The Light Spreads Through a Thousand and Ten Thousand World-Systems
The light continues its escalation, from a hundred world-systems to a thousand, and then to ten thousand — the same structure exactly, Mañjuśrī present at every buddha's assembly at once, though the hymn itself changes each time, turning here toward the nature of the Buddha's own body and the specific conduct that leads toward it.
A Thousand World-Systems, Illumined
爾時，光明過百世界，遍照東方千世界；南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。彼一一世界中，皆有百億閻浮提，乃至百億色究竟天；其中所有，悉皆明現。彼一一閻浮提中，悉見如來坐蓮華藏師子之座，十佛剎微塵數菩薩所共圍遶。悉以佛神力故，十方各有一大菩薩，一一各與十佛剎微塵數諸菩薩俱，來詣佛所。其大菩薩，謂：文殊師利等；所從來國，謂：金色世界等；本所事佛，謂：不動智如來等。爾時，一切處文殊師利菩薩，各於佛所，同時發聲，說此頌言：
「佛於甚深法，通達無與等，
眾生不能了，次第為開示。
我性未曾有，我所亦空寂，
云何諸如來，而得有其身。
解脫明行者，無數無等倫，
世間諸因量，求過不可得。
佛非世間蘊，界處生死法，
數法不能成，故號人師子。
其性本空寂，內外俱解脫，
離一切妄念，無等法如是。
體性常不動，無我無來去，
而能寤世間，無邊悉調伏。
常樂觀寂滅，一相無有二，
其心不增減，現無量神力。
不作諸眾生，業報因緣行，
而能了無礙，善逝法如是。
種種諸眾生，流轉於十方，
如來不分別，度脫無邊類。
諸佛真金色，非有遍諸有，
隨眾生心樂，為說寂滅法。」
At that time, the light passed beyond a hundred worlds, universally illumining a thousand worlds to the east; and it was likewise so to the south, west, and north, in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. Within each and every one of those worlds, there were entirely a hundred million Jambudvīpas, reaching even to a hundred million Akaniṣṭha heavens; everything within them was entirely and clearly revealed. Within each and every one of those Jambudvīpas, one beheld the Tathāgata seated upon the lion-throne of the Lotus-Treasury, surrounded together by bodhisattvas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ten buddha-lands. Entirely through the Buddha's own spiritual power, in each of the ten directions there was one great bodhisattva, each one together with bodhisattvas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ten buddha-lands, who came to the Buddha's own place. These great bodhisattvas were Mañjuśrī and the rest; the lands they came from were the Golden Color World and the rest; the buddhas they had originally served were Unshakable Wisdom Tathāgata and the rest. At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, present in every one of these places, at each buddha's own place, all at once and simultaneously raised his voice, and spoke this verse, saying:
"The Buddha, within the profound Dharma, has penetrated it without equal,
and, since living beings are unable to understand it, he reveals it to them in due sequence.
My own nature has never once existed, and what is mine is likewise empty and tranquil;
how then could any Tathāgata come to possess a body at all?
The one liberated, of bright conduct, is countless and beyond any equal or comparison,
and, among every measure and cause found in the world, seeking his fault, none can ever be found.
The Buddha is not the aggregates of the world, nor the elements, sense-fields, or the dharma of birth-and-death;
the dharma of number is unable to constitute him — thus he is named the Lion Among Humankind.
His very nature is originally empty and tranquil, both inside and outside entirely liberated,
free of every false thought — the Dharma without equal is thus.
His own substance and nature are forever unmoving, without self, without coming or going,
and yet he is able to awaken the world, taming it entirely, without any bound.
Forever delighting in the contemplation of tranquil cessation, a single mark without any duality,
his mind neither increasing nor decreasing, and yet manifesting immeasurable spiritual power.
He does not perform the causal conduct of karmic recompense that living beings undergo,
and yet is able to understand it without obstruction — the Well-Gone One's Dharma is thus.
Every kind of living being, transmigrating throughout the ten directions,
the Tathāgata makes no distinction among, and ferries across every boundless kind.
Every buddha is truly of golden color, not existing and yet pervading every state of being,
and, according to the delight of every living being's own mind, teaches for their sake the Dharma of tranquil cessation."
Ten Thousand World-Systems, Illumined
爾時，光明過千世界，遍照東方十千世界；南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。彼一一世界中，皆有百億閻浮提，乃至百億色究竟天：其中所有，悉皆明現。彼一一閻浮提中，悉見如來坐蓮華藏師子之座，十佛剎微塵數菩薩所共圍遶。悉以佛神力故，十方各有一大菩薩，一一各與十佛剎微塵數諸菩薩俱，來詣佛所。其大菩薩，謂：文殊師利等；所從來國，謂：金色世界等；本所事佛，謂：不動智如來等。爾時，一切處文殊師利菩薩，各於佛所，同時發聲，說此頌言：
「發起大悲心，救護諸眾生，
永出人天眾，如是業應作。
意常信樂佛，其心不退轉，
親近諸如來，如是業應作。
志樂佛功德，其心永不退，
住於清涼慧，如是業應作。
一切威儀中，常念佛功德，
晝夜無暫斷，如是業應作。
觀無邊三世，學彼佛功德，
常無厭倦心，如是業應作。
觀身如實相，一切皆寂滅，
離我無我著，如是業應作。
等觀眾生心，不起諸分別，
入於真實境，如是業應作。
悉舉無邊界，普飲一切海，
此神通智力，如是業應作。
思惟諸國土，色與非色相，
一切悉能知，如是業應作。
十方國土塵，一塵為一佛，
悉能知其數，如是業應作。」
At that time, the light passed beyond a thousand worlds, universally illumining ten thousand worlds to the east; and it was likewise so to the south, west, and north, in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. Within each and every one of those worlds, there were entirely a hundred million Jambudvīpas, reaching even to a hundred million Akaniṣṭha heavens; everything within them was entirely and clearly revealed. Within each and every one of those Jambudvīpas, one beheld the Tathāgata seated upon the lion-throne of the Lotus-Treasury, surrounded together by bodhisattvas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ten buddha-lands. Entirely through the Buddha's own spiritual power, in each of the ten directions there was one great bodhisattva, each one together with bodhisattvas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ten buddha-lands, who came to the Buddha's own place. These great bodhisattvas were Mañjuśrī and the rest; the lands they came from were the Golden Color World and the rest; the buddhas they had originally served were Unshakable Wisdom Tathāgata and the rest. At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, present in every one of these places, at each buddha's own place, all at once and simultaneously raised his voice, and spoke this verse, saying:
"Giving rise to the mind of great compassion, rescuing and protecting every living being,
forever emerging beyond the multitude of humans and devas — such is the deed one should perform.
The mind forever having faith and delight in the Buddha, that mind never regressing,
drawing near to every Tathāgata — such is the deed one should perform.
Aspiring to and delighting in the Buddha's own merit, that mind forever never regressing,
abiding in cool, refreshing wisdom — such is the deed one should perform.
Within every deportment, forever recollecting the Buddha's own merit,
day and night, without a moment's interruption — such is the deed one should perform.
Contemplating the boundless three periods of time, learning that very buddha's own merit,
forever without any weary or tired mind — such is the deed one should perform.
Contemplating the body as its own true mark, everything entirely tranquil and ceased,
free of self, without any attachment to no-self — such is the deed one should perform.
Equally contemplating the minds of every living being, without giving rise to any discrimination,
entering the very domain of true reality — such is the deed one should perform.
Lifting up the whole of the boundless realm entirely, drinking universally the whole of every ocean —
this power of spiritual transmutation and wisdom — such is the deed one should perform.
Contemplating every land, its forms with and without color and mark,
able to know all of it entirely — such is the deed one should perform.
Every mote of dust in the lands of the ten directions, taking a single mote of dust as a single buddha,
able to know their number entirely — such is the deed one should perform."
The fourth hymn's opening line — "My own nature has never once existed, and what is mine is likewise empty and tranquil; how then could any Tathāgata come to possess a body at all?" — voices the sūtra's emptiness teaching through the very figure, Mañjuśrī, traditionally associated with the perfection of wisdom above all other bodhisattvas. The fifth hymn then pivots from what the Buddha is to what a bodhisattva should do, its refrain "such is the deed one should perform" repeated across every one of its ten couplets — moving in one step from metaphysics to a concrete list of practice, as if to forestall the very passivity the previous hymn's emptiness teaching might otherwise invite.
Part 40 Complete
This closes Part 40, continuing fascicle thirteen and the sūtra's ninth chapter, "Awakening Through Light" (光明覺品第九): the fourth and fifth stages of the light's expansion, through a thousand and ten thousand world-systems. Part 41 continues as the light spreads through a hundred thousand world-systems and beyond.