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 time of death, heavenly beings will manifest the five signs of decay: first, the body becomes foul and malodorous; second, the flower crown withers; third, dust falls upon the garments; fourth, sweat appears under both armpits. The heavenly being's body becomes foul-smelling and repugnant, and no heavenly being is willing to approach him—all avoid and keep away from him; he can no longer remain seated on the heavenly throne, the flower crown on his head has withered, whereas previously his garments were always clean and never gathered dust, now his garments have dust on them, and a sweaty odor appears under both armpits. When these phenomena appear, it indicates that the heavenly being's life is about to end and he is about to 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 eliminated 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 truly observe 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 tend 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—they will all be bound by the six sense objects, tend toward the six realms, tend toward the worldly five aggregates (pañcaskandha), tend toward the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, and will not 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 śrāvakas. Countless bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were listed behind the great assembly of śrāvakas in the great assembly, indicating that many of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were lay practitioners, while monastics were comparatively fewer. When the Buddha was in the world, monastics took precedence, so the monastics were presented first, followed by the lay practitioners. 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.