A Trichiliocosm Within Every Limb and Pore
At that time, having beheld sovereign, inconceivable spiritual power such as this, Sudhana leapt with joy beyond all measure. Looking once more upon every part of Samantabhadra's own body, every limb and joint, and within every single pore, he saw entire the wind-wheel, water-wheel, fire-wheel, and earth-wheel of a great trichiliocosm, the great ocean and every jeweled mountain, the king of mountains Sumeru, and the vajra-encircling mountains; every dwelling, every wondrous palace, every class of sentient being, every hell, every hungry ghost, every animal, the domain of Yama the king; every heaven and every Brahmā-king, and even humans and non-humans; the desire-realm, the form-realm, and the formless realm; every number of every kalpa; and every buddha and bodhisattva teaching and transforming sentient beings — all such things as these were made fully manifest. And exactly as it was in this world, so too was it throughout every world of the ten directions. Just as in this Sahā world-system, the tathāgata Vairocana, arhat, truly and completely awakened one, manifests this very sovereign power, so too, in the eastern world called Lotus-Wondrous-Merit, at the place of the buddha Bhadraśrī, this same spiritual power is manifested. And just as at the buddha Bhadraśrī's own place, so too throughout every world to the east, at the place of every buddha, is this spiritual power manifested; and just as to the east, so too to the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate directions, and above and below — throughout every world, at the place of every buddha, is this same spiritual power manifested. And throughout every world, within every single mote of dust, in each and every one, is this sovereign power likewise manifested.
Vairocana's Own World, and Bhadraśrī's, and Every Buddha's in the Ten Directions
爾時，善財見如是等不可思議自在神力；見已，歡喜踊躍無量。重觀普賢一一身分、一一肢節、一一毛孔中，悉見三千大千世界風輪、水輪、火輪、地輪，大海寶山、須彌山王、金剛圍山，一切舍宅，諸妙宮殿，眾生等類，一切地獄、餓鬼、畜生，閻羅王處，諸天梵王，乃至人、非人等，欲界、色界，及無色界，一切劫數，諸佛菩薩，教化眾生，如是等事，皆悉顯現；十方一切世界，亦復如是。如此娑婆世界，盧舍那如來、應供、等正覺，所現自在力；東方蓮華妙德世界，賢首佛所，顯現神力，亦復如是。如賢首佛所，如是東方一切世界，一切佛所，顯現神力，亦復如是；如東方，南、西、北方，四維，上、下，一切世界，一切佛所，顯現神力，亦復如是。於一切世界，一切微塵，一一微塵中，現自在力，亦復如是。
At that time, having beheld sovereign, inconceivable spiritual power such as this, Sudhana leapt with joy beyond all measure. Looking once more upon every part of Samantabhadra's own body, every limb and joint, and within every single pore, he saw entire the wind-wheel, water-wheel, fire-wheel, and earth-wheel of a great trichiliocosm, the great ocean and every jeweled mountain, the king of mountains Sumeru, and the vajra-encircling mountains; every dwelling, every wondrous palace, every class of sentient being, every hell, every hungry ghost, every animal, the domain of Yama the king; every heaven and every Brahmā-king, and even humans and non-humans; the desire-realm, the form-realm, and the formless realm; every number of every kalpa; and every buddha and bodhisattva teaching and transforming sentient beings — all such things as these were made fully manifest. And exactly as it was in this world, so too was it throughout every world of the ten directions.
Just as in this Sahā world-system, the tathāgata Vairocana, arhat, truly and completely awakened one, manifests this very sovereign power, so too, in the eastern world called Lotus-Wondrous-Merit, at the place of the buddha Bhadraśrī, this same spiritual power is manifested. And just as at the buddha Bhadraśrī's own place, so too throughout every world to the east, at the place of every buddha, is this spiritual power manifested; and just as to the east, so too to the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate directions, and above and below — throughout every world, at the place of every buddha, is this same spiritual power manifested. And throughout every world, within every single mote of dust, in each and every one, is this sovereign power likewise manifested.
This is the sūtra's own explicit naming of Vairocana as the presiding buddha of this Sahā world-system — the very buddha whose name gives the entire Avataṃsaka ("flower-adornment") its own cosmic frame — confirmed here by direct reference rather than left implicit, alongside a second named buddha, Bhadraśrī, presiding over an eastern world called Lotus-Wondrous-Merit. Fazang reads the systematic sweep through the ten directions and finally down to "every single mote of dust" as the vision's own culminating universalization: what began as a vision within one bodhisattva's body has now been shown to hold at every scale and every location without exception, dissolving any remaining sense that Samantabhadra's own body was ever a bounded, singular thing rather than coextensive with the whole of reality.
Part 423 Complete
The trichiliocosm-in-every-pore vision is now given in full. Part 424 turns to what this vision grants Sudhana directly: ten indestructible gates of wisdom, each allowing him, in a single thought-moment, to pervade every land, reach every buddha, and uphold the true Dharma.
Continue to Part 424 →