Wishing Only for Your Compassionate Mercy
The vast hymn reaches its close: sentient beings, dharmas, tathāgatas, vows, and worlds all equal, the three times entirely equal; wisdom-activity proclaimed across uncountable kalpas that can never be exhausted; and Sudhana's own final couplet, joining his palms before the eldest son of every buddha, Maitreya of unobstructed conduct, wishing only for his compassionate mercy.
The Three Times, Entirely Equal
「觀察眾生等， 法等如來等，
願等世界等， 三世悉平等。
佛子住此堂， 教化諸群生，
供養諸如來， 思惟諸法界。
無量智慧業， 滿足諸大願，
無數劫演說， 不可得窮盡。
一切諸佛子， 具足無量德，
安住此法堂， 我合掌敬禮。
諸佛之長子， 彌勒無礙行，
我今合掌禮， 唯願慈矜愍。」
"Contemplating sentient beings as equal, dharmas as equal, tathāgatas as equal,
Vows as equal, worlds as equal — the three times are all entirely equal.
The child of the Buddha, abiding in this hall, teaches and transforms every multitude of beings,
Makes offerings to every tathāgata, and contemplates every dharma-realm.
Boundless wisdom-activity, fulfilling every great vow —
Proclaimed across uncountable kalpas, it can never be exhausted.
Every child of the Buddha, endowed with boundless virtue,
Abides in this Dharma-hall — I join my palms in reverent worship.
The eldest son of every buddha, Maitreya of unobstructed conduct —
I now join my palms in worship, wishing only for your compassionate mercy."
The penultimate stanza's declaration of total equality — beings, dharmas, buddhas, vows, and worlds, the three times entirely equal — arrives as this hymn's own final theoretical statement before Sudhana's voice turns, in its last two stanzas, from description to direct address and worship. Fazang reads the closing plea, "wishing only for your compassionate mercy," as marking the hymn's own completed purpose: everything praised across more than fifty stanzas has been building toward this simple final request, made now that Sudhana stands at the very threshold of actually meeting the one he has just so extensively described.
Part 299 Complete — The Vast Hymn Concludes
Sudhana's own extraordinary hymn — more than fifty stanzas praising the tower and Maitreya — is now complete in full, closing this stretch of the sūtra's fifty-eighth fascicle. Part 300 turns to what Sudhana has been waiting for throughout this entire hymn: Maitreya himself, finally seen approaching from a distance with an immense retinue.
Continue to Part 300 →