地藏菩薩本願經 囑累人天品

When a sūtra reaches its last chapter it usually hands over two things: what this sūtra is to be called, and that those who have heard it rejoice and receive it in faith and put it into practice.

This chapter does neither.

The Crown of the Head Touched a Second Time

At the opening there is only one gesture: at that time the World-Honored One raised his golden arm and again touched the crown of the head of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattva.

What matters is that word “again.” The whole sūtra writes the Buddha touching a crown only twice: the first time he stretched out his golden arm, and what he touched was the crowns of all the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha in measureless worlds; this time what he touches is the one standing before him.

A thing already done, done once more. What has been entrusted, entrusted once more.

Called Twice Over: Once in Joy, Once in Haste

After the touch upon the crown, the Buddha calls the name twice over. Such a doubled calling occurs twice within the one chapter.

The first is followed by praise, four things beyond conceiving — spiritual power, kindness and compassion, wisdom, eloquence; and further, even were the buddhas of the ten directions to praise and proclaim these inconceivable matters of yours, through a thousand myriad kalpas they could not exhaust it.

The second is followed by the entrusting. The same two characters: the first time gladness, the second time urgency.

Those Who Have Not Yet Come Out

Who they are that are entrusted is set down plainly: once again I entrust to you the beings of the human and heavenly realms who have not yet gone forth from the three realms and are inside the burning house.

Not those who have already come out — those who have not yet come out.

And what is asked is not that they be delivered to accomplishment, but: do not let these beings fall into an evil destiny for so much as one day and one night. Not even one day and one night is allowed.

Further down the threshold is pressed lower still: those entrusted are the ones who within the Buddha’s Dharma have planted a small root of goodness, one hair, one mote, one grain of sand, one drop. All four figures are as small as small can be. And the thing to be done is only to guard them, so that they do not fall back.

That One Sound at the Door

The most urgent passage is here.

A person has already fallen according to his deeds; he is on the point of falling into a destiny, or has come as far as the door. He is at the door. All that can be done now is to be able to recite the name of one buddha, the name of one bodhisattva, one line or one verse of a sūtra of the Great Vehicle.

And what Kṣitigarbha is to do is: manifest a boundless body, break the hells to pieces for him, and send him to be born in the heavens and receive surpassing and wondrous pleasure.

When Kṣitigarbha’s turn to speak comes, he says only one thing: I pray that the World-Honored One will not make this his care. And then he reports his own threshold, one notch lower still than what the Buddha entrusted — within the Buddha’s Dharma, one thought of reverence, and he will deliver.

Two Lists, and the Same Last Item on Both

The last to ask is the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha. What he asks is a thoroughly practical question: how many kinds of blessed benefit can be gained.

The Buddha answers with two lists. The first has twenty-eight items, and among them are clothing and food in plenty, sickness and plague that do not come near, no calamity from thieves, ease in the dreams of the night, and the dead who have gone before parted from suffering — very nearly a list of everything a person will fear in a lifetime. The second has seven items, and there is not one worldly matter among them; every one of them is on the path.

The last item of both lists is exactly the same: at the last, becoming a buddha.

The twenty-seven before it and the six before it are all of them matters on the road.

This Sūtra Does Not Say That All Rejoiced Greatly

The last sentence of the sūtra is: the whole assembly gazed upon him and bowed once again, joined their palms, and withdrew.

No rejoicing, no receiving in faith and practice, no making obeisance and departing.

From that one sentence in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, that he taught the Dharma for his mother, to the breaking up of the assembly, all that is left is one gesture: palms joined, and then they withdraw.

The burning house is still burning. That one sound at the door has not yet been called out by anyone.

Śikṣānanda’s translation, made under the Tang, of the chapter “The Entrustment to Humans and Gods” in The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Taishō T13n0412, the thirteenth chapter of Fascicle Two, from the chapter title down to the title at the end of the fascicle, “The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Fascicle Two.” The figures in parentheses at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔1 · The title of the chapter〕（0789a24）The Entrustment to Humans and Gods, Chapter Thirteen.

〔2 · The World-Honored One touches Kṣitigarbha’s crown a second time〕（0789a25）At that time the World-Honored One raised his golden arm and once again touched the crown of the head of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattva (in the whole sūtra a crown is touched twice: the first time in the chapter on the assembly of the divided bodies, where the World-Honored One stretched out his golden arm and touched the crowns of all the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha in a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of measureless worlds; this time what the raised arm touches is the one standing before him).

〔3 · Four things beyond conceiving〕（0789a26）And he spoke thus: “Kṣitigarbha! Kṣitigarbha! Your spiritual power is beyond conceiving; your kindness and compassion are beyond conceiving; your wisdom is beyond conceiving; your eloquence is beyond conceiving.（0789a28）Even were the buddhas of the ten directions together to praise and proclaim these inconceivable matters of yours, through a thousand myriad kalpas they could not reach the end of the telling.

〔4 · Once again humans and gods are entrusted to him〕（0789a29）“Kṣitigarbha! Kṣitigarbha! Remember what I say today: here in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, in the great assembly of a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of inexpressible, inexpressible buddhas and bodhisattvas and of the eightfold host of devas and nāgas,（0789b03）once again I entrust to you the beings of every kind among humans and gods who have not yet gone forth from the three realms and are within the burning house.

〔5 · Do not let them fall into an evil destiny〕（0789b04）“Do not let these beings fall into an evil destiny for so much as one day and one night — how much less fall further into the five hells without interval and the Avīci hell, where at a single stirring a thousand myriad koṭis of kalpas go by with no date of release.

〔6 · The beings of southern Jambudvīpa are unsettled in aim and nature〕（0789b06）“Kṣitigarbha! The beings of this southern Jambudvīpa are unsettled in aim and in nature, and those who are habituated to evil are many; even if they arouse a good mind, in a moment it falls away; and if they meet an evil condition, it grows thought by thought.（0789b08）For this reason I divide this body of mine and by a hundred thousand koṭis of transformations deliver them, delivering each according to the nature of his faculties.

〔7 · Earnestly he entrusts the host of humans and gods〕（0789b10）“Kṣitigarbha! I now with earnest care entrust to you the great host of humans and gods. In the ages to come, if there be a deva, or a good man or a good woman, who within the Buddha’s Dharma has planted so much as a little root of goodness — one hair, one mote, one grain of sand, one drop — you are to use the power of your way to guard this person, so that he may cultivate step by step toward the unsurpassed way and not be made to fall back.

〔8 · Falling into an evil destiny according to the recompense of their deeds〕（0789b13）“Furthermore, Kṣitigarbha! In the ages to come, if a deva or a human, according to the recompense of his deeds, falls into an evil destiny;（0789b14）and if at the time when he is about to fall, or has already come as far as the door, these beings are able to recite the name of one buddha, the name of one bodhisattva, one line or one verse of a sūtra of the Great Vehicle,（0789b16）then these beings you are to rescue with your spiritual power and your skillful means; in the place where such a person is, manifest a boundless body, break the hells to pieces for him, and send him to be born in the heavens and receive surpassing and wondrous pleasure.”

〔9 · The World-Honored One speaks in verse〕（0789b18）At that time the World-Honored One spoke in verse, saying:

（0789b20）“The great host of humans and gods, present and to come — today I entrust them to you in earnestness; with great spiritual penetration and with every kind of expedient means, deliver them, and do not let them fall into the evil destinies.”

〔10 · Kṣitigarbha kneels and receives the charge〕（0789b22）At that time Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattva knelt with the right knee to the ground, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! I pray only that the World-Honored One will not make this his care.

〔11 · One thought of reverence, and swiftly he is set free〕（0789b23）“In the ages to come, if there be a good man or a good woman who within the Buddha’s Dharma gives rise to one thought of reverence, I too shall by a hundred thousand skillful means deliver this person, so that within birth and death he swiftly gains release.（0789b25）How much more so one who hears of every kind of good matter and cultivates it thought after thought? He will of himself never fall back upon the unsurpassed way.”

〔12 · The Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha asks〕（0789b27）While these words were being spoken, there was in the assembly a bodhisattva named Ākāśagarbha, the Store of Empty Space (the Sanskrit name transmitted of old is Gaganagañja; in this land it is rendered the Store of Empty Space),（0789b28）who said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! Ever since I came to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three I have heard the Tathāgata praise the awesome spiritual force of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva as beyond conceiving.（0789b29）In the ages to come, if there be a good man or a good woman, and all the devas and nāgas, who hear this sūtra and the name of Kṣitigarbha, or gaze upon his image and bow to it, how many kinds of blessed benefit can they gain?（0789c02）I pray only that the World-Honored One will, for all the multitude to come and present, speak of it in brief.”

〔13 · The Buddha consents to set it out severally〕（0789c03）The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha: “Listen closely! Listen closely! I shall set it out for you severally.

〔14 · Seeing the image, hearing the sūtra, making offerings, praising and bowing · twenty-eight kinds of benefit〕（0789c05）“If in the ages to come there be a good man or a good woman who sees the image of Kṣitigarbha, and hears this sūtra, and even reads and recites it, and who with incense, flowers, food and drink, garments, and precious things gives and makes offerings, and praises and gazes and bows,（0789c07）he can gain twenty-eight kinds of benefit —

First, devas and nāgas guard him and keep him in mind: devas and nāgas constantly come to guard this person and to hold him in mind. Second, the fruits of goodness increase daily: the recompense of goodness grows greater with each day. Third, the superior causes of sagehood are gathered: the superior seeds of cause for becoming a sage are gathered together portion by portion. Fourth, he does not fall back from awakening: upon the path of awakening he turns back no more. Fifth, clothing and food are abundant and sufficient: what he wears and what he eats are never lacking. Sixth, sickness and plague do not come upon him: illness and epidemic will not descend upon his person. Seventh, he is parted from the calamities of water and fire: he is far removed from disaster by flood and by fire. Eighth, no calamity from thieves: there is no calamity of robbers laid upon his person. Ninth, those who see him admire and revere him: others, on seeing him, all admire and respect him. Tenth, spirits and ghosts help and uphold him: ghosts and spirits come to aid and support him. Eleventh, a woman’s body is turned into a man’s: a female body is able to be turned into a male body. Twelfth, she becomes the daughter of a king or a great minister: (if a female body is still received) she can be born a daughter in the house of a king or a great minister. Thirteenth, upright of countenance and well marked: the countenance is upright, and the marks and excellences are complete. Fourteenth, for the most part born up in the heavens: for the greater part he is born up in the heavens. Fifteenth, or he becomes an emperor or a king: or else he is made emperor or king of a country. Sixteenth, wisdom of former lives and penetration of former destinies: the wisdom of former lives and the matters of former destinies alike are penetrated. Seventeenth, whatever he seeks is granted: whatever he asks for answers to his heart. Eighteenth, his family are glad: the family of his household are in concord and glad. Nineteenth, violent misfortunes are dissolved away: calamities of every kind that come upon him without cause are extinguished. Twentieth, the road of deeds is removed forever: the road of contaminated deeds within the three realms is cleared away for good. Twenty-first, wherever he goes the way is open: wherever he goes, in every place he passes through without obstruction. Twenty-second, the dreams of the night are at peace: the scenes of his dreams by night are settled and glad. Twenty-third, the dead who went before are parted from suffering: his kin who died before him are able to leave suffering behind. Twenty-fourth, by the blessings of former lives he takes birth: upon the strength of the blessings of former lives he takes birth in a good destination. Twenty-fifth, the sages praise him: all the sages and worthies come to praise him. Twenty-sixth, quick of hearing and sight, keen in faculty: the ear is sharp and the eye is clear, and the nature of his faculties is keen. Twenty-seventh, rich in a mind of kindness and pity: his mind is rich in kindness, compassion, and pity. Twenty-eighth, at the last he becomes a buddha: at the very end and ultimately he becomes a buddha.

〔15 · Devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits hearing the name and bowing to the form · seven kinds of benefit〕（0789c19）“Furthermore, Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha! If devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits, present or to come, hear the name of Kṣitigarbha, bow to the form of Kṣitigarbha, or hear of the affairs and the practice of Kṣitigarbha’s original vows, and praise and gaze and bow,（0789c21）they can gain seven kinds of benefit —

First, he swiftly surpasses into the ground of the sages: he swiftly passes over into the station and ground of a sage. Second, evil deeds are dissolved away: the evil deeds he has made are dissolved and extinguished to the end. Third, the buddhas guard and look down upon him: the buddhas guard him and keep him in mind, as one who is above and shines down upon what is below. Fourth, he does not fall back from awakening: upon the path of awakening he turns back no more. Fifth, his original power is increased: the power he possesses of himself from the first is made to grow. Sixth, former destinies are wholly penetrated: the matters of former lives are all of them thoroughly known. Seventh, at the last he becomes a buddha: at the very end and ultimately he becomes a buddha.”

〔16 · The holy multitude of the ten directions marvel at what has never been before〕（0789c24）At that time all the inexpressible, inexpressible buddhas and tathāgatas who had come from the ten directions, together with the great bodhisattvas and the eightfold host of devas and nāgas, hearing Buddha Śākyamuni extol and praise the great awesome spiritual power of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva as beyond conceiving, all marvelled at what had never been before.

〔17 · The Heaven of the Thirty-Three makes offerings · palms joined, they withdraw〕（0789c27）At this time the Heaven of the Thirty-Three rained down measureless incense and flowers, heavenly garments and pearl necklaces, in offering to Buddha Śākyamuni and to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.（0789c29）And the whole assembly gazed upon them and bowed once again, joined their palms, and withdrew.

〔18 · The title at the end of the fascicle〕（0790a01）The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Fascicle Two.

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. The last three chapters he judges to be the section of transmission, and within it this chapter is set apart in a class of its own: 「上名別者，別在此經也。此名通者，經經囑累也」—“the name above is particular, particular to this sūtra; this name is general, for sūtra after sūtra has its entrustment.” 〔X21n0384 0762c19〕 — the transmission of the two chapters before is this sūtra’s own affair, whereas an entrustment is the ending every sūtra has; and yet 「既屬今經，雖通仍別矣」—“since it belongs to the present sūtra, though general it is still particular.” 〔X21n0384 0762c20〕 The way the chapter runs he divides in two: 「初、化主憂天人囑累；二、空藏問瞻禮福利」—“first, the lord of the transforming work, in his concern for humans and gods, makes the entrustment; second, Ākāśagarbha asks about the blessed benefit of gazing and bowing.” 〔X21n0384 0762c22〕; and the first of these divides again: 「初、世尊摩頂付囑；二、地藏互跪承旨」—“first, the World-Honored One touches the crown and entrusts; second, Kṣitigarbha kneels and receives the charge.” 〔X21n0384 0762c23〕 What is said below still begins by watching how the sūtra itself walks.

The Crown Touched Once Again

At the beginning of the chapter the sūtra writes only one gesture: 「爾時，世尊舉金色臂，又摩地藏菩薩摩訶薩頂」—“At that time the World-Honored One raised his golden arm and again touched the crown of the head of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-mahāsattva.” 〔T13n0412 0789a25〕

What matters is that word “again.”

The whole sūtra writes the Buddha touching a crown only twice. The first was in the chapter on the assembly of the divided bodies: 「舒金色臂」—“he stretched out his golden arm.” 〔T13n0412 0779b11〕, and what he touched was the crowns of all the divided bodies of Kṣitigarbha in a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of measureless worlds. This time he raises his golden arm, and what he touches is only the one standing before him.

The reading handed down sets the two side by side: 「前摩頂，慰勞度生辛苦；今摩頂，囑累救拔勞煩」—“the earlier touch upon the crown consoles him for the toil of delivering beings; this touch upon the crown entrusts to him the labor of rescuing and drawing out.” 〔X21n0384 0763a11〕 — the first consoles a labor already performed, the second hands over what has not yet been done. And further: 「前一手摩無量頂，乃表一多自在；今一臂摩一頂，以表本同一道」—“the earlier one hand touching measureless crowns signifies sovereignty in the one and the many; this one arm touching one crown signifies that they are fundamentally one and the same way.” 〔X21n0384 0763a12〕, and therefore 「則顯六道九界，更無二道也」—“it shows that in the six destinies and the nine realms there is no second way at all.” 〔X21n0384 0763a13〕 As for the gesture of raising the arm itself, the commentator of old reads it as 「舉金色臂者，金色本黃，表乎中道」—“raising the golden arm: gold is at root yellow, and signifies the middle way.” 〔X21n0384 0763a09〕, while 「臂有提拔之功」—“an arm has the office of lifting and drawing up.” 〔X21n0384 0763a09〕, so that it is 「正顯提携六道，竝歸中道一性」—“precisely to show the leading of the six destinies by the hand, all returning to the one nature of the middle way.” 〔X21n0384 0763a10〕

These matchings may be consulted. But the sūtra text itself has certainly done one thing: it has performed a second time a gesture already performed. Having touched the divided bodies, he touches the body itself; having entrusted once, he entrusts again.

In the chapter of entrustment in the Lotus, the same gesture is performed three times over: 「以右手摩無量菩薩摩訶薩頂」—“with his right hand he touched the crowns of measureless bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.” 〔T09n0262 0052c04〕, 「如是三摩諸菩薩摩訶薩頂」—“thus three times he touched the crowns of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.” 〔T09n0262 0052c08〕 There, three touches upon the crowns of a multitude of bodhisattvas; here, two touches upon the crown of one. Both are set side by side; no judgment of higher and lower is made.

Kṣitigarbha! Kṣitigarbha!

After the touch upon the crown the Buddha opens his mouth, and his first utterance is the name called twice over: 「地藏！地藏！」—“Kṣitigarbha! Kṣitigarbha!” 〔T13n0412 0789a26〕

Such a doubled calling occurs twice in the chapter. The first is followed by praise — spiritual power, kindness and compassion, wisdom, and eloquence, four things beyond conceiving; the second is followed by the entrusting — 「記吾今日在忉利天中」—“Remember what I say today, here in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.” 〔T13n0412 0789b01〕

The reading handed down separates the tone of the two: 「前呼名，愛語喜聲也；今呼名，苦語悲聲也」—“the earlier calling of the name is a word of love, a glad sound; this calling of the name is a word of bitterness, a grieving sound.” 〔X21n0384 0763c14〕 The first is gladness, the second is bitterness. The same two characters, and the manner of saying them different.

For a doubled calling of this kind the commentator of old set down a very worldly comparison: 「如國大王將崩，儲君幼稚、頑劣，欲託孤大臣輔弼，必執手頻呼愛卿」—“as when a great king of a country is about to die and the heir is young and unruly, and he would entrust the orphan to a great minister for support, he must take him by the hand and call again and again upon his beloved lord.” 〔X21n0384 0763a20〕, because the child is small and the state is large, and the days are long and the hearts of men change easily, and 「中有滿腔說不盡之意」—“within it is a breastful of meaning that cannot be said out.” 〔X21n0384 0763a22〕 He also glosses the two characters for “remember what I say”: 「記吾等，囑令勿忘末後之說，如父遺命孝子銘骨勿諼也」—“remember me and the rest: it charges him not to forget these last words, as a father leaves his dying command to a filial son to be graven upon the bone and never let slip.” 〔X21n0384 0763c15〕

A sūtra with filial piety written into its very bones, and the posture the Buddha takes as it closes is precisely that of a father setting his affairs in order.

Four Things beyond Conceiving

The praise has only four items: spiritual power, kindness and compassion, wisdom, and eloquence.

Take the first. The two characters for “spiritual power” were of old trained apart — 「諸聖罔測名為神，八自在我名為力」—“what the sages cannot fathom is called spiritual; the self of the eight sovereignties is called power.” 〔X21n0384 0763b02〕 Spiritual is what even the sages cannot measure; power is the power of the self of the eight sovereignties. So spiritual power is not “a very great strength”; it is a working that cannot be measured and is at the same time sovereign.

To each of the four items “beyond conceiving” is fastened. These four characters are not an adjective either. Of old a treatise was cited to give a list of them: 「準大論，有五事不可思議」—“Following the Great Treatise, there are five matters beyond conceiving.” 〔X21n0384 0763b03〕, 「謂眾生多少、業果報、坐禪人力、諸龍力、諸佛力」—“namely, the number of beings; the fruit and recompense of deeds; the power of those who sit in meditation; the power of the nāgas; the power of the buddhas.” 〔X21n0384 0763b04〕, and 「佛力最不可思議」—“the power of the buddhas is the most beyond conceiving of all.” 〔X21n0384 0763b05〕 How many beings there are, how the recompense of deeds is knotted, how great is the strength of one who cultivates concentration, how great the strength of the nāgas, how great the strength of the buddhas — these five cannot be reached by thought.

So “beyond conceiving” is a judgment with a list behind it, not a compliment. To judge these four items of virtue into that class is to say: they are not within the range of what can be reckoned. The four clauses that open the chapter each end upon these four characters; and what is judged is that they cannot be measured, not that they sound well.

The reading handed down gathers the four items into three places: 「不越能化三輪」—“they do not go beyond the three wheels of the one who transforms.” 〔X21n0384 0763b02〕 — 「初句，讚身輪現通」—“the first clause praises the wheel of the body manifesting penetration.” 〔X21n0384 0763b02〕; kindness and compassion belong to the wheel of mind, 「意輪即是慈悲與拔」—“the wheel of mind is just kindness and compassion, the giving and the drawing out.” 〔X21n0384 0763b08〕, and 「若欲與拔，必須現通。故曰身輪由意」—“if one would give and draw out, one must manifest penetration. Hence it is said that the wheel of the body comes from the mind.” 〔X21n0384 0763b09〕; while wisdom and eloquence go to the wheel of speech, 「知慧辯正讚口輪」—“wisdom and eloquence precisely praise the wheel of speech.” 〔X21n0384 0763b12〕 So the four items are not four things ranged side by side; they are the unfolding of three places, body, mind, and speech: first the manifesting, which comes of discerning the capacity; and having manifested, the speaking.

After the praise, the sūtra sets a limit of its own: 「正使十方諸佛，讚歎宣說汝之不思議事，千萬劫中，不能得盡」—“Even were the buddhas of the ten directions to praise and proclaim these inconceivable matters of yours, through a thousand myriad kalpas they could not reach the end of it.” 〔T13n0412 0789a28〕

It is not that one buddha cannot exhaust the telling; the buddhas of the ten directions all telling together cannot exhaust it. This sentence is the same device as 「吾以佛眼觀故，猶不盡數」—“because I look with the buddha-eye, the count of them is still not exhausted.” 〔T13n0412 0778a19〕 in the introductory section — push a number until it cannot be counted out, and then give no total.

Those Who Are Inside the Burning House

What is entrusted is set down very concretely: 「再以人天諸眾生等，未出三界，在火宅中者，付囑於汝」—“Once again I entrust to you the beings of every kind among humans and gods who have not yet gone forth from the three realms and are within the burning house.” 〔T13n0412 0789b03〕

The two characters for the burning house come from the Lotus: 「三界無安，猶如火宅」—“the three realms have no peace; they are like a burning house.” 〔T09n0262 0014c22〕 What is entrusted is not those who have already come out; it is those who have not yet come out.

The commentator of old stops here expressly to say that this passage is not the same as the elder’s handing over of his estate in the Lotus: 「此與法華，長者付業，聚會親族不同」—“this differs from the Lotus, where the elder hands over his estate and gathers his kin together.” 〔X21n0384 0763c17〕 His reasons are laid out plainly: there, 「彼教久化之機，至此大功克就，聚眾付業，推門落臼，更有何難」—“there, the capacities long ripened by the teaching have by this point brought the great work to completion; gathering the multitude and handing over the estate is like pushing a door onto its socket — what difficulty is left in it?” 〔X21n0384 0763c18〕; here, 「此付未調之眾，為令佛種不斷，似救子於水火，竟不知如何了局」—“this entrusts a multitude not yet tamed, so that the buddha-seed may not be cut off; it is like rescuing a child from flood and fire, and in the end one does not know how it will be settled.” 〔X21n0384 0763c19〕

On the one side the estate is already made and the household gathered to be told of it; on the other the fire is still burning and the child is still inside, and the one who does the telling does not himself know how it will end.

And so the line the Buddha adds next carries its weight: 「無令是諸眾生，墮惡趣中一日一夜」—“Do not let these beings fall into an evil destiny for so much as one day and one night.” 〔T13n0412 0789b04〕 It is not that falling is forbidden; not even one day and one night is allowed.

And the reason the sūtra states for itself: the beings of southern Jambudvīpa are 「志性無定，習惡者多」—“unsettled in aim and in nature, and many of them are habituated to evil.” 〔T13n0412 0789b07〕; even if a good mind is aroused, in a moment it falls away, and if an evil condition is met, it grows thought by thought. Therefore the Buddha divides his form into a hundred thousand koṭis to deliver them. The reading handed down writes both ends of it concretely here: 「但善類登山，理為難上；惡如崩墜，實可易行」—“goodness is a climbing of mountains, and by rights hard to go up; evil is a landslide, and truly easy to travel.” 〔X21n0384 0764a15〕, and therefore 「是以天宮間曠，來蹤葢寡；地獄籠樊，往人爭湊」—“and so the heavenly palaces stand empty and idle, and few are the tracks of those who come; while the cage of the hells is thronged, and those who go there crowd one another to get in.” 〔X21n0384 0764a16〕

One Hair, One Mote, One Grain of Sand, One Drop

In the second passage of entrusting, the Buddha presses the threshold to its lowest.

Those entrusted are the people who 「於佛法中，種少善根，一毛一塵，一沙一渧」—“within the Buddha’s Dharma have planted a little root of goodness: one hair, one mote, one grain of sand, one drop.” 〔T13n0412 0789b11〕 All four figures are things as small as small can be — so small that we may not remember having done them ourselves. And the thing to be done is to guard this person and let him cultivate step by step toward the unsurpassed, and not let him fall away — not to deliver him to accomplishment, but to keep him from falling.

The two characters for earnestness the commentator of old read with much feeling: 「然觀殷勤二字，不覺泣數行下」—“yet looking at the two characters for earnestness, one lets fall several lines of tears without knowing it.” 〔X21n0384 0764a23〕; because 「今我佛為未來眾生，降尊就卑，屈上湊下」—“here our Buddha, for the sake of beings to come, lowers his honor and takes the humble place, bends from above and draws near to what is below.” 〔X21n0384 0764b02〕

And why the Buddha can entrust at all lies in the line that immediately follows; the sense of the entrusting was fastened of old to the buddha-nature — 「一切眾生，同有佛性，闡提雖惡，性善具存」—“all beings alike have the buddha-nature; and though an icchantika is evil, the goodness of his nature is wholly present.” 〔X21n0384 0764b04〕 An icchantika is one whose roots of goodness are cut off; the roots of goodness are cut, and the goodness of the nature is still there.

This line matters. Without it, the Buddha’s entrusting of beings to Kṣitigarbha is a stretch of compassion; with it, it is the disposing of a fact — what is entrusted is not a hope, but that thing in every person which has not been spoiled. That a little root of goodness, one hair and one mote, can be planted at all is precisely because there was already something in the ground.

That a small goodness is not to be slighted was also given scriptural witness of old: 「如菩薩本行經云：若有人，能於佛法，少作微善，如毛髮許」—“as the Sūtra of the Bodhisattva’s Original Conduct says: if a person is able within the Buddha’s Dharma to do a slight good, as small as a hair.” 〔X21n0384 0764b08〕, 「所生之處，受報弘大，無有窮盡」—“in whatever place he is born, the recompense he receives is vast and great, and has no end.” 〔X21n0384 0764b09〕 The low threshold is not a word of consolation; it has a ground.

The note puts what the Buddha entrusts into the form of a charge: 「今願地藏，當如慈母之育嬰孩，必使成立，毋稍懈怠，致令夭亡」—“now I would that Kṣitigarbha be as a loving mother rearing an infant, who must bring it to stand on its own and may not slacken in the least and let it die young.” 〔X21n0384 0764b15〕 And he borrows an old simile to show why a single falling back is no small matter — 「盲龜浮木孔，時時猶可值；人一失命根，億劫復難是」—“the blind turtle and the hole in the floating log may still be met with now and then; but once a person loses the root of life, through koṭis of kalpas it is harder than that to meet again.” 〔X21n0384 0764b12〕; and so 「故知一退其失非細」—“hence we know that in one falling back the loss is not a small one.” 〔X21n0384 0764b14〕

And the smallness of the root of goodness planted he does not take for smallness either: 「故知施福由心，豈關施物巨細」—“hence we know that the blessing of giving comes from the mind; what has it to do with whether the thing given is great or small?” 〔X21n0384 0764b10〕

Come as Far as the Door

The third passage is the most urgent in the chapter.

The situation the sūtra writes is this: according to the recompense of his deeds a person has already fallen into an evil destiny, 「臨墮趣中，或至門首」—“on the point of falling into the destiny, or already come as far as the door.” 〔T13n0412 0789b14〕 He is at the door.

Why has he walked as far as the door? The sūtra gives only eight characters: 「隨業報應，落在惡趣」—“according to the recompense of his deeds, he falls into an evil destiny.” 〔T13n0412 0789b14〕 Of old a verse was cited here as a note: 「假使百千劫，所作業不亡，因緣會遇時，果報還自受」—“Though a hundred thousand kalpas pass, the deeds one has done are not lost; when causes and conditions come together, one undergoes the fruit oneself.” 〔X21n0384 0764b20〕, and it is judged 「故知影形相隨，誰能逃避」—“hence we know that shadow follows form; who can escape it?” 〔X21n0384 0764b21〕

Deeds do not expire. This verse standing here is not a threat; it joins the “do not let him fall away” of the passage above to the arriving at the door of this one: the door will come sooner or later, and therefore the guarding must be early.

At that moment only one thing is left that can be done: to be able to recite the name of one buddha, the name of one bodhisattva, one line or one verse of a sūtra of the Great Vehicle.

Why one line or one verse can outweigh a whole hell was given scriptural witness of old: 「一句一偈者，普賢觀經云」—“as for one line or one verse, the Sūtra of the Contemplation of Samantabhadra says.” 〔X21n0384 0764c21〕, 「若誦大乘經，思第一義，甚深空法，於一彈指頃」—“if one recites a sūtra of the Great Vehicle and thinks upon ultimate truth, the profound dharma of emptiness, then in the space of a finger-snap.” 〔X21n0384 0764c21〕 one removes the sins of birth and death of a million koṭis of nayutas of Ganges-sands of kalpas. What matters are the three characters in the middle — thinking upon ultimate truth. What is recited is a line; what is thought is the meaning; and that a finger-snap can remove so much lies not in the length of the sentence but in what is being thought.

And what Kṣitigarbha is to do is 「現無邊身，為碎地獄，遣令生天，受勝妙樂」—“manifest a boundless body, break the hells to pieces for him, and send him to be born in the heavens and receive surpassing and wondrous pleasure.” 〔T13n0412 0789b17〕

The reading handed down explains why the moment is set so tight: 「臨墮至門首者，若一到獄，急難得出，故於臨入之時，即令念佛免苦」—“as for being on the point of falling and coming to the door: once one has arrived in the hells it is urgent and hard to get out, and so at the moment of entering he is made at once to recollect the Buddha and escape the suffering.” 〔X21n0384 0764c07〕 Once inside it is hard to come out, and so it must be caught in the instant before entering.

This passage is the same gate as the chapter on reciting the names of the buddhas, only set later. In that chapter the one who recites is the family standing beside; in this chapter the one who recites is oneself, and one is already at the door. For this the commentator of old raises an old affair: a king killed his father and set himself up, and when his life ended he fell into Avīci; and because he had been taught in life to call the names of buddhas, he still remembered on entering the hells and called upon a buddha in a loud voice, whereupon 「獄中罪人，聞稱佛聲，一時同稱，猛火即滅，皆得解脫，出生人中」—“the guilty ones in the hells, hearing the sound of the buddha’s name being called, all called it together at once; the fierce fire went out at once, and all of them were set free and were born among humans.” 〔X21n0384 0764c13〕; and he raises another affair, of escaping the hells by reciting a verse, 「聲徹地獄，罪人聞聲竝蒙解脫」—“the sound reached through the hells, and the guilty ones who heard it were all set free.” 〔X21n0384 0765a02〕 He therefore judges: 「故知念佛菩薩名，及誦經偈，皆得超淪，受勝妙之樂也」—“hence we know that reciting the names of buddhas and bodhisattvas, and reciting the verses of a sūtra, all bring one up out of the depths to receive surpassing and wondrous pleasure.” 〔X21n0384 0765a04〕

A sound made by one person at the door saves more than himself. This is the same structure as the introductory section, where the brahmin woman sold her house and raised an offering and the guilty ones of Avīci were released together on that same day. And that door is one we all come to sooner or later.

Kṣitigarbha Answers with a Single Line

Prose and verse both finished, Kṣitigarbha at last opens his mouth. His first words are: 「唯願世尊，不以為慮」—“I pray only that the World-Honored One will not make this his care.” 〔T13n0412 0789b23〕

Do not let it weigh on your mind.

Then he reports his own threshold, one notch lower than what the Buddha entrusted: what the Buddha entrusted was those who plant a little root of goodness, and what Kṣitigarbha answers with is those who 「於佛法中，一念恭敬」—“within the Buddha’s Dharma give rise to one thought of reverence.” 〔T13n0412 0789b24〕 One thought. The reading handed down notes here: 「現前介爾之心，甚小甚微，故曰一念」—“the least stirring of the present mind is very small and very slight, and so it is called one thought.” 〔X21n0384 0765a17〕, and fastens to it 「故知千念萬念，始乎初念」—“hence we know that a thousand thoughts and ten thousand thoughts begin from the first thought.” 〔X21n0384 0765a21〕 With the threshold as low as this, we can stand upon it at any moment.

And having answered, Kṣitigarbha turns it up a layer himself: 「何況聞諸善事，念念修行」—“how much more one who hears of every kind of good matter and cultivates it thought after thought?” 〔T13n0412 0789b25〕 This way of turning with “how much more” is the same gesture as the closing line of the chapter on reciting the names of the buddhas.

With this the matter of the entrusting is complete. In the whole exchange Kṣitigarbha says only these few sentences, and the Buddha has spoken a whole chapter.

The Last One to Ask

The next to come forward is the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha.

The commentator of old points out here the head and the tail of the whole sūtra: 「此經始文殊發問，謂非大智，莫識地藏端倪」—“this sūtra begins with Mañjuśrī raising a question, meaning that without great wisdom one cannot make out the least trace of Kṣitigarbha.” 〔X21n0384 0765b13〕, and 「終空藏收科，以非太虗，安泯大士化跡」—“it ends with Ākāśagarbha binding up the outline, for were it not the vast void, how could the traces of the great being’s transforming be effaced?” 〔X21n0384 0765b14〕 The opening is Mañjuśrī asking about Kṣitigarbha’s causal ground; the close is Ākāśagarbha asking about the blessed benefit of seeing and hearing. A sūtra that rises with great wisdom and closes with the vast void.

And this head and tail are not merely handsome. Of old they were read further as an argument of the three truths. To bind up the outline with Ākāśagarbha is 「乃攝有歸空，全假即空意也」—“to gather existence back into emptiness: the sense that the whole of the provisional is emptiness.” 〔X21n0384 0765b15〕 — gathering all the many existents the sūtra has spoken of back into emptiness; while what Ākāśagarbha asks about is precisely blessed benefit, and 「而空藏問福利者，乃从空談有，全空即假意也」—“that Ākāśagarbha asks about blessed benefit is to speak of existence from within emptiness: the sense that the whole of emptiness is the provisional.” 〔X21n0384 0765b15〕 — speaking existence out again from within emptiness. Only after the one gathering and the one releasing comes the judgment: 「空假不二，當體即中」—“emptiness and the provisional are not two; in their very substance they are the middle.” 〔X21n0384 0765b16〕, 「圓融妙行，同歸秘藏」—“the perfectly fused and wondrous practice returns alike to the secret store.” 〔X21n0384 0765b17〕, 「故終乎虗空藏也」—“and so it ends with Ākāśagarbha.” 〔X21n0384 0765b17〕

So this last one to ask is himself the ending, in his very name: empty space is emptiness, and store is existence. A sūtra that began by speaking of the earth closes upon a bodhisattva whose name holds emptiness and existence at once. And the two lists of benefits the sūtra is about to speak are exactly that existence which is spoken “from within emptiness” — not a retreat into existence, but an existence spoken after emptiness has been passed through.

There is here a matter from a sūtra of the same honored one that may be set beside it. The last chapter of the Daśacakra-kṣitigarbha Sūtra is also called an entrustment — 「獲益囑累品」—“The Chapter on Obtaining Benefit, and on Entrustment.” 〔T13n0411 0776b15〕; and the one entrusted in that chapter is precisely Ākāśagarbha: 「爾時，世尊告虛空藏菩薩摩訶薩言」—“At that time the World-Honored One said to the Bodhisattva-mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha.” 〔T13n0411 0776c16〕, 「吾今持此地藏十輪大記法門」—“I now take this Dharma-gate of the great record of the ten wheels of Kṣitigarbha.” 〔T13n0411 0776c17〕, 「付囑汝手，汝當受持，廣令流布」—“and entrust it into your hands; you are to receive and uphold it and cause it to circulate widely.” 〔T13n0411 0776c17〕

One sūtra entrusts beings to Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha asks the last question; the other sūtra entrusts to Ākāśagarbha the Dharma-gate that speaks of Kṣitigarbha. The two sūtras share one honored one and both name their last chapter an entrustment, and the persons entrusted change places. Set side by side and so recorded; no judgment of better and worse is made.

Before the Lists Are Opened, a Railing Is Set Up

What Ākāśagarbha asks is a thoroughly practical question: 「得幾種福利」—“how many kinds of blessed benefit can be gained?” 〔T13n0412 0789c02〕 Once that question is out, the sūtra is about to open two long lists. And of old, before the lists were set out, a railing was put up first.

The railing is three sentences: first it sets up, then it breaks down, then it says why it is still to be spoken.

Setting up: 「須知福利由心，心能造福」—“know that blessed benefit comes from the mind, and the mind can make blessings.” 〔X21n0384 0765c17〕 — blessings do not drop from outside; they are made by the mind. Breaking down: 「心尚叵得，福利奚存」—“and the mind itself cannot be got hold of, so where does blessed benefit subsist?” 〔X21n0384 0765c17〕 — even that mind which can make blessings cannot be got hold of, so where does blessed benefit exist? By this point the two lists have in fact already been half dismantled.

And then the third sentence, saying why it is still to be spoken: 「然化門引物悕向，福利為要」—“yet in the gate of transforming, to draw beings on and give them something to hope toward, blessed benefit is the essential thing.” 〔X21n0384 0765c18〕 The gate of transforming is the gate of teaching, and drawing beings on is the receiving of them; and if a person is to be willing to walk forward, he must first have something to look toward, and the readiest thing to look toward is blessed benefit. Ākāśagarbha’s asking for a brief account is on the same ground — 「必求略說者，導物生善之要門也」—“that he must ask for a brief account is the essential gate for guiding beings to produce goodness.” 〔X21n0384 0765c22〕 Not to speak the blessed benefits out would be, on the contrary, to block the gate of goodness.

Of old a line was drawn here as well: to seek blessings is not, in every case, the same thing. 「至若嚴禱祀以徼福鬼神，隨因果而悕報冥寞，此利心之邪求，詎可同年而語哉」—“As for setting up prayers and sacrifices to importune ghosts and spirits for blessings, or following after cause and effect in the hope of a recompense out of the dark and silent — that is the wrong seeking of a profit-minded heart. How could the two be spoken of in the same breath?” 〔X21n0384 0765c24〕 To set up sacrifices and buy a blessing from ghosts and spirits is the wrong seeking of a profit-minded heart, and cannot be spoken of together with the blessed benefit meant here. The dividing line is not whether one seeks, but where the seeking heart is going.

When the Buddha consents to speak, the sūtra writes 「諦聽！諦聽」—“Listen closely! Listen closely.” 〔T13n0412 0789c04〕 Of old even these two characters were turned over a layer: 「夫善說法者，無說無示；善聽法者，無得無聞」—“one who is good at speaking the Dharma has nothing spoken and nothing shown; one who is good at hearing the Dharma has nothing gained and nothing heard.” 〔X21n0384 0766a04〕

These few sentences laid one on another are the posture in which the two lists below are to be read: blessed benefit comes from the mind, the mind cannot be got hold of, and yet it is still to be spoken; and the one who speaks and the one who hears do not come to rest in the speaking and the hearing. The twenty-eight items and the seven are recited within that posture. The railing is set up first, and only then can the list avoid becoming a list of wishes.

Twenty-Eight and Seven

The Buddha answers with two lists.

The first has twenty-eight items, and the practice they answer to is seeing the image, hearing this sūtra, and even reading and reciting it, together with the giving and offering of incense and flowers and food and drink and garments and precious things, and praising and gazing and bowing. The second has seven items, and the practice they answer to is only hearing the name, bowing to the form, hearing of the affairs and the practice of his original vows, and praising and gazing — with no offering.

The two lists have a further difference, earlier than the difference of practice: the persons reached are not the same. The first is addressed to 「有善男子、善女人，見地藏形像」—“a good man or a good woman who sees the image of Kṣitigarbha.” 〔T13n0412 0789c05〕, that is, to human beings; the second changes — 「若現在未來，天龍鬼神，聞地藏名」—“if devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits, present or to come, hear the name of Kṣitigarbha.” 〔T13n0412 0789c19〕, and those who receive it are devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits.

The sūtra here divides two capacities of its own accord, the one human and the other not human. This division must be seen first, or the second list cannot be read through.

Why must the two lists be set out separately? The reading handed down poses the question for itself: 「此中修因，與上似同，何故列作二文」—“the cause cultivated here seems the same as the one above; why then is it set out as two texts?” 〔X21n0384 0767b08〕; and the answer is: 「須知上加種種供養，緣了兼修。此但聞禮讚歎，了因獨進，以此小異，故別列之」—“know that above there are added every kind of offering, so that the conditioning cause and the revealing cause are cultivated together; here there is only hearing, bowing, and praising, so that the revealing cause alone advances. By this small difference they are listed apart.” 〔X21n0384 0767b08〕, and it comes back to a single line: 「正顯聞益尚爾，況思修兼行乎」—“this precisely shows that the benefit of hearing is already such — how much more when thinking and cultivating are practiced together?” 〔X21n0384 0767b10〕

The lists themselves are worth reading slowly, because they are not even. Among the twenty-eight are very worldly matters — clothing and food in plenty, sickness and plague that do not come near, no calamity from thieves, ease in the dreams of the night, a household glad together; and also very unworldly ones — the gathering of the superior causes of sagehood, the road of deeds removed forever, becoming a buddha at the last. It lists very nearly everything a person will fear in a lifetime: illness, flood and fire, thieves, sudden misfortune, bad dreams, and where the dead have gone. And among the seven there is not one worldly matter; every one of them is on the path: swiftly surpassing into the ground of the sages, evil deeds dissolved away, the buddhas guarding and looking down, the original power increased, former destinies wholly penetrated — not because the second list is finer than the first, but because the capacity that hears it does not stand in the human world of clothing and food and sickness and pain in the first place. Clothing and food in plenty is no benefit to speak of to a deva or a nāga.

Four Cuts within the Twenty-Eight

The first list is not a flat roster of names either. The reading handed down cuts it four times.

The first item is the root. 「初句總標，下乃別列」—“the first clause states it in general; below, it is listed item by item.” 〔X21n0384 0766b02〕, and why devas and nāgas guarding and keeping in mind should stand first the note says plainly: 「天龍乃造化之權衡，為陰陽之管轄」—“devas and nāgas are the steelyard of creation and the governance of yin and yang.” 〔X21n0384 0766b02〕; reading the sūtra, holding the name, gazing, bowing, and making offerings stir the guarding and mindfulness of devas and nāgas, and by this the fruits of goodness and the causes of sagehood grow, 「故首舉之，示福利之本也」—“and so it is raised first, to show the root of blessed benefit.” 〔X21n0384 0766b05〕 The guarding is the root, and the other twenty-seven grow upon it.

The second part is items two, three, and four read together: 「二、三、四三益，事迹相連」—“the second, third, and fourth benefits are linked in their traces.” 〔X21n0384 0766b06〕, 「果由因而增進，因藉果而積集」—“the fruit advances by the cause, and the cause accumulates by the fruit.” 〔X21n0384 0766b06〕, 「因果相資，自然菩提不退」—“cause and fruit assisting each other, one naturally does not fall back from awakening.” 〔X21n0384 0766b07〕 The fruits of goodness increasing daily, the superior causes of sagehood gathered, not falling back from awakening — these three are three stages of one road, not three things ranged side by side.

The third part runs all the way to the twenty-second item. The note makes a cut here: 「已上，皆自身福利」—“all of the above is blessed benefit to one’s own person.” 〔X21n0384 0767a09〕 From clothing and food in plenty to ease in the dreams of the night, this whole stretch speaks of what happens upon oneself.

The fourth part begins from the twenty-third. Of the item on the dead who went before being parted from suffering: 「乃上資祖禰也。下明當來福利」—“this is to assist upward the forefathers; below, the blessed benefit of what is to come is made clear.” 〔X21n0384 0767a10〕 — assisting upward those who went before; and what is spoken of after this item is the blessed benefit of what is to come.

The four parts together make one order: first the root of guarding is set up, next what one receives oneself, then reaching up to the dead who went before, and last reaching to what is to come. Without these four cuts, the twenty-eight items are a list; with them, they are a road — from having someone to guard you, to getting through your own life, to being able to turn and look after those who went before, to having a say in what comes after. In a sūtra whose bone is filial piety, the placing of “assisting upward the forefathers” after the benefit to one’s own person and before the benefit of what is to come is not a casual arrangement either.

The least benefit-like item among the twenty-eight is the twenty-seventh: rich in a mind of kindness and pity. How is having a little more kindness and pity a good thing gained by me? An answer was given of old: 「以慈有五利」—“because kindness has five gains.” 〔X21n0384 0767a22〕 — 「刀不傷，毒不害，火不燒，水不沒，瞋惡見喜」—“the blade does not wound, poison does not harm, fire does not burn, water does not drown, and the angry and the evil are glad at the sight of him.” 〔X21n0384 0767a22〕 Kindness is a thing that guards the body. And at the same time it is 「此利生之要行」—“the essential practice for benefiting beings.” 〔X21n0384 0767a21〕 One item holding both ends: toward oneself a guarding, toward others a practice.

Two of the items appear in both lists. Not falling back from awakening is the fourth among the twenty-eight and the fourth among the seven as well. And the last item is exactly the same in both — becoming a buddha at the last.

The commentator of old weighs this heavily, saying of the last of the twenty-eight that 「此是究竟利益」—“this is the ultimate benefit.” 〔X21n0384 0767a24〕, and setting it out with two similes: 「滙江河淮濟而注之海，同成鹹味；鎔瓶盤釵釧而入於爐，盡作精金」—“gather the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Ji and pour them into the sea, and they become one salt taste alike; melt down flask and dish and hairpin and bracelet into the furnace, and they all become pure gold.” 〔X21n0384 0767b01〕 Rivers differ, and entering the sea they are equally salt; vessels differ, and entering the furnace they are equally gold. And then he fastens the matter back to the business of this chapter: 「此我佛付囑之心，地藏承命之意」—“this is the heart with which our Buddha entrusts, and the intent with which Kṣitigarbha receives the charge.” 〔X21n0384 0767b02〕, 「所謂唯此一事實，餘二則非真。故兩文皆以此終焉」—“as it is said: only this one matter is real, and the other two are not true. Therefore both texts end with this.” 〔X21n0384 0767b03〕

The twenty-eight and the seven alike come at the last to rest in the same place. The twenty-seven before and the six before are matters on the road.

Nothing Is Said about All Rejoicing Greatly

The last two sentences of the sūtra are written with the greatest economy.

The buddhas and tathāgatas of the ten directions, the great bodhisattvas, and the eightfold host of devas and nāgas, having heard Śākyamuni extol and praise Kṣitigarbha, 「歎未曾有」—“marvelled at what had never been before.” 〔T13n0412 0789c27〕; the Heaven of the Thirty-Three rained down incense and flowers, heavenly garments and pearl necklaces, in offering to Śākyamuni and to Kṣitigarbha. And then comes the last sentence of the whole sūtra: 「一切眾會，俱復瞻禮，合掌而退」—“The whole assembly gazed upon them and bowed once again, joined their palms, and withdrew.” 〔T13n0412 0789c29〕

This sentence has only twelve characters, and of old every one of them was given substance. 「一切眾會，即前所集之眾，今將各還本住」—“the whole assembly is the multitude gathered before, who are now about to return each to his own dwelling.” 〔X21n0384 0768a17〕 — it is that great multitude of the introductory section, called by name from the Heaven of the Four Great Kings to the Heaven of Neither-Perception-nor-Non-Perception and on to the ghost kings who devour blood and vital essence, now each going back to his own place. “Gazed upon them and bowed once again” he takes apart into gazing and bowing, two layers: 「俱復瞻仰，重師道而戀戀靡忘」—“all gazing up again: they honor the way of the teacher and cling to it and do not forget.” 〔X21n0384 0768a18〕 is the gazing, and 「尊經法而心心無間」—“they revere the Dharma of the sūtra, and thought after thought without interval.” 〔X21n0384 0768a18〕 is the bowing — what is gazed upon is the one who speaks the Dharma, what is bowed to is the Dharma spoken.

And in the last four characters, what was read out of old is not a breaking-up of the assembly: 「合掌，表十界一體。而退，顯萬類同歸」—“the joining of palms signifies that the ten realms are one body; the withdrawing shows that the myriad kinds return alike.” 〔X21n0384 0768a19〕 The joining of palms is two hands brought together, and what it signifies is that the ten realms are one body; the withdrawing is each returning to his own dwelling, and what it signifies is that the myriad kinds return alike.

They scatter and do not scatter. The heavenly garments rained down in the sentence before have something signified as well — 「天衣從樹而生，輕細自然，表證寂滅之忍」—“the heavenly garments grow from trees, light and fine and unforced; they signify the realizing of the forbearance of quiescent extinction.” 〔X21n0384 0768a05〕 Heavenly garments falling, the multitude joining palms, each withdrawing: three gestures in succession, and what was read out of those three gestures of old is the forbearance of quiescent extinction, the ten realms as one body, the myriad kinds returning alike. A sūtra that opened in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three and wrote its way through the hells closes upon a last scene of the utmost stillness, and in the stillness there is not one part that is empty.

And only then comes the thing that was not written.

There is no “all rejoiced greatly, and received it in faith and put it into practice.”

The commentator of old noticed this, and wrote a passage expressly for it. He first marks it out: 「然而不同諸經結皆大歡喜者」—“yet it differs from the sūtras that close with all rejoicing greatly.” 〔X21n0384 0768a20〕, and then explains why the multitude are not written as rejoicing — 「以見在會大眾，从此重增勝心，效地藏之僧那，救三塗而不了」—“because the great multitude present in the assembly from this point redouble their surpassing resolve, imitating Kṣitigarbha’s armor of vows, rescuing from the three evil paths without ever having done.” 〔X21n0384 0768a20〕, 「遵迦文之囑累，弘是典而彌窮」—“following Śākyamuni’s entrustment, spreading this canonical text further and further without end.” 〔X21n0384 0768a21〕; because there is another half to what they feel at this moment: 「上同聖母之愁憂，却類天王之悲歎」—“above, they share the sorrow of the holy mother; and they are like the heavenly king in his grieving lament.” 〔X21n0384 0768a22〕 And so he says: 「則聞法之大喜，固內蘊襟懷，而濟世之殷憂，已外彰眉宇」—“then the great joy of having heard the Dharma is indeed stored within the breast, while the earnest sorrow of saving the world already shows outwardly between the brows.” 〔X21n0384 0768a23〕 — the joy inside, the sorrow on the face. At the last he supplies a line for the compiler: 「經家不敘斯語者，意見乎言之表也」—“that the compiler of the sūtra does not set down these words is because the meaning appears beyond the words.” 〔X21n0384 0768a24〕

This is a judgment of old, transmitted as it stands, without mediating in its stead. And what the sūtra itself has left is only that blank where nothing was written.

Transmission — The Closing of a Classic of Filial Piety

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. The outline and the glosses cited above come from it in their whole frame: the distinction of general and particular in the entrustment, the division of the chapter’s text into two, the pairing of the two touches upon the crown and the two callings of the name, the matching of the three wheels of the one who transforms, the difference from the elder’s handing over of his estate in the Lotus, the reason the twenty-eight and the seven are listed apart, and the explanation of the closing that does not say all rejoiced greatly.

When he glosses this chapter, the collateral evidence he brings in is unusually miscellaneous. On beings being unsettled in aim and nature he cites the Sūtra of the Store of the Transmission of the Dharma; on how hard a human body is to regain once lost he cites the blind turtle and the floating log of the Sūtra of Dwelling in the Womb; on a small goodness not to be slighted he cites the Sūtra of the Bodhisattva’s Original Conduct; on reciting a buddha’s name on the point of falling he cites the parricide king of the Sūtra of Similes and the escape from the hells by reciting a verse in the Records of Responses from the Dark World; on one thought of reverence he cites the Sūtra of the Four Self-Injuries Spoken by the Buddha. By the time he reaches the passage of the twenty-eight benefits he hangs a book upon nearly every item: devas and nāgas guarding and keeping in mind upon the Daśacakra, clothing and food in plenty upon the Daśacakra, sickness and plague not coming near upon the Dīrgha Āgama and the Daśacakra; for parting from the calamities of water and fire he even pulls in the Zuo Commentary and the Shuowen to distinguish fire made by men from fire sent from heaven; and for quickness of hearing and sight and keenness of faculty he cites Xunzi: 「目不兩視而明，耳不兩聽而聰」—“the eye does not look at two things and see clearly; the ear does not listen to two things and hear sharply.” 〔X21n0384 0767a18〕 Of the twenty-eight items there is only one over which he makes no sound at all — the fifteenth, “or he becomes an emperor or a king”: the items before and after it both have notes, and this one alone he passes straight over.

For the seven benefits he changes to another measure: 「前後之益，俱約圓論」—“the benefits before and after are both discussed in terms of the perfect teaching.” 〔X21n0384 0767b15〕 Swiftly surpassing into the ground of the sages he reads as 「一、速超聖地，即指圓十地之聖種性」—“first, swiftly surpassing into the ground of the sages: this points to the holy lineage-nature of the ten grounds of the perfect teaching.” 〔X21n0384 0767b15〕, because 「以圓人根利智猛，故於住行向位，速得超入聖地也」—“since a person of the perfect teaching is keen of faculty and fierce of wisdom, he swiftly surpasses into the ground of the sages from the stations of abiding, practice, and dedication.” 〔X21n0384 0767b16〕 Evil deeds dissolved away he reads not merely as the extinguishing of evil deeds but as 「故知雖舉惡業，自得三障圓銷」—“hence we know that though only evil deeds are raised, the three obstructions are of themselves perfectly dissolved.” 〔X21n0384 0767b20〕 The word for “looking down” in the buddhas guarding and looking down he trains expressly: 「臨，蒞下也」—“to look down is to come upon what is below.” 〔X21n0384 0767b22〕, and fastens to it a very handsome comparison — 「今諸佛臨下，正如月之臨江，固不庸心於其間也」—“now the buddhas looking down are just as the moon looks down upon a river: they certainly do not exert the mind in the matter.” 〔X21n0384 0767b24〕: the moon shines upon the river and does not go out of its way to shine. The increase of the original power he reads as 「即修因外熏，增真如本力」—“it is that the cultivation of the cause perfumes from without and increases the original power of suchness.” 〔X21n0384 0767c02〕 And at becoming a buddha at the last, he gathers it into the two things of blessing and wisdom: 「今修讀經持名之智，及瞻形禮像之福，故致成佛」—“here one cultivates the wisdom of reading the sūtra and holding the name, and the blessing of gazing at the form and bowing to the image, and so arrives at buddhahood.” 〔X21n0384 0767c11〕, and then writes: 「此名因攝果，攝自他之利益也。別流通竟」—“this is called the cause taking in the fruit, taking in the benefit of self and of others. The particular transmission is complete.” 〔X21n0384 0767c12〕

Where this eye came from was already seen at the head of the fascicles: it reads this sūtra of original vows with a Tiantai eye. And his six-fascicle commentary lays down the brush at the end of this very chapter: 「地藏菩薩本願經卷下科注卷之六〔終〕」—“The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Lower Fascicle; Outline and Commentary, Fascicle Six 〔the end〕.” 〔X21n0384 0768b03〕 The colophon appended after it speaks already of the affairs of Mount Jiuhua — the prince of Silla who came across the sea, the layman Min who gave the land, and his son who left the household life as Daoming; and after that come three verses in praise of the sūtra, the last of which reads 「囑累人天，世世廣流傳」—“the entrustment to humans and gods: age after age, may it be spread widely abroad.” 〔X21n0384 0768c05〕 The commentary stops here, and the mountain gazetteer and the liturgies take over from this point on.

And the sūtra’s own closing is shorter than anyone’s. The buddhas of the ten directions marvel at what has never been before, the Heaven of the Thirty-Three rains down incense and flowers, heavenly garments and pearl necklaces, and then the whole assembly 「俱復瞻禮，合掌而退」—“gazed upon them and bowed once again, joined their palms, and withdrew.” 〔T13n0412 0789c29〕 Immediately after it there is nothing left but one line, the title at the end of the fascicle: 「地藏菩薩本願經卷下」—“The Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, Fascicle Two.” 〔T13n0412 0790a01〕

No rejoicing, no receiving in faith and practice, no making obeisance and departing. A sūtra that opened with that one sentence in the palace of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, that he taught the Dharma for his mother, leaves at the breaking up of the assembly only two gestures — palms joined, and then they withdraw. The burning house is still burning, that one sound at the door has not yet been called out by anyone, and the sūtra comes to a stop here.