THE GREAT RATNAKUTA SUTRA

Chapter: Initiation of the Bodhisattvas’ Great Resolve (Phẩm Phát Khởi Chí Nguyện Vui Thích của Bồ Tát), Volume 91.

Guidance: Master Bennie (Ân sư Bennie).
Lecturer: Chơn Ngộ (LE THI MY TRANG).
Organization: Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated Australia.

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1. INTRODUCTION: THE FRUSTRATION OF THE STAGNANT PATH

In the journey of spiritual cultivation, many practitioners encounter a devastating plateau. Despite years of keeping precepts, attending retreats, and studying the scriptures, they find themselves “stuck.” The clarity of mindfulness slips away, replaced by a growing attraction to worldly noise and an inexplicable heaviness in practice.

This spiritual paralysis is not a modern malaise but an ancient diagnostic reality described in the Ratnakuta Sutra. The scripture depicts sixty high-level Bodhisattvas who stood before the Buddha and wept, overcome by the realization that their senses had become darkened, their wisdom “blind,” and their ability to practice virtuous laws virtually nonexistent. They were “multi-heard” and disciplined, yet they were spiritually failing. This document explores the “Hidden Architecture” revealed by the Buddha to explain how high-level practitioners fall into such states of spiritual “dullness,” and how the echoes of past malice create the “scars” that obstruct our liberation today.

2. TAKEAWAY 1: THE PARADOX OF “JOYFUL MALICE” (THƯỚNG DUYỆT TÂM)

The Buddha identifies a specific, counter-intuitive psychological state as the primary catalyst for spiritual obstruction: Thướng duyệt tâm—or “Exultant Malice.” Unlike simple anger, which may feel like a burden, Thướng duyệt tâm refers to the feeling of extreme joy, exultation, and satisfaction one feels while venting, insulting, or slandering others.

From a specialist’s perspective, this is a perverted “flow state.” The practitioner feels a sense of relief—as if a blockage has been cleared—after humiliating another. However, this “high” of venting is the very mechanism that seals heavy karmic debt. By mistaking the relief of the ego for the health of the soul, the practitioner creates a “functional inversion” where harming others becomes the source of their greatest satisfaction.

“At that time, the Buddha told the Bodhisattvas: ‘O virtuous men! You should stand up; do not grieve or give rise to great sorrow anymore. In the past, you created evil karma; toward sentient beings, you used joyful and exuberant hearts (thướng duyệt tâm) to scold, humiliate, cause obstacles of affliction, and harm them.'”

3. TAKEAWAY 2: THE TRAP OF SACRED PRIDE

The Ratnakuta Sutra details a profound warning regarding 500 Bodhisattvas under the Buddha Krakucchanda. These were not worldly sinners; they were “well-learned” (multi-heard), strictly observed the pure precepts, and practiced the rigorous Dhutanga (austere practices). Their downfall was not a lack of virtue, but the weaponization of it.

By becoming attached to their own “sacred” status, they fueled their ego with their merits. This attachment triggered what Master Bennie describes as an “Automatic Misfortune Program” (Chương trình xúi quẩy tự động). When a practitioner uses their knowledge to look down on the “unlearned,” or their strict precepts to judge the “lax,” they are feeding the Five Poisons (Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Pride, Doubt) with spiritual fuel. The program is “automatic” because once pride is rooted in virtue, it inevitably seeks to destroy the virtue of others to maintain its own perceived height.

4. TAKEAWAY 3: THE DEVASTATING COST OF ENVY AND SLANDER

The most catastrophic activation of the “Automatic Misfortune Program” occurs when envy is directed at those preaching the Dharma. The scripture recounts how practitioners, jealous of the fame and offerings received by two Dharma Preachers (Pháp sư), falsely accused them of “lustful acts.” This was not a victimless gossip; the slander caused the disciples of these monks to doubt their teachers, effectively severing their virtuous roots and halting their spiritual progress.

The cost of this spiritual sabotage was mathematically precise and terrifying:

• The Primary Sentence: They endured 6 million years (sixty hundred thousand) in the Avici Hell and 4 million years (forty hundred thousand) in the Samjiva (Constant Resurrection) Hell, followed by further eons in the Black Cord and Flaming Hells.
• Residual Karma (Dư nghiệp) vs. Scars (Tàn nghiệp): Master Bennie distinguishes between the “primary illness” (Hell) and the “scar” (Tàn nghiệp). Even after the hell-sentence is served, the “scar” remains on the soul in the human realm for 500 lifetimes. These scars manifest as:
  • Being born blind, dull-witted, or with deficient senses (the “mark” of the wound).
  • Living in poverty-stricken “borderlands” lacking food and clothing.
  • Being chronically despised, deceived, or hated by others without apparent cause.

5. TAKEAWAY 4: SPIRITUAL SYMPTOMS AS KARMIC FEEDBACK

To the Spiritual Life Coach, these ancient descriptions serve as a diagnostic checklist for “Karmic Obstruction.” If your practice feels stagnant, you may be experiencing the residual feedback of past malice.

The Diagnostic Checklist:

• Functional Inversion: Being “slow and dull” in righteous work or Dharma study, but becoming “fast and energetic” when engaging in worldly gossip or bad behaviors.
• The Pull of Noise: A compulsive attraction to worldly chatter, entertainment, and “noise” over the silence of meditation.
• Loss of Mindfulness: Constantly “doing what shouldn’t be done and forgetting chánh niệm (mindfulness).”
• Demonic Winds: Moments of wisdom or insight arise, only to be immediately extinguished by the “demonic winds” of the urge to eat, sleep, and indulge.
• Wisdom Paralysis: The inability to “take in” the Dharma, even when it is clearly explained.

6. CONCLUSION: HEALING THE SCARS OF THE SOUL

Spiritual failure is rarely a lack of effort; it is often the presence of an obstruction. As the Master notes, the “scar” remains even after the “illness” is cured. These scars—blindness, dullness, or the inclination to forget mindfulness—are the human-level manifestations of ancient “joyful malice.”

The first step toward recovery is the courage to recognize these symptoms not as personal failings, but as karmic feedback. By acknowledging that our pride or our tendency to humiliate others has created our own “blindness,” we can begin the process of sincere repentance. We must ask ourselves: Are we currently using our “goodness” to feed our ego, or are we bowing before the Buddha to finally heal the root disease of the soul?

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7. APPENDIX: FULL SCRIPTURE TEXT & DAILY RESOLVE

Scripture Excerpts (The Great Ratnakuta Sutra)

“Because of these evil karmas, you stayed in the Avici Hell for sixty hundred thousand years. The residual karma not yet exhausted, you stayed in the Samjiva Hell for forty hundred thousand years… Dying from there and being reborn as a human, for five hundred lifetimes you were born blind without eyes. Because of residual karma (Tàn nghiệp), wherever you were born, you were often muddled and dull, forgetting mindfulness, obscuring virtuous roots, with little merit, and possessing an ugly and deficient form. People did not like to look at you; you were often slandered, despised, teased, deceived, and hated.”

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Daily Resolve: Repenting Evil Karma of Slander & Restoring Pure Mindfulness (Based on the Initiation of the Bodhisattvas’ Great Resolve — Ratnakuta Sutra)

Nam Mo Shakyamuni Buddha. Nam Mo Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Nam Mo Maitreya Bodhisattva.

I vow to rely on the power of the Ratnakuta Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra, on behalf of all sentient beings sinking in the evil karma of slander and the Three Obstructions, to make these great resolves:

I. Thorough Repentance of Past Evil Karma “I vow for all sentient beings to clearly understand the disease of heavy karmic obstruction: the six senses are darkened, virtuous laws are scarce, liking noise and excitement, discussing worldly affairs, indulging in sleep, engaging in idle talk, being preoccupied with trivialities, and all kinds of attachments. I vow for all sentient beings to thoroughly repent the sin of using a joyful heart to scold, humiliate, obstruct, and harm others. I vow for all sentient beings to escape the state of ‘doing what shouldn’t be done and forgetting mindfulness,’ and to no longer exchange a moment of exultant malice for millions of years in Avici Hell.”

II. Vowing to Eradicate Pride & Attachment to Merit “I vow that all sentient beings, though they may be well-learned, keep precepts, or practice austerities, shall not give rise to pride, arrogance, or heedlessness. I vow that all sentient beings will not, because of small achievements, give rise to envy or slander Dharma Teachers or Spiritual Friends who have more offerings and fame than themselves. May they realize that using merit to fuel the Five Poisons is the creation of the ‘Automatic Misfortune Program.'”

III. Vowing to Overcome Residual Karma & Restore the Six Senses “I vow for all sentient beings to escape the states of blindness, deficiency, ugliness, and dullness left by the scars of residual karma. I vow for all sentient beings no longer to be born in poor and lowly borderlands, lacking food and clothing, or being despised, deceived, and hated by others. I vow that they shall no longer be driven by the ‘winds of karma’ to retreat from the path.”

IV. Vowing to Cherish the Right Dharma & Approach Great Wisdom “I vow for all sentient beings to always cherish every moment of hearing the Dharma, not letting the light of wisdom that has just arisen be blown out by demonic winds of eating, sleeping, and entertainment. I vow for all sentient beings to have enough courage to discard vain pride and bow before the Buddha’s feet to seek healing for the root disease of the soul.”