"That Jeweled Maiden Is None Other Than Myself"
The identification closes: the girl's own mother is Gopā's own mother now, the king's retinue is that buddha's own present assembly, and the jeweled maiden who once offered the buddha Supreme Sun-Light a fourfold gift, together with the wheel-turning king, is none other than Gopā herself. After that buddha's parinirvāṇa, sixty koṭis of nayutas of buddhas arose in that same world — and their names, in full, now begin.
Every Remaining Identity, and Gopā's Own
「爾時，女母善現者，今我母善目是也。王眷屬者，彼如來所大眾是也。皆悉具足普賢諸行，成就大願，清淨法身，普照世間，其心無壞，逮得菩薩諸三昧門，以清淨眼皆悉對見一切諸佛、一切如來，以虛空等妙音聲雲轉正法輪，悉聞受持，於諸法中得自在力，出入息頃遍遊一切諸佛世界；以微妙音為眾生說法，而未曾離一切佛所，盡未來劫，修菩薩行，隨所應化，悉為現身。爾時，離垢妙德寶女共增上功德主轉輪王四事供養勝日光佛者，我身是也。彼佛滅度後，其世界中有六十百千億那由他佛出興于世，其最初佛號明淨身；」
"At that time, the girl's mother, Sublimely Manifest, is none other than my own mother, Sublime Eye, now. The king's own retinue is none other than that tathāgata's own great assembly, in this present life — every one of them already fully endowed with Samantabhadra's own every practice, having accomplished the great vow, their Dharma-body pure, universally illumining the world, their minds indestructible; having attained the bodhisattva's own every samādhi-gate, with a pure eye they behold, face to face, every buddha and every tathāgata; through a sublime voice, a cloud equal to empty space, they turn the wheel of the true Dharma, entirely hearing and upholding it; within every dharma, they attain sovereign power, and, within the space of a single breath, range throughout every buddha's own world; with a sublime, subtle voice, they expound the Dharma for sentient beings, and yet have never once departed from the presence of any buddha; throughout every kalpa yet to come, they cultivate the bodhisattva's own practice, manifesting a body according to whoever is fit to be transformed.
"At that time, the girl, Stainless, Sublime Virtue, the jeweled maiden, who, together with the wheel-turning king, Lord of Supreme Merit, made the fourfold offering to the buddha Supreme Sun-Light, is none other than myself. After that buddha's own parinirvāṇa, within that same world, sixty hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddhas arose in the world; the very first buddha was named Bright, Pure Body;"
Gopā's own identification of herself completes the full set of figures this account has followed since its opening scene: the prince who courted her is Śākyamuni himself, and the girl who once refused, then accepted, that courtship on the strength of a dream is Gopā, speaking of her own distant past directly to Sudhana now. The scale that follows — sixty hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddhas, an almost unrepresentable number, each one about to be named individually rather than merely counted — is this teacher's own answer to just how long "how long has it been" actually turns out to mean.
Part 178 In Progress
The identification is complete, and the great buddha-list has begun. Part 179 carries the remaining forty-five names in full, none abbreviated, closing on the very last buddha of that entire kalpa.
Continue to Part 179 →