Ten Hymns of Praise
Each of the ten bodhisattvas who arrived from the ten directions in Part 3 now raises a hymn of ten verses, moving from the inconceivability of a single step the Tathāgata takes, through similes of sun, moon, ocean, and jewel, to a bodhisattva's own vow to bear every being's suffering in their place.
The First Five Hymns
爾時,明淨願光明菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「瞻察堅固人, 菩提難思議,祇洹林顯現, 無量自在法。如來神力持, 顯現無量德,世間悉迷惑, 不知諸佛法。法王甚深法, 無量難思議,顯現大變化, 一切莫能測。如來莊嚴相, 讚歎不可盡,以法無相故, 宣明一切佛。最勝於祇洹, 顯現自在力,甚深不可議, 遠離語言道。觀察無量德, 菩薩眾雲集,不思議剎來, 供養於最勝。悉滿諸大願, 常修無礙行,一切諸世間, 莫能知其心。一切諸緣覺, 無量大聲聞,皆悉不能知, 菩薩行境界。菩薩大智慧, 一切莫能壞,遠離諸亂想, 究竟深智地。最大名稱人, 深入無量定,顯現自在力, 充滿諸法界。」
爾時,不可壞精進勢王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「瞻察真佛子, 功德智慧藏,究竟菩薩道, 安隱諸世間。無量智明鑒, 禪定心不動,智慧甚深廣, 境界不可測。閑靜祇洹林, 無量妙莊嚴,菩薩皆充滿, 悉依正覺住。無量大眾海, 一切無所著,十方來會此, 處華師子座。除滅眾虛妄, 一切無所染,離垢無礙心, 究竟諸法界。建立智慧幢, 不動如金剛,諸法無變化, 示現無量變。一切十方界, 無量億佛剎,悉能遍往詣, 而亦不分身。瞻仰釋師子, 無量力自在,以佛威神故, 十方大眾集。佛子悉究竟, 一切語言道,佛法不可壞, 安住法界地。法性不可壞, 牟尼甚深法,句身及味身, 分別無窮盡。」
爾時,無上普妙德王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「瞻察堅固人, 智慧廣圓滿,善知時非時, 為眾演說法。遠離諸外道, 調伏諸論師,隨其所應化, 為現自在力。正覺非量法, 亦非無量法,牟尼悉超越, 有量無量法。譬如明淨日, 除滅一切闇,導師智亦然, 普照三世法。譬如十五日, 圓滿明淨月,最勝亦如是, 白淨法圓滿。譬如虛空中, 淨日光明耀,普照於一切, 佛自在亦然。譬如虛空性, 一切無障礙,世間燈如是, 自在無障礙。譬如大地性, 能持諸群生,世間燈法輪, 能持亦如是。譬如大風性, 飄疾無障礙,佛法亦如是, 速遍諸世間。譬如大水輪, 世界所依住,智慧輪亦然, 三世佛所依。」
爾時,無礙妙德藏王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「譬如大寶山, 饒益諸群生,如來功德山, 饒益亦如是。譬如大海水, 清涼而澄淨,如來亦如是, 能除熱渴愛。譬如須彌山, 安峙於大海,如來山亦然, 安住深法海。譬如大海中, 能出一切寶,無師智亦然, 覺難覺無難。導師甚深智, 無量無有數,顯現自在力, 無能思議者。譬如工幻師, 示現種種事,佛智亦如是, 現諸自在力。譬如如意珠, 能滿一切意,最勝亦如是, 悉滿諸淨願。譬如明淨寶, 悉能照一切,導師智如是, 普照一切法。譬如隨方寶, 正住諸方現,無礙燈亦然, 諸法於中現。譬如淨水珠, 澄清諸濁水,見佛亦如是, 諸根悉清淨。」
爾時,法界善化願月王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「譬如青寶珠, 能青一切色,若有見佛者, 皆悉同菩提。一一微塵中, 最勝現自在,悉能淨無量, 無邊諸菩薩。逮得甚深法, 種種莊嚴事,唯諸菩薩境, 世間莫能測。具足諸莊嚴, 如來淨妙行,成就菩薩道, 深入諸法界。正覺所示現, 不可思議剎,一切現在佛, 菩薩悉充滿。釋師子成就, 無量自在法,示現大神變, 無量無有邊。菩薩種種行, 無量無有邊,如來自在力, 為之悉顯現。佛子善修學, 甚深諸法界,成就無礙智, 明了一切法。如來威神力, 為眾轉法輪,出生勝功德, 令世悉清淨。如來淨境界, 甚深圓滿智,實智大龍王, 度脫一切眾。」
Pure and Radiant Light of Vows Bodhisattva (from the east):
Beholding one so firm and steadfast, awakening beyond all thought — Jetavana here made manifest, the boundless Dharma of sovereign mastery.
Sustained by the Tathāgata's own spiritual power, manifesting merit beyond measure — the world is entirely bewildered, unable to know the Dharma of any buddha.
The Dharma-King's own profound Dharma, boundless and beyond all thought, manifests great transformation that nothing at all can fathom.
The Tathāgata's own adorned marks — praised without end — through the Dharma's very markless nature, proclaim and make clear every buddha.
Supreme, here at Jetavana, manifesting sovereign power, so profound it cannot be conceived, forever apart from the path of words.
Beholding merit beyond measure, the bodhisattvas gather like clouds, coming from inconceivable lands to make offering to the Supreme One.
Every great vow fulfilled entirely, constantly cultivating unobstructed practice — no being in any world at all is able to know their mind.
Every pratyekabuddha, every great śrāvaka beyond number — none of them is able to know the bodhisattvas' own domain of practice.
The bodhisattvas' own great wisdom — nothing at all is able to destroy it — forever apart from every scattered thought, reaching the very ground of profound wisdom.
The one of greatest renown, entering deeply into measureless samādhi, manifests sovereign power filling the entire Dharma-realm.
Indestructible King of the Power of Diligence Bodhisattva (from the south):
Beholding the true children of the Buddha, treasury of merit and wisdom, who have reached the very end of the bodhisattva path, bringing peace to every world.
Boundless wisdom clearly discerning, their minds unmoved in meditation, their wisdom so profound and vast that no domain can measure it.
Tranquil and still, Jeta's Grove, adorned beyond measure and marvelously, the bodhisattvas fill it entirely, all abiding in reliance on perfect awakening.
An ocean of assemblies beyond measure, attached to nothing at all, gathered here from the ten directions, seated on flower-thrones like lions.
Every falsehood extinguished, stained by nothing at all, their minds free of stain and unobstructed, reaching the very end of every dharma-realm.
Raising up the banner of wisdom, unmoving as vajra itself — though no dharma ever truly changes, manifesting transformations beyond measure.
Through every world in the ten directions, buddha-lands beyond a hundred million, they are able to go everywhere at once, yet never divide their own body.
Beholding the Lion of the Śākyas, power and sovereignty beyond measure, through the Buddha's own majestic spirit the great assembly of the ten directions gathers.
The Buddha's children have reached the very end of every path of language; the Buddha-dharma cannot be destroyed, abiding on the very ground of the Dharma-realm.
The nature of dharmas cannot be destroyed — the Sage's own profound Dharma — its phrase-body and its flavor-body, discerned without any end at all.
Unsurpassed King of Universal Sublime Virtue Bodhisattva (from the west):
Beholding one so firm and steadfast, wisdom vast and perfectly complete, skillfully knowing the right time from the wrong, expounding the Dharma for the assembly.
Forever apart from every heterodox way, taming every disputant and debater, manifesting sovereign power according to whatever each requires for transformation.
Perfect awakening is neither a measurable dharma nor an immeasurable one — the Sage transcends entirely both the measurable and the immeasurable.
It is like the bright, pure sun, dispelling every kind of darkness — the Guide's own wisdom is exactly the same, universally illumining the Dharma of the three times.
It is like the moon on the fifteenth night, perfectly full, bright and pure — the Supreme One is exactly the same, the white, pure Dharma perfectly complete.
It is like, within the open sky, the pure sun's light shining forth, universally illumining everything — the Buddha's own sovereignty is exactly the same.
It is like the very nature of space, obstructing nothing at all — the world's own lamp is exactly this way, sovereign and free of obstruction.
It is like the very nature of the great earth, able to bear every kind of being — the world's own lamp, the Dharma-wheel, is exactly the same in what it bears.
It is like the nature of the great wind, swift and free of every obstruction — the Buddha-dharma is exactly the same, spreading swiftly through every world.
It is like the great wheel of water, on which every world depends and rests — the wheel of wisdom is exactly the same, that which every buddha of the three times depends upon.
Unobstructed King of the Treasury of Sublime Virtue Bodhisattva (from the north):
It is like a great mountain of jewels, bringing benefit to every being — the Tathāgata's own mountain of merit brings benefit in exactly the same way.
It is like the water of the great ocean, cool and utterly clear — the Tathāgata is exactly the same, able to dispel the thirst of every craving.
It is like Mount Sumeru, standing firm within the great ocean — the Tathāgata's own mountain is exactly the same, abiding within the profound ocean of Dharma.
It is like the great ocean, from which every kind of jewel emerges — wisdom without a teacher is exactly the same, awakening to what is hard to awaken to without any difficulty at all.
The Guide's own profound wisdom, boundless and beyond all number, manifests sovereign power that nothing at all is able to conceive.
It is like a skilled conjurer, manifesting every kind of illusion — the Buddha's own wisdom is exactly the same, manifesting every sovereign power.
It is like a wish-fulfilling jewel, able to satisfy every wish — the Supreme One is exactly the same, fulfilling every pure vow entirely.
It is like a bright, pure jewel, able to illumine everything entirely — the Guide's own wisdom is exactly the same, universally illumining every dharma.
It is like a jewel that takes on the color of whatever surrounds it, manifesting rightly in every direction — the unobstructed lamp is exactly the same, every dharma manifesting within it.
It is like a pure water-clarifying pearl, able to clarify every murky water — seeing the Buddha is exactly the same, every faculty made entirely pure.
King of the Moon of Vows, Skillfully Transforming the Dharma-Realm Bodhisattva (from the northeast):
It is like a blue jewel, able to turn every color blue — whoever beholds the Buddha attains, entirely, the very same awakening.
Within every single mote of dust, the Supreme One manifests sovereign power, able to purify boundless bodhisattvas without measure.
Having attained a Dharma so profound, adorned in every kind of way, it is the domain of the bodhisattvas alone, which no world is able to measure.
Fully endowed with every adornment, the Tathāgata's own pure and sublime practice, accomplishing the bodhisattva path, entering deeply into every dharma-realm.
What perfect awakening manifests, lands beyond all conceiving, every buddha of the present moment, filled entirely with bodhisattvas.
The Lion of the Śākyas has accomplished sovereignty beyond measure, manifesting great miraculous transformation, boundless and without any limit.
The bodhisattvas' every kind of practice, boundless and without any limit, the Tathāgata's own sovereign power manifests every one of them entirely.
The Buddha's children skillfully cultivate the profound Dharma-realm, accomplishing unobstructed wisdom, clearly understanding every dharma.
The Tathāgata's own majestic spiritual power turns the Dharma-wheel for the assembly, giving rise to supreme merit, causing the world to become entirely pure.
The Tathāgata's own pure domain, wisdom profound and perfectly complete — true wisdom, the great Nāga-king, delivers every being across.
Fazang reads all ten hymns as elaborating the single samādhi already entered in Part 2 — the Lion's-Vigor Samādhi — verse by verse, and gives an alternate ten-term reading of the sequence as a whole that runs alongside his more granular, verse-by-verse parsing: 一大福、二大悲、三大定、四五理智、六量智、七悲用、八種智、九鏡智、十慈用 — "first, great merit; second, great compassion; third, great samādhi; fourth and fifth, the wisdom of principle; sixth, the wisdom of measure; seventh, compassion in function; eighth, seed-wisdom; ninth, mirror-wisdom; tenth, kindness in function." On the first hymn specifically, he divides its ten verses into two movements: the first nine praise the samādhi's own function directly — its sovereignty, its profundity, its vastness — while the tenth turns to name what the whole hymn has actually been describing, namely the Lion's-Vigor Samādhi itself, closing the loop back to where Part 2 began. The fourth hymn's opening run of similes — the mountain of jewels, the cool ocean, Sumeru standing firm, the ocean giving forth every treasure — he reads as moving in a fixed order from a general image of benefit given, to compassion cooling craving specifically, to a stability that itself rests within something vast, closing on wisdom "without a teacher" (無師智), a term this site's Yogācāra pages also use for the buddha's own self-arisen realization, needing no other to point the way.
The Remaining Five Hymns
爾時,法義慧焰王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「最勝有三世, 聲聞諸弟子,皆悉不能知, 如來舉足事。去來今現在, 一切諸緣覺,亦復不能知, 如來舉足事。何況世凡夫, 結使所纏縛,愚闇覆淨眼, 而能知導師?最勝無量德, 具足諸智慧,超出語言道, 一切莫能知。譬如明淨月, 光明無能知,導師亦如是, 功德不可議。如來一方便, 出生無量化,無數劫思算, 不能知少分。如來一方便, 出生無量德,一切智正法, 皆悉無能知。若有求菩提, 修習菩薩行,是彼之境界, 所能分別知。不思議方便, 超度生死海,若滅吾我心, 是則能究竟。清淨心無量, 大願悉成滿,逮得佛菩提, 最勝之境界。」
◎爾時,壞散一切眾魔智幢王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「大智無礙身, 非身難思議,如來淨法身, 一切莫能測。不思議行業, 起此清淨身,無量妙莊嚴, 不染於三界。普明照一切, 清淨諸法界,開發菩提門, 出生深定智。永離諸垢染, 除滅一切障,世間明淨日, 普放慧光明。永絕生死流, 悉令三界淨,具足菩薩德, 成就佛菩提。顯現無量色, 於彼無所染,所可現眾色, 一切莫能思。人王勝智慧, 能於念念中,具無量菩提, 一切莫能知,具足無盡智, 一切莫能壞,彼於一念中, 明達三世佛。分別一切業, 正念思菩提,於思而非思, 思法寂滅故,甚深不可說, 遠離語言道,如來從此起, 佛業難思議。」
爾時,明淨願智幢王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「離癡清淨念, 聞持一切法,深慧能分別, 諸佛無盡海。菩薩決定心, 修習菩薩行,出生甚深智, 除滅諸疑惑。其心無疲厭, 遠離於懈怠,常勤修精進, 究竟諸佛法。具足信智慧, 安住不可動,常樂甚深智, 觀察無所著。無量無邊劫, 積集諸功德,專心常迴向, 諸佛甚深法。雖在生死中, 其心無染著,安住諸佛法, 常樂如來行。世間諸所有, 陰界等諸法,無畏悉除斷, 安住佛正法。世間顛倒惑, 生死輪常轉,修習無礙行, 實利益眾生。菩薩行難稱, 一切莫能知,除滅一切苦, 安樂諸群生。善覺菩提智, 普照諸世間,除滅愚癡闇, 度脫一切眾。」
爾時,壞散一切障智慧勢王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「無量無數劫, 佛音難得聞,何況親奉覲, 除滅諸疑惑。如來世間燈, 究竟一切法,無上勝福田, 令眾悉清淨。如來妙色身, 一切莫能思,無量劫諦觀, 其心無厭足。佛子善觀察, 如來妙色身,除滅一切障, 究竟成菩提。如來妙色身, 出生淨妙音,無礙諸辯才, 廣開菩提門。普照一切眾, 無量難思議,建立大乘智, 授以菩提記。功德圓滿日, 出興照世間,長養一切世, 無量功德身。若有值如來, 遠離諸惡道,除滅一切苦, 具足智慧身。若有見如來, 能發無量心,長養無數智, 值遇諸導師。若有見如來, 得定菩提心,能自決定知, 我必成菩提。」
爾時,分別法界智通王菩薩承佛神力,觀察十方,以偈頌曰:「菩薩見如來, 無量淨功德,皆悉善迴向, 究竟一切智。饒益眾生故, 如來出世間,具足大悲心, 為世轉法輪。一切無能報, 大仙普慈恩,不可思議劫, 代眾受苦故。無量億劫中, 受諸地獄苦,不捨一切眾, 悉令得見佛。普能代眾生, 具受無量苦,其心無疲倦, 為度一切故。一切諸世間, 所有惡道苦,如來常處中, 悉令聞正法。一一地獄住, 不可思議劫,具受無量苦, 終不離諸佛。所以無量劫, 常在三惡道,欲令諸群生, 長養智慧故。眾生見如來, 除滅諸苦惱,安立於大智, 一切佛境界。若有見佛者, 除滅一切障,長養功德藏, 究竟成菩提。如來能除滅, 世間諸疑惑,隨其所應化, 悉滿彼大願。」
King of the Flame of Wisdom in the Meaning of the Dharma Bodhisattva (from the southeast):
Even the Supreme One's own śrāvaka disciples, throughout the three times, are none of them able to know what it means for the Tathāgata to lift even a single foot.
Every pratyekabuddha of the past, future, and present is likewise unable to know what it means for the Tathāgata to lift even a single foot.
How much less could any worldly, ordinary being, bound up in every fetter, their pure eye covered by foolish darkness, be able to know the Guide at all?
The Supreme One's merit is boundless, fully endowed with every wisdom, transcending entirely the path of words — nothing at all is able to know it.
It is like the bright, pure moon, whose light nothing is able to fathom — the Guide is exactly the same, his merit beyond all conceiving.
The Tathāgata's own single skillful means gives rise to transformations beyond measure — not even countless eons of calculation could know the smallest part of it.
The Tathāgata's own single skillful means gives rise to merit beyond measure — omniscience, the true Dharma, none of it can be known at all.
If there is one who seeks awakening, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice, it is that one's own domain, able to discern and know it.
Inconceivable skillful means cross beyond the ocean of birth and death; if the thought of "I" is extinguished, then this alone can reach the very end.
A pure mind beyond measure, every great vow entirely fulfilled, attaining the Buddha's own awakening — this alone is the Supreme One's own domain.
King of the Wisdom-Banner Destroying and Scattering Every Māra Bodhisattva (from the southwest):
The great wisdom-body, unobstructed, is not a body — beyond all conceiving; the Tathāgata's own pure Dharma-body — nothing at all is able to measure it.
Inconceivable conduct and karma gives rise to this pure body, adorned marvelously beyond measure, unstained by the three realms.
Universally bright, illumining everything, every dharma-realm made pure, opening the gate of awakening, giving rise to the profound wisdom of samādhi.
Forever apart from every stain and defilement, every hindrance entirely extinguished, the world's own bright, pure sun, everywhere releasing the light of wisdom.
Forever cutting off the stream of birth and death, causing the three realms to become entirely pure, fully endowed with the bodhisattva's own virtue, accomplishing the Buddha's own awakening.
Manifesting form beyond measure, stained by none of it at all — whatever forms it manifests, nothing at all is able to conceive them.
The King of Humans' supreme wisdom, able, in every single thought-moment, to hold boundless awakening — nothing at all is able to know it; fully endowed with inexhaustible wisdom, nothing at all is able to destroy it; in a single thought-moment, clearly understanding every buddha of the three times.
Discerning every kind of karma, mindfully reflecting on awakening, in reflection yet beyond reflection, since the dharma of reflection is itself utterly still; so profound it cannot be spoken, forever apart from the path of words — the Tathāgata arises from exactly this, the Buddha's own karma beyond all conceiving.
King of the Banner of Pure and Radiant Wisdom and Vow Bodhisattva (from the northwest):
A mindfulness free of delusion and pure, hearing and upholding every dharma, profound wisdom able to discern the inexhaustible ocean of every buddha.
The bodhisattva's own resolute mind, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice, gives rise to wisdom profound indeed, extinguishing every doubt.
A mind never wearied or fatigued, forever apart from indolence, constantly and diligently cultivating vigor, reaching the very end of every buddha-dharma.
Fully endowed with faith and wisdom, abiding unmoved and unshakeable, constantly delighting in profound wisdom, contemplating with attachment to nothing at all.
Through eons boundless and without limit, accumulating every kind of merit, single-mindedly and constantly dedicating it to every buddha's own profound Dharma.
Though abiding within birth and death, their mind is stained by nothing at all, abiding in every buddha-dharma, constantly delighting in the Tathāgata's own conduct.
Of everything that exists in the world — the aggregates, elements, and every dharma — every fear is entirely cut away, abiding in the Buddha's own true Dharma.
The world's own inverted delusion, the wheel of birth and death constantly turning — cultivating unobstructed practice truly brings benefit to every being.
The bodhisattva's own conduct cannot be described — nothing at all is able to know it — extinguishing every suffering entirely, bringing peace and joy to every being.
Skillfully awakened to the wisdom of awakening, universally illumining every world, extinguishing the darkness of every folly, delivering every being across.
King of the Power of Wisdom Destroying and Scattering Every Hindrance Bodhisattva (from below):
Through eons boundless and beyond number, the Buddha's own voice is hard indeed to hear — how much more to personally attend him, extinguishing every doubt entirely.
The Tathāgata, lamp of the world, has reached the very end of every dharma, the supreme and excellent field of merit, causing every being to become entirely pure.
The Tathāgata's own sublime, radiant body — nothing at all is able to conceive it — contemplated attentively through boundless eons, the mind never once grows weary of it.
The Buddha's children skillfully contemplate the Tathāgata's own sublime, radiant body, extinguishing every hindrance entirely, reaching the very end, accomplishing awakening.
The Tathāgata's own sublime, radiant body gives rise to a pure, sublime voice, unobstructed eloquence of every kind, opening wide the gate of awakening.
Universally illumining every being, boundless and inconceivable, establishing the wisdom of the Great Vehicle, bestowing the prediction of awakening.
The sun of merit, perfect and complete, arises and illumines the world, nurturing every world, a body of merit beyond measure.
If there is one who encounters the Tathāgata, they leave behind every evil path, extinguishing every suffering entirely, fully endowed with the body of wisdom.
If there is one who beholds the Tathāgata, they are able to raise a mind beyond measure, nurturing wisdom without number, encountering every guide.
If there is one who beholds the Tathāgata, they attain a settled mind of awakening, able themselves to know with certainty: I will surely accomplish awakening.
King of the Penetrating Wisdom Discerning the Dharma-Realm Bodhisattva (from above):
The bodhisattvas behold the Tathāgata's own pure merit beyond measure, dedicating it entirely and skillfully, reaching the very end of omniscience.
For the sake of bringing benefit to every being, the Tathāgata comes forth into the world, fully endowed with a mind of great compassion, turning the Dharma-wheel for the world's sake.
Nothing at all is able to repay the Great Sage's own universal, compassionate kindness — through eons beyond all conceiving, enduring suffering in every being's place.
Through eons beyond a hundred million, undergoing every suffering of the hells, never abandoning any being at all, causing every one of them to behold the Buddha.
Able to undergo suffering in every being's place, bearing every suffering without measure, their mind never once growing weary, for the sake of delivering every being across.
Of every kind of suffering in every evil path, in every world that exists, the Tathāgata constantly dwells among them, causing every being to hear the true Dharma.
Dwelling in every single hell, through eons beyond all conceiving, undergoing suffering without measure, never once departing from any buddha.
And so through eons beyond measure, constantly dwelling in the three evil paths, wishing to cause every being to nurture their own wisdom.
When sentient beings behold the Tathāgata, every affliction is extinguished entirely, established in great wisdom, the domain of every buddha.
If there is one who beholds the Buddha, every hindrance is extinguished entirely, nurturing the treasury of merit, reaching the very end, accomplishing awakening.
The Tathāgata is able to extinguish entirely every doubt in the world, according with whatever each requires for transformation, fulfilling entirely that great vow.
The sixth hymn, from the southwest, breaks the otherwise uniform ten-verse pattern: its seventh and eighth verses each run to eight lines rather than four, and Fazang's own parsing confirms this is deliberate rather than a transmission irregularity, reading the seventh as bringing "King of Humans" wisdom — able to hold boundless awakening in a single thought while remaining indestructible — to its fullest statement before the hymn's closing verse turns to the stillness underlying even the Tathāgata's own reflection.
Fazang reads the tenth and final hymn, from above, as the whole sequence's deliberate climax, and its content bears this out: where hymns one through eight stay largely in similes of light, jewels, and cosmic scale, this final hymn turns concrete and specific — a bodhisattva vowing to undergo the suffering of hell realms, through eons beyond counting, in every being's place, never once abandoning a single one of them. Fazang's own gloss for this hymn reads it as praise of the Buddha's benefit to beings through great compassion's own depth (大悲深厚), and treats its extra, eleventh verse — where the standard ten-verse pattern would normally close — as a deliberate excess, carrying the hymn's own logic one clause further than the pattern requires, matching the way its content also overflows the ordinary bounds of what a bodhisattva's vow is usually described as covering. Ten directions, ten distinct approaches to praising the same samādhi, converge by the tenth hymn on the single image the entire chapter to come will keep returning to at far greater length: a bodhisattva's vow that stops at nothing, including hell itself, for the sake of another being's liberation.
Part 5 Complete
This closes Part 5: all ten bodhisattvas' hymns, each unfolding the Lion's-Vigor Samādhi from a different angle — sovereignty, profundity, the inconceivability of a single step, similes of sun and ocean and jewel — and closing on a vow to bear every being's suffering in their place. Part 6 turns to Samantabhadra himself, who now takes up the teaching directly: a tenfold outline of the Lion's-Vigor Samādhi's own scope, followed by his own verse.
Continue to Part 6 — Samantabhadra Opens the Teaching →