In Verse, an Ancient Buddha and a Prince's Rescue
The night-deva now retells the entire account a second time, in a hymn of thirty-six stanzas. This part carries the first fourteen: an invocation of the buddha's own power, the ancient kalpa of Virtuous Light and its ten thousand buddhas, a capital city and a king, an age gone wayward, and the crown prince's own vow to free the condemned even at the cost of his life.
Seven Stanzas: An Ancient Kalpa, and an Age Gone Wayward
爾時，願勇光明守護眾生夜天欲重明此義，以偈頌曰：
「歡喜恭敬心， 能問甚深法，
我當承佛力， 為汝分別說。
過於不思議， 世界海塵劫，
爾時有一劫， 名曰為善光。
彼時有世界， 名曰為寶光，
於彼世界中， 十千佛興世。
我值彼諸佛， 恭敬悉供養，
於彼如來所， 修習此法門。
爾時有王都， 名曰可愛樂，
廣博悉平正， 種種妙莊嚴。
眾生雜行起， 世界有淨穢，
時彼諸眾生， 多行不善法。
爾時有大王， 號曰為勝光，
正法治天下， 等心於一切。」
At that time, the night-deva Vow-Valor Light, Guardian of Sentient Beings, wishing to make this meaning clear once more, spoke this hymn in verse:
"With a joyful, reverent mind, you have been able to ask of this profound Dharma; I shall now, upholding the buddha's own power, distinguish and explain it for you.
Beyond inconceivable kalpas, as numerous as motes of dust in every ocean of worlds, at that time there was a single kalpa, named Virtuous Light.
At that time there was a world, named Jeweled Light, and within that world, ten thousand buddhas arose in the world.
I met every one of those buddhas, and reverently made offerings to them all; at the presence of those tathāgatas, I cultivated this very Dharma-gate.
At that time there was a royal capital, named Delightful, vast and expansive, entirely level and even, adorned with every kind of sublime ornament.
Sentient beings' mixed conduct arose, and the world held both purity and defilement; at that time, those sentient beings mostly practiced unwholesome dharmas.
At that time there was a great king, named Supreme Light, who governed the whole world with the true Dharma, his mind equal toward all."
Fazang divides the whole thirty-six-stanza hymn into nine movements, and names the first two by exact count: 初一頌承力許說、次六頌古世佛興昔人造惡 — "first, one stanza relying on the buddha's own power and granting to speak; next, six stanzas on the ancient buddha's arising and the people of that age committing evil." Every element the prose account gave in full — the kalpa, the world, the ten thousand buddhas, the royal capital, the wayward age, the king — is compressed here into seven stanzas, restating in verse exactly what was already told at length, a doubling this collection has met at nearly every teacher along the way.
Seven Stanzas: The Prince's Vow to Die for the Condemned
「彼王有太子， 號名曰善伏，
端嚴甚姝妙， 相好莊嚴身。
時彼諸人民， 有犯王法者，
幽閉在牢獄， 太子悉救之。
爾時諸臣等， 俱白大王言，
太子欲危王， 宜應加苦治。
時王用臣言， 如法治太子，
諸臣送太子， 至彼刑戮處。
王后聞此已， 來白大王言，
願聽十五日， 布施修功德。
時王即聽許， 令其修福業，
肴膳車乘等， 隨欲悉給之。
所期日已盡， 將至刑戮處，
彼時一切眾， 悲感悉號泣。」
"That king had a crown prince, named Excellently Subdued, upright and dignified, exceedingly graceful, his body adorned with every auspicious mark.
At that time, among the people, there were those who had violated the king's own law, and were shut away in prison; the prince rescued every one of them.
At that time, the ministers all together said to the great king: 'The prince intends to endanger the king; he ought to be punished severely.'
At that time, the king heeded the ministers' words, and, according to the law, sentenced the prince; the ministers escorted the prince to the place of execution.
Having heard of this, the queen came and said to the great king: 'I beg you to grant fifteen days, that he may give in charity and cultivate merit.'
At that time, the king at once granted this, allowing him to cultivate meritorious deeds; food and drink, carriages, and every such thing, were given to him entirely as he wished.
When the appointed days had come to their end, and he was about to be brought to the place of execution, the whole assembly, at that time, was moved to grief, and every one of them wept aloud."
Fazang names the third movement of the hymn simply: 次七頌太子悲救代命 — "next, seven stanzas on the prince's compassionate rescue, offering his own life in their place." The verse compresses ten separate prose steps — the prince's rescue, the ministers' sentence, the king's fury, the queen's plea, the reprieve, the almsgiving, and the final procession — into seven stanzas that move at exactly the prose account's own pace, ending, as the prose did, on an entire assembly in tears at the very edge of an execution the reader already knows a buddha is about to interrupt.
Part 118 In Progress
The prince stands at the brink of execution, and the whole assembly weeps. Part 119 continues the hymn: the buddha arrives, teaches, and the prince attains this very Dharma-gate — followed by two brief stanzas closing out the tallies of ten thousand buddhas and kalpas beyond counting.
Continue to Part 119 →