The State of an Eighth-Stage Bodhisattva

If one contemplates where all the dharmas of the world come from, where the conscious mind comes from, and how the five aggregates and all the dharmas of the world manifest, one can attain a Mahāyāna fruit. It would be even better to then follow the example of the World-Honored One's father, attain the patience of non-arising dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti), and become a bodhisattva of the first bhūmi. After attaining the first bhūmi and being reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), what fruit would one attain? By listening to Amitābha Buddha personally expound the profound dharma of consciousness-only, one can quickly attain the fruit of the eighth bhūmi. An eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can, within a single thought-moment, transform and create a trichiliocosm; countless planets can be instantly manifested. Holding the earth in one hand and sentient beings in the other, the bodhisattva can move beings to another galaxy without their perceiving anything at all. When an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva opens his mouth, the waters of the four great oceans pour into the bodhisattva's mouth, and the fish, shrimp, dragons, and other beings do not know they have been drawn into the bodhisattva's belly—they cannot detect it. When a planet is about to be destroyed, the eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva transfers all the beings of that planet to another planet, and the beings are unaware of it. Ten billion earths, ten billion Mount Sumerus, ten billion six-layer desire-realm heavens—all the heavenly realms number ten billion, ten billion hells, ten billion Yāma realms, ten billion four great oceans—together they constitute one trichiliocosm, which is immensely vast, and an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can manifest all of it.

The realms of the great bodhisattvas are very difficult for us to imagine, and when we cannot imagine them, it is hard to believe that such inconceivable things exist. In fact, when our roots of goodness, merit, and conditions are truly all complete, attaining these dharmas is not difficult—let alone believing in them. We must have faith in the Buddha and the Dharma, faith in the bodhisattva-saṅgha, and also faith in ourselves. Diligently cultivate morality, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom; merit is the foundation. We must continually perfect and fulfill the provisions and conditions for practicing the bodhisattva path and being bodhisattvas, so that the causes and conditions for realization may appear soon, and our aspirations will be fulfilled.