Ten Words of Great Compassion
Out of a million asaṃkhyeyas of compassion-gates, the king speaks exactly ten sentences — each one naming a single affliction, crying pity for it, and asking, in the very same breath, how he might rescue beings from it.
Five Afflictions, Five Rescues
The first five words move outward, from the single image of a bottomless pit to the ordinary terrors of birth, sickness, fear, and finally doubt itself.
『哀哉眾生！墮於無底生死大坑；我當云何而速勉濟，令其得住一切智地？哀哉眾生！為諸煩惱之所逼迫；我當云何而作救護，令其安住一切善業？哀哉眾生！生老病死之所恐怖；我當云何為作歸依，令其永得身心安隱？哀哉眾生！常為世間眾怖所逼；我當云何而為祐助，令其得住一切智道？哀哉眾生！無有智眼，常為身見疑惑所覆；我當云何為作方便，令其得決疑見翳膜？
'Pity these beings! They have fallen into the bottomless great pit of birth-and-death; how should I swiftly strive to rescue them, so that they may abide in the ground of all-knowing wisdom? Pity these beings! They are pressed and driven by every affliction; how should I act to rescue and protect them, so that they may abide securely in every wholesome deed? Pity these beings! They are terrified by birth, old age, sickness, and death; how should I become their refuge, so that they may forever gain peace and ease of body and mind? Pity these beings! They are forever pressed by every fear of the world; how should I lend them aid, so that they may abide in the path of all-knowing wisdom? Pity these beings! They have no eye of wisdom, and are forever covered over by the view of a substantial self and by doubt; how should I devise a skilful means, so that they may resolve their doubts and clear away the film that clouds their sight?
哀哉眾生⋯⋯我當云何⋯⋯令其 — pity these beings⋯⋯how should I⋯⋯so that they may. Every one of the ten words that make up this speech follows the same three-part shape without exception: a cry of pity naming one affliction, a question asking what the king himself should do, and a stated goal for what beings should attain. The affliction is always named first and the king's own action always second — the utterance never states a rescue without first stating, in the same breath, exactly what is being rescued from.
Five More — the Blind Led to the Gate
The second five turn from fear and doubt toward the beings' own resistance — afflictions that muddy them, hold them under, refuse to be tamed, and finally leave them unable to see the road at all.
哀哉眾生！常為癡闇之所迷惑；我當云何為作明炬，令其照見一切智城？哀哉眾生！常為慳嫉諂誑所濁；我當云何而為開曉，令其證得清淨法身？哀哉眾生！長時漂沒生死大海；我當云何而普運度，令其得上菩提彼岸？哀哉眾生！諸根剛彊，難可調伏；我當云何而為調御，令其具足諸佛神力？哀哉眾生！猶如盲瞽，不見道路；我當云何而為引導，令其得入一切智門？』
Pity these beings! They are forever bewildered by the darkness of delusion; how should I become a bright torch, so that they may see clearly the city of all-knowing wisdom? Pity these beings! They are forever made turbid by miserliness, envy, flattery, and deceit; how should I awaken and enlighten them, so that they may realise the pure dharma-body? Pity these beings! For a long time they have drifted and sunk in the great ocean of birth-and-death; how should I universally ferry them across, so that they may reach the further shore of bodhi? Pity these beings! Their faculties are stubborn and unyielding, difficult to tame; how should I become their tamer and guide, so that they may become complete in the spiritual power of every buddha? Pity these beings! They are like the blind, unable to see the road; how should I guide them, so that they may enter the gate of all-knowing wisdom?'
猶如盲瞽，不見道路 — like the blind, unable to see the road. The tenth and final word closes on the plainest image of the whole speech, after nine words built from cosmic-scaled figures — a bottomless pit, an ocean of birth-and-death, the city of all-knowing wisdom. Blindness on a road is a hazard any person in the crowd outside could recognise without any doctrine at all, and the king's own promised response — 引導, to guide — is equally plain: not a rescue from a pit or a ferry across an ocean, simply someone who can see, walking next to someone who cannot.
Part 1152 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-two. Part 1153 shows what these ten words become in action — the king striking a drum to announce that he will give whatever is needed to whoever needs it, and throwing open every storehouse in his kingdom.