Nine Similes, and a Nineteenth Teacher
Rising from the samādhi that stilled an entire world, King Great Light names bodhisattvas through nine similes running from a canopy to a great wind, before confessing his own limitation and sending Good-Wealth to a nineteenth teacher — the laywoman Immovable, in the royal capital of Secure Abode.
Nine Similes for the Bodhisattva
Rising from his samādhi, King Great Light describes the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas through nine images in succession — canopy, practice itself, earth, moon, sun, lamp, jewel, wish-fulfilling gem, and wind — each capturing a different function of their own loving-kindness.
時，大光王從三昧起，告善財言：「善男子！我唯知此菩薩大慈為首隨順世間三昧門。如諸菩薩摩訶薩為高蓋，慈心普蔭諸眾生故；為修行，下、中、上行悉等行故；為大地，能以慈心任持一切諸眾生故；為滿月，福德光明於世間中平等現故；為淨日，以智光明照耀一切所知境故；為明燈，能破一切眾生心中諸黑闇故；為水清珠，能清一切眾生心中諂誑濁故；為如意寶，悉能滿足一切眾生心所願故；為大風，速令眾生修習三昧入一切智大城中故。而我云何能知其行，能說其德，能稱量彼福德大山，能瞻仰彼功德眾星，能觀察彼大願風輪，能趣入彼甚深法門，能顯示彼莊嚴大海，能闡明彼普賢行門，能開示彼諸三昧窟，能讚歎彼大慈悲雲？
At that time, King Great Light rose from his samādhi, and said to Good-Wealth: "Good son, I only know this bodhisattva liberation-gate of the samādhi that takes great loving-kindness as its head and accords with the world. As for the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas — they are like a lofty canopy, their mind of loving-kindness universally shading every being; they are the practice itself, treating lesser, middling, and superior practices all equally; they are the great earth, able through their mind of loving-kindness to bear and support every being; they are the full moon, their light of merit appearing equally throughout the world; they are the pure sun, their light of wisdom illuminating every knowable domain; they are a bright lamp, able to dispel every darkness in every being's own mind; they are a water-clarifying jewel, able to purify the turbidity of flattery and deceit in every being's own mind; they are a wish-fulfilling jewel, entirely able to satisfy every wish in every being's own mind; and they are a great wind, swiftly causing beings to cultivate samādhi and enter the great city of all-knowing wisdom. How could I possibly know their own practice, speak of their own merit, weigh their own mountain of merit, gaze up at their own stars of merit, contemplate their own wheel of great vows, enter their own profound dharma-gates, reveal their own ocean of adornment, elucidate their own gate of Samantabhadra's practice, open up their own cave of samādhi, or praise their own cloud of great loving-kindness and compassion?
為水清珠 — they are a water-clarifying jewel. Among the nine similes, this one stands out for its ordinariness — an actual object used in daily life to settle sediment out of murky water, set beside canopies, moons, and suns. The bodhisattva's own loving-kindness works the same way on a mind clouded by flattery and deceit.
A Nineteenth Teacher — Immovable
As with every teacher before him, King Great Light's own confession opens directly onto the next name — this time a laywoman, in a royal capital whose own name already promises a kind of settled security.
「善男子！於此南方，有一王都，名曰：安住；有優婆夷，名曰：不動。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」時，善財童子頂禮王足，遶無數匝，慇懃瞻仰，辭退而去。
"Good son, to the south of here, there is a royal capital named Secure Abode; there is a laywoman there named Immovable. You should go to her and ask: how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva practices, and cultivate the bodhisattva path?" At that time, Good-Wealth bowed his head at the king's feet, circumambulated him countless times, gazed up at him with deep reverence, and took his leave and departed.
Part 1027 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1028 follows Good-Wealth out of Wondrous Light city and onto the open road, where reflection on King Great Light's own teaching moves him once again to tears.