Eighty Koṭis of Nāga Kings, Each Doubling the Rain
The river simile scales upward: ten named nāga kings, Sāgara's own crown prince, and eighty koṭis of great nāga kings besides each rain upon the ocean at double the volume of the one before — first from the sky, then from their own palaces — until Sāgara's tide itself, gushing forth in fixed measure, is declared too vast for any simile to capture.
A Tide That Never Misses Its Hour
Named nāga kings, then their palaces, then Sāgara himself, each in turn double what came before — a scaling structure that turns "measureless" from an adjective into something demonstrated in real time, before the ocean holding it all is declared beyond any simile whatsoever.
「佛子！復有十光明龍王，雨大海中水倍過前；百光明龍王，雨大海中水復倍前；大莊嚴龍王、摩那斯龍王、雷震龍王、難陀跋難陀龍王、無量光明龍王、連霔不斷龍王、大勝龍王、大奮迅龍王，如是等八十億諸大龍王，各雨大海，皆悉展轉倍過於前；娑竭羅龍王太子，名：閻浮幢，雨大海中水復倍前。佛子！十光明龍王宮殿中水流入大海，復倍過前；百光明龍王宮殿中水流入大海，復倍過前；大莊嚴龍王、摩那斯龍王、雷震龍王、難陀跋難陀龍王、無量光明龍王、連霔不斷龍王、大勝龍王、大奮迅龍王，如是等八十億諸大龍王，宮殿各別，其中有水流入大海，皆悉展轉倍過於前；娑竭羅龍王太子閻浮幢宮殿中水流入大海，復倍過前。佛子！娑竭羅龍王連雨大海，水復倍前；其娑竭羅龍王宮殿中水涌出入海，復倍於前；其所出水紺瑠璃色，涌出有時，是故大海潮不失時。佛子！如是大海，其水無量，眾寶無量，眾生無量，所依大地亦復無量。「佛子！於汝意云何，彼大海為無量不？」答言：「實為無量，不可為諭。」
"Sons of the Buddha! There is furthermore the Ten Lights nāga king, whose rain into the great ocean doubles the water that came before; the Hundred Lights nāga king, whose rain into the great ocean again doubles what came before; the Great Adornment, Manasvin, Thunder-Quake, Nanda and Upananda, Measureless Light, Unbroken Rain, Great Victory, and Great Swift Vigor nāga kings — eighty koṭis of such great nāga kings in all — each raining upon the great ocean, each doubling in turn what came before; and Sāgara the nāga king's own crown prince, named Jambu Banner, whose rain into the great ocean again doubles what came before. Sons of the Buddha! The water within the Ten Lights nāga king's palace that flows into the great ocean again doubles what came before; the water within the Hundred Lights nāga king's palace that flows into the great ocean again doubles what came before; the Great Adornment, Manasvin, Thunder-Quake, Nanda and Upananda, Measureless Light, Unbroken Rain, Great Victory, and Great Swift Vigor nāga kings — eighty koṭis of such great nāga kings, each with a palace of their own — the water within each of their palaces that flows into the great ocean, each doubling in turn what came before; and the water within the palace of Sāgara the nāga king's crown prince, Jambu Banner, that flows into the great ocean, again doubles what came before. Sons of the Buddha! Sāgara the nāga king himself continuously rains upon the great ocean, and that water again doubles what came before; the water that gushes forth from Sāgara the nāga king's own palace and enters the ocean again doubles what came before — the water it gives forth is the color of dark blue vaidūrya, and it gushes forth at fixed times, which is why the great ocean's tide never misses its hour. Sons of the Buddha! Such is the great ocean: its water is measureless, its host of jewels is measureless, its sentient beings are measureless, and the great earth it rests upon is likewise measureless. "Sons of the Buddha! What do you think — is that great ocean measureless or not?" He answered: "Truly it is measureless — it cannot be captured by any simile."
其所出水紺瑠璃色，涌出有時，是故大海潮不失時 — the water Sāgara's own palace gives forth is the color of dark blue vaidūrya, and it gushes forth at fixed times, which is why the great ocean's tide never misses its hour. Before the simile turns to the tathāgata's wisdom-ocean, it pauses on this one small, orderly detail: however vast and however doubled the waters become, they still keep time exactly — measurelessness in this text is never a synonym for chaos.
Part 669 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty-two. Part 670 closes the ocean simile by comparing this vast ocean to the tathāgata's ocean of all-knowing wisdom, and Samantabhadra restates the whole teaching in verse.