Sudhana's Hymn, and a Question Ninety Stanzas Long
Sudhana offers ten stanzas of praise, then asks two simple questions — how long ago did this night-deva first raise the awakening-mind, and how long has she held this Dharma-gate? Her answer, beginning in the next part, will run to some ninety stanzas, the longest single account in this entire collection.
Ten Stanzas, and Two Questions
爾時，善財得菩薩歡喜淨光明海，得十方一切諸如來力，得彼夜天離垢喜幢法門，即恭敬合掌，以偈讚歎彼夜天曰：
「無量無數劫， 深學最勝法，
隨應所受化， 顯現妙色身。
了知諸群生， 愚癡顛倒惑，
種種身方便， 度脫眾生類。
清淨妙法身， 除滅煩惱熱，
非二現有二， 為化眾生故。
陰入及諸界， 皆悉無所著，
具行及色身， 度脫一切眾。
不著內外法， 越度生死海，
明淨智慧光， 普照於一切。
喜目天無著， 除滅眾虛妄，
眾生樂著世， 為現佛法力。
無礙三昧力， 一一毛孔中，
出諸化身雲， 供養十方佛。
念念中出生， 諸佛方便力，
攝取諸眾生， 究竟一切法。
觀察諸有海， 業行莊嚴身，
演說無礙法， 令眾清淨故。
相好自莊嚴， 猶若普賢身，
隨應受化者， 顯現無量身。」
爾時，善財童子偈讚歎已，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？」
At that time Sudhana attained the bodhisattva's own ocean of the pure light of joy, attained every tathāgata's own power throughout the ten directions, attained this night-deva's own Dharma-gate of the Banner of Joy Free of Defilement, and, joining his palms in reverence, praised this night-deva with a verse:
"Through boundless, countless eons, deeply learning the supreme Dharma,
manifesting according to whoever needs transforming, revealing a sublime, adorned body.
Understanding entirely every being's own folly, inversion, and confusion,
through every kind of bodily skillful means, delivering every class of being.
A pure, sublime Dharma-body, extinguishing every feverish affliction,
not two, yet manifesting as two — for the sake of transforming sentient beings.
The aggregates, the sense-fields, and every element — attached to none of them at all,
her every practice and form-body delivering every being entirely.
Unattached to any dharma, inward or outward, crossing beyond the ocean of birth and death,
her bright, pure light of wisdom universally illumining everything.
Joyful Eyes, this deva, unattached, extinguishing every falsehood,
for sentient beings who delight in attachment to the world, manifesting the power of the Buddha-dharma.
Through the power of unobstructed samādhi, from every single pore,
giving forth clouds of every transformation-body, making offering to the buddhas of the ten directions.
Within every single thought-moment giving rise to every buddha's own power of skillful means,
gathering in every sentient being, reaching the very end of every dharma.
Contemplating the whole ocean of every existence, her body adorned with every karmic practice,
expounding the unobstructed Dharma, so as to purify every being.
Her excellent marks self-adorned, just like Samantabhadra's own body,
manifesting boundless bodies, according to whoever receives her transformation."
At that time Sudhana the Boy, having praised her with this verse, said: "Deva! How long ago did you raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening? How long have you held this Dharma-gate?"
Fazang divides Sudhana's ten stanzas into five deliberate pairs: the first two praise the excellent cause that now manifests such beneficial function; the next two praise the Dharma-body itself manifesting transformative benefit; the next two praise benefiting beings without any attachment at all; the next two praise the samādhi that manifests such extraordinary benefit; and the last two conclude by summarizing the manifesting of bodies and the expounding of the Dharma together. He reads Sudhana's two questions that follow as opening a single extended answer with two distinct parts: first, when she first raised the awakening-mind; second, how long she has held this very Dharma-gate. What follows, in Fazang's own count, runs to eighty-nine and a half stanzas of verse before a final passage of prose closes the account — by a wide margin the longest single reply given by any teacher across this entire pilgrimage, tracing this night-deva's own path back through ten successive kalpas, each with its own buddha, its own world, and its own measure of how far her realization had come.
Part 63 In Progress
Part 63 continues in Part 64: the night-deva's own answer begins, in verse — the first kalpa of her account, "Tranquil Sound," a wheel-turning king's daughter, a dream of a buddha's own light, and a vow spoken before she had even opened her eyes.
Continue to Part 64 — A Dream, and a Vow Before Waking →