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In the Name of Freedom

Dharma, Diversity, and Race

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The following passage is from the Flower Ornament Scripture (in Sanskrit, the Avatamsaka Sutra, also known as the Scripture of Inconceivable Liberation), a vast collection of some of the richest and most highly regarded teachings in the Mahayana tradition. In this passage, Ocean of Subtle Flames, one of the innumerable enlightened beings who was present at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment at Magadha, is filled with insight.

This excerpt is taken from The Flower Ornament Scripture, translated by Thomas Cleary, and is reprinted with permission from Shambhala Publications.

Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, BostonThe buddha body extends throughout all the great
assemblies:
It fills the cosmos, without end.
Quiescent, without essence, it cannot be grasped;
It appears just to save all beings.

The Buddha, King of the Teaching, appears in the world
Able to light the lamp of sublime truth which
illumines the world;
His state is boundless and inexhaustible:
This is what Name of Freedom has realized.

The Buddha is inconceivable, beyond discrimination,
Comprehending forms everywhere as insubstantial.
For the sake of the world he opens wide the path of
purity:
This is what Pure Eyes can see.

The Buddha's wisdom is unbounded—
No one in the world can measure it.
It forever destroys beings' ignorance and confusion:

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