Hands of Jewels, and a Fifteenth Teacher
Enlightened Wisdom confesses that his own liberation is only a single gate, dwarfed by the great bodhisattvas' own hands of jewels raining every treasure across the ten directions — and then sends Good-Wealth south to a fifteenth teacher, closing fascicle sixty-five of the sūtra.
Hands of Jewels Across the Ten Directions
Enlightened Wisdom's own demonstration, however vast, is only a single liberation-gate — and he says so himself, pointing beyond it to bodhisattvas whose very hands are jewels, raining down every treasure across every land without exception.
爾時，居士為善財童子示現菩薩不可思議解脫境界已，告言：「善男子！我唯知此隨意出生福德藏解脫門。如諸菩薩摩訶薩成就寶手，遍覆一切十方國土，以自在力普雨一切資生之具，所謂：雨種種色寶、種種色瓔珞、種種色寶冠、種種色衣服、種種色音樂、種種色華、種種色香、種種色末香、種種色燒香、種種色寶蓋、種種色幢幡，遍滿一切眾生住處，及諸如來眾會道場，或以成熟一切眾生，或以供養一切諸佛；而我云何能知能說彼諸功德自在神力？
At that time, the householder, having shown Good-Wealth the bodhisattva's own inconceivable liberation-state, said to him: "Good son, I only know this liberation-gate of bringing forth the Treasury of Merit at will. As for the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who have accomplished hands of jewels, universally covering every land in the ten directions, who through their own sovereign power universally rain down every necessity of life — namely, raining down jewels of every color, necklaces of every color, jeweled crowns of every color, clothing of every color, music of every color, flowers of every color, incense of every color, powdered incense of every color, burning incense of every color, jeweled canopies of every color, and banners and pennants of every color, universally filling every dwelling-place of every being, and every tathāgata's own assembly-hall and place of enlightenment, either in order to bring every being to maturity, or in order to make offerings to every buddha — how could I possibly know or speak of their own merit and sovereign spiritual power?
成就寶手 — bodhisattvas who have accomplished hands of jewels. Every teacher in this pilgrimage closes their own teaching this same way, naming a greater bodhisattva quality their own liberation only gestures toward. Here the gesture is unusually vivid: hands that are themselves made of jewels, needing no vessel, no sky, no word — only the shape of a hand held open.
A Fifteenth Teacher, and a Farewell
As with every teacher before him, Enlightened Wisdom's own confession of limitation is followed at once by a name and a direction — this time, an elder in a city named for a lion's own palace, closing fascicle sixty-five as Good-Wealth takes his leave with a disciple's own vow.
「善男子！於此南方，有一大城，名：師子宮；彼有長者，名：法寶髻。汝可往問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」時，善財童子歡喜踊躍，恭敬尊重，如弟子禮，作如是念：「由此居士護念於我，令我得見一切智道，不斷愛念善知識見，不壞尊重善知識心，常能隨順善知識教，決定深信善知識語，恒發深心事善知識。」頂禮其足，遶無量匝，慇懃瞻仰，辭退而去。
"Good son, to the south of here, there is a great city named Lion's Palace; there is an elder there named Dharma-Jewel-Topknot. You may go and ask him: how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva practices, and cultivate the bodhisattva path?" At that time, Good-Wealth, joyful and leaping for joy, reverent and respectful, as is fitting for a disciple, thought thus: "Because this householder has cared for and protected me, causing me to be able to see the path of omniscience, may my view of cherishing good spiritual friends never be severed, may my mind of reverence for good spiritual friends never be broken, may I always be able to accord with good spiritual friends' own teaching, may I resolutely and deeply believe good spiritual friends' own words, and may I forever give rise to a profound mind in serving good spiritual friends." He bowed his head at the householder's feet, circumambulated him countless times, gazed up at him with deep reverence, and took his leave and departed.
This closes fascicle sixty-five of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Good-Wealth's own vow before departing — never severing his view of cherishing good spiritual friends, never breaking his mind of reverence for them — has by now become almost a refrain, repeated with only small variation after each of the fourteen teachers so far, a reminder that the pilgrimage's outward variety of forms rests on an entirely unchanging inward posture.
Part 1008 Complete — Fascicle Sixty-Five Complete
This closes chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-five. Part 1009 opens fascicle sixty-six with Good-Wealth's journey south to Lion's Palace and his meeting with the fifteenth teacher, the elder Dharma-Jewel-Topknot.