A Throne of Vajra, and Screams Like Hell
The reputation Good-Wealth heard in the streets gives way, without warning, to a scene of dazzling splendor and unbearable cruelty at once — a jeweled throne fit for a king, fierce soldiers, and punishments so extreme that this Part ends on the cries of the condemned alone.
A Throne of Nārāyaṇa's Own Vajra
The king's own throne, crown, and canopy are described in a splendor matching any bodhisattva or god this pilgrimage has yet shown — jewels of every kind, arranged with the same care given to a buddha's own assembly-hall.
時，善財童子依眾人語，尋即往詣。遙見彼王坐那羅延金剛之座，阿僧祇寶以為其足，無量寶像以為莊嚴，金繩為網彌覆其上；如意摩尼以為寶冠莊嚴其首，閻浮檀金以為半月莊嚴其額，帝青摩尼以為耳璫相對垂下，無價摩尼以為瓔珞莊嚴其頸，天妙摩尼以為印釧莊嚴其臂；閻浮檀金以為其蓋，眾寶間錯以為輪輻，大瑠璃寶以為其竿，光味摩尼以為其𪗇，雜寶為鈴恒出妙音，放大光明周遍十方，如是寶蓋而覆其上。
At that time, Good-Wealth, following what the people had told him, went there at once. From a distance he saw the king seated upon a throne of Nārāyaṇa's own vajra, its legs made of asaṃkhyeya jewels, adorned with measureless jeweled images, covered over entirely with a net of golden cords; a wish-fulfilling maṇi-jewel formed the jeweled crown adorning his head, Jambū-river gold formed the crescent-moon ornament adorning his brow, indranīla maṇi-jewels formed earrings hanging down on either side, priceless maṇi-jewels formed the necklace adorning his neck, and heavenly wondrous maṇi-jewels formed the seal-bracelets adorning his arms; Jambū-river gold formed his canopy, every kind of jewel interlaced formed its spokes, great lapis lazuli formed its pole, radiant maṇi-jewels formed its fringe, and bells of every mixed jewel constantly gave forth wondrous sound, emitting great light that reached throughout the ten directions — such a jeweled canopy covered him above.
Fierce Soldiers, and Punishments Beyond Measure
The splendor breaks without transition into horror — a hundred thousand soldiers whose very appearance terrifies onlookers, and criminals brought before the king to be punished in ways this pilgrimage has never yet described.
阿那羅王有大力勢，能伏他眾，無能與敵；以離垢繒而繫其頂，十千大臣前後圍遶共理王事。其前復有十萬猛卒，形貌醜惡，衣服褊陋，執持器仗，攘臂瞋目，眾生見者無不恐怖。無量眾生犯王教敕，或盜他物，或害他命，或侵他妻，或生邪見，或起瞋恨，或懷貪嫉，作如是等種種惡業，身被五縛，將詣王所，隨其所犯而治罰之。或斷手足，或截耳鼻，或挑其目，或斬其首，或剝其皮，或解其體，或以湯煮，或以火焚，或驅上高山推令墮落，有如是等無量楚毒；發聲號叫，譬如眾合大地獄中。
King Never Satisfied possessed great strength and power, able to subdue every other host, with none able to stand against him; a stainless silken cloth was bound about the crown of his head, and ten thousand great ministers surrounded him on every side, jointly managing the affairs of the kingdom. Before him there were, further, a hundred thousand fierce soldiers, hideous in form and appearance, meanly clothed, gripping weapons, baring their arms with furious eyes — there was no being who saw them who was not struck with terror. Measureless beings who violated the king's own edicts — whether by stealing another's property, taking another's life, violating another's wife, giving rise to wrong views, giving rise to hatred, or harboring greed and envy, having committed such various evil deeds — were bound in their bodies with the five bonds and brought before the king, to be punished according to what they had done. Some had their hands and feet severed, some had their ears and nose cut off, some had their eyes gouged out, some had their heads cut off, some had their skin flayed, some had their bodies dismembered, some were boiled in scalding water, some were burned by fire, and some were driven up a high mountain and pushed to fall from it — there was measureless such torment of this kind; and their cries and screams were like those within the great Saṃghāta hell itself.
譬如眾合大地獄中 — like those within the great Saṃghāta hell itself. The Chinese source calls the king by both a translated epithet, Never Satisfied, and its untranslated Sanskrit name, Anala, within the space of a few lines — this translation keeps the single name Never Satisfied throughout for clarity, since both refer to the same figure. This Part ends deliberately on the sound of screaming alone, withholding for now what Good-Wealth makes of what he has just seen.
Part 1016 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1017 follows Good-Wealth's own crisis of doubt at what he has witnessed, and the extraordinary intervention that follows it.