The Physician-King Who Never Truly Dies
A great Brahmā king appears before every being in a trichiliocosm without ever dividing his single body; a physician-king, knowing his own death approaches, preserves his body through a spell so that its mere presence keeps healing long afterward; and a great jewel from the depths of the ocean brings purity to anyone its light merely touches — three images, each showing a single, undivided source producing benefit everywhere at once.
One Body, Undivided, Everywhere at Once
Three marks in a row each picture a single source of benefit that never actually multiplies itself — a Brahmā king seen everywhere yet never dividing, a physician-king whose preserved body keeps curing long after his own death, and a jewel whose light alone does the work that would otherwise require its presence.
「復次，佛子！譬如三千大千世界大梵天王，以少方便於大千世界普現其身，一切眾生皆見梵王現在己前，而此梵王亦不分身、無種種身。佛子！諸佛如來亦復如是，無有分別，無有戲論，亦不分身，無種種身，而隨一切眾生心樂示現其身，亦不作念現若干身。佛子！是為如來身第七相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是見。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like the great Brahmā king of a great trichiliocosm, who, through but a small skillful means, universally manifests his body throughout the great trichiliocosm, so that every sentient being sees the Brahmā king appearing directly before themselves, and yet this Brahmā king neither divides his body nor has any manifold body of his own. Sons of the Buddha! Every buddha tathāgata is likewise just the same: without any discrimination, without any idle discourse, neither dividing his body nor having any manifold body of his own, and yet displaying his own body according to the delight of every sentient being's own mind, without ever giving thought to displaying however many bodies. Sons of the Buddha! This is the seventh mark of the tathāgata's body — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should behold it thus.
「復次，佛子！譬如醫王善知眾藥及諸呪論，閻浮提中諸所有藥用無不盡，復以宿世諸善根力、大明呪力，為方便故，眾生見者病無不愈。彼大醫王知命將終，作是念言：『我命終後，一切眾生無所依怙，我今宜應為現方便。』是時，醫王合藥塗身，明呪力持，令其終後身不分散、不萎不枯，威儀視聽與本無別，凡所𤻲治悉得除差。佛子！如來、應、正等覺無上醫王亦復如是，於無量百千億那由他劫，鍊治法藥已得成就，修學一切方便善巧大明呪力皆到彼岸，善能除滅一切眾生諸煩惱病及住壽命；經無量劫，其身清淨無有思慮、無有動用，一切佛事未嘗休息，眾生見者諸煩惱病悉得消滅。佛子！是為如來身第八相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是見。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like a physician-king who skillfully knows every medicine and every incantation, exhausting the use of every medicinal substance found throughout Jambudvīpa, and who, through the power of wholesome roots cultivated in ages past and the power of great, bright incantations, employs skillful means so that whoever sees him has their illness cured without exception. That great physician-king, knowing his own life is about to end, gives rise to this thought: 'After my life has ended, every sentient being will have nothing to rely upon; I should now display a skillful means for their sake.' At that time, the physician-king compounds a medicine and applies it to his body, sustained by the power of a bright incantation, causing his body, after death, neither to disperse nor to wither and decay, its bearing, sight, and hearing no different from before, so that whatever affliction it treats is entirely cured without exception. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one, the unsurpassed physician-king, is likewise just the same: throughout measureless hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, he has already accomplished the refining of the medicine of dharma, cultivating and learning every skillful means and the power of great, bright incantations, all reaching the further shore, well able to extinguish every affliction and sickness of every sentient being and to sustain his own lifespan; passing through measureless kalpas, his body remains pure, without deliberation, without movement, and yet the work of every buddha never once ceases, and whatever sentient being beholds it has every affliction and sickness entirely dissolved. Sons of the Buddha! This is the eighth mark of the tathāgata's body — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should behold it thus.
「復次，佛子！譬如大海有大摩尼寶，名：集一切光明毘盧遮那藏；若有眾生觸其光者，悉同其色；若有見者，眼得清淨。隨彼光明所照之處，雨摩尼寶，名為：安樂，令諸眾生離苦調適。佛子！諸如來身亦復如是，為大寶聚一切功德大智慧藏；若有眾生觸佛身寶智慧光者，同佛身色；若有見者，法眼清淨。隨彼光明所照之處，令諸眾生離貧窮苦，乃至具足佛菩提樂。佛子！如來法身無所分別亦無戲論，而能普為一切眾生作大佛事。佛子！是為如來身第九相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是見。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like the great ocean, within which there is a great maṇi jewel named the Vairocana Treasury That Gathers Every Light; if any sentient being touches its light, they become entirely of the same color as it; if any sentient being sees it, their eye becomes pure. Wherever that light illuminates, it rains down maṇi jewels named Ease and Comfort, causing sentient beings to depart from suffering and become well and at peace. Sons of the Buddha! Every tathāgata's own body is likewise just the same, a great treasury, a mass of every merit, the great treasury of wisdom; if any sentient being touches the light of the jewel of wisdom that is the buddha's own body, they become the same color as the buddha's own body; if any sentient being sees it, their dharma-eye becomes pure. Wherever that light illuminates, it causes sentient beings to depart from the suffering of poverty, up to and including being endowed with the joy of a buddha's own awakening. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata's dharma-body has no discrimination and no idle discourse, and yet is able to universally perform the great work of a buddha for the sake of every sentient being. Sons of the Buddha! This is the ninth mark of the tathāgata's body — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should behold it thus.
令其終後身不分散、不萎不枯，威儀視聽與本無別 — causing his body, after death, neither to disperse nor to wither and decay, its bearing, sight, and hearing no different from before. The physician-king's preserved body is described almost as though he were still alive, still seeing and hearing — the incantation does not merely embalm a corpse but sustains something that continues to function as a healer, making the eighth mark's parallel to the tathāgata's own inexhaustible activity across measureless kalpas unusually literal rather than purely figurative.
Part 651 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty. Part 652 continues with the tenth and final mark of the tathāgata's body, and a wish-fulfilling jewel that only ripened merit can ever behold.