"And, Shariputra, that Thus Come One accomplished
Unsurpassed, Proper, Equal, Right Enlightenment ten
kalpas ago."
Sakyamuni Buddha has been telling his disciple
Sariputra about the measureless lifespan of Amita
Buddha. Now he says: ca "and" sariputra "Sariputra",
tasya "of that" tathagatasya "Thus Come One"
abhisambuddhasya "having accomplished" anuttaram
"unsurpassed", samyak- "proper, equal sambodhim
"right enlightenment" (there are) dasa "ten" kalpa(h)
" kalpas/aeons."
The construction sounds unusual in English. The
grammatical subject of the sentence is kalpa(h)
"kalpas," nominative plural masculine, modified by
dasa "ten." No finite verb is expressed. Instead, the
genitive case is used (masculine singular), indicated
by the ending sya on tasya, tathagatasya and
abhisambuddhasya. The stem abhisambuddha- means
literally "fully and rightly awakened," from root
£¾budh- "wake up" plus the two prefixes abhi- and
sam-, and the perfect middle/passive participle
suffix -ta. In budh + ta, t assimilates to d, and the
aspiration (h) shifts to the end, giving buddha-
"awakened." That participle takes an internal
accusative (feminine singular because bodhi is a
feminine noun) sambodhim "right enlightnment",
modified by the superlative adjective (accusative
singular feminine) anuttaram.
Literally the phrase reads, "And Sariputra, of that
Thus Come One fully and rightly awakened to
unsurpassed, proper, equal, right awakening: ten
kalpas." That is equivalent to, "That Thus Come One
awakened to unsurpassed, proper, equal, right
enlightenment has ten kalpas"--which just means it
has been that long since it happened--quite a long
time!