The Inconceivable Qualities of a Buddha
Fascicle forty-six opens a new chapter with a wordless question: the assembled bodhisattvas silently wonder at ten inconceivable aspects of a buddha, from their lands to their liberation. The Buddha answers not by speaking himself, but by empowering Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva, who begins a chapter that will run through list after list of ten qualities each.
A Question No One Asks Aloud
Chapter thirty-three, 佛不思議法品, opens with a thought rather than a question spoken aloud. The Buddha reads it anyway, and empowers Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva to answer it, who in turn addresses a second bodhisattva, Lotus Treasury, present in the assembly.
爾時，大會中有諸菩薩作是念：「諸佛國土云何不思議？諸佛本願云何不思議？諸佛種性云何不思議？諸佛出現云何不思議？諸佛身云何不思議？諸佛音聲云何不思議？諸佛智慧云何不思議？諸佛自在云何不思議？諸佛無礙云何不思議？諸佛解脫云何不思議？」爾時，世尊知諸菩薩心之所念，則以神力加持，智慧攝受，光明照曜，威勢充滿，令青蓮華藏菩薩住佛無畏，入佛法界，獲佛威德，神通自在，得佛無礙廣大觀察，知一切佛種性次第，住不可說佛法方便。爾時，青蓮華藏菩薩則能通達無礙法界，則能安住離障深行，則能成滿普賢大願，則能知見一切佛法，以大悲心觀察眾生，欲令清淨精勤修習無有厭怠，受行一切諸菩薩法，於一念中出生佛智，解了一切無盡智門，總持、辯才皆悉具足；承佛神力，告蓮華藏菩薩言：
At that time, the bodhisattvas in the great assembly had this thought: "How are the buddhas' lands inconceivable? How are the buddhas' original vows inconceivable? How is the buddhas' spiritual lineage inconceivable? How is the buddhas' appearing in the world inconceivable? How are the buddhas' bodies inconceivable? How is the buddhas' voice inconceivable? How is the buddhas' wisdom inconceivable? How is the buddhas' mastery inconceivable? How is the buddhas' freedom from obstruction inconceivable? How is the buddhas' liberation inconceivable?" At that time, the World-Honored One, knowing the thought in the bodhisattvas' minds, empowered Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva with spiritual power, gathered him in with wisdom, illuminated him with light, and filled him with majestic force, causing him to abide in the buddha's fearlessness, enter the buddha's dharma-realm, attain the buddha's majestic virtue, gain mastery over spiritual powers, obtain the buddha's unobstructed and vast power of observation, know the sequence of every buddha's spiritual lineage, and abide in the buddha-dharma's unspeakable skillful means. At that time, Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva thereby became able to penetrate the unobstructed dharma-realm, became able to abide in a profound practice free of hindrance, became able to bring Samantabhadra's great vows to full completion, and became able to know and see every buddha-dharma; with a mind of great compassion observing sentient beings, wishing to cause them to become pure and to cultivate diligently without ever growing weary, he undertook and practiced every bodhisattva dharma, gave rise to buddha-wisdom within a single thought-moment, and comprehended every gateway of inexhaustible wisdom, becoming entirely endowed with retention and eloquence. Receiving the Buddha's spiritual power, he addressed Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva, saying:
令青蓮華藏菩薩住佛無畏……承佛神力，告蓮華藏菩薩言 — causing Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva to abide in the buddha's fearlessness … receiving the Buddha's spiritual power, he addressed Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva, saying. These are two distinct bodhisattvas, both named elsewhere among the sūtra's vast assemblies — Blue Lotus Treasury (青蓮華藏) and Lotus Treasury (蓮華藏) — sharing most of a name but not the whole of it. The Buddha never speaks the answer himself; he empowers one bodhisattva to become capable of it, who then delivers the entire chapter to a second.
Measureless Abidings
Blue Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva's first answer is short and unnumbered — nine ways a buddha abides, before the chapter settles into the pattern of ten that will carry it the rest of the way.
「佛子！諸佛世尊有無量住，所謂：常住大悲、住種種身作諸佛事、住平等意轉淨法輪、住四辯才說無量法、住不思議一切佛法、住清淨音遍無量土、住不可說甚深法界、住現一切最勝神通、住能開示無有障礙究竟之法。
"Sons of the Buddha! The buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, have measureless abidings — namely: constantly abiding in great compassion; abiding in every manner of body to carry out buddha-work; abiding in an equal mind to turn the pure dharma-wheel; abiding in the four eloquences to teach measureless dharmas; abiding in every inconceivable buddha-dharma; abiding in a pure voice that pervades measureless lands; abiding in the unspeakable and profound dharma-realm; abiding in the manifestation of every supreme spiritual power; and abiding in the ability to disclose the ultimate dharma that is free of all obstruction.
This chapter answers the assembly's ten silent questions with dozens of lists of ten, one after another, on the buddhas' abidings, powers, wisdom, timing, adornments, and skillful means — an entire chapter built as an inventory rather than an argument. This opening list of nine is the only one not framed as a round ten, as if to signal, before the counting begins in earnest, that the number itself is a convenience rather than a limit.
Part 580 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-three, 佛不思議法品, in fascicle forty-six. Part 581 begins the chapter's long sequence of tens, with ten qualities pervading the entire dharma-realm and ten kinds of wisdom born in every thought-moment.