藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經 序分

An introduction sets out the time, the place, the audience: the Bhagavān comes to the city of Vaiśālī and stays beneath the Tree of Musical Sound; eight thousand bhikṣus, thirty-six thousand bodhisattvas, and with them kings, great ministers, brahmins, householders, devas, nāgas, yakṣas, humans and non-humans.

Then one person rises and asks something.

Cause and Fruit Are Both in the Title

The Sūtra of the Original Vows and Merits of the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata.

Medicine Master is a figure — a physician of the world can draw out the suffering of illness in a person’s body, and the name is borrowed to speak of a tathāgata who draws out the suffering of beings. Beryl Radiance speaks of what is clear all the way through, light passing with no blind corner left.

The original vows are the cause; the merits are the fruit.

One title, and both ends of what the sūtra will say are already inside it: vows in the first half, qualities in the second.

Freedom Defined from the Negative Side

The first term of the sūtra text is Bhagavān.

Of old it was opened out into six senses: sovereign freedom, blazing intensity, dignity, renown, auspiciousness, nobility. And the first of them is defined from the negative side — freedom means never being bound to the afflictions.

Not being able to do whatever one likes. Having nothing that can get a hold.

Among the six there is not one that says “great power.”

The Order Inside a Gesture

The sūtra writes the posture of asking as six movements: sustained by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual power, rising from the seat, baring one shoulder, setting the right knee to the ground, facing the Bhagavān, bending the body and joining the palms.

The reading handed down takes each movement to signify something: rising is setting out from the actuality that has been realized; the bared shoulder is being about to do work that benefits and gladdens; the knee on the ground, still in the world; the face toward the Buddha, already tending beyond it. Bending puts away pride, joined palms put away scattering.

Note the two in the middle. Knee on the ground, face toward the Buddha — abiding in the world and going beyond it land on one body at the same moment, not by turns.

Before the asking, this order comes first.

For the Sake of Beings in the Age When the Semblance Dharma Turns

What is asked is three matters: the names of the buddhas, the great vows made of old, the surpassing merits.

But the reason for the asking is in the last clause: for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns.

When is the Semblance Dharma? Of old, five hundred years was taken as the measure and the time after the Buddha’s passing divided into three stretches: in the age of the True Dharma, teaching, practice, and fruit are all present; in the age of the Semblance Dharma, teaching and practice remain and the fruit does not appear; in the age of the Final Dharma, only teaching is left.

So the situation of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns is this — the Dharma is still here, people are still practicing, and the realizing of the fruit does not appear.

The eight thousand bhikṣus in that assembly do not need this question. They are in the Buddha’s presence.

This question is asked on behalf of people a thousand years later.

The four translations each write that in their own characters: one as the age when the Semblance Dharma turns, one as the age to come when the True Dharma decays, one as beings of the Semblance Dharma to come. The words differ; the age is the same.

Twice Excellent, and Why Twice

The Buddha praises first: Excellent! Excellent! Mañjuśrī!

Two of them are not a repetition. The distinction drawn of old is exact: one praises the matter asked as worth recording, one praises the asking as coming at exactly the right time. One for the matter, one for the timing.

Then the charge: listen now attentively, ponder it with the utmost care, and I shall speak it for you.

Attentive listening and careful pondering are given separate work too — the one gets the words exactly, the other thinks the meaning through.

Words first, meaning after. The order does not reverse, and half of it will not do.

Still Only a Heading

The direct answer begins from a direction: eastward from here, past buddha-lands as many as ten Gaṅgā’s sands, there is a world named Pure Beryl.

The distance is written as extreme and the name as intimate — Pure Beryl is the very beryl of the title, clear all the way through.

The last sentence of the passage sets the whole thing out in sum: when he was formerly walking the bodhisattva path, he made twelve great vows, that sentient beings might obtain all they sought.

“Obtain all they sought” is, at this moment, still only a heading. What makes it stand has to be handed over below, one vow at a time.

The introduction looks like nothing but scene-setting, and has in fact handed over four things already: what this sūtra is called, how many layers of sense are in the buddha’s title, on whose behalf the asker asks, and in how many sections the answer will come.

And that clause about the age when the Semblance Dharma turns is the place the sūtra leaves open at its very opening.

Xuanzang’s translation, T14n0450, from the title at the head of the fascicle down to “he made twelve great vows, that sentient beings might obtain all they sought.” The figures in parentheses at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔1 · The title of the sūtra and its translator〕（0404c12）The Sūtra of the Original Vows and Merits of the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata.（0404c14）Translated by imperial command by Xuanzang, Tripiṭaka Master of the Great Tang.

〔2 · The witness of one who heard〕（0404c15）Thus it was that I myself heard.

〔3 · The time and place of the teaching, and the assembly〕（0404c15）At one time the Bhagavān (Sanskrit; the World-Honored One. The name holds six senses — sovereign freedom, blazing intensity, dignity, renown, auspiciousness, and nobility) was journeying among the countries and teaching, and came to the city of Vaiśālī (in Sanskrit Vaiśālī, also written Vaiyālī; the Chinese name is said to signify that the multitude of qualities is complete), where he stayed beneath the Tree of Musical Sound (when a light breeze passes and the branches stir, elegant notes in accord with the scale come forth of themselves, and so it is called the Tree of Musical Sound).（0404c16）Together with a great assembly of bhikṣus (renunciants who have received the full precepts) eight thousand in number, and bodhisattva-mahāsattvas (great bodhisattvas) thirty-six thousand,（0404c17）and with kings, great ministers, brahmins, householders (“a gentleman who dwells at home”), devas, nāgas, yakṣas (whose name means “to be feared,” or “of awesome power”), humans and non-humans,（0404c18）a measureless great multitude, who surrounded him with reverence; and he taught them the Dharma.

〔4 · Mañjuśrī rises from his seat and asks〕（0404c20）At that time Mañjuśrī, Prince of the Dharma (Mañjuśrī, rendered in Chinese as “Wondrous Auspiciousness”; born of the Buddha’s Dharma-transformation and receiving a share of the Buddha’s Dharma-wealth, he is called Prince of the Dharma),（0404c20）sustained by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual power, rose from his seat, drew his robe aside to bare one shoulder, set his right knee to the ground, faced the Bhagavān, bent his body and joined his palms,（0404c22）and said: “World-Honored One! I pray only that you expound the names of the buddhas of this kind, and the surpassing merits of the great vows they made of old, so that the karmic obstructions of all who hear may be dissolved away — for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns.”

〔5 · The World-Honored One praises him and charges him to listen〕（0404c25）At that time the World-Honored One praised the youth Mañjuśrī, saying: “Excellent! Excellent! Mañjuśrī!（0404c26）Out of great compassion you exhort and request me to speak the names of the buddhas and the merits of their original vows,（0404c27）so as to draw out sentient beings bound fast by karmic obstruction, and to benefit and bring ease to the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns.（0404c28）Listen now attentively, ponder it with the utmost care, and I shall speak it for you.”（0404c29）Mañjuśrī said: “Yes indeed! I pray you will speak it; we would gladly hear.”

〔6 · The buddha and the land are named〕（0405a01）The Buddha told Mañjuśrī: “Eastward from here, past buddha-lands as many as ten Gaṅgā’s sands (Gaṅgā is the Sanskrit name of the river; ten Gaṅgā’s sands means as many as the sands of ten such rivers), there is a world named Pure Beryl,（0405a02）and the buddha there bears the name Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha Tathāgata, the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata — the Worthy One (worthy of offerings), Perfectly and Fully Awakened, Complete in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Great Man, Tamer and Guide, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Bhagavān.

〔7 · The twelve great vows are set forth in sum〕（0405a04）Mañjuśrī! That Buddha, the World-Honored One, the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata,（0405a05）when he was formerly walking the bodhisattva path, made twelve great vows, that sentient beings might obtain all they sought.”

The introduction of a sūtra usually does no more than set out the time, the place, and the audience. This passage sets them out too: the Bhagavān journeying among the countries and teaching, coming to the city of Vaiśālī, staying beneath the Tree of Musical Sound; eight thousand bhikṣus, thirty-six thousand bodhisattvas, kings and great ministers, brahmins and householders, devas, nāgas, yakṣas, humans and non-humans, surrounding him with reverence.

Then one person rises.

The only surviving commentary that follows Xuanzang’s version phrase by phrase is the Ancient Traces on the Medicine Buddha’s Original-Vow Sūtra, by Taehyŏn, śramaṇa of Ch’ŏnggu. He first divides the whole sūtra by three gates — the title, the doctrinal classification, the text proper — and then divides the text proper into three parts: the part on the occasion of the teaching, the part of question-and-extensive-exposition, and the part on hearing the name, rejoicing, and practicing. This passage straddles the first two: in its first half the Buddha is teaching, in its second half someone is asking for the Dharma. And on whose behalf the asker asks decides whom this sūtra is for.

There Is Already a Simile Inside the Name

Begin with the title. The seven content-words of The Sūtra of the Original Vows and Merits of the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata have been taken apart, in the reading handed down, into four clauses: 「能拔眾苦喻名藥師，無緣不徹稱琉璃光，所修妙行名為本願，所證勝果名為功德」—“Able to draw out the multitude’s suffering, he is named by simile the Medicine Master; there being no condition it does not pass through, it is called Beryl Radiance; the wondrous practice cultivated is named the original vows; the surpassing fruit realized is named the merits.” 〔T38n1770 0257a16〕

The word “simile” deserves a careful look — “Medicine Master” is not an office but a figure. A physician of the world can draw out the suffering of illness in a person’s body, and so he is borrowed to speak of a tathāgata who can draw out the suffering of beings. The figure is not something later hands added. It comes with the name.

“Beryl Radiance” takes a different sense: that nothing is impervious to it. Beryl as a substance is clear through within and without; light passes through and leaves no blind corner, and so it is said that there is no condition it does not pass through.

The original vows belong to the cause, and the merits to the fruit. Within one name, both cause and fruit stand.

So the theme of this sūtra is settled by the reading handed down in a single sentence: 「即以如來因果為宗，勸物歸依出苦為趣」—“It takes the cause and fruit of the Tathāgata as its theme, and the exhorting of beings to take refuge and to come out of suffering as its aim.” 〔T38n1770 0257a18〕 The theme is what it speaks of — the cause and fruit of a tathāgata; the aim is what it would have one do — take refuge, come out of suffering.

The title read through, the frame of the whole sūtra already stands. The twelve great vows that follow are the particulars of the cause; the benefits of hearing the name are the particulars of the fruit.

The Buddha’s Title, Opened Out into Six Senses

The first substantive word of the sūtra text is “Bhagavān.” This Sanskrit transcription is not passed over lightly: six senses are listed for it — sovereign freedom, blazing intensity, dignity, renown, auspiciousness, nobility.

The wording of the first sense repays attention: 「一自在義，永不繫屬諸煩惱故」—“first, the sense of sovereign freedom, because he is never bound to the afflictions.” 〔T38n1770 0257b07〕

Sovereign freedom is defined from the negative side. Not “able to do whatever he likes,” but “not tied down by anything.” Never bound to the afflictions — nothing can get a hold on him: that is what freedom means here.

The six senses are gathered up by a verse of the Treatise on the Buddha-Bhūmi: 「自在熾盛與端嚴，名稱吉祥及尊貴，如是六種義差別，應知總名為薄伽」—“Sovereign freedom, blazing intensity, and dignity; renown, auspiciousness, and nobility: such are the six distinctions of sense, and all together they should be known as bhaga.” 〔T38n1770 0257b12〕

Not one of the six is “great power.” Blazing intensity speaks of a fire of wisdom that burns and refines; dignity speaks of adornment with the marks and excellences; renown speaks of merit complete, with nothing unknown; auspiciousness speaks of benefit that must come to whoever draws near and makes offerings; nobility speaks of benefiting and gladdening sentient beings without ever slackening.

That one title should be opened out into six is deliberate: when the buddha’s name is spoken, these are the six things being said, not one blanket honorific.

A City and a Tree

The place of the teaching is glossed too.

The city called “broad and dignified” is Vaiśālī in Sanskrit, also written Vaiyālī, and of that name it is said 「表眾德滿」—“it signifies that the multitude of qualities is complete.” 〔T38n1770 0257b14〕 The name of the city means that the qualities are full.

The Tree of Musical Sound is more concrete: 「住樂音樹，微風歷動，宮商雅音從而出故，名樂音樹」—“He stayed beneath the Tree of Musical Sound: because a light breeze passes and stirs it, and elegant notes of the scale come forth therefrom, it is named the Tree of Musical Sound.” 〔T38n1770 0257b15〕 A light breeze passes, branch strikes leaf, and notes in accord with the scale come out of themselves — hence the name.

Set these two side by side and something appears. A place named “the qualities are full”; a tree that makes music of itself when the wind goes by. Before any teaching begins, the sūtra sets two things in front of the eye: that the qualities are full, and that the sound comes forth of itself.

This is not stage-setting. The Pure Beryl world that the twelve great vows will bring to completion is these two things enlarged.

Six Movements in Rising

The one who asks for the Dharma rises. The sūtra writes it out in detail: sustained by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual power, he rises from his seat, bares one shoulder, sets his right knee to the ground, faces the Bhagavān, bends his body and joins his palms.

Six movements, and each is given its account — the most densely worked place in this passage:

「從座而起者，表從真際起。偏袒一肩者，表作利樂事。右膝著地，住世間故。向薄伽梵者，趣出世故。曲躬者，離慢故。合掌者，專心故」—“That he rises from his seat signifies rising from the true limit. That he bares one shoulder signifies the doing of what benefits and gladdens. That he sets his right knee to the ground is because he abides in the world. That he faces the Bhagavān is because he tends toward the transcending of the world. That he bends his body is because he departs from pride. That he joins his palms is because his mind is single.” 〔T38n1770 0257b29〕

Watch the movement of these six clauses. To rise is to rise from the true limit — not to get up off a chair, but to set out from the actuality that has been realized. To bare one shoulder, to put the arm in view, is to be about to do what benefits and gladdens beings — as one rolls back a sleeve before starting work. The right knee on the ground is still abiding in the world; the face turned toward the Bhagavān tends toward transcending it. One movement stays in the world, one movement goes beyond it, and both are on one body at the same moment. Bending the body puts away pride; joined palms make the mind single.

A posture of asking has been read as a whole path: setting out from the actual, making ready for work, feet in the world, face toward what is beyond it, no pride left on the body, no scattering left in the mind.

Before the asking, this order comes first.

On Whose Behalf the Question Is Asked

Then comes what is asked. The sūtra: 「惟願演說如是相類諸佛名號，及本大願殊勝功德，令諸聞者業障銷除，為欲利樂像法轉時諸有情故」—“I pray only that you expound the names of the buddhas of this kind, and the surpassing merits of the great vows they made of old, so that the karmic obstructions of all who hear may be dissolved away — for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns.” 〔T14n0450 0404c22〕

What is asked is in fact three matters, counted out plainly: 「略問三事：一問佛名號、二問因大願、三問果功德」—“In brief he asks three matters: first, he asks after the names of the buddhas; second, he asks after the great vows that are the cause; third, he asks after the merits that are the fruit.” 〔T38n1770 0257c04〕 Names, the vows that are the cause, the merits that are the fruit: three questions answered by the three sections of the whole sūtra.

But the weight falls on the last clause: 「為欲利樂像法轉時諸有情故」—“for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns.” 〔T14n0450 0404c23〕

When is the age in which the Semblance Dharma turns? The answer is given by citing the Great Collection Sūtra, first listing six kinds of firmness: 「有六種堅固：一法身得住堅固、二解脫得住堅固、三禪定得住堅固、四多聞得住堅固、五福德得住堅固、六鬪諍得住堅固」—“There are six kinds of firmness: first, firmness in the abiding of the Dharma-body; second, firmness in the abiding of liberation; third, firmness in the abiding of meditative concentration; fourth, firmness in the abiding of wide learning; fifth, firmness in the abiding of merit; sixth, firmness in the abiding of strife and contention.” 〔T38n1770 0257c07〕 Each of the six is matched to five hundred years: 「此中初一佛在世時、後五滅後，如其次第各五百年」—“Of these, the first is the time when the Buddha is in the world and the latter five are after his passing, each in its order five hundred years.” 〔T38n1770 0257c09〕

Then the six stretches are drawn into three ages: 「總言三時：一者正法，謂彼五中初二堅固；二者像法，即次二堅固；三者末法，即後一堅固」—“Spoken of together as three ages: first, the True Dharma, that is, the first two firmnesses of those five; second, the Semblance Dharma, that is, the next two firmnesses; third, the Final Dharma, that is, the last one firmness.” 〔T38n1770 0257c11〕

And the difference between the three ages is said in one line: 「如次具有教、行、果三；有二無果；有教無二」—“In their order: the first possesses all three, teaching, practice, and fruit; the second has two but no fruit; the third has teaching but not the other two.” 〔T38n1770 0257c13〕

In the age of the True Dharma, teaching, practice, and fruit are all three present. In the age of the Semblance Dharma, teaching and practice remain, and the fruit is gone. In the age of the Final Dharma, only teaching is left.

So the situation of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns is quite clear: the Dharma is still here, people are still practicing, but the realizing of the fruit no longer appears. Sūtra and gloss meet here in one verdict: 「今為利樂千年之後像法有情，發此問也」—“Now it is for the benefit and gladdening of the sentient beings of the Semblance Dharma a thousand years hence that this question is raised.” 〔T38n1770 0257c14〕

This question is not asked for the eight thousand bhikṣus in that assembly. They are in the Buddha’s presence, with teaching, practice, and fruit all three complete. This question is asked on behalf of people a thousand years later, for whom the Dharma remains and the fruit does not appear — which is to say, the time in which we hold this sūtra and read it.

A sūtra’s words of request write down, at the outset, to whom it is addressed.

Two Excellents

The Buddha’s answer begins with praise: 「善哉！善哉！曼殊室利！」—“Excellent! Excellent! Mañjuśrī!” 〔T14n0450 0404c25〕

Two “excellents,” and the reading handed down refuses to treat them as a repeated exclamation, giving each its reason: 「所聞可記，初言善哉。應時宜故，重言善哉。欲令審文，故言諦聽。令解義故，言善思惟」—“Because what is heard is worth recording, the first ‘excellent’ is spoken. Because it accords with what the time requires, ‘excellent’ is spoken again. Because he would have him examine the letter, ‘listen attentively’ is spoken. Because he would have him understand the sense, ‘ponder it well’ is spoken.” 〔T38n1770 0257c21〕

The first “excellent” praises the matter asked as worth recording; the second praises the asking as coming at exactly the right time. One praises the matter, one praises the timing.

Then the charge: 「汝今諦聽，極善思惟，當為汝說」—“Listen now attentively, ponder it with the utmost care, and I shall speak it for you.” 〔T14n0450 0404c28〕 Attentive listening and careful pondering are given separate work as well — attentive listening is for examining the letter, careful pondering for understanding the sense.

Letter and sense are charged separately. First get the words exactly; then think the meaning through. The order cannot be reversed, and half of it will not do.

Eastward, Past Ten Gaṅgā’s Sands

The direct answer begins from a direction: 「東方去此過十殑伽沙等佛土，有世界名淨琉璃」—“Eastward from here, past buddha-lands as many as ten Gaṅgā’s sands, there is a world named Pure Beryl.” 〔T14n0450 0405a01〕

Gaṅgā is the name of a river; ten Gaṅgā’s sands means buddha-lands as many as the sands of ten such rivers. The distance is written as extreme, and the name as intimate — Pure Beryl is exactly the beryl of the title, the substance that is clear through within and without.

Then the ten epithets: 「佛號藥師琉璃光如來、應、正等覺、明行圓滿、善逝、世間解、無上丈夫、調御士、天人師、佛、薄伽梵」—“The buddha is named the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly and Fully Awakened, Complete in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Great Man, Tamer and Guide, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Bhagavān.” 〔T14n0450 0405a02〕 The full explanation of the ten epithets is not opened out here; only the place to look is given: 「廣釋十號，如《瑜伽》等」—“For the extensive explanation of the ten epithets, see the Yogācārabhūmi and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258a01〕

The first matter asked — the names of the buddhas — is answered at this point. The manner of the answer is to give the distance first and the name after: that place is very far away; that name can be spoken now.

All That Is Sought, Obtained

The last sentence of this passage sets the whole thing out in sum: 「本行菩薩道時，發十二大願，令諸有情，所求皆得」—“when he was formerly walking the bodhisattva path, he made twelve great vows, that sentient beings might obtain all they sought.” 〔T14n0450 0405a05〕

The outline is marked here: 「答第二問中有三：略標、廣說、總結故」—“In answering the second question there are three: the brief setting forth, the extensive exposition, and the summary conclusion.” 〔T38n1770 0258a05〕 This sentence is the brief setting forth; the twelve vows one by one are the extensive exposition.

Which is to say that “obtain all they sought” is at this moment still only a heading. What makes it stand has to be handed over below, one vow at a time.

As to where these twelve vows first arose, two records of old are cited here: one that 「琉璃光菩薩遇智勝佛初發總願，寶頂佛所始發別願」—“The Bodhisattva Beryl Radiance, meeting the Buddha Wisdom-Surpassing, first made the general vow; and in the presence of the Buddha Jewel-Crest he first made the particular vows.” 〔T38n1770 0258a06〕, and one of 「青龍光佛所發十二誓願」—“the twelve vows made in the presence of the Buddha Blue-Dragon Radiance” 〔T38n1770 0258a08〕. The general vow and the particular vows are made in two places — first one comprehensive intention, then twelve definite pledges.

The introduction ends here. A passage that seems only to set the scene has in fact already handed over four things: what this sūtra is called, how many layers of sense are in the buddha’s title, on whose behalf the asker asks, and in how many sections the answer will come.

And that clause, “for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns,” is the place this passage leaves for readers of later ages. Teaching and practice remain, the fruit does not appear — the sūtra has counted this age in from its opening, and so has counted us in.

Transmission — Three Eyes, Each Following a Different Recension

The above is the sense of the passage itself. Below, three eyes cast their light from the side — the mirror is not the sūtra, only the same passage seen through three ways of reading; and about these three eyes one thing must be said first: they do not follow the same translation.

The Ancient Traces on the Medicine Buddha’s Original-Vow Sūtra is by Taehyŏn, śramaṇa of Ch’ŏnggu, in two fascicles. The outline and the glosses cited above come from it in their whole frame: the division by three gates, the three parts of the text proper, the five accomplishments of question-and-extensive-exposition, the six senses of “Bhagavān,” the sense of the names Vaiśālī and the Tree of Musical Sound, the signification of the six clauses of deportment, the matching of the three ages of the Semblance Dharma, and the distribution of the two “excellents.” The sūtra text he follows agrees sentence for sentence with Xuanzang’s version, and it is the only commentary now extant that takes that version as its base and glosses it phrase by phrase. He also wrote the Study Notes on the Cheng weishi lun, and the Treatise on the Buddha-Bhūmi and the Yogācārabhūmi that he cites are the standard authorities of the Dharma-characteristics house — a single consistent thread, reading this sūtra of vows with a Yogācāra eye.

He also made his own comparison of the translations, and matched three versions to the sūtra’s three titles: 「經有三名：一、說藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經；二、說十二神將饒益有情結願神呪；三、說拔除一切業障」—“The sūtra has three titles: first, the Sūtra Spoken on the Original Vows and Merits of the Medicine Buddha, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata; second, the Spirit-Dhāraṇī Spoken on the Twelve Spirit Generals Benefiting Sentient Beings and Binding the Vow; third, the Uprooting of All Karmic Obstruction Spoken.” 〔T38n1770 0257a08〕 — the Song-period translation takes the third title, the Sui-period translation takes the first in brief, and 「今大唐貞觀年中玄奘三藏所譯之本，具取初名題一部也」—“The version translated by Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang in the Zhenguan years of the present Great Tang takes the first title in full as the title of the whole work.” 〔T38n1770 0257a13〕; their fullness and brevity he judges as 「文義廣略，後二相似」—“In the breadth and brevity of letter and sense, the latter two are alike.” 〔T38n1770 0257a15〕

The two anonymous scrolls of commentary recovered at Dunhuang each follow another recension. The first (T85n2766, its opening already lost) follows the old-translation stratum of fascicle twelve of the Consecration Sūtra, and so its heading reads “eastward from here, ten Ganges’ sands of buddha-fields,” differing in character from the base text’s “ten Gaṅgā’s sands.” This line has a distinct reading of the clause “listen attentively”: 「汝今諦聽教其安三慧也」—“‘Listen now attentively’ teaches him to settle the three wisdoms.” 〔T85n2766 0306c07〕 — matching attentive listening, careful pondering, and cultivation to the three wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and cultivating. Against the former line, which assigns attentive listening to the letter and careful pondering to the sense: one sūtra sentence, two distributions; both are recorded, and no reconciliation is set up. This line is also readier with simile in explaining the name: 「藥師者借譬受名」—“As for the Medicine Master, the name is received by borrowing a simile.” 〔T85n2766 0306c20〕, 「世之藥師能除人病內病」—“The physician of the world can remove a person’s illness, and the illness within.” 〔T85n2766 0306c21〕

This line also did something the Ancient Traces did not: it drew a picture of that age in which the Semblance Dharma turns.

It says 「如來滅度千五百年後即是末法」—“Fifteen hundred years after the Tathāgata’s passing is the Final Dharma.” 〔T85n2766 0306b07〕, and that in that time 「五濁興行。五濁者。一劫濁。二」—“the five turbidities rise and spread. The five turbidities are: first, the turbidity of the kalpa; second,” 〔T85n2766 0306b09〕 the turbidity of lifespan, third of the afflictions, fourth of beings, fifth of views; and it states first that 「濁乃無量。一方化宜且說五種」—“Turbidities are measureless; as suits the teaching of one quarter, five kinds are spoken of for now.” 〔T85n2766 0306b10〕 — turbidities are without number, and five are named provisionally, as fits the capacity of one region.

Of the five, three are written very close to the bone.

The turbidity of lifespan — 「命濁者。保翫此身謂舉常然無常忽至死至無期」—“As for the turbidity of lifespan: one guards and dotes upon this body, supposing it will always be so; impermanence arrives of a sudden, and death comes with no appointed term.” 〔T85n2766 0306b12〕 — pressing in until it reaches what is to be dreaded. A person nurses and cherishes this body, taking it that things will stay as they are; impermanence arrives all at once, and the hour of death gives no notice.

The turbidity of the afflictions — 「煩惱濁者。煩或纏結繫縛行人排迴色聲沈流香味造惡為盛不能」—“As for the turbidity of the afflictions: vexation and delusion twine, knot, and bind the practitioner, who is pushed back and forth among sights and sounds and sinks adrift in scents and tastes, doing evil in ever greater measure and unable” 〔T85n2766 0306b14〕 to reform himself. Back and forth among sights and sounds, sinking down in scents and tastes, doing more evil and unable to change.

The turbidity of views — 「見濁者。起諸邪見專事天神奉養外道殺生求福為惡」—“As for the turbidity of views: one raises all manner of wrong views, serves the celestial spirits alone, supports the outer paths, and kills living beings in the seeking of blessings, doing evil” 〔T85n2766 0306b18〕 more grievously still. Seeking blessings by killing, and so making the evil heavier.

Having written out the five turbidities, it adds a sentence of its own: 「此時欲到人應怒力宣揚」—“This time is about to arrive; people should exert their strength and proclaim” 〔T85n2766 0306b20〕 it openly.

This is exactly the situation of Mañjuśrī’s question. The former line calculates, with the six firmnesses of the Great Collection Sūtra, when the Semblance Dharma is; this line describes what that time looks like. One gives the scale, the other gives the face.

The second scroll (T85n2767) follows Dharmagupta’s Sui version; what survives of it begins at the end of that version’s section on the land, and neither the introduction nor the twelve vows falls within it, so nothing from it can be cited for this passage. Searched and not found is recorded as not found.

Three eyes: one runs phrase by phrase against Xuanzang’s version, two against other recensions. So what is read alongside may be consulted, but cannot be taken as the gloss of this recension — that is where the measure lies.

And the sūtra’s own clause, “for the sake of benefiting and gladdening the sentient beings of the age when the Semblance Dharma turns,” is bound to no commentary at all. The four translations each write it in their own characters: one as “the age when the Semblance Dharma turns,” one as “the age to come when the True Dharma decays,” one as “beings of the Semblance Dharma to come.” The words differ; the age they point at is one.