Twelve Seats, Twelve Dharma-Gates
The list of simultaneous assemblies leaves the heavens and works down through the dragons, the yakṣas, the asuras, the garuḍas, ordinary men and women, and a rākṣasa king who lives by draining others — each on their own seat, each given a dharma-gate that belongs to no one else.
Dragons, Yakṣas, Gandharvas, Asuras
Four assemblies, each with its own named king at its head, and each gate matched to what that kind of being is famous for — rescue for the yakṣas who devour, joy for the gandharvas who make music.
或見處座，百光明龍王、難陀龍王、優波難陀龍王、摩那斯龍王、伊羅跋難陀龍王、阿那婆達多龍王等龍子、龍女所共圍遶，娑伽羅龍王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：佛神通境界光明莊嚴。或見處座，諸夜叉眾所共圍遶，毘沙門天王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：救護眾生藏。或見處座，乾闥婆眾所共圍遶，持國乾闥婆王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：無盡喜。或見處座，阿脩羅眾所共圍遶，羅睺阿脩羅王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：速疾莊嚴法界智門。
On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the nāga sons and nāga daughters of the Hundred Lights nāga king, the nāga king Nanda, the nāga king Upananda, the nāga king Manasvin, the nāga king Elāpananda, the nāga king Anavatapta, and the rest, with the nāga king Sāgara as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Light-Adornment of the Domain of a Buddha's Spiritual Powers. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled yakṣas, with the heavenly king Vaiśravaṇa as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Treasury of Rescuing and Protecting Beings. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled gandharvas, with the gandharva king Dhṛtarāṣṭra as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named Inexhaustible Joy. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled asuras, with the asura king Rāhu as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Swift Adornment of the Gate of Dharma-Realm Wisdom.
伊羅跋難陀龍王 — this nāga king's name is pure transliteration in the Chinese, and its underlying Indic form is not something we can settle with confidence, so we carry the sound across as Elāpananda rather than restore a Sanskrit name we would only be guessing at. The others in the list are secure — 難陀 and 優波難陀 are Nanda and Upananda, 摩那斯 is Manasvin, 阿那婆達多 is Anavatapta, and 娑伽羅 is Sāgara — while 百光明, Hundred Lights, is plain Chinese and stays in English.
Garuḍas, Kinnaras, Mahoragas
Three more, and the gate given to the garuḍas is the only frightening one in the whole list.
或見處座，迦樓羅眾所共圍遶，捷持迦樓羅王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：怖動諸有海。或見處座，緊那羅眾所共圍遶，大樹緊那羅王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：佛行光明。或見處座，摩睺羅伽眾所共圍遶，菴羅林摩睺羅伽王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：生佛歡喜心。
On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled garuḍas, with the garuḍa king Swift Seizing as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named Terrifying and Shaking the Oceans of Every Existence. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled kinnaras, with the kinnara king Great Tree as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Light of a Buddha's Practice. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled mahoragas, with the mahoraga king Mango Grove as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named Giving Rise to a Mind Delighted in the Buddha.
怖動諸有海 — Terrifying and Shaking the Oceans of Every Existence. The garuḍa is the bird that plunges into the sea and takes nāgas out of it, and the gate it receives is named after exactly that motion: something coming down hard on the water until the water is disturbed. The teaching assigned to each assembly keeps borrowing the assembly's own nature as its image.
Men and Women, and a King Who Feeds on Them
Between the non-human realms and the three vehicles, two seats sit side by side — one holding ordinary people, the next holding the beings that prey on them.
或見處座，無量百千男子、女人所共圍遶；此比丘尼為說法門，名：殊勝行。或見處座，諸羅剎眾所共圍遶，常奪精氣大樹羅剎王而為上首；此比丘尼為說法門，名：發生悲愍心。
On one seat he saw her surrounded together by measureless hundreds of thousands of men and women; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named Surpassing Practice. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by the assembled rākṣasas, with the rākṣasa king Great Tree Who Constantly Steals Vital Essence as their leader; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named Giving Rise to the Mind of Compassion and Pity.
常奪精氣大樹羅剎王 — the rākṣasa king Great Tree Who Constantly Steals Vital Essence. His name is a description of what he does for a living, and it is stated without softening. The dharma-gate he is given is 發生悲愍心, giving rise to the mind of compassion and pity — the one teaching in this entire list addressed to a being defined by feeding on others, and it is not a rebuke. He is not told to stop; he is given the capacity to feel.
The seat before his holds 無量百千男子、女人 — measureless hundreds of thousands of men and women, the only assembly in the list with no king at its head and no species-name at all. Ordinary people arrive simply as many, and the gate they receive is 殊勝行, Surpassing Practice.
Three Vehicles, Three Gates
The last three seats are sorted not by realm of birth but by what the beings on them already love — and each gets a light of its own scale.
或見處座，信樂聲聞乘眾生所共圍遶；此比丘尼為說法門，名：勝智光明。或見處座，信樂緣覺乘眾生所共圍遶；此比丘尼為說法門，名：佛功德廣大光明。或見處座，信樂大乘眾生所共圍遶；此比丘尼為說法門，名：普門三昧智光明門。
On one seat he saw her surrounded together by beings who love and delight in the śrāvaka vehicle; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Light of Surpassing Wisdom. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by beings who love and delight in the pratyekabuddha vehicle; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Vast Light of a Buddha's Merit. On one seat he saw her surrounded together by beings who love and delight in the Great Vehicle; for them this bhikṣuṇī taught a dharma-gate named the Gate of the Light of Samādhi-Wisdom Through the Universal Gate.
勝智光明 · 佛功德廣大光明 · 普門三昧智光明門 — the Light of Surpassing Wisdom, the Vast Light of a Buddha's Merit, the Gate of the Light of Samādhi-Wisdom Through the Universal Gate. All three names are built on 光明, light, and they lengthen as the vehicle widens; the śrāvaka gets a light, the pratyekabuddha a vast light, and the follower of the Great Vehicle a gate into one. Nothing is withheld from the smaller vehicles here, and nothing is repeated between them.
Part 1057 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-seven. Part 1058 finishes the list on the bodhisattvas themselves — those who have just given rise to the aspiration, then each of the ten grounds in turn, and finally the vajra-bearing spirits — before the sūtra names the ten prajñāpāramitā-gates she has entered.