Fascicle Sixty Ends
The tenth and final bodhisattva of this sequence closes fascicle sixty with its most devotional verses yet: a willingness to endure every hell for countless kalpas rather than ever be parted from the sound of the Buddha's own name, or the sight of his own face.
Rather Hell With the Buddha Than Ease Without Him
Four consecutive stanzas repeat the same structure — rather this suffering than that abandonment — building toward a vow more extreme than anything in the nine verse-sets before it: countless kalpas in every hell, chosen freely, on the sole condition of never losing sight or sound of the Buddha.
爾時，法界差別願智神通王菩薩，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
釋迦無上尊，
具一切功德；
見者心清淨，
迴向大智慧。
如來大慈悲，
出現於世間，
普為諸群生，
轉無上法輪。
如來無數劫，
勤苦為眾生；
云何諸世間，
能報大師恩？
寧於無量劫，
受諸惡道苦；
終不捨如來，
而求於出離。
寧代諸眾生，
備受一切苦；
終不捨於佛，
而求得安樂。
寧在諸惡趣，
恒得聞佛名；
不願生善道，
暫時不聞佛。
寧生諸地獄，
一一無數劫；
終不遠離佛，
而求出惡趣。
何故願久住，
一切諸惡道？
以得見如來，
增長智慧故。
若得見於佛，
除滅一切苦；
能入諸如來，
大智之境界。
若得見於佛，
捨離一切障；
長養無盡福，
成就菩提道。
如來能永斷，
一切眾生疑，
隨其心所樂，
普皆令滿足。
At that time, Dharma-Realm Differentiation Vow-Wisdom Spiritual-Superknowledge King Bodhisattva, sustained by the Buddha's own spiritual power, surveyed the ten directions and spoke these verses:
Śākyamuni, the unsurpassed, honored one, is endowed with every kind of merit; the mind of anyone who sees him becomes pure, and turns toward great wisdom.
The tathāgata's own great compassion causes him to appear in the world, turning the unsurpassed wheel of dharma universally for the sake of every living being.
The tathāgata, across countless kalpas, has diligently endured hardship for the sake of sentient beings; how, then, could any world ever repay the Great Teacher's own kindness?
I would rather, throughout measureless kalpas, endure every suffering of the lower realms, than ever abandon the tathāgata in order to seek my own release.
I would rather take upon myself every suffering on behalf of every sentient being, than ever abandon the Buddha in order to seek my own ease.
I would rather remain within every lower realm of existence while constantly hearing the Buddha's own name, than be reborn in a fortunate realm and, even for a moment, not hear of the Buddha.
I would rather be born into every hell, each one for countless kalpas, than ever be distanced from the Buddha in order to seek escape from the lower realms.
Why would I wish to dwell so long within every lower realm of existence? Because, through being able to see the tathāgata there, my own wisdom continues to grow.
If one is able to see the Buddha, every suffering is extinguished; one becomes able to enter the domain of every tathāgata's own great wisdom.
If one is able to see the Buddha, every obstruction is relinquished; one's own inexhaustible merit is nurtured and grows, and the path of awakening is brought to accomplishment.
The tathāgata is able to forever cut off every doubt of every sentient being, and, according to what each of their own hearts delights in, universally brings every one of them to complete satisfaction.
寧生諸地獄，一一無數劫；終不遠離佛，而求出惡趣 — I would rather be born into every hell, each one for countless kalpas, than ever be distanced from the Buddha in order to seek escape from the lower realms. This is the furthest point the vow reaches: not merely accepting suffering as a cost of staying near the Buddha, but preferring hell itself, freely, over any liberation that would come at the price of separation from him.
Part 866 Complete — Fascicle 60 Complete
This concludes fascicle sixty of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品 — the sūtra's final and longest chapter, spanning fascicles sixty through eighty — continues directly into fascicle sixty-one, where Part 867 will resume the same chapter without interruption.