A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness

Original text:于去来今。照了无碍。是大那伽。如佛之教。所作已办。弃大重担。获于己利。已断流转。生死有苦。以正智力。善知众生。心之所趣。如是大声闻众。长老舍利弗。而为上首。复有无量。菩萨摩诃萨众。俱在会集。

The suffering spoken of by the Buddha includes three kinds: the suffering of suffering (duḥkha-duḥkhatā), the suffering of conditioning (saṃskāra-duḥkhatā), and the suffering of decay (vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā). Although heavenly beings do not have the suffering of suffering, they still have the suffering of conditioning and the suffering of decay, because their kind of bliss is not permanent and cannot be retained; sooner or later it will vanish. This kind of suffering is called "the suffering of conditioning." When the feeling of bliss disappears, it is called "the suffering of decay." Especially at the end of life, heavenly beings will manifest the five signs of decay: first, the body becomes foul and filthy; second, the flower garland withers; third, dust falls upon the robes; fourth, sweat appears under both armpits. The heavenly being's body becomes foul and offensive to smell, and no heavenly being is willing to approach him—all avoid and keep away from him; the jeweled seat in heaven can no longer be sat upon, and the flower garland on the head has withered. Originally the robes were always clean and pure, never gathering dust, but now the robes have dust on them, and both armpits give off the odor of sweat. When these phenomena appear, it indicates that the heavenly being's life is about to end and that he is about to go and undergo suffering; this is called the "five signs of decay" of heavenly beings. The suffering of birth-and-death within the three realms has all been completely severed by the arhats; in the future they will no longer undergo the feelings of the suffering of birth-and-death, and will no longer come to the three realms to take rebirth.

"With the power of correct wisdom, they well know the inclinations of sentient beings' minds." Arhats cultivate the four noble truths of suffering, origination, cessation, and the path, attain the wisdom of liberation, and are endowed with the knowledge of all things (sarvākārajñatā). With this wisdom, they can observe as they truly are where sentient beings' mental activities are inclined. By seeing the dharmas that sentient beings crave and delight in, they can know which of the six realms a sentient being will incline toward at the end of life, and can also know whether a sentient being can attain liberation and enter nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). The minds of most sentient beings are attached to the worldly dharmas of the three realms; in the future they cannot possibly free themselves from the bondage of worldly dharmas, and all must undergo the bondage of the six sense objects, inclining toward the six realms, inclining toward the worldly five aggregates (pañcaskandha), inclining toward the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, unable to escape the cycle of birth and death.

In this great assembly, the śrāvakas were led by Śāriputra. "Elder" is an honorific title for arhats; those who have realized the fourth fruit of arhatship are called the great assembly of śrāvakas. Among them, the Elder Śāriputra was foremost in wisdom, so Śāriputra occupied the foremost position among the śrāvaka assembly. Countless bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were arrayed behind the great assembly of śrāvakas in the great assembly, indicating that many of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were lay followers, while monastics were relatively fewer. When the Buddha was in the world, the monastics took precedence, so the monastics were presented first, and then the lay followers. Both the śrāvaka disciples and the bodhisattva disciples gathered at the Dharma assembly where the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma, heeding the World-Honored One's teachings.