The Five Kinds of Buddha Eyes

The Buddha said to Ānanda:

“When followers of Buddha undertake to amend themselves of unwholesome and harmful karmic acts after the Buddha has passed away, they must resolutely internalize and recite the Great Vehicle sutras. This comprehensive teaching is the buddha eye of the buddhas, it is the means by which buddhas perfect the five kinds of vision, and, from it, the Buddha’s three manifestations arise.

The five kinds of eyes are (1) the eye of those who have a material body; (2) the divine eye of celestial beings in the realm of form; (3) the eye of wisdom, by which the followers of the two vehicles perceive the nonsubstantiality of things; (4) the eye of the Law, by which the bodhisattvas perceive all teachings in order to lead human beings to enlightenment; and (5) the Buddha’s eye, the four kinds of eyes enumerated above existing in the Buddha’s body.

Buddhism for Today, p451