Good-Wealth's Eleven-Fold Question
Mañjuśrī turns to Good-Wealth and praises what he already sees: a resolve for enlightenment already given rise to, and a wish to seek out good spiritual friends already formed. His counsel is simple — never weary of this — and Good-Wealth answers with a single, eleven-part question about the bodhisattva's own practice.
Never Weary of Seeking Good Friends
Mañjuśrī's praise is immediate and unqualified — "excellent, excellent" — and his counsel reduces to a single point: drawing near to good spiritual friends is the very first cause of all-knowing wisdom, so let no weariness arise in that search.
爾時，文殊師利菩薩如象王迴，觀善財童子，作如是言：「善哉善哉！善男子！汝已發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，復欲親近諸善知識，問菩薩行，修菩薩道。善男子！親近供養諸善知識，是具一切智最初因緣，是故於此勿生疲厭。」
At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva turned to look upon the boy Good-Wealth the way a king of elephants turns his gaze, and spoke these words: "Excellent, excellent! Good son! You have already given rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, and you further wish to draw near to good spiritual friends, to ask about the bodhisattva's own practice, and to cultivate the bodhisattva's own path. Good son! Drawing near to and making offerings to every good spiritual friend is the very first cause and condition for becoming complete in all-knowing wisdom; for this reason, give rise to no weariness in this."
是具一切智最初因緣 — the very first cause and condition for becoming complete in all-knowing wisdom. Before Good-Wealth has met a single teacher, Mañjuśrī names what the entire pilgrimage that follows will turn out to demonstrate: that seeking out good spiritual friends, not any solitary insight, is where all-knowing wisdom actually begins.
Eleven Questions in One Breath
Good-Wealth's own question arrives as a single, unbroken run of eleven verbs — study, cultivate, proceed, carry out, purify, enter, accomplish, follow, remember, broaden, complete — each one applied to the same object, the bodhisattva's own practice.
善財白言：「唯願聖者廣為我說，菩薩應云何學菩薩行？應云何修菩薩行？應云何趣菩薩行？應云何行菩薩行？應云何淨菩薩行？應云何入菩薩行？應云何成就菩薩行？應云何隨順菩薩行？應云何憶念菩薩行？應云何增廣菩薩行？應云何令普賢行速得圓滿？」
Good-Wealth said: "I only wish that you, noble one, would speak for me at length: how should a bodhisattva study the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he cultivate the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he proceed toward the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he carry out the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he purify the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he enter the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he accomplish the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he follow in accord with the bodhisattva's own practice? How should he keep the bodhisattva's own practice in mind? How should he broaden and increase the bodhisattva's own practice? And how should he cause Samantabhadra's own practice to swiftly reach completion?"
學……修……趣……行……淨……入……成就……隨順……憶念……增廣……速得圓滿 — study, cultivate, proceed, carry out, purify, enter, accomplish, follow, remember, broaden, complete. Eleven different verbs applied to one and the same practice, moving from first exposure to full completion. The question itself already outlines the shape of the entire journey Good-Wealth is about to undertake.
Part 899 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 900 turns to Mañjuśrī's own verse response, praising Good-Wealth as a treasury of merit and urging him toward Samantabhadra's own practice and the ocean of great vows.