A Great Assembly, and a Joy Beyond Any Heaven
A jeweled assembly-ground rises outside the eastern gate of the city, and boundless sentient beings gather to receive what the king has promised. Their gratitude brings him a happiness the text says exceeds even the longest-lived heavens — likened, in a single homely simile, to a devoted child suddenly reunited with parents lost for years.
An Assembly-Ground, and a King's Own Throne
時，城東門外，有大會處，名曰明淨摩尼妙德。
其地平正，廣博清淨，無諸雜穢；眾寶為地，散雜寶華，熏以眾香，一切香雲，充滿虛空；寶樹圍遶，無量華網及諸寶網，羅覆其上，自然演出無量億那由他娛樂音聲；有如是等無量珍妙而莊嚴之，皆是菩薩淨業果報。於彼會中，王所住處，十寶為地、十寶欄楯，十種寶樹，周匝圍遶；形色金剛，不可沮壞；眾寶莊嚴，懸諸寶幡，白淨寶網、金鈴寶網、眾華寶網、摩尼寶網、雜衣寶網，羅覆其上；熏以名香，自然演出無量微妙歌頌音聲。時，彼大王處師子座，端嚴殊妙，具大人相；肢節周備，那羅延身不可沮壞；王姓中生，以正治國，於財心法，悉得自在，功德無量，無違命者。眾妙寶蓋，以覆其上；其蓋常出無量光明閻浮金色，覆以淨妙摩尼寶網；金寶諸鈴，出和雅音，宣揚善行。
At that time, outside the eastern gate of the city, there was a great assembly-ground, named Bright, Pure Maṇi, Sublime Virtue.
This ground was level and even, vast and broad, pure, without any impurity mixed in; formed of every jewel as its ground, scattered with every kind of jeweled flower, perfumed with every fragrance, clouds of every fragrance filling the whole of space; encircled by jeweled trees, boundless nets of flowers and every kind of jeweled net spread over it, spontaneously sending forth boundless koṭis of nayutas of sounds of entertainment; adorned with boundless treasures and marvels such as these, every one of them the fruit of a bodhisattva's own pure karma. Within this assembly, at the place where the king dwelt, the ground was formed of the ten jewels, its balustrades formed of the ten jewels, and ten kinds of jeweled trees encircled it all about; its form and color like vajra, indestructible; adorned with every jewel, hung with jeweled banners, nets of white, pure jewels, nets of golden bells and jewels, nets of every flower and jewel, nets of maṇi-jewels, nets of every kind of robe and jewel, spread over it all; perfumed with renowned fragrance, spontaneously sending forth boundless, sublime songs of praise. At that time, the great king sat upon a lion-throne, upright, dignified, and sublime, fully endowed with the marks of a great being; his every limb and joint complete, his body like Nārāyaṇa's own, indestructible; born within the royal lineage, governing the country by the true Dharma, sovereign and unobstructed in wealth, mind, and Dharma alike, boundless in merit, with none who disobeyed his command. Every kind of sublime jeweled canopy covered him above; this canopy constantly sent forth boundless light of Jambū-river gold, covered over with a pure, sublime net of maṇi-jewels; golden jeweled bells sent forth a harmonious, elegant sound, proclaiming good conduct.
Fazang traces this whole scene as the second of five steps in the king's own "bodily practice of great compassion": 三時彼大王下明身行大悲事，於中五：先宣勅普告；二時城東下設大施會 — "third, beginning with 'at that time, the great king,' reveals great compassion carried out bodily; within this there are five parts: first, the universal proclamation; second, beginning with 'at that time, outside the eastern gate,' setting up the great assembly of giving." Everything the ground itself displays — jeweled flowers, fragrant clouds, ten kinds of jeweled trees — is named outright as the fruit of a bodhisattva's own pure karma, not simply royal splendor for its own sake; the assembly-ground is, in the text's own accounting, an effect with a specific moral cause.
A Crowd's Gratitude, and a Joy No Heaven Can Match
「爾時，閻浮提內無量阿僧祇眾生，悉來歸命，讚言大王：『王是智人，天下第一；功德須彌，功德明淨，猶如滿月；得菩薩心，等觀眾生，普施一切。』時，王見已，歡喜無量，於彼大眾，發大悲心、善知識心，隨所求者，悉令充足而攝取之。時，王即得無量快樂，釋提桓因乃至化自在天王，無量百億那由他劫，受諸快樂，所不能及；他化自在天王，不思議劫，受諸快樂，亦所不及；大梵天王，不可說劫，住梵住樂，亦所不及；乃至淨居天，無分齊劫，住寂靜樂，亦所不及。復次，善男子！譬如有人，仁慈至孝，遭世事難，違離父母，經歷年歲，後忽遇會；瞻奉親顏，欣慰踊悅，不能自勝。時彼大王，見來求者，心大歡喜，亦復如是；信心堅固，長養菩提。何以故？此菩薩專求一切智，饒益安樂一切眾生；成滿大願，遠不善法，修行諸善；救護眾生，開薩婆若門；攝一切智，滿眾生願；入一切佛諸功德海，壞一切煩惱魔業障山，隨順一切諸如來教；入深智流，不違正道，出諸法流，成滿大願；住大人法，滿足普門善根之藏；離一切惡，心無所染，了達諸法猶如虛空。
「復次，佛子！時，彼大王見諸眾生，發一子想、父母想、福田想、難報恩想、師想、佛想，大慈悲心悉普覆之；隨其所須，衣服、飲食、華香、末香、塗香、鬘蓋、幢幡，諸莊嚴具，床座、被褥、舍宅、宮殿、園觀、浴池、車乘、輦輿、象馬、眾寶、所住宮殿及其眷屬、內諸庫藏、城邑聚落；如是一切，悉施眾生，普令充足。
"At that time, boundless asaṃkhyeyas of sentient beings within Jambudvīpa all came to submit themselves to him, praising the great king, saying: 'The king is a wise person, foremost in the whole world; his merit like Sumeru, his merit bright and pure, like the full moon; he has attained the bodhisattva's own mind, equally contemplating sentient beings, universally giving to all.' At that time, the king, having heard this, rejoiced without measure; before this great assembly, he raised the mind of great compassion, the mind of the good friend, and, according to what each sought, caused them all to be fully satisfied and gathered them in. At that time, the king at once attained boundless happiness — a happiness that Śakra, Lord of the Devas, and even the King of the Devas Who Delight in Transformation, could not match even throughout boundless hundreds of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas of experiencing every happiness; that the King of the Devas of Mastery Over Others' Transformations could not match even throughout inconceivable kalpas of experiencing every happiness; that the Great Brahmā King could not match even throughout unspeakable kalpas of dwelling in the happiness of Brahmā's own abode; and that even the Pure Abodes could not match even throughout kalpas beyond measure of dwelling in tranquil happiness.
"Furthermore, good son, it is like a person of benevolence and utmost filial devotion, who, encountering worldly hardship, is parted from his own parents, and, after passing through years, suddenly meets them again; beholding his parents' own faces, he is overcome with comfort and joyful delight, unable to contain himself. At that time, the great king, beholding those who came seeking his help, his mind rejoicing greatly, was just the same as this; his faith firm and unshaken, nurturing his own bodhi. Why is this so? Because this bodhisattva single-mindedly sought every wisdom, bringing benefit and peace to every sentient being; fulfilling the great vow, departing far from unwholesome dharmas, cultivating every wholesome deed; rescuing and protecting sentient beings, opening the gate of all-wisdom; gathering in every wisdom, fulfilling the vows of sentient beings; entering the whole ocean of every buddha's own merit, breaking apart the mountain of every affliction and māra's own karmic obstruction, according with every tathāgata's own teaching; entering the deep stream of wisdom, never violating the true path, emerging from the stream of every dharma, fulfilling the great vow; abiding in the dharma of a great being, fully endowed with the treasury of the universal gate's own root of goodness; departing from every evil, his mind stained by nothing, understanding every dharma as like unto space itself.
"Furthermore, child of the Buddha, at that time, the great king, beholding every sentient being, gave rise to the thought of an only child, the thought of a parent, the thought of a field of merit, the thought of one whose kindness is hard to repay, the thought of a teacher, the thought of a buddha, his mind of great loving-kindness and compassion universally covering them all; according to what each needed — robes, food and drink, flowers and fragrance, powdered incense, ointment-incense, garlands and canopies, banners and pennants, every kind of adornment, beds and seats, quilts and cushions, dwellings, palaces, gardens and parks, bathing pools, chariots and carriages, palanquins, elephants and horses, every treasure, the very palace he himself dwelt in and its own retinue, every treasury within it, every city and village — all of this he gave entirely to sentient beings, causing them all to be fully satisfied.
Fazang traces the third and fourth of his five steps here: 三爾時閻浮下大眾普集；四時王見已下明見乞者現前，王大歡喜，是適悅意樂，於中四：一法說校量、二喻、三合、四何以故下釋大喜所由 — "third, beginning with 'at that time, within Jambudvīpa,' the great assembly universally gathering; fourth, beginning with 'at that time, the king, having seen this,' reveals the petitioners appearing before him, and the king's own great joy — this is a contented, satisfied happiness, within which there are four parts: first, a direct statement comparing it to other happiness; second, a simile; third, matching the simile back to the king; fourth, beginning with 'why is this so,' explaining the cause of this great joy." The comparison itself climbs through every heaven this cosmology recognizes — Śakra, the heavens of transformation and of mastery over others' transformations, Great Brahmā, and finally the Pure Abodes themselves — each one named only to be found insufficient against a single king's own happiness at having relieved his people's suffering.
The simile that follows this comparison is worth pausing on for its sheer ordinariness against everything surrounding it: after cosmic hierarchies of heavens spanning inconceivable kalpas, the text reaches for nothing more exotic than a devoted child, separated from parents by hardship, suddenly reunited with them after years apart. Fazang's own fifth step — 五復次佛子時彼大王下正起勝想普施所須 — "fifth, beginning with 'furthermore, child of the Buddha, at that time, the great king,' directly raises supreme thoughts, universally giving whatever is needed" — names the six thoughts the king holds toward every being who comes to him: only child, parent, field of merit, one whose kindness is hard to repay, teacher, buddha. Six different relationships, held toward strangers simultaneously, each one licensing a different register of care.
Part 96 In Progress
The great assembly has gathered, the king's own joy has been measured against every heaven and found to exceed them all, and he has given away everything he owns down to his own palace and its treasuries. Part 97 turns to a young girl within this same assembly — the night-deva's own past self — and her first sight of the king's own giving.
Continue to Part 97 →