Twenty-One Gates for Calling the Buddha to Mind
Virtue-Cloud calls his own attainment a single dharma-gate — and then unfolds it into twenty-one distinct doors, each one a different way of holding every buddha in mind: through light, through time, through eons, through a single hair's tip holding tathāgatas beyond counting.
One Gate Unfolds into Twenty-One
What Virtue-Cloud earlier called "this dharma-gate" turns out, on inspection, to already be twenty-one — each one a distinct mode of calling every buddha to mind, moving from wisdom's light and every sentient being's own delight, through abiding in power, time, eons, and lands, to a single hair's tip where unspeakably many tathāgatas appear at once.
「善男子！我唯得此憶念一切諸佛境界智慧光明普見法門，豈能了知諸大菩薩無邊智慧清淨行門？所謂：智光普照念佛門，常見一切諸佛國土種種宮殿悉嚴淨故；令一切眾生念佛門，隨諸眾生心之所樂，皆令見佛得清淨故；令安住力念佛門，令入如來十力中故；令安住法念佛門，見無量佛，聽聞法故；照耀諸方念佛門，悉見一切諸世界中等無差別諸佛海故；入不可見處念佛門，悉見一切微細境中諸佛自在神通事故；住於諸劫念佛門，一切劫中常見如來諸所施為無暫捨故；住一切時念佛門，於一切時常見如來，親近同住不捨離故；住一切剎念佛門，一切國土咸見佛身超過一切無與等故；住一切世念佛門，隨於自心之所欲樂普見三世諸如來故；住一切境念佛門，普於一切諸境界中見諸如來次第現故；住寂滅念佛門，於一念中見一切剎一切諸佛示涅槃故；住遠離念佛門，於一日中見一切佛從其所住而出去故；住廣大念佛門，心常觀察一一佛身充遍一切諸法界故；住微細念佛門，於一毛端有不可說如來出現，悉至其所而承事故；住莊嚴念佛門，於一念中見一切剎皆有諸佛成等正覺現神變故；住能事念佛門，見一切佛出現世間放智慧光轉法輪故；住自在心念佛門，知隨自心所有欲樂，一切諸佛現其像故；住自業念佛門，知隨眾生所積集業，現其影像令覺悟故；住神變念佛門，見佛所坐廣大蓮華周遍法界而開敷故；住虛空念佛門，觀察如來所有身雲莊嚴法界、虛空界故。而我云何能知能說彼功德行？
"Good son! I have attained only this dharma-gate of calling to mind the wisdom-light that universally beholds every buddha's own state — how could I possibly know and speak fully of the boundless wisdom and pure practice-gates of every great bodhisattva? Namely: the gate of calling the buddha to mind through wisdom's light universally shining, because I constantly see every kind of palace within every buddha's own land, entirely adorned and pure; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by causing every sentient being to do the same, because, according to whatever each sentient being's own mind delights in, I cause every one of them to see the buddha and attain purity; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by causing abiding in power, because I cause entry into the tathāgata's own ten powers; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by causing abiding in the dharma, because I see measureless buddhas and hear and listen to the dharma; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by illuminating every direction, because I see entirely the ocean of every buddha, equal and without difference, throughout every world; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by entering places that cannot ordinarily be seen, because I see entirely the self-mastered spiritual deeds of every buddha within every subtle and minute realm; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding throughout every eon, because throughout every eon I constantly see everything the tathāgata does, without ever once abandoning it; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding at every time, because at every time I constantly see the tathāgata, drawing near and dwelling together with him without ever departing; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in every land, because in every land I see entirely the buddha's own body, surpassing all and without equal; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in every era, because, according to whatever my own mind delights in, I universally see every tathāgata of the three times; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in every state, because I universally see every tathāgata manifesting one after another within every state; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in quiescence, because in a single thought-moment I see every buddha in every land manifesting nirvāṇa; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in departure, because in a single day I see every buddha departing from wherever he dwells; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in vastness, because my mind constantly observes every single buddha's own body filling and pervading the entire dharma-realm; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in the minute, because upon the very tip of a single hair, unspeakably many tathāgatas appear, and I go entirely to every one of them to attend and serve; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in adornment, because in a single thought-moment I see every land filled with buddhas accomplishing true enlightenment and manifesting spiritual transformations; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in capable deeds, because I see every buddha appearing in the world, emitting the light of wisdom, and turning the dharma-wheel; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in a self-mastered mind, because I know that, according to whatever my own mind delights in, every buddha manifests his own image accordingly; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in one's own karma, because I know that, according to whatever karma sentient beings have accumulated, buddhas manifest their own reflected image to bring them to awakening; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in spiritual transformation, because I see the vast lotus flower upon which the buddha sits blossoming open throughout the entire dharma-realm; the gate of calling the buddha to mind by abiding in empty space, because I observe the tathāgata's own cloud-like body adorning the entire dharma-realm and the realm of empty space. And how could I possibly know and speak of that meritorious practice?
於一毛端有不可說如來出現，悉至其所而承事故 — upon the very tip of a single hair, unspeakably many tathāgatas appear, and I go entirely to every one of them to attend and serve. This fifteenth gate names the same scale-defying image found throughout this sūtra: the smallest imaginable point of space, and inside it, a number of buddhas beyond speech itself — and Virtue-Cloud claims to personally visit and serve every one of them.
Part 904 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 905 turns to Virtue-Cloud's own admission that even this is not enough, and to the naming of Good-Wealth's second teacher: the monk Ocean-Cloud, in the country of Ocean-Gate.