One Flavor of Rain, Manifold Results
Five distinctly named rains within the one great cloud extinguish, raise, restrain, complete, and distinguish in turn; a single flavor of rainwater is then shown falling as measureless different things, and the very order in which a world's palaces form is matched to the order in which a tathāgata gives rise to wisdom in bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, śrāvakas, and all other beings.
Five Rains, One Flavor, One Order
Five named functions within a single cloud, a single flavor of water producing every kind of result according to what receives it, and a strict sequence in which wisdom arises — echoing, mark by mark, the exact order in which a world's own palaces come into being.
「復次，佛子！譬如大雲降雨之時，有大雲雨，名為：能滅，能滅火災；有大雲雨，名為：能起，能起大水；有大雲雨，名為：能止，能止大水；有大雲雨，名為：能成，能成一切摩尼諸寶；有大雲雨，名為：分別，分別三千大千世界。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，興大法雲，雨大法雨，有大法雨，名為：能滅，能滅一切眾生煩惱；有大法雨，名為：能起，能起一切眾生善根；有大法雨，名為：能止，能止一切眾生見惑；有大法雨，名為：能成，能成一切智慧法寶；有大法雨，名為：分別，分別一切眾生心樂。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第五相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like when a great cloud pours down rain: there is a great cloud-rain named Able to Extinguish, able to extinguish fire disasters; there is a great cloud-rain named Able to Raise, able to raise great waters; there is a great cloud-rain named Able to Restrain, able to restrain great waters; there is a great cloud-rain named Able to Complete, able to bring every maṇi jewel to completion; there is a great cloud-rain named Distinguishing, distinguishing the great trichiliocosm itself. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata's appearance is likewise just the same: raising a great cloud of dharma, he pours down a great rain of dharma; there is a great dharma-rain named Able to Extinguish, able to extinguish every affliction of sentient beings; there is a great dharma-rain named Able to Raise, able to raise every wholesome root of sentient beings; there is a great dharma-rain named Able to Restrain, able to restrain every confusion of view among sentient beings; there is a great dharma-rain named Able to Complete, able to bring the jeweled dharma of every wisdom to completion; there is a great dharma-rain named Distinguishing, distinguishing the delight of every sentient being's own mind. Sons of the Buddha! This is the fifth mark of the appearance of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one — a bodhisattva-mahāsattva should know it thus.
「復次，佛子！譬如大雲雨一味水，隨其所雨，無量差別。如來出現亦復如是，雨於大悲一味法水，隨宜說法，無量差別。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第六相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。「復次，佛子！譬如三千大千世界初始成時，先成色界諸天宮殿，次成欲界諸天宮殿，次成於人及餘眾生諸所住處。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，先起菩薩諸行智慧，次起緣覺諸行智慧，次起聲聞善根諸行智慧，次起其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧。佛子！譬如大雲雨一味水，隨諸眾生善根異故，所起宮殿種種不同。如來大悲一味法雨，隨眾生器而有差別。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第七相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like when a great cloud rains down water of a single flavor, and yet, according to where it rains, its results are measurelessly different. The tathāgata's appearance is likewise just the same: he rains down the single-flavored water of great compassion, and yet, expounding the dharma according to what suits each one, its results are measurelessly different. Sons of the Buddha! This is the sixth mark of the appearance of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one — a bodhisattva-mahāsattva should know it thus. "Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like when the great trichiliocosm is first being formed: first the palaces of the heavens of the form realm are formed, next the palaces of the heavens of the desire realm are formed, and next the dwelling-places of humans and every other sentient being are formed. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata's appearance is likewise just the same: first he gives rise to the wisdom of a bodhisattva's every practice, next he gives rise to the wisdom of a pratyekabuddha's every practice, next he gives rise to the wisdom of a śrāvaka's every wholesome practice, and next he gives rise to the wisdom of every other sentient being's own conditioned wholesome practice. Sons of the Buddha! It is like when a great cloud rains down water of a single flavor, and yet, because the wholesome roots of sentient beings differ, the palaces that arise from it are each different in every kind of way. The tathāgata's single-flavored rain of dharma born of great compassion likewise differs according to the vessel of each sentient being. Sons of the Buddha! This is the seventh mark of the appearance of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one — a bodhisattva-mahāsattva should know it thus.
先起菩薩諸行智慧，次起緣覺諸行智慧，次起聲聞善根諸行智慧，次起其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧 — first he gives rise to the wisdom of a bodhisattva's every practice, next a pratyekabuddha's, next a śrāvaka's, next every other sentient being's. The seventh mark asserts a fixed sequence to awakening's own unfolding, matched line for line to the order in which a world's regions are said to form — form-realm heavens, then desire-realm heavens, then the dwellings of humans and other beings — treating the arising of wisdom in different kinds of beings as no less structured a process than cosmogony itself.
Part 641 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty. Part 642 continues with the eighth mark, and the great lotus flower that appears upon the waters at a world's very beginning.