The Sun That Never Joins the Night
Jeweled Banner Bodhisattva speaks the chapter's sixth verse, turning from space to time: just as the Buddha's body has no location yet fills every place, so too is he beyond any single day, month, or instant. Living beings speak of "the day the Buddha accomplished the path," yet his attainment of bodhi is bound to no day at all — the verse closes with the striking image of the sun's pure disk, which never truly joins the darkness of night even as people speak of a given day or night passing.
Bound to No Day at All
The verse opens by extending the previous verse's spatial paradox — a body without measure that displays a measured body, without location yet filling every place — into a matching paradox of time. Living beings, out of benefit, behold the Tathāgata as having appeared in the world and as having attained bodhi on a particular day, and yet, the verse insists, there is in reality no arising in the world at all, and his attainment is bound to no day, month, or instant.
「佛身無有量，能示有量身，
隨其所應覩，導師如是現。
佛身無處所，充滿一切處，
如空無邊際，如是難思議。
非心所行處，心不於中起，
諸佛境界中，畢竟無生滅。
如翳眼所覩，非內亦非外，
世間見諸佛，應知亦如是。
饒益眾生故，如來出世間，
眾生見有出，而實無興世。
不可以國土，晝夜而見佛，
歲月一剎那，當知悉如是。
"The Buddha's body is without measure at all, yet is able to display a measured body; according to whoever is to behold him, the Guiding Teacher manifests in just this way. The Buddha's body has no location at all, yet fills every place entirely; like empty space without any boundary, it is inconceivable in just this way. It is not a domain the mind can travel; the mind does not arise within it; within the very domain of every buddha, there is ultimately no arising or ceasing at all. Just as what a clouded eye beholds is neither inside nor outside, one should know that the world's beholding of every buddha is likewise just the same.
For the sake of benefiting living beings, the Tathāgata appears in the world; living beings behold him as having appeared, and yet in reality there is no arising in the world at all. The Buddha cannot be beheld through any land, nor through day and night; one should know that years, months, and a single instant are all likewise just the same.
眾生如是說，某日佛成道，
如來得菩提，實不繫於日。
如來離分別，非世超諸數，
三世諸導師，出現皆如是。
譬如淨日輪，不與昏夜合，
而說某日夜，諸佛法如是。
三世一切劫，不與如來合，
而說三世佛，導師法如是。」
Living beings speak in just this way, saying "on such a day the Buddha accomplished the path"; yet the Tathāgata's own attainment of bodhi is in reality not bound to any day at all. The Tathāgata has left behind discrimination entirely, beyond the world, transcending every number; every Guiding Teacher of the three periods of time appears in just this way. Just as the pure disk of the sun never joins together with the darkness of night, and yet one speaks of a certain day or night — the Dharma of every buddha is likewise just the same. Every kalpa of the three periods of time never joins together with the Tathāgata, and yet one speaks of buddhas across the three periods of time — the Guiding Teacher's own Dharma is likewise just the same."
The sun-and-night simile makes a subtle point: it is not that the sun and night are unreal, or that speaking of "day" and "night" is simply an error — it is that the sun's own disk, considered in itself, never actually mixes with darkness even while the ordinary distinction between day and night remains perfectly serviceable. Applied to the Buddha, the verse is not denying that he appeared on a particular day, only insisting that his own reality, like the sun's disk, is untouched by whatever calendar convention describes his appearing.
Part 203 Complete
This closes Part 203. Chapter 24 continues in Part 204 with Diligence Banner Bodhisattva's own verse.