地藏菩薩本願經 見聞利益品

The light of this chapter is not sent from between the brows, and it is not sent from the whole body. The sūtra writes it plainly: the World-Honored One sends it from the gate at the crown of his head.

From the highest place of the body, thirty-two lights are sent forth.

Thirty-Two Lights, and the Last of Them Is Named Sea Cloud

The first twenty are named by color and by auspicious sign: white, auspicious sign, jade, purple, blue, azure, red, green, gold, felicitous cloud — and each of them is doubled by a great one of the same name. The last twelve change their designation and speak instead of shape and of what a thing rests upon: thousand wheel, jeweled wheel, sun wheel, moon wheel, palace, sea cloud — and these too are each doubled by a great one.

From color to wheel, from wheel to palace, and at the last it closes upon a sea cloud. Set out one after another they grow larger as they go, and the last of them has no edge.

Eight Matters

When the light has been sent forth, the Buddha says that what he will speak of today is a matter beyond conceiving. The one who rises to ask is Avalokiteśvara.

The Buddha's answer in prose has eight matters in it. The first is in the heavens: a deva has the five marks of decline appear. The second is at the end of a life: at the moment of death the name is heard, one sound passing through the ear-faculty. The third is a grief of the human world: to lose father and mother and brothers and sisters in childhood, and to want, once grown, to know where they have gone. The fourth is arousing the resolve, the fifth is seeking what one wishes for. The sixth is wanting to read a sūtra and getting it only to forget it again. The seventh is clothing and food that do not suffice, a house that is not at peace, and in sleep and dream much fright and fear. The eighth is going out of doors — into the mountain forests, across the rivers and the sea, along the dangerous roads.

It runs from the heavens all the way down to the door. The sūtra does not put the greatest thing last; on the contrary, the further it goes the nearer it comes. The last matter is fearing to meet a tiger or a wolf on the road.

Four of Them Happen in Dreams

Of the eight matters, four turn upon what happens while one is asleep.

The bodhisattva manifests a boundless body and tells a person where his family have been born — that is within a dream; the crown of the head is touched and the prediction given — that is within a dream; the water of consecration is conferred and one wakes with a quick understanding — that too is within a dream. And the seventh matter is itself a dream: in sleep and dream much fright and fear. Its resolution the sūtra writes as: and even within sleep and dream, all is peace and ease.

A dream of fright exchanged for a dream of ease. The sūtra does not say one must wake up.

One Sentence with No Number Given to It

This chapter is willing to give numbers: one day to seven days, three times seven days, ten thousand recitations, a thousand a day up to a thousand days, one seven-day period or three.

After the number, the sūtra writes four characters more: do not fall back from the first mind.

All eight matters come to rest in the pleasures of the human and heavenly realms. Only at the end of the verse does the sūtra turn the whole of it in another direction — if one can dedicate this to the dharma-realm, one will at the last become a buddha and pass beyond birth and death.

What was counted before is all of it something asked for. This sentence has no number.

Śikṣānanda’s translation, made under the Tang, of the chapter “The Benefit of Seeing and Hearing” in The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Taishō T13n0412, the twelfth chapter of Fascicle Two, from the chapter title down to “therefore, Avalokiteśvara, you should know: proclaim it everywhere to lands as many as the sands of the Ganges.” The figures in parentheses at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔1 · The title of the chapter〕（0787b21）The Benefit of Seeing and Hearing, Chapter Twelve.

〔2 · From the gate at the crown, thirty-two hair-mark lights are sent forth〕（0787b22）At that time the World-Honored One, from the gate at the crown of his head (the crown: the Sanskrit name is uṣṇīṣa, rendered by sense as the buddha-crown; and it is called a gate because an old sūtra divides the human body into three parts, the head being the hall and the crown the gate of heaven), sent forth a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of great hair-mark lights (the hair-mark: the mark of the white hair between the Buddha’s brows. The hair-mark is one; the colors of its light are each distinct) — namely: the White hair-mark light, the Great White hair-mark light, the Auspicious-Sign hair-mark light (auspicious sign: a token of jade offered as a pledge, and also the sense of a good omen), the Great Auspicious-Sign hair-mark light, the Jade hair-mark light, the Great Jade hair-mark light, the Purple hair-mark light (purple: the Sanskrit name is transcribed Luocha, also written Lecha, a color between black and red), the Great Purple hair-mark light, the Blue hair-mark light (blue: the Sanskrit name is transcribed Niluo), the Great Blue hair-mark light, the Azure hair-mark light (azure: a deep blue), the Great Azure hair-mark light, the Red hair-mark light (red: the Sanskrit name is transcribed Aluna, the color red), the Great Red hair-mark light, the Green hair-mark light (green: a color between blue and yellow), the Great Green hair-mark light, the Gold hair-mark light (gold: the Sanskrit name is transcribed Yiniyan), the Great Gold hair-mark light, the Felicitous-Cloud hair-mark light (an auspicious cloud of five colors is called a felicitous cloud), the Great Felicitous-Cloud hair-mark light, the Thousand-Wheel hair-light, the Great Thousand-Wheel hair-light, the Jeweled-Wheel hair-light, the Great Jeweled-Wheel hair-light, the Sun-Wheel hair-light, the Great Sun-Wheel hair-light, the Moon-Wheel hair-light, the Great Moon-Wheel hair-light, the Palace hair-light, the Great Palace hair-light, the Sea-Cloud hair-light, the Great Sea-Cloud hair-light (the first twenty kinds are called hair-mark lights; the last twelve — the lights of the wheels, of the palace, and of the sea cloud — are called hair-lights. The sūtra text divides them into two forms of its own accord; they are not one name).

〔3 · Subtle and wondrous sounds come forth · five matters announced to the assembly〕（0787c02）Having sent forth from the gate at the crown of his head hair-mark lights such as these, he gave forth a subtle and wondrous sound and said to the great assembly, to the eightfold host of devas and nāgas, and to humans, nonhumans, and the rest: “Hear me today, in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, extol and praise the matters of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s benefit and the like among humans and gods, the matters beyond conceiving, the matters of the cause that surpasses toward sagehood (the cause by which one goes beyond the station of an ordinary being and heads for the fruit of a sage), the matters of realizing the ten grounds, and the matters of never in the end falling back from anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi: unsurpassed perfect awakening).”

〔4 · Avalokiteśvara rises from his seat and asks for the teaching〕（0787c07）While these words were being spoken, there was in the assembly a bodhisattva-mahāsattva named Avalokiteśvara, in Chinese the Contemplator of the World’s Sounds (the Sanskrit name is transcribed Anapoloujidishu. Contemplating is the wisdom that contemplates; the world’s sounds are the object contemplated; object and wisdom are joined to make the designation), who rose from his seat, knelt with the right knee to the ground and his palms joined (that manner of kneeling: a kneeling in which the right knee is set upon the ground), and said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! This Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattva is complete in great kindness and compassion; he pities the beings who undergo the suffering of their guilt, and in a thousand myriad koṭis of worlds he manifests a thousand myriad koṭis of bodies. As for all his merit and the inconceivable power of his awesome spiritual might, I have heard the World-Honored One together with the measureless buddhas of the ten directions praise Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva with one voice out of different mouths, saying: even were the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future to speak of his merit, they still could not exhaust it. And just now the World-Honored One has announced to the whole assembly that he would extol the matters of Kṣitigarbha’s benefit and the like. I pray only that the World-Honored One will, for all beings present and to come, extol the inconceivable matters of Kṣitigarbha, so that the eightfold host of devas and nāgas may gaze upon him and bow and gain blessings.”

〔5 · The Buddha praises Avalokiteśvara for his great affinity with the Sahā world〕（0787c17）The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: “You have a great affinity with the Sahā world. Whether deva or nāga, whether man or woman, whether spirit or ghost, and on down to the beings of the six destinies who undergo the suffering of their guilt — those who hear your name (the sūtra here uses the older word for ‘your’), those who see your form, those who long for you, those who praise you: these beings shall certainly not fall back on the unsurpassed way, but shall constantly be born among humans and gods and receive wondrous pleasure in full; and when cause and fruit are about to ripen, they will meet a buddha and receive his prediction. You are now complete in great kindness and compassion, and pity beings and the eightfold host of devas and nāgas; hear me proclaim the matters of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s inconceivable benefit. Listen closely; I shall now speak of it.”

〔6 · Avalokiteśvara is glad to hear〕（0787c24）Avalokiteśvara said: “Even so, World-Honored One! I should be glad to hear it.”

〔7 · The first matter · a deva’s five marks of decline, and seeing and hearing turn his blessings〕（0787c25）The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: “In the worlds to come and the worlds present there are devas whose heavenly blessings have been used up, who have the five marks of decline appear before them (the marks of decline that appear when a deva is about to die. Of old the treatises divide them into two kinds, the lesser five and the greater five; this sūtra says only that the five marks of decline appear, and does not divide them into greater and lesser), and some of whom fall into the evil destinies. Devas such as these, whether male or female, if at the time when those marks appear they either see the image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva or hear the name of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, and gaze once and bow once — these devas will thereby have their heavenly blessings increased, will receive great joy, and will never fall to the recompense of the three evil destinies.

〔8 · How much more so for the first matter · the merit of giving and making offerings is boundless〕（0788a01）How much more so if, seeing and hearing the bodhisattva, they also give and make offerings of every kind of incense, flower, garment, food and drink, jewel, and necklace: the merit and the blessed benefit they obtain will be measureless and boundless.

〔9 · The second matter · at the end of life, one sound passing through the ear〕（0788a03）“Furthermore, Avalokiteśvara! If in the worlds to come and the worlds present the beings of the six destinies, at the time when their lives are ending, are able to hear the name of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, one sound of it passing through the faculty of the ear, these beings shall never pass through the suffering of the three evil destinies.

〔10 · How much more so for the second matter · family sculpt and paint, and the recompense is turned〕（0788a06）How much more so if at the time when the life is ending the parents and family take the house and lands, the goods, the jewels, and the garments of the one whose life is ending, and with them sculpt and paint an image of Kṣitigarbha. Or else, before the sick person’s life has ended, they cause him with his own eyes and ears to see and hear, and to know that his family are taking house and jewels and the rest to sculpt and paint an image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva for his own sake. If this person is one who by the recompense of his deeds ought to undergo a grave illness, then by the strength of this merit he is straightway cured and his lifespan increased. And if this person is one whose lifespan by the recompense of his deeds is spent, and who with all the obstructions of guilt and of deeds that must be his ought to fall into an evil destiny, then by the strength of this merit, after his life ends, he is born straightway among humans and gods, receives surpassing and wondrous pleasure, and all the obstructions of guilt are utterly extinguished.

〔11 · The third matter · losing father and mother in childhood, and remembering one’s family〕（0788a14）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come there be a man or a woman who, while still at the breast, or at three years old, or five, or ten, or under, lost father and mother, and even lost elder and younger brothers and sisters: when this person has grown up and thinks back upon his father and mother and upon all his family, not knowing into which destiny they have fallen, into what world they were born, into which heaven they were born —

〔12 · The third matter · sculpting, painting, gazing, and bowing, and the family are set free〕（0788a18）if this person is able to sculpt or paint an image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, or even to hear his name and gaze once and bow once, from one day up to seven days, not falling back from that first mind, hearing the name and seeing the form, gazing and bowing and making offerings — then as for this person’s family, if by borrowing from the causes of their deeds they have fallen into an evil destiny, the number of kalpas they ought to undergo is reckoned, and by the merit of this man or woman or brother or sister who sculpts and paints the image of Kṣitigarbha and gazes and bows, they are straightway set free and born among humans and gods; and as for those who have already been born among humans and gods and are receiving surpassing and wondrous pleasure, they by the strength of this merit have their holy causes increased and receive measureless pleasure.

〔13 · The third matter · reciting the name for three times seven days, and a boundless body is manifested〕（0788a24）If this person is further able, within three times seven days, to gaze single-mindedly upon the image of Kṣitigarbha and bow to it and recite his name, filling out ten thousand recitations, then he will obtain a manifestation of the bodhisattva’s boundless body, which will tell him in full the realm into which his family have been born; or else within a dream the bodhisattva will manifest great spiritual power and personally lead this person through the worlds to see all of his family.

〔14 · The third matter · a thousand recitations a day up to a thousand days〕（0788a28）If he is further able each day to recite the bodhisattva’s name a thousand times, up to a thousand days, then this person will obtain from the bodhisattva a dispatching of the local earth-lord and the spirits of the place where he dwells to guard him for the whole of his life; in this present world his clothing and food will be abundant and to spare, he will have no sickness or pain, and violent misfortune will not so much as enter his door, how much less come upon his person. And this person will in the end obtain the bodhisattva’s touch upon the crown of his head and his prediction.

〔15 · The fourth matter · arousing a vast mind of kindness, and what is wished for is swiftly accomplished〕（0788b03）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come there be a good man or a good woman who wishes to arouse a vast mind of kindness and deliver all beings; who wishes to cultivate unsurpassed awakening; who wishes to go forth from the three realms — if such persons see the image of Kṣitigarbha and hear his name, take refuge in him with utmost mind, and make offerings and gaze and bow with incense and flowers, garments, jewels, and food and drink, then these good men and good women will have what they wish for swiftly accomplished and will never have obstruction.

〔16 · The fifth matter · seeking a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of wishes〕（0788b08）“Furthermore, Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come there be a good man or a good woman who wishes to seek a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of wishes present and to come, a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of affairs, he need only take refuge in, gaze upon and bow to, make offerings to, and praise the image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, and what he wishes and what he seeks in this way will all be accomplished. And if he further wishes that Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, complete in great kindness and compassion, may guard him forever, then this person, within his sleep and dreams, will obtain the bodhisattva’s touch upon the crown of his head and his prediction.

〔17 · The sixth matter · with the sūtras of the Great Vehicle, got and forgotten at once〕（0788b13）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come a good man or a good woman conceives a deep and treasuring regard for the sūtras of the Great Vehicle, arouses an inconceivable mind, and wishes to read and to recite them — yet though he meets a clear-sighted teacher who instructs him in reading them and makes him practice them until they are familiar, he gets them and forgets them at once, and though months and years go by, he cannot read or recite them. A good man such as this has an obstruction from the deeds of former lives, not yet dissolved away, and therefore has no capacity for reading and reciting the sūtras of the Great Vehicle.

〔18 · The sixth matter · hearing the name and seeing the image, and setting it forth in reverence〕（0788b18）A person such as this, hearing the name of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva and seeing the image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, should set forth and declare the whole of his own mind in reverence, and further make offerings to the bodhisattva of incense, flowers, garments, food and drink, and every kind of plaything.

〔19 · The sixth matter · one cup of pure water〕（0788b21）Let him take one cup of pure water, set it before the bodhisattva for one day and one night, and then with palms joined ask to drink it, turning his head toward the south; and when the water is about to enter his mouth, let him be of utmost mind and grave in his bearing.

〔20 · The sixth matter · what is to be guarded against, and for how long〕（0788b23）When he has finished drinking the water, let him guard against the five pungent roots (garlic, mountain scallion, onion, leek, and xingqu — the five rank and pungent vegetables), against wine and meat, against wrong sexual conduct and false speech, and against every kind of killing and harm, for one seven-day period, or for three times seven days.

〔21 · The sixth matter · the water of consecration conferred within a dream, and a quick understanding gained〕（0788b24）This good man or good woman will then, within his sleep and dreams, see in full Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva manifesting a boundless body and conferring upon him, in the place where he is, the water of consecration (consecration: the Sanskrit name is transcribed Pisajia; as when a kṣatriya pours water over the head of a prince to establish him, it signifies succeeding to the station of the Dharma King). When this person wakes from his dream he will gain a quick understanding, and whatever sūtras there are, once they have passed through the faculty of his ear, he will remember forever and will not again lose so much as a single line or a single verse.

〔22 · The seventh matter · things not as one would have them, by day and by night〕（0788b27）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come there be persons whose clothing and food do not suffice, whose seeking runs contrary to their wish; or who have much illness, or much of calamity and decline; whose houses are not at peace and whose families are scattered; or upon whose persons violent misfortunes of every kind come thick and strike; or who in sleep and dream have much fright and fear —

〔23 · The seventh matter · ten thousand recitations filled out, and these things gradually pass away〕（0788c02）persons such as these, hearing the name of Kṣitigarbha and seeing the form of Kṣitigarbha, with utmost mind and reverence filling out ten thousand recitations: all these things that are not as they would have them will gradually pass away, and they will straightway gain peace and ease, with clothing and food abundant and to spare, and even within sleep and dream all will be peace and ease.

〔24 · The eighth matter · entering the mountain forests, crossing rivers and seas, and going by dangerous roads〕（0788c05）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara! If in ages to come there be a good man or a good woman who, whether for the sake of a livelihood (managing the business of living), or for public or private affairs, or for matters of birth and of death, or for some urgent matter, enters into the mountain forests, crosses over rivers and seas and great waters, or goes by a dangerous road —

〔25 · The eighth matter · reciting the name ten thousand times, and spirits guard him〕（0788c08）this person should first recite the name of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva ten thousand times, and the ghosts and spirits of the lands he passes through will guard him; walking, standing, sitting, and lying down he will be kept in peace and ease forever. And even if he meets with tigers, wolves, and lions, or with any poisonous harm, they will not be able to injure him.”

〔26 · Summing up · his great affinity with Jambudvīpa〕（0788c10）The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: “This Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva has a great affinity with Jambudvīpa. Were one to speak of the matters of the benefit that beings gain by seeing and hearing him, a hundred thousand kalpas would not exhaust the telling.

〔27 · Exhorting Avalokiteśvara to circulate this sūtra〕（0788c13）Therefore, Avalokiteśvara, use your spiritual power to circulate this sūtra, so that the beings of the Sahā world may for a hundred thousand myriad kalpas receive peace and ease forever.”

〔28 · Verse 1 · a general praise: his awesome might cannot be exhausted〕（0788c15）At that time the World-Honored One spoke in verse, saying: “I behold the awesome spiritual power of Kṣitigarbha; kalpas as many as the sands of the Ganges could not exhaust the telling; seeing and hearing, gazing and bowing take but a single thought, and the matters of benefit to humans and gods are measureless.

〔29 · Verse 2 · praising the turning of the marks of decline〕（0788c18）Whether man, whether woman, whether nāga or spirit, when the recompense is spent and they must fall to an evil destiny — let them take refuge with utmost mind in the person of the great being, and their lifespan will be increased and the obstruction of their guilt removed.

〔30 · Verse 3 · praising the showing of the realm where the family were born〕（0788c20）One who while young lost the love of father and mother, not knowing in which destiny their spirits are; brothers and sisters and all his kin, whom he has not known since he was born and grew — let him sculpt or paint the person of the great being, and in grief and longing gaze and bow without setting it aside for a moment, and within three times seven days recite his name. The bodhisattva will then manifest a boundless body and show him the realm into which his family were born; and though they had fallen into an evil destiny, they will straightway come forth from it. And if he can keep from falling back from this first mind, he will obtain the touch upon his head and receive the holy prediction.

〔31 · Verse 4 · praising the accomplishing of the wish to deliver beings〕（0788c26）One who wishes to cultivate unsurpassed awakening, and even to go forth from the suffering of the three realms — since this person has aroused the mind of great compassion, let him first gaze upon and bow to the image of the great being; all his wishes will be swiftly accomplished, and no obstruction from his deeds will ever be able to bar the way.

〔32 · Verse 5 · praising the bringing forth of wisdom in this present life〕（0788c29）There is one who arouses his resolve and recites the sūtras, wishing to deliver the throng of the deluded and pass beyond to the further shore;（0789a01）and though he sets up this inconceivable wish, he reads and forgets at once and lets much of it fall away. This person has the obstruction of his deeds and his confusion, and so with the sūtras of the Great Vehicle he cannot hold them in mind. Let him make offerings to Kṣitigarbha with incense and flowers, with garments, food and drink, and every kind of plaything; let him set pure water before the great being and for one day and one night ask to drink it; let him arouse a mind of earnest gravity and guard against the five pungent roots, against wine and meat, wrong sexual conduct and false speech; within three times seven days let him do no killing or harm, and with utmost mind think upon the name of the great being. Then within a dream he will see the boundless one, and when he wakes he will have gained an ear of keen faculty; whatever teachings of the sūtras pass through the hearing of that ear, through a thousand myriad lives he will never forget them. It is because this great being is beyond conceiving that he can cause this person to gain wisdom such as this.

〔33 · Verse 6 · praising the turning of every evil aspect〕（0789a10）Beings who are poor, and those who are sick, whose houses are stricken and in decline and whose families are broken apart, who in sleep and dream are wholly ill at ease, whose seeking runs contrary and who have nothing that answers to their wish — let them with utmost mind gaze upon and bow to the image of Kṣitigarbha, and all evil things will pass away, and even within their dreams they will win peace to the full, with clothing and food in plenty and spirits and ghosts to guard them.

〔34 · Verse 7 · praising the making safe of water, land, and dangerous roads〕（0789a14）One who wishes to enter the mountain forests or to cross the sea, and meets with poisonous and evil birds and beasts, or with evil men, with evil spirits and evil ghosts and evil winds, with every kind of hardship and every kind of distress — let him only gaze upon and bow to and make offerings to the image of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, the great being, and thus, in the mountain forests and in the great sea, whatever evils there are will pass away.

〔35 · Verse 8 · exhorting the Avalokiteśvara to listen with utmost mind〕（0789a18）Avalokiteśvara, listen with utmost mind to what I say: Kṣitigarbha is inexhaustible and beyond conceiving; a hundred thousand myriad kalpas could not tell it out whole; I proclaim at length for you all the power of the great being, such as it is.

〔36 · Verse 9 · a general praise of the pleasure of hearing the name and gazing and bowing〕（0789a20）If a person hears the name of Kṣitigarbha, and even sees his image and gazes and bows to it, and presents in offering incense and flowers, garments, food and drink, then through a hundred thousand lives he will receive wondrous pleasure; and if he can dedicate all this to the dharma-realm, he will at the last become a buddha and pass beyond birth and death.

〔37 · Verse 10 · closing exhortation: proclaim it to all the lands〕（0789a23）Therefore, Avalokiteśvara, you should know: proclaim it everywhere to lands as many as the sands of the Ganges.”

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. He judges the whole sūtra into three divisions — introduction, main exposition, and transmission — with the last three chapters belonging to the transmission; this chapter stands second within that division, and why it can serve as transmission he makes plain in a single line: 「見聞利益流通，謂見地藏之像，聞地藏之名，無不獲大利益」—“The transmission by the benefit of seeing and hearing: that is, seeing the image of Kṣitigarbha and hearing the name of Kṣitigarbha, there is none who does not obtain great benefit.” 〔X21n0384 0752a17〕 And in passing he likens it to another bodhisattva — 「例同觀音聞名見身心念者，皆能滅苦」—“parallel to the case of Avalokiteśvara: those who hear his name, see his body, and keep him in mind can all extinguish suffering.” 〔X21n0384 0752a18〕 This likening is no idle stroke: this chapter is precisely the one in which Avalokiteśvara comes forward and asks about the Dharma. What is said below still begins by watching how the sūtra itself walks.

The Two Words “Seeing and Hearing”

The chapter title is only four characters: the benefit of seeing and hearing. The four look ordinary enough, and yet the one who explained the title of old stopped a long while over them.

First the characters are glossed. Seeing and hearing: the one belongs to the eye, the other to the ear — 「光所照曰見」—“what the light shines upon is called seeing.” 〔X21n0383 0651a24〕, and seeing belongs to the eye; 「自耳通心曰聞」—“what passes in from the ear to the mind is called hearing.” 〔X21n0383 0651b01〕, and hearing belongs to the ear. The eye and the ear are where the mind does its business, and so it is said that there is no one whose ears and eyes are narrow and whose measure of mind is broad.

Then it is turned over a layer. If at the very moment of seeing a form and hearing a sound one 「了知一一皆心，心尚叵得，見聞何有」—“knows clearly that each and every one of them is mind; and the mind itself cannot be got hold of, so where are seeing and hearing?” 〔X21n0383 0651b05〕 — if even the mind cannot be got hold of, then where are seeing and hearing? And so it is said 「即此見聞，非見聞矣」—“this very seeing and hearing is not seeing and hearing.” 〔X21n0383 0651b06〕 Only when this layer has been turned over does the next line follow: 「於無見中見如來種種輪光」—“within no-seeing, one sees the Tathāgata’s many kinds of wheel-light.” 〔X21n0383 0651b07〕, and within no-hearing one hears the inconceivable matters of Kṣitigarbha.

The turning done, it comes down again, and comes down into four grades: 「或圓伏五住，而位登五品」—“some, subduing the five abodes in the perfect manner, ascend in station to the five degrees.” 〔X21n0383 0651b09〕; 「或先落二垢，而得淨六根」—“some first shed the two stains and gain the purifying of the six faculties.” 〔X21n0383 0651b10〕; 「或頓破無明，而開佛知見」—“some break through ignorance all at once and open the knowledge and vision of a buddha.” 〔X21n0383 0651b10〕; 「或無明斷盡，而頓圓佛果」—“some cut off ignorance to the very end and complete the fruit of buddhahood all at once.” 〔X21n0383 0651b11〕 The four grades run upward all the way: first the five abodes are subdued in the perfect manner and the station of the five degrees is reached — subdued, but the root is not yet stirred; next the two stains are shed and the six faculties are pure; then ignorance is broken through all at once and the knowledge and vision of a buddha open; and last ignorance is cut off to the end and the fruit of buddhahood is completed all at once. Subduing stands first, breaking through next, cutting off to the end last of all.

And the benefit likewise divides into four pairs: 「如此似益真益」—“benefit like this is semblance-benefit and true benefit.” 〔X21n0383 0651b11〕, 「因益果益，前利後利，淺利深利」—“benefit on the cause and benefit on the fruit, the earlier gain and the later gain, the shallow gain and the deep gain.” 〔X21n0383 0651b12〕 — the benefit that is a semblance and the benefit that is true, the benefit of the ground of the cause and the benefit of the ground of the fruit, what is gained first and what is gained after, the shallow and the deep.

After the four pairs comes one line that binds them all: these are 「竝從見聞，而修而證」—“all of them, from seeing and hearing, both cultivated and realized.” 〔X21n0383 0651b12〕

This line is the eye of the chapter title. The thirty-two lights, the eight matters beyond conceiving, the one bodhisattva who asks on behalf of others — all of it hangs upon these four characters: the entrance is only the two gates of seeing and hearing, and whoever goes in by those two gates counts, at whatever grade he arrives. And so the chapter is not named response, and not named efficacy, but the benefit of seeing and hearing — what is spoken of is the gate, not the proof of the working.

What Is Meant by a Stimulus

Seeing and hearing are the gate. For a gate to open, something must move first; and what moves first was of old called the stimulus.

The stimulus divides by the three kinds of action. 「見身致禮，即身業機」—“seeing the body and offering a bow: that is the stimulus of bodily action.” 〔X21n0384 0752a19〕; 「聞名故稱，即口業機」—“hearing the name and therefore calling it: that is the stimulus of vocal action.” 〔X21n0384 0752a19〕; 「身口由心，即意業機」—“body and speech come from the mind: that is the stimulus of mental action.” 〔X21n0384 0752a19〕 Let any one of the three actions move, and the stimulus stands. Once the stimulus stands, 「機感既成，冥顯自應」—“the stimulus and the response being complete, the response comes of itself, hidden or manifest.” 〔X21n0384 0752a20〕 — the response divides of itself into two roads, one in the open and one in the dark.

This word must be settled first, or the text below will not move. Of the eight matters in this chapter, the turning point of every one of them lies in the two words seeing and hearing; and that turning is not the bodhisattva suddenly deciding to help — it is the stimulus moving and the response rising. So the giving of the prediction in a dream and the consecration in a dream, further down, are no stranger than gazing and bowing while awake: the one is manifest, the other hidden, and both roads start from the movement of one of the three actions.

A simile was matched to it of old as well: like the grasses and trees upon the ground, 「一雨均霑」—“one rain wets them evenly.” 〔X21n0384 0752a21〕, and there is none that is not moistened. The rain is one and the same rain; the grasses and trees each drink their own.

The Light Comes from the Gate at the Crown

Light has been sent forth earlier in this sūtra. In the introductory section the Tathāgata smiles and sends forth a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of great light-clouds, ten kinds in a row — and the sūtra does not say from where they are sent. In this chapter the text marks the place expressly: the World-Honored One, from the gate at the crown of his head, sends forth a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of great hair-mark lights.

The crown is the highest place of the whole body. The reading handed down says a few words more here: as for the Sanskrit name of the crown, 「梵名烏瑟膩沙，此云佛頂」—“in Sanskrit uṣṇīṣa; here it means the buddha-crown.” 〔X21n0384 0752b05〕; and it is called a gate on the strength of the old sūtra’s account of the three parts of the human body — the head is the hall, the crown is the gate of heaven. That the light comes out of the highest place signifies function arising upon the substance of ultimate wisdom. As for the relation between the hair-mark and the light, the commentator of old divides it finely: 「毫相是一，即用之體。光色不同，即體之用」—“the hair-mark is one: it is the substance of the function. The colors of the light are not the same: they are the function of the substance.” 〔X21n0384 0752c05〕 The hair-mark is of one kind only; the colors of its light may be measureless.

The sūtra then calls the lights by name one after another, thirty-two kinds. The first twenty are called hair-mark lights: white, great white, auspicious sign, great auspicious sign, jade, great jade, purple, great purple, blue, great blue, azure, great azure, red, great red, green, great green, gold, great gold, felicitous cloud, great felicitous cloud. The last twelve change their designation and are called only hair-lights: thousand wheel, great thousand wheel, jeweled wheel, great jeweled wheel, sun wheel, great sun wheel, moon wheel, great moon wheel, palace, great palace, sea cloud, great sea cloud.

This change of designation the sūtra text divides quite plainly for itself; it is not an abbreviation of one name. The first twenty are colors and auspicious signs — white, jade, purple, blue, azure, red, green, gold, with the auspicious sign and the felicitous cloud added; the last twelve are shapes and things rested upon — wheel, palace, sea cloud. From color to shape, from shape to what is rested upon, and all the way it grows larger as it goes. The commentator of old saw this turn as well, and marked it under the name thousand wheel: 「此下輪光，較散光尤勝」—“the wheel-lights from here down surpass the scattered lights.” 〔X21n0384 0753a21〕; and the last name he explains as 「以光雲遍覆，如海無垠」—“because the cloud of light covers everywhere, like a sea without a shore.” 〔X21n0384 0753b21〕

This line has a second half, and it is the second half that gives what is signified: 「此表生佛一如，依正不二」—“this signifies that beings and buddhas are one and the same, and that the world relied upon and the body that relies are not two.” 〔X21n0384 0753b21〕, 「染淨同源，苦樂無異」—“defilement and purity have one source; suffering and pleasure are not different.” 〔X21n0384 0753b22〕 The point of the sea as a simile is not its vastness but its being without discrimination — 「情生分別，法法條然，智入一無，事事平等」—“when feeling gives rise to discrimination, every dharma stands as a separate strand; when wisdom enters the one and the none, every matter is level with every other.” 〔X21n0384 0753b23〕 Once discrimination arises, every dharma becomes its own separate strand; when wisdom enters the one, every matter is made level. And so the thirty-two names, arriving at the last of them, do not come to rest upon a scene without a shore: they come to rest upon beings and buddhas being not two, and the world relied upon and the body that relies being not two. Take the figure and drop what it signifies, and this ending is nothing but scenery.

The light sent forth, the Buddha gives out a subtle and wondrous sound and tells the great assembly and the eightfold host of devas and nāgas what it is that he will speak of today: 「不思議事、超聖因事、證十地事」—“matters beyond conceiving, matters of the cause that surpasses toward sagehood, matters of realizing the ten grounds.” 〔T13n0412 0787c05〕, and matters of never in the end falling back from unsurpassed perfect awakening. Five times over, the word “matters.” Sending forth light is a manifesting, giving forth sound is a speaking; he manifests and then speaks, and what he speaks of is matters, not principle.

Five Times “Matters” — a Table of Contents

These five occurrences of “matters” are not a mere parallel series. Of old they were read as the outline of the chapter’s headings, one clause to each chapter-heading: 「於人天下，結歎四章」—“under ‘among humans and gods,’ he binds up his praise into four chapter-headings.” 〔X21n0384 0753c16〕

「利益等事，結名章」—“matters of benefit and the like: this binds up the heading of the name.” 〔X21n0384 0753c17〕 — because 「以稱名讀經，人天俱解脫故」—“since by calling the name and reading the sūtra humans and gods alike are liberated.” 〔X21n0384 0753c17〕, this clause gives the chapter a name. 「不思議事，結體章」—“matters beyond conceiving: this binds up the heading of the substance.” 〔X21n0384 0753c18〕 — substance belongs by rights to principle, and yet here it speaks of matters, because that which is relied upon from first to last, and which delusion and awakening alike possess, is precisely the matter that is principle. 「超聖二句，結宗章」—“the two clauses on surpassing toward sagehood bind up the heading of the theme.” 〔X21n0384 0753c20〕 — the cause that surpasses toward sagehood and the realizing of the ten grounds are the theme, and a theme must have cause and fruit accomplished together. 「不退菩提，結用章」—“not falling back from awakening binds up the heading of the function.” 〔X21n0384 0753c20〕 — because 「地藏巧施方便，為令成就菩提」—“Kṣitigarbha skillfully sets out expedient means in order that awakening may be accomplished.” 〔X21n0384 0753c21〕

Name, substance, theme, and function are the four places in which Tiantai explains a sūtra: first there must be a name, then a substance relied upon, then a cause and fruit taken as the theme, then an expedient means put to use. The Buddha, after sending forth the light, says only five clauses; and the reading handed down takes those five clauses as the four headings the chapter reports for itself.

So the place where these five occurrences of “matters” stand is of consequence: the light has been sent forth, the matters themselves have not begun to be told, and the Buddha first sets out a table of contents. And the first entry of that table is benefit, and the last is not falling back from awakening — it begins at the gain of humans and gods and ends at the fruit that does not fall back. The eight matters in between stand between those two ends.

The One Who Asks Has Been Changed

A change appears in the sūtra here that is easy to read past.

In the eleven chapters before this, the one who rises to ask has changed several times: Mañjuśrī, Universally Broad, and the earth spirit Firm-and-Stable ask the Buddha, while Samantabhadra asks Kṣitigarbha. In this chapter the one who rises to ask is Avalokiteśvara.

And the Buddha’s answer does not answer about Kṣitigarbha first; it answers about Avalokiteśvara himself first: 「聞汝名者、見汝形者、戀慕汝者、讚歎汝者」—“those who hear your name, those who see your form, those who long for you, those who praise you.” 〔T13n0412 0787c19〕, these beings shall certainly not fall back on the unsurpassed way. Before answering the question about the benefit of seeing and hearing Kṣitigarbha, the Buddha hands the questioner a portion of that same benefit.

The arrangement of this passage is worth stopping over. That Avalokiteśvara is able to raise this question was accounted for of old by the likeness of the two in office — 「以志同道合，均與閻浮提有大因緣也」—“because their aims are the same and their ways agree, and both alike have a great affinity with Jambudvīpa.” 〔X21n0384 0754b01〕 One and the same work: the one answers voices in the human world and rescues from suffering, the other draws out the guilty and suffering along the dark roads; the Buddha confirms the former first, and then has the former call forth the latter. The sūtra does not set one bodhisattva to measure himself against another; it lets the one who does the same work open his mouth on behalf of beings.

Avalokiteśvara’s stated reason for asking is plain as well: he does not ask for himself, but so that the eightfold host of devas and nāgas may gaze and bow and gain blessings. One who already has a great affinity asks on behalf of those who do not yet have one.

Eight Matters, Set Out from the Heavens Down to the Door

The prose of the Buddha’s answer the reading handed down counts as eight passages — 「別示不思議事文有八段」—“the text that shows the matters beyond conceiving one by one has eight passages.” 〔X21n0384 0755b09〕, whose list is 「一、轉天人衰相，乃至第八安水陸險道」—“first, turning the marks of a deva’s decline, and so on down to the eighth, making safe the dangerous roads of water and land.” 〔X21n0384 0755b10〕

Read the eight straight through and a downward line comes into view.

The first is in the heavens: a deva has the five marks of decline appear. The second is at the end of a life: the beings of the six destinies hear the name at the time of death. The third is a grief of the human world: to lose father and mother and brothers in childhood, and to want, once grown, to know where they have gone. The fourth is the arousing of resolve: wishing to arouse a vast mind of kindness, wishing to cultivate unsurpassed awakening, wishing to go forth from the three realms. The fifth is the seeking of a wish: a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of wishes present and to come, a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of affairs. The sixth is study: wishing to read and recite the sūtras of the Great Vehicle and not being able to. The seventh is ordinary domestic life: clothing and food that do not suffice, much illness, a house that is not at peace, a family scattered, fright and fear in sleep and dream. The eighth is going out of doors: entering the mountain forests, crossing rivers and seas, going by dangerous roads.

From the heavens down to the end of a life; from the end of a life down to being orphaned in childhood; then on to arousing the resolve and to seeking a wish; and at the last coming to rest upon clothing and food, upon sleep and dream, and upon the road out of doors. The sūtra does not put the great matter last as the crowning piece; on the contrary the further it goes the nearer and the finer it grows, and the last matter is fearing to meet a tiger or a wolf on the road. The further on, the more it is a situation we recognize every day.

These eight matters share one shape: each first writes the strait, then writes the seeing and hearing, then writes the turn. The strait is written concretely; the turn is written short. The sūtra does not spend many characters on the turn.

There is one thing in the last matter that is easily missed. The sūtra writes 「是人先當念地藏菩薩名萬遍」—“this person should first recite the name of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva ten thousand times.” 〔T13n0412 0788c08〕 — and who is “this person”? Of old it was read very broadly: 「是人通指九界」—“‘this person’ refers to all nine realms alike.” 〔X21n0384 0760b17〕, and the reason given is direct — 「以初地菩薩尚不免虎狼之難」—“since even a bodhisattva of the first ground does not escape the peril of tigers and wolves.” 〔X21n0384 0760b17〕 If even a bodhisattva of the first ground may meet tigers and wolves on a mountain road, how much more those below. As for why ten thousand recitations, the note says it plainly: 「必萬徧者，舉極數，見至誠也」—“that it must be ten thousand times is the raising of the extreme number, in order to show utmost sincerity.” 〔X21n0384 0760b18〕 Ten thousand is not a fixed quota; it is stating the number to its limit in order to show sincerity.

And so this downward line has one more layer to be seen: the last matter, though nearest to human affairs, reaches in the persons it covers all the way to the nine realms. The line is laid downward, and laying it to the bottom has not shut out those above — the tigers and wolves on the mountain road must be walked past by a bodhisattva of the first ground as well.

The Five Marks of Decline Appear

For the first matter the sūtra writes only four characters: 「有五衰相現」—“the five marks of decline appear.” 〔T13n0412 0787c26〕

The marks of a deva’s decline the treatises state more finely than the sūtra. The commentator of old cites a treatise here, saying that when the gods’ lives are about to end two kinds of five marks appear first: 「準新婆沙論：諸天命終，先有二種五衰相現，一小二大」—“Following the new Vibhāṣā: when the gods’ lives end, there first appear two kinds of five marks of decline, the lesser and the greater.” 〔X21n0384 0755b18〕; the lesser five are that the body gives out an ill sound, the body’s radiance grows faint, bathing water clings to the body, one clings to objects and will not let them go, and the body is unsteady and the eyes blink. The greater five are that the garments become soiled, the flower-crown withers, sweat runs from both armpits, the body gives out a foul smell, and one no longer delights in one’s own seat. What separates the two is the outcome: 「小五相現，若不歸依求救」—“when the lesser five marks appear, if one does not take refuge and seek rescue.” 〔X21n0384 0755b22〕, there is still a turn to be had; but 「大五衰現，必從天死退下」—“when the greater five marks of decline appear, one must die out of the heavens and fall back down.” 〔X21n0384 0755b23〕

The treatise divides them into greater and lesser; this sūtra does not. The sūtra says only that the five marks of decline appear, and does not say which kind, nor which kind still leaves time. Here the sūtra and the treatise differ in their closeness of grain; the divergence is of old, and is recorded here without adjudicating in the sūtra’s stead.

And the means the sūtra goes on to give does not vary with whether the marks are greater or lesser: when the marks appear, one either sees the image or hears the name, and 「一瞻一禮」—“gazes once and bows once.” 〔T13n0412 0787c29〕, and the heavenly blessings are increased. The sūtra gives one and the same gate, and does not ask on which side of the gate the comer is standing.

There is a further layer that lights up where this matter stands. A treatise divides death into three kinds — 「云何死？謂由壽量極故」—“What is death? It is that the measure of the lifespan is at its limit.” 〔T30n1579 0281b03〕, and death thereupon comes; and this is again of three kinds, 「謂壽盡故，福盡故，不避不平等故」—“namely, because the lifespan is spent; because the blessings are spent; and because one does not avoid what is not equable.” 〔T30n1579 0281b04〕: that the lifespan has run out is one, that the blessings have been used up is one, and that one has met what one ought not to have met is one. The first matter of this chapter writes of a deva 「受天福盡」—“whose heavenly blessings have been used up.” 〔T13n0412 0787c26〕, which falls exactly within the second; the second matter writes only “at the time when the life is ending,” without dividing the kinds, and all three are inside it.

A deva does not die of illness; his blessings are used up. This differs from death in the human world: a human may still say his time has not come, while a deva’s time is what he himself has spent. The eight matters take this as their first, and the first suffering they write is a suffering produced by the enjoyment of blessings.

Four Characters: “Borrowing from the Causes of Their Deeds”

The third matter writes of a very concrete person: 「或乳哺時」—“or at the time of being suckled.” 〔T13n0412 0788a15〕, or at three years old, or five, or ten, or under, he loses father and mother, and even loses elder and younger brothers and sisters; and once grown he thinks back upon father and mother and does not know into which destiny they have fallen.

The sūtra counts upward from the smallest age. The words for being at the breast the commentator of old glosses finely — 「乳哺時者，嬰孩在襁褓也」—“the time of being suckled: the infant is still in swaddling clothes.” 〔X21n0384 0756b24〕, still in swaddling clothes; and milk is transformed from the mother’s blood, 「兒所飲汁，乃母血所化」—“the fluid the child drinks is what the mother’s blood has been transformed into.” 〔X21n0384 0756b24〕 It counts from the time when he was still at the breast up to ten years old and under. The sūtra does not first speak of the pain of being orphaned; it first makes the age plain: at that time he did not yet understand what had happened.

And why these family members are in an evil destiny the sūtra states in four characters only: 「假因業故」—“by borrowing from the causes of their deeds.” 〔T13n0412 0788a20〕 These four are easily read past as a narrative joint. Of old they were read as doctrine: 「假即因成、相續、相待之三假也」—“‘borrowed’ is the three borrowings: completion by causes, continuity, and mutual dependence.” 〔X21n0384 0757a05〕, 「以虗妄不實，故名為假」—“because they are false and not real, they are called borrowed.” 〔X21n0384 0757a05〕

The three borrowings are three ways in which a borrowed existence is set up, and the note cites the Great Calming and Contemplation for what each of them is stated in terms of: 「止觀云：因成，約外塵內根」—“The Calming and Contemplation says: completion by causes is stated in terms of outer objects and inner faculties.” 〔X21n0384 0757a06〕, 「相續，但約內根」—“continuity is stated in terms of the inner faculties alone.” 〔X21n0384 0757a06〕, 「相待，豎待滅無之無，橫待三無為之無心」—“mutual dependence: vertically it depends upon the nothing that is the nothing of extinction; horizontally it depends upon the no-mind of the three unconditioned dharmas.” 〔X21n0384 0757a07〕 The names have already said it: completion by causes is that a thing is only when many conditions come together; continuity is that a former thought joins to a later one so that there seems to be a thing there; mutual dependence is that one end can be spoken of only over against the other. Deeds are a thing that exists just so — it is not that a solid thing has been thrown into an evil destiny, but that there is an undergoing there, by way of completion by causes, of continuity, of mutual dependence.

This reading turns a sentence of narrative into a sentence of doctrine. And it is at the same time the ground on which the passage stands: since they are borrowed, there is a place where they can be undone, and the sculpting and painting and gazing and bowing that the sūtra goes on to speak of can be brought to bear. If deeds were truly a solid thing, how could sculpting an image or bowing once move them at all?

One Cup of Water, One Day and One Night

Of the eight matters, the sixth is written at the greatest length and in the greatest detail.

A person conceives a deep and treasuring regard for the sūtras of the Great Vehicle, arouses an inconceivable mind, and wishes to read and recite them; yet even when he meets a clear-sighted teacher and is made to practice until they are familiar, he 「旋得旋忘」—“gets them and forgets them at once.” 〔T13n0412 0788b16〕, and though months and years go by he cannot read them. The sūtra’s judgment is direct: this is an obstruction from former deeds not yet dissolved, and therefore with the sūtras of the Great Vehicle he has 「無讀誦性」—“no capacity for reading and reciting.” 〔T13n0412 0788b18〕

The sūtra does not stop at the judgment. It goes on to give a set of practices, the passage in the whole sūtra that most resembles a rite: hearing the name and seeing the image, he declares the whole of his own mind in reverence; he makes offerings of incense, flowers, garments, food and drink, and every kind of plaything; he takes one cup of pure water and sets it before the bodhisattva for one day and one night; then with palms joined he asks to drink it, turning his head toward the south, and when it is about to enter his mouth he is of utmost mind and grave in his bearing; the water drunk, he guards against the five pungent roots, wine and meat, wrong sexual conduct and false speech and every kind of killing, for one seven-day period, or for three.

This is the one passage in the whole sūtra that can be carried out as it stands, and so it is worth looking at action by action.

Why water? — 「用淨水者，藉緣發慧也」—“the use of pure water is to bring forth wisdom by borrowing a condition.” 〔X21n0384 0758c16〕 Water has the office of flowing through and washing away filth, and the merit of moistening things and making them grow, and this condition is borrowed in order to bring forth wisdom. Why one cup, and one day and one night? — 「一盞，表一道清淨。一日夜，表制心一處」—“one cup signifies one path of purity; one day and night signifies holding the mind in one place.” 〔X21n0384 0758c21〕; and day and night each signify something, 「目表智明，夜表愚暗也」—“the day signifies the brightness of wisdom, the night signifies the darkness of folly.” 〔X21n0384 0758c21〕 Why ask for it with palms joined? — 「合掌請服，表一心佩戴」—“joining the palms and asking to drink signifies wearing it upon oneself with a single mind.” 〔X21n0384 0758c22〕 One cup of water is not a medicine, and one day and one night is not a length of hours; what is signified is singleness and purity. And as for why reverence is required, the note answers with an old saying: 「以誠能動物，不誠，未有能動」—“it is by sincerity that one can move things; without sincerity, nothing has ever been moved.” 〔X21n0384 0758c08〕

The hardest to construe is the turning of the head toward the south. Of old it was explained as 「迴首向南，表背坎向離」—“turning the head toward the south signifies turning the back on Kan and facing Li.” 〔X21n0384 0758c23〕 — Kan and Li are two of the eight trigrams’ quarters: Kan is in the north and belongs to water and to what is dark; Li is in the south and belongs to fire and to what is bright. In the chapter before this, where the earth spirit teaches how an image is to be set up in a clean place, the matter is stated still more plainly: 「離為南方，為正、為日、為明麗」—“Li is the southern quarter; it is the upright, it is the sun, it is the bright and shining.” 〔X21n0384 0749b03〕, and therefore a room is made and an image offered at the place marked out, 「正令人人出坎陷之幽途，升離明之陽地」—“precisely so that everyone may come out of the dark road of the pit of Kan and rise to the sunlit ground of the brightness of Li.” 〔X21n0384 0749b05〕, because 「以陰主死而陽主生也」—“the yin governs death and the yang governs life.” 〔X21n0384 0749b06〕

One turning of the head, and the notes to two chapters are speaking of the same thing: turning from the dark side toward the bright. The sūtra writes only the four characters for turning the head toward the south, without explaining; and that south is the same south as the one in the chapter before.

The five pungent roots to be guarded against after drinking the water were also listed of old: 「五辛者，梵網云」—“as for the five pungent roots, the Brahmā Net says.” 〔X21n0384 0759a07〕 garlic, mountain scallion, onion, leek, and xingqu. And one easily confused matter is distinguished — 「夫葷、辛是二義」—“rank and pungent are two different senses.” 〔X21n0384 0759a08〕: 「葷而非辛，阿魏是；辛而非葷，芥薑是」—“rank but not pungent: asafoetida is such; pungent but not rank: mustard and ginger are such.” 〔X21n0384 0759a09〕, 「是葷是辛，五辛是也」—“both rank and pungent: the five pungent roots are such.” 〔X21n0384 0759a09〕 What is forbidden is not everything with a strong smell, but those five that are both rank and pungent. It is divided this finely because the form of a precept must be able to land in the hand; a blurred form of a precept buys only a blurred keeping of it.

Worth noting is that the sūtra gives a term: one seven-day period, or three. Several of the earlier matters give numbers too: one day up to seven days, three times seven days, ten thousand recitations, a thousand a day up to a thousand days. This sūtra is willing to give numbers where benefit is concerned, and behind the number there is often a more consequential line still — 「莫退初心」—“do not fall back from the first mind.” 〔T13n0412 0788a19〕 The reading handed down weighs these four characters very heavily: 「莫退初心一悟，是最要之誡」—“that one insight, not to fall back from the first mind, is the most essential admonition.” 〔X21n0384 0756c20〕, and cites a scripture by way of comparison: 「魚子菴羅華，菩薩初發心，三事因中多，及其結果少」—“fish spawn, the flowers of the mango, and a bodhisattva’s first arousing of the resolve: of these three, many in the cause, few when they come to fruit.” 〔X21n0384 0756c23〕 Fish spawn and mango blossoms come to fruit but seldom, and of those who arouse the resolve few accomplish it. It is not that arousing the resolve is hard; it is that not falling back is hard — and this, presumably, we all recognize.

Dreams

There is one word that comes back again and again in this chapter, and on a first reading it is easily taken for an accident.

The third matter: reciting the name for three times seven days to the full ten thousand, the bodhisattva manifests a boundless body and 「具告是人眷屬生界」—“tells this person in full the realm into which his family have been born.” 〔T13n0412 0788a26〕; or else 「或於夢中，菩薩現大神力」—“or within a dream the bodhisattva manifests great spiritual power.” 〔T13n0412 0788a26〕, and personally leads this person through the worlds to see his family. The fifth matter: after all that is wished and sought has been accomplished, this person 「即得菩薩摩頂授記」—“straightway obtains the bodhisattva’s touch upon his head and his prediction.” 〔T13n0412 0788b13〕 — and that too within sleep and dream. The sixth matter: after drinking the water and keeping the precepts, within sleep and dream he sees the bodhisattva manifest a boundless body 「於是人處授灌頂水」—“and confer the water of consecration in the place where this person is.” 〔T13n0412 0788b25〕 The strait of the seventh matter is itself a dream — 「睡夢之間，多有驚怖」—“in sleep and dream there is much fright and fear.” 〔T13n0412 0788c01〕; and its turn comes to rest upon dream as well: 「乃至於睡夢中，悉皆安樂」—“and even within sleep and dream, all is peace and ease.” 〔T13n0412 0788c04〕

Four of the eight matters happen within a dream. The commentator of old divided two roads for this, the manifest and the hidden: 「上是顯機顯應，故於稱禮之際，現身告知其界」—“the above is a manifest stimulus and a manifest response, and so at the moment of calling and bowing he manifests his body and makes the realm known.” 〔X21n0384 0757b14〕, which is the road of waking; 「此屬冥機冥應，故於夢中相告」—“this belongs to a hidden stimulus and a hidden response, and so the telling is within a dream.” 〔X21n0384 0757b14〕, which is the road of sleep. The response while awake asks for gazing and bowing and calling the name; the road while asleep is not ours to command. The sūtra sets the two roads side by side and does not say which is the truer.

And upon the matter of dreams the note says one thing that reaches further still: 「迴觀世間，皆夢中事，唯大覺朗然，稱大夢覺耳」—“turn and look back at the world: it is all of it a matter within a dream; only the great awakening is clear and bright, and that is what is called awaking from the great dream.” 〔X21n0384 0757b19〕 This line has already gone past the sense of the passage; it borrows the dream to speak of awakening. The sūtra itself does not say so; the sūtra only sets a dream of fright over against a dream of ease, and then puts the giving of the prediction and the consecration into dreams as well.

As for why a response sometimes fails to appear, the note sets up a question and answer, and the answer is not gentle: 「須知一心，有事有理，二途無取，胡能感聖」—“know that in the one mind there is the matter and there is the principle; if neither road is taken up, how can one stir a sage?” 〔X21n0384 0757b06〕, and it is likened to 「譬如臨鏡背視，對谷吞聲」—“like standing before a mirror and looking away, or facing a valley and swallowing one’s voice.” 〔X21n0384 0757b07〕 — turning your back on the mirror and wanting a reflection, swallowing your voice at the valley and wanting an echo. These are the words of the commentator, not the words of the sūtra; the sūtra says only 「至心恭敬，念滿萬遍」—“with utmost mind and reverence, filling out ten thousand recitations.” 〔T13n0412 0788c02〕

The Two Matters Missing from the Verse

The prose finished, the World-Honored One speaks in verse.

Verse usually says the prose over again. The verse of this chapter, however, does not say the whole of it again. The commentator of old counted: 「六長行有八章，今略第二、第五，故唯六章」—“the prose above has eight chapter-headings; here the second and the fifth are passed over, and so there are only six.” 〔X21n0384 0761a08〕 — of the eight matters of the prose the verse praises only six, and the second (hearing the name at the time of death) and the fifth (seeking a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of wishes) are not praised.

This is a thing that can be checked. Set the verse against the prose passage by passage: praising the marks of decline, praising the showing of the realm of birth, praising the accomplishing of the deliverance of beings, praising the bringing forth of wisdom, praising the turning of evil aspects, praising the making safe of water and land — six headings indeed, and the passage on the end of life and the passage on seeking a wish are not among them.

The sūtra does not say why they are passed over. The close of the verse does, however, say something else: 「若能以此迴法界，畢竟成佛超生死」—“if one can dedicate this to the dharma-realm, one will at the last become a buddha and pass beyond birth and death.” 〔T13n0412 0789a22〕 The eight matters before it are every one of them a seeking, and every one of them a thing we would seek: blessings, long life, news of where one’s family have gone, the ability to read a sūtra through, clothing and food, safety on the road. In the last two lines of the verse the sūtra turns the whole of what was sought in another direction — dedicating it to the dharma-realm. All eight matters come to rest in the pleasures of the human and heavenly realms; only these two lines pass through.

The mechanism of that passing through was given of old as well. The last six lines of the verse divide into two parts: 「前四句結上聞名瞻像等」—“the first four lines bind up what is above concerning hearing the name and gazing at the image and the rest.” 〔X21n0384 0762b22〕, and one must receive the wondrous pleasure of humans and gods; 「後二句結上迴向法界，必超生死成佛」—“the last two lines bind up what is above concerning dedicating to the dharma-realm: one must pass beyond birth and death and become a buddha.” 〔X21n0384 0762b22〕 And the reason this can be so is 「以具有四悉檀利益故也」—“because it possesses the benefit of the four siddhāntas.” 〔X21n0384 0762b23〕

The four siddhāntas are the four ways in which a buddha gives the teaching. To speak of the name of Kṣitigarbha as a distinction made for the world is to let people gain the benefit of gladness; to speak of his name and his marks for each person severally is to let people gain the benefit of producing goodness; to call the name and bow to the image when the five marks of decline appear, or when one is trudging a dangerous road, and so turn misfortune into good fortune, is the benefit of breaking evil; and to dedicate the matters above to ultimate truth is the benefit of entering the principle.

The first three benefits all come to rest upon matters, and only the fourth comes to rest upon principle. So the eight matters above have not been told in vain — they are the first three modes, the hand that brings a person in at the door; the last two lines are the fourth mode, the step taken after coming in. Without the first three, no one would come; without the fourth, those who came would stop at the pleasures of humans and gods. Here is the reason why this chapter dares to write down, one by one, the seeking of clothing and food and the seeking of safety, without fearing that it falls into the vulgar.

And so at the last the Buddha says to Avalokiteśvara: therefore, Avalokiteśvara, you should know: proclaim it everywhere to lands as many as the sands of the Ganges. The reading handed down joins the word “therefore” back to what came before: 「是故者，承上八種事故而言也」—“‘therefore’ is said in succession to the eight kinds of matter above.” 〔X21n0384 0762c15〕; and it says further that this word “everywhere” must not be taken small — 「言普告，則應通九界；言諸國，則豈局同居」—“if it says proclaim everywhere, then it must reach all nine realms; if it says all the lands, then how could it be confined to the land where all dwell together?” 〔X21n0384 0762c17〕

A chapter begins with one light from the gate at the crown and closes upon a single word, “everywhere.” Of the eight matters in between, the greatest is in the heavens and the smallest at the door.

Transmission — A Tiantai Mirror, and the Avalokiteśvara It Reflects

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 placed before it. The outline and the glosses cited above come from it in their whole frame: the place of this chapter within the division of transmission, the division of the chapter’s text into two headings (「初、釋迦現相歎德事」—“first, Śākyamuni manifests signs and praises the matters of his virtue.” 〔X21n0384 0752a23〕, and second, Avalokiteśvara asks that it be spoken for the transmission), the list of the eight passages of prose, the judgment that the verse passes over two and keeps six, and the division of hidden and manifest stimuli. He glosses the sūtra following the Tiantai line all the way down, and in this chapter it shows especially.

The thirty-two hair-mark lights he first matches to the three virtues — 「大即法身，以遍滿故」—“the great is the dharma-body, because it fills everywhere.” 〔X21n0384 0752b16〕, the hair-mark is liberation, and the light is prajñā; then he cites the Words and Phrases of the Lotus to liken the colors to the paths: 「以五色譬五道，青譬地獄因果」—“the five colors are likened to the five destinies: blue is likened to the cause and fruit of the hells.” 〔X21n0384 0752c06〕, yellow to the hungry ghosts, red to the animals, white to humans and gods. For five of the colors he finds Sanskrit names: white, 「梵語叔離，此云白色」—“in Sanskrit 叔離; here it means the color white.” 〔X21n0384 0752c12〕; purple, 「梵名羅差，或勒叉，此云紫色」—“the Sanskrit name is 羅差 or 勒叉; here it means the color purple.” 〔X21n0384 0753a03〕; blue, 「梵名尼羅，此云青色」—“the Sanskrit name is 尼羅; here it means the color blue.” 〔X21n0384 0753a05〕; red, 「梵名阿盧那，此云赤色」—“the Sanskrit name is 阿盧那; here it means the color red.” 〔X21n0384 0753a10〕; gold, 「梵名伊尼延，此云金色」—“the Sanskrit name is 伊尼延; here it means the color gold.” 〔X21n0384 0753a16〕 For azure and green he gives no Sanskrit name, and takes their sense from the dictionaries instead: for azure he cites the Shuowen, 「說文謂石之青美」—“the Shuowen calls it the beautiful blue among stones.” 〔X21n0384 0753a08〕; and for green, 「綠毫相光，綠，瀏也」—“the green hair-mark light: green is limpid.” 〔X21n0384 0753a14〕, a color between blue and yellow, 「總表獄鬼同入法流也」—“signifying altogether that the beings of the hells and the ghosts alike enter the stream of the Dharma.” 〔X21n0384 0753a15〕 One set of light-names, and he reads it by two methods: where there is a Sanskrit name he gives it back its Sanskrit name, and where there is none he gives it back the sense of its character.

Avalokiteśvara’s Sanskrit name he gives as well: 「西音名阿那婆婁吉低輸」—“in the Western sound the name is 阿那婆婁吉低輸.” 〔X21n0384 0754a14〕, which here means the contemplator of the world’s sounds; contemplating is the wisdom that contemplates, the world’s sounds are the object contemplated, and object and wisdom are joined in the designation. In the same place he adds a note on geography, recording that on the seacoast of southern India, on Mount Potalaka, there is a stone heavenly palace which is the constant dwelling of the Bodhisattva Sovereign Observer. This has nothing to do with doctrine; he set it down in passing.

The passage on consecration he glosses by name as 「梵名毗灑迦，此云灌頂」—“the Sanskrit name is 毗灑迦; here it means consecration.” 〔X21n0384 0759b13〕, and likens it to a kṣatriya pouring water on the head to establish a prince — the water of Dharma is poured on the head, and one succeeds to the station of the Dharma King. Why a prediction given in a dream may be trusted he settles by citing a treatise on the difference between sleep and dream: 「今是染污心眠夢」—“this is a dream in sleep with a defiled mind.” 〔X21n0384 0759b06〕; and he states the unfailingness of response with a verse: 「菩薩清涼月，常遊畢竟空，眾生心水淨，菩提影現中」—“the bodhisattva is the cool moon, forever moving in ultimate emptiness; when the water of a being’s mind is clear, the reflection of awakening appears within it.” 〔X21n0384 0757b04〕

The passage on poverty in the seventh matter he writes with the most feeling. He cites the self-lament of an elder who had lost his wealth, saying that in coming and going, in stopping and starting, in speech and in bending and looking up, a poor man’s every act is a fault; and the lament at its furthest is this line: 「貧有大力，能使所親捨我極速」—“poverty has great power: it can make those close to me abandon me with the utmost speed.” 〔X21n0384 0759c19〕 — and this too is not the commentator’s own line but the self-lament of that elder after he had lost his wealth and got it back, from the Sūtra of the Causes and Conditions of Lamp-Finger: 「嗚呼怪哉！富有大力，能使世人來歸極疾。嗚呼怪哉！貧有大力，能使所親捨我極速」—“Alas, how strange! Wealth has great power: it can make the people of the world come and turn to me with the utmost swiftness. Alas, how strange! Poverty has great power: it can make those close to me abandon me with the utmost speed.” 〔T16n0703 0810c19〕 One poverty, one wealth, two cries of alas. And this sūtra writes only eight characters: clothing and food do not suffice, and his seeking runs contrary to his wish.

And at the end of the chapter he gathers the eight matters altogether into emptiness: 「地藏但有名字，名字性空，不住內外中間」—“Kṣitigarbha has only a name; the nature of the name is empty and does not abide within, without, or in between.” 〔X21n0384 0762c05〕; he only lets down a reflected image, and the nature of an image is likewise apart; and the offerings of incense and flowers have causes and conditions for their substance. And so the reason the eight matters can be dedicated to the dharma-realm is that what is dedicated does not, from the first, abide anywhere at all.

This is the Tiantai eye. The sūtra itself does not take this step; the sūtra walks as far as the three characters for dedicating to the dharma-realm, and stops.

As for why he reads the whole chapter as transmission, the line at the opening has already said it: seeing the image and hearing the name, there is none who does not obtain great benefit. And the sūtra itself, in this chapter, sets seeing and hearing between thirty-two lights and one bodhisattva who asks on behalf of others — first it lets a person see, then it lets a person hear, and only then does it say anything at all.