A House Always Lit
Two teachers share a single city, and each other's brevity — Firm Liberation names his own gate and moves Good-Wealth on within the same breath, straight to a house that the text says is never without light.
Unattached Recollection
Firm Liberation names a gate whose title echoes the goddess Sovereign Light's own, several Parts ago — unattached rather than unobstructed — before sending Good-Wealth to a neighbor whose house never goes dark.
長者答言：「善男子！我得菩薩解脫，名：無著念清淨莊嚴。我自得是解脫已來，於十方佛所勤求正法無有休息。「善男子！我唯知此無著念淨莊嚴解脫。如諸菩薩摩訶薩，獲無所畏大師子吼，安住廣大福智之聚；而我云何能知能說彼功德行？「善男子！即此城中，有一長者，名為：妙月；其長者宅，常有光明。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」時，善財童子禮堅固足，遶無數匝，辭退而行。向妙月所，禮足圍遶，合掌恭敬，於一面立，白言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行？云何修菩薩道？我聞聖者善能誘誨，願為我說！」
The elder answered, saying: "Good son! I have attained a bodhisattva's own liberation-gate, named Unattached Recollection's Pure Adornment. Ever since I myself attained this liberation-gate, I have diligently sought the true Dharma at the place of every buddha throughout the ten directions, without ever resting. Good son! I know only this liberation-gate of Unattached Recollection's Pure Adornment. As for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, who have attained the great lion's roar of fearlessness, and who abide in the vast accumulation of merit and wisdom — how could I possibly know or speak of their own virtuous practice? Good son! Within this very city, there is an elder, named Wondrous Moon; that elder's own dwelling is forever filled with light. Go to him, and ask: how does a bodhisattva study the bodhisattva's own practice, and cultivate the bodhisattva's own path?" At that time, Good-Wealth bowed at Firm Liberation's feet, circled him countless times, and took his leave, journeying onward. He made his way to Wondrous Moon's own place, bowed at his feet, circled him, stood reverently to one side with his palms joined, and said: "Noble one! I have already given rise to the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, yet I do not yet know how a bodhisattva studies the bodhisattva's own practice, or how one cultivates the bodhisattva's own path. I have heard that you, noble one, are skillfully able to guide and instruct — I beg you, teach me!"
無著念清淨莊嚴 — Unattached Recollection's Pure Adornment. The goddess Sovereign Light, several Parts ago, named her own liberation-gate Unobstructed Recollection's Pure Adornment — 無礙念清淨莊嚴. The two names differ by a single word, 著 (attached) against 礙 (obstructed), and nothing in the text marks the echo; it simply recurs.
A House Always Lit
Wondrous Moon's own answer is shorter still than the teacher before him — a single named gate, a single humility formula, and a referral, all in the same breath.
妙月答言：「善男子！我得菩薩解脫，名：淨智光明。「善男子！我唯知此智光解脫。如諸菩薩摩訶薩證得無量解脫法門，而我云何能知能說彼功德行？「善男子！於此南方，有城名：出生；彼有長者，名：無勝軍。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」
Wondrous Moon answered, saying: "Good son! I have attained a bodhisattva's own liberation-gate, named Pure Wisdom's Light. Good son! I know only this liberation-gate of Wisdom's Light. As for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, who have realized measureless liberation-gates of the Dharma — how could I possibly know or speak of their own virtuous practice? Good son! To the south of here, there is a city, named Born Forth; there is an elder there, named Unsurpassed Army. Go to him, and ask: how does a bodhisattva study the bodhisattva's own practice, and cultivate the bodhisattva's own path?"
其長者宅，常有光明 — that elder's own dwelling is forever filled with light. The detail belongs to the referral in the previous section, not to Wondrous Moon's own words — Firm Liberation is the one who tells Good-Wealth what to expect, and the house matches its own owner's name before Wondrous Moon ever speaks.
Part 1253 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-six. Part 1254 turns south again, to the elder Unsurpassed Army and the liberation-gate he names.