This Dharma Is Exceedingly Difficult to Encounter
Fearless Grove Bodhisattva's hymn moves through the three periods of time in turn — whoever believed this teaching in the past has already become a lamp for the world, whoever believes it now will accomplish right awakening, and whoever hears and believes it in the future will accomplish buddhahood as well.
Fearless Grove Bodhisattva's Hymn
爾時，無畏林菩薩承佛威力，普觀十方而說頌言：
At that time, relying upon the Buddha's own awesome power, Fearless Grove Bodhisattva universally surveyed the ten directions and then spoke a verse, saying:
「如來廣大身，究竟於法界，
不離於此座，而遍一切處。
若聞如是法，恭敬信樂者，
永離三惡道，一切諸苦難。
設往諸世界，無量不可數，
專心欲聽聞，如來自在力。
如是諸佛法，是無上菩提，
假使欲暫聞，無有能得者。
若有於過去，信如是佛法，
已成兩足尊，而作世間燈。
若有當得聞，如來自在力，
聞已能生信，彼亦當成佛。
若有於現在，能信此佛法，
亦當成正覺，說法無所畏。
無量無數劫，此法甚難值，
若有得聞者，當知本願力。
若有能受持，如是諸佛法，
持已廣宣說，此人當成佛。
況復勤精進，堅固心不捨，
當知如是人，決定成菩提。」
"The Tathāgata's own vast and expansive body reaches to the very limit of the Dharma-realm; without ever leaving this very seat, he is present everywhere, in every place. Whoever hears such a Dharma as this, and reveres it, believes it, and delights in it, forever leaves behind the three evil destinies, and every kind of suffering and calamity.
Suppose one were to travel to immeasurable, countless worlds, single-mindedly wishing to hear of the Tathāgata's own sovereign power — such a buddha-dharma as this is unsurpassed bodhi itself, and were one to wish merely to hear it for even a moment, there would be no one at all able to attain it.
If there is one who, in the past, believed such a buddha-dharma as this, they have already become the Honored One with Two Feet Perfected, and become a lamp for the world. If there is one who will come to hear of the Tathāgata's own sovereign power, and, having heard it, is able to give rise to faith, they too shall come to accomplish buddhahood.
If there is one who, in the present, is able to believe this very buddha-dharma, they too shall accomplish right awakening, teaching the Dharma without any fear at all. Through immeasurable, countless kalpas, this Dharma is exceedingly difficult to encounter; if there is one who attains the hearing of it, know that this comes from the power of a fundamental vow.
If there is one who is able to receive and uphold such a buddha-dharma as this, and, having upheld it, broadly proclaims and expounds it, this person shall come to accomplish buddhahood. How much more so one who is furthermore diligent and vigorous, their mind firm and never letting go — know that such a person as this is certain to accomplish bodhi."
The hymn's structure across the three periods of time — past, present, future, each promised the same result for the same act of faith — is a formal way of insisting that this teaching's power has nothing to do with when one happens to encounter it. What matters is the encounter itself, and what follows: hearing, believing, upholding, proclaiming, and finally the diligence that carries belief through to buddhahood.
Part 122 Complete
This closes Part 122. Chapter 20 continues in Part 123 with Conscience Grove Bodhisattva's hymn.