Goddess and Shariputra

Vimalakirti from chpt7

        

 Goddess and Shariputra

A little Bit about distinctions :)

At that time there was a heavenly being, a goddess, in Vimalakirti's room who, seeing these great men and hearing them expound the Law, proceeded to make herself visible and, taking heavenly flowers, scattered them over the bodhisattvas and major disciples. When the flowers touched the bodhisattvas, they all fell to the floor at once, but when they touched the major disciples, they stuck to them and did not fall off. The disciples all tried to shake off the flowers through their supernatural powers, but they could not do so.
At that time the goddess said to Shariputra, "Why try to brush off the flowers?"
"Such flowers are not in accordance with the Law," he replied. "That's why I try to brush them off."3
The goddess said, "Don't say these flowers are not in accordance with the Law. Why? Because the flowers make no such distinctions. You in your thinking have made up these distinctions, that's all. If one who has left the household life to follow the Buddha's Law makes such distinctions, that is not in accordance with the Law. One must be without distinctions to be in accordance with the Law Look at the bodhisattvas-the flowers do not stick to them because they have already cut off all thought of distinctions. Just as evil spirits are able to take advantage of a person who is beset by fear, so because you disciples are fearful of the cycle of birth and death, the senses of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch are able to take advantage of you. But once a person has done away with fear, then the five desires that arise from these senses will not be able to get at him. So long as one has not done away with all such entanglements, the flowers will stick to him. But they will not stick to someone who has eliminated them all."
Shariputra said, "Goddess, have you been staying in this room long?"
She replied, "Venerable sir, my stay in this room is about as long as your attainment of emancipation."
3 The wearing of flowers or other personal ornaments was forbidden to members of the Buddhist order.
Shariputra said, "So you've been here a long time?" "Venerable sir," said the goddess, "how long has your attainment of emancipation been?"
Shariputra was silent and did not answer.
The goddess said, "With your great wisdom, venerable sir, why do you remain silent?"
Shariputra replied, "Emancipation cannot be spoken of in words. Therefore I do not know what I can say to you."
The goddess said, "Words, writing, all are marks of emancipation. Why? Because emancipation is not internal, not external, and not in between. And words likewise are not internal, not external, and not in between. Therefore, Shariputra, you can speak of emancipation without putting words aside. Why? Because all things that exist are marks of emancipation."
Shariputra said, "Doesn't emancipation mean putting aside lewdness, anger, and stupidity?"
The goddess said, "The Buddha, addressing persons of over-bearing arrogance, asserted that one must put aside lewdness, anger, and stupidity in order to gain emancipation, that is all. If he was addressing those who were free of overbearing arrogance, the Buddha asserted that the nature of lewdness, anger, and stupidity is emancipation itself."
Shariputra said, "Excellent, excellent! Goddess, what have you seized on, what have you seen into, that you speak with such eloquence?"
The goddess replied, "I have seized on nothing, seen into nothing, and hence speak with eloquence. Why? If one claims to have seized on something or seen into something, then in the light of the Buddha's Law one is being overbearingly arrogant."
Shariputra asked the goddess, "Of the three vehicles, which do you pursue?"
The goddess replied, "I use the Law of the voice-hearer to convert living beings, and therefore I practice the way of the voice-hearer. I use the Law of causes and conditions to convert living beings, and therefore I practice the way of the pratyekabuddha. I use the Law of great pity to convert living beings, and therefore I practice the Great Vehicle.
"Shariputra, when one enters a grove of champak trees, one smells only the odor of the champak and does not smell any other odor. And in the same way, when one enters this room, one smells only the fragrance of the Buddha blessings but takes no delight in smelling the fragrance of the voice-hearer's or the pratyekabuddha's blessings
"Shariputra, these Brahmas, Indras, Four Heavenly Kings, heavenly beings, dragons, spirits, and others who have entered this room and listen to this great man expound the correct Law all delight in the fragrance of the Buddha blessings and leave with their minds set on attaining them.
"Shariputra, I have been staying in this room for twelve years and never from the first have I heard any expounding of the Law of the voice-hearer or the pratyekabuddha. I have heard only of the great compassion and great pity of the bodhisattva, the Law of the Buddha that is beyond comprehension.
"Shariputra, this room constantly manifests eight rare and unprecedented phenomena. What are these eight? This room is constantly flooded with rays of golden light that never change, day or night. It is not lit by the shining of the sun or moon. This is the first rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"Those who enter this room are never troubled by defilements. This is the second rare and unprecedented phenomenon. "In this room Brahmas, Indras, Four Heavenly Kings, and bodhisattvas from other regions constantly come together in a gathering that never ends. This is the third rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"In this room there is constant exposition of the six paramitas and the unregressing wheel of the Law. This is the fourth rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"In this room heavenly beings constantly make superlative music, and from their strings come forth the sounds of immeasurable Dharma persuasions. This is the fifth rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"In this room are four great storehouses stacked high with varied treasures to relieve the destitute and rescue those in want, a supply to be drawn on yet never exhausted. This is the sixth rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"When this great man turns his thoughts to them, Shakyamuni Buddha, Amita Buddha, Akshobhya Buddha, Jeweled Virtue, jeweled Flame, Jeweled Moon, Jeweled Majesty, Hard to Surpass, Lion Echo, Profiting All, and countless other such Buddhas from the ten directions come at once to this room and broadly expound the secret and essential teachings, the store-house of the Dharma. And when they have finished expounding, they return to where they came from. This is the seventh rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"Within this room the magnificently adorned palaces of all the heavenly beings and the pure lands of the various Buddhas are all to be seen. This is the eighth rare and unprecedented phenomenon.
"These are the eight rare and unprecedented phenomena. Shariputra, who, seeing these sights beyond belief, would still delight in the Law of the voice-hearer?"
Shariputra said, "Why don't you change out of this female body?"4
The goddess replied, "For the past twelve years I have been trying to take on female form, but in the end with no success. What is there to change? If a sorcerer were to conjure up a phantom woman and then someone asked her why she didn't change out of her female body, would that be any kind of reasonable question?"
"No," said Shariputra. "Phantoms have no fixed form, so what would there be to change?"
4 Shariputra assumes that any woman would naturally want to change into a man if she had the power to do so.
The goddess said, "All things are just the same-they have no fixed form. So why ask why I don't change out of my female form?"
At that time the goddess employed her supernatural powers to change Shariputra into a goddess like herself, while she took on Shariputra's form. Then she asked, "Why don't you change out of this female body?"
Shariputra, now in the form of a goddess, replied, "I don't know why I have suddenly changed and taken on a female body! " The goddess said, "Shariputra, if you can change out of this female body, then all women can change likewise. Shariputra, who is not a woman, appears in a woman's body. And the same is true of all women-though they appear in women's bodies, they are not women. Therefore the Buddha teaches that all phenomena are neither male nor female."
Then the goddess withdrew her supernatural powers, and Shariputra returned to his original form. The goddess said to Shariputra, "Where now is the form and shape of your female body?"
Shariputra said, "The form and shape of my female body does not exist, yet does not not exist."
The goddess said, "All things are just like that-they do not exist, yet do not not exist. And that they do not exist, yet do not not exist, is exactly what the Buddha teaches."
Shariputra said to the goddess, "When your present existence comes to an end, where will you be reborn?"
The goddess replied, "The way the Buddha is born in his transformation body-that's how I'll be born."5
Shariputra said, "When the Buddha is born in his transformation body, it is not a matter of birth or death.
5 The Buddha takes on a "transformation body" when he appears in one of the lower realms of existence in order to guide and instruct the beings there. See glossary, under "three bodies."
The goddess said, "It's that way with living beings too-they are without birth or death."
Shariputra said to the goddess, "How long will it be before you attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi?"
The goddess replied, "Shariputra, when you revert to the state of a common unenlightened mortal, then I will succeed in gaining anuttara-samyak-sambodhi."
Shariputra said, "It is unthinkable that I should become a common mortal again!"
The goddess said, "It is likewise unthinkable that I should attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Why? Because bodhi is nothing to be thought about, hence nothing to be attained."
Shariputra said, "The Buddhas who are now attaining anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and those who have attained it in the past and will attain it in the future, numerous as the sands of the Ganges-what would you say of all those?"
The goddess said, "We use the numbers of everyday language, and so we speak of all those as belonging to the three existences of past, present, and future. But this is not to say that bodhi knows anything of past, present, and future." .
Then the goddess said, "Shariputra, have you attained the way of the arhat?"
Shariputra said, "I've realized there is nothing to be attained, so I've attained it."
The goddess said, "The Buddhas and bodhisattvas are that waý too. They've realized there is nothing to attain, and so they've attained it."
At this time Vimalakirti said to Shariputra, "This goddess has in the past made offerings to ninety-two million Buddhas and can disport herself with the supernatural powers of a bodhisattva. She has fulfilled all that she vowed, has accepted the truth of birthlessness, and dwells in a state from which she will never regress. Because of her original vow, she can show herself anytime she ;vishes and teach and convert living beings."