Without Ever Leaving a Single Seat
The hymn's own refrain shifts: a standalone stanza on manifesting before every being without leaving one's seat, like sun and moon, extinguishing māra's own hooks; then a new refrain begins, "the child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall" — sending forth boundless transformation-bodies, traveling to every tathāgata across boundless kalpas, and entering every meditative absorption thought by thought.
A New Refrain: "The Child of the Buddha, Abiding in This Hall"
「不離一坐處， 普現眾生前，
如明淨日月， 除滅魔鉤餌。
佛子住此堂， 哀愍諸群生，
出無量化身， 充滿諸法界。
佛子住此堂， 遍遊諸世界，
一切如來所， 無量無數劫。
無依入此堂， 稱量佛境界，
無量無數劫， 其心無厭倦。
佛子住此堂， 念念入諸定，
一一三昧門， 顯現佛境界。
"Without ever leaving a single seat, universally manifesting before every sentient being,
Like the bright, pure sun and moon, he extinguishes māra's own hooks and bait.
The child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall, in compassion for every multitude of beings,
Sends forth boundless transformation-bodies, filling the entire dharma-realm.
The child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall, universally travels through every world,
To the presence of every tathāgata, across boundless, uncountable kalpas.
Relying on nothing, he enters this hall, weighing and measuring the buddha's own domain,
Across boundless, uncountable kalpas, his mind never once wearied or weary.
The child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall, within thought after thought enters every meditative absorption,
Each and every samādhi-gate manifesting the buddha's own domain."
The hymn's own refrain has now shifted position twice — first ending each stanza with "abides in this Dharma-hall," now opening several stanzas with "the child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall" — a structural variation Fazang reads as the hymn's own way of avoiding monotony across dozens of stanzas praising a single subject. The claim that Maitreya travels to every tathāgata "without ever leaving a single seat" restates, in verse, the same principle of presence-without-displacement that Sudhana's own prose reflection worked through at length just before this hymn began.
Part 296 In Progress
Forty stanzas are now given. Part 297 continues with knowing every buddha-name across the three times, and holding every kalpa as a single thought without confusion.
Continue to Part 297 →