Twelve Stanzas of Before and After
The girl's hymn continues: two stanzas on the rain that fell the moment the king was born, then ten stanzas of direct contrast, before and after, stanza matched against stanza — cannibalism against loving-kindness, famine against abundance, violence against adornment, lust against chastity, false speech against gentle speech, and the worship of animals against a true understanding of cause and effect.
Two Stanzas: Rain at a King's Birth
「大王初生時， 天興慶重雲，
降雨普流澤， 河池悉盈溢。
除滅一切惡， 遠離諸恐怖，
人民皆歡喜， 大王生世故。」
"When the great king was first born, heaven raised up auspicious, layered clouds,
raining down rain that flowed and moistened everywhere, and every river and pond became full and overflowing.
Every evil was extinguished, every fear departed far away,
and the people all rejoiced, because the great king had been born into the world."
Fazang marks this brief pair of stanzas as its own distinct movement: 二次二偈明王興益 — "second, the next two stanzas reveal the benefit of the king's own arising." Against the six stanzas of drought and lawlessness that opened the hymn, these two turn the entire realm on a single hinge — not a gradual recovery, but rivers filling to overflowing the moment a single child is born.
Ten Stanzas, Before and After
「往昔諸群生， 各各相殘害，
飲食人血肉， 今悉修慈心。
百穀昔不生， 卉木皆枯燥，
飢渴所逼迫， 種種受苦惱。
大王既興世， 秔米自然生，
樹出妙衣服， 王世所歸故。
昔日競微利， 強弱相陵奪，
今種種莊嚴， 如釋難陀園。
昔人貪欲重， 種種放逸行，
侵犯他妻色， 而共相危害。
今日諸人民， 眾寶妙莊嚴，
貞潔無邪婬， 猶如兜率天。
昔日諸眾生， 妄言非法語，
縱口無義言， 諂曲取人意。
今日群生類， 遠離諸惡語，
愛眼視眾生， 口發柔和音。
昔日諸眾生， 種種行邪見，
合掌恭敬禮， 牛羊犬豕類。
今聞王正法， 遠離諸邪見，
善知苦樂法， 悉從因緣起。」
"Long ago, every kind of being harmed one another, each and every one,
devouring human blood and flesh for food; now they all cultivate a mind of loving-kindness.
Long ago, no grain of any crop would grow, every plant and tree withered dry,
oppressed by hunger and thirst, undergoing every kind of suffering and vexation.
Now that the great king has arisen in the world, rice grows of its own accord,
and trees put forth sublime garments — because the world has now turned to this king.
In days past, people contended over the smallest gain, the strong overpowering and seizing from the weak;
now everything is adorned in every manner, like Śakra's own Nandana Grove.
People of old were heavy with desire, indulging in every kind of unrestrained conduct,
violating the wives and daughters of others, and endangering one another together.
Today, every one of these people, adorned with every jewel and sublime ornament,
is chaste and pure, free of lustful wrongdoing, just like the heaven of Tuṣita.
In days past, every sentient being spoke falsely, words contrary to the Dharma,
letting their mouths run with meaningless speech, flattering and crooked, currying others' favor.
Today, every kind of living being departs far from every evil word,
regarding one another with loving eyes, their mouths giving voice to gentle, harmonious sounds.
In days past, every sentient being practiced every kind of wrong view,
joining their palms and reverently bowing to cattle, sheep, dogs, and pigs.
Now, hearing the king's own true Dharma, they depart far from every wrong view,
rightly knowing that the Dharma of suffering and happiness alike arises entirely from causes and conditions."
Fazang names this run of ten stanzas simply: 三有十頌顯王興世翻捐成德 — "third, ten stanzas reveal how the king's own arising in the world reversed harm into accomplished virtue." Each stanza-pair here works by the same structure — a named wrong first, then its exact opposite now — cannibalism against loving-kindness, famine against abundance grown "of its own accord," petty violence against a paradise likened to Śakra's own garden, sexual violation against chastity likened to Tuṣita heaven, false and flattering speech against gentle speech, and — in the final and most pointed contrast — animal worship born of superstition against a true understanding of cause and effect. The hymn does not soften what came before; it names cannibalism and sexual violence plainly, so that the reversal that follows carries its full weight.
Part 98 In Progress
Twelve stanzas of before-and-after contrast have traced the realm's own transformation from lawlessness to order. Part 99 turns to the final seven stanzas of this first movement — the benefit of the king's own voice and teaching — before the hymn shifts into its second half, the girl's own particular past-life account.
Continue to Part 99 →