15th Imperishable, Divine Sight

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

What then is the bodhisattvas’ divine sight?

[1. Distinguished both as worldly and as unworldly (lokalokottaraviśiṣṭa):] As for the divine sight of all the gods, the divine sight of all snake-gods and all demons, the divine sight of all celestial musicians, giants, divine birds, man-horses, great serpents, men and not men, the divine sight of all disciples with their training completed or not, the divine sight of all the isolated buddhas, compared with all these the divine sight of the bodhisattvas perfecting omniscience and perfecting the exalted [practices] is better, higher, more eminent, more excellent, clearer, finer, stronger and more brilliant.

[2. Seeing all forms (sarvarūpadarśana):] By that divine sight, whatever manifestations of form occur in the endless and limitless worlds in the ten directions, be they coarse or subtle, superior or inferior, distant or near, all those are known, made manifest, penetrated, thoroughly known, thoroughly seen by that divine sight of theirs.

All beings in the endless, limitless worlds in the ten directions (p. 95) – excluding the formless beings – born in any state of existence, he knows as it is the death and birth of all of them, he knows as it is the causes of their actions, he knows as it is the fruits of their actions as well as the diversity of their abilities.

As for the splendour of qualities in the buddha-fields of the Awakened Lords in endless, limitless worlds in the ten directions, all of that he sees. Having seen it, he transforms by the purity of his own morality the accumulated multitudes of merit and knowledge into purification of the splendour of qualities in his own field. And the transformation performed by those established in the qualities of morality is thus accomplished.

By the divine sight of theirs he also sees all the congregations of bodhisattvas belonging to those Lords. Having seen them, he fulfils the penetration into skill in insight, knowledge and expedient means, as well as the skill in right action, behaviour, where to go, recollection, awareness, conduct, where to live, powers, religion, liberation [the extinction established nowhere (apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa) ], knowledge, way of confidence, remembrance and eloquence of those good men.

[3. Not sullied by opposing impurities (pratikūlamalânupalipta, vipakṣânupalipta):] That sight of theirs is unhindered since it sees all forms; that sight of theirs is unattached since it is beyond cupidity; that sight of theirs is free from habits, viewpoints and the manifestations of vices; that sight of theirs is pure since it is originally luminous; that sight of theirs is not dependent on any field of perception; that sight of theirs is non-origination of habits and vices; that sight of theirs is free of blindness since it is beyond doubt; that sight of theirs does not arise among the obscuring moments of existence; that sight of theirs has attained clarity concerning the manifestations of all moments of existence; that sight of theirs relies on knowledge, not being within the range of consciousness; that sight of theirs is not impassioned, enraged or deluded by any vices; that sight of theirs is an aid to penetration into the abilities of the holy; that sight of theirs is unattached knowledge since it shines equally on all beings [that is, looking similarly on all with compassion (karuṇā) ]; that sight of theirs is pure since it is freed from the bad moments of existence in thoughts; that sight of theirs is impeccable since it is essentially beyond impurity; that sight of theirs is created from the sight of the Buddhas since they never give up their intention [to reach omniscience]; that sight of theirs is unattached and unborn since it is beyond aversion; that sight of theirs is produced by [having as the object] the truth pertaining to the sphere of [real] meaning, it is the unattached treading of the path of pure knowledge.

[4. The pure cause (viśuddhahetu):] Why [is the divine sight of those bodhisattvas as above explained]? Because those good men are established in great compassion, knowing the moments of existence, penetrating the meaning of things [namely their emptiness (śūnyatā) ], are faultless, they preach religion in accordance with what they have seen and heard, they are turned away from the bad, turned towards the place of awakening, their thoughts are not hindered in anything, they are generous to the stingy, having pity on the immoral, they are without violent thoughts towards the violent-minded, (p. 96) bringing vigour to the lazy, showing the methods of meditation to those who are not concentrated, giving the eye of insight to those with limited insight, showing the way to those on bad ways, making those of inferior conviction understand the exalted religion of the awakened, causing them to penetrate the knowledge [characterized by the absence of thought-constructions (nirvikalpalakṣaṇa) ] of the omniscient, they possess unhindered supernormal knowledge for the sake of fulfilling awakening.

This is called the bodhisattvas’ supernormal knowledge of divine sight.