如是我聞 一時佛在忉利天 爲母說法 爾時十方無量世界 不可說不可說一切諸佛 及大菩薩摩訶薩 皆來集會 讚歎釋迦牟尼佛 能於五濁惡世 現不可思議大智慧神通之力 調伏剛强衆生 知苦樂法 各遣侍者 問訊世尊 是時如來含笑 放百千萬億大光明雲 所謂大圓滿光明雲 大慈悲光明雲 大智慧光明雲 大般若光明雲 大三昧光明雲 大吉祥光明雲 大福德光明雲 大功德光明雲 大歸依光明雲 大讚歎光明雲
Rú shì wǒ wén yī shí fó zài dāo lì tiān wèi mǔ shuō fǎ ěr shí shí fāng wú liàng shì jiè bù kě shuō bù kě shuō yī qiē zhū fó jí dà pú sà mó hē sà jiē lái jí huì zàn tàn shì jiā móu ní fó néng yú wǔ zhuó è shì xiàn bù kě sī yì dà zhì huì shén tōng zhī lì diào fú gāng qiáng zhòng shēng zhī kǔ lè fǎ gè qiǎn shì zhě wèn xùn shì zūn shì shí rú lái hán xiào fàng bǎi qiān wàn yì dà guāng míng yún suǒ wèi dà yuán mǎn guāng míng yún dà cí bēi guāng míng yún dà zhì huì guāng míng yún dà bō rě guāng míng yún dà sān mèi guāng míng yún dà jí xiáng guāng míng yún dà fú dé guāng míng yún dà gōng dé guāng míng yún dà guī yī guāng míng yún dà zàn tàn guāng míng yún
Key Message
The Kṣitigarbha Sūtra, expounded by the Buddha at Trāyastriṃśa Heaven for his mother, declares the beginning of a teaching of compassion and liberation for both the dead and the living.
▸The opening chapter of the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra presents the extraordinary setting of this teaching.
The opening chapter of the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra presents the extraordinary setting of this teaching. The Buddha is at Trāyastriṃśa Heaven (忉利天), the heaven of the thirty-three, expounding the Dharma for his mother — a scene symbolizing the Buddha's filial piety and at the same time announcing from the outset that this sūtra's teaching is meant for both the living and the dead. Innumerable Buddhas and great bodhisattvas from the ten directions gather at this assembly and praise Śākyamuni Buddha's inconceivable great wisdom and supernormal power in taming and guiding stubborn sentient beings in this age of the five turbidities (五濁惡世). The Tathāgata smiles gently and releases ten great clouds of light — the cloud of great perfect light, the cloud of great compassion-light, the cloud of great wisdom-light, the cloud of great prajñā-light, and others. This enumeration of light-clouds symbolically announces the central themes of the entire Kṣitigarbha Sūtra: compassion, wisdom, and liberation.