Like a Dream and Like a Shadow
Good-Wealth finally asks the plain question — how, and where, does one actually go looking for a good spiritual friend — and Good Eye's answer stretches from bowing in every direction to seeing one's own body and mind as no more solid than a dream.
Like a Dream and Like a Shadow
Having heard two decalogues on the value of a good spiritual friend, Good-Wealth finally asks the practical question neither one answered — where does he actually go to find one?
說是語時，善財童子仰視空中而答之言：「善哉善哉！汝為哀愍攝受我故，方便教我見善知識。願為我說：云何往詣善知識所？於何方處城邑聚落求善知識？」羅剎答言：「善男子！汝應普禮十方，求善知識；正念思惟一切境界，求善知識；勇猛自在遍遊十方，求善知識；觀身觀心如夢如影，求善知識。」
When these words had been spoken, Good-Wealth looked up into the sky and replied, saying: "Excellent, excellent! Out of compassion and pity, you have gathered me in, and through skillful means taught me how to see a good spiritual friend. I beg you to tell me: how should I go to the place of a good spiritual friend? In what direction, place, city, or village should I seek a good spiritual friend?" The rākṣasa answered, saying: "Good son! You should universally bow to the ten directions — seek a good spiritual friend in this way. Hold every domain in right mindfulness and contemplation — seek a good spiritual friend in this way. Courageously and freely journey throughout the ten directions — seek a good spiritual friend in this way. And contemplate the body and the mind as like a dream and like a shadow — seek a good spiritual friend in this way."
汝應普禮十方，求善知識⋯觀身觀心如夢如影，求善知識 — you should universally bow to the ten directions, seek a good spiritual friend in this way⋯contemplate the body and the mind as like a dream and like a shadow, seek a good spiritual friend in this way. The same four-character refrain closes all four instructions, but the instructions themselves span the whole distance between the physical and the philosophical — bowing in every direction and journeying courageously through the world, on the one hand; seeing one's own body and mind as no more solid than a dream, on the other — named, without any distinction, as the very same search.
Part 1235 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-six. Part 1236 follows Good-Wealth's own obedience to this instruction, as a great jeweled lotus rises from the ground before him.