of suffering is called the "suffering of formation." When the feeling of bliss disappears, it is called the "suffering of deterioration." Especially at the end of life, celestial beings will manifest the five signs of decay: first, the body becomes foul and malodorous; second, the flower crown withers; third, dust falls upon the clothing; fourth, sweat appears under both armpits. The celestial being's body becomes foul and offensive to smell, and no celestial being is willing to approach him—all avoid and keep away from him; he can no longer sit on the precious throne in heaven, the flower crown on his head withers, whereas previously his clothing was always clean and never gathered dust, now his clothing has dust on it, and his two armpits give off the odor of sweat. When these phenomena appear, it indicates that the celestial being's life is about to end and he is about to undergo suffering; this is called the celestial being's "manifestation of the five signs of decay." The arhats have already completely severed the suffering of birth and death within the three realms; in the future they will no longer undergo the suffering of birth and death, and will no longer come to the three realms to take rebirth.

"With the wisdom power of right knowledge, well knowing the inclinations of sentient beings' minds": arhats cultivate the Four Noble Truths of suffering, origination, cessation, and path, attain the wisdom of liberation, and are endowed with omniscience of all knowledge. With this wisdom, they can truly observe the mental activities of sentient beings and where their inclinations ultimately tend. By seeing the dharmas that sentient beings crave and delight in, they can know which of the six realms a sentient being will tend toward at the end of life, and can also know whether a sentient being can attain liberation and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. The minds of most sentient beings are attached to the worldly dharmas of the three realms; in the future they cannot escape the bondage of worldly dharmas, and all must undergo the bondage of the six sense objects, tending toward the six realms, tending toward the worldly five aggregates, tending toward the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, unable to escape the cycle of birth and death.

In this great assembly, the śrāvaka assembly was headed by Śāriputra. "Elder" is an honorific title for arhats; those who have realized the fourth fruit of arhatship are called the great śrāvaka assembly. The Elder Śāriputra was foremost in wisdom among them, so Śāriputra occupied the foremost position among the śrāvaka assembly. Countless bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were arrayed behind the great śrāvaka assembly in the great gathering, indicating that many of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were lay practitioners, with relatively few among the monastic assembly. When the Buddha was in the world, the monastic assembly took precedence, so the monastic assembly was presented first, and then the lay assembly. Both the śrāvaka disciples and the bodhisattva disciples gathered at the Dharma assembly where the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma, listening to the World-Honored One's teachings.