Having last month considered envisioning Śākyamuni Buddha at Mount Vulture Peak, we consider the instructions for the purification of the six sense faculties.
At this time Universal Sage Bodhisattva will also emit a beam of light from between his eyebrows – the sign of a great person – and send it into the practitioner’s mind. After the light has entered his or her mind, the practitioner will remember that he or she accepted, kept faith with, recited, and internalized the Great Vehicle sutras in the presence of countless hundreds of thousands of buddhas in the past. As if possessing the wondrous faculty of remembrance of former states of existence, the practitioner clearly and completely perceives his or her former selves. Experiencing a sudden flash of great awakening, he or she attains a Dharma-grasping empowerment of interaction and exchange and access to a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of other Dharma-grasping empowerments.
Emerging from the specialized focus of mind, the practitioner will perceive, in front of him- or herself, all the emanated buddhas sitting on lion seats beneath numerous jewel trees. He or she will also perceive soil of lapis lazuli, resembling clusters of lotus flowers, springing up from the space below the ground. Between each flower are untold countless numbers of bodhisattvas sitting in the lotus posture. The practitioner will also discern bodhisattvas emanated from Universal Sage giving praise to the Great Vehicle within their own assemblies.
Then, with one voice, the bodhisattvas will instruct the practitioner on the purification of the six sense faculties.
One instruction says: Be steadfastly mindful of the Buddha!
Another instruction says: Be steadfastly mindful of the Dharma!
Another says: Be steadfastly mindful of the Sangha!
Another says: Be steadfastly mindful of your attitude toward the behavioral principles!
Another says: Be steadfastly mindful to have consideration for others!
Another instruction says: Be steadfastly mindful that blissful conditions exist!Becoming mindful in these six ways constitutes the aspiration for enlightenment and gives birth to bodhisattvas! Now, therefore, face the buddhas, avow your past wrongdoings, and sincerely undertake self-amendment!