[889] "As the One with Vision is seen (yathā dissati cakkhumā)": as the deities see the Blessed One seated upon the Paṇḍukambala stone at the foot of the Pāricchattaka tree in the Tāvatiṃsa realm, teaching the Dhamma, so do humans see him; as humans see him, so do the deities see him. As he is seen by the devas, so is he seen by humans; as he is seen by humans, so is he seen by the devas. Thus too, "as the One with Vision is seen."
Or else: whereas those honorable ascetics and brahmins, being untamed, are seen with the appearance of the tamed; being not at peace, are seen with the appearance of the peaceful; being unstilled, are seen with the appearance of the stilled; being unquenched, are seen with the appearance of the quenched —
Like a counterfeit earring of clay,
like a copper māsaka coated with gold,
they go about in the world concealed by their retinue,
impure within, resplendent without.
The Blessed One is not seen even in that way. The Blessed One — by what is real, true, actual, exact, unmistaken, by his very nature — being tamed, is seen with the appearance of the tamed; being at peace, is seen with the appearance of the peaceful; being stilled, is seen with the appearance of the stilled; being quenched, is seen with the appearance of the quenched. And the Buddhas, the Blessed Ones, are unshaken in their postures (iriyāpatha) and accomplished in aspiration. Thus too, "as the One with Vision is seen."
Or else: the Blessed One is of pure repute; his fame, report, and praise are borne in the realm of the nāgas, in the realm of the supaṇṇas, in the realm of the yakkhas, in the realm of the asuras, in the realm of the gandhabbas, in the realm of the Great Kings, in the realm of Inda, and in the realm of Brahmā — such is he, and suchlike, and more than that. Thus too, "as the One with Vision is seen."
Or else: the Blessed One, endowed with the ten powers (dasabala), with the four intrepidities (vesārajja), with the four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), with the six direct knowledges (abhiññā), and with the six Buddha-qualities (buddhadhamma), is seen, is known, is discerned through his splendor, his power, his virtue, his energy, and his wisdom.
The good shine from afar,
like the Himavanta mountain;
the bad are not seen here,
like arrows shot by night.
Thus too, "as the One with Vision is seen."
"The One with Vision": the Blessed One has vision through five eyes: he has vision through the fleshly eye (maṃsacakkhu), he has vision through the divine eye (dibbacakkhu), he has vision through the eye of wisdom (paññācakkhu), he has vision through the Buddha eye (buddhacakkhu), and he has vision through the universal eye (samantacakkhu).
How does the Blessed One have vision through the fleshly eye? In the Blessed One's fleshly eye five colors are found: the color blue, the color yellow, the color red, the color black, and the color white. Where the Blessed One's eyelashes are set, that is blue, deep blue, pleasing, lovely to behold, like the ummāra flower. Beyond that it is yellow, deep yellow, gold-colored, pleasing, lovely to behold, like the kaṇṇikāra flower. Both eye-sockets of the Blessed One are red, deep red, pleasing, lovely to behold, like the indagopaka insect. In the middle it is black, deep black, not rough, glossy, pleasing, lovely to behold, like the aḷāriṭṭhaka [soap-berry seed]. Beyond that it is white, pure white, silvery, pale white, pleasing, lovely to behold, like the morning star (osadhitārakā). With that natural fleshly eye, comprised in his individual existence, produced by former good conduct, the Blessed One sees for a yojana all around, both by day and by night. Even when there is darkness possessed of four factors — the sun has set, it is the uposatha of the dark fortnight, the forest thicket is dense, and a great unseasonal storm-cloud has arisen — even in darkness possessed of such four factors he sees a yojana all around. There is no hillock, or door-panel, or wall, or mountain, or thicket, or creeper that is an obstruction to his seeing of forms. If one were to mark a single sesame seed and drop it into a cartload of sesame, he would pick out that very sesame seed. So pure is the Blessed One's natural fleshly eye. Thus the Blessed One has vision through the fleshly eye.
How does the Blessed One have vision through the divine eye? With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Blessed One sees beings passing away and being reborn — inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate — and he understands how beings fare according to their kamma: "These beings, alas, endowed with misconduct of body, endowed with misconduct of speech, endowed with misconduct of mind, revilers of the noble ones, holders of wrong view, undertaking action based on wrong view — with the breakup of the body, after death, they have been reborn in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, the lower world, hell. But these beings, endowed with good conduct of body, endowed with good conduct of speech, endowed with good conduct of mind, not revilers of the noble ones, holders of right view, undertaking action based on right view — with the breakup of the body, after death, they have been reborn in a good destination, a heavenly world." Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and being reborn — inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate — and he understands how beings fare according to their kamma. And if he wishes, the Blessed One could see even one world-system, could see even two world-systems, could see even three world-systems, could see even four world-systems, could see even five world-systems, could see even ten world-systems, could see even twenty world-systems, could see even thirty world-systems, could see even forty world-systems, could see even fifty world-systems, could see even a thousandfold minor world-system, could see even a two-thousandfold middling world-system, could see even a three-thousandfold world-system, could see even a great-thousandfold world-system. He could see as much as he might wish. So pure is the Blessed One's divine eye. Thus the Blessed One has vision through the divine eye.
How does the Blessed One have vision through the eye of wisdom? The Blessed One is of great wisdom, of wide wisdom, of joyous wisdom, of swift wisdom, of keen wisdom, of penetrative wisdom; skilled in the analysis of wisdom, of discriminating knowledge (ñāṇa), having attained the analytic insights, having reached the four intrepidities, bearer of the ten powers; a bull among men, a lion among men, a nāga among men, a thoroughbred among men, a burden-bearer among men; of infinite knowledge, of infinite splendor, of infinite fame; rich, of great wealth, wealthy; a leader, a guide, one who leads onward, who makes others understand, who makes them reflect, who makes them see, who inspires their confidence. For that Blessed One is the arouser of the unarisen path, the begetter of the unbegotten path, the declarer of the undeclared path; the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one skilled in the path. And his disciples now dwell following the path, becoming endowed with it afterwards. For that Blessed One, knowing, knows; seeing, sees; he has become vision, become knowledge, become Dhamma, become Brahmā; he is the speaker, the proclaimer, the elucidator of the meaning, the giver of the Deathless, the lord of the Dhamma, the Tathāgata. There is nothing unknown to that Blessed One, nothing unseen, nothing uncognized, nothing unrealized, nothing untouched by his wisdom. All dhammas, comprising past, future, and present, come into range at the door of the knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, in all their modes. Whatever there is that is knowable (neyya), that is to be known — one's own good, or the good of others, or the good of both; the good pertaining to this present life, or the good pertaining to lives to come; the evident meaning, or the profound meaning; the hidden meaning, or the concealed meaning; the meaning requiring inference, or the meaning already drawn out; the blameless good, or the defilement-free good, or the purified good, or the ultimate good — all of that revolves within the Buddha-knowledge. The Buddha's, the Blessed One's, knowledge is unobstructed regarding the past, unobstructed regarding the future, unobstructed regarding the present. All bodily action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, follows upon his knowledge; all verbal action, all mental action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, follows upon his knowledge. As far as the knowable extends, so far his knowledge extends; as far as his knowledge extends, so far the knowable extends. His knowledge has the knowable as its limit; the knowable has his knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable, nor is there a pathway of the knowable beyond knowledge; those dhammas stand with each other as their mutual limit. Just as, when the two halves of a casket are fitted exactly together, the lower half of the casket does not exceed the upper, and the upper half of the casket does not exceed the lower — they stand with each other as their mutual limit — even so, for the Buddha, the Blessed One, the knowable and his knowledge stand with each other as their mutual limit: as far as the knowable extends, so far his knowledge extends; as far as his knowledge extends, so far the knowable extends. His knowledge has the knowable as its limit; the knowable has his knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable, nor is there a pathway of the knowable beyond knowledge; those dhammas stand with each other as their mutual limit. The knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, operates with regard to all dhammas. All dhammas are bound up with the adverting of the Buddha, the Blessed One, bound up with his wish, bound up with his attention, bound up with the arising of his mind (cittuppāda). The knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, operates with regard to all beings. The Blessed One knows the disposition (āsaya) of all beings, knows their underlying tendency (anusaya), knows their temperament (carita), knows their resolve (adhimutti); he understands beings with little dust in their eyes and with much dust in their eyes, with keen faculties and with dull faculties, of good qualities and of bad qualities, easy to instruct and hard to instruct, capable and incapable. The world with its devas, with Māra, with Brahmā, this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and humans, revolves within the Buddha-knowledge. Just as whatever fish and turtles, even down to the timi-timiṅgala, move about within the great ocean, even so the world with its devas, with Māra, with Brahmā, this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and humans, revolves within the Buddha-knowledge. Just as whatever birds, even down to the garuḷa, Venateyya, move about in a region of the sky, even so those who equal Sāriputta in wisdom move about within a region of the Buddha-knowledge. The Buddha-knowledge, pervading and overmastering the wisdom of devas and humans, abides. And those learned khattiyas, learned brahmins, learned householders, and learned ascetics — subtle, practiced in the doctrines of others, like hair-splitting marksmen, who go about, as it were, splitting views with their wisdom — they, having formulated question upon question, approach the Tathāgata and ask. Those questions, spoken to and answered by the Blessed One, have their grounds pointed out and are laid aside; and, won over, they yield to the Blessed One. Then indeed the Blessed One shines forth all the more in that respect — namely, in wisdom. Thus the Blessed One has vision through the eye of wisdom.
How does the Blessed One have vision through the Buddha eye? Surveying the world with the Buddha eye, the Blessed One saw beings with little dust in their eyes and with much dust in their eyes, with keen faculties and with dull faculties, of good qualities and of bad qualities, easy to instruct and hard to instruct, and some who dwell seeing fear in wrongdoing and in the world beyond. Just as, in a pond of blue lotuses, or a pond of red lotuses, or a pond of white lotuses, some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses are born in the water, grow up in the water, and, keeping to the water, thrive submerged within it; some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses are born in the water, grow up in the water, and stand at an even level with the water; and some blue lotuses, or red lotuses, or white lotuses are born in the water, grow up in the water, and rise up above the water and stand unwetted by the water — even so, surveying the world with the Buddha eye, the Blessed One saw beings with little dust in their eyes and with much dust in their eyes, with keen faculties and with dull faculties, of good qualities and of bad qualities, easy to instruct and hard to instruct, and some who dwell seeing fear in wrongdoing and in the world beyond. The Blessed One knows: "This person is of lustful temperament; this one is of hating temperament; this one is of deluded temperament; this one is of speculative temperament; this one is of faithful temperament; this one is of intelligent temperament." To the person of lustful temperament the Blessed One speaks the talk on foulness. To the person of hating temperament the Blessed One points out the development of loving-kindness. The person of deluded temperament the Blessed One establishes in recitation and interrogation, in timely hearing of the Dhamma, in timely discussion of the Dhamma, and in dwelling together with a teacher. To the person of speculative temperament the Blessed One points out mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati). To the person of faithful temperament the Blessed One points out an inspiring sign — the excellent enlightenment of the Buddha, the excellence of the Dhamma, the good practice of the Saṅgha, and his own virtues. To the person of intelligent temperament the Blessed One points out the sign of insight — the aspect of impermanence, the aspect of suffering (dukkha), the aspect of non-self.
As one standing upon a rocky mountain peak
might see the people all around,
even so, O Wise One, O All-seeing One,
having ascended the palace made of Dhamma,
being yourself rid of sorrow, look down upon the people
overwhelmed by sorrow, overcome by birth and aging.
Thus the Blessed One has vision through the Buddha eye.
How does the Blessed One have vision through the universal eye? Omniscient knowledge (sabbaññutañāṇa) is called the universal eye. The Blessed One is possessed of, fully possessed of, has attained to, fully attained to, is endowed with, fully endowed with, and furnished with omniscient knowledge.
There is nothing here unseen by him,
nothing uncognized, nothing unknowable;
all that is knowable he has directly known:
therefore the Tathāgata is the Universal Eye.
Thus the Blessed One has vision through the universal eye. Hence, "as the One with Vision is seen."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.