Sixteen Clauses, and a King Eclipsed
The whole world converges upon the bodhimaṇḍa in offering, and a single lotus flower gives birth to lion-thrones filled with bodhisattvas beyond counting. The buddha Sublime-Virtue Banner turns the Dharma-wheel through sixteen clauses that trace the entire bodhisattva path from the ten faiths to the tenth ground and beyond — before Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, seeing the city's people grown vain over their own beauty, eclipses a wheel-turning king's own radiance with his own.
The Assembly Gathers, and Lotus-Born Bodhisattvas
「時，彼世界眾生，悉詣道場；一切金剛圍山須彌山王、一切諸山、一切變化、一切音聲、一切大地、一切城邑垣牆宮殿；如是等一切諸物，出微妙音，歌頌讚佛。又出一切香雲、一切寶光明雲、一切寶形像雲、一切寶衣雲、一切華雲、一切末香雲、一切寶莊嚴雲、一切如來圓滿光雲、一切如來大願聲雲、一切如來妙音聲雲、一切如來諸相好雲、顯現不可思議如來瑞應相雲；出如是等一切妙雲，供養如來。
「時，彼三世一切佛莊嚴境界雲，蓮華周匝，出生十佛世界微塵等眾寶蓮華；彼一一蓮華鬚上，有寶蓮華藏師子之座；彼師子座上，有十佛世界微塵等菩薩摩訶薩。
"At that time, the sentient beings of that world all converged upon the bodhimaṇḍa; every vajra-ringed mountain, Mount Sumeru the king of mountains, every mountain, every transformation, every sound, the whole earth, and every walled city, rampart, and palace — all such things as these sent forth sublime sounds, singing hymns in praise of the buddha. They also sent forth clouds of every fragrance, clouds of every jeweled radiance, clouds of every jeweled image, clouds of every jeweled robe, clouds of every flower, clouds of every powdered incense, clouds of every jeweled adornment, clouds of every tathāgata's own perfect light, clouds of the sound of every tathāgata's own great vow, clouds of every tathāgata's own sublime sound, clouds of every tathāgata's own excellent marks, and clouds manifesting the inconceivable auspicious signs of every tathāgata; sending forth every such sublime cloud as this, they made offering to the Tathāgata.
"At that time, from the Cloud of the Adorned State of Every Buddha of the Three Times — the very lotus flower itself — all around its rim there arose jeweled lotus flowers equal in number to motes of dust in ten buddha-worlds; and atop the pistil of each and every one of these lotus flowers there was a lion-throne of a jeweled-lotus treasury, and atop each and every one of these lion-thrones there were bodhisattva-mahāsattvas equal in number to motes of dust in ten buddha-worlds."
Fazang reads this as the opening of the assembly-and-teaching sequence proper: 四時彼三世下，明會眾說法。於中三：先菩薩眾會、二佛轉法輪、三令無量下明眾得益 — "fourth, beginning with 'at that time, the Cloud of the Three Times,' reveals the assembly gathering and the Dharma being taught; within this there are three parts: first, the bodhisattva assembly gathering; second, the buddha turning the Dharma-wheel; third, beginning with 'causing boundless,' revealing the benefit the assembly gains." What this part has translated so far is only the first of these three — the gathering itself, world and lotus alike converging on a single point before a single word of teaching has yet been spoken.
The Dharma-Wheel Turns Through Every Stage, and Samantabhadra Eclipses a King
「爾時，妙德幢佛於一切世界，隨其所應，轉淨法輪；令無量眾生，離惡道苦；無量眾生，生人天中；立無量眾生，於聲聞、緣覺之地；立無量眾生，於勇猛精進菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於離垢幢精進菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於法光明菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於清淨根菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於平等諸力菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於一向專求入正法城菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於至一切處，不可破壞神力自在菩薩之行；立無量眾生，於一切方便菩薩之行；立無量眾生，出生菩薩三昧，安住菩提；立無量眾生，修一切淨行，安住菩提；立無量眾生，發菩提心；立無量眾生，住菩薩道；立無量眾生，清淨諸波羅蜜；立無量眾生，於菩薩初地；乃至立無量眾生，於菩薩十地；立無量眾生，於菩薩大願殊勝之行；立無量眾生，於普賢菩薩清淨願行。何以故？如來轉不可思議自在法輪故；於念念中，隨其所應，以種種身、種種方便、種種說法，度脫無量眾生。
「爾時，普賢菩薩知寶華燈城王都眾生，自恃色貌，陵蔑他人；化現妙身，端嚴殊特，往詣彼城，放大光明，普照一切。時，彼聖王身之光明、諸寶光明、寶女光明、寶樹光明、日月星宿光明、皆悉映蔽，猶如聚墨；在真金山，普賢菩薩身色光明，映蔽眾光，亦復如是。
「爾時，眾生各作是念：『今此光明，悉蔽我等，不復顯現；為是梵天諸天光耶？』
"At that time the buddha Sublime-Virtue Banner, throughout every world, according to what was fitting, turned the pure Dharma-wheel: causing boundless sentient beings to be freed from the suffering of the evil destinies; boundless sentient beings to be born among gods and humans; establishing boundless sentient beings in the ground of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of valiant diligence; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own diligent practice of the Stainless Banner; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of the Light of the Dharma; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of the Pure Faculty; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of Equal Powers; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of single-mindedly and exclusively seeking to enter the city of the true Dharma; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of unbreakable, sovereign spiritual power reaching every place; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own practice of every skillful means; establishing boundless sentient beings in giving rise to the bodhisattva's own samādhi, abiding in bodhi; establishing boundless sentient beings in cultivating every pure practice, abiding in bodhi; establishing boundless sentient beings in raising the mind of bodhi; establishing boundless sentient beings in abiding in the bodhisattva's own path; establishing boundless sentient beings in the purification of every pāramitā; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own first ground, up to establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own tenth ground; establishing boundless sentient beings in the bodhisattva's own supreme practice of the great vow; and establishing boundless sentient beings in Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own pure practice and vow. Why is this so? Because the Tathāgata turns the inconceivable, sovereign Dharma-wheel; within every single thought-moment, according to what is fitting, through every kind of body, every kind of skillful means, and every kind of Dharma-teaching, he delivers boundless sentient beings.
"At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, knowing that the people of the royal capital of Jeweled Flower Lamp relied upon their own appearance and beauty, disdaining and despising one another, manifested a transformation-body of sublime form, upright and extraordinary, and went to that city, releasing a great radiance that universally illumined all. At that time, the light of that sagely king's own body, the light of every jewel, the light of the jeweled queen, the light of the jeweled trees, and the light of the sun, moon, and stars, were all utterly eclipsed, as though they were a heap of ink; just as, beside a mountain of true gold, the light of the color of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own body eclipsed every other light, so too was it here.
"At that time, these sentient beings each thought to themselves: 'This light now eclipses us entirely, and we can no longer be seen — could this be the light of Brahmā or of the other devas?'"
Fazang unpacks the sixteen "establishing" clauses as a single map of the entire bodhisattva path — the very path this whole pilgrimage embodies: 於中有十六句，初十令住十信位。發菩提心者，令進入十住位，以彼初是發心位故。菩薩道者，是十行位。淨波羅蜜者，是十迴向中令前十度行淨也。次令得初地乃至十地可知。大願殊勝，是等覺位中行。普賢願行者，是一乘無障礙普遍五位之行願也 — "within this there are sixteen clauses: the first ten cause beings to abide in the ten stages of faith. 'Raising the mind of bodhi' causes them to advance into the ten abodes, since this is itself the stage of first raising the mind. 'The bodhisattva's own path' is the ten practices. 'Purification of the pāramitās' is what, within the ten transferences, purifies the practice of the prior ten perfections. What follows, causing attainment of the first ground up to the tenth ground, may be understood accordingly. 'The supreme practice of the great vow' is the practice belonging to the stage of Virtual Enlightenment. 'Samantabhadra's own practice and vow' is the practice and vow of the One Vehicle, unobstructed and pervading all five stages." Read this way, sixteen short clauses compress the entire arc Sudhana himself is walking — faith, abodes, practices, transferences, the ten grounds this very teacher occupies the fourth of, and finally Samantabhadra's own practice, which does not add a stage beyond the tenth ground so much as pervade every one of the five stages at once, unobstructed. The fifty-three teachers of this pilgrimage are themselves an enactment of this same sixteen-clause structure, one good friend at a time.
Of Samantabhadra's own intervention, Fazang notes precisely what triggers it and what it accomplishes: 六爾時普賢下明普賢引導，於中四：一身光映奪。二語告佛興。三時彼眾生下大眾歸心。四時彼聖王下明輪王趣詣 — "sixth, beginning with 'at that time, Samantabhadra,' reveals Samantabhadra's own guidance; within this there are four parts: first, the body-light eclipsing and overwhelming; second, his words announcing the buddha's arising; third, beginning with 'at that time, these sentient beings,' the great assembly's hearts turning toward him; fourth, beginning with 'at that time, that sagely king,' revealing the wheel-king's own approach." What this part has translated is only the first step of Samantabhadra's own intervention — not a word spoken yet, only a light so complete it renders every other light in the city, gold and gem and starlight alike, indistinguishable from a heap of ink. The very vanity over appearance that caused this buddha to arise in the first place is, quite literally, outshone before a single teaching is given.
Part 72 In Progress
The buddha's Dharma-wheel has turned through all sixteen clauses of the bodhisattva path at once, and Samantabhadra has answered the city's vanity with a light that eclipses every other light in it — leaving its people wondering, in the dark, whose light this could possibly be. Part 73 turns to Samantabhadra's own words, the wheel-king's ascent into the sky, and the whole household's journey to the buddha.
Continue to Part 73 →