The Form of the Bodhisattva's Adornment of the Buddha Land Is Also Empty

Subhuti, what thinkest thou? Does a bodhisattva adorn Buddha-lands? No, World-Honored One. Why? Because that which is called adorning Buddha-lands is not adorning; it is merely called adorning.

The Buddha said: Subhuti, what is your view on this matter? Do bodhisattvas adorn Buddha-lands? Subhuti replied: Bodhisattvas do not adorn Buddha-lands. Why is this said? Because adorning Buddha-lands means not adorning Buddha-lands; there is no appearance of adorning Buddha-lands—it is merely nominal adornment.

In terms of conventional phenomena, all practices of bodhisattvas—the six paramitas, the ten paramitas—are acts of adorning Buddha-lands. All their endeavors to liberate sentient beings adorn Buddha-lands. The seeds of their practice and the seeds of liberating beings are stored in the Tathagatagarbha within their own minds. When these seeds accumulate to their fullest extent, the conditions for Buddhahood mature, and these seeds then manifest as adorned Buddha-lands. Thus, all bodhisattva conduct is the practice of adorning Buddha-lands. So, do bodhisattvas adorn Buddha-lands? Indeed they do.

Yet, applying the World-Honored One’s universal golden phrase: "That which is called adornment is not adornment; it is merely called adornment." This means that while bodhisattvas adorn Buddha-lands, there is no true appearance of adornment. All actions of bodhisattvas are empty and illusory—phenomena exist but their principles are void; existence is provisional, and appearances are also empty. There is no substantial, true act of adornment. In essence, all is the True Suchness, the One True Dharma Realm, the Vajra Prajna Reality-Mind; everything else is illusory and unreal. All dharmas apart from the indestructible Vajra Mind are mere names and appearances—they cannot be grasped as real. Bodhisattvas perform Buddha’s work within the dream with an empty mind, a mind of non-attainment: acting without acting, never clinging, never coveting fame or offerings, never seeking reward. Ordinary beings, contrarily, always have a mind of attainment, seeking, expectation—a mind that is not empty, attached to appearances.