Nine Similes, and a Twenty-First Teacher
Immovable's own confession closes fascicle sixty-six with nine similes for the bodhisattva — garuḍa, merchant, fisherman, asura king, sun, moon, earth, wind, and cakravartin — before she names a twenty-first teacher, the ascetic Universal Practice, in a great city to the south.
Nine Similes, From a Garuḍa to a King
Immovable's own nine similes range further than most in this pilgrimage — a golden-winged bird plucking ripened beings from an ocean, a merchant gathering treasure, a fisherman drawing beings from craving's own waters, and finally a cakravartin gathering in the world through four means at once.
優婆夷言：「善男子！我唯得此求一切法無厭足三昧光明，為一切眾生說微妙法，皆令歡喜。如諸菩薩摩訶薩，如金翅鳥，遊行虛空無所障礙，能入一切眾生大海，見有善根已成熟者，便即執取置菩提岸；又如商客，入大寶洲，採求如來十力智寶；又如漁師，持正法網，入生死海，於愛水中漉諸眾生；如阿脩羅王，能遍撓動三有大城諸煩惱海；又如日輪，出現虛空，照愛水泥，令其乾竭；又如滿月，出現虛空，令可化者心華開敷；又如大地，普皆平等，無量眾生於中止住，增長一切善法根芽；又如大風，所向無礙，能拔一切諸見大樹；如轉輪王，遊行世間，以四攝事攝諸眾生。而我云何能知能說彼功德行？
The laywoman said: "Good son, I have attained only this samādhi-light of seeking every dharma without ever being satiated, teaching every being the subtle and wondrous dharma, causing them all to rejoice. As for the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas — they are like the golden-winged garuḍa bird, traveling through the open sky without any obstruction, able to enter the great ocean of every being, and upon seeing one whose wholesome roots have already ripened, seizing them at once and setting them upon the shore of awakening; they are also like a merchant, entering a great isle of treasure, gathering and seeking the jewel of the tathāgata's own wisdom of the ten powers; they are also like a fisherman, holding the net of the true dharma, entering the sea of birth and death, and drawing every being out from the waters of craving; they are like an asura king, able to universally stir up the ocean of afflictions within the great city of the three realms of existence; they are also like the disk of the sun, appearing in the open sky, shining upon the mire of craving's water and causing it to dry up entirely; they are also like the full moon, appearing in the open sky, causing the mind-flowers of those who can be transformed to bloom open; they are also like the great earth, universally equal to all, upon which measureless beings dwell, growing every sprout of every wholesome dharma; and they are also like a great wind, moving unobstructed in every direction, able to uproot every great tree of every wrong view; they are like a cakravartin king, traveling throughout the world, gathering in every being through the four means of gathering. How could I possibly know or speak of their own meritorious practice?
如金翅鳥，遊行虛空無所障礙，能入一切眾生大海 — like the golden-winged garuḍa bird, traveling through the open sky without any obstruction, able to enter the great ocean of every being. The garuḍa's own mythology — a bird that dives into the ocean to seize nāgas — is repurposed here as a rescue rather than a hunt: the bodhisattva seizes only those beings whose wholesome roots have already ripened, carrying them to the shore of awakening rather than devouring them.
A Twenty-First Teacher, and Fascicle Sixty-Six Complete
As with every teacher before her, Immovable's own confession opens onto the next name — an ascetic of another path this time, in a great city to the south, closing this fascicle entirely.
「善男子！於此南方，有一大城，名：無量都薩羅；其中有一出家外道，名曰：遍行。汝往彼問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」時，善財童子頂禮其足，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 Immeasurable Tosala; within it there is a renunciant ascetic of another path, named Universal Practice. You should go to him and ask: how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva practices, and cultivate the bodhisattva path?" At that time, Good-Wealth bowed his head at her feet, circumambulated her countless times, gazed up at her with deep reverence, and took his leave and departed.
Part 1037 Complete — Fascicle Sixty-Six Complete
This closes chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1038 opens fascicle sixty-seven with Good-Wealth's journey to Immeasurable Tosala and his meeting with the ascetic Universal Practice, the twenty-first teacher of this pilgrimage.