The Merit and Light of the Minor Marks Begins
Where chapter thirty-four catalogued the great marks one by one, the new chapter turns instead to a single minor mark and the story of one light it once emitted: beings in hell freed from suffering, reborn among the gods, and greeted there by the voice of a heavenly drum.
Full and Perfect King, and the Heavenly Drum
The Buddha addresses Bodhisattva Jeweled Hand directly, recounting an episode from his own bodhisattva past: a light from the crown of his head that reached beings in the Avīci hell, and the drum in the Tuṣita heaven that spoke to welcome them.
爾時，世尊告寶手菩薩言：「佛子！如來、應、正等覺有隨好，名：圓滿王。此隨好中出大光明，名為：熾盛，七百萬阿僧祇光明而為眷屬。佛子！我為菩薩時，於兜率天宮放大光明，名：光幢王，照十佛剎微塵數世界。彼世界中地獄眾生，遇斯光者，眾苦休息，得十種清淨眼，耳、鼻、舌、身、意亦復如是，咸生歡喜，踊躍稱慶，從彼命終生兜率天。天中有鼓，名：甚可愛樂。彼天生已，此鼓發音而告之言：『諸天子！汝以心不放逸，於如來所種諸善根，往昔親近眾善知識。毘盧遮那大威神力，於彼命終來生此天。』
At that time, the World-Honored One addressed Bodhisattva Jeweled Hand, saying: "Son of the Buddha! The tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one, has a minor mark named Full and Perfect King. From within this minor mark issues a great light named Blazing, attended by seven million asaṃkhyeyas of lights. Son of the Buddha! When I was a bodhisattva, from the palace of the Tuṣita heaven I emitted a great light named King of the Light-Banner, illuminating worlds as numerous as motes of dust in ten buddha-lands. Among the beings in the hells of those worlds, whoever met with that light had their every suffering set to rest, and gained ten kinds of pure eyes, and likewise ten kinds of pure ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; all of them rejoiced, leaping up in celebration, and upon the end of that life were reborn in the Tuṣita heaven. In that heaven there is a drum named Most Delightful. Once they were born in that heaven, this drum sounded forth and declared to them: 'Sons of heaven! Because your minds were not negligent, you planted every wholesome root in the presence of the tathāgata, and in ages past drew near to every good spiritual friend. Through the great majestic spiritual power of Vairocana, upon the end of that life you have come to be born in this heaven.'"
「佛子！菩薩足下千輻輪，名：光明普照王。此有隨好，名：圓滿王，常放四十種光明。中有一光，名：清淨功德，能照億那由他佛剎微塵數世界，隨諸眾生種種業行、種種欲樂皆令成熟。阿鼻地獄極苦眾生，遇斯光者，皆悉命終生兜率天。既生天已，聞天鼓音而告之言：『善哉善哉！諸天子！毘盧遮那菩薩入離垢三昧，汝當敬禮。』「爾時，諸天子聞天鼓音如是勸誨，咸生是念：『奇哉希有！何因發此微妙之音？』是時，天鼓告諸天子言：『我所發聲，諸善根力之所成就。諸天子！如我說我，而不著我，不著我所；一切諸佛亦復如是，自說是佛，不著於我，不著我所。諸天子！如我音聲不從東方來，不從南西北方、四維上下來；業報成佛亦復如是，非十方來。
"Son of the Buddha! On the sole of the bodhisattva's foot is a thousand-spoked wheel named King of Universally Illuminating Light. This has a minor mark named Full and Perfect King, constantly emitting forty kinds of light. Among them is one light named Pure Merit, able to illuminate worlds as numerous as motes of dust in a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands, causing every sentient being to bring their manifold karmic conduct and manifold desires and pleasures to ripeness. Beings suffering the utmost torment in the Avīci hell, whoever met with that light, all without exception ended that life and were reborn in the Tuṣita heaven. Once born in that heaven, hearing the sound of the heavenly drum, it declared to them: 'Excellent, excellent! Sons of heaven! Bodhisattva Vairocana has entered the samādhi of freedom from defilement; you should pay him reverence.' At that time, the sons of heaven, hearing the heavenly drum exhort and instruct them thus, all gave rise to this thought: 'How marvelous, how rare! For what reason does this subtle and wondrous sound arise?' At that moment, the heavenly drum declared to the sons of heaven: 'The sound I emit is accomplished through the power of every wholesome root. Sons of heaven! Just as I speak of myself, yet am not attached to a self, nor to what belongs to a self — every buddha, too, is just the same: speaking of himself as a buddha, yet not attached to a self, nor to what belongs to a self. Sons of heaven! Just as my voice does not come from the east, nor from the south, west, or north, nor from the four intermediate directions, nor from above or below — the ripening of karma into buddhahood is likewise just the same: it does not come from the ten directions.
寶手菩薩 — Bodhisattva Jeweled Hand, the interlocutor the Buddha addresses directly throughout this chapter, replacing Samantabhadra as speaker for the first time since chapter thirty-three. Where the previous chapter proceeded mark by mark through the tathāgata's entire body, this chapter instead follows a single minor mark through a narrative — the story of a light and a heavenly drum — establishing a very different literary form for describing the same subject: the merit born from the Buddha's body.
Part 620 Complete
This begins chapter thirty-five, 如來隨好光明功德品, in fascicle forty-eight. Part 621 continues with the heavenly drum's teaching to the sons of heaven.