The Buddha said, “Ananda, the bhiksu Dharmakara made these great vows before that Buddha, amid multitudes of celestial maras, Brahma gods, and the eight classes of Dharma protectors, such as gods and dragons. Having made his vows, he intently worked on the adornment of his Buddha Land so that it should be open and vast, superb and uniquely wonderful, as well as everlasting, without decay or change. For inconceivable trillions of kalpas, the bhiksu engaged in immeasurable virtuous Bodhisattva actions. He permitted neither thoughts nor perceptions of greed, anger, or harm to arise in his mind. He was not attached to the sense objects: sights, sounds, scents, flavors, tactile sensations, and mental objects. He was accomplished in endurance, never disheartened by myriad tribulations. With few desires and much contentment, he had no greed, anger, or delusion. Silently abiding in samadhi, his wisdom was hindrance free. Free from the mind of falsehood and sycophancy, he spoke loving words with a kind face and considerately asked the questions for those who hesitated to ask. He made boldly energetic progress, never feeling weary. He sought only the pure dharmas to benefit sentient beings. He revered the Three Jewels and served his teachers and elders. With great adornments [his merit and wisdom], he completed many works and enabled sentient beings to acquire merit. He abided in the Three Samadhis: emptiness, no appearance, and no wish. With no act and no arising in his mind, he saw that dharmas are illusory. Keeping far away from abusive speech, which can harm self, others, and both, he trained in speaking virtuous words to benefit self, others, and both. He abandoned his kingdom and throne, wealth, and women to practice the six paramitas and teach others to practice them as well. After countless kalpas of accumulation of merit and virtue, in any place where he was reborn, innumerable treasure stores were spontaneously uncovered at his wish. He taught and transformed innumerable sentient beings, setting them on the Way to the unsurpassed enlightenment. He manifested himself as elders, laypeople, people with a great family name, or dignitaries, as kings in the ksatriya caste or Wheel-Turning Kings, and as god-kings of the six desire heavens or even god-kings of Brahma heavens. He always reverently offered the four necessities to all Buddhas. Such merit is beyond description and acclaim. His breath was fragrant and fresh, like utpala flowers. The pores of his body emitted sandalwood scent, which suffused innumerable worlds. His facial features were even and comely and his appearance superb. Manifested from his hands were inexhaustible treasures, clothing, food and drink, and adornments, such as splendid flowers, incense, and silky canopies and banners. Things such as these surpass those of gods. He achieved command of all dharmas.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “Has Dharmakara Bodhisattva already attained Buddhahood and entered parinirvana? Has he not yet attained Buddhahood? Is he now somewhere?”
The Buddha replied to Ananda, “Dharmakara Bodhisattva has already attained Buddhahood. He is now in the west, 100,000 koti lands away from here. His Buddha Land is called Peace and Bliss.”
Ananda next asked, “How long has it been since that Buddha attained bodhi?”
The Buddha replied, “It has been ten kalpas since He attained Buddhahood.”
Let’s first translate this part of Sutra into vernacular Chinese.
The Buddha said, “Ananda, the bhiksu Dharmakara made these great vows before that World Sovereign King Buddha, amid multitudes of celestial maras, Brahma gods, and the eight classes of Dharma protectors, such as gods and dragons. Having made his vows, he intently worked on the adornment of his Buddha Land so that it should be open and vast, superb and uniquely wonderful, transcending other Buddhas’ Lands. Everything there is everlasting, without decay or change. For inconceivable trillions of kalpas, the bhiksu engaged in immeasurable virtuous Bodhisattva actions. He permitted neither thoughts nor perceptions of greed, anger, or harm to arise in his mind. He was not attached to the sense objects: sights, sounds, scents, flavors, tactile sensations, and mental objects. He was accomplished in endurance, never disheartened by myriad tribulations. With few desires and much contentment, he had no greed, anger, or delusion. Silently abiding in samadhi of tranquility and non-discrimination, his wisdom was hindrance free. Free from the mind of falsehood and sycophancy, he spoke loving words with a kind face and considerately asked the questions for those who hesitated to ask to render them help. He made boldly energetic progress, never feeling weary. He sought only the pure dharmas to benefit sentient beings. To benefit all he revered the Three Jewels and served his teachers and elders. He adorns himself and the world with meritorious behavior of all and enabled sentient beings to acquire merit. He abided in the Three Samadhis: emptiness, no appearance, and no wish. With no act and no arising in his mind, he saw that dharmas are illusory. Keeping far away from evil karma, such as abusive speech, which can harm self, others, and both, he trained in good karma, such as speaking virtuous Words to benefit self, others, and both. He abandoned his kingdom and throne, wealth, and women to practice the six paramitas and teach others to practice them as well. After countless kalpas of accumulation of merit and virtue, in any place where he was reborn, innumerable treasure stores were spontaneously uncovered at his wish. He taught and transformed innumerable sentient beings, setting them on the Way to the unsurpassed enlightenment. He manifested himself as elders, laypeople, people with a great family name, or dignitaries, as kings in the ksatriya caste or Wheel-Turning Kings, and as god-kings of the six desire heavens or even god-kings of Brahma heavens. He always reverently offered the four necessities, namely, food, clothing, bedding, and medicine, to all Buddhas. Such merit is beyond description and acclaim. His breath was fragrant and fresh, like utpala flowers. The pores of his body emitted sandalwood scent, which suffused innumerable worlds. His facial features were even and comely and his appearance superb. Manifested from his hands were inexhaustible treasures, clothing, food and drink, and adornments, such as splendid flowers, incense, and silky canopies and banners, stately vessels, etc. Things such as these surpass those of gods. He achieved command of all dharmas.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “Has Dharmakara Bodhisattva already attained Buddhahood and entered parinirvana? Has he not yet attained Buddhahood? Is he now somewhere?”
The Buddha replied to Ananda, “Dharmakara Bodhisattva has already attained Buddhahood. He is now in the west, 100,000 koti lands away from here. His Buddha Land is called Peace and Bliss.”
Ananda next asked, “How long has it been since that Buddha attained bodhi?”
The Buddha replied, “It has been ten kalpas since He attained Buddhahood.”
In the above part of the Sutra, a brief introduction is given to bhiksu Dharmakara’s thoughts and actions during innumerable kalpas to accumulate and cultivate the immeasurable merits in order to fulfil his great vows. In an effort to form a Land of Peace and Bliss for all sentient beings, these thoughts and actions are an indispensable part of practicing for bhiksu Dharmakara to do on the causal ground. It is said in the Sutra, “He permitted neither thoughts nor perceptions of greed, anger, or harm to arise in his mind. He was accomplished in endurance, never disheartened by myriad tribulations. He was not attached to the sense objects: sights, sounds, scents, flavors, tactile sensations, and mental objects. With few desires and much contentment, he had no greed, anger, or delusion. Silently abiding in samadhi of tranquility and non-discrimination, his wisdom was hindrance free.”
Here, perception refers to the sensation of the body and mind, and thoughts refers to the cognition of the mind. He was never moved by sensations and conceived the remotest thoughts of greed, anger, or harm, because these are all the reasons for the formation of the three evil paths. The first vow of bhiksu Dharmakara is there should be no hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts or animals in the Pure Land. To fulfil this vow, Bodhisattva should be accomplished in endurance and never disheartened by myriad tribulations both internal and external according to Buddha’s right view of the nature of the void. Sensational feelings refer to desire, anger, and harm of one’s own; thoughts of desire, anger and harm lay stress on the cognition of sentient beings and the world. In this world, we have many physical and mental desires. If we fail to satisfy our wants and needs, we experience pains, afflictions, and unhappiness. If our desires are satisfied, we feel content and joyful. This is called the consciousness of desire. For example, if you like someone, you hope to be together with him. If the person you care about doesn’t like you, you will be in great pain. We are not tolerant of the feeling that others do not like us. We hope that everyone loves us and the feeling of being loved give us a sense of happiness. And by extension, even if you are truly loved, you hope he expresses his love in the way you like, such as accompanying you, accepting your shortcomings, etc. Otherwise, you will still feel not happy. In contrast, Bhiksu Dharmakara does not experience happiness or unhappiness due to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of his desires, for he is not attached to the sense objects: sights, sounds, scents, flavors, tactile sensations, and mental objects. Apart from the noble goal of forming a pure land for all beings, he does not find anything indispensable. But living in the world of sentient beings, even though Bodhisattvas have no desires or demands for the external, sentient beings have demands and expectations for Bodhisattvas. That is why even if Bodhisattva never hurts and never expects anything from sentient beings, sentient beings will still harm Bodhisattva. It was recorded in Buddhist scriptures that Shakyamuni Buddha once mediated in the mountains while he was the Patient Immortal. It happened that at that time the King Kaliraja was hunting in the mountains with his concubines. Because these concubines showed respect and admiration for the immortal sitting in meditation, out of jealousy and resentment, the haughty King Kaliraja dismembered the Immortal from limb to limb, saying that he did not believe the Immortal would be free from anger and hatred. At that time, the Buddha, who was still an Immortal, abided in Samadhi, viewing both sense-organs and sense-objects as illusions. The Immortal did not feel for a moment that his body had been dismembered, nor did he have any thoughts of being harmed, nor did he feel that there was really someone who was dismembering him. Without a trace of hatred or a complaint arising in his heart, the Immortal took endless pity on the person in front of him, because he knew that this person would suffer immensely due to his jealousy, arrogance, and his willful indulgence in his bad habits. Perhaps it was the ignorance of King Kaliraja that touched the Patient Immortal so deeply that he said, “in the future, when I become a Buddha, I will definitely deliver you first.” Due to the compassion of Shakyamuni Buddha on the causal ground, the former King Kaliraja becomes the first great disciple who attains enlightenment upon the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, known as the Venerable Kaundinya.