Vaidehī's Own Attainment
With the contemplative and dispersed good now both fully expounded, the sūtra turns to what this teaching accomplishes in the very assembly gathered to hear it: Vaidehī's own insight into the non-arising of all things, her attendants' resolve, and a whole assembly of devas hovering unseen above the palace, listening in.
The Main Exposition Complete, a New Section Begins
前明十三觀以為定善，即是韋提致請、如來已答。後明三福九品名為散善，是佛自說。雖有定散兩門有異，總解正宗分竟。三、就得益分中，亦先舉，次辨。即有其七。初、言說是語者，正明總牒前文生後得益之相。二、從韋提已下，正明能聞法人。三、從應時即見極樂已下，正明夫人等於上光臺中見極樂之相。四、從得見佛身及二菩薩已下，正明夫人於第七觀初見無量壽佛時，即得無生之益。五、從侍女已下，正明覩斯勝相，各發無上之心，求生淨土。六、從世尊悉記已下，正明侍女得蒙尊記，皆生彼國，即獲現前三昧。
Earlier, the thirteen contemplations were expounded as the contemplative good — this was Vaidehī's own request, to which the Thus Come One has already responded. Afterward, the three blessings and nine grades were expounded, named the dispersed good — this the Buddha spoke of his own accord. Though these two gates, the contemplative and the dispersed, differ from one another, this concludes the full explanation of the main exposition in its entirety.
Third, within the benefit section, the text likewise first raises the matter, then distinguishes it in detail. There are seven points in all.
First, as for "when this was said": this makes plain, generally citing back the text above, the mark of the benefit that now arises from it.
Second, from "Vaidehī" onward, this makes plain the person able to hear this Dharma.
Third, from "at that very moment beheld the World of Ultimate Bliss" onward, this makes plain Lady Vaidehī and the rest beholding, within that platform of light above, the mark of the World of Ultimate Bliss.
Fourth, from "attained the sight of the Buddha's own body and the two bodhisattvas" onward, this makes plain that Lady Vaidehī, at the moment she first beheld Amitāyus within the seventh contemplation, thereupon attained the benefit of the acceptance of the non-arising of all things.
Fifth, from "her attendants" onward, this makes plain that, having beheld this sublime mark, each of them gave rise to the supreme aspiration, seeking rebirth in the pure land.
Sixth, from "the World-Honored One then bestowed upon all of them this prediction" onward, this makes plain that these attendants, having received this venerable prediction, would all be reborn in that land, thereupon attaining the samādhi of direct presence.
Shandao's own opening line here — naming the contemplative good as Vaidehī's own request, and the dispersed good as the Buddha's own unprompted teaching — quietly closes the account this commentary has carried since its very first fascicle, distinguishing what Vaidehī asked for from what the Buddha, in his own compassion, chose to give beyond what she asked. The benefit section that now follows shows what this entire teaching, once fully spoken, actually did to the people who heard it first.
An Assembly of Devas, Listening Unseen
七、從無量諸天已下，正明前厭苦緣中釋梵護世諸天等，從佛王宮臨空聽法。或見釋迦毫光轉變，或見彌陀金色靈儀，或聞九品往生殊異，或聞定散兩門俱攝，或聞善惡之行齊歸，或聞西方淨土對目非遠，或聞一生專精決志，永與生死分流。此等諸天既聞如來廣說希奇之益，各發無上之心。斯乃佛是聖中之極，發語成經，凡惑之類蒙飡，能使聞之獲益。上來雖有七句不同，廣解得益分竟。
Seventh, from "immeasurable devas" onward, this makes plain that Śakra, Brahmā, and the guardian devas of the world, present since the earlier causal circumstance of revulsion at suffering, had followed the Buddha to the royal palace and, hovering in the empty air above it, listened to this Dharma throughout. Some beheld the transformation of Śākyamuni's own radiant tuft of hair; some beheld Amitābha's own golden, numinous form; some heard of the singular distinctiveness of the nine grades of rebirth; some heard that the two gates, contemplative and dispersed, are together embraced; some heard that good and evil conduct alike return to this same destination; some heard that the pure land of the west stands directly before their own eyes, not far off at all; some heard that, resolving with single-minded devotion across this one life, one is parted forever from the stream of birth and death. These devas, having heard the Thus Come One expound at length this rare and wondrous benefit, each gave rise to the supreme aspiration. This, then, is because the Buddha stands at the very summit among all sages — a single word spoken by him becomes a scripture, and beings of every ordinary delusion, partaking of it, are thereby enabled, through hearing it, to gain this benefit.
Though the above has unfolded across seven distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the benefit section.
"A single word spoken by him becomes a scripture" (發語成經) stands as one of this commentary's most compact statements of what makes the sūtra's own authority absolute — not the eloquence or the length of what is said, but the simple fact of whose mouth it comes from. This is the same principle Shandao argued at length back in Part 75, when weighing the Buddha's own words against those of any bodhisattva, however exalted: here it closes the benefit section by naming, one final time, exactly why hearing this teaching was enough to move an entire unseen assembly of devas.
Part 104 Complete
This closes Part 104, and with it the benefit section. Part 105 turns to the sūtra's own transmission section (流通分), where Ānanda receives the charge to carry this teaching forward, and the sūtra's own name is fixed in the Buddha's own words.
Continue to Part 105 — Naming the Sūtra →