Where the Tathāgata's Dharma-Wheel Is Truly Born From
A single samādhi named ultimate, unobstructed fearlessness produces, from every body and every mouth of the tathāgata's perfect awakening, sounds equal in number to every sentient being, each one holding every other sound within it — restated in verse through the image of written words, which enter everywhere and yet arrive nowhere at all.
One Samādhi, Countless Distinct Sounds
The dharma-wheel's origin turns out to be a single samādhi rather than a place: from it, sounds equal in number to every sentient being arise at once, each one already holding every other sound within it — an answer the verse recap then reframes through written words that reach every reader yet never actually travel anywhere.
「復次，佛子！菩薩摩訶薩欲知如來所轉法輪，應知如來法輪所出生處。何等為如來法輪所出生處？佛子！如來隨一切眾生心行欲樂無量差別，出若干音聲而轉法輪。佛子！如來、應、正等覺有三昧，名：究竟無礙無畏，入此三昧已，於成正覺一一身、一一口，各出一切眾生數等言音，一一音中眾音具足，各各差別而轉法輪，令一切眾生皆生歡喜。能如是知轉法輪者，當知此人則為隨順一切佛法；不如是知，則非隨順。佛子！諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知佛轉法輪，普入無量眾生界故。」爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩欲重明此義而說頌言：
"Furthermore, sons of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to know the tathāgata's turning of the dharma-wheel should know the place from which the tathāgata's dharma-wheel is born. What is the place from which the tathāgata's dharma-wheel is born? Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata, according to the measureless differences in the mental activity and desires of every sentient being, produces however many sounds are needed and turns the dharma-wheel through them. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one, has a samādhi named ultimate, unobstructed fearlessness; having entered this samādhi, from each and every body and each and every mouth of his perfect awakening, he produces spoken sounds equal in number to every sentient being, and within each single sound every other sound is fully present, each one distinct from the others, and through them he turns the dharma-wheel, causing every sentient being to give rise to joy. Whoever can know the turning of the dharma-wheel in this way should be recognized as one who accords with every buddha-dharma; whoever does not know it in this way does not accord with it. Sons of the Buddha! Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know the Buddha's turning of the dharma-wheel in just this way, because it enters universally into the measureless realms of sentient beings." At that time, wishing to restate this meaning once more, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Samantabhadra spoke these verses:
「如來法輪無所轉，三世無起亦無得，譬如文字無盡時，十力法輪亦如是。
如字普入而無至，正覺法輪亦復然，入諸言音無所入，能令眾生悉歡喜。
佛有三昧名究竟，入此定已乃說法，一切眾生無有邊，普出其音令悟解。
一一音中復更演，無量言音各差別，於世自在無分別，隨其欲樂普使聞。
文字不從內外出，亦不失壞無積聚，而為眾生轉法輪，如是自在甚奇特。
"'The tathāgata's dharma-wheel turns nothing at all; in the three times it neither arises nor is it ever attained; just as there is no time when written words are exhausted, the dharma-wheel of the one of ten powers is likewise so.
Just as written characters enter everywhere yet arrive nowhere, the dharma-wheel of perfect awakening is likewise so: entering every spoken sound while entering nowhere at all, and yet able to bring every sentient being to complete joy.
The Buddha has a samādhi named the ultimate; having entered this concentration, he then expounds the dharma; sentient beings are without limit, and he universally produces his voice to bring them to understanding.
Within each and every sound he further expounds measureless spoken sounds, each one distinct from the others; sovereign and free throughout the world, without any discrimination, he causes every being to hear according to their own desire.
Written words come from neither within nor without, and are neither lost nor destroyed nor accumulated, and yet for the sake of sentient beings he turns the dharma-wheel through them — such sovereign freedom is exceedingly rare and wondrous.'"
文字不從內外出，亦不失壞無積聚 — written words come from neither within nor without, and are neither lost nor destroyed nor accumulated. The comparison to written language is unusually concrete for this chapter's similes: a book is neither used up by being read nor does its meaning pile up anywhere inside the reader, and the text uses this ordinary fact about writing to make an otherwise abstract claim — that teaching can be given without ever being depleted or stored — immediately recognizable rather than merely asserted.
Part 675 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty-two. Part 676 opens the chapter's final section, on the tathāgata's own great nirvāṇa, beginning with ten declarations that his nirvāṇa is identical to suchness, ultimate reality, the dharma-realm, and empty space itself.