Ten Auspicious Signs Across Every Land
At that time, as Sudhana raised these states of mind, through the power of his own roots of goodness, the buddha's own awesome spiritual power, and every root of goodness of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, he at once beheld ten auspicious signs. What are the ten? He saw every pure land adorned with bodhi; he saw every land free of every evil destiny; he saw every land pure as a lotus flower; he saw every being in every land with body and mind soft and pliant; he saw every land with boundless adornment; he saw every being in every land adorning their own body with the thirty-two marks; he saw every land covered by clouds of adornment; he saw every being in every land accomplished in a mind of loving-kindness; he saw every land's bodhimaṇḍa adorned; and he saw every being in every land cultivating the samādhi of buddha-recollection — these are the ten.
Ten Signs, Seen at Once Across Every Land
爾時，善財起是心時，自善根力、佛威神力、普賢菩薩諸善根力；即見十種瑞相。何等為十？所謂：見一切淨剎莊嚴菩提；見一切剎無諸惡道；見一切剎淨如蓮華；見一切剎一切眾生，身心柔軟；見一切剎無量莊嚴；見一切剎一切眾生，三十二相，莊嚴其身；見一切剎莊嚴雲覆；見一切剎一切眾生成就慈心；見一切剎莊嚴道場；見一切剎一切眾生，皆悉修習念佛三昧；是為十。
At that time, as Sudhana raised these states of mind, through the power of his own roots of goodness, the buddha's own awesome spiritual power, and every root of goodness of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, he at once beheld ten auspicious signs. What are the ten? He saw every pure land adorned with bodhi; he saw every land free of every evil destiny; he saw every land pure as a lotus flower; he saw every being in every land with body and mind soft and pliant; he saw every land with boundless adornment; he saw every being in every land adorning their own body with the thirty-two marks; he saw every land covered by clouds of adornment; he saw every being in every land accomplished in a mind of loving-kindness; he saw every land's bodhimaṇḍa adorned; and he saw every being in every land cultivating the samādhi of buddha-recollection — these are the ten.
Fazang notes that these ten signs are attributed to a threefold combined power — Sudhana's own accumulated roots of goodness, the buddha's own spiritual power, and Samantabhadra's own roots of goodness — a formula distinct from Maitreya's tower vision, which was attributed to Maitreya's spiritual power alone. This threefold attribution anticipates the collaborative structure of what is about to unfold: unlike Maitreya's episode, where Sudhana was essentially a passive observer of one bodhisattva's own display, this final vision is co-produced, drawing on the practitioner's own accumulated merit as a genuine contributing cause rather than a mere occasion for another's demonstration — consistent with Samantabhadra's traditional role in this literature as the embodiment of practice itself rather than of vision or wisdom alone.
Part 417 Complete
The ten auspicious signs are now given in full. Part 418 turns to a second set of ten: kinds of light pouring from every single mote of dust throughout every world, each ray praising Samantabhadra's own vowed practice and merit.
Continue to Part 418 →