金剛般若論會釋 2.57

2.57

From 'what was said earlier: by these causes and conditions producing immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas' onward, it re-explains the preceding second passage on embracing merit and virtue, divided into two parts: first, clarifying the purpose of the sūtra's introduction; and second, from 'the powerful majesty' onward, explaining the correspondence of the powerful majesty. It re-explains the abundance of merit to induce joy and delight. The explanation of the correspondence of the powerful majesty has two parts: first, the outline; and second, the correspondence. In the correspondence there are three points: first, the capability of the powerful majesty; second, the correspondence of abundance; and third, clarifying who is able to speak it. Under powerful majesty, first is the correspondence to the text; second is explaining the text; and third is explaining difficult points. Meeting Dīpaṅkara Buddha, Śākyamuni was abiding at the beginning of the eighth bhūmi, hence an asaṃkhyeya kalpa. 'Exceeding an asaṃkhyeya' means going even beyond that, referring to the two great kalpas from the seventh bhūmi down to the first bhūmi, when he first met Ratnaśikhin Buddha, up to his present attainment of buddhahood. This is the comparison of offerings among the noble ones. Or, going even further back to the first kalpa, since first meeting Śākyamuni Buddha, three great kalpas have elapsed; hence the verse in the Kośa says: 'In three incalculable kalpas, in reverse order he met Vipaśyin, Dīpaṅkara, and Ratnaśikhin Buddhas, the first being Śākyamuni.' According to that school's explanation, in the first kalpa he met Śākyamuni; thereafter he made offerings to 57,000 Buddhas; at the beginning of the second kalpa he met Ratnaśikhin Buddha; thereafter he made offerings to 67,000 Buddhas; at the beginning of the third kalpa he met Dīpaṅkara Buddha; thereafter he made offerings to 77,000 Buddhas. Upon the completion of the three great kalpas, for one hundred kalpas he cultivated the karma for the retribution of the marks; first he met Vipaśyin Buddha, which is translated as 'Superior Contemplation'—only because of standing on tiptoe he surpassed nine kalpas, which is why the sūtra says: 'ninety-one kalpas, Vipaśyin Buddha.' Thereafter for thirty kalpas he met Śikhin Buddha and Viśvabhū Buddha, until the completion of the ninety-first kalpa, when he met the past three Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa. In this kalpa of persistence, during the first five kalpas no Buddha appeared in the world; in the sixth kalpa there was Krakucchanda Buddha, in the seventh kalpa there was Kanakamuni Buddha, in the eighth kalpa there was Kāśyapa Buddha, and in this ninth kalpa Śākyamuni appeared. According to the Mahāyāna, Master Paramārtha explains: in the first great kalpa he made offerings to Buddhas as many as the sands of five Ganges rivers; in the second kalpa he made offerings to Buddhas as many as the sands of six Ganges rivers; in the third kalpa he made offerings to Buddhas as many as the sands of seven Ganges rivers. According to the Nirvāṇa-sūtra, the bodhisattvas of the four reliances altogether made offerings to Buddhas as many as the sands of twenty-six Ganges rivers from first to last before attaining bodhi. Now Ruchiruci's version says: 'Before Dīpaṅkara, I met eighty-four hundred-thousand nayutas of koṭis of Buddhas'; Kumārajīva's version says: 'I met eight hundred and forty million billion nayutas of Buddhas'; Paramārtha's version says: 'I met eighty-four thousand hundred-thousand koṭis of Buddhas'; the Vajracchedikā says: 'I met eighty-four koṭi-nayuta-hundred-thousands of Buddhas.' Although the names calculated differ and the numbers vary in magnitude, they do not contradict each other; they are merely spoken tentatively with respect to what was encountered at a single stage, each relying on a general statement, so the principle and numbers are difficult to know. A bodhisattva of the first bhūmi, merely at his initial level, is able to see one hundred Buddhas; one hundred Buddhas means one hundred hundred billion. In this way, on higher stages the Buddhas encountered are extremely numerous; why here does it only mention this much? Therefore we know it is tentatively spoken with respect to what was encountered at a single stage. Kumārajīva's version only has 'one asaṃkhyeya' and lacks the phrase 'exceeding an asaṃkhyeya', whereas all other versions have it.