One Field of Merit, One Teaching, Unequal Results
Two more dialogues turn from the nature of things to the results of practice. Foremost in Vision Bodhisattva answers why the Buddha's undivided field of merit still yields such different fruits to different givers. Foremost in Diligence Bodhisattva then answers a harder question: if the Buddha's teaching is one and all can see it, why does it not free everyone at once — and the answer turns out to rest entirely on effort.
Mañjuśrī Questions Foremost in Vision
Mañjuśrī asks Foremost in Vision Bodhisattva how the Buddha's field of merit — equally one, without any distinction — can still be seen to yield such different fruits of giving to different beings: different forms, families, faculties, wealth, and wisdom, when the Buddha himself holds no differing thought toward any of them.
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問目首菩薩言：「佛子！如來福田，等一無異。云何而見眾生布施果報不同？所謂：種種色、種種形、種種家、種種根、種種財、種種主、種種眷屬、種種官位、種種功德、種種智慧；而佛於彼，其心平等，無異思惟。」
時，目首菩薩以頌答曰：
「譬如大地一，隨種各生芽，
於彼無怨親，佛福田亦然。
又如水一味，因器有差別，
佛福田亦然，眾生心故異。
亦如巧幻師，能令眾歡喜，
佛福田如是，令眾生敬悅。
如有才智王，能令大眾喜，
佛福田如是，令眾悉安樂。
譬如淨明鏡，隨色而現像，
佛福田如是，隨心獲眾報。
如阿揭陀藥，能療一切毒，
佛福田如是，滅諸煩惱患。
亦如日出時，照曜於世間，
佛福田如是，滅除諸黑暗。
亦如淨滿月，普照於大地，
佛福田亦然，一切處平等。
譬如毘藍風，普震於大地，
佛福田如是，動三有眾生。
譬如大火起，能燒一切物，
佛福田如是，燒一切有為。」
At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva asked Foremost in Vision Bodhisattva, saying: "Son of the Buddha! The Buddha's field of merit is equally one and without any difference. How is it, then, that one sees living beings' fruits of recompense from giving differ so — namely, various forms, various shapes, various families, various faculties, various wealth, various masters, various retinues, various official ranks, various merits, various wisdoms — and yet the Buddha, toward all of them, holds his mind equally, without any differing thought at all?"
At that time, Foremost in Vision Bodhisattva answered with a verse, saying:
"Just as the great earth is one, and yet each different seed sprouts according to its own kind, the earth itself holding no enmity and no favor toward any of them — so too it is with the Buddha's field of merit.
Just as water is one single taste, and yet, depending on its vessel, comes to differ — so too it is with the Buddha's field of merit, differing according to the mind of each living being.
Just as a skillful illusionist is able to bring joy to the multitude, so too does the Buddha's field of merit cause living beings to feel reverence and delight.
Just as a talented and wise king is able to bring joy to the great assembly, so too does the Buddha's field of merit cause the multitude to be entirely at ease.
Just as, in a clear and bright mirror, images appear according to whatever color faces it, so too does the Buddha's field of merit yield its many recompenses according to each mind.
Just as the agada medicine is able to cure every kind of poison, so too does the Buddha's field of merit extinguish every affliction and calamity.
Just as, when the sun rises, it shines and illumines the world, so too does the Buddha's field of merit extinguish every kind of darkness.
Just as the clear, full moon universally illumines the great earth, so too is the Buddha's field of merit equal in every single place.
Just as the Vairambha wind universally shakes the great earth, so too does the Buddha's field of merit stir living beings throughout the three realms of existence.
Just as a great fire arises, able to burn every single thing, so too does the Buddha's field of merit burn away everything that is conditioned."
Mañjuśrī Questions Foremost in Diligence
Mañjuśrī turns to Foremost in Diligence Bodhisattva with a sharper question: if the Buddha's teaching is one, and living beings come to see it, why do they not at once entirely cut off every affliction's bondage and attain liberation — is it, then, that the one teaching benefits some and not others?
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問勤首菩薩言：「佛子！佛教是一，眾生得見，云何不即悉斷一切諸煩惱縛而得出離？然其色蘊、受蘊、想蘊、行蘊、識蘊，欲界、色界、無色界，無明、貪愛，無有差別，是則佛教。於諸眾生，或有利益？或無利益？」
時，勤首菩薩以頌答曰：
「佛子善諦聽，我今如實答，
或有速解脫，或有難出離。
若欲求除滅，無量諸過惡，
當於佛法中，勇猛常精進。
譬如微少火，樵濕速令滅，
於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然。
如鑽燧求火，未出而數息，
火勢隨止滅，懈怠者亦然。
如人持日珠，不以物承影，
火終不可得，懈怠者亦然。
譬如赫日照，孩稚閉其目，
怪言何不覩，懈怠者亦然。
如人無手足，欲以芒草箭，
遍射破大地，懈怠者亦然。
如以一毛端，而取大海水，
欲令盡乾竭，懈怠者亦然。
又如劫火起，欲以少水滅，
於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然。
如有見虛空，端居不搖動，
而言普騰躡，懈怠者亦然。」
At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva asked Foremost in Diligence Bodhisattva, saying: "Son of the Buddha! The Buddha's teaching is one, and living beings come to see it — how is it, then, that they do not at once entirely cut off every affliction's bondage and attain liberation? And yet, whether it is the aggregate of form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volition, the aggregate of consciousness, the realm of desire, the realm of form, the realm of formlessness, ignorance, or craving — there is no distinction at all in this, and this indeed is the Buddha's teaching. Is it, then, that for various living beings, it is sometimes of benefit, and sometimes of no benefit at all?"
At that time, Foremost in Diligence Bodhisattva answered with a verse, saying:
"Son of the Buddha, listen closely and attentively; I shall now answer truly and as it is: there are some who swiftly attain liberation, and some for whom escape is hard.
If one wishes to seek the elimination of one's own immeasurable faults and evils, one must, within the Buddha's own Dharma, be valiant and forever diligent.
Just as a small, faint fire is quickly extinguished by damp firewood, so too is it with the indolent, within the Buddha's own teaching and Dharma.
Just as one who drills for fire by friction, yet pauses again and again for breath before it emerges, finds the fire's strength dying out along with the pause — so too is it with the indolent.
Just as one who holds a sun-crystal, yet does not use anything to catch its focused ray, will never in the end obtain fire from it — so too is it with the indolent.
Just as, when the blazing sun shines, a small child shuts his own eyes, and then wonders aloud why he cannot see — so too is it with the indolent.
Just as someone without hands or feet, wishing to use an arrow of grass-blade tips, tries to shoot at and shatter the great earth entirely — so too is it with the indolent.
Just as someone tries, with the very tip of a single hair, to take up the water of the great ocean, wishing to make it entirely dry and exhausted — so too is it with the indolent.
Just as, when the fire of the kalpa's end arises, someone wishes to extinguish it with only a little water, so too is it with the indolent, within the Buddha's own teaching and Dharma.
Just as someone beholds empty space, standing perfectly still and unmoving, and yet declares that he is universally leaping and treading across it — so too is it with the indolent."
Foremost in Diligence's answer marks a shift in register from the four dialogues before it. Where Foremost in Awakening, Foremost in Wealth, Foremost in Treasure, and Foremost in Merit each dissolved a metaphysical puzzle by showing that no single, findable thing was ever missing, this dialogue does not dissolve its question at all — it simply answers it. The Buddha's teaching is indeed one and undivided, but whether it liberates a given being still depends on something real: whether that being brings actual, sustained effort to it. The nine images that follow are unusually blunt for this chapter, each one a small, almost comic portrait of half-hearted practice — a child shutting his eyes against the sun and asking why it is dark, someone trying to dry the ocean with a single hair. Chengguan reads this dialogue as the chapter's deliberate check against a shallow reading of emptiness: understanding that no fixed self performs the practice is not a license to stop practicing.
Part 45 Complete
This closes Part 45. Fascicle thirteen's tenth chapter continues with Mañjuśrī's next question — to Foremost in Dharma, on how one who has truly received and upheld the true Dharma can still find afflictions arising within the mind.