Introduction
i.1The Chapter on the Scale of Life is the thirty-seventh of the forty-five chapters in A Multitude of Buddhas (Skt. Buddhāvataṃsaka; Tib. sangs rgyas phal po che). This chapter continues the series of dialogues in A Multitude of Buddhas, which take place not long after the Buddha’s awakening in Magadha. In this chapter a bodhisattva named King of Mind offers a discourse on the relativity of time between buddhafields. In the preceding chapter, he had expounded on the incalculable numbers of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the worlds in which they appear. In this chapter, he focuses more particularly on the theme of time. The chapter’s title, “The Scale of Life,” makes it clear that the central theme of the varying spans of time found across different buddhafields has a direct bearing on the immense lifespans of the buddhas who live in them, preside over them, and are also responsible for their manifestation, as well as the lifespans of the bodhisattvas and other beings who inhabit them. Eleven buddhafields are enumerated in a formulaic manner, 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. In this way, a hierarchy of buddhafields is presented 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.
i.1《壽量品》是《華嚴經》四十五品中的第三十七品。本品延續《華嚴經》中的一系列對話，這些對話發生在佛陀在摩揭陀證悟不久之後。在本品中，一位名叫心王菩薩的菩薩論述了不同佛剎之間時間的相對性。在前一品中，他闡述了佛陀、菩薩和他們所出現的世界的難以計數的數量。在本品中，他更特別地關注時間的主題。本品的標題《壽量品》清楚地表明，不同佛剎之間存在的時間跨度的變化主題與住在這些佛剎中、統治這些佛剎以及對其顯現負責的佛陀的無量壽命直接相關，同時也與居住在其中的菩薩和其他眾生的壽命相關。本品用程式化的方式列舉了十一個佛剎，第一個佛剎中的一劫等於下一個佛剎中的一日，而一劫又等於再下一個佛剎中的一日，依此類推。以這種方式，呈現了一個佛剎的等級制度，從我們的世界開始，最終達到最殊勝的佛剎蓮花吉祥佛刹。這種難以想像的龐大時間尺度的語言具有考驗人類認知極限的作用，從而證明佛陀及其佛剎的功德超越了量化或概念化。
i.2The Chapter on the Scale of Life is nearly identical to two other sūtras, Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields (Toh 104) and The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable (Toh 268). Of the three versions, The Chapter on the Scale of Life is the most abbreviated because it lacks the narrative elements that frame the discourse in the other two sūtras. Whereas Toh 104 and 268 are stand-alone sūtras that need to be established in the historical narrative of the Buddha’s teaching career, The Chapter on the Scale of Life is part of the more extensive discourse presented in the form of the entire “extensive sūtra” A Multitude of Buddhas, and thus is integrated into its narrative frame. The name of the primary interlocutor also differs across the three texts, as do some of the names of the buddhas and buddhafields listed in them. In the case of Toh 268, the names of most of the buddhafields are omitted altogether. Apart from these differences, the structure, terminology, and content of the three texts is largely the same. A Sanskrit witness of Toh 104 with the slightly variant title Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana (Proclaiming the Qualities of the Infinite Buddhafields) provides an important resource for accessing the Sanskrit text for all three of these closely related sūtras.
i.2《壽量品》與另外兩部經文幾乎相同，分別是《宣說如來佛刹功德經》（Toh 104）和《無思議國王經》（Toh 268）。在這三個版本中，《壽量品》最為簡略，因為它缺少了在另外兩部經中為論述提供背景框架的敘事元素。而Toh 104和Toh 268是獨立的經文，需要在佛陀教法生涯的歷史敘述中建立背景，《壽量品》則是作為更廣泛的《華嚴經》整體「廣泛經文」論述的一部分，因此被整合在其敘事框架中。三部文獻中主要對話者的名字各不相同，所列舉的佛陀和佛刹的名字也有所不同。在Toh 268的情況下，大多數佛刹的名字被完全省略了。除了這些差異外，這三部文獻在結構、術語和內容上基本相同。Toh 104的梵文版本，其標題略有不同，為《宣說無量佛刹功德》（AnantabuddhaKṣetraguṇodbhāvana），為探索這三部密切相關的經文的梵文文本提供了重要資源。
i.3A Multitude of Buddhas is listed in both the Denkarma (Tib. ldan/lhan dkar ma) and Phangthangma (Tib. ’phang thang ma) catalogs, the two extant inventories of translations from the Imperial Period (629–841 ᴄᴇ). While there is no colophon specific to The Chapter on the Scale of Life, nor a single colophon consistent across different Kangyurs to the complete text of A Multitude of Buddhas, it is generally accepted that it was translated by the chief editor-translator Yeshé Dé, together with the Indian scholars Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and others.
i.3《大方廣佛華嚴經》被列入《丹噶目錄》和《楼中楼目錄》，這是帝王時期（西元六二九至八四一年）兩份現存的佛經翻譯清冊。雖然《壽量品》沒有專門的譯者記述，整部《大方廣佛華嚴經》在不同版本的甘珠爾中也沒有統一的譯者記述，但普遍認為是由主編譯者智慧上師與印度學者勝友、蘇颯多菩提及其他學者共同翻譯的。
i.4The translation offered here is based on the version found in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Sanskrit attested in the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana. Additionally, the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyurs were consulted, and Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields and The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable informed the translation. A Chinese translation of A Multitude of Buddhas was produced by Buddhabhadra (359–429) in the fifth century and is included in the Chinese canon (Taishō 278, Da fang guang fo hua yan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經). The “Scale of Life” chapter has been translated from the Chinese in The Flower Ornament Scripture, Thomas Cleary’s translation of the entire A Multitude of Buddhas. Where possible, the Sanskrit names of buddhas and buddhafields have been supplied by the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana.
i.4本翻譯以德格版甘珠爾所載的版本為基礎，並參考了《無量佛刹功德發揮》中所保存的梵文。此外，還查閱了《對比版》中所記載的異文和斯托克宮殿甘珠爾的內容，並參考了《如來佛刹功德發揮》和《不思議國王經》來完善翻譯。佛馱跋陀羅（359–429）在五世紀用中文翻譯了《大方廣佛華嚴經》，並被收錄在中文藏經中（大正藏278）。《壽量品》已從中文版本翻譯而來，採用托馬斯·克利裡對整部《華嚴經》的翻譯《花飾經》。在可能的情況下，佛陀和佛刹的梵文名稱由《無量佛刹功德發揮》提供。