If Even the Flawed Can Do This, How Much More the Bodhisattva
The hymn's argument from Part 61 continues and multiplies: a sea-spirit who understands every language despite his own afflictions, a woman whose presence grants eloquence, an illusionist who conjures whole cities in a moment, warring gods and asuras, and Śakra's own elephant king transforming into thirty-three heads crowned with lotus pools and celestial maidens — each one still marked by greed, hatred, and delusion, and each one used to ask: if such beings can do this, how much more a bodhisattva?
Reflections Without Mixing, Water Without Discrimination
Two opening images set the pattern for what follows: the sun and moon reflected in every body of water without being divided by it, and the images of armies appearing distinctly in clear water though the water itself makes no discrimination at all — figures for how the bodhisattva's own form can appear everywhere without contradiction.
「譬如日月遊虛空，影像普遍於十方，
泉池陂澤器中水，眾寶河海靡不現。
菩薩色像亦復然，十方普現不思議，
此皆三昧自在法，唯有如來能證了。
如淨水中四兵像，各各別異無交雜，
劍戟弧矢類甚多，鎧冑車輿非一種。
隨其所有相差別，莫不皆於水中現，
而水本自無分別，菩薩三昧亦如是。」
"Just as the sun and moon travel through empty space, their reflected images universally appearing throughout the ten directions — in springs, ponds, lakes, marshes, and the water within any vessel, in every jeweled river and sea, there is none in which they do not appear.
So too is it with the bodhisattva's own form and image: he universally manifests throughout the ten directions in ways inconceivable; all of this is the sovereign and unhindered Dharma of samādhi, which only a Tathāgata is able to fully realize and understand.
Just as, within clear water, the images of the four kinds of troops each appear distinct and different, without mixing into one another — swords, halberds, bows, and arrows of many kinds, armor, helmets, chariots, and carriages of more than a single sort — according to whatever distinguishing mark each of them has, there is none that does not appear within that water, and yet the water itself originally has no discrimination at all — so too is it with the bodhisattva's own samādhi."
A Sea-Spirit, a Woman Named Eloquence, and an Illusionist
Three figures, each still bound by ordinary affliction, each already capable of something remarkable: a sea-spirit whose voice speaks every language, a woman whose very presence grants eloquence to those near her, and an illusionist who conjures whole cities and years in a single moment.
「海中有神名善音，其音普順海眾生，
所有語言皆辯了，令彼一切悉歡悅。
彼神具有貪恚癡，猶能善解一切音，
況復總持自在力，而不能令眾歡喜！
有一婦人名辯才，父母求天而得生，
若有離惡樂真實，入彼身中生妙辯。
彼有貪欲瞋恚癡，猶能隨行與辯才，
何況菩薩具智慧，而不能與眾生益！
譬如幻師知幻法，能現種種無量事，
須臾示作日月歲，城邑豐饒大安樂。
幻師具有貪恚癡，猶能幻力悅世間，
況復禪定解脫力，而不能令眾歡喜！」
"Within the sea there is a spirit named 'Well-Sounding,' whose own voice universally accords with every living being of the sea, understanding and articulating every one of their languages, causing every one of them to be entirely delighted.
That spirit is fully endowed with greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet is still able to skillfully understand every sound — how much more so, then, one with the sovereign and unhindered power of total retention, unable to bring delight to the multitude!
There is a certain woman named 'Eloquence,' born because her parents prayed to the gods for her; if there are those who have left evil behind and delight in the truth, entering into her very body gives rise to wondrous eloquence.
She has greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet is still able, according to one's own conduct, to grant eloquence — how much more so, then, a bodhisattva fully endowed with wisdom, unable to grant benefit to living beings!
Just as a skillful illusionist, knowing the art of illusion, is able to manifest every kind of immeasurable thing, in but a moment displaying the making of days, months, and years, and cities of abundance and great peace and happiness — that illusionist is fully endowed with greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet is still able, through the power of illusion, to delight the world — how much more so, then, the power of meditative concentration and liberation, unable to bring delight to the multitude!"
Gods, Asuras, and Śakra's Elephant King
The chain of analogies turns to the very powers of gods and asuras themselves — a fleeing army vanishing entirely from sight, an asura standing waist-deep in the ocean with its head level with Mount Sumeru, and, most elaborately, Śakra's own elephant king transforming into thirty-three heads, each crowned with pools, lotuses, and celestial maidens playing music.
「天阿脩羅鬪戰時，脩羅敗衄而退走，
兵仗車輿及徒旅，一時竄匿莫得見。
彼有貪欲瞋恚癡，尚能變化不思議，
況住神通無畏法，云何不能現自在！
釋提桓因有象王，彼知天主欲行時，
自化作頭三十三，一一六牙皆具足；
一一牙上七池水，清淨香潔湛然滿；
一一清淨池水中，各七蓮華妙嚴飾；
彼諸嚴飾蓮華上，各各有七天玉女，
悉善技藝奏眾樂，而與帝釋相娛樂。
彼象或復捨本形，自化其身同諸天，
威儀進止悉齊等，有此變現神通力。
彼有貪欲瞋恚癡，尚能現此諸神通，
何況具足方便智，而於諸定不自在！
如阿脩羅變作身，蹈金剛際海中立，
海水至深僅其半，首共須彌正齊等。
彼有貪欲瞋恚癡，尚能現此大神通，
況伏魔怨照世燈，而無自在威神力！
天阿脩羅共戰時，帝釋神力難思議，
隨阿脩羅軍眾數，現身等彼而與敵。」
"When the gods and the asuras battle one another, and the asuras are defeated and driven back in retreat, their weapons, chariots, carriages, and foot soldiers all at once vanish and hide, so that none of them can be seen at all.
They have greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet are still able to transform in ways inconceivable — how much more so, then, one who abides within spiritual power and the Dharma of fearlessness — how could he be unable to manifest such sovereign mastery!
Śakra, Lord of the Gods, has an elephant king; when it knows that the lord of the gods wishes to travel, it transforms itself, manifesting thirty-three heads, each one fully endowed with six tusks; upon each and every tusk there are seven pools of water, clear, fragrant, pure, and brimming full; and within each and every one of these clear, pure pools, there are, in each, seven lotus flowers, wondrously adorned; and upon each and every one of those adorned lotus flowers, there are, in each, seven celestial maidens, all skilled in their own arts, playing every kind of music, sporting together with Śakra himself.
That elephant sometimes, further, casts off its original form, transforming its own body to become the same as the gods, its deportment and its every movement entirely matching theirs — such is this transformative power of spiritual ability.
It has greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet is still able to manifest such spiritual powers as these — how much more so, then, one fully endowed with wisdom and skillful means, unable to be sovereign and unhindered within every meditative state!
Just as an asura, transforming its own body, treads upon the diamond ground at the ocean's very bottom and stands there, the ocean's own water reaching only to its own waist, its head standing exactly level with Mount Sumeru's own summit.
It has greed, hatred, and delusion, and yet is still able to manifest such great spiritual power as this — how much more so, then, the lamp that subdues the māras' own hostility and illumines the world, without any sovereign and unhindered, awesome spiritual power!
When the gods and the asuras battle together, Śakra's own spiritual power is inconceivable; according to whatever the asura army's own numbers are, he manifests bodies equal to them in number, to meet them as their match."
Every figure in this chain — the sea-spirit, the woman, the illusionist, the warring devas and asuras, even Śakra's own elephant king — shares one deliberate qualification: each is still described as possessing greed, hatred, and delusion. The argument depends entirely on that qualification. It is not simply "great powers exist in the world," but specifically that beings whose minds remain unpurified can already do such things — which makes the bodhisattva's own far greater capacity, grounded in wisdom and compassion rather than affliction, something the verse treats as almost self-evidently following, a fortiori, from what unenlightened beings can already accomplish.
Part 62 Complete
This closes Part 62. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 63, carrying fascicle fifteen further toward its own conclusion.