The Ten Grounds Begins
A new chapter opens exactly as the last one closed — with an assembly beyond counting. The World-Honored One teaches in the Mani-Treasury Hall within the palace of the King of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others' Emanations, surrounded by bodhisattvas who have mastered every domain a bodhisattva's own wisdom can reach, named one after another for treasuries of jewels, lotuses, moonlight, and flame, with Vajragarbha Bodhisattva foremost among them all.
An Assembly That Has Mastered Every Domain
Before naming a single bodhisattva, the sūtra describes what every one of them shares — irreversible in enlightenment, abiding in the very domain a bodhisattva's own wisdom abides in, diligent without rest, sovereign over dhyāna and liberation alike, their bodies manifest throughout every world and their voices reaching the whole dharma-realm of the ten directions.
爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶藏殿，與大菩薩眾俱。其諸菩薩皆於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提不退轉，悉從他方世界來集；住一切菩薩智所住境，入一切如來智所入處；勤行不息，善能示現種種神通諸所作事，教化調伏一切眾生而不失時；為成菩薩一切大願，於一切世、一切劫、一切剎，勤修諸行，無暫懈息；具足菩薩福智助道，普益眾生而恒不匱；到一切菩薩智慧方便究竟彼岸，示入生死及以涅槃而不廢捨；修菩薩行，善入一切菩薩禪定、解脫三昧、三摩鉢底、神通明智，諸所施為皆得自在；獲一切菩薩自在神力，於一念頃無所動作，悉能往詣一切如來道場眾會，為眾上首，請佛說法，護持諸佛正法之輪；以廣大心供養承事一切諸佛，常勤修習一切菩薩所行事業；其身普現一切世間，其音普及十方法界，心智無礙，普見三世；一切菩薩所有功德悉已修行而得圓滿，於不可說劫說不能盡。
At that time, the World-Honored One was in the Mani-Treasury Hall within the palace of the King of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others' Emanations, together with a great assembly of bodhisattvas. These bodhisattvas were all irreversible in unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment, all having come together from other worlds to assemble there; abiding in the very domain every bodhisattva's own wisdom abides in, entering the very place every Tathāgata's own wisdom enters; diligent in practice without rest, skillfully able to manifest every kind of spiritual deed, teaching and taming every sentient being without ever missing the right moment; in order to fulfill every one of a bodhisattva's own great vows, throughout every age, every kalpa, and every land, diligently cultivating every practice without a single moment of laziness; fully possessing a bodhisattva's own merit and wisdom that assist the path, universally benefiting sentient beings, forever without depletion; reaching the ultimate farther shore of every bodhisattva's own wisdom and skillful means, manifesting entry into birth-and-death as well as nirvāṇa without ever abandoning either; cultivating a bodhisattva's own practice, skillfully entering every bodhisattva's own dhyāna, liberation, samādhi, meditative attainment, spiritual power, and clear wisdom, sovereign over whatever they undertake; attaining every bodhisattva's own sovereign spiritual power, within the space of a single thought, without any movement at all, entirely able to go to every assembly at every Tathāgata's own seat of enlightenment, becoming foremost among the assembly, requesting the Buddha to expound the Dharma, upholding and protecting the wheel of every buddha's own true Dharma; with a vast mind making offerings to and serving every buddha, forever diligently cultivating every deed a bodhisattva performs; their bodies universally manifest throughout every world, their voices universally reaching the dharma-realm of the ten directions, their minds and wisdom unobstructed, universally beholding the three times; every merit a bodhisattva possesses, they had already cultivated and brought to fulfillment, such that it could not be exhausted even were it spoken of for inexpressible kalpas.
"Manifesting entry into birth-and-death as well as nirvāṇa without ever abandoning either" names a balance this whole new chapter will return to — a bodhisattva who has mastered nirvāṇa does not withdraw into it, and remains within the world of birth and death without being bound by it. Neither state is treated as an escape from the other; both are entered and neither is relinquished.
Thirty-Nine Bodhisattvas, Named for Treasuries
Every name in this list ends in the same word — treasury (藏, garbha) — attached to jewels, lotuses, moonlight, flame, constellations, and even the dharma-realm itself, closing with Vimuktacandra Bodhisattva and the declaration that this assembly, beyond any possible count, holds Vajragarbha Bodhisattva foremost among them.
其名曰：金剛藏菩薩、寶藏菩薩、蓮華藏菩薩、德藏菩薩、蓮華德藏菩薩、日藏菩薩、蘇利耶藏菩薩、無垢月藏菩薩、於一切國土普現莊嚴藏菩薩、毘盧遮那智藏菩薩、妙德藏菩薩、栴檀德藏菩薩、華德藏菩薩、俱蘇摩德藏菩薩、優鉢羅德藏菩薩、天德藏菩薩、福德藏菩薩、無礙清淨智德藏菩薩、功德藏菩薩、那羅延德藏菩薩、無垢藏菩薩、離垢藏菩薩、種種辯才莊嚴藏菩薩、大光明網藏菩薩、淨威德光明王藏菩薩、金莊嚴大功德光明王藏菩薩、一切相莊嚴淨德藏菩薩、金剛焰德相莊嚴藏菩薩、光明焰藏菩薩、星宿王光照藏菩薩、虛空無礙智藏菩薩、妙音無礙藏菩薩、陀羅尼功德持一切眾生願藏菩薩、海莊嚴藏菩薩、須彌德藏菩薩、淨一切功德藏菩薩、如來藏菩薩、佛德藏菩薩、解脫月菩薩……。如是等無數無量、無邊無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說諸菩薩摩訶薩眾，金剛藏菩薩而為上首。
Their names were: Vajragarbha Bodhisattva, Jewel Treasury Bodhisattva, Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva, Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Lotus Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Sun Treasury Bodhisattva, Sūryagarbha Bodhisattva, Stainless Moon Treasury Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva Who Universally Manifests Adornment Throughout Every Land, Vairocana Wisdom Treasury Bodhisattva, Wondrous Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Sandalwood Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Flower Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Kusuma Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Utpala Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Heavenly Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Blessed Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Unobstructed, Pure Wisdom and Virtue Treasury, Merit Treasury Bodhisattva, Nārāyaṇa Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, Stainless Treasury Bodhisattva, Treasury Free of Defilement Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva Adorned with Every Kind of Eloquence Treasury, the Bodhisattva of the Great Net of Light Treasury, the Bodhisattva of the King of Majestic Light Treasury, Pure in Virtue, the Bodhisattva of the King of Great Meritorious Light Treasury, Adorned in Gold, the Bodhisattva of Pure Virtue Treasury, Adorned with Every Mark, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury Adorned with the Mark of Vajra-Flame Virtue, the Bodhisattva of the Blazing Flame of Light Treasury, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury Illuminated by the Light of the King of Constellations, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury of the Unobstructed Wisdom of Empty Space, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury of the Unobstructed, Wondrous Voice, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury That Upholds Every Sentient Being's Own Vow Through the Merit of Dhāraṇī, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury Adorned Like the Ocean, Sumeru Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of the Treasury That Purifies Every Merit, Tathāgatagarbha Bodhisattva, Buddha Virtue Treasury Bodhisattva, and Vimuktacandra Bodhisattva — and so on. Bodhisattva mahāsattvas such as these, countless, immeasurable, boundless, unequaled, uncountable, ineffable, inconceivable, unmeasurable, and inexpressible, gathered as an assembly, with Vajragarbha Bodhisattva foremost among them.
This assembly's roster closely mirrors the opening of Vasubandhu's own treatise on this very chapter, already translated in full on this site — the same Vajragarbha foremost, the same Vimuktacandra closing the list, the same palace and hall. The two texts diverge in small details of wording, as different translations of a shared original inevitably do, but the scene, and the teacher at its center, are unmistakably the same.
Part 397 Complete
This begins the twenty-sixth chapter, "The Ten Grounds." Chapter 26 continues in Part 398 as Vajragarbha Bodhisattva, sustained by the Buddha's own spiritual power, enters the bodhisattva samādhi of great wisdom and light — and buddhas beyond counting, all bearing his own name, appear before him to offer their praise.