Programming note: Having completed the 21-day stay-cation retreat encouraged by Universal Sage Bodhisattva, I still have some things I want to say about the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and The Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva. For the next several days I will add this as an extended 21 Days series.

I can’t imagine any discussion of the The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva that doesn’t include the Elephant Walk (Reeves, p402-404). Enjoy.

The body of Universal Sage Bodhisattva is unlimited, the range of his voice is unlimited, and the forms of his image are unlimited. When he wants to come to this world he uses his own divine powers to shrink his body to a smaller size. Because the three hindrances of the people in Jambudvipa are heavy, through the power of his wisdom he transforms himself and rides a white elephant.

The elephant has six tusks and is supported by seven legs. Under its seven legs are seven live lotus flowers. The elephant is as white as snow, the most brilliant of whites. Even crystal or the Himalayas cannot be compared with it. The body of the elephant is four hundred and fifty leagues long and four hundred leagues tall.

At the tips of its six tusks are six bathing pools, and in each bathing pool grow fourteen lotus flowers, filling them all equally. The flowers bloom majestically, like the king of heavenly foliage. On each of these flowers sits a jade maiden, with a crimson face surpassing even that of a goddess. In the hands of each of the maidens five harps appear spontaneously, each accompanied by five hundred other musical instruments. Five hundred birds, as colorful as precious gems, including wild ducks, wild geese, and mandarin ducks, are among the leaves and flowers. On the elephant’s trunk there is a flower with a stalk the color of red pearl. The flower itself is gold in color and looks like a bud that has not yet blossomed.

After witnessing this, if anyone continues to repent and contemplates the Great Vehicle sincerely, unceasingly pondering over it with clear vision, they will be able to see the flower bloom and radiate a golden color.

The calyx of the lotus flower is made of kimshuka jewels and wonderful and pure mani jewels. Its stamens are made of diamonds. A transformed buddha can be seen sitting on the calyx of the lotus flower with a host of bodhisattvas sitting on the stamens. From between the eye brows of the transformed buddha comes a golden light, which goes into the elephant’s trunk with the color of a red lotus flower. This light comes out of the elephant’s trunk and enters its eyes. Then it shines from the elephant’s eyes and enters its ears. It then comes out of the elephant’s ears, illuminates the top of its head, and changes into a golden platform.

On the elephant’s head are three transformed attendants. One has a golden wheel in its hands, another holds a mani jewel, and another grasps a diamond pounder. When the attendant raises the pounder and points it at him, the elephant immediately takes a few steps. The elephant does not step on the ground but hovers in the air, seven feet above the earth, yet it leaves its footprints on the ground. The footprints have in them a Dharma wheel with a hub and a thousand spokes, all of them perfect. In each Dharma wheel is a great lotus flower, on which there is a transformed elephant. These elephants also have seven legs and walk behind the great elephant. Every time one of these elephants raises and brings down a foot, seven thousand elephants appear, all following behind the great elephant.

On the elephant’s trunk, the color of a red lotus flower, sits a transformed buddha, who emits light from between his eyebrows. This golden light, as before, enters the elephant’s trunk, which is the color of a red lotus flower. This light comes out of the elephant’s trunk and enters its eyes. Then it shines from the elephant’s eyes and enters its ears. It then comes out of the elephant’s ears and reaches the top of its head.

Gradually going up the elephant’s back, the light is transformed into a golden saddle adorned with the seven precious materials. On all four sides of the saddle are pillars made of the seven precious materials and decorated with sets of jewels, making a jeweled pedestal. On this pedestal there is a lotus flower stamen of the seven precious materials, and that stamen also has on it a hundred jewels. The blossom of that lotus flower is made of a great mani jewel.

The bodhisattva named Universal Sage sits there cross-legged. On his body, pure as a white jewel, are fifty lights of fifty different colors, forming a halo over his head. Golden light radiates from the pores of his body, and innumerable transformed buddhas are at the ends of the golden rays, accompanied by transformed bodhisattvas to serve them.

The elephant walks deliberately and carefully. Going slowly, he pours large jeweled lotus flowers before a follower. When this elephant opens its mouth, the jade maidens in the bathing pools on the elephant’s tusks play fine and wonderful music that praises the one true way of the Great Vehicle. Having seen this, the follower rejoices and shows respect, again reading and reciting the profound sutras, showing respect to the innumerable buddhas in all directions wherever they may be, to the Stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha, to Shakyamuni Buddha, and to Universal Sage and other great bodhisattvas.

Makes me want to practice.

The Threefold Lotus translation offers some helpful footnotes.

• Three hindrances: Arrogance, envy and covetousness.
• Six tusks: Suggesting the purity of the six sense organs: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
• Seven legs: Suggesting the absence of the seven evils: killing, stealing, committing adultery, lying, speaking ill of others, improper language, and having a double tongue.
• Transformed Buddha: The transformed body in which a Buddha manifests himself in order to save sentient beings.