Toh 268The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra "The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable"

Summary

While the Buddha is staying in the kingdom of Magadha with an assembly of countless
bodhisattvas, the bodhisattva King of the Inconceivable gives a teaching on the relativity
of time between different buddhafields. Eleven buddhafields are enumerated, with an eon in
the first being equivalent to a day in the following buddhafield, where an eon is, in
turn, the equivalent of a day in the next, and so forth.

Acknowledgements

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Subhashita Translation Group. The
translation was produced by Lowell Cook, who also wrote the introduction. Benjamin Ewing
checked the translation against the Tibetan and edited the text and introduction.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000:
Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable takes
place in the kingdom of Magadha where the Buddha is dwelling amid an incalculable
assembly of bodhisattvas. Among the bodhisattvas is the titular King of the
Inconceivable, who offers a discourse on the relativity of time between buddhafields.
He enumerates eleven buddhafields, with an eon in the first being equivalent to a day
in the following buddhafield, where an eon is, in turn, the equivalent of a day in the
next, and so forth. The sūtra thus presents a hierarchy of buddhafields that begins
with our world and culminates with the paramount buddhafield, Padmaśrī. This language
of incredibly vast scales of time has the effect of testing the limits of human
conception, thereby demonstrating that the qualities of the buddhas and their
buddhafields are beyond quantification or conceptualization. King of the Inconceivable
concludes his discourse by emphasizing its rarity, stating that the names of the
buddhas he enumerated can only be heard by bodhisattvas with certain unique qualities.
Upon completion of the discourse, the gathering of bodhisattvas and the entire world
praise the teaching, which is said to have been taught by both the Blessed One and
King of the Inconceivable.

The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable is nearly
identical to “The Chapter on the Scale of Life,” the thirty-seventh chapter of the
Ornaments of the Buddhas (Toh 44, Skt. Buddhāvataṃsaka), and
Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields (Toh
104). Of the three texts,
The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable is more
elaborate than “The Chapter on the Scale of Life” in that it includes an opening
narrative (Skt. nidāna) and a
conclusion. However, whereas “The Chapter on the Scale of Life” and Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields
explicitly reference the names of the buddhafields and their buddhas, The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable gives only the names
of the buddhas in most instances. Though there is no extant Sanskrit version of The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable, there is a Sanskrit
witness of Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’
Buddhafields (Toh 104) titled Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana, which aligns closely with Toh 268 in
terms of vocabulary and structure.

The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable lacks a
colophon identifying the translators, presenting a challenge to establishing a date
for the translation. The sūtra is listed in both the Denkarma (Tib. ldan/lhan dkar ma) and Phangthangma (Tib. ’phang thang ma) catalogs, the two extant indexes of
translations from the Imperial Period (629–841 ce). The translation can thus be dated roughly to the
early ninth century, as the Denkarma catalog was first compiled in 812, with
additional titles added until 830.

The translation offered here is based on the version found in the Degé
Kangyur. Additionally, the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (Tib.
dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyurs were
also consulted, and “The Chapter on the Scale of Life” of the Ornaments of the Buddhas and Expounding the
Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields informed the translation.
The Sūtra of the Inconceivable King has not been
translated into any Western language or received any substantial scholarly attention.
Where possible, the Sanskrit names of buddhas and buddhafields have been supplied by
the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra

The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable

Homage to all buddhas and
bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling at the seat of
awakening, a secluded hermitage in the land of Magadha, where he was seated upon a
lion throne in the center of a lotus, inlaid with vajras and precious jewels. He was
accompanied by a great bodhisattva assembly of as many bodhisattva great beings as
there are atoms in the millions of billions of utterly indescribable buddhafields
throughout the ten directions.

The bodhisattva great being King of the Inconceivable addressed those
bodhisattva great beings: “O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in this Sahā
world, the buddhafield of the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect
Buddha Śākyamuni, is but a single day in the realm of Sukhāvatī, the buddhafield of
the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Amitāyus.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the realm of Sukhāvatī, the
buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Amitāyus, is but a
single day in the buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha
Vajrapramardin.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Vajrapramardin is but a single day in
the buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Lotus Body
Blooming from Dense Light Rays.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Lotus Body Blooming from Dense Light
Rays is but a single day in the buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely
perfect Buddha Dharmadhvaja.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the buddhafield of the thus-gone,
worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Dharmadhvaja is but a single day in the
buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Siṃha.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Siṃha is but a single day in the
buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Vairocana.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Vairocana is but a single day in the
buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Flower Body
Blooming from the Light of the Dharma.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Flower Body Blooming from the Light
of the Dharma is but a single day in the buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and
completely perfect Buddha King of Wisdom Light.

“O children of the Victorious One, a single eon in the buddhafield of the
thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha King of Wisdom Light is but a single
day in the buddhafield of the thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha
Candrabuddhi.

“O children of the Victorious One, continuing with this system of calculating
eons, after a distance equal to the total atoms in ten oceans of buddhafield realms,
we arrive at the equivalent of a single day in the realm of Padmaśrī, the buddhafield
where the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect buddha, the victorious
Bhadraśrī resides.

“O children of the Victorious One, the names of these thus-gone, worthy, and
completely perfect buddhas will be heard by bodhisattva great beings who uphold the
conduct of the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra and who are under the care of a
spiritual teacher. They will not, however, be heard by anyone else.”

After the Blessed One had spoken these words, the
bodhisattva great being King of the Inconceivable, and the entire retinue of
bodhisattva great beings and the whole world with its gods, humans, asuras, and
gandharvas, all rejoiced
and praised the words of the Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being King of the
Inconceivable.

This completes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Sūtra
of King of the Inconceivable.”

Notes

Bibliography

Flower Body Blooming from the Light of the
Dharma

King of Wisdom Light

Lotus Body Blooming from Dense Light Rays