Twenty-One and a Half Stanzas on What Cannot Be Known
Before the actual account of a kalpa can begin, the night-deva reiterates in verse everything the prose has just established: who cannot know this Dharma-gate — the greedy, the angry, the foolish, the arrogant — and who can, moving through the six perfections one at a time before naming this, at last, as Samantabhadra's own Dharma-gate.
Twenty-One and a Half Stanzas
爾時，夜天欲重明此義，觀察三世諸佛境界，以偈頌曰：
「佛子此法門， 甚深佛境界，
不思剎塵劫， 說之無窮盡。
貪欲瞋恚癡， 高慢眾生等，
皆悉不能知， 最勝寂靜法。
慳嫉心諂曲， 煩惱業覆者，
一切不能知， 甚深佛境界。
著諸陰入界， 及起吾我見，
心想見顛倒， 不知佛境法。
清淨離虛妄， 如來深境界，
依住生死者， 皆悉不能知。
出生如來家， 諸佛常守護，
奉持佛法藏， 慧眼之境界。
親近善知識， 滿足白淨法，
究竟諸佛力， 聞此法歡喜。
心淨離虛妄， 猶如虛空性，
慧燈除癡闇， 是彼之境界。
以大慈悲心， 普覆諸眾生，
等心觀一切， 是彼之境界。
其心大歡喜， 等觀眾生類，
捨離於一切， 離垢之境界。
淨心離諸惡， 乃至畏微罪，
隨順諸佛法， 離垢之境界。
安住忍辱法， 其心不可動，
如實不違業， 無盡心境界。
勇猛勤精進， 安住不退心，
究竟薩婆若， 調伏之境界。
入於寂定心， 除滅煩惱熱，
深入智慧海， 寂靜起境界。
了達群生類， 諸法真實相，
深法之境界， 是慧燈法門。
覺悟眾生性， 不著諸有海，
普照一切心， 是導師法門。
悉從三世佛， 清淨願性生，
普於一切剎， 窮盡未來劫，
修習菩薩行， 是普賢法門。
入諸方便海， 遍觀諸剎海，
無礙深智慧， 悉知剎成敗。
一一塵中見， 諸佛坐道場，
成佛化眾生， 無礙眼法門。
善財至我所， 親近善知識，
聞此甚深法， 精進勤修習。
此盧舍那境， 甚深難思議，
我承佛神力， 為汝分別說。」
At that time the night-deva, wishing to make this meaning clear once more, contemplating the state of every buddha of the three times, spoke this hymn in verse:
"Child of the Buddha, this Dharma-gate is the buddha's own profound state;
throughout inconceivable kalpas, as numerous as motes of dust in every land, speaking of it could never be exhausted.
Sentient beings of greed and desire, of anger and hatred, of folly, and of arrogance —
none of them are able to know this most supreme, tranquil Dharma.
Those whose minds are stingy, envious, flattering, and crooked, covered over by the karma of affliction —
none of them are able to know the buddha's own profound state.
Those attached to the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements, and who give rise to the view of self,
their thoughts, notions, and views inverted — they do not know the Dharma of the buddha's own state.
Pure and departed from falsehood is the Tathāgata's own profound state;
those who dwell dependent upon birth-and-death are none of them able to know it.
Born into the Tathāgata's own household, constantly guarded by every buddha,
upholding the treasury of the buddha-Dharma — this is the state of the eye of wisdom.
Drawing near to the good friend, fulfilling every pure dharma,
reaching the very end of every buddha's own power, hearing this Dharma with joy.
A mind pure and departed from falsehood, like the very nature of space;
the lamp of wisdom extinguishing the darkness of folly — this is that one's own state.
With a mind of great loving-kindness and compassion, universally covering every sentient being,
contemplating all with an equal mind — this is that one's own state.
This mind greatly rejoicing, equally contemplating every kind of being,
relinquishing everything entirely — this is the state of one stainless.
A pure mind departed from every evil, fearing even the slightest fault,
according with every buddha's own Dharma — this is the state of one stainless.
Abiding securely in the dharma of patience, this mind unmovable,
true to reality and never violating karma — this is the state of an inexhaustible mind.
Valiant and diligently striving, abiding securely in a mind that never retreats,
reaching the very end of all-wisdom — this is the state of one tamed.
Entering a tranquil and settled mind, extinguishing the fever of affliction,
entering deeply into the ocean of wisdom — this is the state that arises from tranquility.
Understanding every kind of living being, and the true mark of every dharma —
this is the state of the profound Dharma, the Dharma-gate of the lamp of wisdom.
Awakening to the nature of sentient beings, unattached to the ocean of every existence,
universally illumining every mind — this is the Guide's own Dharma-gate.
Arising entirely from the pure nature of the vow of every buddha of the three times,
universally, throughout every land, to the very end of every future kalpa,
cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice — this is Samantabhadra's own Dharma-gate.
Entering the ocean of every skillful means, universally contemplating the ocean of every land,
unobstructed and profound wisdom, knowing entirely the arising and passing of every land.
Within each and every mote of dust, beholding every buddha seated at the bodhimaṇḍa,
becoming a buddha and transforming sentient beings — this is the Dharma-gate of the unobstructed eye.
Sudhana has come to my own place, drawing near to the good friend;
having heard this profound Dharma, he should diligently and earnestly cultivate it.
This is Vairocana's own state, profound and inconceivable;
I, upholding the buddha's own spiritual power, have discerned and expounded it for you."
Fazang gives the full architecture of these twenty-one and a half stanzas: 頌中二十一頌半，有五：初一舉境甚深，頌前難說等；二有四頌明所不知人，頌前非諸天等能知；三有十四頌半，頌前除佛神力等...四有一頌勸善財學；五有一頌前我當承力說也 — "the verse of twenty-one and a half stanzas has five parts: the first, one stanza, cites the profound state, re-versing the earlier 'difficult to speak of' and so on; the second, four stanzas, reveals who is unable to know it, re-versing the earlier 'no god and so on is able to know'; the third, fourteen and a half stanzas, re-verses the earlier 'save through the buddha's own spiritual power' and so on... the fourth, one stanza, urges Sudhana to study; the fifth, one stanza, re-verses the earlier 'I shall uphold this power to speak.'" One, four, fourteen and a half, one, and one — twenty-one and a half stanzas in total, matching this translation exactly.
Within the long middle section, Fazang notes a run of six stanzas keyed specifically to the six pāramitās: 次六頌六度行及頌前拔煩惱樹等 — "next, six stanzas on the practice of the six perfections, re-versing the earlier 'uprooting the tree of affliction' and so on." Read against the verse itself, these are recognizable without difficulty — relinquishing everything (giving), fearing even the slightest fault (precepts), an unmovable mind (patience), valiant diligence named outright, a tranquil and settled mind (meditation), and understanding the true mark of every dharma (wisdom) — the same six perfections this pilgrimage has watched recur, teacher after teacher, as the practice beneath every Dharma-gate however differently each one is named.
Part 93 In Progress
Twenty-one and a half stanzas have reiterated, in verse, everything the prose has already established about who can and cannot know this Dharma-gate — moving through the six perfections before naming it, at last, Samantabhadra's own. Part 94 turns to the account itself: a kalpa located through a telescoping cosmic address, opening onto a great king's own story.
Continue to Part 94 →