Introduction

i.1The 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.

i.1《不可思議王經》發生在摩揭陀國，佛在那裡與不可計數的菩薩大眾聚集在一起。在這些菩薩中，有名為不可思議王菩薩的主角，他講述了關於不同佛土之間時間相對性的論述。他列舉了十一個佛土，其中第一個佛土的一劫相當於隨後佛土的一天，而那個佛土的一劫又相當於下一個佛土的一天，以此類推。因此，本經呈現了一個由我們的世界開始，最終達到最高佛土蓮花吉祥佛土的佛土等級制度。這種難以想像的時間規模語言的作用在於挑戰人類認知的極限，從而示現佛及其佛土的特質超越了量化或概念化。不可思議王菩薩通過強調其稀有性來結束他的論述，指出他所列舉的佛的名號只能被具有某些獨特特質的菩薩所聽聞。在論述完成之際，菩薩大眾和整個世界讚歎這一教法，據說這個教法是由世尊和不可思議王菩薩共同宣說的。

i.2The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable is nearly identical to “The Chapter on the Scale of Life,” the thirty-seventh chapter of A Multitude of 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.

i.2《不可思議王經》與《眾多佛陀》（編號44，梵文名《佛華嚴經》）第三十七章《生命尺度章》以及《闡述如來佛土功德》（編號104）幾乎相同。在這三部文獻中，《不可思議王經》比《生命尺度章》更加詳盡，因為它包含了開篇敘述（梵文序分）和結論。然而，《生命尺度章》和《闡述如來佛土功德》明確提及佛土及其佛陀的名稱，而《不可思議王經》在大多數情況下僅給出佛陀的名稱。雖然《不可思議王經》沒有現存的梵文版本，但《闡述如來佛土功德》（編號104）有一份梵文文獻證據，梵文名為《無量佛刹功德發揮》，其詞彙和結構與編號268的版本緊密吻合。

i.3The 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 ᴄᴇ). 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.

i.3《不可思議王經》缺少記載譯者身份的末頌，這給確定翻譯年代帶來了困難。該經既出現在《丹噶爾目錄》和《芳當瑪目錄》中，這兩份目錄是現存的帝國時期（西元629至841年）譯經索引。因此，該翻譯的年代可大致定在九世紀初期，因為《丹噶爾目錄》最初編纂於812年，之後至830年間還陸續添加了其他譯經。

i.4The 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 A Multitude of 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.

i.4本譯本以德格甘珠爾版本為基礎。同時參考了比較版（藏文：dpe bsdur ma）和斯托克宮甘珠爾版本中記錄的異文，並以《一切佛陀會》中的「壽量品」和《闡述如來佛土功德經》為參考。本經未曾被譯為任何西方語言，也未獲得實質的學術關注。在可能的情況下，本譯所引用的佛與佛土的梵文名稱均來自《無量佛土功德發揮經》。