Whose Daughter Are You?
The prince's reply to the maiden's hymn is not acceptance but a question — first in prose, whose daughter she is; then in twelve stanzas of verse, pressing her on her parents, her conduct, her devotion, and her patience under provocation.
Whose Daughter Are You?
The maiden has just begged the prince to accept her. His first words in answer are not consent, but a question about whose she already is.
「爾時，太子告彼女言：『汝是誰女？為誰守護？若先屬人，我則不應起愛染心。』
At that time, the prince said to the maiden: "Whose daughter are you? Under whose protection do you live? If you already belong to another, then I ought not give rise to any thought of love or attachment."
若先屬人，我則不應起愛染心 — if you already belong to another, I ought not give rise to any thought of love or attachment. The prince answers the maiden's hymn not with a word of acceptance but with the one condition her own ten stanzas in Part 1212 never raised: whether she is already spoken for. His caution turns on the same word, 愛, that ran through her hymn — there, the love she insisted she had never felt for anyone who desired her; here, the attachment he will not permit himself until he knows she is free to receive it.
Twelve Stanzas of Questions
Having asked once in prose, the prince asks again in verse — twelve stanzas moving from her parentage through her conduct toward others to her devotion to the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and the Saṃgha, and her patience under provocation.
「爾時，太子以頌問言：「『汝身極清淨，
功德相具足；
我今問於汝，
汝於誰所住？
誰為汝父母？
汝今繫屬誰？
若已屬於人，
彼人攝受汝。
汝不盜他物，
汝不有害心，
汝不作邪婬，
汝依何語住？
不說他人惡，
不壞他所親，
不侵他境界，
不於他恚怒。
不生邪險見，
不作相違業，
不以諂曲力，
方便誑世間。
尊重父母不？
敬善知識不？
見諸貧窮人，
能生攝心不？
若有善知識，
誨示於汝法，
能生堅固心，
究竟尊重不？
愛樂於佛不？
了知菩薩不？
眾僧功德海，
汝能恭敬不？
汝能知法不？
能淨眾生不？
為住於法中，
為住於非法？
見諸孤獨者，
能起慈心不？
見惡道眾生，
能生大悲不？
見他得榮樂，
能生歡喜不？
他來逼迫汝，
汝無瞋惱不？
汝發菩提意，
開悟眾生不？
無邊劫修行，
能無疲倦不？』
At that time, the prince asked her in verse, saying: "Your body is utterly pure,
and endowed completely with every mark of merit;
I now ask of you,
with whom do you dwell?
Who are your father and mother?
To whom do you now belong?
If you already belong to another,
then that person has taken you in and cares for you.
You do not steal the possessions of others,
you hold no intent to do harm,
and you do not commit sexual misconduct —
by what teaching do you abide?
You do not speak of others' faults,
you do not turn people against their own kin,
you do not encroach upon another's domain,
and you do not grow angry at another.
You do not give rise to wrong and perilous views,
you commit no deed at odds with the Dharma,
and you do not, by the power of flattery and deceit,
contrive some artifice to deceive the world.
Do you honor your father and mother, or not?
Do you revere your good spiritual friends, or not?
When you see any who are poor and destitute,
are you able to give rise to a heart that gathers them in, or not?
If there is a good spiritual friend
who instructs and teaches you the Dharma,
are you able to give rise to a firm and steadfast mind,
honoring them to the very end, or not?
Do you love and delight in the Buddha, or not?
Do you clearly understand the Bodhisattvas, or not?
Toward the ocean of merit that is the Saṃgha,
are you able to show reverence, or not?
Are you able to understand the Dharma, or not?
Are you able to purify living beings, or not?
Do you abide within the Dharma,
or do you abide in what is not the Dharma?
When you see any who are orphaned and alone,
are you able to give rise to a mind of loving-kindness, or not?
When you see beings of the evil destinies,
are you able to give rise to great compassion, or not?
When you see another attain glory and joy,
are you able to give rise to a mind of rejoicing, or not?
When someone comes to oppress and torment you,
are you free of anger and vexation toward them, or not?
Have you given rise to the intent for bodhi,
so as to awaken and enlighten living beings, or not?
Through kalpas beyond number, cultivating this practice,
are you able to remain without weariness, or not?"
敬善知識不 — do you revere your good spiritual friends, or not? Fifteen of the forty-eight lines across these twelve stanzas end on the same one-character tag, 不, paired with a question mark — "or not?" — turning what could have been a plain catalogue of virtues into a formal interrogation: parents, teachers, the poor, one's own conduct toward others, the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, the Saṃgha, the orphaned, beings of the evil destinies, and one's own patience under provocation, each measured in turn before the prince will say a word about accepting her.
Part 1213 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-five. Part 1214 turns to the maiden's own mother, who takes up the prince's questions with a hymn of her own, opening with an account of her daughter's birth.