TaboA JP84 419
Date: 12/06/06
{Chapter 29} Furthermore, Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should approach the perfection of wisdom as follows: through non-attachment to all dharmas.
TaboA JP01 0224
Date: 12/07/06
{Chapter 30} Furthermore, Subhuti, one should search for perfect wisdom as the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita has done, who at present leads the holy life in the presence of the Tathagata Bhishmagarjitanirghoshasvara.
TaboA JP84 420
Date: 12/07/06
Subhuti: How then did the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita search for the perfection of wisdom?
TaboA JP01 0222
Date: 12/07/06
The Lord: First of all Sadaprarudita, the Bodhisattva, searched for perfect wisdom in such a way that he did not care for his body, had no regard for his life, and gain, honour and fame did not interest him.
TaboA JP84 421
Date: 12/07/06
He found himself in the seclusion of a remote forest, and a voice up in the air said to him:
TaboA JP01 0228
Date: 12/07/06
Go East, son of good family ! There you shall hear the perfection of wisdom! And on your way you must not pay any attention to the weariness of your body, you must not give in to any fatigue, you must pay no attention to food or drink, today or night, to cold or heat.
TaboA JP01 0229
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita said to the voice: That is how I shall act. Because I want to bring light to all beings, because I want to procure the dharmas of a Buddha.
TaboA JP84 422
Date: 12/07/06
After receiving this admonition from the voice, the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita journeyed East.
TaboA JP84 423
Date: 12/07/06
Before long it occurred to him that he had not asked the voice how far he ought to go. He stood still just where he was, wept, cried, sorrowed and lamented.
TaboA JP01 0231
Date: 12/07/06
When Sadaprarudita thus sorrowed and pined away, a Tathagata-frame suddenly stood before him, ...
TaboA JP01 0230
Date: 12/07/06
...and said: ... do you go East! There, five hundred leagues away from here, is a town called Gandhavati. It is built of the seven precious things. ... Go forth, ... before long you will hear the perfection of wisdom.
TaboA JP01 0232
Date: 12/07/06
Without leaving the place where he was Sadaprarudita then heard the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata demonstrating the perfection of wisdom. As a result he produced a perception which did not lean on any dharma. And he came face to face with many doors to concentration. Established in these concentrations,
TaboA JP01 0233
Date: 12/07/06
he saw the Buddhas and Lords in the countless worlds in the ten directions. And those Tathagatas applauded and comforted him, and they said to him: We also have in the past, when we were Bodhisattvas, searched for the perfection of wisdom in just the same way. ...
TaboA JP01 0234
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita asked the Tathagatas: Who is our good friend? The Tathagatas replied : The Bodhisattva Dharmodgata has for a long time matured you for the supreme enightenment, ...
TaboA JP01 0235
Date: 12/07/06
After the Tathagatas had comforted the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita, they again disappeared. But Sadaprarudita emerged from his concentrations, and asked himself whence have those Tathagatas come, and whither have they gone?
TaboA JP01 0236
Date: 12/07/06
Since he could no longer see those Tathagatas, he was worried and pined away for them. Sadararudita thereupon nursed affection and confidence, esteem and respect for the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP01 0237
Date: 12/07/06
He then reflected: With what fkind of honouring gift could I now approach the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata?Such were the feelings, such was the attitude of reverence, with which the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita proceeded on his journey.
TaboA JP01 0238
Date: 12/07/06
In due course he reached a town, went to the midst of the market place, and decided that he would sell his own body, and with the price thereof do honour to the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP01 0239
Date: 12/07/06
Mara, the Evil One, thereupon so disposed the Brahmans and householders in that town that they could not hear the voice of Sadaprarudita.
TaboA JP01 0240
Date: 12/07/06
When Sadaprarudita could not find a buyer for himself, he went on one side, wailed, shed tears, and said:
TaboA JP01 0241
Date: 12/07/06
Alas, it is hard on us that we do not find a buyer even for our body, so that we could, after selling our body, honour the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP84 427
Date: 12/07/06
Shakra then conjured up the guise of a young man, went to the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita, and said to him : Why do you, son of good family, stand there dejected, pining away and shedding tears?
TaboA JP01 0243
Date: 12/07/06
The young man said: I myself have no need of a man. But my father is due to offer sacrifice. For that I require a man's heart, his blood and the marrow of his bones.
TaboA JP01 0244
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita then took a sharp sword, pierced his right arm, and made the blood flow. He pierced his right thigh, cut the flesh from it, and strode up to the foot of a wall in order to break the bone.
TaboA JP01 0246
Date: 12/07/06
A merchant's daughter, from her upper window, saw this, and she thought to herself : Why should this son of good family do that to himself ? Let me go to him, and ask him.
TaboA JP01 0252
Date: 12/07/06
[Sadaprarudita explains it.] The merchant's daughter replied : "It is wonderful, ... I shall give you whatever you may require, and with that you may then honour that Bodhisattva Dharmodgata! But do not inflict such treatment on yourself!
TaboA JP01 0245
Date: 12/07/06
I also will come with you to the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata! I also will, together with you, plant wholesome roots, which will help to win such dharmas!
TaboA JP01 0247
Date: 12/07/06
Shakra Chief of Gods, thereupon threw off his disguise as a young man, and in his own proper body he stood before the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita, and said to him:
TaboA JP01 0248
Date: 12/07/06
I applaud your firm sense of obligation. ... I only came here to test you. Now choose a boon I shall give you any boon whatever!
TaboA JP01 0249
Date: 12/07/06
That very moment, instant and second, through the Buddha's might and through the perfect purity of the Bodhisattva's resolution, the body of the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita became again as it had been before, healthy and whole.
TaboA JP84 429
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita and the merchants daughter went together to her house.
TaboA JP01 0254
Date: 12/07/06
When they got to it, Sadaprarudita remained standing on the threshold, while the merchant's daughter went into the house, and said to her parents:
TaboA JP01 0255
Date: 12/07/06
Together with the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita I want to go to the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, in order to worship him.
TaboA JP01 0257
Date: 12/07/06
Her parents replied: We also should like to come with you, to see, to salute, to honour, to worship the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP84 431
Date: 12/07/06
It was thus that the merchant's daughter set out ... mounted on one carriage with the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita, and proceeded East, ...
TaboA JP01 0258
Date: 12/07/06
surrounded by the five hundred maidens on their five hundred carts, ... and preceded by her parents.
TaboA JP01 0260
Date: 12/07/06
After some time the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita saw the city of Gandhavati from afar.
TaboA JP84 432
Date: 12/07/06
Thereupon he alighted from his carriage, and the merchant's daughter with her five hundred maidens followed suit.
TaboA JP84 433
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita, with the merchants daughter and her five hundred maidens then went up to where the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata sat amidst a magnificent display of religious aspirations.
TaboA JP01 0264
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita ... looked upon that pointed tower, so magnificently decorated ...
TaboA JP01 0262
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita then asked S«akra, Chief of Gods: For what purpose do you, together with many thousands of Gods, scatter over that pointed tower ... heavenly Mandarava flowers ...
TaboA JP01 0263
Date: 12/07/06
Shakra aswered: Do you not know the reason, son of good family? This is the perfection of wisdom, the mother and guide of the Bodhisattvas.
TaboA JP01 0265
Date: 12/07/06
Sadaprarudita replied: Where is this perfection of wisdom, the mother and guide of the Bodhisattvas?
TaboA JP01 0266
Date: 12/07/06
Shakra answered: The holy Bodhisattva Dharmodgata has placed it in the middle of this pointed tower, after he had written it on golden tablets with melted Vaidurya, and sealed with seven seals ...
TaboA JP84 602
Date: 12/07/06
Thereupon the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita and the merchant's daughter, with her five hundred maidens, all paid worship to the perfection of wisdom, ...
TaboA JP01 0268
Date: 12/07/06
... one after another, they deposited their portion in front of it, for the greater honour of the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP01 0270
Date: 12/07/06
... by scattering flowers, etc, over him, and played heavenly music on their instrumentsÑmotivated by a desire to worship dharma.
TaboA JP84 604
Date: 12/07/06
{Chapter 31} Dharmodgata: Just so the Tathagata has taught that all dharmas are like a dream. ... And it is just because you will wisely know that the Tathagatas, and also all dharmas, are neither produced nor stopped, that you shall become fixed on full enlightenment, and that you shall definitely course in the perfection of wisdom and in skill in means.
TaboA JP01 0275
Date: 12/07/06
... the earth shook, ... Flowers came up out of season ...And Shakra, ... and the Four Great Kings scattered and poured heavenly sandelwood powder ...
TaboA JP01 0272
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita then had a supreme, a most sublime feeling of zest and joy. ...
TaboA JP84 605
Date: 12/07/06
In his zest and joy he rose seven palmtrees high into the air, and, standing at the height of seven palm-trees, he reflected:
TaboA JP01 0276
Date: 12/07/06
How can I, standing here in the air, do honour to the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata?
TaboA JP01 0274
Date: 12/07/06
Shakra, Chief of Gods, saw him, read his thoughts, and said to him : Honour the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata with these heavenly flowers!
TaboA JP84 606
Date: 12/07/06
With his own body he cast a shadow on the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, and said to him:
TaboA JP01 0281
Date: 12/07/06
I give you myself as a present, and I shall be your attendant and servant from today onwards.
TaboA JP01 0279
Date: 12/07/06
Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita presented the merchants daughter and her five hundred maidens, embellished and adorned, together with their five hundred well decorated carriages, to the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
TaboA JP01 0282
Date: 12/07/06
All these I present to you as attendants and servants, and also the carriages for your own use.
TaboA JP01 0280
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Dharmodgata accepted Sadaprarudita's gift, so that his wholesome root might reach fulfilment.
TaboA JP01 0284
Date: 12/07/06
After that, the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata went into is house. The sun was about to set.
TaboA JP84 609
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita then thought to himself : It would not indeed be seemly for me, who have come here out of love for dharma, to sit or to lie down. I will remain either standing or walking, until the time when the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata shall again come out of his house, in order to reveal dharma to us.
TaboA JP84 608
Date: 12/07/06
The Bodhisattva Dharmodgata then remained for seven years immersed in one uninterrupted state of trance, and he dwelt in countless thousands of concentrations, peculiar to Bodhisattvas, issued from perfection of wisdom and skill in means.
TaboA JP01 0285
Date: 12/07/06
One day the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita heard a hevenly voice which said : On the seventh day from to-day the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata will emerge from his trance, ... He then took a sharp sword, pierced his body on every side, and everywhere sprinkled that piece of ground with his own blood. The merchant's daughter with her five hundred maidens followed his example, and did as he did.
TaboA JP84 610
Date: 12/07/06
After the lapse of seven years the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata emerged from his trance, went up to the seat spread out for him, sat down on it, and, surrounded and attended by an assembly of many hundreds of thousands, he demonstrated dharma.
