Maitreya's Own Past, and a Kalpa of Great Light
The wheel-turning king is revealed as none other than Maitreya's own past self, the jeweled queen as the night-deva Tranquil Sound — teacher thirty-five, still to come — and the young daughter as the narrator's own former self. The account then opens onto a second kalpa, Great Light, tracing nine buddhas in turn and the nine different bodies — night-deva, king, elder, asura, nāga-maiden, sage, earth-deva — through which she met each one.
Closing the First Kalpa's Account: An Identification
「善男子！復於是前過十大劫，有世界名日輪光照，佛號因陀羅妙德幢，此妙德眼女，因普賢菩薩善知識故，造蓮華如來像，眾寶莊嚴，發菩提心。善男子！爾時，明淨寶藏妙德轉輪聖王者，豈異人乎？今彌勒菩薩是也；時，寶女妙德成滿者，今寂靜音夜天是也；妙德眼女者，我身是也。善男子！我以莊嚴具，供養妙德幢如來故，見佛無量自在神力，聞說正法，聞正法已，即得教化一切眾生法門，恭敬供養須彌山微塵等一切如來，聞彼諸佛所說經法，皆悉受持，於一念中，見彼一切佛剎，一切如來及菩薩眾。」
"Good son, furthermore, before this — ten great kalpas earlier still — there was a world named Illumined by the Wheel of the Sun, and a buddha named Indra's Own Sublime-Virtue Banner; and this same Sublime-Virtue Eye, because of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva as her good friend, fashioned a lotus-flower image of the Tathāgata, adorned with every jewel, and raised the mind of bodhi. Good son, could that wheel-turning sage-king, Bright, Pure Jeweled-Treasury Sublime-Virtue, have been anyone other than himself? He is none other than the bodhisattva Maitreya, now. That jeweled queen, Sublime Virtue, Fully Accomplished, is none other than the night-deva Tranquil Sound, now. And Sublime-Virtue Eye is I myself. Good son, because I made offering to the Tathāgata Sublime-Virtue Banner with my own ornaments, I beheld the buddha's own boundless sovereign spiritual power, and heard the true Dharma expounded; having heard the true Dharma, I at once attained the Dharma-gate of teaching and transforming every sentient being, and reverently made offering to every tathāgata equal in number to motes of dust on Mount Sumeru, hearing and upholding entirely the sūtras and Dharma these buddhas expounded, and, within a single thought-moment, beholding every one of these buddha-lands, and every one of these tathāgatas and their bodhisattva assemblies."
Fazang marks this as the closing movement of the entire first kalpa's account: 十結會古今中三：初正會古今、二善男子我以下結所成益、三恭敬供養下明轉修勝行淨前法門 — "tenth, the identification of past and present, in three parts: first, the direct identification of past and present; second, beginning with 'good son, because I,' concluding the benefit thereby accomplished; third, beginning with 'reverently making offering,' revealing the further cultivation of a supreme practice that purifies the prior Dharma-gate." The identification itself lands three names at once: the wheel-turning king, father of the household this whole first kalpa has followed, is Maitreya himself — the very bodhisattva Sudhana has not yet met, still nineteen teachers ahead at the very end of this pilgrimage. The jeweled queen is the night-deva Tranquil Sound, the very teacher waiting immediately after this one, teacher thirty-five. And the daughter, described so carefully three parts ago as this project noted at the time, is the narrator's own former self.
A Kalpa of Great Light: Nine Buddhas, and a Singing-Girl's Thousand Stanzas
「善男子！其後有劫，名大光明，世界名種種莊嚴，有五百佛出興于世，我悉恭敬供養。此諸如來，其最初佛，名大悲幢，我為夜天，恭敬供養。次後如來，名金剛那羅延幢，時我為轉輪王，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名起一切如來性，十佛世界微塵等修多羅，以為眷屬。次後如來，名無礙妙德住，時我為轉輪王，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名普照一切眾生諸根，須彌山微塵等修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名明淨焰妙德山莊嚴，時我為長者，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名普照三世藏，閻浮提微塵等修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名一切法海起王，時我為阿脩羅，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說經，名分別一切法界，五百修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名甚深妙法海光，時我為龍女，雨如意摩尼寶雲，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名長養歡喜海，百萬億修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名寶焰功德山燈，時我為海神，雨眾寶華雲，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名法界方便海，世界微塵等修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名功德海光圓滿妙德，時我為仙人，在雪山住，與六萬仙人俱，往詣彼佛，雨寶華雲，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名法燈無所著，六萬修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。次後如來，名明淨妙德藏，時我為地天，名夜平等義，與無量天俱，往詣彼佛，雨一切寶、一切寶藏、一切莊嚴雲，恭敬供養；彼佛為我說修多羅，名起一切如來智藏，無量修多羅，以為眷屬，悉聞受持。佛子！如是五百如來，次第興世，其最後佛，名法界虛空寶山妙德燈；時，我為妓人，名曰善口；彼佛入城，我在空中，以一千偈讚歎如來。爾時，世尊眉間白毫相，放大光明，名普照法界莊嚴，普照十方；照已，入我身中，即得法界方便不退藏法門。佛子！如是等世界微塵等劫諸佛興世，我悉恭敬供養；彼諸如來所說正法，悉聞受持，未曾忘失一句一味。於一一佛所，得三世甚深法界清淨法身；一切智光，普照一切，攝取普賢菩薩所行。於念念中，悉見無量無邊諸佛，得無量無邊淨慧光明，普照一切。先未得未證普賢所行，今悉成滿，何以故？說無量無邊故。」
"Good son, after this there was a kalpa named Great Light, and a world named Adorned in Every Manner, in which five hundred buddhas arose in the world, and I made reverent offering to every one of them. Of these tathāgatas, the very first buddha was named Banner of Great Compassion; at that time I was a night-deva, and made reverent offering. The next tathāgata was named Vajra-Nārāyaṇa Banner; at that time I was a wheel-turning king, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named Giving Rise to Every Tathāgata's Own Nature, with sūtras equal in number to motes of dust in ten buddha-worlds as its retinue. The next tathāgata was named Unobstructed Sublime-Virtue Abode; at that time I was a wheel-turning king, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named Universally Illumining Every Sentient Being's Own Faculties, with sūtras equal in number to motes of dust on Mount Sumeru as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named Bright, Pure Blazing Sublime-Virtue Mountain Adornment; at that time I was an elder, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named the Treasury That Universally Illumines the Three Times, with sūtras equal in number to motes of dust in Jambudvīpa as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named King Who Arouses the Whole Ocean of Every Dharma; at that time I was an asura, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named Discerning Every Dharma-Realm, with five hundred sūtras as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named the Light of the Profound and Sublime Ocean of Dharma; at that time I was a nāga-maiden, raining down clouds of wish-fulfilling maṇi-jewels, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named Nurturing the Ocean of Joy, with a million koṭis of sūtras as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named the Lamp of the Mountain of Merit and Jeweled Radiance; at that time I was an ocean-deity, raining down clouds of every jeweled flower, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named the Ocean of Skillful Means of the Dharma-Realm, with sūtras equal in number to motes of dust in every world as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named Perfect Sublime Virtue, the Light of the Ocean of Merit; at that time I was a sage, dwelling on a snow mountain together with sixty thousand sages, and we went to that buddha, raining down clouds of jeweled flowers, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named the Unattached Lamp of the Dharma, with sixty thousand sūtras as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld. The next tathāgata was named Bright, Pure Sublime-Virtue Treasury; at that time I was an earth-deva, named Night of Equal Meaning, and, together with boundless devas, we went to that buddha, raining down clouds of every jewel, every jeweled treasury, and every adornment, and made reverent offering; that buddha expounded for me a sūtra, named Giving Rise to Every Tathāgata's Own Treasury of Wisdom, with boundless sūtras as its retinue, all of which I heard and upheld.
"Child of the Buddha, these five hundred tathāgatas arose in the world in sequence, one after another; and the very last of these buddhas was named the Lamp of Sublime Virtue, the Jeweled Mountain of the Dharma-Realm and Space. At that time I was a singing-girl, named Skilled of Speech; when that buddha entered the city, I was in the sky, and with a thousand stanzas praised and extolled the Tathāgata. At that time, from the World-Honored One's own mark of the white curl between his brows, he released a great radiance, named Universally Illumining the Adornment of the Dharma-Realm, universally illumining the ten directions; and having illumined, it entered my own body, and I at once attained the Dharma-gate of the Non-Retreating Treasury of the Skillful Means of the Dharma-Realm.
"Child of the Buddha, throughout kalpas such as these, equal in number to motes of dust in every world, buddhas have arisen in the world, and I have made reverent offering to every one of them; the true Dharma these tathāgatas expounded, I have heard and upheld entirely, never once forgetting a single phrase or a single flavor of it. At the presence of each and every buddha, I attained the pure Dharma-body of the profound Dharma-realm of the three times; the light of every wisdom universally illumining all, gathering in Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own every practice. Within every single thought-moment, I beheld boundless, unbounded buddhas in their entirety, attaining boundless, unbounded pure wisdom-light, universally illumining all. What I had not yet attained, not yet realized, of Samantabhadra's own practice, is now entirely fulfilled. Why is this so? Because it has been expounded boundlessly, without limit."
Fazang marks this second kalpa's own architecture plainly: 第二大段其後有劫下明大光明劫中供佛修行，於中三：先總舉；二其最初下別辨九佛各轉生供養聞經受持；三佛子如是等下最後佛邊所得法益 — "the second great section, beginning with 'after this there was a kalpa,' reveals the cultivation of offering buddhas within the kalpa of Great Light; within this there are three parts: first, a general statement; second, beginning with 'the very first,' distinguishing nine buddhas individually, each with the rebirth in which she made offering and heard and upheld the sūtra; third, beginning with 'Child of the Buddha, thus,' the benefit gained at the presence of the very last buddha." The nine buddhas he counts are exactly the first buddha plus the eight named by "the next tathāgata" that follow — the five-hundredth and final buddha of the kalpa, with its singing-girl scene and its own Dharma-gate, forms a distinct third unit of its own, not folded into the nine.
Across these nine rebirths the narrator appears as a night-deva, twice as a wheel-turning king, an elder, an asura, a nāga-maiden, an ocean-deity, a sage among sixty thousand sages, and an earth-deva — and then, at the kalpa's five-hundredth and final buddha, a singing-girl in the sky reciting a thousand stanzas. The range of bodies is worth sitting with: nothing in this list ranks the forms by dignity. A wheel-turning king's offering and a singing-girl's thousand stanzas receive, in the text's own telling, the identical outcome — a sūtra heard, upheld, and never once forgotten, "not a single phrase or a single flavor of it."
Part 75 In Progress
Two kalpas have now closed: the first identified the wheel-king as Maitreya, the queen as the very next teacher Sudhana will meet, and the daughter as the narrator herself; the second traced nine buddhas across nine different bodies, closing with a singing-girl's thousand stanzas in the sky. Part 76 turns to the account's own closing summary, and to the retelling of everything just narrated across thirty-eight and a half stanzas of verse — where the whole collection has, until now, always found its own name-lists condensed and confirmed.
Continue to Part 76 →