Good-Wealth's Doubt, and an Intervention
Faced with a king who tortures the condemned before his eyes, Good-Wealth's own resolve wavers for the first time in this pilgrimage — and it takes a voice from the open sky to remind him not to abandon what his good spiritual friends have already taught him.
A Doubt Good-Wealth Has Never Voiced Before
Where Fierce-Heat's fire-mountain once raised the same question about Māra's own hand at work, here the doubt is sharper still — not an ordeal offered to Good-Wealth himself, but active cruelty inflicted on others, in the name of the very king he has come to learn from.
善財見已，作如是念：「我為利益一切眾生，求菩薩行，修菩薩道。今者，此王滅諸善法，作大罪業，逼惱眾生，乃至斷命，曾不顧懼未來惡道。云何於此而欲求法，發大悲心救護眾生？」
Having seen this, Good-Wealth thought thus: "I am seeking the bodhisattva practices and cultivating the bodhisattva path for the benefit of every being. Yet now, this king has extinguished every wholesome dharma, committing great evil karma, oppressing and tormenting beings, even taking their lives, without ever once fearing the evil destinies to come. How could I possibly seek the dharma from him here, or give rise to a mind of great compassion to rescue and protect beings?"
A Voice From the Sky
Just as Good-Wealth's doubt reaches its peak, a deva speaks from the open air, naming the exact teacher whose words he should recall — and reminding him that a bodhisattva's own skillful means are inconceivable in ways he cannot yet judge.
作是念時，空中有天而告之言：「善男子！汝當憶念普眼長者善知識教。」善財仰視而白之曰：「我常憶念，初不敢忘。」天曰：「善男子！汝莫厭離善知識語，善知識者能引導汝至無險難安隱之處。善男子！菩薩善巧方便智不可思議，攝受眾生智不可思議，護念眾生智不可思議，成熟眾生智不可思議，守護眾生智不可思議，度脫眾生智不可思議，調伏眾生智不可思議。」時，善財童子聞此語已，即詣王所，頂禮其足，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？我聞聖者善能教誨，願為我說！」
Just as he was thinking this, a deva in the sky spoke to him, saying: "Good son, you should recall the teaching of your good spiritual friend, the elder Universal Eye." Good-Wealth looked up and said to him: "I constantly recall it, and have never once dared to forget it." The deva said: "Good son, do not grow weary of or turn away from your good spiritual friends' own words — good spiritual friends are able to guide you to a place free of danger and difficulty, a place of safety and peace. Good son, a bodhisattva's own wisdom of skillful means is inconceivable, their wisdom of embracing beings is inconceivable, their wisdom of caring for and protecting beings is inconceivable, their wisdom of bringing beings to maturity is inconceivable, their wisdom of guarding and protecting beings is inconceivable, their wisdom of liberating beings is inconceivable, and their wisdom of taming beings is inconceivable." At that time, having heard these words, Good-Wealth went at once to where the king was, bowed his head at his feet, 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. I have heard that the noble one is skillfully able to teach and instruct — please, explain it to me!"
我常憶念，初不敢忘 — I constantly recall it, and have never once dared to forget it. Good-Wealth's doubt is real, but so is his answer to the deva — he has not actually forgotten Universal Eye's teaching, only found it suddenly harder to apply. The intervention does not give him a new reason to trust; it simply reminds him of the reason he already had.
Part 1017 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1018 follows the king inviting Good-Wealth into his own palace, and the extraordinary explanation he is about to give for everything Good-Wealth has just witnessed.