Verses from Below
The ninth bodhisattva, Wisdom King of Valiant Courage Who Breaks Through Every Obstruction, arriving from below, turns from cosmic scale to something more intimate: how rare it is, across measureless kalpas, even to hear a buddha's own name, and what it means for an ordinary person simply to look upon him.
Even a Name Is Hard to Hear
Rather than describing the Buddha's own inconceivable domain, these verses measure the sheer rarity of any contact with him at all — hearing his name across measureless kalpas, gazing on his form without ever growing weary, and the simple, transformative act of seeing him with a mind that responds.
爾時，破一切障勇猛智王菩薩，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
無量億千劫，
佛名難可聞；
況復得親近，
永斷諸疑惑！
如來世間燈，
通達一切法，
普生三世福，
令眾悉清淨。
如來妙色身，
一切所欽歎，
億劫常瞻仰，
其心無厭足。
若有諸佛子，
觀佛妙色身，
必捨諸有著，
迴向菩提道。
如來妙色身，
恒演廣大音，
辯才無障礙，
開佛菩提門；
曉悟諸眾生，
無量不思議，
令入智慧門，
授以菩提記。
如來出世間，
為世大福田，
普導諸含識，
令其集福行。
若有供養佛，
永除惡道畏，
消滅一切苦，
成就智慧身。
若見兩足尊，
能發廣大心；
是人恒值佛，
增長智慧力。
若見人中勝，
決意向菩提；
是人能自知，
必當成正覺。
At that time, Wisdom King of Valiant Courage Who Breaks Through Every Obstruction Bodhisattva, sustained by the Buddha's own spiritual power, surveyed the ten directions and spoke these verses:
Throughout measureless hundreds of millions of kalpas, even a buddha's own name is difficult to hear; how much more difficult, then, to draw close to him and forever cut off every doubt!
The tathāgata, the lamp of the world, fully penetrates every dharma, universally giving rise to merit across the three times, causing every being to become entirely pure.
The tathāgata's own wondrous form-body is revered and praised by all; gazing upon it for hundreds of millions of kalpas, the mind is never satiated or wearied.
If there are any buddha's children who behold the Buddha's own wondrous form-body, they will surely relinquish every attachment to existence, and dedicate themselves toward the path of awakening.
The tathāgata's own wondrous form-body constantly proclaims a vast, great sound, its eloquence unobstructed, opening the buddha's own gate of awakening;
awakening every sentient being, measurelessly and inconceivably, causing them to enter the gateway of wisdom, and bestowing upon them the prediction of awakening.
The tathāgata appears in the world as the world's own great field of merit, universally guiding every sentient being, causing them to accumulate meritorious practice.
If there is anyone who makes offerings to the Buddha, they forever remove the fear of the lower realms, extinguish every suffering, and accomplish a body of wisdom.
If one sees the Honored One Among Bipeds and is able to give rise to a vast, great mind, that person will constantly encounter buddhas, and their power of wisdom will continually grow.
If one sees the Most Excellent One Among Humans and resolves with determination toward awakening, that person will be able to know for themselves that they will certainly attain perfect awakening.
無量億千劫，佛名難可聞 — throughout measureless hundreds of millions of kalpas, even a buddha's own name is difficult to hear. After nine sets of verses describing the Buddha's own domain in cosmic, often unfathomable terms, this ninth bodhisattva opens instead with scarcity itself — a reminder that everything this fascicle has shown is not merely vast, but exceedingly rare to ever encounter at all.
Part 865 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty. Part 866 turns to the tenth and final bodhisattva of this sequence, whose verses close fascicle sixty entirely, declaring a willingness to endure every hell rather than ever be parted from hearing the Buddha's own name.