Three More Eons, and Still Not Yet
Tranquil Wisdom, Good Appearing, Gathered Firm King. A thousand buddhas, then a million, then five hundred. Thirty more named in order — and the refrain has not changed, except that the shortfall it reports keeps getting more precise.
Vajra Jewel, Fragrance-Lamp Cloud, Jewel-Banner King
Three more cycles in the same shape. The only thing that develops across them is the precision of what she says she was still missing.
此後復有劫，名為寂靜慧，
剎號金剛寶，莊嚴悉殊妙。
於中有千佛，次第而出興，
眾生少煩惱，眾會悉清淨。
初金剛臍佛；二無礙力佛；
三名法界影；四號十方燈；
第五名悲光；第六名戒海；
第七忍燈輪；第八法輪光；
九名光莊嚴；十名寂靜光。
如是等諸佛，我悉曾供養，
猶未能深悟，如空清淨法。
遊行一切剎，於彼修諸行。
次第復有劫，名為善出現，
剎號香燈雲，淨穢所共成。
億佛於中現，莊嚴剎及劫，
所說種種法，我皆能憶持。
初名廣稱佛；次名法海佛；
三名自在王；四名功德雲；
第五法勝佛；第六天冠佛；
第七智焰佛；第八虛空音；
第九兩足尊，名普生殊勝；
第十無上士，眉間勝光明。
如是一切佛，我悉曾供養，
然猶未能淨，離諸障礙道。
次第復有劫，名集堅固王，
剎號寶幢王，一切善分布。
有五百諸佛，於中而出現；
我恭敬供養，求無礙解脫。
最初功德輪；其次寂靜音；
次名功德海；次名日光王；
第五功德王；第六須彌相；
次名法自在；次佛功德王；
第九福須彌；第十光明王。
如是等諸佛，我悉曾供養，
所有清淨道，普入盡無餘，
然於所入門，未能成就忍。
After this there was again an eon, named Tranquil Wisdom; the land was called Vajra Jewel, and its every adornment was surpassing and wondrous.
In it a thousand buddhas arose in order, one after another; beings there had few afflictions, and the assemblies were all pure.
The first, Vajra Navel Buddha; the second, Unobstructed Power Buddha; the third, named Reflection of the Dharma-Realm; the fourth, called Lamp of the Ten Directions; the fifth, named Compassion Light; the sixth, named Ocean of Precepts; the seventh, Wheel of the Lamp of Patience; the eighth, Light of the Dharma-Wheel; the ninth, named Light Adornment; the tenth, named Tranquil Light.
Buddhas such as these I served with offerings, every one; and still I could not deeply awaken to the pure dharma that is like empty space.
I roamed through every buddha-land, and there cultivated the practices.
Next in order there was again an eon, named Good Appearing; the land was called Fragrance-Lamp Cloud, formed of the pure and the defiled together.
A million buddhas appeared there, adorning both the land and the eon; and the every kind of dharma they taught I was able to hold in memory, all of it.
The first, named Vast Renown Buddha; next, named Dharma Ocean Buddha; the third, named Sovereign King; the fourth, named Cloud of Merit; the fifth, Dharma Victory Buddha; the sixth, Heavenly Crown Buddha; the seventh, Flame of Wisdom Buddha; the eighth, Sound of Empty Space; the ninth, honored among the two-footed, named Universally Producing the Surpassing; the tenth, the unsurpassed one, Surpassing Radiance Between the Brows.
All these buddhas I served with offerings, every one; and yet I still could not purify and leave behind the path of obstructions.
Next in order there was again an eon, named Gathered Firm King; the land was called Jewel-Banner King, and everything good was distributed there.
Five hundred buddhas appeared in it; and I reverently served them with offerings, seeking the unobstructed liberation.
The first, Wheel of Merit; next after that, Tranquil Sound; next, named Ocean of Merit; next, named Sunlight King; the fifth, Merit King; the sixth, Sumeru Mark; next, named Dharma Sovereignty; the next buddha, Merit King; the ninth, Blessing Sumeru; the tenth, Radiance King.
Buddhas such as these I served with offerings, every one; and every pure path there is I entered universally, leaving none out — and yet, in the gates I had entered, I could not accomplish acceptance.
猶未能深悟，如空清淨法 … 然猶未能淨，離諸障礙道 … 然於所入門，未能成就忍 — still I could not deeply awaken to the pure dharma that is like empty space … yet I still could not purify and leave behind the path of obstructions … and yet, in the gates I had entered, I could not accomplish acceptance. The three refrains of this part sharpen the diagnosis. The last one is the most exacting: she concedes 所有清淨道，普入盡無餘, every pure path entered universally with none left out, and then says she could not 成就忍 in the gates she had entered. 忍 here is not patience under insult but the acceptance of dharmas — the capacity to let a teaching be true without flinching from it.
剎號香燈雲，淨穢所共成 — the land was called Fragrance-Lamp Cloud, formed of the pure and the defiled together. 淨穢所共成 repeats a detail from Vāsantī's account in Part 1080, where her decisive rebirth also happened in a world of mixed purity. Across both night-spirits' stories the sūtra keeps placing the important turns in impure worlds.
遊行一切剎，於彼修諸行 — I roamed through every buddha-land, and there cultivated the practices. A two-line stanza where every other in the verse has four. The metre breaks for one moment, and what it makes room for is the ordinary fact of the intervening time — the travelling and practising that fills the gap between one named eon and the next.
第九兩足尊 … 第十無上士 — the ninth, honored among the two-footed … the tenth, the unsurpassed one. The same trick as in the previous part: where a buddha's name will not fit five characters, the verse spends a line on an epithet and gives the name in the next. 無上士, the unsurpassed one, is one of the ten standard titles of a buddha.
Part 1097 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-nine. Part 1098 goes on through the eon called Wondrous Victorious Lord and the buddhas of Tranquil Sound, and on toward the eon in which the account finally turns and she gains what all of this had not given her.