Every One of Them Named Vajragarbha
The ten grounds are told, and the worlds shake. Then witnesses arrive from beyond ten billion buddha-lands — each of them called Vajragarbha, each from a world called Vajra-Virtue, each with a buddha called Vajra-Banner — to say that they have just given the same teaching, word for word.
Six Ways, Eighteen Aspects
The shaking is described in the sūtra's full formula, and the reason given for it is doubled — the Buddha's spiritual power, and simply that the Dharma is like this.
爾時，佛神力故，法如是故，十方各有十億佛剎微塵數世界六種十八相動。所謂：動、遍動、等遍動，起、遍起、等遍起，涌、遍涌、等遍涌，震、遍震、等遍震，吼、遍吼、等遍吼，擊、遍擊、等遍擊。雨眾天華、天鬘、天衣，及諸天寶莊嚴之具、幢幡、繒蓋。奏天妓樂，其音和雅，同時發聲，讚一切智地所有功德。如此世界他化自在天王宮演說此法，十方所有一切世界悉亦如是。
Then, through the Buddha's spiritual power, and because the Dharma is thus, worlds as numerous as the dust-motes of ten billion buddha-lands in each of the ten directions shook in six ways and eighteen aspects — namely: moving, universally moving, equally and universally moving; rising, universally rising, equally and universally rising; surging, universally surging, equally and universally surging; quaking, universally quaking, equally and universally quaking; roaring, universally roaring, equally and universally roaring; and crashing, universally crashing, equally and universally crashing. There rained down heavenly flowers, heavenly garlands and heavenly robes, and the jewelled ornaments of the heavens, banners and pennants and silken canopies. Heavenly music was performed, its sound harmonious and refined, all sounding at once, praising the merits of the ground of all-knowing wisdom. And just as this Dharma was expounded in the palace of the King of the Paranirmita-vaśavartin Heaven in this world, so it was throughout all the worlds of the ten directions.
爾時，復以佛神力故，十方各十億佛剎微塵數世界外，有十億佛剎微塵數菩薩而來此會，作如是言：「善哉善哉！金剛藏！快說此法。我等悉亦同名：金剛藏，所住世界各各差別，悉名：金剛德，佛號：金剛幢。我等住在本世界中，皆承如來威神之力而說此法，眾會悉等，文字句義與此所說無有增減；悉以佛神力而來此會，為汝作證。如我等今者入此世界，如是十方一切世界悉亦如是而往作證。」
Then again, through the Buddha's spiritual power, from beyond worlds as numerous as the dust-motes of ten billion buddha-lands in each of the ten directions, bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust-motes of ten billion buddha-lands came to this assembly and spoke thus: "Excellent, excellent, Vajragarbha! Well have you expounded this Dharma. We are all likewise named Vajragarbha; the worlds in which we dwell each differ, and all are named Vajra-Virtue; and the buddhas there are named Vajra-Banner. We, abiding in our own worlds, have all expounded this Dharma by the majestic spiritual power of the Tathāgata, and our assemblies are the same as this one, the words and the meaning of the phrases neither more nor less than what has been spoken here. All of us have come to this assembly by the Buddha's spiritual power to bear witness for you. And just as we have now entered this world, so throughout all the worlds of the ten directions it is likewise, and they go to bear witness."
文字句義與此所說無有增減 — the words and the meaning of the phrases neither more nor less than what has been spoken here. The witnesses do not confirm the teaching's truth; they report that it is identical everywhere, down to the wording. The chapter that has just described bodies manifesting in every land ends by applying the same structure to itself, so that the text the reader holds is one of countless identical tellings.
法如是故 — and because the Dharma is thus. The shaking is given two causes, and the second removes the first from the realm of miracle. Worlds shake at the completion of this teaching not because someone made them, but because that is how the Dharma is.
The Verse Begins
Vajragarbha surveys the assemblies and lists nine intentions before speaking, and then the verse opens by describing the listener the teaching wants before describing anything taught.
爾時，金剛藏菩薩觀察十方一切眾會，普周法界，欲讚歎發一切智智心，欲示現菩薩境界，欲淨治菩薩行力，欲說攝取一切種智道，欲除滅一切世間垢，欲施與一切智，欲示現不思議智莊嚴，欲顯示一切菩薩諸功德，欲令如是地義轉更開顯，承佛神力而說頌言：
Then Vajragarbha Bodhisattva contemplated all the assemblies of the ten directions, pervading the whole dharma-realm; and wishing to praise the rousing of the mind of all-knowing wisdom itself, wishing to display the bodhisattva's domain, wishing to purify the power of the bodhisattva's practice, wishing to expound the path that gathers in the wisdom of all modes, wishing to remove all the world's defilements, wishing to bestow all-knowing wisdom, wishing to display the adornment of inconceivable wisdom, wishing to reveal all the merits of the bodhisattvas, and wishing to cause the meaning of the grounds to be opened up and made clearer still — receiving the Buddha's spiritual power, he spoke in verse, saying:
「其心寂滅恒調順，平等無礙如虛空，離諸垢濁住於道，此殊勝行汝應聽。
百千億劫修諸善，供養無量無邊佛，聲聞獨覺亦復然，為利眾生發大心。
精勤持戒常柔忍，慚愧福智皆具足，志求佛智修廣慧，願得十力發大心。
三世諸佛咸供養，一切國土悉嚴淨，了知諸法皆平等，為利眾生發大心。
"One whose mind is quiescent and constantly gentle and pliant, even and unobstructed as open space, apart from all defilement and turbidity and abiding upon the path — such a one should listen to this surpassing practice. Through a hundred thousand koṭis of kalpas cultivating every good, making offerings to measureless and boundless buddhas, and to śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas likewise, they rouse the great mind for the benefit of beings. Diligently keeping the precepts, constantly gentle and patient, complete in conscience and in merit and wisdom, resolved to seek the buddhas' wisdom and cultivating a vast understanding, they rouse the great mind, vowing to attain the ten powers. Making offerings to the buddhas of the three times, purifying and adorning all lands entirely, comprehending that all dharmas are the same, they rouse the great mind for the benefit of beings.
此殊勝行汝應聽 — such a one should listen to this surpassing practice. The chapter opened, forty-odd Parts ago, with Vajragarbha refusing to speak because the assembly could not receive it. It closes by naming the qualities of a fit listener in a single stanza and then teaching anyway — the refusal answered not by a change of doctrine but by everything that has been said in between.
Part 487 Complete
This continues Dharmameghā, the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud, the tenth and last of the Ten Grounds, in fascicle thirty-nine. Part 488 continues the closing verse through the ten grounds in order, a stanza or two apiece — the first ground's vows, the second's precepts, the third's world-weariness, the fourth's blaze, the fifth's difficulty, the sixth's non-arising, the seventh's far reach, the eighth's immovability, the ninth's ten masteries, and the tenth's consecration.