A King's Ascent, Ten Stanzas, an Offering
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva speaks from midair, telling the eclipsed king outright that a buddha has arisen. The whole royal household — king, queen, a thousand sons, ministers, and army — rises into the sky and sings ten stanzas urging every being to go to him, before raising ten clouds of offering and arriving at the bodhimaṇḍa to bow at the Tathāgata's own feet.
A Voice from Midair, and a Vow
「爾時，普賢菩薩在彼聖王寶宮殿上，於虛空中而告之言：『大王！當知佛興於世，今在普光明妙法音幢菩提樹下。』時，彼眾生見普賢菩薩相好嚴身，無量光明，聞妙音聲，歡喜無量，發如是願：『令我等所作善根，得此妙身，相好莊嚴，威儀無異，神力自在；除滅一切眾生愚闇，覺悟一切；佛興于世，趣趣受生，願常不離此善知識。』
「時，彼聖王與其寶女，及諸眷屬、千子、大臣，并四種兵，上昇虛空，放大光明，照四天下，普為眾生，以偈頌曰：
"At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, above that sagely king's own jeweled palace, in the midst of space, proclaimed to him: 'Great King! You should know that a buddha has arisen in the world, and is now beneath the bodhi tree of the Banner of the Sublime Dharma-Sound of Universal Light.' At that time, these sentient beings, beholding Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's body adorned with excellent marks and boundless light, and hearing his sublime voice, rejoiced without measure, and raised this vow: 'May the roots of goodness we thereby create cause us to attain this same sublime body, adorned with the same excellent marks, of no different bearing, sovereign in spiritual power; extinguishing the folly and darkness of every sentient being, awakening all; wherever a buddha arises in the world, in whatever destiny we are born, may we vow never to be parted from this good friend.'
"At that time that sagely king, together with his jeweled queen, and his whole retinue, his thousand sons, his ministers, and his fourfold army, rose up into the sky, releasing a great radiance that illumined the four continents, and, for the sake of all beings, spoke this hymn in verse:
This part opens in a new fascicle of the Chinese text — T278's fifty-third of sixty — though the narrative itself runs on without any break at all, Samantabhadra still speaking in midair exactly where the previous fascicle left off. Fazang's own outline treats the two moments translated here as sequential steps of the same movement: 三時彼眾生下大眾歸心。四時彼聖王下明輪王趣詣 — "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." The vow the people raise is worth pausing on: they do not ask to see the buddha, or even to be taught by him — they ask to become like Samantabhadra himself, and to never again be parted from "this good friend," the very phrase this pilgrimage has used, teacher after teacher, for Sudhana's own relationship to each of the fifty-three.
Ten Stanzas, and an Offering of Ten Clouds
「『如來出世間， 普救諸群生，
汝等應速起， 往詣導師所。
無量無數劫， 或有佛興世，
演說深妙法， 饒益一切眾。
普見諸群生， 愚癡顛倒惑，
流轉生死苦， 於彼起大悲。
無量無數劫， 修習菩薩行，
為化眾生故， 發起無上悲。
頭目手足等， 難捨悉能施，
無量無數劫， 專求佛菩提。
無量無邊劫， 如來難值遇，
其有見聞者， 一切悉不虛。
如來在道場， 處佛正法座，
降伏一切魔， 得成最正覺。
觀察如來身， 放演無量光，
種種微妙色， 除滅一切闇。
一一毛孔中， 放光不思議，
除滅愚癡曀， 令眾悉歡喜。
各辨眾供具， 發大精進心，
咸詣如來所， 恭敬設供養。』
「爾時，轉輪聖王讚歎佛已，以轉輪王功德善根，興十種雲，普覆虛空，往詣道場，供養如來；所謂：一切寶雲、一切華雲、一切衣雲、一切寶衣雲、一切寶網金鈴雲、一切堅固香雲、一切如意珠雲、一切妙寶幢雲、一切寶宮殿雲、一切莊嚴雲，普覆一切莊嚴虛空，供養如來，往詣佛所；頭面禮足，遶無數匝，退坐普照寶藏之座。
"'The Tathāgata has arisen in the world, universally rescuing every kind of being;
you should all rise up at once, and go to the Guide's own place.
Throughout boundless, countless kalpas, a buddha may at times arise in the world,
expounding the profound and sublime Dharma, bringing benefit to every being.
Universally beholding every kind of being, deluded by folly and inverted confusion,
turning through the suffering of birth-and-death, he gives rise to great compassion for them.
Throughout boundless, countless kalpas, he cultivates the bodhisattva's own practice;
for the sake of transforming sentient beings, he raises up unsurpassed compassion.
His head, eyes, hands, and feet, and all such things hard to relinquish, he is able to give entirely;
throughout boundless, countless kalpas, he single-mindedly seeks the buddha's own awakening.
Throughout boundless, unbounded kalpas, a tathāgata is difficult to encounter;
whoever sees or hears of him, this is never in vain for any of them.
The Tathāgata, at the bodhimaṇḍa, dwells upon the buddha's own seat of the true Dharma,
subduing every māra, and attaining the most correct awakening.
Contemplate the Tathāgata's own body, releasing and sending forth boundless light,
in every kind of sublime color, extinguishing every darkness.
From every single pore he releases inconceivable light,
extinguishing the eclipse of folly, causing every being to rejoice entirely.
Let each of you prepare every offering, raising up the mind of great diligence,
and together go to the Tathāgata's own place, reverently setting out your offerings.'"
"At that time, the wheel-turning sage-king, having praised the buddha in this way, by the roots of goodness and merit of a wheel-turning king, raised up ten kinds of clouds, universally covering the sky, and went to the bodhimaṇḍa to make offering to the Tathāgata — namely: clouds of every jewel, clouds of every flower, clouds of every robe, clouds of every jeweled robe, clouds of every jeweled net and golden bell, clouds of every enduring fragrance, clouds of every wish-fulfilling gem, clouds of every sublime jeweled banner, clouds of every jeweled palace, and clouds of every adornment — universally covering the whole adorned sky, making offering to the Tathāgata; and, going to the buddha's own place, he reverently bowed his head at his feet, circled him countless times, and withdrew to sit upon the throne of the Universally Illumining Jeweled Treasury."
Fazang breaks the ten stanzas into four groups by their exact function: 二十偈普告，於中分四，初一總勸往詣、次五歎佛積德出世難值、次三明佛已出大利現前、後一令辨供供佛 — "second, ten stanzas proclaiming universally; within this there are four parts: the first, one stanza, generally urges everyone to go; the next five praise the buddha's accumulated merit and how rare it is to encounter his arising in the world; the next three reveal that the buddha has already arisen, a great benefit now present; and the last one causes all to prepare offerings to offer the buddha." The verse's own transition tracks this exactly — five stanzas of praise given in a mood still anticipating what is difficult to encounter, then a sudden shift into the present tense, "the Tathāgata, at the bodhimaṇḍa, dwells," as though the king's own hymn discovers, mid-utterance, that the buddha he is praising as rare has already, in fact, arrived.
The ten clouds of offering that follow — jewel, flower, robe, jeweled robe, net-and-bell, fragrance, wish-gem, banner, palace, and adornment — echo, almost exactly in kind, the offerings this project has already seen sent up by the whole of creation two parts earlier, when mountains and cities themselves sang praise. Here it is a single royal household, not the cosmos entire, making the same gesture at human scale — the wheel-king's own funds of merit, built across an unmeasured reign, spent in a single act of homage.
Part 73 In Progress
The wheel-king and his entire household have arrived at the bodhimaṇḍa and taken their seats before the Tathāgata. Part 74 turns to his daughter Sublime-Virtue Eye, who removes her own jeweled ornaments to offer them — an offering that becomes something far larger than she intends.
Continue to Part 74 →