Sleeping Long Within Birth-and-Death
The litany reaches its final image before closing: every living being, bound by their own karma, sleeps long within birth-and-death, and it is the Buddha's own appearance in the world alone that is able to awaken them. The passage then closes by naming, in a single cascading sentence, exactly how the assembled gods and bodhisattvas beheld everything the last four Parts have described.
Awakened from a Long Sleep
The litany's final image reframes everything that came before it: living beings are not simply ignorant but "asleep," bound by their own karma within birth-and-death, and it is specifically the Buddha's own appearance in the world that wakes them. The passage then closes with a cascade of parallel clauses — "thus they observed... thus they observed..." — naming, at last, whose perspective this entire four-Part litany has actually been describing: the gods' and bodhisattvas' own act of beholding the Buddha.
一切眾生隨業所繫長眠生死,如來出世能覺悟之,安慰其心,使無憂怖;若得見者,悉令證入無依義智,智慧善巧,了達境界莊嚴妙好,無能映奪;智山法芽,悉已清淨;或現菩薩,或現佛身,令諸眾生至無患地;無數功德之所莊嚴,業行所成現於世間;一切諸佛莊嚴清淨,莫不皆以一切智業之所成就;常守本願,不捨世間,作諸眾生堅固善友;清淨第一,離垢光明,令一切眾生皆得現見;六趣眾生無量無邊,佛以神力常隨不捨;若有往昔同種善根,皆令清淨;而於六趣一切眾生不捨本願,無所欺誑,悉以善法方便攝取,令其修習清淨之業,摧破一切諸魔鬪諍,從無礙際出廣大力,最勝日藏無有障礙;
Every living being, bound by their own karma, sleeps long within birth-and-death, and it is the Tathāgata's own appearance in the world that is able to awaken them, comforting their mind, causing them to be free of worry and fear; whoever is able to behold him is entirely caused to realize and enter the wisdom of meaning without any reliance, their wisdom skillful, understanding the domain's own wondrous adornment fully, which nothing can ever outshine or eclipse; the mountain of wisdom and the sprout of the Dharma, both already entirely pure; sometimes manifesting as a bodhisattva, sometimes manifesting a buddha's own body, causing every living being to reach the ground free of any affliction; adorned by countless merits, manifesting in the world as accomplished through karmic conduct; the pure adornment of every buddha, none of it not accomplished through the karmic action of all-knowing wisdom; forever guarding his own original vow, never abandoning the world, becoming a firm and steadfast good friend to every living being; foremost in purity, a light free of every stain, causing every living being to be entirely able to behold him directly; living beings of the six destinies, immeasurable and boundless, the Buddha, through his own spiritual power, forever follows them without ever abandoning them; if there are any who have planted the same wholesome roots together in ages past, he causes every one of them to become pure; and toward every living being of the six destinies, never abandoning his own original vow, deceiving none of them at all, gathering them in entirely through the skillful means of wholesome dharmas, causing them to cultivate pure karmic action, shattering and breaking every contention and struggle of the hosts of Māra, bringing forth vast and expansive power from the very limit of non-obstruction, the treasury of the most supreme sun, without any obstruction at all;
於淨心界而現影像,一切世間無不覩見,以種種法廣施眾生;佛是無邊光明之藏,諸力智慧皆悉圓滿;恒以大光普照眾生,隨其所願,皆令滿足,離諸怨敵,為上福田,一切眾生共所依怙;凡有所施,悉令清淨;修少善行,受無量福,悉令得入無盡智地;為一切眾生種植善根淨心之主,為一切眾生發生福德最上良田;智慧甚深,方便善巧,能救一切三惡道苦。如是信解,如是觀察,如是入於智慧之淵,如是游於功德之海,如是普至虛空智慧,如是而知眾生福田,如是正念現前觀察,如是觀佛諸業相好,如是觀佛普現世間,如是觀佛神通自在。
Manifesting a reflected image within the realm of the pure mind, seen by every world without exception, extensively bestowing every kind of Dharma upon living beings; the buddha is the treasury of boundless light, every power and every wisdom entirely and fully complete; forever, with great light, universally illuminating living beings, according with whatever they wish, causing every one of them to be entirely satisfied, free of every enemy, becoming the supreme field of merit, the very refuge shared by every living being; whatever is given to him becomes entirely pure; cultivating even a small wholesome deed, one receives immeasurable blessing, entirely caused to enter the inexhaustible ground of wisdom; becoming, for every living being, the very lord of planting wholesome roots and purifying the mind, becoming, for every living being, the most supreme and excellent field for generating merit; his wisdom profound, his skillful means excellent, able to rescue every living being from the suffering of the three evil destinies. With faith and understanding such as this, with observation such as this, entering the very abyss of wisdom in this way, roaming the ocean of merit in this way, universally arriving at the wisdom of empty space in this way, knowing the field of merit for living beings in this way, observing with right mindfulness directly present in this way — thus they observed the buddha's every karmic action and every excellent mark, thus they observed the buddha universally manifesting throughout the world, and thus they observed the buddha's own sovereign spiritual power.
The closing cascade — "thus they observed... thus they observed..." — reveals only at the very last moment whose vision the entire litany since Part 185 has actually belonged to: not an omniscient narrator's description of the Buddha in the abstract, but the specific, present-tense act of beholding performed by the gods and bodhisattvas gathered in Tuṣita. "Every living being sleeps long within birth-and-death" gives that vision its stated purpose: not admiration for its own sake, but the awakening the sight of the Buddha is said to produce in anyone capable of receiving it.
Part 188 Complete
This closes Part 188. Chapter 23 continues in Part 189.