Prince Siddhārtha in His Palace
The endless vision into the bodhisattva's pores reaches a moment that, for Gopā at that unimaginably distant time, lay entirely in the future — before she admits its limits and sends Sudhana onward to the Buddha's own mother.
Prince Siddhārtha in His Palace
The search for a limit to what the bodhisattva's pores contain never ends — and along the way, it turns up something that should not yet exist at all.
「佛子！我於佛剎微塵數劫，念念如是觀於菩薩一一毛孔，已所至處而不重至，已所見處而不重見，求其邊際竟不可得，乃至見彼悉達太子住於宮中、采女圍遶。我以解脫力，觀於菩薩一一毛孔，悉見三世法界中事。「佛子！我唯得此觀察菩薩三昧海解脫。如諸菩薩摩訶薩，究竟無量諸方便海，為一切眾生現隨類身，為一切眾生說隨樂行，於一一毛孔現無邊色相海；知諸法性無性為性，知眾生性同虛空相無有分別，知佛神力同於如如，遍一切處示現無邊解脫境界；於一念中，能自在入廣大法界，遊戲一切諸地法門。而我云何能知能說彼功德行？
Son of the Buddha! Throughout kalpas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in a buddha-land, in thought after thought I contemplated every single pore of that bodhisattva's body in just this way, never arriving twice at a place I had already reached, never seeing twice a thing I had already seen, and though I sought its very limit, I was in the end unable to find it — even coming to see that very Prince Siddhārtha, dwelling within his palace, surrounded by court ladies. Through the power of this liberation, I contemplated every single pore of that bodhisattva's body, and beheld entirely the affairs within the Dharma-realm across the three periods of time. Son of the Buddha! I have attained only this liberation of contemplating the ocean of the bodhisattva's own samādhi. As for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas — they reach the very end of the measureless ocean of every skillful means, manifesting bodies suited to every kind of being, for the sake of every being, and expounding practices suited to what every being delights in, for the sake of every being; and in every single pore, they manifest a boundless ocean of forms and marks. They know that the nature of every dharma takes no-nature as its very nature; they know that the nature of every being is the same as the mark of empty space, without any distinction at all; they know that the buddha's own spiritual power is the same as suchness itself; and throughout every place, they manifest a boundless domain of liberation. Within a single thought, they are able to enter the vast and expansive Dharma-realm with sovereign freedom, and to play freely amid every dharma-gate of every ground. How, then, could I possibly know or speak of their own meritorious deeds?
乃至見彼悉達太子住於宮中、采女圍遶 — even coming to see that very Prince Siddhārtha, dwelling within his palace, surrounded by court ladies. This vision belongs to a chapter of Gopā's own distant past, itself many kalpas deep in a story she is telling from an even earlier point still. Within a single pore of the bodhisattva's body, she beholds a scene that, for her at that unimaginably remote time, lay entirely in the future — the very princely life this same bodhisattva will one day live, ages later, as Śākyamuni. The vision does not move through time in order; it holds all of it at once.
Māyā, the Buddha's Own Mother
Gopā's own teaching ends the way each of these teachers' always does — not with a conclusion, but with a name and a question for the next one.
「善男子！此世界中，有佛母摩耶。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何修菩薩行，於諸世間無所染著，供養諸佛恒無休息，作菩薩業永不退轉，離一切障礙、入菩薩解脫不由於他，住一切菩薩道，詣一切如來所，攝一切眾生界，盡未來劫修菩薩行、發大乘願，增長一切眾生善根常無休息？」
"Good son! Within this very world, there is Māyā, the Buddha's own mother. You should go to her and ask: 'How does a bodhisattva cultivate the bodhisattva's own practice, remaining unattached to anything in any world, forever without rest making offerings to every buddha, forever without regression in their own bodhisattva deeds, free of every obstruction, entering the bodhisattva's own liberation without depending on anyone else, abiding in every bodhisattva path, going to the place of every tathāgata, gathering in the whole realm of every being, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice and giving rise to Mahāyāna vows to the very end of future kalpas, and forever without rest increasing the wholesome roots of every being?'"
汝詣彼問 — you should go to her and ask. Every one of Sudhana's teachers so far has closed the same way: not a summary of what was taught, but a name and a question pointed at someone else. Gopā's own instruction is no exception, even after a vision this vast — she sends him onward to the one figure in the pilgrimage whose relationship to the Buddha needs no explanation at all: his own mother.
Part 1227 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-five. Part 1228 turns to the verse Gopā speaks to seal this teaching, opening on an episode not yet told — a gift of jewelry to a beggar, centuries before the maiden Wondrous Virtue was ever born.