The Assembly's Shared Reflection Begins
Without a single word spoken aloud, the great bodhisattvas, the śrāvakas, and the world-rulers all think the very same thought at once: that no deva or human anywhere can penetrate, enter, believe, understand, or even bear the tathāgata's own domain — except through ten specific powers the sūtra names one by one — and from that shared thought arises a single, unvoiced request that the Buddha reveal everything.
A Single Thought, Shared by Everyone at Once
The sūtra does not describe individual bodhisattvas or śrāvakas wondering separately; it describes the entire assembly — every rank of it, from the great bodhisattvas down to the world-rulers and their retinues — thinking the identical thought in the same instant, a single reflection large enough to hold every mind present without any of them needing to speak it aloud.
時，諸菩薩大德、聲聞、世間諸王并其眷屬，咸作是念：「如來境界、如來智行、如來加持、如來力、如來無畏、如來三昧、如來所住、如來自在、如來身、如來智，一切世間諸天及人無能通達、無能趣入、無能信解、無能了知、無能忍受、無能觀察、無能揀擇、無能開示、無能宣明、無有能令眾生解了，唯除諸佛加被之力、佛神通力、佛威德力、佛本願力，及其宿世善根之力、諸善知識攝受之力、深淨信力、大明解力、趣向菩提清淨心力、求一切智廣大願力。
"At that time, the great bodhisattvas, the śrāvakas, and the world-rulers of the world, together with their retinues, all alike thought this thought: 'The tathāgata's own domain, the tathāgata's own wisdom-conduct, the tathāgata's own empowerment, the tathāgata's own power, the tathāgata's own fearlessness, the tathāgata's own samādhi, the tathāgata's own abiding, the tathāgata's own sovereign freedom, the tathāgata's own body, the tathāgata's own wisdom — no deva or human throughout the entire world is able to penetrate it, able to enter into it, able to believe and understand it, able to fully know it, able to bear it, able to observe it, able to discern it, able to reveal it, able to proclaim it clearly, or able to cause any sentient being to comprehend it, except only through the power of the buddhas' own empowerment, the power of a buddha's own spiritual superknowledge, the power of a buddha's own awesome virtue, the power of a buddha's own original vow, and the power of one's own roots of goodness planted in ages past, the power of being embraced by every good, wise friend, the power of deep and pure faith, the power of great, bright understanding, the power of a mind pure and directed toward awakening, and the power of the vast vow to seek all-knowing wisdom.
唯願世尊隨順我等及諸眾生種種欲、種種解、種種智、種種語、種種自在、種種住地、種種根清淨、種種意方便、種種心境界、種種依止如來功德、種種聽受諸所說法，顯示如來往昔趣求一切智心、往昔所起菩薩大願、往昔所淨諸波羅蜜、往昔所入菩薩諸地、往昔圓滿諸菩薩行、往昔成就方便、往昔修行諸道、往昔所得出離法、往昔所作神通事、往昔所有本事因緣，及成等正覺、轉妙法輪、淨佛國土、調伏眾生、開一切智法城、示一切眾生道、入一切眾生所住、受一切眾生所施、為一切眾生說布施功德、為一切眾生現諸佛影像；如是等法，願皆為說！」
We only wish that the World-Honored One, according with our own and every sentient being's own various desires, various understandings, various wisdoms, various languages, various sovereign freedoms, various stages of abiding, various purities of faculty, various skillful means of intention, various domains of mind, various ways of relying on the tathāgata's own merit, and various ways of listening to and receiving whatever dharma is spoken, would reveal the tathāgata's own mind that once sought all-knowing wisdom in ages past, the great vow that the bodhisattva once aroused in ages past, every pāramitā once purified in ages past, every bodhisattva ground once entered in ages past, every bodhisattva practice once brought to fulfillment in ages past, the skillful means once accomplished in ages past, every path once cultivated in ages past, the dharma of renunciation once attained in ages past, the deeds of spiritual superknowledge once performed in ages past, and every one of the original causes and conditions belonging to ages past, together with the attainment of perfect awakening, the turning of the wondrous wheel of dharma, the purification of buddha-lands, the taming of sentient beings, the opening of the city of all-knowing wisdom's own dharma, showing every sentient being the path, entering into wherever every sentient being dwells, receiving whatever every sentient being offers, expounding for every sentient being the merit of giving, and manifesting for every sentient being the reflected image of every buddha — dharmas such as these, we wish that all of them be spoken!'"
咸作是念 — all alike thought this thought. No one in this assembly speaks first, proposes the question, or persuades the others to agree; the sūtra simply states that every mind present — bodhisattva, śrāvaka, world-ruler, and retinue alike — arrived at the identical reflection simultaneously, the request that follows arising from that shared thought rather than from any single speaker within it.
Part 833 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty. Part 834 opens the Buddha's silent response to this collective thought, as the great pavilion at Jetavana begins to transform into a scene of cosmic scale.