Beyond Every Grain of Dust in Jambudvīpa
The kiṃnara kings close their testimony with a comparison meant to defeat comparison itself, before an entirely different assembly speaks — gods of the desire realm who confess they were once suffering in Avīci hell, saved only when this same fire's light reached even that darkest of places.
A Number That Cannot Be Ground Fine Enough
Grinding every plant and tree in an entire continent to dust would still leave a countable number. The kiṃnara kings use this very image only to declare that what their own palace trees have proclaimed already exceeds it — a number with no known edge at all.
「善男子！假使有人，以閻浮提一切草木末為微塵，此微塵數可知邊際，我宮殿中寶多羅樹乃至樂器所說菩薩名、如來名、所發大願、所修行等，無有能得知其邊際。「善男子！我等以聞佛聲、法聲、菩薩僧聲，生大歡喜，來詣其所。時，婆羅門即為我等如應說法，令我及餘無量眾生於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提得不退轉。」
"Good son, suppose there were a person who ground every plant and tree in Jambudvīpa into fine motes of dust — the number of those motes of dust could still be known to its very limit, but the bodhisattva names, tathāgata names, vows given rise to, and practices cultivated spoken by the jeweled tāla trees and instruments within our own palaces, no one is able to know their limit at all. Good son, because we heard the sound of a buddha's voice, the sound of the dharma, and the sound of the assembly of bodhisattvas, we gave rise to great joy, and came to his place. At that time, the brahmin taught the dharma for us just as was fitting, causing me and every other one of the measureless beings to attain non-retrogression in anuttara-samyak-sambodhi."
Once Suffering in Avīci, Now Gods in the Sky
No testimony so far has traveled as far as this one — gods of the desire realm confessing they were once enduring the torments of Avīci hell itself, saved only when this fire's light reached even that place, carrying them all the way from the deepest suffering to rebirth among the gods.
復有無量欲界諸天，於虛空中，以妙供具，恭敬供養，唱如是言：「善男子！此婆羅門五熱炙身時，其火光明照阿鼻等一切地獄，諸所受苦悉令休息。我等見此火光明故，心生淨信；以信心故，從彼命終，生於天中；為知恩故，而來其所，恭敬瞻仰，無有厭足。時，婆羅門為我說法，令無量眾生發菩提心。」
There were further measureless gods of the desire realm, in the sky above, with wondrous offering implements, reverently making offerings, proclaiming these words: "Good son, when this brahmin was scorching his own body with the five fires, the light of that fire illuminated Avīci and every other hell, causing every suffering endured there to be entirely relieved. Because we saw this fire's light, our minds gave rise to pure faith; because of this faith, when our lives there came to an end, we were reborn among the gods; and because we know this debt of gratitude, we came to his place, reverently gazing up at him, never growing weary or satisfied. At that time, the brahmin taught the dharma for us, causing measureless beings to give rise to the mind of bodhi."
其火光明照阿鼻等一切地獄，諸所受苦悉令休息 — the light of that fire illuminated Avīci and every other hell, causing every suffering endured there to be entirely relieved. Every prior testimony describes a fire seen from the sky, a palace, or the sea. This is the only one to reach the lowest hell directly — the same austerity able to shake Sumeru's summit above also reaches straight down to Avīci below.
Part 974 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 975 turns to Good-Wealth's own response to this entire chorus of testimony — a confession of his own unwholesome thought, and the verse Fierce-Heat speaks in reply.