Chapter 37 and Fascicle 52 Conclude
Countless bodhisattvas arrive from beyond world-systems too numerous to state, sent by a tathāgata named Universal Banner of Sovereign Freedom, to confirm that this exact teaching — the same words, the same meaning — is being spoken everywhere in the cosmos at once; Samantabhadra closes the entire chapter with one final verse naming this dharma the foremost treasure in the world, and a charge to hold it and never grow heedless.
Witnesses From Every Direction, a Final Charge
A second, even vaster wave of bodhisattvas arrives to testify that this teaching is identical everywhere it is spoken, before Samantabhadra takes the floor one last time to compress the entire chapter — domain, conduct, awakening, teaching, nirvāṇa, and roots of goodness — into four closing verses and a single instruction: hold this, and do not be heedless.
爾時，十方諸佛威神力故，毘盧遮那本願力故，法如是故，善根力故，如來起智不越念故，如來應緣不失時故，隨時覺悟諸菩薩故，往昔所作無失壞故，令得普賢廣大行故，顯現一切智自在故，十方各過十不可說百千億那由他佛剎微塵數世界外，各有十不可說百千億那由他佛剎微塵數菩薩來詣於此，充滿十方一切法界，示現菩薩廣大莊嚴，放大光明網，震動一切十方世界，壞散一切諸魔宮殿，消滅一切諸惡道苦，顯現一切如來威德，歌詠讚歎如來無量差別功德法，普雨一切種種雨，示現無量差別身，領受無量諸佛法，以佛神力各作是言：「善哉！佛子！乃能說此如來不可壞法。佛子！我等一切皆名：普賢，各從普光明世界普幢自在如來所而來於此，彼一切處亦說是法，如是文句，如是義理，如是宣說，如是決定，皆同於此，不增不減。我等皆以佛神力故，得如來法故，來詣此處為汝作證。如我來此，十方等虛空遍法界一切世界諸四天下亦復如是。」
"At that time, through the majestic power of every buddha in the ten directions, through the power of Vairocana's own original vow, because the dharma is naturally so, through the power of wholesome roots, because the tathāgata's arising wisdom never strays from a single thought, because the tathāgata responds to conditions without ever missing the right moment, in order to awaken every bodhisattva according to the occasion, because what was done in ages past is never lost or spoiled, in order to bring about Samantabhadra's own vast practice, and in order to manifest the sovereign freedom of all-knowing wisdom, from beyond world-systems as numerous as the dust-motes of ten unspeakably many hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands in each of the ten directions, bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust-motes of ten unspeakably many hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands each came to this very place, filling every dharma-realm in the ten directions, manifesting the bodhisattvas' own vast adornments, releasing a great net of light, shaking every world-system in the ten directions, breaking apart and scattering every palace of every demon, extinguishing the suffering of every evil destiny, manifesting the majestic virtue of every tathāgata, singing out in praise of the tathāgata's measureless and distinct qualities and dharmas, raining down every kind of rain everywhere, manifesting measureless distinct bodies, and receiving the measureless dharma of every buddha; and, through the Buddha's own spiritual power, each spoke these words: "Excellent, excellent! Son of the Buddha! You have been able to expound this indestructible dharma of the tathāgata. Son of the Buddha! Every one of us shares the single name Samantabhadra, and we have each come here from the presence of the tathāgata Universal Banner of Sovereign Freedom, in the world-system of Universal Light. In every one of those places this very dharma is likewise being spoken — the same words, the same meaning, the same manner of proclamation, the same certainty — all entirely identical to what is spoken here, neither increased nor decreased in the slightest. Through the Buddha's own spiritual power, and because we have attained the tathāgata's dharma, we have all come to this very place to bear witness for you. Just as we have come here, it is likewise so throughout every world and every set of four continents in every world-system pervading the dharma-realm, equal in extent to empty space itself, in all ten directions."
爾時，普賢菩薩承佛神力，觀察一切菩薩大眾，欲重明如來出現廣大威德，如來正法不可沮壞，無量善根皆悉不空，諸佛出世必具一切最勝之法，善能觀察諸眾生心，隨應說法未曾失時，生諸菩薩無量法光，一切諸佛自在莊嚴，一切如來一身無異，從本大行之所生起，而說頌言：
「一切如來諸所作，世間譬諭無能及，為令眾生得悟解，非諭為諭而顯示。
如是微密甚深法，百千萬劫難可聞；精進智慧調伏者，乃得聞此祕奧義。
若聞此法生欣慶，彼曾供養無量佛，為佛加持所攝受，人天讚歎常供養。
此為超世第一財，此能救度諸群品，此能出生清淨道，汝等當持莫放逸。」
At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, upheld by the Buddha's own spiritual power, surveyed the whole great assembly of bodhisattvas, and, wishing to restate once more the vast, majestic virtue of the tathāgata's own appearance — that the tathāgata's true dharma can never be destroyed, that measureless roots of goodness are never wasted, that every buddha who appears in the world is necessarily complete with every supreme dharma, that he is skillfully able to observe the minds of every sentient being and teach the dharma according to the occasion without ever missing the right moment, that he gives rise to measureless dharma-light for every bodhisattva, that every buddha's own sovereign adornment and every tathāgata's single body are without any difference at all, and that all of this arises from his own original vast practice — spoke these verses:
"'Nothing done by any tathāgata can ever be matched by any simile in the world; only for the sake of bringing sentient beings to understanding is what is not truly a simile displayed as though it were one.
A dharma this subtle, this hidden, and this profound is difficult to hear even across hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands of kalpas; only those diligent, wise, and well-disciplined come to hear this secret and hidden meaning.
Whoever hears this dharma and gives rise to joy has already made offerings to measureless buddhas in the past, is sustained and embraced by the buddhas' own empowerment, and is praised and constantly honored by both humans and devas.
This is the foremost treasure surpassing the world; this alone is able to rescue and deliver every kind of being; this alone is able to give rise to the path of purity — you should all uphold it, and never grow heedless.'"
如是文句，如是義理，如是宣說，如是決定，皆同於此，不增不減 — the same words, the same meaning, the same manner of proclamation, the same certainty — all entirely identical to what is spoken here, neither increased nor decreased in the slightest. The chapter closes by insisting on its own exact, word-for-word repeatability across every world-system in the cosmos — a final, striking claim for a chapter that spent forty-odd parts establishing that the tathāgata's domain, conduct, and awakening are themselves without any fixed place at all: even a teaching this groundless is declared to arrive intact, letter for letter, wherever it is heard.
Part 682 Complete — Chapter 37 and Fascicle 52 Complete
This completes 如來出現品第三十七, "The Tathāgata's Appearance," and fascicle fifty-two of eighty. Part 683 opens fascicle fifty-three and chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, "Detachment from the World" — a new assembly gathered in the same hall, with countless bodhisattvas each already assured of awakening within a single lifetime.