Ten Kinds of Speech, Purifying Speech-Karma, Protection
Ten kinds of speech move from gentle and ambrosial to speech no wrong word has ever touched, even in a dream; ten kinds of purifying speech-karma follow with concrete practices, from praising the buddha with music and song to giving up one's own body to receive the dharma from a teacher; and these ten practices, the text says, earn ten distinct kinds of protection in return.
Speech That Earns Its Own Protection
This is one of the few places in the chapter where the text draws an explicit line between cause and reward: the ten purifying speech-karmas are named, and then declared to yield ten specific kinds of protection in return — every host of devas, nāgas, and other beings, each under their own king, and finally every dharma-teacher under the tathāgata himself.
佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種語。何等為十？所謂：柔軟語，使一切眾生皆安隱故；甘露語，令一切眾生悉清涼故；不誑語，所有言說皆如實故；真實語，乃至夢中無妄語故；廣大語，一切釋、梵、四天王等皆尊敬故；甚深語，顯示法性故；堅固語，說法無盡故；正直語，發言易了故；種種語，隨時示現故；開悟一切眾生語，隨其欲樂令解了故。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得如來無上微妙語。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of speech. What are these ten? Namely: gentle speech, because it brings every sentient being to ease; ambrosial speech, because it makes every sentient being entirely cool and refreshed; undeceiving speech, because every word spoken is exactly as it truly is; truthful speech, because there is no false word even in a dream; vast speech, because Śakra, Brahmā, the four heavenly kings, and every other such being all revere it; profound speech, because it reveals the nature of the dharma; firm speech, because it teaches the dharma inexhaustibly; upright speech, because whatever it says is easy to understand; varied speech, because it manifests according to whatever time is fitting; and speech that awakens every sentient being, because it causes them to understand in accordance with their own delight. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide within this dharma, they attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed, subtle and wondrous speech.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種淨修語業。何等為十？所謂：樂聽聞如來音聲淨修語業；樂聞說菩薩功德淨修語業；不說一切眾生不樂聞語淨修語業；真實遠離語四過失淨修語業；歡喜踊躍讚歎如來淨修語業；如來塔所高聲讚佛如實功德淨修語業；以深淨心施眾生法淨修語業；音樂歌頌讚歎如來淨修語業；於諸佛所聽聞正法不惜身命淨修語業；捨身承事一切菩薩及諸法師而受妙法淨修語業。是為十。「佛子！若菩薩摩訶薩以此十事淨修語業，則得十種守護。何等為十？所謂：天王為首，一切天眾而為守護；龍王為首，一切龍眾而為守護；夜叉王為首，乾闥婆王為首，阿脩羅王為首，迦樓羅王為首，緊那羅王為首，摩睺羅伽王為首，梵王為首，一一皆與自己徒眾而為守護；如來法王為首，一切法師皆悉守護。是為十。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of purifying speech-karma. What are these ten? Namely: purifying speech-karma through delighting in hearing the tathāgata's own voice; purifying speech-karma through delighting in hearing the merits of bodhisattvas spoken of; purifying speech-karma through never speaking any word that no sentient being delights to hear; purifying speech-karma through truthfulness that stays far from the four faults of speech; purifying speech-karma through joyful exultation in praising the tathāgata; purifying speech-karma through praising, in a loud voice at the tathāgata's own stūpa, the buddha's merits exactly as they truly are; purifying speech-karma through giving the dharma to sentient beings with a profoundly pure mind; purifying speech-karma through praising the tathāgata with music and song; purifying speech-karma through hearing the true dharma at the place of every buddha without begrudging body or life; and purifying speech-karma through giving up one's own body to attend upon every bodhisattva and every dharma-teacher, and receiving the wondrous dharma from them. These are the ten. Son of the Buddha! If a bodhisattva-mahāsattva purifies their speech-karma through these ten matters, they attain ten kinds of protection. What are these ten? Namely: protected by every host of devas, led by the king of the devas; protected by every host of nāgas, led by the king of the nāgas; and, each together with their own retinue, protected under the king of the yakṣas, the king of the gandharvas, the king of the asuras, the king of the garuḍas, the king of the kiṃnaras, the king of the mahoragas, and Brahmā; and protected by every dharma-teacher, led by the tathāgata, the king of the dharma. These are the ten.
捨身承事一切菩薩及諸法師而受妙法淨修語業 — purifying speech-karma through giving up one's own body to attend upon every bodhisattva and every dharma-teacher, and receiving the wondrous dharma from them. The tenth and final purifying speech-karma is the most extreme of the ten: where the others involve delighting in, hearing, or praising, this one names giving up the body itself as the price of receiving the wondrous dharma from a teacher.
Part 742 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-six. Part 743 opens ten kinds of great matter accomplished through this protection, and ten kinds of bodhisattva mind, beginning with a mind like the great earth that bears and nurtures every sentient being's roots of goodness.