A Faith That Never Grows Timid
Merit Grove Bodhisattva opens a new chapter with a new list: ten inexhaustible treasuries every buddha of the past, future, and present has taught. The first is the treasury of faith — faith that every dharma is empty, signless, and wishless, so steady that hearing the buddha's own domain, the realm of living beings, and even the whole of time itself declared inconceivable never once makes the mind grow timid or weak.
Ten Treasuries, and the First: Faith
Fascicle twenty-one opens directly with a new chapter, still spoken by Merit Grove Bodhisattva to the assembly: ten treasuries every bodhisattva-mahāsattva possesses, each one already taught, being taught, and yet to be taught by every buddha across the three periods of time. The first of these — faith — is described not as simple belief but as a faith so thoroughly grounded that no inconceivable truth can shake it.
爾時，功德林菩薩復告諸菩薩言：「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種藏，過去、未來、現在諸佛，已說、當說、今說。何等為十？所謂：信藏、戒藏、慚藏、愧藏、聞藏、施藏、慧藏、念藏、持藏、辯藏，是為十。
At that time, Merit Grove Bodhisattva once again addressed the other bodhisattvas, saying: "Son of the Buddha! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of treasuries, which every buddha of the past, the future, and the present has already taught, will teach, and now teaches. What are these ten? Namely: the treasury of faith, the treasury of moral discipline, the treasury of shame, the treasury of remorse, the treasury of learning, the treasury of giving, the treasury of wisdom, the treasury of mindfulness, the treasury of upholding, and the treasury of eloquence — these are the ten."
「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩信藏？此菩薩信一切法空，信一切法無相，信一切法無願，信一切法無作，信一切法無分別，信一切法無所依，信一切法不可量，信一切法無有上，信一切法難超越，信一切法無生。若菩薩能如是隨順一切法，生淨信已，聞諸佛法不可思議，心不怯弱；聞一切佛不可思議，心不怯弱；聞眾生界不可思議，心不怯弱；聞法界不可思議，心不怯弱；聞虛空界不可思議，心不怯弱；聞涅槃界不可思議，心不怯弱；聞過去世不可思議，心不怯弱；聞未來世不可思議，心不怯弱；聞現在世不可思議，心不怯弱；聞入一切劫不可思議，心不怯弱。何以故？此菩薩於諸佛所一向堅信，知佛智慧無邊無盡。十方無量諸世界中，一一各有無量諸佛，於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，已得、今得、當得，已出世、今出世、當出世，已入涅槃、今入涅槃、當入涅槃，彼諸佛智慧不增不減、不生不滅、不進不退、不近不遠、無知無捨。此菩薩入佛智慧，成就無邊無盡信；得此信已，心不退轉，心不雜亂，不可破壞，無所染著，常有根本，隨順聖人，住如來家，護持一切諸佛種性，增長一切菩薩信解，隨順一切如來善根，出生一切諸佛方便。是名：菩薩摩訶薩信藏。菩薩住此信藏，則能聞持一切佛法，為眾生說，皆令開悟。
"Son of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's treasury of faith? This bodhisattva has faith that every dharma is empty, has faith that every dharma is signless, has faith that every dharma is wishless, has faith that every dharma is free of any contrivance, has faith that every dharma is without discrimination, has faith that every dharma has no reliance, has faith that every dharma cannot be measured, has faith that every dharma has nothing superior to it, has faith that every dharma is difficult to transcend, and has faith that every dharma is unborn. If the bodhisattva is able, in this way, to accord with every dharma and give rise to pure faith, then upon hearing that every buddha's own Dharma is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that every buddha is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the realm of living beings is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the Dharma-realm is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the realm of empty space is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the realm of nirvāṇa is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the past age is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the future age is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that the present age is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak; upon hearing that entering every kalpa is inconceivable, their mind does not grow timid or weak. Why is this so? Because this bodhisattva holds firm and steadfast faith toward every buddha, knowing that the buddha's own wisdom is boundless and inexhaustible. Within the immeasurable worlds of the ten directions, each and every one of them has immeasurable buddhas, who with regard to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening have already attained it, now attain it, or shall attain it; have already appeared in the world, now appear in the world, or shall appear in the world; have already entered nirvāṇa, now enter nirvāṇa, or shall enter nirvāṇa — and yet the wisdom of every one of those buddhas neither increases nor decreases, is neither produced nor destroyed, neither advances nor retreats, is neither near nor far, and is neither known nor abandoned. This bodhisattva enters the buddha's own wisdom, and accomplishes boundless and inexhaustible faith; having attained this faith, their mind never turns back, their mind is never confused or disordered, it cannot be broken or destroyed, it is stained and attached to nothing at all, it forever holds to its own root, it accords with the sages, it abides within the Tathāgata's own family, it guards and upholds the lineage of every buddha, it increases the faith and understanding of every bodhisattva, it accords with the wholesome roots of every Tathāgata, and it gives birth to the skillful means of every buddha. This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's own treasury of faith. When the bodhisattva abides in this treasury of faith, they are then able to hear and hold every buddha's own Dharma in mind, and expound it for the sake of living beings, causing every one of them to awaken."
The ten objects of faith this treasury opens with — emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and freedom from contrivance among them — echo the sūtra's own three gates of liberation, expanded here into a fuller list. What distinguishes this treasury from mere doctrinal assent is what it produces: a mind that can hear ten different domains, the buddha's own Dharma, living beings, the Dharma-realm, even time itself, called "inconceivable," without once growing timid. Faith here is not the opposite of not-knowing; it is what makes not-knowing bearable.
Part 163 Complete
This closes Part 163. Chapter 22 continues in Part 164 with the treasury of moral discipline.