This brief sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Buddha is approached and asked by the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara about the qualities that should be cultivated by a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening. The Buddha briefly expounds seven qualities that should be practiced by such a bodhisattva, emphasizing mental purity and cognitive detachment from conceptuality.
The Translation
Homage to the Bhagavān Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was dwelling in Rājagṛha4 on Vulture Peak Mountain5 together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Noble Avalokiteśvara rose from his seat, arranged his upper robe on one shoulder, and placed his right knee in the center of a lotus flower.
Joining his hands in devotion toward the Bhagavān, he asked him, “Bhagavān, in how many qualities should a bodhisattva train, just after generating the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening?”6
The Bhagavān replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Noble Avalokiteśvara’s inquiry with the following words:
“Kulaputra, bodhisattvas should train in seven qualities just after generating the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening.7 What are the seven? They are as follows:
“(1) One should not have sexual enjoyment even in thought, not to mention joining together the two sexual organs. [F.331.b]
“(2) One should not take up with a nonvirtuous friend even in dreams.
“(3) With a mind free like a bird, one should be completely without grasping.
“(4) With mastery in skill and wisdom, one should be without pride and reified conceptions of ‘I.’
“(5) One should abandon conceptions of existence and nonexistence and be firm in the emancipation (vimokṣa) of emptiness.
“(6) One should not take delight in saṃsāra through an inauthentic conceptual understanding, saṃsāra being like a magical illusion or dream.
“(7) And one should refrain from deprecating the law of cause and effect.
“Kulaputra, a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening8 should train in these seven qualities.”
When the Bhagavān had spoken, the bodhisattva Noble Avalokiteśvara, along with the monks and bodhisattvas, rejoiced and praised highly what had been proclaimed by the Bhagavān.9
This completes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra, “The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities.”10