Seven Jeweled Banners Beneath the Ground
Having completed the practice method itself, the text turns to what the practice actually reveals: a jeweled banner beneath the ground of the pure land, described point by point until its own light is said to outshine the sun. Three verses of praise then turn from description to direct address — no longer telling the reader what the land looks like, but calling them home to it.
Seven Marks of the Banner Beneath the Ground
二、從下有金剛七寶下，至不可具見已來，正明地下莊嚴。即有其七。一明幢體等是無漏金剛。二明擎地相顯映莊嚴。三明方楞具足表非圓相。四明百寶合成量出塵沙。五明寶出千光，光周無邊之際。六明光多異色，色照他方，隨機變現，無時不益也。七明眾光散彩，映絕日輪，新往者覩之卒難周悉。
Second, from "beneath is a diamond banner of seven jewels" down through "cannot be beheld in its entirety," this makes plain the adornment beneath the ground. There are seven points within it. First, this makes plain that the very substance of this banner is unconditioned vajra itself. Second, this makes plain that it upholds the ground, its own form manifesting radiant splendor. Third, this makes plain that it is fully square-edged, showing that its shape is not round. Fourth, this makes plain that it is composed of a hundred kinds of jewels, its measure exceeding even the grains of dust and sand. Fifth, this makes plain that these jewels emit a thousand rays of light, their brilliance encircling the very furthest limit, without bound. Sixth, this makes plain that this light carries many different colors, each color illuminating other realms, manifesting according to each being's own capacity, never failing to bring benefit at any moment. Seventh, this makes plain that these many rays of light, scattering their brilliance, outshine even the sun's own disc entirely — so that one newly arrived there, beholding it, could scarcely take in its full extent all at once.
The sevenfold structure here moves from substance to scale to effect: first what the banner is made of (unconditioned vajra), then its shape and composition (square-edged, a hundred jewels), then what it does (emitting light that adapts to each being's own capacity), and finally what it accomplishes (outshining the sun so thoroughly that a newcomer cannot take it in at once). This last point deserves notice against the entire sun contemplation just completed: the sun, offered there as the brightest available object in this world, is here explicitly surpassed by something the practitioner has not yet even reached — a deliberate reminder that even the most intense object of contemplation available on earth remains only a preview of what it represents.
Three Verses of Praise, and a Summons Home
「讚云：『地下莊嚴七寶幢，無量無邊無數億，八方八面百寶成，見彼無生自然悟；無生寶國永為常，一一寶流無數光，行者傾心常對目，騰神踊躍入西方。』又讚云：『西方寂靜無為樂，畢竟逍遙離有無，大悲薰心遊法界，分身利物等無殊；或現神通而說法，或現相好入無餘，變現莊嚴隨意出，群生見者罪皆除。』又讚云：『歸去來，魔鄉不可停，曠劫來流轉，六道盡皆經，到處無餘樂，唯聞愁歎聲，畢此生平後，入彼涅槃城。』」
"A verse of praise says: 'Beneath the ground, an adornment of seven jeweled banners, immeasurable, boundless, numbering countless myriads; eight directions, eight faces, formed of a hundred jewels — beholding this unborn realm, one awakens of oneself; that unborn jeweled land remains forever constant, each and every jewel pouring forth countless rays of light; may the practitioner turn their whole heart, keeping it always before their own eyes, and, spirit soaring, leap joyfully into the West.'
"A further verse of praise says: 'The West is still and tranquil, its bliss unconditioned, ultimately free and at ease, apart from both being and non-being; steeped in great compassion, one roams throughout the Dharma-realm, dividing one's own body to benefit beings, everywhere without distinction; now manifesting supernatural power to expound the Dharma, now manifesting the marks of a buddha's own excellent form, entering without residue; adornments manifest freely, according to one's own will, and every being who beholds them has their own offenses entirely removed.'
"A further verse of praise says: 'Return, then, return — this land of Māra is no place to remain; across boundless kalpas, one has drifted and turned, passing through all six destinies in full; wherever one goes, no lasting joy is found, hearing only the sound of grief and lament — but once this present life has run its course, one enters at last that City of Nirvāṇa.'"
The three verses move through a deliberate progression: the first describes the jeweled banner itself and ends with a physical gesture, "spirit soaring, leap joyfully into the West"; the second turns from the land's own appearance to what a being who has attained it actually does there, teaching and manifesting for the benefit of others; the third abandons description of the pure land almost entirely, addressing instead the world being left behind — "this land of Māra," where "wherever one goes, no lasting joy is found." This closing verse functions less as commentary and more as direct address, its imperative opening ("return, then, return") breaking the expository voice Shandao has otherwise sustained throughout this entire fascicle. It reads less like an explanation of what the sūtra says and more like the sūtra's own point, stated plainly.
Part 34 Complete
This closes Part 34. Part 35 continues with the third point of the water contemplation: the adornments upon the ground itself — the lapis lazuli surface and its golden cords, forming roads whose combinations of jewels are described as endlessly varied — followed by the fourth point, the towers and pavilions that fill the sky above.
Continue to Part 35 — Golden Roads, and Towers Filling the Sky →