A Bodhisattva Arrives from Below
The ninth arrival departs from every offering seen so far: nothing visible is raised or sent forth at all. From his own pores, this bodhisattva sends out ten kinds of sound alone, proclaiming the ocean of every bodhisattva's own vows, practices, and pāramitās, and the very moment every tathāgata broke through the army of Māra.
An Offering Made Only of Sound
Every offering up to this point has had some visible form — jewels, garments, light, images. Here, for the first time, the offering is nothing but sound, proclaiming teachings rather than displaying anything: the languages of every sentient being, the vows and practices of every bodhisattva, and the very turning of the wheel of dharma.
下方過不可說佛剎微塵數世界海外有世界，名：一切如來圓滿光普照，佛號：虛空無礙相智幢王。彼佛眾中有菩薩，名：破一切障勇猛智王，與世界海微塵數菩薩俱，來向佛所，於一切毛孔中，出說一切眾生語言海音聲雲，出說一切三世菩薩修行方便海音聲雲，出說一切菩薩所起願方便海音聲雲，出說一切菩薩成滿清淨波羅蜜方便海音聲雲，出說一切菩薩圓滿行遍一切剎音聲雲，出說一切菩薩成就自在用音聲雲，出說一切如來往詣道場破魔軍眾成等正覺自在用音聲雲，出說一切如來轉法輪契經門名號海音聲雲，出說一切隨應教化調伏眾生法方便海音聲雲，出說一切隨時、隨善根、隨願力普令眾生證得智慧方便海音聲雲。到佛所已，頂禮佛足，即於下方化作現一切如來宮殿形像眾寶莊嚴樓閣及一切寶蓮華藏師子之座，著普現道場影摩尼寶冠，與其眷屬結跏趺坐。
At that time, below, beyond an ocean of worlds as numerous as unspeakably many fine motes of dust in every buddha-land, there was a world named Every Tathāgata's Own Perfect Light Universally Illuminating, whose buddha was named Empty-Space Unobstructed-Mark Wisdom Banner King. In that buddha's own assembly there was a bodhisattva named Wisdom King of Valiant Courage Who Breaks Through Every Obstruction, who, together with bodhisattvas as numerous as fine motes of dust in an ocean of worlds, came toward the place where the Buddha was, and from every one of his own pores sent forth: clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of every sentient being's own language; clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of skillful means every bodhisattva has practiced across the three times; clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of skillful means behind every vow a bodhisattva has ever raised; clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of skillful means by which every bodhisattva brings the pure pāramitās to fulfillment; clouds of the sound proclaiming every bodhisattva's own practice, perfected and pervading every buddha-land; clouds of the sound proclaiming the sovereign function every bodhisattva has accomplished; clouds of the sound proclaiming the sovereign function by which every tathāgata went to the site of awakening, broke through the army of Māra, and attained perfect awakening; clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of names of every scriptural gateway through which every tathāgata has turned the wheel of dharma; clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of dharma and skillful means by which sentient beings are taught and tamed exactly as fits each one; and clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of skillful means that, according to the right time, according to each being's own roots of goodness, and according to the power of every vow, universally causes sentient beings to realize wisdom. Having arrived where the Buddha was, they bowed in reverence at his feet, and then, below, conjured a pavilion adorned with a multitude of jewels, manifesting the very forms of every tathāgata's own palace, together with a lion-seat of every kind of jeweled lotus-treasury; wore a maṇi-jewel crown universally manifesting the reflected image of the site of awakening; and sat down cross-legged there together with their own retinues.
出說一切眾生語言海音聲雲 — clouds of the sound proclaiming the ocean of every sentient being's own language. Every prior arrival offered something to be seen; this ninth offering can only be heard, and its first item is language itself — every sentient being's own tongue, held as a single ocean before the sūtra moves on to the vows, practices, and awakening of every bodhisattva and tathāgata.
Part 846 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty. Part 847 turns to the tenth and final direction, above, where a bodhisattva arrives from Śākyamuni's own former world and manifests, within his own body, the entire past history of the Buddha's own practice.