Pearls of Universe - Volume II

“Oh good man! Wherever this All-Wonderful Great Nirvana Sutra goes, that place - you should know - is indestructible. The people who live there are also adamantine. Anyone who hears this sutra will attain unsurpassed Enlightenment, and never draws back from it. Such people will gain whatever they wish to have. Oh, you Bhiksus! Uphold well what I say to you today. Any people who do not hear this sutra are, you should know, much to be pitied. Why is so? Because such people cannot uphold the deep meaning of a Mahayana Sutra like this."

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The Real Truth

The Bodhisattva Manjushri said to the Buddha: "Oh World Honored One! What means the real truth? "

The Buddha said: "Oh good man! By 'real truth' is meant the Wonderful Dharma. Oh good man! If something is not true, we do not say 'real truth'. Oh good man! There is nothing inverted in the real truth. When there is nothing inverted, we say ‘real truth’. Oh good man! There is no falsehood in the real truth. If the falsehood resides [there], we do not speak of real truth. Oh good man! The real truth is the Mahayana. If not the Mahayana, we do not say 'real truth'. The ‘real truth’ is what the Buddha says, and not what Mara says. If is of Mara and not of the Buddha, we do not say 'real truth'. Oh good man! The ‘real truth’ is a pure and single path, and not two paths. Oh good man! That which is Eternal, Bliss, Self, and Pure is the ‘real truth’."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.

The Five Secular Dharma

“Oh good man! There are five kinds of secular dharma, which are: 1) the world of names, 2) the world of sentences, 3) the world of bonds, 4) the world of law and 5) the world of clinging. Oh good man! What is the world of names? [Things] such as man, woman, pot, clothing, vehicle (car) and house are all of the world of names. Something such as a gatha (verse) of four lines belongs to the world of sentences. What are the things of the world of bonds? Things such as joining, binding, restraining and folding of the hands (in reverence) are (things) of the world of bonds. What is the world of law? Calling the bhiksus by hammering (the bells), warning soldiers by drumming and announcing the time by sounding a horn are (things) of the world of law. What belongs to the world of clinging? Seeing from afar a person wearing a colorful clothes, one imagines that this is a Shramana, and not a Brahmin; seeing a person with fabrics, one thinks that this is a Brahmin, and not a Shramana. This is what belongs to the world of clinging (paradigms). Oh good man! Thus goes with the five kinds of things in the world. Oh good man! If the mind of beings, [when confronted with these] five worldly phenomena, do not get turned upside down, but recognize things just as they are, this is the truth of 'Paramartha-satya' ('Ultimate Reality').”
 

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.

Craving is Like a Comet

“Oh good man! Why is it like a comet? For example, when a comet appears, famine and illness increases, and people become lean through illness and suffer from worries. The same goes for the comet of desire. It indeed cuts off all the seeds of good and makes common mortals suffer from loneliness, famine, and illness of defilement, causing them to recycle between births and deaths, and suffer from many sorrows. Only the Bodhisattva is not amongst these. This is why we say that things proceed as in the case of a comet.

Oh good man! There are these nine kinds of meditation on the bond of craving, to be made by a Bodhisattva-Mahasattva who abides in the teachings of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana.”
 

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.

Craving is Like a Storm

“Oh good man! How is it the craving like a storm? For example, it's like when a storm shatters a mountain, erodes peaks and uproots deep-rooted trees. The same happens with the storm of craving. One [might] gain an evil mind against one's parents and uproot the root of Enlightenment (as deep) as of the greatly learned Shariputra, which is unsurpassed and firm. Only the Bodhisattva is not of this group. This is why we say that it (the craving) is like a storm.”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.

Craving is Like the Spongy Flesh of a Boil

“Oh good man! How is craving like the spongy flesh of a boil? When a boil exists for a long time, there comes about a spongy flesh. The person patiently tries to cure it and the thought about it never leaves his mind. If one allows it to leave his mind (forgets it), the spongy flesh increases and worms may come about. As a result, the person dies. The same occurs with the boils of common mortals and the ignorant. The craving grows as a spongy flesh. One has to make effort and heal this spongy flesh of craving. If one does not, when one’s life ends, the three unfortunate realms await one. But the Bodhisattva is not amongst these. This is why we say that (craving) is like the spongy flesh of a boil.”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.

Craving is Like a Maruka

“Oh good man! Why is craving like a maruka [wisteria] seed? For example, a bird can peck it and it can fall to the ground, amid the waste, or it can be carried by the wind to beneath a tree, where it grows and winds itself around a ficus (niagrodha), so that the tree cannot grow and finally dies. The same goes with the maruka seed of craving. It winds itself around the good done by common mortals and finally kills him. [The good] having died, it [the common mortal] ends in the three unfortunate realms, except for the Bodhisattva. This is why we say that the things which one gets are as in the case of the maruka.”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 20 - On Holy Actions 2.