A House of Ten Stories
Fascicle sixty-six opens with Good-Wealth finding his fifteenth teacher in the marketplace of Lion's City, and being led at once into a house unlike any he has yet seen — gold, silver, crystal, and lapis lazuli rising in ten stories behind eight gates.
Found in the Marketplace
Good-Wealth's journey to his fifteenth teacher is brief — no forest, no riverbank, no distant land, only a marketplace in Lion's City, where Dharma-Jewel-Topknot stands to be found like any other person going about the day.
爾時，善財童子於明智居士所，聞此解脫已，游彼福德海，治彼福德田，仰彼福德山，趣彼福德津，開彼福德藏，觀彼福德法，淨彼福德輪，味彼福德聚，生彼福德力，增彼福德勢。漸次而行，向師子城，周遍推求寶髻長者。見此長者在於市中，遽即往詣，頂禮其足，遶無數匝，合掌而立，白言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行？云何修菩薩道？善哉聖者！願為我說諸菩薩道，我乘此道趣一切智！」
At that time, Good-Wealth, having heard of this liberation from the householder Enlightened Wisdom, swam in that ocean of merit, cultivated that field of merit, looked up at that mountain of merit, made his way to that ford of merit, opened that treasury of merit, contemplated that dharma of merit, purified that wheel of merit, savored that mass of merit, gave rise to that power of merit, and increased that momentum of merit. Journeying onward by stages, he made his way toward Lion's City, searching everywhere for the elder Dharma-Jewel-Topknot. He saw this elder in the marketplace, and at once went to him, bowed his head at his feet, circumambulated him countless times, stood with palms joined, and said: "Noble one, I have already given rise to the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, but I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva practices, or cultivates the bodhisattva path. Excellent noble one, please explain to me the bodhisattva path, so that I may ride upon this path toward omniscience!"
Gold, Silver, Crystal, and Lapis Lazuli
Rather than answering at once, Dharma-Jewel-Topknot takes Good-Wealth by the hand and shows him his own house — a structure whose every wall, pillar, and pool is already an answer of its own kind, ten stories rising behind eight gates.
爾時，長者執善財手，將詣所居，示其舍宅，作如是言：「善男子！且觀我家。」爾時，善財見其舍宅，清淨光明，真金所成，白銀為牆，玻瓈為殿，紺瑠璃寶以為樓閣，硨磲妙寶而作其柱，百千種寶周遍莊嚴；赤珠摩尼為師子座；摩尼為帳，真珠為網，彌覆其上；碼碯寶池香水盈滿，無量寶樹周遍行列；其宅廣博，十層八門。善財入已，次第觀察。
At that time, the elder took Good-Wealth by the hand, led him to his own dwelling, showed him his house, and said thus: "Good son, now look upon my house." At that time, Good-Wealth saw that his house was pure and radiant, made entirely of true gold, with walls of white silver, halls of crystal, towers made of dark blue lapis lazuli, and pillars fashioned from wondrous mother-of-pearl, adorned throughout with hundreds and thousands of kinds of jewels; its lion-thrones were made of red pearl and maṇi-gems; maṇi-canopies and pearl nets covered it entirely above; its agate pools were filled to the brim with fragrant water, and measureless jeweled trees stood arrayed in rows throughout; the house itself was vast, with ten stories and eight gates. Once Good-Wealth had entered, he examined it story by story in order.
十層八門 — ten stories and eight gates. Every teacher so far has shown Good-Wealth something to look at rather than merely something to hear — a hall of mirrors, a small vessel, an open sky. Here the vision is architectural: a building whose ten floors, examined one at a time, will themselves turn out to be the teaching.
Part 1009 Complete
This opens chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1010 takes Good-Wealth story by story up through the house, from ordinary gifts of food and clothing on the lower floors to tathāgatas filling the tenth floor entirely.