The Dharma-Gate Attained at Last
Gopā, once more the king's own consort, hears the final buddha of that kalpa expound the Sūtra of the Lamp of the Tathāgata's Own Nature Arising, and attains the very Dharma-gate she has held ever since. Yet even after cultivating it across kalpas as numerous as motes of dust, meeting buddhas beyond counting, she admits she still cannot fully know the great bodhisattvas' own form and mind.
The Sūtra of the Tathāgata's Own Nature Arising
「佛子！爾時，彼佛初成正覺，入城教化，我時為王夫人，與彼大王恭敬、供養，聞彼佛說如來性起燈修多羅，聞已，得淨智眼，又得觀察菩薩三昧海法門。」
"Child of the Buddha, at that time, when that buddha first attained the most correct awakening and entered the city to teach and transform beings, I was, at that time, the king's own consort, and, together with that great king, reverenced and made offerings to him; hearing that buddha expound the Sūtra of the Lamp of the Tathāgata's Own Nature Arising, having heard it, I attained the pure eye of wisdom, and further attained the Dharma-gate of discerning and contemplating the whole ocean of every bodhisattva's own samādhi."
This single sentence answers, at last, Sudhana's own original question from many parts ago — how long has it been since Gopā raised the mind of awakening, and, more specifically, how she came to hold the very Dharma-gate she named at that question's opening: "discerning and contemplating the whole ocean of every bodhisattva's own samādhi." It was here, at the presence of the final buddha of an entire kalpa of sixty koṭis of nayutas, hearing a sūtra on the tathāgata's own nature arising, that this attainment first occurred — a single moment now finally located after a story that has spanned an ancient prince's courtship, a king's abdication, and forty-six named buddhas.
Boundless Further Kalpas, and a Limit Still Admitted
「佛子！我得此法門已，於世界微塵等劫受持修習，是諸劫中，值無量佛出興于世，我悉恭敬供養。佛子！我或一劫值一如來出興于世，恭敬供養，或二、或三、或不可說；或於一劫，值世界微塵等佛出興于世，我悉恭敬供養，而未能知諸大菩薩身量像貌及其身業、心行、智慧三昧境界。」
"Child of the Buddha, having attained this Dharma-gate, throughout kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in every world, I have upheld and cultivated it; within those kalpas, I met boundless buddhas arising in the world, and reverenced and made offerings to every one of them. Child of the Buddha, in some kalpas I met a single tathāgata arising in the world, and reverenced and made offerings to him; in others, two, or three, or an unspeakable number; and in some kalpas, I met buddhas as numerous as motes of dust in every world arising in the world, and reverenced and made offerings to every one of them — and yet I have still not been able to know the great bodhisattvas' own bodily measure and form, nor their own bodily karma, mental conduct, or the state of their own wisdom and samādhi."
Even after everything just recounted — an entire ancient kalpa's worth of buddhas, then further kalpas beyond counting spent cultivating this very Dharma-gate — Gopā's own account ends not in completion but in a stated limit: she has still not been able to know "the great bodhisattvas' own bodily measure and form," nor their inner life. This is the same humility this collection's deepest teachers repeat at the close of their own testimony, and it sets up directly what the account turns to next: what Gopā actually can say about beholding bodhisattvas, however incompletely.
Part 180 In Progress
The Dharma-gate's own origin is now fully told. Part 181 turns to what Gopā does know — the joy she feels beholding bodhisattvas in practice, and the boundless worlds she beholds within each and every one of their own pores.
Continue to Part 181 →