Twelve Hundred Years with One Dharma-Gate
Ocean-Cloud measures the Universal Eye dharma-gate against an impossible standard — ink made from the ocean, brushes made from Sumeru, and still not one phrase of it could be written down — before describing the twelve hundred years he spent inside it, teaching every class of being that ever came to find him.
Ink from the Ocean, Brushes from Sumeru
To measure the scale of what he received, Ocean-Cloud reaches for the largest materials the cosmos offers — and even then, a single phrase of a single meaning of a single dharma of a single gate of a single chapter could not be captured, let alone the entire teaching.
「我從於彼如來之所聞此法門，受持讀誦，憶念觀察。假使有人，以大海量墨，須彌聚筆，書寫於此普眼法門，一品中一門，一門中一法，一法中一義，一義中一句，不得少分，何況能盡！
"I heard this dharma-gate from that tathāgata, and received, upheld, read, recited, called to mind, and contemplated it. Supposing there were a person who took the great ocean itself as ink, and heaped up Mount Sumeru itself as brushes, to write out this Universal Eye dharma-gate — even a single gate within a single chapter, a single dharma within a single gate, a single meaning within a single dharma, a single phrase within a single meaning, could not be captured even in the smallest part, how much less could the whole of it ever be exhausted!
以大海量墨，須彌聚筆 — took the great ocean itself as ink, and heaped up Mount Sumeru itself as brushes. The two largest things Ocean-Cloud has any personal acquaintance with — the ocean he contemplated for twelve years, the mountain that towers over the world — are recruited here only to demonstrate how small they still are next to this teaching.
Ten Lights, Countless Chapters, Every Class of Being
Twelve hundred years, ten distinct dhāraṇī-lights, and every one of them opening onto countless further chapters — and whoever came to Ocean-Cloud from the ten directions, deva or nāga, human or brahmā, king or ordinary being, received the same teaching, extolled and explained without distinction.
「善男子！我於彼佛所千二百歲，受持如是普眼法門，於日日中，以聞持陀羅尼光明，領受無數品；以寂靜門陀羅尼光明，趣入無數品；以無邊旋陀羅尼光明，普入無數品；以隨地觀察陀羅尼光明，分別無數品；以威力陀羅尼光明，普攝無數品；以蓮華莊嚴陀羅尼光明，引發無數品；以清淨言音陀羅尼光明，開演無數品；以虛空藏陀羅尼光明，顯示無數品；以光聚陀羅尼光明，增廣無數品；以海藏陀羅尼光明，辨析無數品。若有眾生從十方來，若天、若天王，若龍、若龍王，若夜叉、若夜叉王，若乾闥婆、若乾闥婆王，若阿脩羅、若阿脩羅王，若迦樓羅、若迦樓羅王，若緊那羅、若緊那羅王，若摩睺羅伽、若摩睺羅伽王，若人、若人王，若梵、若梵王，如是一切來至我所，我悉為其開示解釋、稱揚讚歎，咸令愛樂、趣入、安住此諸佛菩薩行光明普眼法門。
Good son! At the place of that buddha, for twelve hundred years, I received and upheld this very Universal Eye dharma-gate; and day after day, through the light of the dhāraṇī of retaining what is heard, I received countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of the gate of quiescence, I entered countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of boundless revolving, I universally entered countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of observing according to every ground, I distinguished countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of majestic power, I universally gathered in countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of lotus-flower adornment, I drew out countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of pure speech, I expounded countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of the treasury of empty space, I revealed countless chapters of it; through the light of the dhāraṇī of gathered light, I expanded countless chapters of it; and through the light of the dhāraṇī of the treasury of the ocean, I analyzed and distinguished countless chapters of it. If any sentient beings came from the ten directions — whether devas or deva kings, nāgas or nāga kings, yakṣas or yakṣa kings, gandharvas or gandharva kings, asuras or asura kings, garuḍas or garuḍa kings, kiṃnaras or kiṃnara kings, mahoragas or mahoraga kings, humans or human kings, brahmās or brahmā kings — all such as these who came to my own place, I revealed and explained it entirely for them, extolled and praised it, and caused every one of them to delight in it, enter into it, and abide securely in this light-filled Universal Eye dharma-gate of every buddha's and bodhisattva's own practice.
若天、若天王……若梵、若梵王 — whether devas or deva kings … brahmās or brahmā kings. Ten pairs, each naming both the ordinary member of a class and its own king, cover the entire cosmology of beings capable of hearing dharma — and every single one of them, regardless of rank, receives the identical teaching from Ocean-Cloud.
Part 910 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 911 turns to Ocean-Cloud's own confession that even twelve hundred years and ten dhāraṇī-lights leave him knowing only one dharma-gate, and to the naming of Good-Wealth's third teacher.