Part 571 of the collection · Fascicle 45 of 80 · 阿僧祇品第三十 · T279

Lands Ground Into Dust

The jewel like Mount Sumeru from Part 570 is ground without remainder into dust, and each mote of that dust turns out to hold its own light, its own buddhas, its own sūtras and dharma-wheels. The verses then shift briefly to a single hair-tip, where transformation-bodies abide through unspeakable kalpas — the same nesting from Part 570, now given duration as well as space.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 571 — dust, dharma-wheels, and hair-tips Source: Taishō T279 (Śikṣānanda, Tang, 695–699 CE)

From a Jewel to Endless Dust

The jewel like Sumeru is ground into dust, and the chain of nesting continues into each mote — light, buddhas, dharma, verses, understanding, and a wheel of teaching that keeps opening onto further teachings.

Chinese Source

盡須彌寶無有餘,示現剎土皆如是,以一剎土末為塵,一塵色相不可說。
眾剎為塵塵有相,不可言說不可說,如是種種諸塵相,皆出光明不可說。
光中現佛不可說,佛所說法不可說,法中妙偈不可說,聞偈得解不可說。

不可說解念念中,顯了真諦不可說,示現未來一切佛,常演說法無窮盡。
一一佛法不可說,種種清淨不可說,出妙音聲不可說,轉正法輪不可說。
於彼一一法輪中,演修多羅不可說;於彼一一修多羅,分別法門不可說;於彼一一法門中,又說諸法不可說;於彼一一諸法中,調伏眾生不可說。

Ru-Yi Translation

The jewel of Sumeru, entirely without remainder, manifests lands in just this way; and when a single land is ground into dust, the forms and colors within a single mote are unspeakable.
When multitudes of lands become dust, each mote of dust bears its own mark, unspeakably, unspeakably so; and from every one of these manifold marks of dust, unspeakable light emerges.
Within the light, unspeakable buddhas appear; the dharma these buddhas speak is unspeakable; the wondrous verses within that dharma are unspeakable; and the understanding gained on hearing those verses is unspeakable.

Within that unspeakable understanding, thought after thought, the true reality is unspeakably made manifest; every buddha of the future is displayed, constantly expounding the dharma without end.
Each and every buddha-dharma is unspeakable; its every manner of purity is unspeakable; the wondrous sound it gives rise to is unspeakable; and the turning of the true dharma-wheel is unspeakable.
Within each and every one of those dharma-wheels, unspeakable sūtras are expounded; within each and every one of those sūtras, unspeakable dharma-gateways are distinguished; within each and every one of those dharma-gateways, unspeakable further dharmas are spoken; and within each and every one of those dharmas, unspeakable beings are tamed.

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

一塵色相不可說 — the forms and colors within a single mote are unspeakable. The chain from Part 570 nested container within container at a single scale — a hair-tip full of lands, each land full of buddhas. Here the same jewel is instead ground apart into dust, and the nesting reappears inside the fragments rather than inside the whole. Either direction, dividing or containing, reaches the same unspeakable density.

What Even a Hair-Tip Cannot Finish Saying

The verses return briefly to the hair-tip of Part 570, now adding duration to space: transformation-bodies abiding there through unspeakable kalpas, each one giving rise to further transformations, further bodies, further teachings.

Chinese Source

或復於一毛端處,不可說劫常安住,如一毛端餘悉然,所住劫數皆如是。
其心無礙不可說,變化諸佛不可說,一一變化諸如來,復現於化不可說。
彼佛法身不可說,彼佛分身不可說,莊嚴無量不可說,往詣十方不可說,周行國土不可說,觀察眾生不可說,清淨眾生不可說,調伏眾生不可說。
彼諸莊嚴不可說,彼諸神力不可說,彼諸自在不可說,彼諸神變不可說。

所有神通不可說,所有境界不可說,所有加持不可說,所住世間不可說。
清淨實相不可說,說修多羅不可說,於彼一一修多羅,演說法門不可說;於彼一一法門中,又說諸法不可說;於彼一一諸法中,所有決定不可說;於彼一一決定中,調伏眾生不可說。
不可言說同類法,不可言說同類心,不可言說異類法,不可言說異類心,不可言說異類根,不可言說異類語,念念於諸所行處,調伏眾生不可說。

Ru-Yi Translation

Or again, within a single hair-tip, one abides constantly through unspeakable kalpas; as with one hair-tip, so with all the rest, and the number of kalpas abided in is entirely the same.
Their mind, unobstructed, is unspeakable; the buddhas they manifest through transformation are unspeakable; and each and every one of those transformed tathāgatas again manifests unspeakable transformations of their own.
That buddha's dharma-body is unspeakable; that buddha's emanated bodies are unspeakable; their adornments, measureless and unspeakable; their journeying to the ten directions, unspeakable; their traveling throughout every land, unspeakable; their observing of beings, unspeakable; their purifying of beings, unspeakable; their taming of beings, unspeakable.
Their every adornment is unspeakable; their every spiritual power is unspeakable; their every mastery is unspeakable; their every spiritual transformation is unspeakable.

Every spiritual penetration they hold is unspeakable; every sphere of experience is unspeakable; every empowerment is unspeakable; every world they abide in is unspeakable.
Their pure true reality is unspeakable; the sūtras they speak are unspeakable; within each and every one of those sūtras, the dharma-gateways expounded are unspeakable; within each and every one of those dharma-gateways, the further dharmas spoken are unspeakable; within each and every one of those dharmas, every determination reached is unspeakable; and within each and every one of those determinations, the beings tamed are unspeakable.
Unspeakable dharmas of the same kind, unspeakable minds of the same kind; unspeakable dharmas of differing kinds, unspeakable minds of differing kinds, unspeakable faculties of differing kinds, unspeakable languages of differing kinds — in thought after thought, wherever they go, the beings they tame are unspeakable.

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

不可言說同類法,不可言說同類心,不可言說異類法,不可言說異類心 — unspeakable dharmas of the same kind, unspeakable minds of the same kind; unspeakable dharmas of differing kinds, unspeakable minds of differing kinds. Every clause in this stretch ends the same way, on the same word. The verses are not building toward a final total — the repetition itself is the content, insisting that no matter which category is named next, the answer given for it will be identical.

Part 571 Complete

This continues chapter thirty, 阿僧祇品, in fascicle forty-five. Part 572 continues the verses, returning to a single hair-tip and the scale of every land it holds.