地藏菩薩本願經 分身集會品

The chapter before this told what vow a bodhisattva made in the past. This chapter tells what that vow has grown into by now.

One Hell, One Divided Body

The sūtra hands over the number in its very first sentence: from every place where there is a hell, the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva all came and gathered in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

Wherever there is a hell, there is a divided body.

So the number of the divided bodies is not fixed by the bodhisattva himself. It is counted from the other end, by the hells. However many places have hells, that is how many bodies he must divide himself into.

The Buddha First Says That He Has Not Finished

After the stroking of the crowns, the Buddha speaks. His first sentence is not an instruction; it is an account of himself.

He says that in the evil world of the five turbidities he teaches and transforms beings hard and stubborn, and that the greater part of them have been tamed — but in one or two out of ten, the evil habits are still there.

Then he counts four kinds of people: some believe as soon as they hear; some are brought to accomplishment by earnest exhortation; some turn back only after long transforming; and there is a fourth — some are heavy with karma and give rise to no reverence.

The fourth kind is not struck off. The sūtra sets the four side by side and hands them all over together to the next sentence: each of them different, and the body divided to deliver them.

To entrust a thing to someone, first make plain how hard the thing is — that is how the entrustment of this chapter opens.

A Well Counts Too

What follows is a long string: man, woman, deva and nāga, spirit and ghost; mountain, forest, stream, plain, river, pool, spring, well; lord of the devas, Brahmā king, wheel-turning king, householder, king of a country, chief minister, official; bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī, upāsaka, upāsikā; and on to śrāvaka, arhat, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva.

The eight in the middle are not people; they are mountains and waters. The reason the sūtra gives runs to six characters only: whatever brings benefit to people, all of it is used to deliver them.

A well counts too.

And the whole string is gathered up in one sentence: it is not that the buddha-body alone appears before them.

There is not only one countenance that can save people.

A Threshold as Low as a Hair’s Breadth

When he gives his own account, the figures are large at first: bodies filling a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in every world, a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of bodies; every body delivering a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of people.

Then the sūtra itself turns the figure down to the smallest: one hair, one drop, one grain of sand, one mote of dust, or so much as a hair’s breadth — a good deed of that size too is delivered by degrees, and the doer is made to gain great benefit.

That string of astronomical figures comes down here. How many people are delivered is a matter of capacity; one hair and one drop is the standard of measure — and only with the standard set as low as that can the astronomical figure stand.

The Sentence Said Three Times

I pray only that the World-Honored One will not be anxious over the beings of later ages who do evil karma.

The same sentence, and thus three times he said it to the Buddha.

That is taking a thing upon oneself, not offering comfort. Beings of evil karma are exactly where he is going, and so there is no need to be anxious on their account — that is what the sentence says.

The Buddha answers with two cries of Excellent, and says further: the wide deliverance nearly done, he will straightway realize bodhi.

The wide deliverance nearly done. This chapter begins from the divided bodies out of the hells of the ten directions and writes on to the divided bodies joining again into one form and weeping tears in grief and longing, and at the last it comes to rest upon a word not yet finished.

That done has not arrived even today.

Śikṣānanda’s translation, made under the Tang, of the chapter “The Assembly of the Divided Bodies” in The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Taishō T13n0412, the second chapter of Fascicle One, from the title of the chapter down to “the wide deliverance nearly done, he will straightway realize bodhi.” The figures in parentheses at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔1 · The title of the chapter〕（0779a29）The Assembly of the Divided Bodies, Chapter Two.

〔2 · The divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha all come and gather〕（0779b01）At that time, out of a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of worlds — beyond thought, beyond discussion, beyond measure, beyond expression, measureless asaṃkhyeyas of them (asaṃkhyeya: here it means a number without limit) — from every place where there was a hell, the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva all came and gathered in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

〔3 · Each leads the beings he has transformed and holds flowers in offering to the Buddha〕（0779b03）By reason of the Tathāgata’s spiritual power, each of them, together with those transformed in his own quarter — those who had won liberation and come forth out of the paths of karma, and these too were a thousand myriad koṭis of nayutas in number — held incense and flowers together and came to make offerings to the Buddha.

〔4 · All who came together are irreversible through Kṣitigarbha’s teaching〕（0779b05）All those who came together in this way were, by reason of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s teaching and transforming, forever irreversible from unsurpassed perfect awakening (a: un-; uttara: surpassed; samyak: right; sam: universal, and also equal; bodhi: awakening — together, unsurpassed, right, universal and equal awakening).

〔5 · Adrift through long kalpas · each gains the fruit of realization〕（0779b07）These multitudes, over kalpas long past, had drifted in birth-and-death, undergoing suffering in the six destinies, with never a moment’s rest. By reason of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s vast kindness and compassion and his deep vows, each of them had gained the fruit of realization.

〔6 · Having reached the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, they gaze and do not turn away〕（0779b09）Having reached the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, their hearts leapt within them, and they gazed up at the Tathāgata, their eyes not leaving him for a moment.

〔7 · The World-Honored One stretches out his arm and strokes the crowns of the divided bodies〕（0779b10）At that time the World-Honored One stretched forth his golden-hued arm and stroked the crowns of the divided-body Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas of a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of worlds — beyond thought, beyond discussion, beyond measure, beyond expression, measureless asaṃkhyeyas of them.

〔8 · The Buddha tells for himself how he tames the hard and stubborn of a turbid age〕（0779b13）And he spoke thus: “In the evil world of the five turbidities (throw dust and earth into clear water and the look of it grows muddied — this is what is called turbidity; and turbidity is of five kinds: the turbidity of the kalpa, the turbidity of views, the turbidity of the afflictions, the turbidity of beings, the turbidity of lifespan) I teach and transform beings hard and stubborn such as these, so that their minds are tamed and they forsake the wrong and return to the right. In one or two out of ten, the evil habits are still there.

〔9 · The Buddha too divides his body · four grades of capacity〕（0779b15）“I too divide my body into a thousand hundred koṭis and set out every kind of skillful means. Some are of keen faculties and believe and accept as soon as they hear. Some have wholesome fruits and are brought to accomplishment by earnest exhortation. Some are dull and dim and turn back only after long transforming. Some are heavy with karma and give rise to no reverence.

〔10 · Each of them different · the body is divided to deliver them〕（0779b18）“Beings of these several sorts, each of them different — and so I divide my body and deliver them.

〔11 · Manifesting bodily form in every way〕（0779b19）“Sometimes I manifest the body of a man, sometimes the body of a woman, sometimes the body of a deva or a nāga, sometimes the body of a spirit or a ghost; sometimes I manifest a mountain, a forest, a stream, a plain, a river, a pool, a spring, a well — whatever brings benefit to people, all of it I use to deliver them. Sometimes I manifest the body of a lord of the devas, sometimes the body of a Brahmā king, sometimes the body of a wheel-turning king (the Sanskrit name is transcribed cakra-varti-rāja), sometimes the body of a householder (the Sanskrit is kulapati), sometimes the body of a king of a country, sometimes the body of a chief minister, sometimes the body of an official, sometimes the body of a bhikṣu (the sense is ‘mendicant,’ and it is rendered also ‘remover of dearth’), a bhikṣuṇī, an upāsaka (upāsaka, in the Tang tongue, a man in close attendance), an upāsikā (upāsikā, a woman in close attendance), and on to the bodies of śrāvakas, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, and by these I transform and deliver. It is not that the buddha-body alone appears before them.

〔12 · Behold my toil through accumulated kalpas〕（0779b26）“Behold my toil and hardship through accumulated kalpas, delivering beings such as these, hard to transform, hard and stubborn, guilty and suffering. As for those not yet tamed, they follow their karma and undergo its requital.

〔13 · Remember the entrustment in the palace of heaven〕（0779b27）“If they fall into an evil destiny and are undergoing great suffering, then you should remember that I, in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, earnestly entrusted this to you: to bring it about that the beings of the Sahā world, from now until Maitreya (Maitreya, in the Tang tongue, the Kindly One) comes forth into the world, are all brought to liberation, forever parted from every suffering, and meet a buddha who confers on them the prediction.”

〔14 · The divided bodies join again into one form〕（0779c01）At that time the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva from all the worlds joined again into one form, and weeping tears in grief and longing said to their Buddha:

〔15 · Taken in hand by the Buddha · gaining penetration and complete in wisdom〕（0779c03）“From kalpas long past I have been taken in hand and led on by the Buddha, so that I gained inconceivable spiritual power and was made complete in great wisdom.

〔16 · Bodies divided through worlds as sands · delivering people into refuge in the Three Jewels〕（0779c04）“The bodies I have divided fill a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges. In every one of those worlds I transform myself into a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of bodies. Every one of those bodies delivers a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of people, causing them to take refuge in and revere the Three Jewels, to be forever parted from birth-and-death, and to reach the bliss of nirvāṇa.

〔17 · Even a hair’s worth or a drop’s worth of good is delivered by degrees〕（0779c07）“Only let there be, within the Buddha’s Dharma, a good deed done — one hair, one drop, one grain of sand, one mote of dust, or so much as a hair’s breadth — and I will deliver such a one by degrees and cause him to gain great benefit.

〔18 · Said three times · may the World-Honored One not be anxious〕（0779c09）“I pray only that the World-Honored One will not be anxious over the beings of later ages who do evil karma.” Thus three times he said to the Buddha: “I pray only that the World-Honored One will not be anxious over the beings of later ages who do evil karma.”

〔19 · The Buddha praises Kṣitigarbha〕（0779c11）At that time the Buddha praised Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, saying: “Excellent! Excellent! I join in your gladness. You are able to bring to accomplishment the great vow you set up in kalpas long past; and the wide deliverance nearly done, you will straightway realize bodhi.”

The only commentary on this sūtra now extant that runs through it phrase by phrase is the Outline and Commentary on the Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva in six fascicles, by Lingcheng, the śramaṇa styled Qinglian, of the Qing; before it stands the Guiding Thread in one fascicle. The chapter before this was judged, whole, to be the introductory section; only from this chapter does the main exposition begin. He cuts the main exposition into four passages: 「初、分身集會一品，明能化主」—“first, the one chapter on the assembly of the divided bodies, making plain the lord who does the transforming.” 〔X21n0384 0675b08〕; 「二、業緣、業感、問獄三品，明所化機」—“second, the three chapters on karmic conditions, on karmic impulsions, and on the questioning about the hells, making plain the capacities that are transformed.” 〔X21n0384 0675b09〕; the three chapters after those make plain the conditions of deliverance; the last two make plain the cause of becoming a buddha. Of the thirteen chapters of the sūtra, only this one writes of that lord who does the transforming.

The Guiding Thread, glossing the title of this chapter, takes the characters apart and gives each back its own sense: 「分者，施也、別也。如海一源，施開萬派。如天一月，影現百川也」—“To divide is to spread out and to set apart. As the sea has one source and spreads out into ten thousand branches; as the sky has one moon and its reflection appears in a hundred rivers.” 〔X21n0383 0646c05〕; 「集者，同也、聚也。如天日將瞑，眾鳥同歸，聚集樹木之上而棲息也」—“To assemble is to come together and to collect. As when the sun in the sky is about to darken and the flocks of birds return together, collecting upon the trees to roost.” 〔X21n0383 0646c06〕; 「會者，總也、合也。周禮云：時見曰會」—“To gather is to bring into a whole and to join. The Rites of Zhou says: to appear at the appointed season is called a gathering.” 〔X21n0383 0646c07〕 What is said below still begins by watching how the sūtra itself walks.

Dividing and Gathering Are the Two Ends of One Motion

The characters of the chapter title were read of old as one going out and one coming back.

「原其分散則從體起用，從本垂迹；集會則攝用歸體，攝迹會本也」—“Trace it to its origin: the dividing and scattering is the raising of function out of substance, the letting down of traces from the root; the assembling and gathering is the drawing of function back into substance, the drawing of traces back to meet the root.” 〔X21n0383 0646c09〕 To divide outward is to raise function out of substance; to gather back is to draw function into substance — one and the same motion: it is that in the going out, and it is that in the coming back.

The sentence that follows weighs more still: 「方其分散，則一為無量；在今集會，則無量為一」—“Just when they divide and scatter, the one becomes measureless; now at the assembling and gathering, the measureless becomes one.” 〔X21n0383 0646c11〕, and 「一為無量，則一不為一；無量為一，則多不為多」—“If the one becomes measureless, then the one is not a one; if the measureless becomes one, then the many are not a many.” 〔X21n0383 0646c11〕

When one is transformed into measureless, that one is no longer a solitary one; when the measureless is joined back into one, those many are no longer a heap of scattered many.

This line is worth stopping over. In our ordinary counting, one is one and many is many, two separate matters; what is said here is that, having passed through this one dividing and one gathering, neither one nor many keeps the sense it had before.

What this chapter goes on to write is exactly these two ends: at the head, the divided bodies coming to assemble out of the hells of the ten directions; at the end, the divided bodies joining back into one form. The frame of the sūtra has already been stated by its title.

They Did Not Arrive Later

The sūtra opens with 「爾時」 — at that time. Two characters easily slid past; yet the commentator of old stopped on purpose to ask which moment they point to: 「爾時者，正如來含笑放光，光雲出音，天龍鬼神同集之時」—“At that time: precisely the time when the Tathāgata smiled and sent forth light, when the light-clouds gave forth sound, and when the devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits gathered together.” 〔X21n0384 0675b18〕

That is to say, the divided-body Kṣitigarbhas saw the light and heard the sound and came at once along with the rest — 「非問答已竟方來也」—“It is not that they came only after the questions and answers were finished.” 〔X21n0384 0675b20〕 They did not wait for the question and answer of the previous chapter to end before setting out. The reason the sūtra writes them in two places, one before and one after, is that speech cannot be uttered all in one breath: one company must be told of first and another after.

Before and after here are the before and after of the telling, not the before and after of the event.

And which of them came? The sūtra writes it with perfect clarity: from every place where there is a hell, the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva all came and gathered in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Wherever there is a hell, there is one divided body — 「一獄一分身，皆來集會」—“one hell, one divided body; all came and gathered in assembly.” 〔X21n0384 0675c05〕

This one sentence says two things at once. 「此正顯世界難量，愈見地獄之夥」—“This is precisely to display that the worlds are hard to measure, and the more to show how thick the hells lie.” 〔X21n0384 0675c05〕: the worlds cannot be counted, and so the hells cannot be counted either; and 「地獄既多，彌彰分身莫測」—“the hells being many, the more is it made manifest that the divided bodies are past fathoming.” 〔X21n0384 0675c06〕 — as many hells, so many divided bodies.

The number of the divided bodies is not fixed by the bodhisattva. It is fixed by the hells.

Offering Is of Three Kinds, and the Third Need Have Nothing

The divided bodies having arrived, the first thing the sūtra writes them doing is making an offering: together they held incense and flowers and came to make offerings to the Buddha.

Incense and flowers are an offering one can see. Here the commentator of old cites another sūtra and divides offering into three kinds: 「準十輪經：供養有三：一、利益，以四事等；二、敬心，將華表情；三、修行，若有持說，即為供養」—“Following the Daśacakra Sūtra: offering is of three kinds. First, benefit, by the four requisites and the like. Second, a reverent mind, bringing a flower to show what is felt. Third, practice: if there be any who uphold and expound, that of itself is an offering.” 〔X21n0384 0676a04〕

The first is giving a thing: the four requisites of robes, food and drink, bedding, and medicine. The second is giving what is in the mind: a single flower in the hand, showing forth the measure of reverence within. The third is the most singular of all — to uphold and to expound is itself reckoned an offering. The first two cannot be carried out until one has something; the third need have nothing.

After the offering, what the sūtra writes is the eyes: they gazed up at the Tathāgata, their eyes not leaving him for a moment. Gazing and looking up were glossed of old at two ends: 「瞻者，相好，微妙看視無厭」—“To gaze is upon the marks and excellences: subtle and wondrous, one looks and is never sated.” 〔X21n0384 0676b14〕; 「仰者，智慧深遠，景慕有期」—“To look up is upon the wisdom, deep and far: one admires and longs, and holds an expectation.” 〔X21n0384 0676b14〕 What is gazed upon is the visible marks and excellences, and one is never sated with looking; what is looked up to is the invisible wisdom, and an expectation is held in the mind. Four characters, and two things inside them.

One Arm, Stroking Measureless Crowns

The assembly being settled, the sūtra writes the first thing the World-Honored One does: he stretches forth his golden-hued arm and strokes the crowns of the divided bodies.

「如來以一母陀羅臂，一兜羅綿手，遍摩所集無量阿僧祇分身地藏菩薩之頂」—“The Tathāgata, with one Mutuoluo arm and one hand of tūla-cotton, stroked throughout the crowns of the measureless asaṃkhyeyas of divided-body Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattvas there gathered.” 〔X21n0384 0676b23〕 One arm, stroking measureless crowns throughout — 「乃聖如意通中，轉變神力，故一臂能遍摩無量之頂，以慰勞安撫也」—“It is, within the noble penetration of doing as one wills, the spiritual power of transformation; and so one arm can stroke measureless crowns throughout, to console them and to set them at ease.” 〔X21n0384 0676b24〕

The intent of the stroking of the crown here was read of old as consoling and setting at ease.

What is worth noting is the order: the entrustment has not yet been uttered, and what is stroked first is the crown. What this chapter has to hand over further on is a matter of the utmost weight, and before handing it over the sūtra first writes a gesture of reassurance.

The Buddha First Speaks of His Own Difficulty

The stroking of the crowns finished, the Buddha speaks. His first sentence is not an instruction; it is an account of himself.

In the evil world of the five turbidities he teaches and transforms beings hard and stubborn such as these, so that their minds are tamed and they forsake the wrong and return to the right; and in one or two out of ten the evil habits are still there. One or two out of ten with the evil habits still in them — 「此明已調伏者十中有七八矣」—“This makes plain that of those already tamed there are seven or eight in ten.” 〔X21n0384 0676c19〕, while 「其有惡習深重，難於調伏者，十中猶有一二焉」—“those whose evil habits are deep and heavy and who are hard to tame are still one or two in ten.” 〔X21n0384 0676c19〕

And what sort are those one or two? 「習者，習氣。正使雖斷，餘習尚在；身雖調伏，心猶未調伏也」—“Habit means habit-energy. Though the active defilements themselves are cut off, the residual habit is still there; though the body is tamed, the mind is not yet tamed.” 〔X21n0384 0676c21〕 The active defilements are cut off and the habit-energy remains; the body is already tamed and the mind is not.

Here the commentator of old has cited a simile: 「昔無信鉤，致造重罪。如狂象無鉤，不可控制。今以慚愧鉤，鉤無慚心象」—“Formerly there was no hook of faith, and so grave offenses were committed. It is like a maddened elephant without a hook, which cannot be controlled. Now, with the hook of shame and conscience, the elephant of the shameless mind is hooked.” 〔X21n0384 0676c14〕 The maddened elephant is not beaten into submission; it is held by a hook — and that hook is called shame and conscience.

And the Buddha carries the saying further still. Here the commentator of old cites an old matter of the city of Śrāvastī: 「舍衛城中九億家。三億家眼見佛，三億家耳聞有佛，三億家不見不聞」—“In the city of Śrāvastī there were nine koṭis of households. Three koṭis of households saw the Buddha with their eyes; three koṭis of households heard with their ears that there was a Buddha; three koṭis of households neither saw nor heard.” 〔X21n0384 0677b17〕 — 「佛在舍衛二十五年，而此眾生不聞不見，何況遠者」—“The Buddha was in Śrāvastī twenty-five years, and these beings neither heard nor saw; how much more those who were far off.” 〔X21n0384 0677b18〕

In a city where the Buddha lived twenty-five years, a third of the households never once saw him in their lives, nor ever heard that there was such a person.

This passage is set before the entrustment, and its intent is plain: 「我佛化門調機尚爾，則知地藏分身非易」—“If in our Buddha’s own gate of transforming the taming of capacities is even so, then one knows that Kṣitigarbha’s dividing of his body is no easy thing.” 〔X21n0384 0677b20〕, 「故特以己形擊，彌顯其神力之難思也」—“and therefore he sets himself alongside on purpose, showing the more that his spiritual power is past thinking.” 〔X21n0384 0677b21〕 The Buddha sets himself alongside for contrast — not out of modesty, but so that one may see clearly how hard the entrusted thing is.

Before entrusting a thing, first make plain how hard the thing is. That is the form of this passage.

Four Kinds of People

Then the Buddha counts four kinds of people: some are of keen faculties and believe and accept as soon as they hear; some have wholesome fruits and are brought to accomplishment by earnest exhortation; some are dull and dim and turn back only after long transforming; some are heavy with karma and give rise to no reverence.

Where do the keen and the dull come from? 「根是根性，屬於過去。今世根性利鈍，總由宿障重輕」—“Faculty means the nature of the faculties, and it belongs to the past. Whether the faculties of this present life are keen or dull is wholly a matter of whether the obstructions of former lives are heavy or light.” 〔X21n0384 0677a18〕 The keenness or dullness of this life is what the stretch of road already walked has left behind; it is not a matter of higher and lower at this moment.

The reading handed down pairs the first two: 「利根是法行機，鈍根是信行機」—“Keen faculties are the capacity of one who practices by the Dharma; dull faculties are the capacity of one who practices by faith.” 〔X21n0384 0677b06〕 — the one hears and goes off to cultivate on his own; the other must be exhorted before he is brought to accomplishment. And as for the wholesome fruit of the second kind, 「善根的指菩提心」—“the wholesome root points precisely to the mind set on awakening.” 〔X21n0384 0677b11〕

What matters is the fourth. Some are heavy with karma and give rise to no reverence — those whose karmic obstruction is heavy raise no reverence even on seeing a buddha. The sūtra does not strike this kind off, nor move him elsewhere to be spoken of apart; the four stand side by side and fall alike into the next sentence: beings of these several sorts, each of them different, and the body divided to deliver them.

The fourth kind is not an excluded exception; it is the fourth direction in which the divided body has to go.

What Body to Manifest

And so comes the longest string in this chapter: the body of a man, of a woman, of a deva or nāga, of a spirit or ghost; mountain, forest, stream, plain, river, pool, spring, well; the body of a lord of the devas, of a Brahmā king, of a wheel-turning king, of a householder, of a king of a country, of a chief minister, of an official; bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī, upāsaka, upāsikā; and on to the bodies of śrāvaka, arhat, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva.

There is a dividing line within this string. The commentator of old sets it just before the bhikṣu: 「已上皆未受道者。此下皆受道之機」—“All above are those who have not received the Way. All below are capacities that have received the Way.” 〔X21n0384 0678b03〕 The first half are those not yet entered upon the Way — even the king of a country and the chief minister stand on that side; only the second half are already upon it. The bodies to be manifested are for the most part manifested outside the door.

And the eight in the middle are the most singular: mountain, forest, stream, plain, river, pool, spring, well. These are not people, nor devas, nāgas, ghosts, or spirits; they are mountains and waters. Read of old: 「此現依報度人」—“This is manifesting the recompense that is one’s environment, in order to deliver people.” 〔X21n0384 0678a07〕 — what is manifested is no one’s body but a stretch of ground. The sūtra then gives the reason itself: whatever brings benefit to people, all of it is used to deliver them. Whatever is of use to people counts.

A well counts too.

How does this string come to be manifested? 「今所以分身者，正顯如來從法垂應，被大小機，現勝劣身」—“The reason the body is now divided is precisely to display that the Tathāgata lets down his response out of the Dharma, covering capacities great and small, and manifesting bodies superior and inferior.” 〔X21n0384 0677a07〕, and 「從一派出，有無量身，攝用歸體，不離一性」—“branching out from one, there are measureless bodies; and drawing function back into substance, they never leave the one nature.” 〔X21n0384 0677a08〕 The bodies manifested are superior and inferior, yet the source is only one, and they have never left that one.

The commentator of old looks at the matter in three wheels: 「此是身輪現通」—“This is the wheel of the body manifesting its penetration.” 〔X21n0384 0677a13〕, which is the manifesting side; 「廣設方便。即是意輪鑒機」—“Setting out every kind of skillful means: that is the wheel of the mind discerning the capacity.” 〔X21n0384 0677a14〕, which is the side that sees clearly who stands opposite; 「乃以口輪說種種法，令熟者脫，未熟者熟，未種者種」—“and then, by the wheel of the mouth, he teaches every kind of Dharma, so that the ripe are liberated, the unripe are ripened, and those in whom nothing is sown have the seed sown.” 〔X21n0384 0677a15〕, which is the side that opens the mouth and teaches. The ripe are delivered; the unripe are brought to ripeness; and where not even a seed is there, a seed is sown first.

Manifesting a body is no conjuring trick; it is 「以王三昧力，不動法性，而往應之」—“by the power of the king of samādhis, without stirring the dharma-nature, to go and respond to them.” 〔X21n0384 0677c18〕 — not one part of the dharma-nature has stirred, and he has already gone.

The last sentence of this string the sūtra gathers up with great weight: it is not that the buddha-body alone appears before them. Read of old: 「非但佛身句，反顯不一，謂豈止佛身獨現眾機之前」—“The sentence on the buddha-body alone displays by contrary that it is not one only: how should it be the buddha-body alone that appears before the many capacities?” 〔X21n0384 0678b11〕; rather, 「隨其所感，普現色身」—“according to what each stirs, bodily form is manifested everywhere.” 〔X21n0384 0678b12〕

Whatever beings stir, that is what is manifested. There is not only one countenance that can save people.

One Who Knows He Is Paying a Debt

Before the entrustment the sūtra writes one sentence that looks back: behold my toil and hardship through accumulated kalpas, delivering beings such as these, hard to transform, hard and stubborn, guilty and suffering.

The two characters for guilt and suffering were read of old at two levels: 「杖楚寒熱等名身苦，餘殘名心苦」—“Beating with the rod, cold and heat, and the like are named suffering of the body; all the rest is named suffering of the mind.” 〔X21n0384 0678c07〕 — being beaten, being frozen, being scorched, and that sort are suffering in the body; everything else counts as suffering in the mind.

As to why that second level is there at all, the commentator gives a simile: 「如人知負他債，償之不以為苦」—“It is like a man who knows he owes another a debt: in repaying it he does not take it for suffering.” 〔X21n0384 0678c11〕; 「凡夫人不憶負債，故身心俱受現苦」—“the ordinary man does not remember that he owes a debt, and so he undergoes present suffering in body and mind alike.” 〔X21n0384 0678c11〕

One who knows he owes a debt does not feel it as suffering when he repays — he knows that this is repayment. One who does not remember ever owing must repay the same money, and yet his suffering has one layer more.

The simile does not say that the suffering is unreal; it says where that extra layer comes from.

That One Sentence of Entrustment in the Palace of Heaven

The words of the entrustment are written by the sūtra in a most singular way.

They are not “go and deliver them,” but: you should remember that I, in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, earnestly entrusted this to you. The first thing entrusted is to remember having been entrusted.

The term of the entrustment is written out as well: to bring it about that the beings of the Sahā world, from now until Maitreya comes forth into the world, are all brought to liberation, forever parted from every suffering, and meet a buddha who confers on them the prediction. The two characters for conferring the prediction were glossed of old: 「梵語和伽那，此云授記。聖言說與名授，果與心期曰記」—“In Sanskrit vyākaraṇa; here it means the conferring of the prediction. That the holy word is spoken and given is called conferring; that the fruit answers to what the mind expects is called the prediction.” 〔X21n0384 0679a15〕 — the Buddha opens his mouth and speaks it to him: that is the conferring; the fruit answering to what he holds in expectation: that is the prediction.

From Śākyamuni to Maitreya, that stretch of time between, when there is no buddha, the sūtra hands over to a bodhisattva. And the manner of handing it over is to ask him, at the very moment when the other is undergoing great suffering, to remember this day.

Numberless Bodies, Joined Back into One

In the passage of receiving the charge, the sūtra first writes a gesture: the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva from all the worlds joined again into one form.

Numberless bodies become one. 「合分身為一形者，一為諸身之本。故合末以宗本」—“That the divided bodies are joined into one form is because the one is the root of all the bodies; and so the branches are joined so as to honor the root.” 〔X21n0384 0679a23〕

Here the commentator of old first cites a saying that runs the other way — the words of Śāriputra recorded in the Āgama: 「變一身為無數身，以無數身合為一身，稱是神力者，卑陋下劣凡夫所行，非是賢聖之所修習」—“To transform one body into numberless bodies, and to join numberless bodies into one body, and to call this spiritual power: that is what mean and lowly ordinary men do; it is not what the worthy and the noble cultivate.” 〔X21n0384 0679b05〕; the true spiritual base of the worthy and the noble is another matter — 「於諸世間，愛色不愛色，二俱捨已，修平等護，專念不忘，斯乃名曰賢聖神足」—“Toward all in the world, the forms one loves and the forms one does not love, having let both go, to cultivate an even guarding, mindful in one direction and not forgetting: this is what is named the spiritual base of the worthy and the noble.” 〔X21n0384 0679b07〕 If the dividing and joining of bodies is taken as spiritual power only, not even the Lesser Vehicle allows it.

Only after citing this passage does the commentator say: 「小乘尚爾，況大菩薩乎」—“If it is so even for the Lesser Vehicle, how much more for a great bodhisattva.” 〔X21n0384 0679b08〕

Then one line is given to gather it up: 「一月影臨一切水，一切水月一月攝。正分身合身之旨」—“The reflection of one moon comes down upon all waters, and the moons in all waters are taken in by that one moon. This is precisely the purport of dividing the body and joining the body.” 〔X21n0384 0679b09〕

One moon shines upon all waters, and the moons in all the waters are all gathered back into that one moon. The dividing is not the moon broken to pieces, and the joining is not one moon more than there was.

And after the joining back into one form, the next thing the sūtra writes is weeping: tears in grief and longing. Four senses were read out of it of old: 「涕淚哀戀有四意：一悲六道造業不悛，二悲眾生剛強難化，三悲如來慧日將沉，四悲天宮付囑事大」—“Weeping tears in grief and longing has four senses: first, grief that in the six destinies karma is made and not amended; second, grief that beings are hard and stubborn and hard to transform; third, grief that the Tathāgata’s sun of wisdom is about to set; fourth, grief that the matter entrusted in the palace of heaven is great.” 〔X21n0384 0679b10〕 Beings will not amend; beings are hard to transform; the Buddha is about to go; the charge is too heavy — four things bearing down at once.

The Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra, a sūtra of the same honored one but of different text, writes the sense of this bodhisattva’s name with another set of characters: 「安忍不動猶如大地，靜慮深密猶如祕藏」—“Patient and unmoving as the great earth; still in contemplation and deeply hidden as a secret store.” 〔T13n0411 0722a08〕 The commentator of old cites this very line in the section on the joining of the bodies, and at once sets it back upon this bodhisattva: 「忍斯濁穢，化度泥犁，其猶地乎」—“To bear this turbid filth, and to transform and deliver in the niraya: is that not earth?” 〔X21n0384 0679a22〕 — to bear this stretch of turbid filth and to go down into the niraya to deliver people: is that not earth?

What makes earth earth is not its thickness but that it can bear what presses upon it. And what this sūtra writes at this moment is tears. Both are set down; neither is judged above the other.

Returning, and Revering

In his own account he first states where those he delivers come to rest: causing them to take refuge in and revere the Three Jewels, to be forever parted from birth-and-death, and to reach the bliss of nirvāṇa.

Returning and revering were glossed apart of old: 「歸以返還為義，令其返邪歸正；敬以專誠為義，令其去妄歸真」—“Returning has turning back for its sense: it makes them turn back from the wrong and return to the right. Revering has undivided sincerity for its sense: it makes them put away the false and return to the true.” 〔X21n0384 0679c11〕 — returning is turning one’s head and coming back; revering is one mind unmixed. As to why the Three Jewels are worth returning to, the commentator sets down four figures: 「三寶乃却惡之前陣，入道之初章，越苦海之舟航，到涅槃之要道」—“The Three Jewels are the front rank that repels evil, the first chapter of entering the Way, the ship that crosses the sea of suffering, the main road that reaches nirvāṇa.” 〔X21n0384 0679c12〕

The front rank that holds off evil, the first chapter of entering the Way, the boat that crosses the sea of suffering, the main road to nirvāṇa. To deliver a person is not to carry him off somewhere else; it is to have him turn his head and walk back.

One Hair, One Drop

Within his own account, what matters most is the last passage.

What came before was large figures: bodies filling a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in every world a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of bodies; every body delivering a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of people. But then the sūtra itself turns the figure down to the smallest: only let there be, within the Buddha’s Dharma, a good deed done — one hair, one drop, one grain of sand, one mote of dust, or so much as a hair’s breadth — and I will deliver such a one by degrees and cause him to gain great benefit.

The commentator of old weighed the words one by one: 「一毛甚輕，一渧極少，一沙甚微，一塵極小」—“One hair is very light; one drop is exceedingly little; one grain of sand is very slight; one mote of dust is exceedingly small.” 〔X21n0384 0679c19〕 These four do not describe muchness; they describe a littleness that all but fails to count.

And the sūtra says that such good too is delivered. The reading handed down joins it to another sūtra: 「此正會人天之小善，歸廣大之一乘」—“This is precisely to gather the small good of humans and gods and return it to the vast One Vehicle.” 〔X21n0384 0679c23〕 — 「即同法華徧開六道，低頭舉手，彈指散華，本是人天之福，今開即是緣因佛種」—“It is the same as the Lotus opening out the six destinies throughout: bowing the head, raising a hand, snapping the fingers, scattering flowers, were originally the blessings of humans and gods; opened out now, they are the conditioning cause, the seed of buddhahood.” 〔X21n0384 0679c23〕 The wording of that sūtra itself is 「乃至舉一手，或復小低頭」—“even to raise one hand, or to bow the head a little.” 〔T09n0262 0009a20〕

To raise a hand, to bow the head — gestures anyone can make. Such a gesture counted at first only as the blessing of humans and gods; opened out, it is a seed of buddhahood.

That string of astronomical figures comes down here. If delivering a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of people is the capacity, then one hair and one drop is the standard of measure — and only with the standard set as low as that does the astronomical figure hold.

Three Times, and the Last Sentence

Then comes the most famous sentence of this chapter: I pray only that the World-Honored One will not be anxious over the beings of later ages who do evil karma.

It is said three times.

What gives him the courage to say it? The commentator of old answers straight: 「慰勿慮者，明己能任事也」—“To console him and say that he need not be anxious is to make plain that he himself can take the task on.” 〔X21n0384 0680a05〕 — it is taking a thing on, not offering comfort. And the ground of that taking-on lies in one fact: 「即一闡提人，亦不斷性善」—“Even in an icchantika, the good that belongs to the nature is not cut off.” 〔X21n0384 0680a06〕 In one whose wholesome roots are cut, the good within the nature has not been cut along with them; 「儻遇法緣，善根復發，一善若起，萬惡全消」—“should he meet with a Dharma-condition, the wholesome roots put forth again; and if one good arises, ten thousand evils are wholly dissolved.” 〔X21n0384 0680a06〕

A single spark can burn off a whole field of firewood. And so those one or two in whom the evil habits are still there are not people beyond hope.

The Buddha’s answer is two cries of Excellent. Read of old: 「雙讚善哉者，一以能體佛心，敬承嚴命；二以分身利物，毫福不遺」—“The twofold praise of Excellent is, first, that he can embody the Buddha’s mind and reverently receive the strict charge; second, that he divides his body to benefit beings and lets not a hair’s worth of blessing be lost.” 〔X21n0384 0680a20〕 — the first praises him for understanding the Buddha’s mind, the second for letting not even a hair’s worth of blessing slip.

And the last sentence of the chapter is: you are able to bring to accomplishment the great vow you set up in kalpas long past; and the wide deliverance nearly done, you will straightway realize bodhi.

The commentator of old did not read this sentence as a timetable. He judges 「廣度兩言，我佛縱許之辭，亦自知其時耳」—“The two words on wide deliverance are our Buddha’s way of granting him leave; and he knows the time of it himself.” 〔X21n0384 0680a22〕, and puts a question back: 「是則地藏久矣證大菩提，何待廣度將畢耶」—“If so, Kṣitigarbha realized great bodhi long ago: why wait until the wide deliverance is nearly done?” 〔X21n0384 0680a24〕

Bodhi was realized long ago; there is no need to wait until the delivering is finished.

The sūtra does not answer this question again. It only leaves the two characters 「將畢」 — nearly done — standing where they are: this chapter begins from the divided bodies out of the hells of the ten directions, writes on to the divided bodies joined into one form, and comes to rest at the last upon a word not yet finished.

That 「畢」, done, has not arrived even today.

Transmission — A Qing Outline and Commentary, and Two Mirrors That May Be Read Alongside

The above is the sense of this chapter itself. Below, one eye casts its light from the side — the mirror is not the sūtra, only the same passage seen through another way of reading.

The Outline and Commentary on the Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, in six fascicles, was compiled by Lingcheng of the Qing, styled Qinglian, with the Guiding Thread in one fascicle and the Outline in one fascicle placed before it. The outline and the glosses cited above come from it in their whole frame: the judgment of the four passages of the main exposition, the gloss on the characters of the chapter title, the fixing of the moment of “at that time,” one hell and one divided body, one arm stroking throughout, the three wheels, delivering people by the recompense that is one’s environment, one moon and all waters, the four senses of the tears, and the words of granting leave. The Dharma-lineage he signs for himself is 「嗣興天台教觀正宗第五世」—“fifth in the line succeeding to the orthodox school of the Tiantai teaching and contemplation.” 〔X21n0383 0639a22〕, and the books he cites show his house at a glance: the Great Calming and Contemplation, the Fuxing, the Lotus, the Great Treatise, the Compassionate Flower Sūtra, the Sūtra of Dwelling in the Womb, the Sūtra of Brahmā’s Stirring, the Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, the Sūtra of Contemplating the Mind-Ground, the Sūtra of the Five Mothers and Their Son, and the Dīrgha Āgama.

In glossing this chapter he has two side-branches worth setting down.

The first: in glossing unsurpassed perfect awakening he cites the words of another ancient worthy: 「孤山曰：極果超因云無上，正則正觀中道，等則雙照二邊」—“Gushan says: that the ultimate fruit surpasses the cause is called unsurpassed; right means rightly contemplating the middle way; equal means illumining both extremes at once.” 〔X21n0384 0676a12〕 This is the second named voice within this chapter, and its words are to be returned to their own man, not assigned outright to the compiler.

The second: in glossing the divided bodies he turns all at once to a matter recorded in a gazetteer: 「唐至德間，有新羅國僧，曰金地藏者，渡海而來」—“In the Zhide era of the Tang there was a monk of the country of Silla called Jin Dizang, who crossed the sea and came.” 〔X21n0384 0675c09〕 — who settled at Mount Jiuhua, and at ninety-nine years passed away seated within a casket, and when it was opened three years later his color was as of one alive — and he judges 「亦分身之一也」—“this too is one of the divided bodies.” 〔X21n0384 0675c13〕 A work of commentary upon a sūtra, having come this far, points all at once to a mountain one can see. The matter is recorded; it is not adjudicated.

There are two further mirrors that may be read alongside, set side by side with no weighing of high and low.

The first is the Sūtra of the Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma. In its chapter on the appearance of the jeweled stūpa, Śākyamuni too summons his divided bodies: 「我分身諸佛——在於十方世界說法者，今應當集」—“The buddhas of my divided bodies, who are teaching the Dharma in the worlds of the ten directions, should now be gathered.” 〔T09n0262 0032c26〕; and once they were gathered, 「於釋迦牟尼佛一方所分之身猶故未盡」—“the bodies divided from Buddha Śākyamuni in one quarter alone were still not exhausted.” 〔T09n0262 0033a19〕 There what is gathered are divided-body buddhas; here what is gathered are divided-body bodhisattvas. There the divided bodies come from teaching the Dharma in the worlds of the ten directions; here they come from the hells of the ten directions. The same frame of divided bodies gathering together, and each comes down in a different place. Both are set down; no weighing of high and low is made.

The second is the Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra. That sūtra writes this bodhisattva’s first coming to the Buddha’s place thus: 「以神通力，現聲聞像，從南方來，至佛前住」—“By his spiritual power he manifested the image of a śrāvaka, came from the south, and stood before the Buddha.” 〔T13n0411 0722b04〕 — what he manifests is the image of a śrāvaka. And in writing the breadth of his manifested bodies, that sūtra runs its list down to the last slot: 「或作剡魔王身、或作地獄卒身、或作地獄諸有情身」—“sometimes he becomes the body of King Yama, sometimes the body of a hell-warden, sometimes the body of the sentient beings in the hells.” 〔T13n0411 0726a02〕, 「現作如是等，無量、無數異類之身，為諸有情如應說法，隨其所應，安置三乘不退轉位」—“He manifests bodies of such kinds as these, measureless and numberless and of differing sorts, teaches the Dharma to sentient beings as fits them, and according to what fits each, settles them in the irreversible station of the three vehicles.” 〔T13n0411 0726a03〕 The long string of manifested bodies in this chapter stops at the body of a bodhisattva; the string in that sūtra manifests all the way down to the hell-wardens and to those undergoing suffering within the hells. A sūtra of the same honored one but of different text: set side by side for parallel reading, with no collation of wording.

And the sūtra’s own number is bound to no mirror at all. As many hells, so many divided bodies — and that number is counted from the other end, by the hells.