Part 115 of the collection · Fascicle 18 of 80 · 明法品第十八(續) · T279

Outshining an Assembly of World-Lords

An assembly is imagined vast beyond telling, every single being in it as majestic as the ruler of a great trichiliocosm — and the moment a bodhisattva of this attainment appears, they outshine every one of them, settling fear, discerning desire, and teaching with a fearless eloquence that leaves the whole assembly rejoicing.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 115 — outshining an assembly of world-lords Source: Taishō T279 (Śikṣānanda, Tang, 695–699 CE)

Why This Bodhisattva Outshines Every One of Them

Chinese Source

「佛子!菩薩摩訶薩得如是自在力已,假使有不可說世界量廣大道場,滿中眾生,一一眾生威德色相皆如三千大千世界主。菩薩於此,纔現其身,悉能映蔽如是大眾,以大慈悲安其怯弱,以深智慧察其欲樂,以無畏辯為其說法,能令一切皆生歡喜。何以故?佛子!菩薩摩訶薩成就無量智慧輪故,成就無量巧分別故,成就廣大正念力故,成就無盡善巧慧故,成就決了諸法實相陀羅尼故,成就無邊際菩提心故,成就無錯謬妙辯才故,成就得一切佛加持深信解故,成就普入三世諸佛眾會道場智慧力故,成就知三世諸佛同一體性清淨心故,成就三世一切如來智、一切菩薩大願智能作大法師開闡諸佛正法藏及護持故。」

Ru-Yi Translation

"Son of the Buddha! Once a bodhisattva-mahāsattva has attained such sovereign power as this, suppose there were a vast platform for the path as large as ineffable worlds themselves, filled entirely with living beings, and every single one of those living beings possessed of an awesome majesty and form equal to the very lord of a great trichiliocosm. The bodhisattva, the very moment they manifest their own body there, is entirely able to outshine and overshadow such a great assembly as this — settling their timidity with great loving-kindness and compassion, discerning their desires and delights with profound wisdom, and teaching the Dharma to them with fearless eloquence, causing every one of them to rejoice. Why is this? Son of the Buddha, it is because a bodhisattva-mahāsattva has accomplished the wheel of immeasurable wisdom; has accomplished immeasurable skillful discrimination; has accomplished the power of vast and expansive right mindfulness; has accomplished inexhaustible skillful wisdom; has accomplished the dhāraṇī that resolutely reveals the true nature of every dharma; has accomplished a boundless mind of bodhi; has accomplished an unerring, wondrous eloquence; has accomplished a profound faith and understanding that has received the empowering grace of every buddha; has accomplished the power of wisdom that universally enters the very assembly-platform of every buddha across the three periods of time; has accomplished the pure mind that knows every buddha of the three periods of time shares one and the same essential nature; and has accomplished the wisdom of every Tathāgata and the wisdom of every bodhisattva's own great vow across the three periods of time, able to become a great Dharma-master who opens up and expounds every buddha's own treasury of the true Dharma, and guards and upholds it."

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

The scale of this image is worth pausing over: not an ordinary crowd, but a gathering where every single member already carries the majesty of a world-ruler — and still, the bodhisattva's mere appearance outshines the entire assembly. The eleven accomplishments that follow are offered as the actual explanation, not as further hyperbole: wisdom, discrimination, mindfulness, dhāraṇī, an unbounded bodhi-mind, and finally a shared essential nature with every buddha of the three periods of time.

Part 115 Complete

This closes Part 115. Chapter 18 continues in Part 116.