Twelve Lights, Counting Down to a Buddha
Prosperity breeds vanity and mutual scorn among the people — the very cause, Fazang notes, of a buddha's arising. A bodhi-tree grove and a lotus-crowned pond appear north of the city, and the first buddha, Sublime-Virtue Banner, attains awakening there and releases twelve lights in sequence, each with its own name and its own effect on those who behold it, each counting down the years remaining until his advent.
A Quarrel, and a Bodhi Tree North of the City
「爾時，眾生壽命無量，或有不定，或有中夭，形色不同，長短名號，音聲善根，精進方便，亦悉不同，有好有醜，有讚有毀。爾時，有人謂一人言：『我色端嚴，汝形鄙陋。』共相陵毀，作惡業已，壽命色力，所受快樂，皆悉損減。
「時，彼城北有道場樹，名普光明；妙法音幢，眾寶為根，無能壞者，莖節枝葉，眾寶合成，皆悉齊等，出眾寶雲，普覆一切，放眾寶光，普照十方，演妙音聲，宣揚如來自在神力。於其樹前，有香水池，名寶華光明真法音雲；眾寶為岸，有十億百千那由他寶樹圍遶。彼一一樹，如菩提樹、寶瓔珞樹，周匝垂下，清淨妙寶，以為莊嚴；眾寶樓閣，無量無數，周遍道場。
「彼香池中，有一蓮華，名三世一切佛莊嚴境界雲。最初妙德幢佛，於彼華上，成等正覺，化眾生故，放大光明，名曰萬歲；眾生見者，知後萬歲，佛當出世。
"At that time, the lifespans of these sentient beings were boundless, though some were uncertain, and some died in their prime; their forms and appearances differed, their names long or short, their voices, roots of goodness, and diligent skillful means likewise all differing — some fine to look upon, some unsightly, some praised, some reviled. At that time, there was a person who said to another, 'My own appearance is upright and fine, while your form is base and unsightly.' Mutually despising and reviling one another in this way, having committed this evil karma, their lifespan, physical vigor, and the happiness they experienced were all thereby diminished.
"At that time, to the north of that city there was a tree of the bodhimaṇḍa, named Universal Light — a banner of sublime Dharma-sound, its roots formed of every jewel, which nothing could destroy; its trunk, joints, branches, and leaves formed of every jewel, all perfectly matched, sending forth clouds of every jewel that covered everything universally, releasing every kind of jeweled light that universally illumined the ten directions, and proclaiming sublime sounds that expounded the Tathāgata's own sovereign spiritual power. Before this tree there was a fragrant-water pond, named the Cloud of the True Dharma-Sound of the Radiance of the Jeweled Flower; its banks formed of every jewel, encircled by a billion hundred thousand nayutas of jeweled trees. Each and every one of these trees — bodhi trees and jeweled-necklace trees alike — hung down all around, adorned with pure and sublime jewels; and boundless, countless jeweled pavilions filled the bodhimaṇḍa on every side.
"Within that fragrant pond there was a single lotus flower, named the Cloud of the Adorned State of Every Buddha of the Three Times. The very first buddha, Sublime-Virtue Banner, attained the most correct awakening atop this flower; and, in order to transform sentient beings, he released a great radiance, named Ten Thousand Years — sentient beings who beheld it knew that after ten thousand years, a buddha would arise in the world.
Fazang places this quarrel with deliberate precision: 下明時人起惡，是佛興所因 — "what follows, showing the people of that time giving rise to evil, is the very cause of the buddha's arising." The passage is easy to read as incidental scene-setting — a note on how even a prosperous, well-governed land can still breed vanity — but Fazang reads it as load-bearing: this small, ordinary cruelty, one person's insult to another's appearance, is named outright as the proximate reason a buddha arises at all. He then divides what follows into a clear architecture: 五時彼城北下明佛興利益，於中先明道場處；二最初妙德幢下明佛興攝化 — "fifth, beginning with 'to the north of that city,' reveals the benefit of the buddha's arising; within this, first is shown the place of the bodhimaṇḍa; second, beginning with 'the very first, Sublime-Virtue Banner,' reveals the buddha's own arising and gathering-in of beings." The first light — "Ten Thousand Years" — opens what he calls a sequence of twelve, each in its own way announcing what is still to come.
Eleven More Lights, Counting Down
「次後放光，名一切眾生離垢歡喜燈；眾生見者，知九千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名離垢燈妙德藏；眾生見者，悉覩妙色，知八千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名一切眾生業報音聲；眾生見者，分別了知自己業報，知七千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名起一切善根音聲；若有眾生，諸根不具，觸斯光明，皆悉具足，知六千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名曰顯現不可思議諸佛境界音聲；眾生見者，悉發明淨自在之心，知五千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名曰嚴淨一切佛剎；眾生見者，見一切如來嚴淨佛剎，知四千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名一切佛不可壞境界明淨燈；眾生見者，知佛自在，無所不至，知三千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名普照三世一切諸佛本事音聲；眾生見者，知一切如來過去本事，無量大海，知二千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名離癡曀智如來淨燈；眾生見者，得平等淨眼，普見一切嚴淨佛剎、一切如來、一切眾生，知一千歲，佛當出世。次後放光，名一切眾生見諸如來長養善根；眾生見者，知後七日，佛當出世。次後放光，名一切眾生歡喜音聲；眾生見者，一心歡喜，欲見如來。
「佛子！彼佛於一萬歲中，放如是等無量光明教化眾生，滿七日已，佛神力故，一切世界，六種震動。爾時，眾生於念念中，見一切佛剎，皆悉清淨，眾寶莊嚴。
"Next he released a light, named the Lamp of Joy That Cleanses Every Sentient Being's Defilement Away; sentient beings who beheld it knew that in nine thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Stainless Lamp, Treasury of Sublime Virtue; sentient beings who beheld it all perceived sublime forms, and knew that in eight thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Sound of Every Sentient Being's Own Karmic Recompense; sentient beings who beheld it discerned and knew their own karmic recompense, and knew that in seven thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Sound That Gives Rise to Every Root of Goodness; if there were sentient beings whose faculties were not complete, upon being touched by this light they became entirely complete, and knew that in six thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Sound That Reveals the Inconceivable State of Every Buddha; sentient beings who beheld it all gave rise to a bright, pure, and sovereign mind, and knew that in five thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named Adorning and Purifying Every Buddha-Land; sentient beings who beheld it saw the adorned and purified buddha-lands of every tathāgata, and knew that in four thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Bright, Pure Lamp of Every Buddha's Indestructible State; sentient beings who beheld it knew the buddha's own sovereign freedom, reaching everywhere without exception, and knew that in three thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Sound That Universally Illumines the Past Deeds of Every Buddha of the Three Times; sentient beings who beheld it knew the boundless great ocean of every tathāgata's own past deeds, and knew that in two thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Tathāgata's Own Pure Lamp of Wisdom That Departs the Eclipse of Folly; sentient beings who beheld it attained the equal and pure eye, universally beholding every adorned and purified buddha-land, every tathāgata, and every sentient being, and knew that in one thousand years, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named Every Sentient Being Beholding Every Tathāgata and Nurturing Their Roots of Goodness; sentient beings who beheld it knew that after seven days, a buddha would arise. Next he released a light, named the Sound of Every Sentient Being's Joy; sentient beings who beheld it rejoiced with a single mind, longing to behold the Tathāgata.
"Child of the Buddha, throughout ten thousand years that buddha released boundless light of this kind, teaching and transforming sentient beings; and when the seven days were complete, by the buddha's own spiritual power, every world shook in six ways. At that time, sentient beings, within every single thought-moment, beheld every buddha-land, all of it become pure, adorned with every jewel."
Fazang counts the full sequence precisely: 一放光警覺。放光有十二重，漸次各令表知已後佛興 — "first, releasing light to awaken beings. The releasing of light has twelve layers, each in turn, by stages, signaling and making known that a buddha is soon to arise." Counted from "Ten Thousand Years" through this part's eleven further lights, the total is exactly twelve — each one a countdown marker and, at the same time, its own distinct act of teaching: one light completes missing faculties, another reveals a being's own past karma, another grants the equal and pure eye. The years compress as the lights proceed — by thousands at first, then by a single week, then finally to a wordless joy with no measure of time attached at all — so that the closer the buddha's actual advent comes, the less the account measures it in years and the more it measures it in the beings' own longing. Fazang closes the sequence simply: 佛子彼佛下總結光益 — "'Child of the Buddha, that buddha' concludes by summarizing the benefit of the light" — before the earth itself, in six-fold motion, announces what the twelve lights have been counting toward all along.
Part 71 In Progress
A quarrel born of vanity has drawn a buddha into the world; twelve lights have counted down the years and, in their final moment, dissolved the count into pure longing; and the earth itself has shaken in six ways to announce that the time has come. Part 72 turns to the great assembly gathering at the bodhimaṇḍa, and to the buddha's turning of the Dharma-wheel.
Continue to Part 72 →