Samantabhadra's Verse Recitation Begins
With the witnessing bodhisattvas gathered, Samantabhadra surveys the ten directions and the whole dharma-realm, then opens an immense verse recitation — announcing everything he intends to tell before telling any of it, and beginning with the vow of past buddhas called lions among orators.
Everything to Be Told, Announced in Advance
Before reciting a single verse of substance, Samantabhadra lists nine things he intends to make known — bodhisattva practice, the tathāgata's own realm of awakening, the great vow, the count of every kalpa, and more — then begins with an invitation to listen, and the vow of a lion among orators.
如此道場，我等十佛剎微塵數菩薩而來作證，十方一切諸世界中悉亦如是。」爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩以佛神力、自善根力，觀察十方洎于法界，欲開示菩薩行，欲宣說如來菩提界，欲說大願界，欲說一切世界劫數，欲明諸佛隨時出現，欲說如來隨根熟眾生出現令其供養，欲明如來出世功不唐捐，欲明所種善根必獲果報，欲明大威德菩薩為一切眾生現形說法令其開悟，而說頌言：
As for this seat of awakening, we, bodhisattvas as numerous as motes of dust in ten buddha-lands, have come to bear witness, and it is likewise just the same throughout every world of the ten directions." At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva, through the Buddha's spiritual power and the power of his own wholesome roots, contemplated the ten directions as far as the dharma-realm, wishing to disclose bodhisattva practice, wishing to expound the tathāgata's own realm of awakening, wishing to speak of the realm of the great vow, wishing to speak of the count of kalpas of every world, wishing to make known how every buddha appears according to the time, wishing to speak of how the tathāgata appears according to sentient beings whose faculties have ripened so that they might make offerings, wishing to make known that a tathāgata's appearance in the world is never in vain, wishing to make known that wholesome roots once planted must certainly obtain their fruit, and wishing to make known how a bodhisattva of great majestic virtue manifests a form for every sentient being and expounds the dharma so as to bring them to awakening — and so he spoke in verse, saying:
「汝等應歡喜，捨離於諸蓋，一心恭敬聽，菩薩諸願行。
往昔諸菩薩，最勝人師子，如彼所修行，我當次第說。
亦說諸劫數，世界并諸業，及以無等尊，於彼而出興。
如是過去佛，大願出于世，云何為眾生，滅除諸苦惱？
一切論師子，所行相續滿，得佛平等法，一切智境界。
見於過去世，一切人師子，放大光明網，普照十方界。
思惟發是願：『我當作世燈，具足佛功德，十力一切智。
一切諸眾生，貪恚癡熾然；我當悉救脫，令滅惡道苦。』
"You should all rejoice, casting off every hindrance; with a single mind and reverent attention, hear the bodhisattva's every vow and practice.
Of the bodhisattvas of ages past, those most excellent lions among people, just as they carried out their practice, I shall now tell it in due order.
I shall also tell the count of kalpas, the worlds, and every karmic action, and the peerless, honored ones who came to appear within them.
Thus did buddhas of the past appear in the world through their great vow: how, for the sake of sentient beings, did they extinguish every suffering and affliction?
Every lion among orators, whose practice ran on without interruption to its completion, attained the buddha's own equal dharma, the domain of all-knowing wisdom.
Beholding the past age, every lion among people emitted a net of great light, universally illuminating the realms of the ten directions.
Reflecting, they gave rise to this vow: 'I shall become a lamp for the world, endowed with a buddha's own merit, the ten powers, and all-knowing wisdom.
Every sentient being blazes with greed, hatred, and delusion; I shall rescue and deliver every one of them, and cause the suffering of the evil destinies to be extinguished.'
發如是誓願，堅固不退轉，具修菩薩行，獲十無礙力。
如是誓願已，修行無退怯，所作皆不虛，說名論師子。
於一賢劫中，千佛出于世，彼所有普眼，我當次第說。
如一賢劫中，無量劫亦然，彼未來佛行，我當分別說。
如一佛剎種，無量剎亦然，未來十力尊，諸行我今說。
諸佛次興世，隨願隨名號，隨彼所得記，隨其所壽命，
隨所修正法，專求無礙道；隨所化眾生，正法住於世；
隨所淨佛剎，眾生及法輪，演說時非時，次第淨群生；
隨諸眾生業，所行及信解，上中下不同，化彼令修習。
入於如是智，修其最勝行，常作普賢業，廣度諸眾生。
身業無障礙，語業悉清淨，意行亦如是，三世靡不然。
Having given rise to a vow such as this, firm and never retreating, they fully cultivated bodhisattva practice and attained the ten unobstructed powers.
Having made such a vow, they practiced without any retreat or timidity; nothing they did was ever in vain, and so they are called a lion among orators.
Within a single fortunate kalpa, a thousand buddhas appear in the world; their universal eyes, all of them, I shall now tell in due order.
Just as within a single fortunate kalpa, so too is it with measureless kalpas; the practice of those future buddhas I shall now explain one by one.
Just as with a single kind of buddha-land, so too is it with measureless lands; the practices of the future, honored ones of the ten powers, I shall now tell.
Every buddha, in turn, arises in the world according to their vow, according to their name, according to the prediction they received, according to their own lifespan,
according to the true dharma they cultivate, single-mindedly seeking the unobstructed path; according to the sentient beings they transform, the true dharma abides in the world;
according to the buddha-land they purify, the beings and the dharma-wheel there, expounding the dharma in season and out of season, purifying the multitude of beings in due order;
according to the karma of every sentient being, their conduct and their faith and understanding, whether of superior, middling, or inferior kind, transforming them so that they cultivate it.
Entering into wisdom such as this, cultivating this most excellent practice, they constantly perform the work of Samantabhadra, delivering every sentient being far and wide.
Their bodily karma is without obstruction, their verbal karma entirely pure, and their mental conduct is likewise just the same, throughout the three times without exception.
論師子 — lion among orators. This title, given to past buddhas throughout the opening verses, pairs a specific image of eloquence (論, discourse or debate) with the sutra's familiar lion-simile for fearlessness and mastery — not simply a lion among people in general, as the surrounding lines also say, but specifically a lion in the act of teaching. The fourfold "according to" (隨) refrain that follows later in this Part echoes a structure used throughout the sutra: rather than describing a single fixed pattern for how buddhas appear, each line ties their appearance to a different variable — vow, name, prediction, lifespan — refusing to reduce the diversity of buddhas to any single template.
Part 630 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-six, 普賢行品, in fascicle forty-nine. Part 631 continues the verse recitation with the arising and passing of every kalpa, and the karmic actions that shape the worlds within them.