Karandavyuha Sutra

by Mithun Howladar | 2018 | 73,554 words

This page relates “Sattvadhatu-parimokshana” of the Karandavyuha Sutra (English translation): an important 4th century Sutra extolling the virtues and powers of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Karandavyuhasutra also introduces the mantra “Om mani padme hum” into the Buddhist Sutra tradition.

Chapter 3 - Sattvadhātu-parimokṣaṇa

Sattvadhātuparimokṣaṇaṃ Tṛtīyaṃ prakaraṇam
(Chapter Three named Sattvadhātuparimokṣaṇam )

Then Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhī asked the Bhagavat, ‘Bhagavat, did Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara leave?’ The Bhagavat replied, ‘Noble Son, he left the Avīci hell and went to the city of the Pretas. Many hundreds of thousands of Pretas came running toward him. They were like burned tree trunks, they were like standing skeletons, they were covered with hair, and they had stomachs the size of mountains and mouths the size of a needle’s eye. As Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara arrived at the city of the Pretas, it cooled and the Vajra hail ceased. The staff-wielding guard at the gates, who had thick calves and red eyes, became kind and said, ‘I should not be performing this duty.’

Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s mind was filled with compassion on seeing these beings, and he emitted ten rivers from his ten fingers. He emitted ten rivers from his ten toes, and he emitted great rivers from all his pores. When the Pretas tasted the water, their throats widened, their bodies became whole, and they were completely satisfied by the supreme flavor of divine food.

Then they contemplated the human existence. They thought about saṃsāric existence in this way: ‘Oh! The humans in Jambudvīpa are happy. They can perfectly enjoy cool shade. Happy are those humans in Jambudvīpa who are always supporting their parents and honoring them. Happy are those good humans who always rely on a kalyāṇamitra. Those who continuously learn the Mahāyāna are good contemplative beings. Those who follow the eightfold path are good beings. Those who beat the Dharmadaṇḍī are good beings. Those who repair dilapidated and ruined monasteries are good beings. Those who repair dilapidated, ruined, ancient stūpas are good beings. Those who are dedicated to the sacred representations and the Dharmabhāṇakas are good beings, those who have seen the activities of a Tathāgata are good beings, those who have seen the activities of a pratyeka Buddha are good beings, those who have seen the activities of a Arhat are good beings, those who have seen the activities of a Bodhisattva are good beings.

At that time there appeared the sound of the precious king of the Mahāyāna Sūtras, The Sūtra of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra, wisdom, like a thunderbolt, destroyed the view of the aggregates as a self, which is like a mountain with twenty peaks, and the Pretas were all reborn in the realm of Sukhāvatī as Bodhisattvas named Ākāṅkṣitamukhā. Avalokiteśvara, having completely liberated those beings, departed from the city of the Pretas.

End of the chapter three named Sattvadhātuparimokṣaṇam.

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