Within Every Mote of Dust
The forest-spirit sings her whole account again — receiving the newborn bodhisattva as his wet-nurse, the mind of bodhi that moment gave rise to, and then, kalpa after kalpa, seeing every buddha's birth, teaching, and final passing unfold within a single mote of dust.
Within Every Mote of Dust
Twenty-three stanzas restate the whole story — the wet-nurse who first held the newborn bodhisattva, and the vision she has carried ever since of buddhas being born, teaching, and passing away within every mote of dust of every land.
時，嵐毘尼林神，欲重宣此解脫義，承佛神力，普觀十方而說頌言：「佛子汝所問，
諸佛甚深境；
汝今應聽受，
我說其因緣。
過億剎塵劫，
有劫名悅樂；
八十那由他，
如來出興世。
最初如來號，
自在功德幢；
我在金華園，
見彼初生日。
我時為乳母，
智慧極聰利；
諸天授與我，
菩薩金色身。
我時疾捧持，
諦觀不見頂，
身相皆圓滿，
一一無邊際。
離垢清淨身，
相好以莊嚴，
譬如妙寶像，
見已自欣慶。
思惟彼功德，
疾增眾福海；
見此神通事，
發大菩提心。
專求佛功德，
增廣諸大願，
嚴淨一切剎，
滅除三惡道。
普於十方土，
供養無數佛，
修行本誓願，
救脫眾生苦。
我於彼佛所，
聞法得解脫，
億剎微塵數，
無量劫修行。
劫中所有佛，
我悉曾供養，
護持其正法，
淨此解脫海。
億剎微塵數，
過去十力尊，
盡持其法輪，
增明此解脫。
我於一念頃，
見此剎塵中，
一一有如來，
所淨諸剎海。
剎內悉有佛，
園中示誕生，
各現不思議，
廣大神通力。
或見不思議，
億剎諸菩薩，
住於天宮上，
將證佛菩提。
無量剎海中，
諸佛現受生，
說法眾圍遶，
於此我皆見。
一念見億剎，
微塵數菩薩，
出家趣道場，
示現佛境界。
我見剎塵內，
無量佛成道，
各現諸方便，
度脫苦眾生。
一一微塵中，
諸佛轉法輪，
悉以無盡音，
普雨甘露法。
億剎微塵數，
一一剎塵內，
悉見於如來，
示現般涅槃。
如是無量剎，
如來示誕生；
而我悉分身，
現前興供養。
不思議剎海，
無量趣差別；
我悉現其前，
雨於大法雨。
佛子我知此，
難思解脫門，
無量億劫中，
稱揚不可盡。
At that time, the forest-spirit of Lumbinī, wishing to proclaim this liberation's meaning once more, by the Buddha's own spiritual power, gazed out across the ten directions, and spoke in verse, saying: "Child of the Buddha, what you have asked
is the profound domain of every buddha;
you should now listen and receive it,
and I shall tell you its cause and condition.
Beyond kalpas as many as the fine motes of dust in a koṭi of lands,
there was a kalpa named Joyful Delight;
eighty nayutas of
tathāgatas arose in the world.
The very first tathāgata was named
Sovereign Power's Banner of Merit;
I was in the Golden Flower Garden,
and saw the day of his first birth.
I was then the wet-nurse,
my wisdom exceedingly sharp and keen;
the gods handed to me
the bodhisattva's own golden-hued body.
I at once swiftly held him up,
and gazing carefully, could not see the crown of his head;
his bodily marks were all perfect and complete,
each one without any boundary.
His body free of stain and pure,
adorned with every excellent mark,
was just like a wondrous jewelled image;
seeing it, I rejoiced within myself.
Contemplating his merit,
my own ocean of blessings swiftly increased;
seeing this spiritual event,
I gave rise to the great mind of bodhi.
Single-mindedly seeking a buddha's own merit,
I broadened and increased my every great vow,
to adorn and purify every land,
and extinguish the three evil destinies.
Universally, throughout the lands of the ten directions,
I made offerings to countless buddhas,
cultivating my own original vow,
to rescue and deliver beings from suffering.
At the place of that buddha,
I heard the dharma and attained liberation;
for kalpas as many as the fine motes of dust in a koṭi of lands,
measureless kalpas, I cultivated.
Every buddha throughout that kalpa,
I made offerings to every one of them,
upholding and protecting their true dharma,
purifying this ocean of liberation.
As many as the fine motes of dust in a koṭi of lands,
the World-Honored Ones of the ten powers in ages past —
I upheld the wheel of dharma of every one of them,
ever increasing the clarity of this liberation.
In the space of a single thought,
I saw, within these motes of dust of lands,
that in each and every one there was a tathāgata,
and the ocean of lands each one had purified.
Within every land there was a buddha,
manifesting his birth within a garden,
each one displaying an ineffable
and vast spiritual power.
Or I saw ineffable
bodhisattvas throughout a koṭi of lands,
dwelling within the heavenly palace,
about to realise a buddha's own bodhi.
Throughout a measureless ocean of lands,
buddhas manifested their taking of birth,
expounding the dharma, surrounded by assemblies —
all of this I beheld.
In a single thought I saw bodhisattvas as many as
the fine motes of dust in a koṭi of lands,
going forth from home toward the awakening-site,
manifesting the domain of buddhahood.
I saw, within the motes of dust of lands,
measureless buddhas accomplishing the path,
each manifesting every kind of skilful means,
delivering suffering beings.
Within each and every mote of dust,
buddhas turned the wheel of dharma,
entirely with an inexhaustible voice,
universally raining down the dharma of ambrosia.
As many as the fine motes of dust in a koṭi of lands —
within each and every mote of dust of those lands —
I beheld every tathāgata
manifesting his own parinirvāṇa.
Throughout measureless lands such as these,
tathāgatas manifested their own birth;
and I, dividing my body into every one of them,
appeared before each and made offerings.
Throughout an ineffable ocean of lands,
with measureless and differing destinies,
I appeared before every one of them,
raining down the great rain of dharma.
Child of the Buddha, I know this
inconceivable liberation-gate;
throughout measureless koṭis of kalpas,
it could never be praised to its very end.
剎內悉有佛⋯⋯示現般涅槃 — within every land there was a buddha⋯⋯manifesting his own parinirvāṇa. Across the middle stanzas of this hymn, a single mote of dust is made to hold an entire buddha's life in miniature — birth in a garden, going forth from home, accomplishing the path, turning the wheel of dharma, and finally parinirvāṇa — each stage assigned to a different mote of dust rather than told as one continuous story. The wet-nurse's single act of receiving one newborn child opens, in verse, onto every buddha's entire biography at once.
Part 1193 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-four. Part 1194 closes this teacher's entire account — a final word on the limits of what she knows, and the referral to the forty-first teacher, a Śākya woman awaiting Good-Wealth in Kapilavastu.