A Kalpa Named Supreme Light-Brightness
Sudhana asks how long ago Gopā raised the mind of awakening. Her answer opens an entirely new ancient account: a kalpa named Supreme Light-Brightness, a world named Free from Fear, a royal capital called Sumeru of the Tree of Sublime Virtue, a king named Lord of All Treasures, and his crown prince, Lord of Supreme Merit, riding out in splendor toward a garden at Fragrant-Sprout Mountain.
A Question, and a Prince Rides Out
善財白言：「大聖！發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心來，其已久如？」
答言：「佛子！乃往古世，過世界微塵等劫，有劫名勝光明。時，有世界名離恐怖。彼世界中有四天下，彼閻浮提中有一王都，名妙德樹須彌山，於八十王都最為殊勝。彼有王，名一切寶主。有六萬采女、五百大臣、五百王子，端正勇健，摧伏怨敵。其王太子，名增上功德主。顏貌殊勝，相好嚴身，與萬采女俱，持妙幢蓋，散眾寶華，作諸妓樂，乘妙寶車，詣香芽山，遊戲園林。
Sudhana said: "Great sage, since you raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, how long has it been?"
She answered, saying: "Child of the Buddha, in ages long past, beyond kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in every world, there was a kalpa named Supreme Light-Brightness. At that time, there was a world named Free from Fear. Within that world, there were four continents, and within that Jambudvīpa, there was a royal capital, named Sumeru of the Tree of Sublime Virtue, the most excellent of eighty royal capitals. There was a king there, named Lord of All Treasures, who had sixty thousand attendant women, five hundred great ministers, and five hundred princes, upright and valiant, subduing every hostile enemy. That king's own crown prince was named Lord of Supreme Merit. His countenance was supreme, his body adorned with every auspicious mark; together with ten thousand attendant women, holding sublime banners and canopies, scattering every kind of jeweled flower, making every kind of music, he rode in a sublime, jeweled carriage, and went to Fragrant-Sprout Mountain, to wander and play within its garden."
Sudhana's question here — how long has it been since the raising of the mind of awakening — is the very same question this collection's deepest teachers have each been asked in turn, and the answer follows the same pattern each time: not a number of years, but an entire ancient narrative, opened through the same telescoping address this collection has used throughout — a kalpa, a world, a land, a capital, a king. This is a fresh account, distinct from every ancient backstory told so far, and its opening scene — a crown prince riding out from his own capital toward a garden — echoes the very posture of Prince Siddhārtha's own excursions before renunciation, a resonance this collection has used deliberately at other teachers as well.
Part 153 In Progress
The prince has set out for the garden. Part 154 turns to what he finds there: a mother and daughter along the road, and a prince suddenly overcome with desire at the sight of the girl.
Continue to Part 154 →