Soon to Behold Every Buddha
Maitreya's hymn continues: discerning every Dharma-realm, adorning and purifying the tathāgatas' own lands, and consummating every Dharma — Sudhana ought rightly to rejoice. With valiant cultivation of skillful means, a faith unshakable, he accumulates wondrous merit, perfecting every great vow; before long he will behold every buddha, fully realizing every Dharma, adorning and purifying the buddhas' own lands, and accomplishing the buddha's own bodhi. Following the ocean of dignified conduct to its very end, the ocean of every practice, he will liberate the boundless ocean of every sentient being; bringing forth every wholesome dharma, endowed with wondrous merit, he will stand equal with every child of the Buddha, perfecting the Dharma of liberation.
Before Long, Accomplishing the Buddha's Own Bodhi
「分別諸法界， 嚴淨如來剎，
究竟一切法， 善財應歡喜。
勇猛修方便， 信心不可壞，
積集妙功德， 成滿諸大願。
不久見諸佛， 了達一切法，
嚴淨諸佛剎， 成就佛菩提。
隨順威儀海， 究竟諸行海，
度脫於一切， 無量眾生海。
出生諸善法， 具足妙功德，
與諸佛子等， 圓滿解脫法。」
"Discerning every Dharma-realm, adorning and purifying the tathāgata's own lands,
Consummating every dharma — Sudhana ought rightly to rejoice.
With valiant cultivation of skillful means, a faith that cannot be destroyed,
Accumulating wondrous merit, perfecting every great vow.
Before long he will behold every buddha, fully realizing every dharma,
Adorning and purifying every buddha-land, accomplishing the buddha's own bodhi.
Following the ocean of dignified conduct to its very end, the ocean of every practice,
He will liberate the boundless ocean of every sentient being.
Bringing forth every wholesome dharma, endowed with wondrous merit,
He will stand equal with every child of the Buddha, perfecting the Dharma of liberation."
"Before long he will behold every buddha" marks a subtle shift from praising what Sudhana has already accomplished to prophesying what he will accomplish — the same gesture Maitreya made explicitly, with a formal crown-touching, a short while before this hymn began. Fazang reads the hymn as gradually escalating in exactly this way: opening with Sudhana's arrival and present qualities, moving through his past motivations, and only now, past its midpoint, turning to open prediction of his future buddhahood.
Part 332 In Progress
Maitreya's hymn nears its final stretch. Part 333 turns to Sudhana's power to perfect the net of every vow, guard the buddha's own lineage, and turn the pure Dharma-wheel to dispel the wheel of every suffering.
Continue to Part 333 →