Krakucchanda to Vairocana, Eleven Layers Deep
After kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in two buddha-lands, the account arrives in the present Bhadrakalpa: the night-deva meets the buddhas Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kāśyapa in turn, then Vairocana himself, attaining this very Dharma-gate's own essence. Its function then unfolds in a single continuous chain, each layer giving birth to the next, eleven layers deep — an inexhaustible ocean of Dharma-gates folded into one another without end.
Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa, and Vairocana
「於彼佛剎二佛世界微塵等劫，修菩薩行，經佛剎微塵等受生，最後命終，生此蓮華藏莊嚴世界海，娑婆世界中，作道場夜神，值拘樓孫如來，得三昧眼，名離垢一切香王光明；次值拘那含牟尼如來，復得三昧，名隨順普照一切剎海；次值迦葉如來，復得三昧，名妙音聲海，分別一切眾生音海；今復值見盧舍那佛，坐於道場菩提樹下，成等正覺，於念念中，顯現無量自在力海，復得菩薩無量歡喜莊嚴法門。」
"Throughout kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in two buddha-lands, at that buddha-land, I cultivated the bodhisattva's own practice, undergoing rebirths as numerous as motes of dust in every buddha-land; at my final death there, I was born into this ocean of worlds, the Lotus-Treasury World of Adornment, within this Sahā world, as a bodhimaṇḍa night-deva. I met the Tathāgata Krakucchanda, and attained the eye of samādhi, named the Stainless Light of the King of Every Fragrance; next I met the Tathāgata Kanakamuni, and again attained a samādhi, named According with the Universal Illumination of Every Land; next I met the Tathāgata Kāśyapa, and again attained a samādhi, named the Ocean of Sublime Sound, Discerning the Ocean of Every Sentient Being's Own Voice; and now I have further met and beheld Vairocana Buddha, seated at the bodhimaṇḍa beneath the bodhi tree, attaining the most correct awakening, within every single thought-moment manifesting the boundless ocean of sovereign power, and I have again attained the bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate of the Adornment of Boundless Joy."
Fazang reads this transition as the account's own arrival in familiar territory: 二於彼佛剎下明二剎塵劫中各供佛修行及所經受生，顯此法門根無極深遠也。三最後命終下明此賢劫中供佛修行。於中三：初值拘樓孫等三佛得定，以此忍土在花藏中舉本統末，故云生此等也 — "second, beginning with 'at that buddha-land,' reveals cultivating practice and undergoing rebirths across kalpas as numerous as motes of dust in two buddha-lands, showing that this Dharma-gate's own root runs boundlessly deep. Third, beginning with 'at the final death,' reveals cultivation within this present Bhadrakalpa; within this there are three parts: first, meeting Krakucchanda and the other two buddhas and attaining samādhi from each — since this world of endurance lies within the Lotus-Treasury cosmos, citing the root by way of its branch, hence 'was born into this.'" The three buddhas of our own Bhadrakalpa already past — Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa — are named here as simply the latest three teachers in an unbroken sequence stretching back through a kalpa this project has just spent two full parts inside. Vairocana, the buddha of the present assembly Sudhana himself now stands within, is the fourth: 二今復下明見舍那佛正得此法門體 — "second, beginning with 'now I have further,' reveals beholding Vairocana Buddha and directly attaining this Dharma-gate's own essence." Only at the buddha immediately present does the essence of the Dharma-gate itself, rather than a samādhi drawn from it, finally arrive.
Eleven Layers, Each Giving Birth to the Next
「得法門已，深入十不可說不可說世界海微塵等法界方便海。以此法界方便海，於一切佛剎微塵，一一微塵中，悉見十不可說不可說佛剎微塵等世界，及彼諸佛，彼諸如來所說正法，悉聞受持。又見盧舍那佛，於念念中一切世界，坐於道場，成等正覺，出生無量自在神力，一一神力，滿法界海，我悉詣彼所說正法，悉聞受持。又復見彼一切諸佛，一一毛孔，出化身海，滿法界海，顯現種種自在神力，於一切佛剎海、一切世界性、一切世界、一切諸趣、一切眾生中，隨其所應，轉正法輪。
「我以精進聞持陀羅尼故，悉能受持，正念思惟，知味知義，明智慧藏，圓滿清淨，分別了知一切法海，觀察三世諸佛平等，出生一切方便法門；於一一方便，出生一切修多羅雲；一一修多羅雲，成就一切諸正法海；一一法海，攝取一切諸迴轉法；一一迴轉法，普出一切諸妙法雲；一一法雲，出生一切諸法波浪；一一波浪，逮得一切歡喜法海；一一歡喜法海，出生一切諸功德地；一一功德地，出生一切諸三昧海；一一三昧海，見一切佛海；一一佛所，得一切光明海；一一光明海，普照三世，得圓滿智地，普照十方，知無量佛過去行海，照一切佛無量本事海；難捨能施，持無量淨戒，行無量忍，長養清淨菩薩精進，清淨無量諸禪定海；了知如來般若波羅蜜海，普照如來無量方便海；了知如來長養功德智慧力波羅蜜，分別如來無量智波羅蜜海。普照如來過去無量菩薩諸地，無量佛地，神力自在；無量劫中，所修習起，淨無量佛過去菩薩地，修無量佛過去智地，照無量佛諸智慧地。知無量佛為菩薩時，相續善根，知無量佛為菩薩時，於一切劫海中，一切佛海，所修菩薩行；知無量佛為菩薩時，出生佛剎海，無量菩薩行充滿法界，種種方便門教化眾生。普照十方諸世界海，為諸眾生，現自在力；普照如來一切智地，轉淨法輪，悉聞受持一切法雲，顯現無量菩薩自在神力；普照諸佛相海、行海、力海，於念念中，知彼諸佛，從初發心，乃至無餘涅槃，遺法滅盡。
"Having attained this Dharma-gate, I entered deeply into the ocean of skillful means of the Dharma-realm, equal in number to motes of dust in ten unspeakable, unspeakable oceans of worlds. Through this ocean of skillful means of the Dharma-realm, within every mote of dust of every buddha-land, within each and every one of these motes of dust, I beheld in full worlds equal in number to motes of dust in ten unspeakable, unspeakable buddha-lands, and every one of these buddhas; the true Dharma these tathāgatas expounded, I heard and upheld entirely. I also beheld Vairocana Buddha, within every single thought-moment, in every world, seated at the bodhimaṇḍa, attaining the most correct awakening, giving rise to boundless sovereign spiritual power, each and every power filling the whole ocean of the Dharma-realm; I went to every one of these, and the Dharma they expounded, I heard and upheld entirely. I also further beheld every one of these buddhas, from every single pore, sending forth an ocean of transformation-bodies, filling the whole ocean of the Dharma-realm, manifesting manifold sovereign spiritual powers, and, throughout the whole ocean of every buddha-land, every world-nature, every world, every destiny, and every sentient being, according to what was fitting, turning the true Dharma-wheel.
"Because of the dhāraṇī of diligently hearing and retaining, I was able to uphold all of this entirely, rightly holding it in mind and contemplating it, knowing its flavor and knowing its meaning, my bright treasury of wisdom perfect and pure, discerning and knowing the whole ocean of every dharma, contemplating the equality of every buddha of the three times, giving rise to every skillful Dharma-gate; from within each and every skillful means, giving rise to every cloud of sūtras; from within each and every cloud of sūtras, accomplishing the whole ocean of every true dharma; from within each and every ocean of dharma, gathering in every dharma of turning and returning; from within each and every dharma of turning and returning, universally sending forth every cloud of sublime dharma; from within each and every cloud of dharma, giving rise to every wave of every dharma; from within each and every wave, attaining the whole ocean of every joyful dharma; from within each and every ocean of joyful dharma, giving rise to every ground of every merit; from within each and every ground of merit, giving rise to every ocean of every samādhi; from within each and every ocean of samādhi, beholding the whole ocean of every buddha; at the presence of each and every buddha, attaining the whole ocean of every light; from within each and every ocean of light, universally illumining the three times, attaining the ground of perfect wisdom, universally illumining the ten directions, knowing the ocean of boundless buddhas' own past practice, illumining the boundless ocean of every buddha's own past deeds.
"Difficult to relinquish, yet able to give; upholding boundless pure precepts; practicing boundless patience; nurturing the bodhisattva's own pure diligence; purifying the boundless ocean of every meditative concentration; discerning and knowing the Tathāgata's own ocean of the perfection of wisdom; universally illumining the Tathāgata's own boundless ocean of skillful means; discerning and knowing the Tathāgata's own perfection of nurturing merit and the power of wisdom; discerning the Tathāgata's own boundless ocean of the perfection of wisdom-gnosis. Universally illumining the Tathāgata's own boundless past bodhisattva grounds and boundless buddha-grounds, sovereign in spiritual power; throughout boundless kalpas, what was cultivated and arose — purifying boundless buddhas' own past bodhisattva grounds, cultivating boundless buddhas' own past grounds of wisdom, illumining boundless buddhas' own every ground of wisdom. Knowing that boundless buddhas, at the time they were bodhisattvas, continued their roots of goodness without interruption; knowing that boundless buddhas, at the time they were bodhisattvas, throughout the whole ocean of every kalpa, within the whole ocean of every buddha, cultivated the bodhisattva's own practice; knowing that boundless buddhas, at the time they were bodhisattvas, gave rise to the ocean of buddha-lands, their boundless bodhisattva practice filling the Dharma-realm entirely, through manifold gates of skillful means teaching and transforming sentient beings.
"Universally illumining the ocean of every world of the ten directions, manifesting sovereign power for the sake of every sentient being; universally illumining the Tathāgata's own ground of every wisdom, turning the pure Dharma-wheel, hearing and upholding entirely every cloud of dharma, manifesting the boundless bodhisattva's own sovereign spiritual power; universally illumining the ocean of every buddha's own marks, ocean of practice, and ocean of power, within every single thought-moment knowing that, for every one of these buddhas, from the first raising of the mind up to the remainderless nirvāṇa, when the Dharma they leave behind is entirely extinguished."
Fazang reads this entire passage as the tenfold function of the Dharma-gate now attained: 三得法已深入下得法門用，於中有十：初總舉所得善巧之海；二以此下九門別顯業用 — "third, beginning with 'having attained this Dharma-gate, I entered deeply,' reveals the function of the Dharma-gate; within this there are ten parts: first, a general statement of the ocean of skillful means attained; second, beginning with 'through this,' nine further gates particularly revealing its function." Of the middle of this passage — the long unbroken chain from "skillful means" through "ocean of light" — he identifies a single, deliberate structure: 初總持出生門，謂依平等出一切方便，此一切中各一出一切，如是重重出生至十一重一一故也，此是無盡無盡法門海也 — "the first is the gate of dhāraṇī giving rise: relying on equality, it gives rise to every skillful means; and within this 'every,' each single one again gives rise to 'every' — layer upon layer giving rise in this way, reaching eleven layers each within the other. This is the ocean of Dharma-gates, inexhaustible upon inexhaustible."
Counted through, the chain runs exactly eleven layers deep, each one named as the source of the next: skillful means, cloud of sūtras, ocean of true dharma, dharma of turning and returning, cloud of sublime dharma, wave of dharma, ocean of joyful dharma, ground of merit, ocean of samādhi, ocean of buddhas, ocean of light — eleven links in an unbroken chain, and the eleventh dissolves outward again into "universally illumining the three times." This is not decorative repetition; it is the text enacting, in its own syntax, the very point Fazang names it for — an ocean that generates further ocean without any point at which the generation could be said to stop. What follows this chain, he notes, catalogues six further functions in turn: illumining the ten-perfections-practice of past buddhas, illumining the grounds they attained, knowing their bodhisattva-time practice for the benefit of self and others both, and finally holding and illumining the Dharma of the buddhas from their first raising of the mind to their final nirvāṇa — the entire arc of a buddha's own career, held within a single night-deva's remembering.
Part 81 In Progress
The account has now reached the present Bhadrakalpa and the buddha of the present assembly, and traced the Dharma-gate's own function through an eleven-layered chain that generates itself without end. Part 82 turns to the account's own closing statement — comparing this teacher's offerings to the thousand buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa and to every future buddha of every world — before the night-deva retells everything in verse.
Continue to Part 82 →