"Protecting their light of enlightenment, they can use this wonderful force to return to the Budha’s light of compassion and to come back to stand firm with the Budha. It is like two mirrors that are set facing one another, so that between them the exquisite images inter-reflect and enter into one another layer upon layer. This is called the Mind that Makes Transferences.

"With this secret interplay of light, they obtain the Budha’s eternal solidity and unsurpassed wonderful purity. Dwelling in the unconditioned, they know no loss or dissipation.

This is called the Mind that Resides in Precepts.

"Abiding in the precepts with self-mastery, they can roam throughout the ten directions, going anywhere they wish. This is called the Mind that Resides in Vows.

"Ananda, these good people use proper expedients to bring forth those ten minds. The essence of these minds becomes dazzling, and their ten functions interconnect to a point of single-mindedness. That is called the Dwelling of Bringing Forth the Resolve.

"The discoveries made by that mind are like pure crystal within which can be seen pure gold. Based on those previous wonderful minds, they step up to this level called the Dwelling of the Ground of Regulation.

"When the mind on that ground connects with wisdom, both become bright and comprehensive. Traversing the ten directions then without obstruction is called the Dwelling of Cultivation.

"When their conduct is the same as the Budhas’ and they connect with the Budha’s spirit, then, like the body-between-skandhas searching for a father and mother, they penetrate the darkness with a hidden communication and enter the lineage of the Tathagata. That is called the Dwelling of Noble Birth.

"Since they ride in the womb of the Way, they are heirs to enlightenment just as a mature fetus has developed all human features. That is called the Dwelling that is Endowed with Skill-in-Means.

"Their physical appearances become those of Budhas and their minds the same as well. That is called Dwelling in the Proper Mind.

"United in body and mind, they grow and mature day by day. That is called Dwelling in Irreversibility.

"With the efficacious appearance of ten bodies, which are simultaneously perfected, they are Dwelling as a Pure Youth.

"Completely developed, they leave the womb and become sons of the Budha. That is Dwelling as a Dharma Prince. Reaching the fullness of adulthood, they are like a chosen prince to whom a mighty king turns over the affairs of state. Eventually that eldest son of the kshatriya king will be ceremoniously anointed on the crown of the head. That is called Dwelling in Anointing the Crown of the Head.

"Ananda, after these good men have become sons of the Budha, they are replete with the limitlessly many wonderful virtues of the Tathagatas, and they comply and accord with beings throughout the ten directions. That is called the Conduct of Happiness.

"Being well able to accommodate all beings is called the Conduct of Benefiting.

"Enlightening themselves and enlightening others without putting forth any resistance is called the Conduct Free of Anger.

"Then they undergo birth in various forms continuously to the bounds of the future. Practicing that equally throughout the three periods of time and pervading the ten directions is called the Conduct Continued Endlessly.

"When everything is equally in accord, one never makes mistakes among the various Dharma doors. That is called ‘he Conduct of Freedom from Deluded Confusion.

"Then within what is identical, myriad differences appear.

Yet within the different appearances, an identity can be perceived.

That is called the Conduct of Wholesome Manifestation.

"That continues until it includes all particles of dust that fill up empty space throughout the ten directions. In each and every mote of dust there appear the worlds of the ten directions. And yet the appearance of dust motes and the appearance of worlds do not interfere with one another. That is called the Conduct of Non-Attachment.

"Everything that appears before one becomes a foremost paramita. That is called the Conduct of Veneration.

"With such perfect fusion, one can model oneself after all the Budhas of the ten directions. That is called the Conduct Based on Wholesome Dharmas.

"As each and every one of those becomes pure and without outflows, they merge into a singular truth, unconditioned, that is the essence of the nature. That is called the Conduct of Reality.

"Ananda, when these good men replete with spiritual penetrations have done the Budha’s work and are totally pure and absolutely true, they can remain distant from obstacles and calamities. Then they take beings across without being attached to the idea of taking them across. They direct the unconditioned mind toward the path of Nirvana. That is called the Transference of Saving and Protecting Living Beings, while apart from the Appearance of Living Beings.

"Destroying what should be destroyed and remaining far removed from what should be left behind is called the Transference of Indestructibility.

"Fundamental Enlightenment is profound indeed, an enlightenment on a level with the Budhas’ enlightenment. That is called the Transference of Sameness with All Budhas.

"When absolute truth is discovered, their level is like the level of Budhas. That is called the Transference of Reaching all Places.

"Worlds and Tathagatas include one another without any obstruction. That is called the Transference of a Treasury of Inexhaustible Merit and Virtue.

"Since their level is like the Budhas’, each and every cause they create at that level is pure. Based on the dispersing of such causes, they go straight down the path to Nirvana. That is called the Transference of the Good Roots of Following what is Basically Identical.

"When true roots are set down, then all beings in the ten directions are my own nature. Not a single being is lost, as this nature is successfully perfected. That is called the Transference of Following the Impartial Contemplation of all Beings.

"Being identical with all dharmas yet apart from all phenomena, they are not attached to either the identity or the separation. That is called the Transference of the Appearance of True Suchness.

"That which is thus is truly obtained, and there is no obstruction throughout the ten directions. That is called the Transference of Unfettered Liberation.

"When the virtue of the nature is perfectly realized, the boundaries of the Dharma Realm are destroyed. That is called the Transference of the Limitlessness of the Dharma Realm.

"Ananda, when these good men have completely purified these forty-one minds, they further accomplish Four Kinds of Wonderfully Perfect Aiding Practices.

"The enlightenment of a Budha is just about to become a function of their own minds. It is on the verge of emerging but has not yet emerged, and so it can be compared to the point just before wood ignites when it is drilled to produce fire. That is called the Level of Heat.

"They continue on with their own minds to tread where the Budhas tread, as if relying and yet not. It is as if they were climbing a lofty mountain, to the point where their bodies are in space but there remains a slight obstruction beneath them. That is called the Level of the Summit.

"When the mind and the Budha are two and yet the same, they have well obtained the Middle Way. They are like someóne who endures something when it seems impossible to either hold it in or let it go. That is called the Level of Patience.

"When numbers and limits are gone, no such designations as the Middle Way or as confusion and enlightenment are made. That is called the Level of Being First in the World.

"Ananda, these good men have successfully penetrated through to Great Bodhi. Their enlightenment reaches through to the Tathagatas’. They have fathomed the state of Budhahood. That is called the Ground of Happiness.

"The differences enter into identity; even the notion of identity is gone. That is called the Ground of Leaving Filth.

"At the point of ultimate purity, brightness comes forth. That is called the Ground of Emitting Light.

"When the brightness becomes ultimate, enlightenment is full.

That is called the Ground of Blazing Wisdom.

"No identity or difference can be attained. That is called the Ground of Invincibility.’

"With unconditioned True Suchness, the nature is spotless, and brightness is revealed. That is called the Ground of Manifestation.

"Coming to the farthest limits of True Suchness is called the Ground of Traveling Far.

"The single mind of True Suchness is called the Ground of Immovability.

"Bringing forth the function of True Suchness is called the Ground of Good Wisdom.

"Ananda, all Bodhisattvas beyond this point have completed their cultivation and have perfected their merit and virtue, and so this Ground is called the Level of Cultivation.

"Then a wonderful cloud of compassion hovers over the Sea of Nirvana. That is called ‘the Ground of the Dharma Cloud.

"The Tathagatas counter the flow as the Bodhisattvas thus reach this point through compliance with practice. Their enlightenment is about to meet that of the Budhas; it is therefore called Equal Enlightenment.

"Ananda, the enlightenment which encompasses the Mind of Dry Wisdom through to the culmination of Equal Enlightenment is awakening within the Varja Mind. That constitutes the Level of Initial Dry Wisdom. Thus there are totals of twelve single and grouped levels. At last they reach Wonderful Enlightenment and accomplish the Unsurpassed Way. At all these levels they use vajra contemplation of Ten Profound Analogies for the ways in which things are like an illusion. In Shamatha they use the Tathagatas’ Vipashyana to cultivate them purely, to be certified to them, and to gradually enter them more and more deeply. Ananda, because they put to use the three means of advancement throughout all of them, they are well able to accomplish the fifty-five stages of the True Bodhi Path"This manner of contemplation is called proper contemplation.

Contemplation other than this is called deviant contemplation."

Then Dharma Prince Manjushri arose from his seat, and in the midst of the assembly he bowed at the Budha’s feet and said to the Budha, "What is the name of this Sutra and how should we and all beings uphold it?"

The Budha told Manjushri, "This Sutra is called Great Budha at the Crown, Syi Dan Dwo Bwo Da La, the Unsurpassed Precious Seal and Pure, Clear, Ocean-like Eye of the Tathagatas of the Ten Directions.

"It is also called The Cause for Saving a Relative, the Rescue of Ananda and the Bhikshuni Nature, and the Attaining of the Bodhi Mind and Entry into the Sea of Pervasive Knowledge.

"It is also called The Tathagatas’ Secret Cause of Cultivation that Brings Certification to the Complete Meaning.

"It is also called The Great Expansive Means, the Wonderful Lotus Flower King, the Dharani Mantra which is the Mother of all Budhas of the Ten Directions.

"It is also called The Foremost Shurangama, Sections and Phrases for Anointing the Crown of the Head, and All Bodhisattvas’ Myriad Practices.

"Thus should you respectfully uphold it."

Subir