Descent, Renunciation, Awakening, and the Stūpa
The hymn continues: some see him manifesting as a Brahmā-body, as Śakra, as each of the four heavenly kings, as a kṣatriya, as a brāhmaṇa — manifesting bodies such as these. Some see him descending in spirit from the end of his life in Tuṣita heaven to be born; some see him dwelling within the palace, casting aside desire to leave home; some see him seated at the bodhimaṇḍa, subduing every māra there and attaining correct awakening, turning the pure, wondrous Dharma-wheel, and, after his own nirvāṇa, having stūpas erected. Some see Amitāyus, most supreme among gods and humans, conferring upon them the prediction of ambrosia poured upon the crown, becoming their unsurpassed guide. Some see the ten-powered one, his teaching already brought to completion, boundless, countless kalpas having passed since his own final nirvāṇa.
Amitāyus, and the Ten-Powered One's Long-Completed Teaching
「或見為梵身， 帝釋四天王，
剎利婆羅門， 示現此等身。
或見從兜率， 命終降神生，
或見住宮殿， 捨欲而出家，
或見坐道場， 降魔成正覺，
轉淨妙法輪， 涅槃後起塔。
或見無量壽， 最勝天人尊，
為授灌頂記， 成無上導師。
或見十力尊， 教化已周訖，
般涅槃已來， 無量無數劫。」
"Some see him manifesting as a Brahmā-body, as Śakra, as each of the four heavenly kings,
As a kṣatriya, as a brāhmaṇa — manifesting bodies such as these.
Some see him descending in spirit from the end of his life in Tuṣita heaven to be born,
Some see him dwelling within the palace, casting aside desire to leave home,
Some see him seated at the bodhimaṇḍa, subduing every māra there and attaining correct awakening,
Turning the pure, wondrous Dharma-wheel, and, after his own nirvāṇa, having stūpas erected.
Some see Amitāyus, most supreme among gods and humans,
Conferring upon them the prediction of ambrosia poured upon the crown, becoming their unsurpassed guide.
Some see the ten-powered one, his teaching already brought to completion,
Boundless, countless kalpas having passed since his own final nirvāṇa."
"Amitāyus" (無量壽, "Infinite Life") names the very same buddha already seen under his more famous epithet Amitābha ("Infinite Light") several parts earlier — the two names refer to a single figure, distinguished in Sanskrit usage by which quality, light or lifespan, is being emphasized, and Fazang treats their appearance here within a few stanzas of each other as simply the hymn's own stylistic variation rather than two distinct beings. This stanza's classical eight-aspect sequence — descent, renunciation, awakening beneath the bodhimaṇḍa, teaching, nirvāṇa, and the stūpa raised afterward — retraces once more the same biographical pattern already applied to Śākyamuni's own life several parts earlier, now stated in its most condensed, formulaic shape, immediately followed by the striking claim that "boundless, countless kalpas" have already passed since a buddha's own parinirvāṇa — collapsing, within four lines, an entire buddha's life and the vast span of time following it.
Part 441 Complete
This stretch of the hymn is now given in full. Part 442 turns to a curious figure named "Treatise-Master Moon," manifesting even within the palaces of Brahmā and of Māra himself, and to further visions of teaching unfolding within the palace of Tuṣita heaven.
Continue to Part 442 →