The Deity's Own Vow
Stainless-Banner attains the most correct awakening. Seeing this, the bodhimaṇḍa's own deity, Kind-Sublime-Virtue, is filled with boundless joy and makes a vow: to be that wheel-king's own mother through every life until he reaches buddhahood. Māyā then reveals who these figures were — the deity was herself, and the wheel-king was the tathāgata Vairocana.
"This Wheel-King, Until He Attains Buddhahood, I Shall Be His Mother"
「……時，彼菩薩得成正覺；時，道場神見此事已，歡喜無量，發如是願：此轉輪王乃至成佛，我為其母。善男子！我曾於彼道場，供養十那由他佛。善男子！彼道場神，豈異人乎？我身是也。轉輪王者，盧舍那佛是也。」
"… At that time, that bodhisattva attained the most correct awakening; at that time, the bodhimaṇḍa's own deity, having seen this happen, was filled with boundless joy, and made this very vow: 'This wheel-turning king — until he attains buddhahood, I shall be his mother.' Good man, I, at that very bodhimaṇḍa, made offerings to ten nayutas of buddhas. Good man, could that bodhimaṇḍa deity have been anyone else? It was I myself. And that wheel-turning king was none other than the tathāgata Vairocana."
The vow's own wording — "until he attains buddhahood, I shall be his mother" — is deliberately open-ended, a commitment spanning every future rebirth rather than one, and this ancient-kalpa scene is offered as its origin: the single moment the whole motherhood now spanning the entire Bhadrakalpa's own 178 buddhas first began. Fazang reads the identification "that bodhimaṇḍa deity... was I myself" as the account's own proof that a vow of this kind, once made with full sincerity at a single bodhimaṇḍa, is sufficient cause for a career of motherhood extending across kalpas that follow.
Part 218 In Progress
The vow's origin and the identity of its two figures are now revealed. Part 219 turns to Māyā's own account of how this vow has continued unbroken ever since — to every buddha whose light has touched her own body and palace.
Continue to Part 219 →