Ten Words of Compassion
Hearing his people's cry, the king attains a million asaṃkhyeyas of Dharma-gates of great compassion on the spot, and speaks ten words of compassion — one for each of ten kinds of suffering, from the bottomless pit of birth-and-death to blindness from birth. He then opens every treasury in his land, and offers not only wealth but his own body, limb by limb.
Ten Words of Compassion
時，彼大王聞此悲苦楚毒音聲，即得百萬阿僧祇大悲法門，一心思惟，即發十大悲語。何等為十？所謂：嗚呼痛哉！一切眾生，墜於無底生死深阬，無所歸依，我當為彼，作歸依者，悉令逮得如來之地；哀哉眾生，為煩惱亂，無有救濟，我當為彼，作救護者，悉令安立一切善業；哀哉眾生，生老病死，無有救護，我當為彼，作救護者，除滅一切身心苦痛；哀哉眾生，有諸恐怖，無有救護，我當為彼，作救護者，令住一切智安隱之處；哀哉眾生，為身見疑之所覆蔽，我當為彼，作明淨燈，普照一切，現明淨智；哀哉眾生，為愚癡覆，我當為彼，作大明炬，現一切智正法之城；哀哉眾生，為諸慳嫉諂曲幻偽，濁亂其心，我當令彼，悉得無上清淨法身；哀哉眾生，為生死長流之所漂溺，我當令彼，度生死海，到佛彼岸；哀哉眾生，從生盲瞽，我當令彼，見真實義，同一切佛；哀哉眾生，根不調伏，我當令彼，調伏諸根，除滅障礙，得一切智。
At that time, the great king, hearing this sorrowful, suffering, tormented voice, at once attained a million asaṃkhyeyas of Dharma-gates of great compassion, and, single-mindedly contemplating it, at once spoke ten great words of compassion. What are these ten? Namely:
"Alas, how painful! Every sentient being, falling into the bottomless deep pit of birth-and-death, has nowhere to turn; I shall become their refuge, causing them all to attain the Tathāgata's own ground.
"Alas, sentient beings, disturbed by affliction, have no one to save them; I shall become their rescuer, causing them all to establish every wholesome karma.
"Alas, sentient beings, in birth, old age, sickness, and death, have no one to rescue them; I shall become their rescuer, extinguishing every suffering and pain of body and mind.
"Alas, sentient beings, beset by every fear, have no one to rescue them; I shall become their rescuer, causing them to abide in the secure place of every wisdom.
"Alas, sentient beings, covered over by the view of self and by doubt; I shall become for them a bright, pure lamp, universally illumining all, manifesting bright, pure wisdom.
"Alas, sentient beings, covered over by folly; I shall become for them a great, bright torch, manifesting the city of the true Dharma of every wisdom.
"Alas, sentient beings, their minds muddied and disturbed by every kind of stinginess, envy, flattery, and deceptive falsehood; I shall cause them all to attain the unsurpassed, pure Dharma-body.
"Alas, sentient beings, drifting and drowning in the long stream of birth-and-death; I shall cause them to cross beyond the ocean of birth-and-death, reaching the buddha's own further shore.
"Alas, sentient beings, blind from birth; I shall cause them to see the true meaning, becoming the same as every buddha.
"Alas, sentient beings, their faculties untamed; I shall cause them to tame every faculty, extinguishing every obstruction, attaining every wisdom."
Fazang counts these ten words of compassion and identifies exactly what each one answers: 五時彼大王聞下對境起心，成大悲之行。於中三：先心得大悲法，謂百萬僧祇等；二口發大悲語，謂十種悲語等，為愍眾生十種苦故，一地獄苦、二煩惱苦、三老病死苦、四恐怖苦、五見疑苦、六愚癡苦、七慳嫉苦、八生死苦、九生盲苦、十障礙苦，十種對治如文可知 — "fifth, beginning with 'at that time, the great king heard,' reveals the mind arising in response to the object, becoming the very practice of great compassion. Within this, three parts: first, the mind attaining the Dharma of great compassion — 'a million asaṃkhyeyas' and so on; second, the mouth speaking the words of great compassion — the ten kinds of compassionate words, addressing ten kinds of suffering sentient beings undergo: first, the suffering of hell; second, the suffering of affliction; third, the suffering of old age, sickness, and death; fourth, the suffering of fear; fifth, the suffering of view and doubt; sixth, the suffering of folly; seventh, the suffering of stinginess and envy; eighth, the suffering of birth-and-death; ninth, the suffering of being born blind; tenth, the suffering of obstruction — the ten remedies may be understood directly from the text itself." Every clause in the passage above answers, point for point, one of these ten named sufferings — the mind, moved by the crowd's own desperation, immediately converts itself into ten specific promises rather than a single general vow.
Every Treasury Opened, and His Own Body Offered
時，彼大王發如是等十大悲語，擊鼓宣令一切眾生，安隱勿怖，隨汝所須，我皆資給。即時頒下閻浮提內大小諸城、都邑聚落，悉開庫藏金銀、珍寶、衣服、肴膳、香華、瓔珞、床席、被褥、宮殿、宅舍；諸妙寶幢、夜光寶幢、摩尼寶幢；醫師湯藥，種種諸器，盛眾雜寶；諸金剛器，盛眾妙香；種種香器，盛諸衣服；種種車乘，幡綵幢蓋。又復擊鼓，宣令天下一切諸城、都邑聚落，今施汝等國土、城邑、聚落、妻子、頭、目、齒、舌、心、肝、血、肉、腸、胃、手足，一切肢節。
At that time, the great king, having spoken these ten great words of compassion, beat the drum and proclaimed to every sentient being: "Be at peace, and do not fear; whatever you need, I shall provide for you all." At once he issued a decree throughout every great and small city, town, and village within Jambudvīpa, opening every treasury of gold, silver, and every jewel, robes, delicacies, fragrant flowers, garlands, beds and mats, quilts and cushions, palaces and dwellings; every sublime jeweled banner, every night-luminous jeweled banner, every maṇi-jeweled banner; every physician's remedy, and every kind of vessel filled with every manner of treasure; every vajra vessel filled with every sublime fragrance; every kind of fragrance-vessel filled with every robe; every kind of chariot and carriage, every banner, silk streamer, and canopy. He further beat the drum, proclaiming throughout every city, town, and village of the whole world: "I now bestow upon you all my own land, my own cities and villages, my own wife and children, my head, eyes, teeth, tongue, heart, liver, blood, flesh, intestines, stomach, hands, feet, and every one of my own limbs and joints."
Fazang marks the shift from speech to action plainly: 三時彼大王下明身行大悲事，於中五：先宣勅普告 — "third, beginning with 'at that time, the great king,' reveals great compassion carried out bodily, in action; within this there are five parts, the first of which is issuing a universal proclamation." The escalation across the passage is worth noticing on its own terms: the king first opens material treasuries — gold, jewels, robes, medicine — the ordinary substance of royal generosity. Then, in the very same breath, without any narrative pause to mark the shift, he offers his own body: eyes, tongue, heart, liver, blood, flesh, down to every limb and joint. The text does not treat this second offer as a separate, more extreme gesture; it is announced by the same drum, to the same crowd, in the same proclamation — generosity that does not distinguish in kind between a storehouse of jewels and a king's own body.
Part 95 In Progress
The king has answered his people's cry with ten specific words of compassion and then opened every treasury in his land, offering wealth and his own body in the same breath. Part 96 turns to the great giving-assembly he holds at the city gates, and to the vast crowds who come to receive what he has promised.
Continue to Part 96 →