Gold Made into a Royal Crown
The eighth ground's goldsmithing simile is the strongest yet — the gold is no longer worked or inlaid but made into a crown and set on a king's head, where nothing anyone else wears can be compared with it. Then the Brahmā King's light, the pāramitā of vows, and the station this ground most often takes.
The Crown, and the Light
What the gold becomes here is not an ornament among ornaments but the mark of a sovereign; and what the light does is not illuminate but cool — the fire being put out is the fire of affliction.
「佛子！菩薩住此不動地已，以三昧力，常得現見無量諸佛，恒不捨離承事供養。此菩薩於一一劫、一一世界，見無量百佛、無量千佛，乃至無量百千億那由他佛，恭敬尊重，承事供養，一切資生悉以奉施。於諸佛所得於如來甚深法藏，受世界差別等無量法明；若有問難世界差別如是等事，無能屈者。如是經於無量百劫、無量千劫，乃至無量百千億那由他劫，所有善根轉增明淨。
"Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva who abides on this Immovable Ground, by the power of samādhi constantly attains the direct sight of measureless buddhas, and never departs from serving and making offerings to them. In each single kalpa and in each single world this bodhisattva sees measureless hundreds of buddhas, measureless thousands of buddhas, on up to measureless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddhas; and revering and honoring them, serving and making offerings to them, they present as offerings all the implements of life. In the presence of those buddhas they receive the Tathāgata's profound treasury of Dharma, and receive measureless lights of Dharma concerning the differences among worlds and the like; and should anyone put difficult questions about such matters as the differences among worlds, there is none who could stump them. In this way, passing through measureless hundreds of kalpas, measureless thousands of kalpas, on up to measureless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, all their wholesome roots grow brighter and purer still.
譬如真金治作寶冠，置閻浮提主聖王頂上，一切臣民諸莊嚴具無與等者；此地菩薩所有善根亦復如是，一切二乘乃至第七地菩薩所有善根無能及者，以住此地大智光明，普滅眾生煩惱黑闇，善能開闡智慧門故。佛子！譬如千世界主大梵天王，能普運慈心，普放光明，滿千世界；此地菩薩亦復如是，能放光明，照百萬佛剎微塵數世界，令諸眾生滅煩惱火而得清涼。此菩薩，十波羅蜜中，願波羅蜜增上；餘波羅蜜非不修行，但隨力隨分。是名：略說諸菩薩摩訶薩第八不動地；若廣說者，經無量劫不可窮盡。
It is like true gold worked into a jewelled crown and placed upon the head of the sage king who is lord of Jambudvīpa, such that none of the ornaments of any minister or subject can be compared with it; the wholesome roots of a bodhisattva on this ground are likewise — the wholesome roots of all those of the two vehicles, and even of bodhisattvas up to the seventh ground, cannot reach them, because the great light of wisdom of one abiding on this ground universally extinguishes the darkness of beings' afflictions, and is well able to open out the gateway of wisdom. Child of the Buddha! It is like the Great Brahmā King, lord of a thousand worlds, who is able to set his mind of loving-kindness in motion everywhere and to send forth radiance everywhere, filling a thousand worlds; a bodhisattva on this ground is likewise able to send forth radiance that illumines worlds as numerous as the dust-motes of a million buddha-lands, causing beings to extinguish the fire of affliction and to attain coolness. In this bodhisattva, among the ten pāramitās, the pāramitā of vows predominates. It is not that they fail to practice the other pāramitās, but they do so according to their strength and according to their share. This is called, spoken in brief, the bodhisattva mahāsattva's eighth ground, Acalā, the Immovable Ground; were it to be spoken of in full, measureless kalpas would not exhaust it.
置閻浮提主聖王頂上 — placed upon the head of the sage king who is lord of Jambudvīpa. Every earlier ground's gold was measured against other gold or other ornaments. Here it has left the class of ornaments entirely: a crown is not compared with jewellery because it is not for the same purpose. Note who the comparison then excludes — not only the two vehicles, but bodhisattvas of the first seven grounds.
滅煩惱火而得清涼 — extinguish the fire of affliction and attain coolness. 清涼 is the word this sūtra reserves for relief rather than for brightness, and it lands strangely after a simile about radiance. The Brahmā King's light does not dazzle anyone; what reaches beings from it is a drop in temperature.
The Great Brahmā King
The station rises with the ground. Where the seventh most often became a Sovereign Deva King, the eighth becomes lord of a thousand worlds — and what is said of him first is that he can give the path of the pāramitās to śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas as well as bodhisattvas.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩住此地，多作大梵天王，主千世界，最勝自在，善說諸義，能與聲聞、辟支佛、諸菩薩波羅蜜道；若有問難世界差別，無能退屈。布施、愛語、利行、同事——如是一切諸所作業，皆不離念佛，乃至不離念一切種、一切智智。復作是念：『我當於一切眾生中為首、為勝，乃至為一切智智依止者。』此菩薩若以發起大精進力，於一念頃，得百萬三千大千世界微塵數三昧，乃至示現百萬三千大千世界微塵數菩薩以為眷屬；若以菩薩殊勝願力自在示現，過於是數，乃至百千億那由他劫不能數知。」
"Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding on this ground most often becomes a Great Brahmā King, lord of a thousand worlds, most surpassing and sovereignly free, skilfully expounding every meaning, and able to give to śrāvakas, to pratyekabuddhas and to bodhisattvas the path of the pāramitās; and should anyone put difficult questions about the differences among worlds, there is none who could make them draw back. Giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, and working alongside others — in all such deeds as these they never depart from the recollection of the Buddha, and so on up to never departing from the recollection of all modes and of all-knowing wisdom itself. And they think further: 'Among all sentient beings I ought to be the foremost and the best, and so on up to being that upon which all-knowing wisdom itself relies.' Should this bodhisattva rouse the power of great effort, in the space of a single thought they attain samādhis as numerous as the dust-motes of a million great trichiliocosms, and so on up to displaying bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust-motes of a million great trichiliocosms as their retinue; and if by the surpassing power of a bodhisattva's own vows they display themselves with sovereign freedom, it goes beyond this number, on up to a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of kalpas being unable to count it or know it."
能與聲聞、辟支佛、諸菩薩波羅蜜道 — able to give to śrāvakas, to pratyekabuddhas and to bodhisattvas the path of the pāramitās. The verb is 與, to give or hand over, not to teach. And the recipients include the two vehicles, whose wholesome roots this same passage has just declared incomparable to his. Superiority here is stated only in order to be spent.
The count of samādhis has changed units. Through the seventh ground it was hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas — large numbers, but numbers. From here it is the dust-motes of a million great trichiliocosms, which is a number only by courtesy.
Part 462 Complete
This continues Acalā, the Immovable Ground, the eighth of the Ten Grounds, in fascicle thirty-eight. Part 463 begins Vajragarbha's closing verse for this ground — the seventh ground's skillful means gathered up, the forbearance of quiescence and non-arising, the three similes of monk, dream and Brahmā heaven restated in four lines each, and the buddhas' words of encouragement given again in the bodhisattva's own voice.