Who Sees the Light, and the Net of Directions
Before moving to new visions, the hymn pauses to ask who is actually able to see everything just described — comparing it to a person born blind, for whom the sun's absence from experience is no proof of its absence from the sky. It then opens two new scenes: a lotus throne vast enough to hold the whole universe, and a samādhi in which the bodhisattva enters concentration in one direction of space while emerging from it in another.
The Blind Man and the Sun
Not everyone who is present can actually perceive the lights just described. The hymn offers its own explanation: seeing them depends on a prior connection — shared practice in past lives, or wisdom cultivated now — and their invisibility to some is no more evidence against them than a blind man's inability to see the sun is evidence the sun has not risen.
「如其本行所得光，隨彼宿緣同行者，
今放光明故如是，此是大仙智自在。
往昔同修於福業，及有愛樂能隨喜，
見其所作亦復然，彼於此光咸得見。
若有自修眾福業，供養諸佛無央數，
於佛功德常願求，是此光明所開覺。
譬如生盲不見日，非為無日出世間，
諸有目者悉明見，各隨所務修其業。
大士光明亦如是，有智慧者皆悉見，
凡夫邪信劣解人，於此光明莫能覩。
摩尼宮殿及輦乘，妙寶靈香以塗瑩，
有福德者自然備，非無德者所能處。
大士光明亦如是，有深智者咸照觸，
邪信劣解凡愚人，無有能見此光明。
若有聞此光差別，能生清淨深信解，
永斷一切諸疑網，速成無上功德幢。」
"Just as the light he obtains accords with his own original practice, so too, according to their own past causes and conditions, do those who once practiced alongside him now likewise come to radiate such light — such is the great sage's own sovereign and unhindered wisdom.
Those who, in ages past, once cultivated the same meritorious deeds alongside him, and those who felt love and delight and were able to rejoice in his own deeds, seeing what he did and coming likewise to do the same — all of these are able to see this light.
If there are those who themselves cultivate every meritorious deed, making offering to buddhas beyond number, forever vowing to seek the Buddha's own merit — these are the ones this light awakens.
Just as one born blind does not see the sun, though this is not because there is no sun risen in the world — everyone who has eyes sees it clearly, each pursuing their own task and cultivating their own work.
So too is it with the great being's own light: those who have wisdom entirely see it; ordinary people of wrong faith and inferior understanding are unable to behold this light at all.
A maṇi-jeweled palace and carriage, anointed and polished with wondrous treasures and sacred fragrances, is naturally provided for one who has blessed virtue, and is not something that one without virtue is able to occupy.
So too is it with the great being's own light: those of profound wisdom are all touched by its illumination; those of wrong faith, inferior understanding, and ordinary foolishness have no way at all to see this light.
If there are those who hear of this light's own distinctions and are able to give rise to a pure and profound faith and understanding, they forever cut off every net of doubt, swiftly accomplishing the banner of unsurpassed merit."
A Lotus Throne, Vast as the Universe
A new samādhi opens: a lotus flower whose measure equals the whole three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world, upon which the bodhisattva sits enthroned, surrounded by countless further lotuses, each holding an assembly of the Buddha's own children who once shared his own past causes.
「有勝三昧能出現，眷屬莊嚴皆自在，
一切十方諸國土，佛子眾會無倫匹。
有妙蓮華光莊嚴，量等三千大千界，
其身端坐悉充滿，是此三昧神通力。
復有十剎微塵數，妙好蓮華所圍遶，
諸佛子眾於中坐，住此三昧威神力。
宿世成就善因緣，具足修行佛功德，
此等眾生遶菩薩，悉共合掌觀無厭。
譬如明月在星中，菩薩處眾亦復然，
大士所行法如是，入此三昧威神力。
如於一方所示現，諸佛子眾共圍遶，
一切方中悉如是，住此三昧威神力。」
"There is a supreme samādhi able to manifest, so that his own retinue's adornment is entirely sovereign and unhindered, and throughout every land in all ten directions, the assemblies of the Buddha's own children are without any equal.
There is a wondrous lotus flower adorned with light, its measure equal to the whole of the three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world, and his own body, seated upright, entirely fills it — such is this samādhi's own spiritual power.
There are, further, lotus flowers as fine and excellent as the motes of dust in ten buddha-lands, surrounding him all around, and the assemblies of the Buddha's own children sit within them — abiding within this samādhi's own awesome spiritual power.
Those who, in ages past, accomplished wholesome causes and conditions, and fully cultivated and practiced the Buddha's own merit — these very living beings surround the bodhisattva, all together with palms joined, gazing upon him without ever growing weary.
Just as the bright moon stands among the stars, so too does the bodhisattva stand amid the assembly; such is the great being's own practiced Dharma, entering into this samādhi's own awesome spiritual power.
Just as he manifests in this way within a single direction, with the assemblies of the Buddha's own children surrounding him all around, so too is it within every single direction — abiding within this samādhi's own awesome spiritual power."
The Net of Directions: Entering Here, Emerging There
A further samādhi, "The Net of Directions," lets the bodhisattva enter concentration in one direction of space while emerging from it in another entirely — visiting the buddhas of the east while manifesting offerings in the west, and the buddhas of the west while manifesting offerings in the east, with nothing anywhere left untouched.
「有勝三昧名方網，菩薩住此廣開示，
一切方中普現身，或現入定或從出。
或於東方入正定，而於西方從定出；
或於西方入正定，而於東方從定出；
或於餘方入正定，而於餘方從定出。
如是入出遍十方，是名菩薩三昧力。
盡於東方諸國土，所有如來無數量，
悉現其前普親近，住於三昧寂不動。
而於西方諸世界，一切諸佛如來所，
皆現從於三昧起，廣修無量諸供養。
盡於西方諸國土，所有如來無數量，
悉現其前普親近，住於三昧寂不動。
而於東方諸世界，一切諸佛如來所，
皆現從於三昧起，廣修無量諸供養。
如是十方諸世界，菩薩悉入無有餘，
或現三昧寂不動，或現恭敬供養佛。」
"There is a supreme samādhi named 'The Net of Directions'; the bodhisattva, abiding within it, vastly opens and reveals it, universally manifesting his own body within every direction, sometimes manifesting entering concentration, sometimes emerging from it.
Sometimes he enters true concentration in the east, and yet emerges from concentration in the west; sometimes he enters true concentration in the west, and yet emerges from concentration in the east; sometimes he enters true concentration in one of the remaining directions, and yet emerges from concentration in another of the remaining directions. Thus entering and emerging throughout the ten directions — this is called the bodhisattva's own power of samādhi.
Throughout the entirety of every land in the east, every single Tathāgata there is, without number — he manifests entirely before each one, universally drawing near, abiding within samādhi, tranquil and unmoving. And yet, at the place of every single buddha, every single Tathāgata, throughout the worlds of the west, he manifests entirely as emerging from that very samādhi, vastly cultivating immeasurable offerings.
Throughout the entirety of every land in the west, every single Tathāgata there is, without number — he manifests entirely before each one, universally drawing near, abiding within samādhi, tranquil and unmoving. And yet, at the place of every single buddha, every single Tathāgata, throughout the worlds of the east, he manifests entirely as emerging from that very samādhi, vastly cultivating immeasurable offerings. Thus, throughout every world in all ten directions, the bodhisattva enters entirely, with nothing at all left out, sometimes manifesting samādhi, tranquil and unmoving, sometimes manifesting reverence and offering made to the Buddha."
The reflection on who can see the light is worth pausing over on its own terms: the sūtra does not treat the light's invisibility to some as a flaw in the light, or even primarily as a moral failing in the viewer, but as a matter of connection — shared past practice, or wisdom cultivated in this life, functioning almost like an organ of perception that must first be grown before its object becomes available at all. The samādhi that follows then performs, at the scale of the cosmos, the same principle chapter fourteen's own flower-adornment samādhi demonstrated at the scale of a mote of dust: presence is not bound by simple location. Entering here and emerging there are not two separate events bridged by travel, but a single unified act of the bodhisattva's own concentration, in which east and west, entering and emerging, hold together without contradiction.
Part 59 Complete
This closes Part 59. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 60 with a new samādhi entering concentration through one sense faculty while emerging through its object — eye into form, ear into sound — each pairing used to teach that the faculty itself is, in the end, without arising.