Part 187 of the collection · Fascicle 22 of 80 · 昇兜率天宮品第二十三(續) · T279

The Great King of Physicians

The litany continues through carrying out the buddha's own work and then disappearing, raining down dhāraṇī for every bodhisattva, and becoming the great king of the Dharma, shining like the sun, and the great king of physicians, healing every illness throughout immeasurable lands without ever resting — before closing on a simple mechanism: whoever gives rise to a mind of equanimity is met with an equal karmic recompense in return.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 187 — the litany of the Tathāgata's qualities continues Source: Taishō T279 (Śikṣānanda, Tang, 695–699 CE)

Carrying Out the Work, and Then Disappearing

Two images anchor this stretch of the litany: a buddha who "carries out the buddha's own work, and having done so, then disappears" — action without any lingering trace — and a buddha who becomes "the great king of physicians," healing every illness throughout immeasurable lands without ever resting. The passage closes on a mechanism rather than a metaphor: living beings who give rise to a mind of equanimity are met, in turn, with an equal karmic recompense.

Chinese Source

除滅世間煩惱之相,修菩提行,心不散動,於大乘門皆得圓滿,成就一切諸佛義利,悉能觀察眾生善根而不壞滅清淨業報;智慧明了,普入三世,永離一切世間分別;放光明網普照十方,一切世界無不充滿;色身妙好,見者無厭;以大功德智慧神通,出生種種菩薩諸行;諸根境界,自在圓滿;作諸佛事,作已便沒;善能開示過、現、未來一切智道,為諸菩薩普雨無量陀羅尼雨,令其發起廣大欲樂,受持修習,成就一切諸佛功德;圓滿熾盛無邊妙色莊嚴其身,一切世間靡不現覩;永離一切障礙之法,於一切法真實之義已得清淨,於功德法而得自在;

Ru-Yi Translation

Extinguishing every characteristic of worldly affliction, cultivating the practice of bodhi, his mind never scattered or disturbed, having brought every gateway of the Great Vehicle to full perfection, accomplishing the very meaning and benefit of every buddha, entirely able to observe living beings' own wholesome roots without ever destroying their pure karmic recompense; his wisdom bright and clear, universally entering the three periods of time, forever free of every worldly discrimination; emitting a net of light universally illuminating the ten directions, filling every world entirely without exception; his form-body wondrous and excellent, those who behold it never growing weary of it; with great merit, wisdom, and spiritual power, bringing forth every kind of bodhisattva conduct; his every faculty and its domain, sovereign and perfectly complete; carrying out the buddha's own work, and having done so, then disappearing; skillfully able to open up and reveal the path of all-knowing wisdom across the past, the present, and the future, universally raining down an immeasurable rain of dhāraṇī for the sake of every bodhisattva, causing them to give rise to vast and expansive desire and delight, to uphold and cultivate it, and to accomplish the merit of every buddha; his own body fully and blazingly adorned with boundless wondrous colors, manifest before every world without exception; forever free of every obstructing dharma, having already attained purity with regard to the true and real meaning of every dharma, and having attained sovereign mastery over every dharma of merit;

Chinese Source

為大法王,如日普照;為世福田,具大威德;於一切世間普現化身,放智慧光,悉令開悟;欲令眾生知佛具足無邊功德,以無礙繒繫頂受位,隨順世間方便開導;以智慧手安慰眾生,為大醫王善療眾病,一切世間無量國土悉能遍往,未曾休息;清淨慧眼離諸障翳,悉能明見;於作不善惡業眾生,種種調伏,令其入道;善取時宜,無有休息;若諸眾生起平等心,即為化現平等業報,隨其心樂,隨其業果,為現佛身種種神變,而為說法,令其悟解,得法智慧,心大歡喜,諸根踊躍,見無量佛,起深重信,生諸善根,永不退轉。

Ru-Yi Translation

Becoming the great king of the Dharma, like the sun shining universally; becoming the field of merit for the world, endowed with great awesome virtue; universally manifesting transformation-bodies throughout every world, emitting the light of wisdom, causing every one to awaken entirely; wishing to cause living beings to know that the buddha is fully endowed with boundless merit, binding the crown with an unobstructed silk ribbon to receive his own rank, guiding them skillfully in accordance with the world; with the very hand of wisdom, comforting living beings, becoming the great king of physicians, skillfully healing every illness, able to go pervasively throughout the immeasurable lands of every world, never once resting; his pure eye of wisdom free of every obstructing film, entirely able to see with utter clarity; toward living beings who commit unwholesome and evil karma, taming and subduing them in every kind of way, causing them to enter the path; skillfully seizing what is timely and fitting, without ever resting; if living beings give rise to a mind of equanimity, he then manifests, through transformation, an equal karmic recompense for them; according with their own mind's own delight, and according with the fruit of their own karma, he manifests his buddha-body in every kind of spiritual transformation, and expounds the Dharma for them, causing them to awaken and understand, attaining the wisdom of the Dharma, their mind rejoicing greatly, every faculty exhilarated, beholding immeasurable buddhas, giving rise to deep and profound faith, bringing forth every wholesome root, and never turning back.

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

"Carrying out the buddha's own work, and having done so, then disappearing" is a striking counterweight to the vastness surrounding it — after image after image of boundless light, boundless bodies, and boundless lands, the litany pauses to note that each individual act of teaching still simply ends when it is finished, leaving nothing behind to cling to. The final mechanism — equanimity met with equal karmic recompense — reframes the entire preceding catalog of powers as, in the end, responsive rather than imposed: the Buddha manifests according to what each living being's own mind and karma actually call for.

Part 187 Complete

This closes Part 187. Chapter 23 continues in Part 188 with the final stretch of the Tathāgata's litany of qualities.