Vāsantī's Own Hymn
Sustained by the Buddha's own power, the night-deva Vāsantī sets her teaching to verse for Sudhana: twenty-two stanzas moving from her own vow of great loving-kindness, through the divine eye, ear, nose, and tongue, to a single closing vision of Vairocana Buddha beneath the bodhi tree, worlds beyond counting turning the Dharma-wheel at once.
Twenty-Two Stanzas, Sustained by the Buddha's Own Power
爾時，夜天欲重宣明此法門義，承佛神力，觀察十方，即為善財以偈頌曰：
「我所成妙法， 知時諸門地，
照除愚癡闇， 普觀一切法。
無量無數劫， 我常修大慈，
普覆諸群生， 善財應速具。
成就大悲海， 出生三世佛，
除滅一切苦， 善財速究竟。
佛子心歡喜， 遠離世間惡，
超出三界苦， 受諸賢聖樂。
遠離有為惡， 聲聞智解脫，
滿足如來力， 佛子應究竟。
我以淨天眼， 普觀十方剎，
於彼世界中， 見佛處道場。
相好莊嚴身， 無量眾圍遶，
放大光明海， 普照化眾生。
覩諸群生類， 死此而生彼，
迴流五趣中， 常受無量苦。
以淨天耳海， 普聞十方音，
一切語言海， 皆悉能受持。
一切諸如來， 無量微妙聲，
所轉淨法輪， 悉聞能受持。
我以淨鼻根， 法海中無礙，
能入諸法門， 善財應究竟。
我成大人相， 清淨廣長舌，
隨應演妙法， 佛子應究竟。
清淨妙法身， 三世如如等，
隨其所應化， 一切無不現。
我心無所染， 清淨如虛空，
普攝一切佛， 而亦無所著。
了知無量剎， 群生諸心海，
分別一切根， 遠離眾虛妄。
我以神通力， 遍遊無量剎，
普覆一切眾， 調伏諸眾生。
智慧如虛空， 無比無盡藏，
供養諸如來， 饒益一切眾。
清淨廣智慧， 分別諸法海，
除滅眾生惑， 佛子應究竟。
通達三世法， 深入諸佛海，
明了一切法， 無能測量者。
一一微塵中， 悉見佛剎海，
又覩諸如來， 此是普力地。
見盧舍那佛， 道場成正覺，
十方剎微塵， 悉轉正法輪。」
At that time this night-deva, wishing to proclaim once more and clarify the meaning of this Dharma-gate, sustained by the Buddha's own power, contemplated the ten directions, and spoke this verse for Sudhana's sake:
"The sublime Dharma I have accomplished — knowing the moment, every gate and ground —
illumines and dispels the darkness of folly, universally beholding every dharma.
Through eons boundless, beyond number, I have constantly cultivated great loving-kindness,
universally covering every kind of being — Sudhana should swiftly be endowed with this too.
Having accomplished the ocean of great compassion, giving rise to the buddhas of the three times,
extinguishing every suffering entirely — Sudhana should swiftly reach this same end.
A child of the Buddha's own mind rejoices, departing far from every worldly evil,
transcending the suffering of the three realms, receiving the very bliss of every sage and worthy.
Departing far from the evil of conditioned things, the wisdom of the śrāvaka's own liberation,
fulfilling the Tathāgata's own power — a child of the Buddha should reach this very end.
Through my own pure heavenly eye, I universally behold every land in the ten directions;
and within those very worlds I behold a buddha, seated at the bodhimaṇḍa.
His body adorned with every excellent mark, surrounded by a boundless assembly,
releasing a great ocean of light, universally illumining and transforming every being.
I behold every kind of being, dying here and being born there,
turning and flowing among the five destinies, constantly receiving boundless suffering.
Through the pure ocean of my own heavenly ear, I universally hear the sounds of the ten directions;
the whole ocean of every language, I am able to receive and uphold entirely.
Every tathāgata's own boundless, sublime, subtle voice, and every pure Dharma-wheel they turn,
I hear it all, and am able to uphold it entirely.
Through my own pure faculty of smell, unobstructed within the ocean of the Dharma,
I am able to enter every Dharma-gate — Sudhana should reach this very end.
I have accomplished the great being's own mark, the pure, broad, and long tongue,
expounding the sublime Dharma according to what is fitting — a child of the Buddha should reach this very end.
The pure, sublime Dharma-body, equanimous as suchness across the three times,
manifests according to whoever needs transforming — there is nowhere it does not appear.
My own mind is untainted by anything, pure as space itself,
universally gathering in every buddha, and yet attached to nothing at all.
Understanding entirely the boundless lands, the whole ocean of every being's own mind,
discerning every faculty, departing far from every falsehood.
Through the power of my own spiritual penetration, I travel throughout boundless lands,
universally covering every being, taming and subduing every sentient being.
My wisdom is like space itself, peerless, an inexhaustible treasury,
making offering to every tathāgata, bringing benefit to every being.
Pure and vast wisdom, discerning the whole ocean of every dharma,
extinguishing every sentient being's own delusion — a child of the Buddha should reach this very end.
Penetrating the Dharma of the three times, entering deeply into the ocean of every buddha,
understanding every dharma clearly — there is none who could ever measure it.
Within every single mote of dust, I behold entirely the whole ocean of buddha-lands,
and further behold every tathāgata — this is the ground of universal power.
I behold Vairocana Buddha, at the bodhimaṇḍa, accomplishing perfect awakening,
throughout lands as numerous as motes of dust in the ten directions, turning the true Dharma-wheel entirely."
The sutra's own text notes that Vāsantī speaks this verse "sustained by the Buddha's own power" (承佛神力) — a formula this collection has seen before, marking that what follows is not simply her own eloquence but a teaching authorized and empowered from beyond her. The hymn itself moves through what tradition calls the six supernormal faculties in turn — the heavenly eye beholding buddhas and the turning wheel of birth and death alike, the heavenly ear receiving every language and every buddha's own voice, the purified sense of smell entering the Dharma itself, the mark of the broad tongue expounding it, the Dharma-body appearing wherever needed, and a mind untainted even while gathering in every buddha — before closing on a single image: Vairocana beneath the bodhi tree, the same awakening repeating across lands as numerous as motes of dust, all at once. This closing vision of Vairocana is no accident of phrasing — it is the same buddha this entire sixty-fascicle text takes its own name from, its final chapters returning to him directly once Sudhana's own pilgrimage is complete.
Part 55 In Progress
Part 55 continues in Part 56: Sudhana's question about how long ago Vāsantī first raised the awakening-mind, and her answer — two accounts reaching back across eons beyond counting, to a buddha named All-Dharma-Thunder-King and, later, a buddha named Sumeru Tranquil Eye — before she sends Sudhana onward to the next teacher of the Ten Grounds.
Continue to Part 56 — Two Buddhas, Ages Apart →