Ten Samādhis at the Bodhimaṇḍa
The prince, the girl, and ten thousand attendant women travel together to the bodhimaṇḍa and behold the newly awakened buddha, his mind like a deep, still pool. After making lavish offerings and hearing him expound the Sūtra of the Universal Gate's Lamp of Light, the prince attains, all at once, an ocean of ten named samādhis.
Beholding the Buddha, Hearing the Sūtra, Attaining Ten Samādhis
「時,彼太子與此女俱,并一萬采女出香芽園,各乘寶車,往詣道場,下車步進,遙見如來相好嚴身,其心澄淨,如鏡淵渟,諸根調伏猶如象王,心大歡喜,踊躍無量。與采女眾往詣佛所,頭面禮足,恭敬供養,遶無數匝,各持五百眾妙寶華,供散彼佛,為彼如來興立五百眾香樓閣,雜寶嚴飾。時,彼如來為說普門燈明修多羅,聞說經已,於一切法中得三昧海,所謂:諸佛願海三昧、普照三世光藏三昧、對見一切諸佛三昧、普照一切眾生三昧、普照世界海淨智燈光明三昧、普照眾生根海智光明三昧、救護眾生光雲三昧、教化眾生現前智燈明三昧、聞持諸佛法輪三昧、具普賢行淨雲三昧,於一切法中得如是等諸三昧海。」
"At that time, the prince, together with this girl, and ten thousand attendant women, set out from the garden of Fragrant Sprout, each riding in a jeweled carriage, and went to the bodhimaṇḍa. Descending from their carriages, they advanced on foot, and, from afar, beheld the tathāgata, his body adorned with every auspicious mark, his mind clear and pure, like a deep, still pool reflected in a mirror, his every faculty subdued and tamed like the king of elephants; their own minds rejoiced greatly, leaping for joy without measure. Together with the attendant women, they went to where the buddha was, bowed their heads to his feet in reverence, made offerings, and circled him countless times, each holding five hundred sublime, jeweled flowers, which they offered and scattered over that buddha, and, for that tathāgata, they raised up five hundred fragrant pavilions, adorned with every kind of jewel. At that time, that tathāgata expounded for them the Sūtra of the Universal Gate's Lamp of Light, and, having heard this sūtra expounded, the prince attained, within every dharma, an ocean of samādhis, namely: the samādhi of the ocean of every buddha's own vow; the samādhi of the treasury of light universally illumining the three times; the samādhi of beholding every buddha face to face; the samādhi of universally illumining every sentient being; the samādhi of the light of the lamp of pure wisdom universally illumining the ocean of worlds; the samādhi of the light of wisdom universally illumining the ocean of sentient beings' own faculties; the samādhi of the cloud of light that rescues and protects sentient beings; the samādhi of the lamp of wisdom manifesting directly before one, teaching and transforming sentient beings; the samādhi of hearing and upholding the wheel of every buddha's own Dharma; and the samādhi of the pure cloud fully endowed with Samantabhadra's own practice. Within every dharma, he attained this whole ocean of samādhis such as these."
The journey that opened this whole ancient account — a courtship on a garden road — arrives here at its actual destination: not a wedding, but a buddha's own presence. The ten samādhis the prince attains are named as a single unbroken chain, from a buddha's own vow to Samantabhadra's own practice, received directly from hearing one sūtra — the same pattern of instantaneous, total attainment this collection has used at several of its deepest teachers' own root-stories.
Part 171 In Progress
The prince's own attainment is complete. Part 172 turns to the girl's own attainment at this same encounter, and the prince's return home to tell his father the news.
Continue to Part 172 →