That Prince Is None Other Than Myself
The Buddha's single sūtra ripples outward through five widening tiers of beings, and at the story's centre the prince himself attains a liberation-gate — the very one, it turns out, the night-spirit has been teaching Good-Wealth since Part 1165, because the prince was her.
A Mass Awakening
One sūtra, spoken once, is described rippling outward through five distinct tiers of beings, each measured on its own scale.
「爾時，如來知其可化，以圓滿音，說修多羅，名：普照因輪，令諸眾生隨類各解。時，彼會中有八十那由他眾生，遠塵離垢，得法眼淨；無量那由他眾生，得無學地；十千眾生，住大乘道，入普賢行，成滿大願。當爾之時，十方各百佛剎微塵數眾生，於大乘中，心得調伏；無量世界一切眾生，免離惡趣，生於天上。善伏太子即於此時，得菩薩教化眾生令生善根解脫門。
"At that time, the tathāgata, knowing that they were fit to be transformed, with his perfect and complete voice expounded a sūtra named The Wheel of Causes That Universally Illumines, causing every being, each according to its own kind, to understand it. At that time, within that assembly, eighty nayutas of beings became far removed from every defilement and attained the pure dharma-eye; measureless nayutas of beings attained the ground beyond further learning; ten thousand beings abided in the Mahāyāna path, entered the practices of Samantabhadra, and brought their great vows to fulfilment. At that very time, beings as many as the fine motes of dust in a hundred buddha-lands, in each of the ten directions, had their minds tamed within the Mahāyāna; and every being throughout measureless worlds was freed from the evil destinies and born among the heavens. The prince Well-Subdued, at this very moment, attained the bodhisattva liberation-gate of Teaching and Transforming Beings So They Give Rise to Wholesome Roots.
八十那由他⋯⋯無量那由他⋯⋯十千⋯⋯十方各百佛剎微塵數⋯⋯無量世界一切眾生 — counted directly, five tiers of beings respond to the one sūtra, and no two are measured on the same scale: eighty nayutas gain the pure dharma-eye, measureless nayutas reach the end of learning, ten thousand enter Samantabhadra's own practices, dust-mote counts across the ten directions have their minds tamed, and finally every being in measureless worlds escapes the evil destinies entirely. The list moves from the most exact number given, eighty, to the least measurable claim of all, every being everywhere.
That Prince Is None Other Than Myself
The liberation the prince attains in that instant turns out to have a name already familiar to this fascicle's readers — the very gate the night-spirit named for Good-Wealth many Parts ago, at the very start of her answer.
「善男子！爾時太子豈異人乎？我身是也。我因往昔起大悲心，捨身命財救苦眾生，開門大施供養於佛，得此解脫。佛子當知，我於爾時，但為利益一切眾生，不著三界，不求果報，不貪名稱，不欲自讚輕毀於他，於諸境界無所貪染、無所怖畏，但莊嚴大乘出要之道，常樂觀察一切智門，修行苦行，得此解脫。
"Good son, at that time, could that prince be anyone else? He is none other than myself. It was because, in that age long past, I gave rise to a mind of great compassion, gave up my own body, life, and wealth to rescue suffering beings, and opened wide the gates of giving to make offerings to the Buddha, that I attained this liberation. Child of the Buddha, you should know that, at that time, I acted only to bring benefit to every being; I was not attached to the three realms, did not seek any reward, did not covet fame or renown, and had no wish to praise myself or belittle others; toward every domain I held no craving or defilement, and no fear at all — I sought only to adorn the essential path of the Great Vehicle, constantly delighting in contemplating the gate of all-knowing wisdom, and, through the practice of ascetic conduct, attained this liberation.
得菩薩教化眾生令生善根解脫門 — attained the bodhisattva liberation-gate of Teaching and Transforming Beings So They Give Rise to Wholesome Roots. This is not a new name. It is, word for word, the very liberation-gate the night-spirit named for Good-Wealth in Part 1165, at the very opening of her answer — 此解脫門，名：教化眾生令生善根. Eight Parts of hymn, catalogue, simile, and story later, the origin of that gate turns out to be exactly this moment: a prince offering his own body for condemned strangers, in an age so far past it is measured in world-ocean dust.
Part 1173 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-three. Part 1174 turns to a second revelation — the five hundred ministers who once condemned the prince to death, and the five hundred future buddhas they are each destined to become.