Innumerable Gateways of Teaching
Entering the very samādhi shown to them, these bodhisattvas manifest bodhisattvas from every light emerging from every pore, and through them open gateway after gateway of teaching, from the impermanence of heavenly palaces to the six pāramitās themselves.
A Life Renounced for a Single Word
Among these gateways, one recalls the classic image at the heart of countless jātaka tales: the bodhisattva who renounces countless bodies and lives, life after life, for the sake of hearing even a single word or phrase of the true dharma.
爾時，彼諸菩薩，以佛三昧光明照故，即時得入如是三昧，一一皆得不可說佛剎微塵數大悲門，利益安樂一切眾生；於其身上一一毛孔，皆出不可說佛剎微塵數光明；一一光明，皆化現不可說佛剎微塵數菩薩。其身形相如世諸主，普現一切眾生之前，周匝遍滿十方法界，種種方便教化調伏，或現不可說佛剎微塵數諸天宮殿無常門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數一切眾生受生門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數一切菩薩修行門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數夢境門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數菩薩大願門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數震動世界門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數分別世界門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數現生世界門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數檀波羅蜜門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數一切如來修諸功德種種苦行尸波羅蜜門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數割截肢體羼提波羅蜜門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數勤修毘梨耶波羅蜜門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數一切菩薩修諸三昧禪定解脫門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數佛道圓滿智光明門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數勤求佛法為一文一句故捨無數身命門，或現不可說佛剎微塵數親近一切佛諮問一切法心無疲厭門，……。
At that time, those bodhisattvas, illuminated by the light of the Buddha's own samādhi, immediately entered into this very samādhi, each and every one attaining unspeakably many gateways of great compassion, as numerous as motes of dust in every buddha-land, benefiting and bringing peace to every sentient being; from every single pore upon their own bodies, unspeakably many lights emerged, as numerous as motes of dust in every buddha-land; and from every single one of these lights, unspeakably many bodhisattvas were manifested, as numerous as motes of dust in every buddha-land. Their own bodily forms resembled every ruler of the world, universally appearing before every sentient being, encircling and pervading the entire dharma-realm in the ten directions, teaching and taming beings through every kind of skillful means — manifesting, in some cases, unspeakably many gateways showing the impermanence of every heavenly palace; in other cases, gateways showing every sentient being's own taking of birth; in other cases, gateways showing every bodhisattva's own practice; in other cases, gateways showing the domain of dreams; in other cases, gateways showing the bodhisattvas' own great vows; in other cases, gateways showing the shaking of worlds; in other cases, gateways showing the differentiation of worlds; in other cases, gateways showing worlds coming into birth; in other cases, gateways showing the pāramitā of giving; in other cases, gateways showing every tathāgata's own cultivation of merit through every kind of ascetic practice, the pāramitā of moral discipline; in other cases, gateways showing limbs being cut away, the pāramitā of patience; in other cases, gateways showing diligent cultivation, the pāramitā of vigor; in other cases, gateways showing every bodhisattva's own cultivation of every samādhi, meditative absorption, and liberation; in other cases, gateways showing the light of wisdom perfecting the buddha's own path; in other cases, gateways showing the diligent seeking of the buddha's own dharma, renouncing countless bodies and lives for the sake of even a single word or phrase; and in other cases, gateways showing drawing close to every buddha and inquiring about every dharma with a mind never wearied or fatigued, ……
勤求佛法為一文一句故捨無數身命門 — a gateway showing the diligent seeking of the buddha's own dharma, renouncing countless bodies and lives for the sake of even a single word or phrase. This image echoes the sūtra's own oldest and most famous stories of past sacrifice — the bodhisattva who gives up an entire lifetime, over and over, in exchange for hearing just one line of true teaching, folded here into a single named gateway among unspeakably many.
Part 883 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-one. Part 884 continues this same list of gateways, turning to wisdom-based gateways for knowing the differences among every sentient being's own faculties, afflictions, and karma.