They have the power of causes, conditions, mind, resolve, skillful means, persistency, virtue, samadhi, wisdom, hearing much of the Dharma, precepts, endurance of adversity, energetic progress, meditation, and wisdom the six transcendental powers, the Three Clarities, and taming sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma. Such power is complete in them! Adorned with merit and eloquence, their physical features are majestic. No one can compare with them. They reverently make offerings to innumerable Buddhas, and they are always praised by Buddhas. They perfect their practice of paramitas required for Bodhisattvas as they train in the Three Samadhis–emptiness, no appearance, and no wish– and go through Samadhi Doors, such as no birth and no death. They stay far away from the ground of voice-hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. Ananda, those Bodhisattvas are adorned with such immeasurable merits, which I have only briefly described to you. If I elaborate, I cannot finish even in a billion kalpas.
Let’s first put this part of Sutra into vernacular Chinese.
The Buddha says, “they destroy the hindrances caused by the three afflictions and playfully demonstrate their transcendental powers.
They have the power of causes, conditions, mind, resolve, skillful means, persistency, virtue, samadhi, wisdom, hearing much of the Dharma, precepts, endurance of adversity, energetic progress, meditation, and wisdom— the six transcendental powers, the Three Clarities, and taming sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma. Such power is complete in them!
Adorned with merit and eloquence, their physical features are majestic. No one can compare with them. They reverently make offerings to innumerable Buddhas, and they are always praised by Buddhas. They perfect their practice of paramitas required for Bodhisattvas as they train in the Three Samadhis–emptiness, no appearance, and no wish– and go through Samadhi Doors, such as no birth and no death. They stay far away from the ground of voice-hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. Ananda, those Bodhisattvas are adorned with such immeasurable merits, which I have only briefly described to you. If I elaborate, I cannot finish even in a billion kalpas.”
In the above part of the Sutra, the Budha continues to laud Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land.
1.The Buddha says Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land have destroyed the hindrances caused by the three afflictions and playfully demonstrate their transcendental powers. They have the power of causes, conditions, mind, resolve, skillful means, persistency, virtue, samadhi, wisdom, hearing much of the Dharma, precepts, endurance of adversity, energetic progress, meditation, and wisdom— and the power of right mindfulness, right observation, the six transcendental powers, the Three Clarities, and taming sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma. Such power is complete in them.
In our world of Saha, the three afflictions refer to desire, anger, and ignorance. These three poisons arise from sentient beings’ inability to see the true nature of all phenomena due to their lack of wisdom. embarked upon practicing have an insight into the true nature of all phenomena, due to remnants of passion. Therefore, without the power of concentration, the three poisons of desire, anger, and ignorance constantly contaminate their thoughts, words and deeds. The true Dharma they have learned turn into only a theory and an empty talk. burned by fire of the three poisons of desire, anger, and ignorance, unable immediately to live a tranquil and liberal life according to the Buddha’s teachings. Therefore, only by obtaining the powers possessed by Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land can one truly manifest a perfect physical and mental state, and only then can they be complete in wisdom, perfection, and more skillful ways to save sentient beings.
In the world of Saha, it takes a long time to attain these powers, but the bodhisattvas of the Pure Land, from the very moment of rebirth, destroyed the hindrances caused by the three afflictions of desire, anger and ignorance, so they obtain these powers very quickly. They understand the unimpeded relation of fundamental essence and external activity and put it into practice. The powers mentioned above are complete in them immediately when they have the right views.
As far as these powers are concerned, an incident occurred to me— a fellow practitioner who entered the Samadhi and abided for only three seconds told me that he had gained the power of Samadhi. Definitely he had tranquilized his body and mind otherwise, it was impossible for him to abide in Samadhi even for three seconds. But three seconds of meditative concentration are too short for us to gain the power of Samadhi, let alone form the supernatural powers with which great Bodhisattvas play amidst all dharmas. The Buddha says that such power is complete in Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land to deliver sentient beings.
2. Adorned with merit and eloquence, their physical features are majestic. No one can compare with them. They reverently make offerings to innumerable Buddhas, and they are always praised by Buddhas. They perfect their practice of paramitas required for Bodhisattvas as they train in the Three Samadhis–emptiness, no appearance, and no wish– and go through Samadhi Doors, such as no birth and no death. They stay far away from the ground of voice-hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. Dvatrimsha-dvaralakshana (the thirty-two physical marks of the Buddha), so it is said in the Sutra that their physical features are majestic. Adorned with merit, eloquence and wisdom, they are praised by the Buddha as gems of the ten quarters, and no one can compare with them. Even though they are so perfect, they have no arrogance and reverently make offerings to innumerable Buddhas. They constantly learn from Buddhas and are praised by all Buddhas. Despite their excellence and perfection, they do not think that they are born in this way, or that it is the result of their assiduous learning. Instead, they believe that everything they have achieved on the path of liberation all comes from Buddhas’ almsgiving of Dharma. They feel they have no other way to repay Buddhas. reverence and heartfelt gratitude. They are highly acclaimed by all Buddhas.
3.They perfect the practice of paramitas required for Bodhisattvas. In our world, the Path of Bodhisattvas advocates the observance of the Six Paramitas. “Paramita” is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word, meaning “to reach the other shore”. So, the Six Paramitas is also known as “the six things that ferry one beyond the sea of mortality to nirvana”. (keeping the commandments); ksanti (patience under insult); contemplation); prajna (wisdom, or the power to discern reality or truth). It is very difficult for bodhisattvas to perfect the practice of these Six Paramitas in their lifetime in the World of Saha, having no time in attending to the Paramitas of other worlds. Besides, most of them have no ability to know about Paramitas of other worlds. But the Bodhisattvas of the Pure Land are proficient in all these Paramitas in Worlds of Ten Directions.
4. They train in the Three Samadhis–emptiness, no appearance, and no wish– and go through Samadhi Doors, such as no birth and no death. They stay far away from the ground of voice-hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. In the world of Saha, our Buddha established the Three Vehicles based on the various roots of the sentient beings, Pratyekabuddhas (the solitary realizers) and Bodhisattva-yana. Celestial beings in the Pure Land have the root of great Bodhisattvas. Although sometimes the novices are referred to as the Voice Hearers or the Solitary Realizers, but these are just the titles to go with those used in worlds in the ten directions. Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land have far surpassed the Voice Hearers and the Solitary Realizers in other worlds in the aspects of views and supernatural powers. The celestial beings in the Pure Land realize the absolute reality of time and space by practicing the One Vehicle. Therefore, they initially train in the Three Samadhis–emptiness, no appearance, and no wish and other Samadhi doors, such as no birth and no death. They will soon be able to go through these Samadhi Doors as their elementary lesson because their supernatural powers, wisdom and merits surpass those of celestial beings in the Ten Directions. They especially focus on learning about the skillful means of saving sentient beings employed by Buddhas in the ten quarters. They endeavor to comprehend the sufferings, mentality, habits, and specific obstacles to enlightenment of sentient beings, in order to deliver them or to fulfill their great vows of forming their own pure lands.
The Buddha says, “Ananda, those Bodhisattvas are adorned with such immeasurable merits, which I have only briefly described to you. If I elaborate, I cannot finish even in a billion kalpas.” Shakyamuni Buddha’s acclaims the perfect merit of the bodhisattvas in the West Pure Land, which, in fact, comes from Amitabha Buddha when He practiced Bodhisattva Path. Now by virtue of the power of His original vows, all bodhisattvas reborn in the West Pure Land would not need to go through sufferings of innumerable kalpas to attain Buddhahood, instead, they train themselves happily in an easy way to become Buddhas.
Bodhisattvas in our world may feel hindered by the three afflictions of desire, anger and ignorance at the beginning of their practice, but as long as they follow the views and methods taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, make true efforts to accumulate merit and train accordingly, they will be able to purify their body and mind as time goes by. Developing an intuitive correspondence with Buddhas, they can receive blessings and empowerment from Buddhas, achieving similar qualities and merits of Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land. Because the world of Saha is a place of intense sufferings in the Ten Quarters, Bodhisattvas practicing here are often described as pulling lotus flowers out of the fire.
In the following part of the Scripture, the Buddha describes that bodhisattvas in the world of Saha are caught in the three poisons of desire, anger and ignorance, as if burned by the fire. Nevertheless, they shall be able to dwell in tranquility, cultivate endurance, and perform all actions of altruism. Therefore, although they cannot immediately achieve the merit and power of the Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land, Mahayana Bodhisattvas in the world of Saha pursuing the Bodhisattvas’ path for self-benefit and the benefit of others, are like brave warriors in the whole armor, fighting in a cruel battlefield. They, in likewise, receive praise from the Buddhas in all directions. Buddhas for His manifestation as a Buddha in the world of Saha despite all difficulties on the road to Buddhahood. His disciples are also praised, because they follow Buddha’s example and steadfastly practice the bodhisattva path in this land of dramatic bitterness by relying on Buddha’s wisdom. They not only aim to liberate themselves from the illusions of reincarnation, but also help Shakyamuni Buddha promote His teachings and liberate other sentient beings, thus earning the title of “the Great Hero” in the Dharma realm. Accordingly, the main hall of our earthly temple is called the Mahavira Hall (the Great Hero Hall).
At the beginning section of this Scripture, there is an appreciative introduction about the bodhisattvas at the Dharma assembly, as well as the great bodhisattvas of the world of Saha. You can compare them with the bodhisattvas of the Pure Land.