Ten Thousand Buddhas, and a King's Own Dungeons
The account finally opens in a kalpa named Virtuous Light, where ten thousand buddhas arise in a single world. The very first attains awakening, but the long-lived people around him practice the ten evils regardless, awaiting their own roots of goodness to ripen. In a specific royal capital within this same world, a king governs justly by law — and his own dungeons fill with those who break it.
A Kalpa Named Virtuous Light, and Ten Thousand Buddhas
「佛子！菩薩智慧雖復如是甚深難測，我當承佛神力，為汝解說，令未來世諸菩薩等滿足大願，成就諸力。佛子！乃往古世過世界海微塵等劫，復過是數有劫名善光，彼有世界名曰寶光。於彼劫中，有萬如來出興于世，最初如來號法輪音聲虛空燈，彼閻浮提中，有寶莊嚴王都，彼有大林名善光明。於此林中有一道場名曰善華；彼道場上，有寶蓮花師子之座，時，彼如來於此座上，成阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。爾時，人民壽十千歲，殺盜、婬佚、妄言、兩舌、惡口、綺語、貪恚、邪見，行如是等十不善道；時，彼如來於百歲中，坐於道場，為諸菩薩及諸天王并閻浮提宿植德者，而為說法，其餘眾生，待善根熟。
爾時，國王名曰勝光，時，彼人民行十不善，貪著五欲，作種種惡，遠離善法，不孝父母，不敬沙門、婆羅門，有無量眾生犯王治法，囚執囹圄，受諸楚毒。」
"Child of the Buddha, though the bodhisattva's own wisdom is thus profound and difficult to fathom, I shall, upholding the buddha's own spiritual power, explain it for you, so that the bodhisattvas of future ages may fulfill the great vow and accomplish every power. Child of the Buddha, in ages long past, beyond kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in every ocean of worlds, and beyond this number still, there was a kalpa named Virtuous Light, and there was a world named Jeweled Light. Within this kalpa, ten thousand tathāgatas arose in the world, and the very first tathāgata was named the Empty-Space Lamp of the Sound of the Dharma-Wheel. Within this Jambudvīpa there was a royal capital named Jeweled Adornment, and there was a great forest named Sublime, Bright Light. Within this forest there was a bodhimaṇḍa, named Sublime Flower; at this bodhimaṇḍa, there was a lion-throne of a jeweled lotus flower, and at that time this tathāgata, upon this very throne, attained unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. At that time, the people lived ten thousand years, and practiced killing, stealing, lustful indulgence, false speech, the double tongue, harsh speech, idle chatter, greed and hatred, and wrong view — practicing the ten unwholesome paths such as these. At that time, this tathāgata, throughout a hundred years, sat at the bodhimaṇḍa, expounding the Dharma for the sake of every bodhisattva, every deva-king, and those within Jambudvīpa who had long planted virtue, while the remaining sentient beings awaited the ripening of their own roots of goodness.
"At that time, there was a king of the country, named Supreme Light. At that time, the people practiced the ten unwholesome deeds, greedily attached to the five desires, committing every kind of evil, departing far from wholesome dharmas, unfilial to their own parents, disrespectful toward śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas; there were boundless sentient beings who violated the king's own governing law, imprisoned in dungeons, undergoing every torment."
Fazang gives the whole account that follows an unusually detailed outline before it even begins: 二乃往正說所說中二：先長行、後偈頌。前中三：先明善光劫中供佛修行、二明日光劫中供佛修行、三結塵數劫中供佛修行。初中有二：初明於最初佛所修行得法、二轉生值餘佛。初中有十四段 — "second, the actual account proper, in two parts: first prose, then verse. Within the prose, three parts: first, cultivation and offering to buddhas within the kalpa of Virtuous Light; second, within the kalpa of Sunlight; third, concluding kalpas beyond counting. Within the first, two parts: first, practice and attainment at the very first buddha's own presence; second, rebirth to meet further buddhas. Within the first of these, there are fourteen sections." What this part translates covers the first two of these fourteen: 一古佛出世；二昔人造惡 — "first, the ancient buddha arising in the world; second, people of that time committing evil" — with a king and a specific royal capital now introduced as well, setting the exact stage where the narrative proper is about to unfold.
Worth noting plainly: the buddha's own awakening and his people's persistence in the ten evils are given side by side, without any sense of contradiction resolved between them. Ten thousand years is how long these people live; a hundred years is how long the buddha teaches "those who had long planted virtue," while "the remaining sentient beings awaited the ripening of their own roots of goodness" — a patience measured in lifetimes far longer than any single teaching could hope to complete.
Part 111 In Progress
A kalpa has opened with ten thousand buddhas, a first awakening, and a people who commit evil despite it — narrowing at last onto a specific king, a specific city, and dungeons filling with those who broke his law. Part 112 turns to a prince who hears their cries.
Continue to Part 112 →