The Lotus Sūtra 2.5

2.5

「我聞是法音，得所未曾有，
心懷大歡喜，疑網皆已除。
昔來蒙佛教，不失於大乘，
佛音甚希有，能除眾生惱，
我已得漏盡，聞亦除憂惱。
我處於山谷，或在林樹下，
若坐若經行，常思惟是事，
嗚呼深自責，云何而自欺？
我等亦佛子，同入無漏法，
不能於未來，演說無上道。
金色三十二，十力諸解脫，
同共一法中，而不得此事；
八十種妙好，十八不共法，
如是等功德，而我皆已失。
我獨經行時，見佛在大眾，
名聞滿十方，廣饒益眾生。
自惟失此利，我為自欺誑。
我常於日夜，每思惟是事，
欲以問世尊，為失為不失？
我常見世尊，稱讚諸菩薩，
以是於日夜，籌量如此事。
今聞佛音聲，隨宜而說法，
無漏難思議，令眾至道場。
我本著邪見，為諸梵志師，
世尊知我心，拔邪說涅槃。
我悉除邪見，於空法得證，
爾時心自謂，得至於滅度；
而今乃自覺，非是實滅度。
若得作佛時，具三十二相，
天人夜叉眾，龍神等恭敬，
是時乃可謂，永盡滅無餘。
佛於大眾中，說我當作佛，
聞如是法音，疑悔悉已除。
初聞佛所說，心中大驚疑，
將非魔作佛，惱亂我心耶？
佛以種種緣、譬喻巧言說，
其心安如海，我聞疑網斷。
佛說過去世，無量滅度佛，
安住方便中，亦皆說是法。
現在未來佛，其數無有量，
亦以諸方便，演說如是法。
如今者世尊，從生及出家、
得道轉法輪，亦以方便說。
世尊說實道，波旬無此事，
以是我定知，非是魔作佛。
我墮疑網故，謂是魔所為，
聞佛柔軟音，深遠甚微妙，
演暢清淨法。我心大歡喜，
疑悔永已盡，安住實智中。
我定當作佛，為天人所敬，
轉無上法輪，教化諸菩薩。」

"Hearing this voice of the Dharma, / I have attained what I never had before; / my heart is filled with great joy, / and the net of doubts is entirely removed. / Formerly receiving the Buddha's teaching, / I have not lost the Mahāyāna; / the Buddha's voice is exceedingly rare, / able to eliminate the afflictions of sentient beings; / I had already attained the cessation of outflows, / and hearing it has also removed grief and distress. / When I was in mountain valleys, / or beneath the forest trees, / whether sitting or walking in meditation, / I constantly pondered this matter, / sighing and deeply reproaching myself: / 'Why have I deceived myself? / We too are sons of the Buddha, / equally entering the outflow-free Dharma, / yet in the future we cannot / proclaim the unsurpassed path.' / The thirty-two golden marks, / the ten powers, and the liberations— / though sharing within the single Dharma, / I could not attain these things; / the eighty subtle secondary marks, / the eighteen unique dharmas— / such merits as these, / I had completely lost. / When I walked alone in meditation, / I saw the Buddha amid the great assembly, / his renown filling the ten directions, / widely benefiting sentient beings; / reflecting that I had lost such benefit, / I was deceiving and beguiling myself. / Constantly day and night / I pondered this matter, / wishing to ask the Bhagavat / whether it was lost or not lost. / I constantly saw the Bhagavat / praising the Bodhisattvas; / because of this, day and night, / I deliberated upon such things. / Now hearing the Buddha's voice / teaching the Dharma according to what is fitting, / outflow-free and hard to conceive, / causing the assembly to reach the place of awakening. / Originally attached to wrong views, / I was a master of the brahmacārins; / the Bhagavat knew my mind, / uprooted the wrong, and spoke of nirvāṇa. / I completely eliminated wrong views, / attaining realization in the Dharma of emptiness; / at that time my mind thought / that I had attained extinction; / but now I realize of myself / that it was not true extinction. / If one attains Buddhahood, / endowed with the thirty-two marks, / revered by devas, humans, yakṣas, / nāgas, spirits, and the like, / only then can it be called / the perpetual extinction without remainder. / Amid the great assembly the Buddha declared / that I shall become a Buddha; / hearing such a voice of the Dharma, / doubts and regrets are entirely removed. / When first hearing what the Buddha spoke, / within my heart there was great alarm and doubt: / 'Could this be Māra acting as the Buddha, / troubling and confusing my mind?' / The Buddha, through various causes, parables, / and skillful words, / whose mind is as calm as the ocean— / upon hearing him, my net of doubts was severed. / The Buddha spoke of past eras, / with immeasurable extinguished Buddhas, / who, abiding peacefully in upāya, / likewise all spoke this Dharma. / The Buddhas of the present and future, / whose numbers are beyond measure, / also by means of upāya / proclaim such Dharma as this. / Just as the present Bhagavat, / from birth and renunciation / to attaining the path and turning the dharmacakra, / also speaks through upāya. / The Bhagavat speaks the true path; / Pāpīmān has no such ability; / by this I know with certainty / that it is not Māra acting as the Buddha. / Because I had fallen into the net of doubts, / I thought it was Māra's doing; / hearing the Buddha's gentle voice, / profound, far-reaching, and exceedingly subtle, / expounding the pure Dharma, / my heart is filled with great joy; / doubts and regrets are forever exhausted, / and I abide peacefully in true wisdom. / I shall surely become a Buddha, / revered by devas and humans, / turning the unsurpassed dharmacakra, / teaching and transforming the Bodhisattvas."