Two Buddhas, Ages Apart
Sudhana asks Vāsantī how long ago she first raised the awakening-mind, and she answers with two accounts, each following the very same pattern: a princess, a night-deva appearing at midnight to guide her toward a buddha, and a Dharma-gate carried forward into her next incarnation. The first buddha, All-Dharma-Thunder-King, lies beyond eons as numerous as motes of dust on Mount Sumeru; the second, Sumeru Tranquil Eye, ten thousand eons beyond even that. This closes the first teacher of the Ten Grounds.
A Princess, a Midnight Voice, and a Buddha Beneath a Tree
爾時，善財童子白言：「天神！發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，為幾時耶？得此法門其已久如？乃能如是饒益眾生！」
答言：「佛子！乃往古世，過如須彌山微塵等劫，有世界名寶德，劫名寂靜。有五百億佛出興於世，時有大城，名蓮華光。有轉輪聖王，名善法度；如聖王法，成就七寶。城東有林，名曰妙德；於此林中有菩提樹，名一切佛自在光明。爾時，一切法雷王佛坐此樹下，成等正覺，放大光明，普照世界。王玉女寶，名法慧月蓮華光。於彼城內有一夜天，名曰淨月，於中夜時出微妙音告此玉女：『汝應當知一切法雷王佛出興于世，稱揚、讚歎彼佛功德，顯現如來自在神力，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，讚歎普賢菩薩一切願行。』時，王玉女供養彼佛及諸菩薩、諸聲聞眾。善男子！爾時，玉女法慧月蓮華光者，豈異人乎？我身是也。
At that time Sudhana the Boy said: "Deva! How long ago did you raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening? How long have you held this Dharma-gate, that you are able to benefit sentient beings in such a way?"
She answered: "Child of the Buddha, in an age long past, beyond eons as numerous as motes of dust upon Mount Sumeru, there was a world named Jeweled Virtue, and an eon named Tranquility. Five hundred hundred-millions of buddhas arose in that world; at that time there was a great city, named Lotus Light. There was a wheel-turning sage-king, named Good Measure of the Dharma, who, in accordance with the sage-king's own law, had accomplished the seven treasures. East of the city was a grove, named Sublime Virtue; within this grove stood a bodhi tree, named the Sovereign Light of Every Buddha. At that time the buddha All-Dharma-Thunder-King sat beneath this tree, and accomplished perfect awakening, releasing great light that universally illumined the world. The king's own jeweled maiden was named Wisdom's Moon, Lotus Light. Within that city there was a night-deva, named Pure Moon, who, at midnight, gave forth a sublime, subtle voice, telling this maiden: 'You should know that the buddha All-Dharma-Thunder-King has arisen in the world; extol and praise this buddha's own merit, manifest the Tathāgata's own sovereign spiritual power, raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and praise every one of Samantabhadra's own vows and practices.' At that time this royal maiden made offering to that buddha and to every bodhisattva and every śrāvaka assembly there. Good son, could this royal maiden, Wisdom's Moon, Lotus Light, have been anyone other than myself? It was I myself.
Fazang's commentary on this teacher, as recorded in the manuscript this project draws on, treats the two past-life accounts as a single unit rather than glossing each scene individually; what he does mark clearly is the structural fact that both accounts share the very same shape. In each, a night-deva — Vāsantī's own earlier incarnation, in fact, though she does not say so outright until the second account — appears at midnight to a princess who will become her own next self, urging her toward a buddha newly arisen in the world. This project has already seen the identical shape once before, in the laywoman Unmoving's own account of a princess visited in the night by a passing buddha's fragrance; here the pattern repeats, but doubled, as if to show that a single teacher's own path to this Dharma-gate was itself a chain of such moments, not merely one.
Eighty Sets of Sumeru-Dust Eons, and a Second Buddha
「善男子！我於彼佛種善根力於須彌山微塵等劫，不墮地獄、餓鬼、畜生、閻羅王處，不生下賤之家，具足諸根，除滅眾苦。常於天人中勝，不離善知識、諸佛菩薩，不生五濁劫中，於彼諸佛菩薩所，增長善根，於八十須彌山微塵等劫，安隱快樂而未滿足菩薩諸根。
「復次，善男子！過此須彌山微塵等劫已，復過一萬劫，有劫名離憂，世界名離垢勝；有須彌寂靜眼如來、應供、等正覺等五百如來出興于世。其佛國土或淨、或穢，彼世界中有一四天下，名曰離垢，城名莊嚴。我於爾時為明勝長者女，名勝慧光，端正殊妙。彼淨月天以本願力生此城中，復作夜天，名清淨眼。時，彼夜天復於中夜來詣我家，顯現妙色，讚歎如來，又勸導我詣彼如來，放大光明在前引導。我於爾時與父母俱，及其眷屬往詣須彌寂靜眼如來所，供養、恭敬，聽佛說法，得菩薩三昧，名曰見佛。教化眾生，明淨慧光，普照三世，得此三昧已，憶念過去須彌山微塵等劫所見諸佛，又聞彼佛所說經法，得光明普照諸法，壞散眾生愚癡法門，放大光明，照十佛剎微塵等世界。見彼剎中，一切如來往詣其所，知彼眾生諸語言法、心根欲性，為彼眾生作善知識，隨其所應，顯現其身。於念念中長養此法門，一身充滿世界微塵等世界，乃至充滿世界海微塵等世界海。悉見彼世界海微塵等世界海中，一切如來往詣其所，彼佛說法我悉聞持，分別了知彼諸如來本事願海，彼諸如來嚴淨佛剎，我亦嚴淨。於彼世界中，隨其所應，示現其身，化度眾生，念念長養於此法門，與法界等。
善男子！我唯知此光明普照諸法、壞散眾生愚癡法門。諸大菩薩究竟無量無邊普賢所行深入法界海，建智慧幢，得諸三昧，遊戲神通，大願成滿，守護受持十方世界一切佛法。於念念中悉能嚴淨一切佛剎，滿功德海；於念念中教化一切諸群生海，智慧淨日普照三世一切世界，教化一切眾生離垢淨月，除滅一切眾生熱惱、疑惑、癡闇；於一切有海心無所著，演出清淨圓滿妙音，充滿十方一切法界；於一一微塵中顯現一切自在神力，明淨慧光普照三世，我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？
善男子！此閻浮提摩竭提國有一夜天，名甚深妙德離垢光明，汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
"Good son, through the power of that root of goodness planted at the presence of that buddha, throughout eons as numerous as motes of dust upon Mount Sumeru, I never once fell into the hells, among hungry ghosts, among animals, or into the realm of King Yama, was never born into a lowly household, was fully endowed with every faculty, and every suffering was extinguished. I was constantly supreme among gods and humans, never once departing from good spiritual friends and every buddha and bodhisattva, never once born within an eon of the five corruptions; at the presence of these buddhas and bodhisattvas, I increased my roots of goodness, and, throughout eighty sets of eons as numerous as motes of dust upon Mount Sumeru, dwelt in peace and happiness, yet the bodhisattva's own faculties were not yet fully complete within me.
"Furthermore, good son, beyond those eons as numerous as motes of dust upon Mount Sumeru, and beyond a further ten thousand eons still, there was an eon named Free of Sorrow, and a world named Supreme, Free of Defilement; there arose in that world the tathāgata Sumeru Tranquil Eye, worthy of offerings, perfectly and fully awakened, together with five hundred other tathāgatas. That buddha's own land was, in places, pure, and, in places, defiled; within that world there was a single set of four continents, named Free of Defilement, and a city, named Adornment. At that time I was the daughter of the elder Bright Excellence, named Excellent Wisdom-Light, upright and sublime beyond compare. That deva Pure Moon, through the power of his own past vow, was born within this very city, and once more became a night-deva, now named Pure Eye. At that time this night-deva again came to my household at midnight, manifesting a sublime form, praising the Tathāgata, and further urging me to go before this tathāgata, releasing great light to guide the way ahead of me. At that time, together with my father and mother and their own retinue, I went before the tathāgata Sumeru Tranquil Eye, made offering, paid reverence, and listened to the Buddha's own teaching of the Dharma, attaining the bodhisattva's own samādhi, named Beholding the Buddha, teaching and transforming sentient beings, its bright, pure light of wisdom universally illumining the three times. Having attained this samādhi, I recollected the buddhas I had beheld throughout eons as numerous as motes of dust upon Mount Sumeru in the past, and, further hearing the scriptural teachings expounded by that buddha, I attained the Dharma-gate of Light Universally Illumining Every Dharma, Breaking Apart Sentient Beings' Own Folly, releasing great light that illumined worlds as numerous as motes of dust in ten buddha-lands. I beheld, within those lands, every tathāgata going before their own assembly, knowing every language and every teaching of these sentient beings, their own minds, faculties, and dispositions, becoming a good spiritual friend for these sentient beings, manifesting my own body according to what was fitting. Within every single thought-moment I nurtured this very Dharma-gate, a single body filling worlds as numerous as motes of dust in a world, even filling world-oceans as numerous as motes of dust in a world-ocean. I beheld, entirely, within world-oceans as numerous as motes of dust in world-oceans, every tathāgata going before their own assembly, and I heard and upheld entirely the Dharma these buddhas expounded, discerning and understanding entirely the whole ocean of vows behind these tathāgatas' own past deeds; and just as these tathāgatas purified and adorned their own buddha-lands, so too did I purify and adorn my own. Within these worlds, according to what was fitting, I manifested my own body, teaching and delivering sentient beings, nurturing this very Dharma-gate within every single thought-moment, equal to the whole Dharma-realm itself.
Good son, I know only this Dharma-gate of Light Universally Illumining Every Dharma, Breaking Apart Sentient Beings' Own Folly; the great bodhisattvas, reaching the very end of Samantabhadra's own boundless, limitless practice, enter deeply into the ocean of the Dharma-realm, raise the banner of wisdom, attain every samādhi, sport freely in spiritual power, their great vow fulfilled, guarding and upholding every buddha's own Dharma throughout the worlds of the ten directions. Within every single thought-moment they are able to purify and adorn every buddha-land entirely, filling the ocean of merit; within every single thought-moment they teach and transform the whole ocean of every being, their wisdom's own pure sun universally illumining every world of the three times, teaching and transforming every sentient being like the moon free of defilement and pure, extinguishing every sentient being's own feverish affliction, doubt, and the darkness of folly; their mind untainted by the whole ocean of existence, they give forth a pure, perfect, sublime voice, filling the whole Dharma-realm throughout the ten directions; within every single mote of dust they manifest every sovereign spiritual power, their bright, pure light of wisdom universally illumining the three times. How could I possibly know, how could I possibly speak of, such merit and practice as this?
"Good son, within this Jambudvīpa, in the land of Magadha, there is a night-deva, named Profound, Sublime Virtue, Light Free of Defilement. Go to her and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
The night-deva Pure Moon who guides the first princess reappears, by name, as Pure Eye guiding the second — Vāsantī explicitly identifies him as the same figure, "born within this very city through the power of his own past vow," reincarnated alongside her own reincarnation as her guide once more. The Dharma-gate she finally names — Light Universally Illumining Every Dharma, Breaking Apart Sentient Beings' Own Folly — is the very gate she has been demonstrating throughout Parts 54 through 56: the shape-shifting rescues at sea and on the mountain, the twenty-two-stanza hymn, and now its own two-part origin story, all folding back into a single named attainment. With her closing referral, teacher and student both move on: the first of the Ten Grounds gives way to the second, and Sudhana journeys on to another night-deva within the very same land of Magadha.
Part 56 Complete
This closes Parts 54–56 together, and with them the night-deva Vāsantī, first teacher of the Ten Grounds: her body starlit above Kapilavastu, her catalogue of rescues fitted precisely to every peril, her twenty-two-stanza hymn closing on Vairocana beneath the bodhi tree, and two past lives — a princess guided at midnight, twice over, by the same devoted deva — that together explain how she came to hold this single Dharma-gate of light. Sudhana is sent onward, within the very same land of Magadha, to the night-deva named Profound, Sublime Virtue, Light Free of Defilement.
Continue to Part 57 — Light Free of Defilement →