The Eon When It Finally Changed
Three more eons, thirty more buddhas, and the same refrain. Then the recitation stops listing and starts narrating: one buddha, one teaching, and two stanzas that both open 我得 — I gained — after ten eons of 未得, I did not gain.
Three Eons, and Then the Turn
The pattern runs on for three more cycles — and then, at the eleventh stanza, the verse changes gear and tells a story instead of keeping a list.
次第復有劫，名為妙勝主，
剎號寂靜音，眾生煩惱薄。
於中有佛現，八十那由他；
我悉曾供養，修行最勝道。
初佛名華聚；次佛名海藏；
次名功德生；次號天王髻；
第五摩尼藏；第六真金山；
第七寶聚尊；第八法幢佛；
第九名勝財；第十名智慧。
此十為上首，供養無不盡。
次第復有劫，名曰千功德；
爾時有世界，號善化幢燈；
六十億那由，諸佛興於世。
最初寂靜幢；其次奢摩他；
第三百燈王；第四寂靜光；
第五雲密陰；第六日大明；
七號法燈光；八名殊勝焰；
九名天勝藏；十名大吼音。
如是等諸佛，我悉常供養，
未得清淨忍，深入諸法海。
次第復有劫，名無著莊嚴；
爾時有世界，名曰無邊光；
中有三十六，那由他佛現。
初功德須彌；第二虛空心；
第三具莊嚴；第四法雷音；
第五法界聲；第六妙音雲；
第七照十方；第八法海音；
第九功德海；第十功德幢。
如是等諸佛，我悉曾供養。
次有佛出現，名為功德幢；
我為月面天，供養人中主。
時佛為我說，無依妙法門；
我聞專念持，出生諸願海。
我得清淨眼，寂滅定總持，
能於念念中，悉見諸佛海。
我得大悲藏，普明方便眼，
增長菩提心，成就如來力。
Next in order there was again an eon, named Wondrous Victorious Lord; the land was called Tranquil Sound, and beings' afflictions there were thin.
In it buddhas appeared, eighty nayutas of them; I served them all with offerings, cultivating the most surpassing path.
The first buddha, named Flower Cluster; the next, named Ocean Treasury; next, named Producing Merit; next, called Heavenly-King's Topknot; the fifth, Maṇi Treasury; the sixth, Mountain of True Gold; the seventh, Honored Jewel-Cluster; the eighth, Dharma Banner Buddha; the ninth, named Surpassing Wealth; the tenth, named Wisdom.
These ten were the foremost among them, and my offerings left not one out.
Next in order there was again an eon, named Thousand Merits; and at that time there was a world called Good Transformation Banner-Lamp, where six thousand million nayutas of buddhas arose in the world.
The first, Tranquil Banner; next after that, Śamatha; the third, Hundred-Lamp King; the fourth, Tranquil Light; the fifth, Dense Cloud Shade; the sixth, Great Brightness of the Sun; the seventh, called Light of the Dharma-Lamp; the eighth, named Surpassing Flame; the ninth, named Heavenly Surpassing Treasury; the tenth, named Great Roaring Sound.
Buddhas such as these I constantly served with offerings; and I had not gained the pure acceptance that penetrates deeply into the ocean of dharmas.
Next in order there was again an eon, named Unattached Adornment; and at that time there was a world named Boundless Light, in which thirty-six nayutas of buddhas appeared.
The first, Merit Sumeru; the second, Mind of Empty Space; the third, Complete in Adornment; the fourth, Dharma Thunder-Sound; the fifth, Voice of the Dharma-Realm; the sixth, Cloud of Wondrous Sound; the seventh, Illuminating the Ten Directions; the eighth, Sound of the Dharma-Ocean; the ninth, Ocean of Merit; the tenth, Banner of Merit.
Buddhas such as these I served with offerings, every one.
Next a buddha appeared, named Banner of Merit; and I was the god Moon-Face, and made offerings to that lord among humans.
At that time the Buddha taught me the wondrous dharma-gate of non-reliance; and hearing it, I single-mindedly held it in mind, and there came forth from it oceans of vows.
I gained the pure eye, and the comprehensive retention of the samādhi of quiescence, so that in thought after thought I could see the oceans of buddhas entire.
I gained the treasury of great compassion and the universally illuminating eye of skillful means; I increased the mind of awakening, and accomplished the tathāgata's power.
時佛為我說，無依妙法門 — at that time the Buddha taught me the wondrous dharma-gate of non-reliance. This is the hinge of the entire recitation. Seventy-some buddhas have been named and served across ten eons, and the shortfall has been reported after every set of ten. What finally works is one teaching, and it is 無依, non-reliance — the same term this pilgrimage has carried since the elder Unsurpassed Victory's 無依無作 in fascicle sixty-seven. After a lifetime of depending on buddhas, what she is given is the dharma of not depending.
我得清淨眼 … 我得大悲藏 — I gained the pure eye … I gained the treasury of great compassion. Four attainments arrive in two stanzas, after ten eons of 未得, not gaining. And notice what they are: an eye, a retention, a compassion-treasury, and a power. The first thing she gains is the thing the refrains kept saying she lacked — 未得慧眼, the eye of wisdom, back in Part 1096.
我為月面天，供養人中主 — I was the god Moon-Face, and made offerings to that lord among humans. Her births in this account have been a jewel-woman, and now a deva; the Chinese marks no gender for 月面天, and we have not supplied one. What is worth noticing is the reversal in the second line: the god makes offerings to a human — 人中主, the lord among humans, being the buddha.
次佛名海藏 … 第七寶聚尊 — next, named Ocean Treasury … the seventh, Honored Jewel-Cluster. Among the thirty buddha-names here, one is pure transliteration rather than plain Chinese: 奢摩他, Śamatha, the Sanskrit term for meditative calm, standing as a buddha's name in the second list. The verse sets it between Tranquil Banner and Hundred-Lamp King without comment.
Part 1098 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-nine. Part 1099 gives her reason for it all — beings upside down, holding the impermanent to be permanent, driven by karma through birth, old age and death — and the vow she made for their sake, before the fascicle closes.