The Mirror That Reflects Every World
The drum reaches for its clearest image yet — a mirror vast enough to hold ten world-systems, in which every reflection appears without ever entering or leaving — to teach that karmic results arise and are seen without any true coming or going; hearing this, sons of heaven beyond counting attain forbearance, and heavenly women renounce the very notion of female form.
Neither Coming Into the Mirror Nor Leaving It
The drum multiplies its similes once more — sound that neither arises nor ceases, a mirror large enough to hold ten worlds, a magician's illusion — before naming what recognizing all of this truly is: repentance itself.
諸天子！如我天鼓，說業、說報、說行、說戒、說喜、說安、說諸三昧；諸佛菩薩亦復如是，說我、說我所、說眾生、說貪恚癡種種諸業，而實無我、無有我所。諸所作業、六趣果報，十方推求悉不可得。諸天子！譬如我聲，不生不滅，造惡諸天不聞餘聲，唯聞以地獄覺悟之聲；一切諸業亦復如是，非生非滅，隨有修集則受其報。諸天子！如我天鼓所出音聲，於無量劫不可窮盡、無有間斷，若來若去皆不可得。諸天子！若有去來則有斷常，一切諸佛終不演說有斷常法，除為方便成熟眾生。諸天子！譬如我聲，於無量世界，隨眾生心皆使得聞；一切諸佛亦復如是，隨眾生心悉令得見。
'Sons of heaven! Just as I, the heavenly drum, speak of karma, speak of retribution, speak of conduct, speak of precepts, speak of joy, speak of ease, and speak of every samādhi, every buddha and bodhisattva is likewise just the same: speaking of a self, speaking of what belongs to a self, speaking of sentient beings, speaking of every manner of karma born of greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet there is truly no self, and nothing at all that belongs to a self. Every action performed, and the resulting fruits of the six destinies, when sought throughout the ten directions, can nowhere at all be found. Sons of heaven! Just as my voice neither arises nor ceases, and the heavenly beings who commit evil do not hear any other sound but only the sound that awakens them to the hells, every karmic action is likewise just the same: neither arising nor ceasing, and yet its fruit is received wherever it has been cultivated and accumulated. Sons of heaven! Just as the sound that I, the heavenly drum, produce is inexhaustible and unbroken through measureless kalpas, and can nowhere be found whether coming or going, sons of heaven, if there were a coming and a going, then there would be annihilation and permanence, and no buddha ever teaches a dharma of annihilation or permanence, except as a skillful means for bringing sentient beings to maturity. Sons of heaven! Just as my voice, throughout measureless worlds, is heard by every sentient being according to their own mind, every buddha is likewise just the same: seen by every sentient being according to their own mind.
諸天子！如有玻瓈鏡，名為：能照，清淨鑒徹，與十世界其量正等；無量無邊諸國土中，一切山川、一切眾生，乃至地獄、畜生、餓鬼，所有影像皆於中現。諸天子！於汝意云何？彼諸影像可得說言來入鏡中、從鏡去不？』答言：『不也。』『諸天子！一切諸業亦復如是，雖能出生諸業果報，無來去處。諸天子！譬如幻師幻惑人眼，當知諸業亦復如是。若如是知，是真實懺悔，一切罪惡悉得清淨。』「說此法時，百千億那由他佛剎微塵數世界中兜率陀諸天子，得無生法忍；無量不思議阿僧祇六欲諸天子，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心；六欲天中一切天女，皆捨女身，發於無上菩提之意。
Sons of heaven! Suppose there were a crystal mirror named Able to Reflect, pure and utterly translucent, exactly equal in measure to ten world-systems; within measureless, boundless lands, every mountain and river, every sentient being, down to the hells, the animal realm, and the hungry ghosts, all of their reflected images appear within it. Sons of heaven! What do you think? Could it be said that those reflected images come into the mirror, or depart from the mirror?' They answered: 'No, it could not.' 'Sons of heaven! Every karmic action is likewise just the same: though able to give rise to every fruit of karmic retribution, it has no place from which it comes or to which it goes. Sons of heaven! Just as a magician bewilders people's eyes, you should know that every karmic action is likewise just the same. If you can know it thus, this is true and genuine repentance, and every sin and evil is thereby entirely purified.' "When this dharma was spoken, sons of heaven throughout worlds as numerous as motes of dust in a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands in the Tuṣita heaven attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas; measureless, inconceivable asaṃkhyeyas of sons of heaven throughout the six heavens of desire gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; and every heavenly woman in the six heavens of desire renounced her female body and gave rise to the intention of unsurpassed awakening.
可得說言來入鏡中、從鏡去不？』答言：『不也。』 — could it be said that those reflected images come into the mirror, or depart from the mirror? They answered: no, it could not. This is the only moment in the drum's entire teaching where the sons of heaven answer a direct question rather than simply listening; the drum has built its case through five successive similes — voice, hell-body, light, heavenly ornaments, and now the mirror — but only the mirror is put to them as a question they must themselves resolve, making their own answer the hinge on which the teaching of true repentance turns.
Part 623 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-five, 如來隨好光明功德品, in fascicle forty-eight. Part 624 continues with the sons of heaven's vision of jeweled lotus flowers and the buddhas seated upon them.