Explanation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Revelation 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, the suffering of conditioning, and the suffering of decay. Celestial beings, although free from the suffering of suffering, 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, celestial beings will manifest the five signs of decay: first, the body becomes foul and malodorous; second, the flower garland withers; third, dust falls upon the garments; fourth, sweat appears under both armpits. The celestial being's body becomes foul and offensive to smell, and no celestial being is willing to approach him—all avoid and keep away from him; the celestial being can no longer remain seated on the jeweled throne in heaven, the flower garland on his head withers, 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 celestial being's life is about to end and he is about to undergo suffering—this is called the "five signs of decay" of celestial 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 suffering of birth and death, and will no longer come to the three realms to take rebirth.

"With the wisdom power of right knowledge, 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 omniscience of all knowledge (sarvākārajñatā). With this wisdom, they can truly observe the mental activities of sentient beings and where exactly they incline. 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. The minds of most sentient beings are attached to the worldly dharmas of the three realms; in the future they cannot escape the bondage of worldly dharmas—they will all be bound by the six sense objects, incline toward the six realms, incline toward the worldly five aggregates, incline 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, among the assembly of śrāvakas, Śāriputra was the head. "Elder" is an honorific title for arhats; those who have realized the fourth fruit of arhatship are called the great assembly of śrāvakas, and among them the Elder Śāriputra was foremost in wisdom, so Śāriputra occupied the foremost position among the assembly of 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 monastic practitioners were relatively few. When the Buddha was in the world, monastic practitioners were placed first, so the monastic practitioners were presented first, and then the lay practitioners. Both the śrāvaka disciples and the bodhisattva disciples gathered at the Dharma assembly where the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma, listening to the World-Honored One's teachings.