A Twenty-Third Teacher, a Ship's Navigator
Utpala-Flower's own confession closes on bodhisattvas whose every attachment has been left behind, adorned only with the incense of wisdom — before he names a twenty-third teacher, a navigator called Vaira, in a city named for its own towers.
Adorned Only With the Incense of Wisdom
Where every incense named so far worked on the body or the senses, Utpala-Flower's own closing image turns the metaphor inward — bodhisattvas adorned not with fragrance but with wisdom itself, free of attachment in precept, knowledge, conduct, and domain alike.
「善男子！我唯知此調和香法。如諸菩薩摩訶薩，遠離一切諸惡習氣，不染世欲，永斷煩惱眾魔羂索，超諸有趣，以智慧香而自莊嚴，於諸世間皆無染著，具足成就無所著戒，淨無著智，行無著境，於一切處悉無有著，其心平等，無著無依；而我何能知其妙行？說其功德？顯其所有清淨戒門？示其所作無過失業？辨其離染身、語、意行？
"Good son, I only know this method of blending incense. As for the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas — they have forever left behind every evil habit and tendency, remain unstained by worldly desire, forever cut off the snare of Māra's own afflictions, and transcend every destiny of existence; adorning themselves with the incense of wisdom, they remain entirely unstained by every world; fully accomplishing precepts free of attachment, pure wisdom free of attachment, conduct in a domain free of attachment, they hold no attachment anywhere at all, their minds equal, free of attachment and free of reliance; how could I possibly know their own wondrous practice? Speak of their own merit? Reveal their own pure gate of precepts? Show their own faultless deeds? Or distinguish their own body, speech, and mind, free of every defilement?
A Twenty-Third Teacher
As with every teacher before him, Utpala-Flower's own confession opens directly onto the next name — a navigator this time, whose own trade will carry Good-Wealth's pilgrimage, quite literally, onto the open sea.
「善男子！於此南方，有一大城，名曰：樓閣；中有船師，名：婆施羅。汝詣彼問：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 Tower; within it there is a ship's navigator, named Vaira. 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 his feet, circumambulated him countless times, gazed up at him with deep reverence, and took his leave and departed.
船師 — a ship's navigator. After healers, kings, a child, an ascetic, and an incense-seller, this pilgrimage now turns to a trade defined entirely by risk and distance — someone whose own skill is measured by how safely he can carry others across water no one else dares cross alone.
Part 1046 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-seven. Part 1047 follows Good-Wealth's own extended reflection on what a good spiritual friend truly is, before he reaches Tower city and finds the navigator Vaira teaching a crowd of merchants on the shore.