Part 127 of the collection · Teacher 39 of 53: Sublime Virtue, Perfect and Full (6 of ~20) · Fascicle 55 of 60 · T278

Ten Lights at the Moment of Birth

The deva's account names, by name, the mother who will one day come to this garden: Lady Māyā, coming forth from Kapilavastu to give birth to the prince. At that moment, ten kinds of light will naturally appear, each illumining the minds of boundless, measureless sentient beings with the light of the Dharma.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 127 of 454 complete Source: Taishō T278, 入法界品第三十四 (Buddhabhadra, Eastern Jin) Reading notes after Fazang's 華嚴經探玄記 (T1733)

Ten Kinds of Light

Chinese Source

「佛子!摩耶夫人出迦毘羅城,入此園林,生太子時,自然而有十種光明;因此光故,一切眾生得法光明。何等為十?所謂:寶芽藏光;一切香光;鉢曇摩光;出微妙聲讚善生光;十方菩薩初發心光;一切菩薩得入諸地自在法光;一切菩薩諸波羅蜜大智慧光;出生菩薩無量大智願光;方便化度眾生智光;普照一切法界諸佛,受胎出生,棄家學道,成正覺光。佛子!是為十種光明,此光普照無量無邊諸眾生心。」

Ru-Yi Translation

"Child of the Buddha, when Lady Māyā comes forth from the city of Kapilavastu, enters this garden, and gives birth to the prince, there will naturally be ten kinds of light; because of this light, every sentient being will attain the light of the Dharma. What are these ten? Namely: the Light of the Treasury of the Jeweled Sprout; the Light of Every Fragrance; the Light of the Padma Flower; the Light of Giving Forth a Sublime, Subtle Voice Praising a Good Birth; the Light of the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Directions First Raising the Mind; the Light of Every Bodhisattva Attaining Sovereign Entry into Every Ground; the Light of the Great Wisdom of Every Bodhisattva's Own Pāramitās; the Light of the Vow of Boundless Great Wisdom That Gives Rise to Bodhisattvas; the Light of the Wisdom of Skillful Means That Transforms and Delivers Sentient Beings; and the Light of Universally Illumining Every Buddha of the Whole Dharma-Realm, Receiving Conception, Being Born, Leaving the Household, Studying the Path, and Attaining the Most Correct Awakening. Child of the Buddha, these are the ten kinds of light, and this light universally illumines the minds of boundless, measureless sentient beings."

Reading note — after Fazang

Fazang names this the second of his three ten-item divisions: 二明生時有十光明 — "second, revealing the ten lights at the moment of birth." Where the ten signs of the previous part described transformations of the forest itself — ground, trees, water, the assembly of onlookers — this list turns to light alone, and its final item is the most telling: a single light that illumines "every buddha of the whole Dharma-realm, receiving conception, being born, leaving the household, studying the path, and attaining the most correct awakening" — the entire arc of a buddha's own life, compressed into one light shining at the very instant of birth, before any of the rest has happened.

Part 127 In Progress

Ten signs at the descent, and now ten lights at the birth, are both complete. Part 128 turns to the third and final set of ten — the forms of sovereign mastery Māyā herself displays in the act of taking rebirth — beginning with the great assembly gathering to witness it.

Continue to Part 128 →