The Teaching by the Child Inconceivable Radiance (excerpt)

[SriSriJustinBieber]

The following is an excerpt of "The Teaching by the Child Inconceivable Radiance" the entire text can be read for free here.

"Bhagavan" here refers to Shakyamuni Buddha. "The child" refers to Inconceivable Radiance, a child who is in the beginning of the text a soon-to-be Buddha but who had become cynical in the ways of non-duality because of past karma. The excerpt is a dialogue between these 2.

 

When the Bhagavān reached the dwelling, he entered and took a seat to the side of the child and then addressed the following verse to him:

“Frequented by snakes and yakṣas,

This charnel ground is most frightening.

How could a child not be frightened here?

And yet, here you are now, all alone!”

1.­19

Through the power of the Buddha and as a result of his own prior roots of virtue, the child then responded to the Bhagavān with these verses:

“Mighty Sage, who should feel fear

Toward phenomena that have no self-identity?

Omniscient One, supreme speaker,

Whatever the action through which I came to be here,

1.­20

“There is no self nor something done by a self.

For the self does not belong to anything at all;

I see no self belonging to someone,

Nor do I see someone belonging to a self.”

1.­21

The Bhagavān replied:

“Evil actions performed in the past

Have ripened in this way.

Abandoned in this deserted house,

Surely you are experiencing feelings of suffering.”

1.­22

The child asked:

“Gautama, do you still perceive

That there is a deserted house?

Didn’t you fully understand perception

While on the seat of awakening?”

1.­23

The Bhagavān answered:

“I fully understand perception,

And I myself have no perceptions.

Rather, it is out of love for you

That I have come to this deserted house.”

1.­24

The child asked:

“When, no matter how hard you look,

Sentient beings are never to be found,

Where does compassion arise?

Toward whom is your love directed?”

1.­25

The Bhagavān answered:

“These beings do not know emptiness,

The peace of no self-identity;

And so, out of love for those very beings,

I engage in meritorious action.”

1.­26

The child asked:

“Although he has fathomed the empty and tranquil,

And realized tranquil emptiness,

Could it be that the Tathāgata

Still has not rid himself of error?”

1.­27

The Bhagavān answered:

“Having realized the peace of emptiness,

The Guide delivers this Dharma teaching

In order to mature beings.

That is the compassion of the buddhas.”

1.­28

The child asked:

“Tathāgata, yet again,

You have not rejected your error.

If there is no perception of beings,

Where could compassion possibly arise?”

1.­29

The Bhagavān answered:

“Having embraced well the awakening mind,

Superior people don their armor

And naturally bestow blessings

Upon nonexistent beings.”

1.­30

The child said:

“Since nowhere is an entity observed,

All armor, in fact, is unreal.

For phenomena that have no substance,

There is no armor to be found.”

1.­31

The Bhagavān answered:

“Although phenomena have no substance,

This Dharma taught to living creatures

Is the vibrant display of compassion

Of the lord protectors of the world.”

1.­32

The child asked:

“As for Dharma, if words do not exist,

Where else could instructions be?

Might you be misleading worldly beings?

Or are you teaching Dharma that is not Dharma?”

1.­33

The Bhagavān answered:

“I do not deceive the world.

Nor do I profess what is not Dharma.

What I do is remove the mental disturbances

Of mistaken beings.”

1.­34

The child asked:

“As a root of mental disturbances does not exist,

They have no location,

Neither inside nor outside.

So how can mental disturbances be purified?”

1.­35

The Bhagavān answered:

“Things that arise from error

Are born entirely of imputation;

And so, to rid them of all concepts,

I teach the Dharma to living beings.”

1.­36

The child said:

“No matter how many imputations you seek,

Mind is by nature luminosity

In which mental disturbance does not occur

And which never becomes disturbed.”

1.­37

The Bhagavān answered:

“It is just as you say‍—

Mind is ever luminous, and yet

Provisional, proximal disturbances

Disturb the minds of ordinary beings.”

1.­38

The child asked:

“If mental disturbances are not there to see

And are not present from their own side,

How can they be provisional?

That is the question; please explain this to me.”

1.­39

The Bhagavān answered:

“Consider how clouds appear in the sky,

But are not as they appear.

The arising of mental disturbances is like that;

They too appear, yet are not that way.”

1.­40

The child said:

“Any phenomenon unmistaken in nature

Simply remains that way; that is how it is.

No mistaken nature can be seen

In a phenomenon whose nature is unmistaken.”

1.­41

The Bhagavān answered:

“It is those with childish perception

Who falsely conceive such things to be,

And tathāgatas who appear in order

To bring their minds to realization.”

1.­42

The child asked:

“Considering they are not born,

Which perfect buddhas could appear?

The appearance of a buddha makes no sense

Where phenomena themselves have no birth.”

1.­43

The Bhagavān answered:

“The appearance of a buddha

Is explained as birthless birth,

A conventional designation

That ultimately does not exist.”

1.­44

The child said:

“You still have two perceptions,

One conventional and one ultimate,

Which contradicts the path of one vehicle

That you profess, Gautama.”

1.­45

The Bhagavān answered:

“I do not transgress the path;

I remain without contradiction and, moreover,

Bring discordant beings into harmony.

That is how you should understand it, child.”

1.­46

The child asked:

“If those beings are not perceived,

Then to whom, Gautama, are you bringing harmony?

When you look at the past of phenomena‍—

To whom has affliction arisen?”

1.­47

The Bhagavān answered:

“Having comprehended the past, the future,

And likewise what transpires right now,

Having realized sacred awakening,

I teach the Dharma to living creatures.”

1.­48

The child said:

“You proclaim yourself the perfect Buddha,

And proclaim your own understanding;

Promoting yourself in this manner,

Your pride must be truly exceptional!”

1.­49

The Bhagavān answered:

“I do not laud myself,

Nor do I belittle others.

I clearly reveal how things truly are,

And so am called the Tathāgata.”

1.­50

The child said:

“If how things truly are is inexpressible

And without a true nature,

Then don’t speak contrary to your own understanding,

Using terminology for what has no words, no language.”

1.­51

The Bhagavān answered:

“Although all those phenomena are contrary,

They still arise from the natural state of things.

Because I have realized how things truly are,

I possess neither faults nor qualities.”18

1.­52

The child said:

“Through the power19 of the Tathāgata,

My confidence has grown,

And so I ask forgiveness of the perfect Buddha

For all these answers I have requested.”

Edited September 1, 2021 by SriSriJustinBieber

[Sine]

This is so very cool thank you for sharing!

Reminded me of this beautiful verse from the Vipassana chantings. (from udana-gatha/verses of joy - when Gautama Buddha attained liberation)  

 

[SriSriJustinBieber]

Oh! I thought I didn't know it, but I do. Thank you for reminding me of this! I have discovered it under this translation:

I wandered through innumerable lives seeking and seeking

but never finding the house-builder.

Truly, to be born over and over is suffering.

O house-builder! You are now seen. 

Ignorance shall no longer build my house.

My mind has reached the unconditioned [i.e. Nirvana];

The end of craving [Arahatta Phala] has been attained.