"A Tathāgata Has Arisen in the World!"
Fascicle twenty-eight turns from the body's own parts to something no less given away: the sight of a buddha itself. Whenever the bodhisattva sees a tathāgata arise in the world, he proclaims it with a great voice — "A tathāgata has arisen in the world! A tathāgata has arisen in the world!" — urging every being to behold, recollect, turn toward, and praise the buddha, and explaining at length how rare such an arising is, appearing only once in tens of millions of koṭis of kalpas.
A Gift That Is Only an Announcement
Every gift across the past two fascicles has cost the bodhisattva something of his own — a limb, an organ, a kingdom. This one costs him only his voice, and yet the passage treats it with the same structural weight: an opening act, a chain of results rippling outward through countless beings, and a ten-vow dedication. Simply telling others that a buddha has arisen, done rightly, turns out to belong in the same category as giving away an eye.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩若見如來出興於世開演正法，以大音聲普告一切：『如來出世！如來出世！』令諸眾生得聞佛名，捨離一切我慢、戲論；復更勸導，令速見佛，令憶念佛，令歸向佛，令攀緣佛，令觀察佛，令讚歎佛；復為廣說佛難值遇，千萬億劫時乃一出。眾生由此得見於佛，生清淨信，踊躍歡喜，尊重供養；復於佛所聞諸佛名，轉更值遇無數諸佛，植諸善本，修習增長。爾時，無數百千萬億那由他眾生，因見佛故，皆得清淨究竟調伏。彼諸眾生於菩薩所，皆生最上善知識想；因菩薩故，成就佛法，以無數劫所種善根，普於世間施作佛事。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩開示眾生令見佛時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生不待勸誘，自往見佛，承事供養，皆令歡喜；願一切眾生常樂見佛，心無廢捨；願一切眾生常勤修習廣大智慧，受持一切諸佛法藏；願一切眾生隨所聞聲皆悟佛法，於無量劫修菩薩行；願一切眾生安住正念，恒以智眼見佛出興；願一切眾生不念異業，常憶見佛，勤修十力；願一切眾生於一切處常見諸佛，了達如來遍虛空界；願一切眾生皆得具足佛自在身，普於十方成道說法；願一切眾生遇善知識，常聞佛法，於諸如來得不壞信；願一切眾生悉能稱歎諸佛出興，令其見者普得清淨。』是為菩薩摩訶薩歎佛出世善根迴向；為令眾生見一切佛供養承事，於無上法究竟清淨故。
"Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva sees a tathāgata arise in the world and open and expound the true Dharma, he proclaims with a great voice to everyone entirely: 'A tathāgata has arisen in the world! A tathāgata has arisen in the world!' causing sentient beings to hear the buddha's name and relinquish every pride and frivolous discourse; he further urges and guides them, causing them to swiftly behold the buddha, to be mindful of the buddha, to turn toward the buddha, to reach toward the buddha, to contemplate the buddha, to praise the buddha; he further explains at length how difficult a buddha is to encounter, arising but once in tens of millions of koṭis of kalpas. Sentient beings, through this, come to behold the buddha, giving rise to pure faith, leaping up in joy, honoring and making offerings; further, in the buddha's presence, they hear the names of every buddha, and thereby come to encounter countless further buddhas, planting every wholesome root, cultivating and increasing it. At that time, countless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of sentient beings, because of beholding the buddha, all become pure and ultimately subdued. Those sentient beings, toward the bodhisattva, all give rise to the thought of him as their foremost good spiritual friend; because of the bodhisattva, they accomplish the buddha-dharma, and with wholesome roots planted across countless kalpas, universally perform the buddha's own work throughout the world. Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva reveals and shows sentient beings, causing them to behold the buddha, with every wholesome root, he dedicates it in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings, without waiting to be urged or persuaded, go of their own accord to behold the buddha, attending upon and making offerings to him, all becoming joyful; may all sentient beings forever delight in beholding the buddha, their minds never abandoning it; may all sentient beings forever diligently cultivate vast and expansive wisdom, upholding the Dharma-treasury of every buddha; may all sentient beings, according to whatever sound they hear, awaken to the buddha-dharma, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice across immeasurable kalpas; may all sentient beings abide securely in right mindfulness, forever beholding the buddha's own arising with the eye of wisdom; may all sentient beings think of no other karma, forever recollecting the beholding of the buddha, diligently cultivating the ten powers; may all sentient beings, in every place, forever behold every buddha, thoroughly understanding how the Tathāgata pervades the entire realm of empty space; may all sentient beings all obtain a body fully endowed with the Buddha's own mastery, universally accomplishing the path and expounding the Dharma throughout the ten directions; may all sentient beings encounter a good spiritual friend, forever hear the buddha-dharma, and obtain unbreakable faith toward every tathāgata; may all sentient beings all be able to praise the arising of every buddha, causing whoever beholds it to become entirely pure.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when praising the buddha's arising in the world; it is so that sentient beings may behold every buddha, make offerings and attend upon them, and ultimately become pure within the unsurpassed Dharma.
Those who come to see the buddha through the bodhisattva's proclamation turn around and regard the bodhisattva himself as their "foremost good spiritual friend" — the announcement, rather than disappearing once it has done its work, becomes the very reason a lasting relationship of guidance exists at all. Praising another's arrival, done rightly, creates a bond that outlasts the announcement itself.
Part 309 Complete
This closes the section on praising a buddha's arising in the world (歎佛出世) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 310 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives away the very ground itself, providing sites and provisions for temples, monastic dwellings, and stūpas.