Toh 241 — The Wheel of Meditative Concentration
Samādhicakra
Translated by the Sarasvatī Translation Team under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Wheel of Meditative Concentration
F.302.aHomage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha accompanied by a saṅgha of 1,250 bhikṣus and a saṅgha of innumerable, countless bodhisattvas. Surrounded also by various retinues of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and other beings, he was teaching them the Dharma.
At that time, the Blessed One was absorbed in the meditative concentration called wheel of meditative concentration. Through the power of that meditative concentration, all the buddha lands shook and were illuminated by a great light.
Then, the bodhisattva Youthful Mañjuśrī, who was present in that retinue, rose from his seat and said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, your absorption in the wheel of meditative concentration is amazing. Sugata, it is truly amazing.”
The Blessed One asked, “Mañjuśrī, do you know the very limit of reality?”[1]
“I know it, Blessed One,” replied the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.
“Mañjuśrī, where is the very limit of reality?” asked the Blessed One.
Mañjuśrī replied, “Blessed One, the very limit of reality is where it is not.”
“Mañjuśrī, where is it not?” asked the Blessed One,
Mañjuśrī replied, “Blessed One, it is without any location.”[2]
The Blessed One asked, “Mañjuśrī, what is meditation?”
Mañjuśrī replied, “Blessed One, meditation means nonmeditation.”
Then Mañjuśrī asked, “How does the Tathāgata teach the Dharma?”
“Mañjuśrī,” replied the Blessed One, “I teach the Dharma to the effect that forms are undestroyed and unborn. I teach the Dharma to the effect that feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses are undestroyed and unborn. I turn the wheel of Dharma to the effect that attachment, hatred, and ignorance are undestroyed and unborn. F.302.b I have taught that in this way no phenomenon whatsoever has been destroyed or produced in the state of unsurpassed, perfect, and complete awakening.”[3]
Then, though he already knew the answer, the Blessed One asked the Youthful Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, do you know the sphere of phenomena?”
“I know it if I focus on it,” replied Mañjuśrī.
The Blessed One asked, “Mañjuśrī, do you know the world that is experienced?”
“Blessed One, the world is merely that which is experienced by people who are illusory apparitions.[4] Blessed One, that which is called ‘the world’ is essentially a nonexistent thing.”
The Blessed One said, “The Tathāgata wishes to hear the Dharma. Demonstrate your inspired speech!”
Mañjuśrī asked, “With what should I begin to demonstrate my inspired speech?”
“Begin with the sphere of phenomena, Mañjuśrī,” replied the Blessed One.
“Blessed One, I do not see any phenomenon that is not the sphere of phenomena.”[5]
“Those who have unfounded pride will be afraid,” said the Blessed One.
“Blessed One,” replied Mañjuśrī, “if the very limit of reality is afraid, then those who have unfounded pride will be afraid. Why? Because the very limit of reality and those who have unfounded pride are one and the same, and indistinguishable.”
“Mañjuśrī,” said the Blessed One, “you are a vajra basis.”
“Blessed One,” said Mañjuśrī, “since all phenomena are indivisible and inconceivable, they too are vajra bases. Why are they said to be vajra bases? Because sentient beings do not exist and things do not exist, they too are vajra bases.[6]
“Blessed One, such a very limit of reality does not exist. Whatever is such a limit neither comes nor goes. Blessed One, dwelling on the meaning of having such a limit, one meditates on the meaning of the absence of an intrinsic nature, keeps to remote places, and abandons distractions.” F.303.a
Then Venerable Śāriputra said to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, the Dharma you have taught is amazing.”
“Honorable Śāriputra, it is not so amazing,” replied Mañjuśrī. “The uncontaminated arhats are not vessels for this Dharma teaching. Why? Because a Dharma teaching like this does not engage with the attributes of ordinary beings, it does not engage with the attributes of arhats, it does not engage with the attributes of pratyekabuddhas, and it does not engage with the attributes of tathāgatas. It does not engage at all in the observation of phenomena. This is because it neither engages in nor retreats from anything.[7] This is because all phenomena are void.”[8]
“Mañjuśrī, will you say what you had in mind?”
“Honorable Śāriputra,” replied Mañjuśrī, “if the state of an arhat is the state in which attachment, hatred, and ignorance have been extinguished, then of what can they be a vessel? Of what kind of Dharma can they be a vessel? It is with this in mind that I say that arhats, whose contaminants have been extinguished, are not vessels for this Dharma teaching.[9]
“Honorable Śāriputra, do you esteem this as a Dharma without death and rebirth?”
“Mañjuśrī, I do.”
Then, the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, excellent! Excellent! You are to be praised for your mastery of the meaning of the profound Dharma.”
After the Blessed One had spoken thus, the bodhisattva Youthful Mañjuśrī, the venerable Śāriputra, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
This concludes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Wheel of Meditative Concentration.”Notes
Here the “very limit of reality” (bhūtakoṭi, yang dag pa’i mtha’) refers to the absence of an intrinsic nature in all phenomena. This compound is typically parsed as the “very limit” (koṭi) of “reality” (bhūta). This compound might also be parsed as the “true (bhūta) goal (koṭi).” Later in the sūtra, Mañjuśrī says, “Blessed One, dwelling on the meaning of having such a limit, one meditates on the meaning of the absence of an intrinsic nature.”
backThis idea related to location occurs again later, when Mañjuśrī explains that the very limit of reality neither comes nor goes. In Infinite Jewels, Taishō 355, and Taishō 356, in response to the question of where the very limit of reality is, Mañjuśrī says “the very limit of reality is wherever my limit is.” Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-051-006.html#node-33.
backCompare Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-45.
backReading ’jig rten ni for ’jig rten na here, following Toh 118, F.293.b.7, and the variant noted in the Comparative Edition. Compare Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-56.
backOmitting the first bdag gis as in Toh 118, F.294.b.2. Compare Infinite Jewels,https://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-68.
backReading bgyi ni for bgyi na. Compare Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-68, as well as Taishō 355 and Taishō 356. Following those sources, we might also read the Tibetan corresponding to this passage as follows: “Mañjuśrī said, ‘Blessed One, since all phenomena are indivisible and inconceivable, [the statement ‘all phenomena are indivisible and inconceivable’] is a vajra basis. Why is it said to be a vajra basis? Because sentient beings do not exist and things do not exist, it is a vajra basis.”
backCompare Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-93–1.49.
back“All phenomena are void” (Tib: shin tu dben pa) here means that all phenomena are devoid of an intrinsic nature. Compare Infinite Jewelshttps://read.84000.co/translation/Toh118.html#UT22084-051-006-151.
backCompare Infinite Jewels, https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-051-006.html#node-33.
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