Why the Boy Is Named Good-Wealth
Before speaking a single word to the assembled crowd, Mañjuśrī manifests a body blazing with self-mastered light — and then turns his attention to a single question: why does this one boy bear the name Good-Wealth? The answer traces back to the very moment he entered his mother's womb.
Four Faculties of Self-Mastery
Before a word of dharma is spoken, four separate faculties are already at work in Mañjuśrī's own manifestation: loving-kindness to soothe, compassion to move him toward speech, wisdom to know what the crowd's own hearts desire, and eloquence to meet that desire once he begins.
爾時，文殊師利童子知福城人悉已來集，隨其心樂現自在身，威光赫奕蔽諸大眾；以自在大慈令彼清涼，以自在大悲起說法心，以自在智慧知其心樂，以廣大辯才將為說法。復於是時，觀察善財以何因緣而有其名？
At that time, the youth Mañjuśrī, knowing that the people of the city of Fú had all gathered together, manifested, in accordance with what their own hearts delighted in, a body of self-mastery, its majestic light blazing so brilliantly that it outshone the entire assembly; with self-mastered great loving-kindness he made them cool and at ease; with self-mastered great compassion he gave rise to the intention to speak the dharma; with self-mastered wisdom he knew what their own hearts delighted in; and with vast and expansive eloquence he was about to speak the dharma for them. At this same time, he also observed: for what cause and condition does this boy have the name Good-Wealth?
復於是時，觀察善財以何因緣而有其名 — at this same time, he also observed: for what cause and condition does this boy have the name Good-Wealth? Mañjuśrī's attention narrows, in a single sentence, from an entire assembled city down to one boy's own name — the question that opens the passage that will occupy the rest of this fascicle.
Treasures at the Moment of Conception
The answer begins before birth itself: at the very moment this boy entered the womb, his own household's ground split open on its own, seven hidden treasuries welled up, and five hundred vessels appeared, each one spontaneously filled — gold holding silver, silver holding gold, and every kind of jewel spilling over into another's own container.
知此童子初入胎時，於其宅內自然而出七寶樓閣，其樓閣下有七伏藏，於其藏上，地自開裂，生七寶芽，所謂：金、銀、瑠璃、玻瓈、真珠、硨磲、碼碯。善財童子處胎十月然後誕生，形體肢分端正具足；其七大藏，縱廣高下各滿七肘，從地涌出，光明照耀。復於宅中自然而有五百寶器，種種諸物自然盈滿。所謂：金剛器中盛一切香，於香器中盛種種衣，美玉器中盛滿種種上味飲食，摩尼器中盛滿種種殊異珍寶，金器盛銀，銀器盛金，金銀器中盛滿瑠璃及摩尼寶，玻瓈器中盛滿硨磲，硨磲器中盛滿玻瓈，碼碯器中盛滿真珠，真珠器中盛滿碼碯，火摩尼器中盛滿水摩尼，水摩尼器中盛滿火摩尼……。如是等五百寶器，自然出現。又雨眾寶及諸財物，一切庫藏悉令充滿。以此事故，父母親屬及善相師共呼此兒，名曰：善財。又知此童子，已曾供養過去諸佛，深種善根，信解廣大，常樂親近諸善知識，身、語、意業皆無過失，淨菩薩道，求一切智，成佛法器，其心清淨猶如虛空，迴向菩提無所障礙。
He knew that when this boy first entered the womb, a pavilion of seven treasures spontaneously emerged within his own household's dwelling, and beneath that pavilion there were seven hidden treasuries; and above those treasuries, the earth split open of itself and gave rise to sprouts of the seven treasures, namely: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, pearl, giant clam-shell, and carnelian. The boy Good-Wealth dwelled in the womb for ten months, and only then was born, his body and every one of his limbs upright and complete; and those seven great treasuries, each one full to a height, breadth, and depth of seven cubits, welled up out of the earth, their light shining bright. Also, within that household, five hundred vessels of treasure spontaneously appeared, every kind of thing spontaneously filling them to the brim. Namely: a vessel of vajra held every kind of incense; a vessel of incense held every kind of garment; a vessel of fine jade held every kind of food of the finest flavor; a vessel of maṇi held every kind of rare and marvelous jewel; a vessel of gold held silver, and a vessel of silver held gold; vessels of gold and silver held lapis lazuli and maṇi jewels to the brim; a vessel of crystal held giant clam-shell to the brim; a vessel of giant clam-shell held crystal to the brim; a vessel of carnelian held pearl to the brim; a vessel of pearl held carnelian to the brim; a vessel of fire-maṇi held water-maṇi to the brim; a vessel of water-maṇi held fire-maṇi to the brim … and so on. All such vessels of treasure as these, five hundred in number, appeared of themselves. And a rain of every kind of treasure and wealth fell as well, filling every storehouse and treasury to its full. Because of this event, his parents, relatives, and the fortune-tellers skilled in reading signs together called this child by the name Good-Wealth. He also knew that this boy had already, in the past, made offerings to buddhas of ages gone by, had deeply planted roots of goodness, whose faith and understanding were vast and expansive, who constantly delighted in drawing near to every good spiritual friend, whose deeds of body, speech, and mind were entirely without fault, who had purified the bodhisattva's own path, who sought all-knowing wisdom, who had become a vessel fit for the buddha's own dharma, whose mind was pure just like empty space, and who dedicated himself toward enlightenment without any obstruction.
以此事故，父母親屬及善相師共呼此兒，名曰：善財 — because of this event, his parents, relatives, and the fortune-tellers skilled in reading signs together called this child by the name Good-Wealth. The name is given by consensus, not by any one authority — parents, relatives, and diviners together — and only after the wealth itself has already appeared. In this account, the boy's own name records something that already happened, rather than expressing any hope for what might.
Part 895 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 896 turns to Mañjuśrī comforting and instructing Good-Wealth directly for the first time, speaking ten kinds of teaching about the qualities of every buddha.