Śrīmālā's Own Lion's Roar
The sūtra's fifteenth and final chapter turns outward, from Śrīmālā's own understanding to converting an entire city, and closes with the Buddha entrusting the whole teaching to Śakra and Ānanda under fourteen names — one for each of the fourteen chapters that came before this one.
Translation Method
Jizang's own preface to his commentary divides the sūtra's fifteen chapters in two: the first fourteen chapters expound Śrīmālā's own "self-benefiting practice" (自利行) — her understanding, deepening chapter by chapter from her initial vision of the Buddha to the hardest teaching on the pure-yet-defiled mind — while this fifteenth and final chapter turns to "benefiting others" (利他行). He restates the shift plainly at the chapter's own opening: "before, self-benefit was shown; now altruism is discussed" (前顯自利，今論利他), and frames it institutionally as well: "the prior fourteen chapters expound the Dharma; this one expounds protecting it" (上十四章明說法，今明護法), citing the Nirvāṇa Sūtra's own warning that merely teaching the Dharma without being able to "roar the lion's roar and subdue lawless, evil people" falls short of what a true teacher must do. This chapter is where that missing capacity finally appears. See also this site's note on translation method.
Subduing the Obstinate
「諸餘眾生，於諸甚深法，堅著妄說，違背正法，習諸外道腐敗種子者，當以王力及天、龍、鬼神力而調伏之。」
爾時，勝鬘與諸眷屬頂禮佛足。佛言：「善哉善哉。勝鬘！於甚深法方便守護，降伏非法善得其宜，汝已親近百千億佛，能說此義。」
"As for the remaining beings, who cling stubbornly to false teachings regarding these profound dharmas, who turn their backs on the true Dharma, and who have taken up the corrupt seeds of the various outsider paths — these should be subdued by the power of a king, and by the power of gods, nāgas, and spirits."
Then Śrīmālā and her whole retinue bowed their heads to the Buddha's feet. The Buddha said: "Excellent, excellent, Śrīmālā! You guard this profound Dharma with true skillful means, and you subdue what is not the Dharma in exactly the right way. You have already drawn close to hundreds of thousands of millions of buddhas, and so are able to speak this meaning."
Jizang traces this passage to a broader typology of eleven functions a genuine lion's roar performs, drawn from a scripture that lists an actual lion's roar exposing false lions, testing its own strength, purifying its den, and calming its herd — and maps eleven parallel functions onto a Buddha's or bodhisattva's own roar. He identifies this chapter specifically with subduing frauds, sheltering the wrong-viewed, comforting the fearful, and exposing false teachers as false lions. Asked why the title names Śrīmālā specifically rather than the Buddha himself, Jizang answers plainly: "because the benefit of this outward conversion resides in the person who performs it, she alone is singled out in the title" (以此外化之益在人，故偏舉之).
He also analyzes "royal power, and the power of gods, nāgas, and spirits" as one half of a general two-part method: persuasive power (説法力, itself split into gentle and forceful speech) and the power of awe (威勢力, split into worldly royal authority and divine or nāga authority). His rule of thumb: "in subduing heterodoxy from within, persuasion is mostly used; in subduing heterodoxy from without, authority is mostly used" (然降內邪，多用說力；降伏外邪，多以威力) — which is why royal and divine power, rather than argument alone, are invoked for the obstinate beings named here.
The Buddha's Radiant Departure
爾時世尊放勝光明普照大眾，身昇虛空高七多羅樹，足步虛空還舍衛國。時，勝鬘夫人與諸眷屬，合掌向佛觀無厭足，目不暫捨。過眼境已踊躍歡喜，各各稱歎如來功德，具足念佛，還入城中，向友稱王稱歎大乘。城中女人七歲已上，化以大乘。友稱大王亦以大乘化諸男子，七歲已上舉國人民皆向大乘。
Then the World-Honored One sent forth a supreme radiance illuminating the whole assembly, rose bodily into the sky to the height of seven tāla-trees, and, walking upon empty space, returned to Śrāvastī. At that time Queen Śrīmālā and her whole retinue, palms joined, gazed up at the Buddha without ever growing weary, their eyes never leaving him even for a moment. Once he had passed beyond their sight, they leapt with joy, each one praising the Tathāgata's virtues, their minds entirely filled with mindfulness of the Buddha, and returned into the city. There Śrīmālā praised the Mahāyāna to King Yaśas, and every woman in the city seven years of age or older was converted to the Mahāyāna through her. King Yaśas in turn converted every man through the Mahāyāna, so that, throughout the whole kingdom, everyone seven years of age or older turned toward the Mahāyāna.
Jizang reads the Buddha's ascent through his own school's characteristic lens, resisting even the natural language of coming and going: "riding space to come is a coming that does not come, a coming with nowhere come from; riding space to go is a going that does not go, a going with nowhere gone to" (乘空而來，蓋不來而來，來無所來；乘空而去，此是不去而去，去無所去也) — the same non-arising reading he applied to the Tathāgata's own "coming" back in Part 1, now applied to his literal departure as well. On why conversion is measured from age seven specifically, Jizang notes Indian custom differs from the Chinese practice of marking ritual entry at age eight, treating seven in Indian usage as simply "the number that completes a set" (一數之滿) — the same number, he points out, as the seven tāla-trees the Buddha rises before departing.
Entrusted to Śakra and Ānanda
爾時，世尊入祇桓林，告長老阿難及念天帝釋，應時帝釋與諸眷屬忽然而至，住於佛前。爾時，世尊向天帝釋及長老阿難，廣說此經。說已告帝釋言：「汝當受持讀誦此經。憍尸迦！善男子善女人於恒沙劫修菩提行，行六波羅蜜。若復善男子善女人聽受讀誦乃至執持經卷，福多於彼，何況廣為人說？是故憍尸迦！當讀誦此經，為三十三天分別廣說。」復告阿難：「汝亦受持讀誦，為四眾廣說。」
Then the World-Honored One entered Jetavana, spoke to the Elder Ānanda, and called to mind Śakra, Lord of the Gods; at that very moment Śakra, together with his whole retinue, suddenly arrived and stood before the Buddha. The World-Honored One then explained this sūtra fully to Śakra and to the Elder Ānanda. Having finished, he said to Śakra: "You should uphold and recite this sūtra. Kauśika! If good sons and daughters were to practice the path to bodhi and carry out the six pāramitās for kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, while other good sons and daughters were only to hear, receive, and recite this sūtra, or even simply keep hold of its scroll, their blessing would exceed the former — how much more, then, for one who explains it widely to others? Therefore, Kauśika, you should recite this sūtra, and explain it fully and in detail to the Thirty-Three Heavens." He then said further to Ānanda: "You too should uphold and recite it, and explain it fully to the fourfold assembly."
Jizang explains the division of labor between the two entrusted disciples directly: "Ānanda is entrusted to convert among humans, Śakra among the gods; Ānanda is entrusted to the renunciant order, Śakra to the laity" (付阿難令人間化，付帝釋令天上化，又付阿難付出家人，付帝釋付在家人). He gives a further, more pointed reason Śakra receives separate, emphatic instruction: "since Śakra is a lay householder, his mind may not stay focused on this, and so he is entrusted separately; and since his heavenly lifespan is long, he can carry the teaching down into the degenerate age of the Dharma" (良以帝釋在家俗人，慮不在心，故別付之；又以帝釋住壽多時，傳其末法，故佛別付).
On the sūtra's claim to exceed eons of six-pāramitā practice, Jizang rejects a reading he attributes to "some" (有人言) that restricts the comparison to Hīnayāna or merely expedient six-pāramitā practice — he insists the superiority holds even against six-pāramitā practice taught within the still-provisional three-vehicle Mahāyāna itself, since only this sūtra's One Vehicle teaching of buddha-nature yields truly comprehensive benefit. He supports this with a parallel from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra: practicing every samādhi taught in every scripture, without ever hearing of buddha-nature, still leaves a practitioner knowing only impermanence — the deeper benefit requires this specific teaching, not merely more practice of any kind.
Fourteen Names for Fourteen Chapters
時，天帝釋白佛言：「世尊！當何名斯經？云何奉持？」佛告帝釋：「此經成就無量無邊功德，一切聲聞、緣覺不能究竟觀察知見。憍尸迦！當知此經甚深微妙大功德聚，今當為汝略說其名，諦聽諦聽善思念之。」
時，天帝釋及長老阿難白佛言：「善哉世尊！唯然受教。」佛言：「此經『歎如來真實第一義功德』，如是受持。『不思議大受』，如是受持。『一切願攝大願』，如是受持。『說不思議攝受正法』，如是受持。『說入一乘』，如是受持。『說無邊聖諦』，如是受持。『說如來藏』，如是受持。『說法身』，如是受持。『說空義隱覆真實』，如是受持。『說一諦』，如是受持。『說常住安隱一依』，如是受持。『說顛倒真實』，如是受持。『說自性清淨心隱覆』，如是受持。『說如來真子』，如是受持。『說勝鬘夫人師子吼』，如是受持。
「復次憍尸迦！此經所說斷一切疑，決定了義入一乘道。憍尸迦！今以此說勝鬘夫人師子吼經付囑於汝，乃至法住，受持讀誦，廣分別說。」
帝釋白佛言：「善哉世尊！頂受尊教。」
時，天帝釋、長老阿難，及諸大會，天、人、阿修羅、乾闥婆等，聞佛所說，歡喜奉行。
Then Śakra, Lord of the Gods, said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! What should this sūtra be named, and how should it be upheld?" The Buddha said to Śakra: "This sūtra accomplishes immeasurable, boundless virtue, which no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha is able to fully examine, know, or see to its very end. Kauśika, you should know that this sūtra is a great mass of profound, subtle virtue; I will now briefly explain its names for you — listen closely, listen closely, and reflect well upon them."
Then Śakra, Lord of the Gods, and the Elder Ānanda said to the Buddha: "Excellent, World-Honored One! We humbly receive this teaching." The Buddha said: "This sūtra is called 'Praising the Tathāgata's True, First-Principle Virtue' — uphold it as such. It is called 'The Inconceivable Great Vows' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Every Vow Gathered Into the Great Vow' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Inconceivable Embracing of the True Dharma' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining Entry Into the One Vehicle' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Boundless Noble Truths' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Tathāgatagarbha' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Dharmakāya' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Meaning of Emptiness, Concealed and Revealed' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the One Truth' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Ever-Abiding, Peaceful One Basis' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining Inverted Views and Reality' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the Concealment of the Naturally Pure Mind' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining the True Child of the Tathāgata' — uphold it as such. It is called 'Explaining Queen Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar' — uphold it as such.
"Furthermore, Kauśika, what this sūtra teaches severs every doubt, and, with complete and final meaning, leads decisively into the path of the One Vehicle. Kauśika, I now entrust this teaching, Queen Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar Sūtra, to you — for as long as the Dharma abides, uphold it, recite it, and explain it widely and in detail."
Śakra said to the Buddha: "Excellent, World-Honored One! I receive this honored teaching with reverence."
Then Śakra, Lord of the Gods, the Elder Ānanda, and the whole great assembly — gods, humans, asuras, gandharvas, and all the rest — hearing what the Buddha had taught, rejoiced, and carried it out with reverence.
For each of the sūtra's fourteen alternate names, Jizang supplies a one-line cross-reference back to the specific chapter it names — "tathāgatagarbha" pairs with the chapter declaring the dharmakāya not separate from the store of affliction; "the one basis" pairs with the passage on the world-transcending, supreme basis — confirming a clean one-name-per-chapter correspondence rather than any abstract justification for why fourteen names were needed instead of one. His own commentary then closes about as tersely as a commentary can: the final scene of the assembly's rejoicing is dismissed with four words, "the point is self-evident from the text" (相顯可知), and he adds no extended concluding remarks of his own — the last word on this sūtra, in his own commentary, belongs to the text itself.
The Sūtra Complete
This closes the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra: from a queen's vision of the Buddha in the sky, through her Ten and Three Great Vows, her exposition of embracing the true Dharma, the One Vehicle and the ignorance-dwelling-ground beneath every affliction, the tathāgatagarbha named and identified with the dharmakāya, the empty and not-empty tathāgatagarbha, a pure mind inexplicably defiled, and finally her own lion's roar converting an entire city — fourteen chapters of self-cultivation folded, in the fifteenth, into one act of teaching others. This collection's index page maps all ten parts against the sūtra's own fifteen chapters, and its translation notes record every terminology decision made along the way — most importantly the two kinds of death and the dwelling-grounds of affliction, terms this sūtra introduces to this site for the first time.