Good-Wealth's Own Verse Begins
Moved by everything he has just heard, Good-Wealth speaks for the first time — not in prose but in verse, following after Mañjuśrī. He opens by describing the three realms of existence as a walled and moated city of bondage, then turns to plead, epithet after epithet, to be shown the way out.
Saṃsāra as a Walled City
Good-Wealth's own first words in this sūtra are a sustained image: the three realms as a fortified city, its walls built from arrogance, its gates the destinies of rebirth, its moat the very waters of craving, its sovereign the king of māras himself.
爾時，善財童子從文殊師利所聞佛如是種種功德，一心勤求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，隨文殊師利而說頌曰：「
三有為城廓，憍慢為垣牆，
諸趣為門戶，愛水為池塹。
愚癡闇所覆，貪恚火熾然，
魔王作君主，童蒙依止住。
貪愛為徽纆，諂誑為轡勒，
疑惑蔽其眼，趣入諸邪道。
慳嫉憍盈故，入於三惡處，
或墮諸趣中，生老病死苦。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth, having heard of the Buddha's own manifold merits and qualities from Mañjuśrī, single-mindedly and diligently sought unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, and following after Mañjuśrī, spoke this verse, saying:
The three realms of existence are its own city walls, arrogance its ramparts, the destinies of rebirth its gates, and the waters of craving its moat.
Covered over by the darkness of ignorance, blazing with the fire of greed and anger, with the king of māras as its own sovereign, the ignorant and the unlearned dwell there, relying on it as their home.
Craving and attachment are its cords and bindings, flattery and deceit its reins and bit; doubt and confusion cover over the eyes, driving beings into every wrong path.
Because of being filled with stinginess, envy, and arrogance, beings enter the three evil places, or fall among the various destinies, suffering birth, old age, sickness, and death.
三有為城廓 — the three realms of existence are its own city walls. Good-Wealth's opening image builds an entire prison out of ordinary vices: arrogance as the ramparts, craving as the moat, flattery and doubt as the reins that steer beings down the wrong road. Every wall of this city is made of something a person carries within.
An Escalating Plea
Twelve stanzas of appeal follow, each one addressing Mañjuśrī by a different image — sun, moon, king, merchant-lord, armored warrior, Śakra himself — and each closing on the same urgent request, phrased differently each time: see me, guide me, show me the way out.
妙智清淨日，大悲圓滿輪，
能竭煩惱海，願賜少觀察！
妙智清淨月，大慈無垢輪，
一切悉施安，願垂照察我！
一切法界王，法寶為先導，
遊空無所礙，願垂教敕我！
福智大商主，勇猛求菩提，
普利諸群生，願垂守護我！
身被忍辱甲，手提智慧劍，
自在降魔軍，願垂拔濟我！
住法須彌頂，定女常恭侍，
滅惑阿脩羅，帝釋願觀我！
三有凡愚宅，惑業地趣因；
仁者悉調伏，如燈示我道！
捨離諸惡趣，清淨諸善道；
超諸世間者，示我解脫門！
世間顛倒執，常樂我淨想；
智眼悉能離，開我解脫門！
善知邪正道，分別心無怯；
一切決了人，示我菩提路！
住佛正見地，長佛功德樹，
雨佛妙法華，示我菩提道！
去來現在佛，處處悉周遍，
如日出世間，為我說其道！
O sun of wondrous and pure wisdom, O wheel of great compassion made complete, able to dry up the very ocean of affliction — I beg you, grant me a moment of your own regard!
O moon of wondrous and pure wisdom, O stainless wheel of great loving-kindness, who bestows peace upon all — I beg you, let your own light fall upon me and see me!
O king of the entire dharma-realm, guided always by the dharma's own jewel, roaming through space without any hindrance — I beg you, instruct and command me!
O great merchant-lord of merit and wisdom, valiantly seeking enlightenment, universally benefiting every group of beings — I beg you, watch over and protect me!
O one clad in the armor of patience, wielding in hand the sword of wisdom, subduing the armies of māra with self-mastery — I beg you, reach down and rescue me!
Abiding at the summit of Sumeru's own dharma, whom concentration's own maidens constantly and reverently attend, subduing the asuras of confusion — O Śakra, I beg you, look upon me!
The three realms are the dwelling of the ordinary and the ignorant, delusion and karma the ground and cause of every destiny; you, noble one, have subdued all of this entirely — like a lamp, show me the path!
Having abandoned and departed from every evil destiny, having purified every good path; you who have transcended every worldly thing — show me the gate of liberation!
The world's own inverted graspings — the notions of permanence, pleasure, self, and purity — your eye of wisdom has departed from all of these entirely; open for me the gate of liberation!
You who know well the wrong path from the right, whose discerning mind knows no fear; you who have resolved and understood everything entirely — show me the road to enlightenment!
You who abide in the ground of the buddha's own right view, who grow the buddha's own tree of merit, who rain down the buddha's own wondrous dharma-flowers — show me the path to enlightenment!
Buddhas of the past, future, and present, present everywhere without exception, like the sun rising over the world — speak to me of their own path!
世間顛倒執，常樂我淨想 — the world's own inverted graspings — the notions of permanence, pleasure, self, and purity. This line names the traditional four inverted views: mistaking the impermanent for permanent, suffering for pleasure, the selfless for a self, and the impure for pure. Good-Wealth credits Mañjuśrī with having departed from all four entirely, which is exactly why he asks him to open the gate the rest of the world cannot find.
Part 897 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 898 completes Good-Wealth's own verse, as his plea shifts into a final, extended image: the Great Vehicle itself as a chariot he begs to be allowed to ride.