The Stem Array
Mañjuśrī

Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was residing270 in his kūṭāgāra together with bodhisattvas who had the same conduct; vajrapāṇis who constantly followed him; devas with physical bodies whose minds aspired to serve all the buddhas and were dedicated to bringing power to the entire world; devas who walked on foot following their past aspirations; devas of the earth who aspired to hear the Dharma; devas of pools, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, wells, and rivers who were dedicated to great compassion; [F.314.a] devas of fire who brought illumination through the light of wisdom; devas of the air who wore precious crowns; devas of the directions who illuminated the directions with wisdom; devas of the night who were dedicated to eliminating the darkness of ignorance; devas of the day who were dedicated to producing the daylight of the tathāgatas; devas of the sky who were dedicated to orbiting271 in the sky of the entire realm of phenomena; devas of the ocean272 who were dedicated to rescuing beings from the ocean of existence; devas of mountains who were dedicated to gathering the accumulation of omniscience and whose minds had ascended to the summit273 of the roots of merit; devas of rivers who were dedicated to adorning all beings and who were dedicated to aspiring to the characteristics and supernatural power of all the buddhas; devas of towns who were dedicated to caring for the towns that are the minds of all beings; nāga lords who were devoted to and longed for the town of the omniscient Dharma;274 yakṣa lords who were engaged in protecting all beings; gandharva lords who were dedicated to increasing the power of joy in all beings; kumbhāṇḍa lords who were dedicated to preventing rebirth as pretas; garuḍa lords who were engaged in aspiring to bring all beings out of the ocean of existence; asura lords who had the aspiration to attain the body and power of the Tathāgata, which have transcended the entire world; mahoraga lords [F.314.b] who rejoiced in seeing the Tathāgata and bowed down to him; deva lords who had been saddened by saṃsāra and gazed with admiration; and lords of Brahmakāyika devas who bowed down with great respect.

Mañjuśrī, together with them, displaying the prowess of a bodhisattva, respectfully made praises and offerings. Then he came out of his abode and circumambulated the Bhagavat many hundreds of times, keeping him to his right, and made many offerings. He then left the presence of the Bhagavat and departed to the land of the southern region. [B27]

Through the blessing of the Buddha, Brother Śāriputra saw Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, who, with that display of bodhisattva miracles, departed from Jetavana and went to the southern region. He thought, “I will go with Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta to that land.”

Leading his following of sixty bhikṣus, he left where he was sitting, approached the Bhagavat, bowed his head to the Bhagavat’s feet, and asked for the Bhagavat’s permission. When the Bhagavat had given it, Śāriputra circumambulated him three times, left the presence of the Bhagavat, and went to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta had gone, together with his following of sixty bhikṣus who had all newly and not long before entered homelessness. They were the bhikṣus Sāgara­buddhi, Mahāsudata, Puṇya­prabha, Mahāvatsa, Vibhudatta, Viśuddhacārin, Devaśrī, Indramati, Brahmottama, Praśānta­mati, and others. [F.315.a]

They had all served jinas in the past, planted275 the roots of merit, had profound aspiration, had the purified eyes of faith, practiced with a vast mentality, had the power to see the buddhas in the directions, had realized the nature and character of the Dharma, had the intention to benefit others, aspired to the qualities of the Tathāgata, and had been guided by the Dharma teaching of Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta.

Leading those followers, Śāriputra went to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta had gone.

When Brother Śāriputra was on the way, he looked at all those bhikṣus and said to the bhikṣu Sāgara­buddhi, “Sāgara­buddhi, regard the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī upon a path that has a checkerboard pattern276 and displays of his path as he walks along it.

“His pure body is inconceivable to devas and humans. It is beautified by the signs and features of a great being. It has a pure halo of light. It emits a display of a network of light rays that brings joy to countless beings. It brings to an end the sufferings of countless beings. It is accompanied by a perfect entourage, and it is in possession of past roots of merit.

“The displays of the prowess of his path are directed toward the domain of every direction; the displays of his perfection of merit issue forth to the right and left as great treasures.

“These displays emerge from within all the trees as the result of his roots of merit from serving past buddhas. All the lords of the world bow down to him and send down a rain of clouds of offerings. All the tathāgatas in the ten directions emanate277 multitudes of disks composed of nets of light rays that [F.315.b] resound with all the Dharma of the buddhas and descend278 onto the crown of his head.”

Beginning with the above, Brother Śāriputra described, explained, announced, narrated, related, elucidated, and brought illumination to the bhikṣus concerning Mañjuśrī’s measureless displays of the qualities of following the path.

The more that Sthavira Śāriputra described Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta’s qualities, the more the minds of the bhikṣus became purified and became clearer, the strength of their joy increased, delight arose, the continuum of their minds became adept, their faculties became clearer, their happiness increased, they cast off unhappiness, they became free of the mind’s faults, they repelled all obscurations, they became intent on seeing the Buddha, their minds turned to the Buddha’s Dharma, their bodhisattva faculties were purified, the power of their bodhisattva faith developed, great compassion arose, they gained the prowess of the domain of the perfections, they fully developed great compassion, and they perceived the ocean of buddhas in the ten directions.

Having attained the power of aspiration to omniscience, they spoke these words: “Upādhyāya, we pray that we too may be able to go into the presence of that supreme being.”

Then Brother Śāriputra, together with the bhikṣus, went to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was and said these words: “Mañjuśrī, these bhikṣus wish to see you.”

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, [F.316.a] together with the entire circle of his followers, turned279 and looked upon the bhikṣus with the majestic gaze of an elephant.

The bhikṣus bowed their heads to the feet of Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, and then with their palms together in reverence they said, “Holy being, through the roots of merit from seeing you and paying homage to you, and also our other roots of merit that you know we have, that our upādhyāya knows we have, and that the Bhagavat Tathāgata Śākyamuni sees we have, may we become like you. May we obtain bodies that are the same as yours, voices the same as yours, and features the same as yours, and may we attain miraculous powers the same as yours.”

When the bhikṣus had said this, Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta said to the bhikṣus, “Bhikṣus, the noble man or noble woman with the ten unflagging motivations who enters the Mahāyāna will ascend to the level of a tathāgata, and therefore, it goes without saying,280 to the level of a bodhisattva. What are those ten? They are (1) the unflagging motivation to see, pay homage to, offer to, and serve all the tathāgatas; (2) the unflagging motivation to never abandon accumulating all roots of merit; (3) the unflagging motivation to seek all Dharmas; (4) the unflagging motivation to practice all the bodhisattva perfections; (5) the unflagging motivation to accomplish all the bodhisattva samādhis; (6) the unflagging motivation to enter all successive times; [F.316.b] (7) the unflagging motivation to purify the extensive oceans of buddha realms in the ten directions; (8) the unflagging motivation to ripen and guide all realms of beings; (9) the unflagging motivation to accomplish the conduct of a bodhisattva in all realms and kalpas; and (10) the unflagging motivation to accomplish one power of the tathāgatas by ripening all beings in the way that one would ripen one being through the practice of perfections as numerous as the atoms in all buddha realms.

“Bhikṣus, the noble man or noble woman with faith who has these ten unflagging motivations will accomplish all roots of merit, will turn away from all existences in saṃsāra, will transcend all the worldly existences, will transcend all the levels of śrāvakas and pratyeka­buddhas, will become a member of the family of all the tathāgatas, will accomplish the aspirations of all bodhisattvas, will purify the practice of the qualities of all the tathāgatas, will purify all bodhisattva conduct, will have the strength of all tathāgatas, will subdue all māras and adversaries, will ascend to the level of bodhisattvas, and will approach the level of the tathāgatas.” [F.317.a]

When the bhikṣus heard this way of the Dharma, they attained the samādhi the unimpeded vision that sees all the buddhas. Through its power they saw all the tathāgatas and the circles of their assemblies that were present in infinite, endless world realms in the ten directions. They also saw every being that had been reborn into an existence in those world realms. They saw every being in those world realms.281 They saw the various divisions of those world realms. They knew the number of atoms in those worlds. They saw the residences and adornments made of jewels282 that those beings enjoyed. They heard the ocean of the aspects of speech of those tathāgatas. They knew those Dharma teachings through their words, letters, definitions, languages,283 names, and symbols.284 They viewed the minds, faculties, and aspirations of those beings. They knew ten lifetimes back into the past and ten lifetimes into the future. They comprehended the explanations of ten turnings of Dharma wheels by those tathāgatas. They comprehended ten attainments of manifestations of miraculous powers. They comprehended the accomplishment of ten ways given in the teachings. They comprehended ten explanations of the words of the teachings. They comprehended ten accomplishments of the analytic knowledge of those tathāgatas.

As soon as they attained that samādhi, [F.317.b] they perfected ten thousand aspects of the aspiration to enlightenment, they attained ten thousand samādhis, they purified ten thousand aspects of the perfections, they attained a great radiance, they illuminated the domain of great wisdom, and they attained ten bodhisattva clairvoyances.

They who had thus attained the small young seedlings of clairvoyance and had gained the resolute aspiration to enlightenment were then inspired to and established in completely good bodhisattva conduct285 by Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta.

They who were thus established in completely good bodhisattva conduct entered an ocean of great aspirations and fulfilled them. Through fulfilling an ocean of great aspirations with a pure motivation they attained purity of the body. Through purity of the body they attained lightness of body. Through that purity of body and lightness of body they vastly increased their entrances to clairvoyances. They attained everlasting clairvoyances. Through that attainment of clairvoyance, while constantly remaining at the feet of Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta and in order to accomplish all the Dharmas of the buddhas, they created clouds of the activities286 of the bodies of all the tathāgatas in the ten directions.

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, having established those bhikṣus in the aspiration to the highest, complete enlightenment, traveled to the southern region and came to the great city called Dhanyākara. Having reached there, he and his entourage went the east of Dhanyākara, [F.318.a] where there was a great forest called Vicitra­sāla­dhvaja­vyūha.287 It was a sacred place where buddhas of the past had dwelled. It had been consecrated by the tathāgatas for the ripening of beings. Its name was renowned throughout endless realms. It was a place where the Bhagavat, when he was practicing bodhisattva conduct in the past, performed many difficult actions of generosity. It was a place where devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans constantly engaged in making offerings.

There Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta taught the sūtra called The Radiance of the Way of the Essence of Phenomena, from which arose a septillion288 sūtras. During that teaching, many hundred thousand quintillions of nāgas came from the great ocean. When they had heard that way of the Dharma, they became disgusted with their existences as nāgas and aspired to have the qualities of a tathāgata. They abandoned their nāga existences and gained rebirth as devas or humans. Ten thousand nāgas attained irreversibility from the highest, complete enlightenment. During the time he taught that Dharma, endlessly numerous realms of beings were guided through the three yānas.

The people in Dhanyākara heard that Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta had come to Dhanyākara and was dwelling in the sacred Vicitra­sāla­dhvaja­vyūha.

The leading289 upāsaka Mahāprajña and upāsakas, upāsikās, sons, and daughters, [F.318.b] each accompanied by an entourage that numbered five hundred, came out from Dhanyākara city and went to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was.

The upāsaka Mahāprajña, with other upāsakas such as Sudatta, Vasudatta, Puṇya­prabha, Yaśodeva, Somaśriti, Somanandi, Sumati, Mahāmati, Rāhulabhadra, Bhadra­śrī, and so on, each with an entourage of five hundred upāsakas, came to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was, bowed their heads to his feet, circumambulated Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta three times, and sat to one side.

The upāsikā named Mahāprajñā, with other upāsikās such as Suprabhā, Sugātrā, Subhadrā, Bhadra­śrī, Candra­prabhāsā, Ketuprabhā, Śrībhadrā, and Sulocanā and so on, each with an entourage of five hundred upāsikās, came to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was, bowed their heads to his feet, circumambulated Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta three times, and sat to one side.

The head merchant’s son290 Sudhana, with other sons of head merchants such as Suvrata, Suśīla, Svācāra, Suvikrāmin, Sucinti, Sumati, Subuddhi, Sunetra, Subāhu, Suprabha, and so on, each with an entourage of five hundred sons of head merchants, came to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was, [F.319.a] bowed their heads to his feet, circumambulated Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta three times, and sat to one side.

Subhadrā, the daughter of the layman Mahāprajña, with other daughters such as Bhadrā, Abhirāmavartā, Dṛḍhamatī, Śrībhadrā, Brahmadattā, Śrīprabhā, Suprabhā, and so on, each with an entourage of five hundred daughters, came to where Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta was, bowed their heads to his feet, circumambulated Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta three times, and sat to one side.

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, knowing that the men, women, boys, and girls from Dhanyākara had gathered and assembled, overwhelmed them with the magnificence of his teaching in accordance with their wishes, comforted them with the magnificence of his great love, accomplished the teaching of the Dharma through the magnificence of his great compassion, and investigated their minds and aspirations through the magnificence of his wisdom. Delighting in teaching the Dharma with his great discernment, he observed Sudhana, the head merchant’s son.

He said, “Why is Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, called Sudhana? The instant that Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, entered his mother’s womb, all around his home seven precious sprouts291 emerged. Beneath those precious sprouts there were seven treasures of precious substances. Those precious sprouts made of those seven precious substances rose up through the ground from those treasures, which were gold, silver, beryl, crystal, red pearls, emeralds, and white coral.

“After ten months, when his limbs and body parts were completely formed, [F.319.b] he was born. At that time, those seven great treasures became visible, rising up above the ground to the height and breadth of seven cubits, bright and beautiful. Inside the house appeared five hundred pots made of various kinds of precious substances. There were pots filled with ghee, pots filled with sesame oil, pots filled with honey, and pots filled with butter. There were individual pots filled with whatever was necessary. There were diamond pots filled with every kind of perfume, pots of aromatic wood filled with various kinds of cloth, crystal pots filled with various kinds of enjoyable food delicious with perfect flavors, jewel pots filled with various kinds of precious substances, gold pots filled with silver powder, silver pots filled with gold dust, pots of silver and gold filled with beryl jewels, quartz pots filled with white coral, white-coral pots filled with quartz jewels, emerald pots filled with red pearls, red-pearl pots filled with emeralds, cat’s-eye-jewel pots filled with moonstone jewels, moonstone-jewel pots filled with cat’s-eye jewels, and so on. Five hundred such precious pots appeared.

“As soon as that Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, was born, there fell a rain of wealth, grain, money, gold, and all kinds of jewels in all the storerooms and granaries in the house.

“The brahmin prognosticators, his parents, and his relatives said, ‘As soon as he was born there appeared this perfection of much wealth,’ and they gave him the name Sudhana, meaning Excellent Wealth. [F.320.a]

“This Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, has served past jinas, has planted roots of merit, possesses a vast aspiration, and is motivated to follow kalyāṇamitras. His physical, vocal, and mental actions are irreproachable. He is dedicated to purifying the bodhisattva path. He is focused on omniscience. He is a worthy vessel for the Dharma of the buddhas. He has a pure manner292 of aspiration. He has perfected an unimpeded aspiration for enlightenment.”

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta looked upon Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, welcomed him, and taught him the Dharma. He taught the Dharma through teaching on the Dharma of all the buddhas, on uniting and attaining the Dharma of all the buddhas, on the infinity of all the buddhas,293 on the successive appearance of all the buddhas, on the pure circles of the followers of all the buddhas, on the display294 of the Dharma wheels and emanations295 of all the buddhas, on the pure characteristics and features of the bodies of all the buddhas, on the accomplishment of the Dharma body of all the buddhas, on the display of the speech of all the buddhas, on the pure display of the auras of all the buddhas, and on the equality of all the buddhas.

Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, [F.320.b] through speaking about the Dharma, taught, motivated, encouraged, and inspired Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, and that great assembly of beings, and made them develop the aspiration to the highest, complete enlightenment and remember their past roots of merit.

He blessed and made happy296 the beings from the city of Dhanyākara by teaching them the Dharma according to their wishes, and he departed.

Then Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, having heard from Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta the nature of the greatness and297 qualities of the buddhas, aspired to the highest, complete enlightenment. He diligently followed behind Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, reciting these verses of praise to him:

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta looked with the gaze of an elephant upon Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, and said to him, “Noble one, it is excellent, excellent, that you have developed the aspiration for the highest, complete enlightenment, wish to follow a kalyāṇamitra and complete the path of a bodhisattva, and wish to ask about bodhisattva conduct.

“Noble one, it is like this: serving, following, and attending to a kalyāṇamitra is the basis and the corresponding cause for the attainment of omniscience.

“Therefore, noble one, you should not tire of serving and honoring a kalyāṇamitra.” [F.323.a]

Sudhana said, “Ārya, teach me in detail‍—how does a bodhisattva train in bodhisattva conduct? In what way does a bodhisattva practice it? How does a bodhisattva commence with bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva practice bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva perfect bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva purify bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva enter into bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva attain bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva follow bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva gain hold333 of bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva increase bodhisattva conduct? How does a bodhisattva perfect the domain of completely good conduct?”

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta recited these verses to Sudhana, the head merchant’s son:

Then Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta, having recited those verses, said to Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, “Noble one, it is excellent, excellent, that you have in that way developed the aspiration to enlightenment [F.324.a] and have the intention to seek for bodhisattva conduct!

“Noble one, in that way, the beings who develop the aspiration for the highest, complete enlightenment are very rare. Even more rare are the beings who, having developed the aspiration for the highest, complete enlightenment, then seek for bodhisattva conduct.

“Therefore, noble one, bodhisattvas should gain certain knowledge from true kalyāṇamitras. They should be tireless in their search for kalyāṇamitras. They should never have enough of looking at the kalyāṇamitras. They should successfully master the teachings of the kalyāṇamitras. They should not become angered by the kalyāṇamitras’ conduct of skillful methods.

“Noble one, in this southern region there is a land named Rāmāvarānta, in which there is a mountain called Sugrīva, where there lives a bhikṣu by the name of Meghaśrī. Go to him and ask him, ‘How do bodhisattvas train in bodhisattva conduct? How do bodhisattvas practice it? How do bodhisattvas commence with bodhisattva conduct? How do bodhisattvas practice bodhisattva conduct? How do bodhisattvas perfect bodhisattva conduct? How do they purify it? How do they enter it? How do they attain it? How do they follow it? How do they maintain339 it? How do they increase it? How do bodhisattvas perfect the domain of completely good conduct?’

“Then that kalyāṇamitra will teach you the domain of completely good conduct.”

Then Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy, [F.324.b] bowed his head to the feet of Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta. He circumambulated Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta many hundreds of thousands of times, keeping him to his right, and, looking back at him many hundreds of thousands of times, with his mind enraptured by that kalyāṇamitra, unable to endure not seeing that kalyāṇamitra, with his face covered in tears and weeping, he departed from Mañjuśrī Kumāra­bhūta.