Well-Abiding, Walking Through Open Air
Good-Wealth's journey south is once again filled with contemplation, ten distinct dharma-practices held in mind at once. At Sea-Shore village he finds Well-Abiding exactly as his own name promised — walking not on solid ground but through empty space, attended by nine classes of beings each offering him something particular to their own nature.
Ten Dharma-Practices, Held While Walking
As before, Good-Wealth's travel is never idle: ten distinct practices are named in sequence, from holding the previous teaching in mind to entering the very whirlpool of dharma, before he arrives at last at the village where his third teacher waits.
爾時，善財童子專念善知識教，專念普眼法門，專念佛神力，專持法句雲，專入法海門，專思法差別，深入法漩澓，普入法虛空，淨治法翳障，觀察法寶處。漸次南行，至楞伽道海岸聚落，觀察十方，求覓善住。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth single-mindedly held in mind the good spiritual friend's own teaching, single-mindedly held in mind the Universal Eye dharma-gate, single-mindedly held in mind the buddha's own spiritual power, single-mindedly upheld the cloud of dharma-phrases, single-mindedly entered the ocean-gate of dharma, single-mindedly reflected on the distinctions of dharma, deeply entered the whirlpool of dharma, universally entered the empty space of dharma, purified the obscurations of dharma, and observed the treasure-place of dharma. He traveled south by stages, and arrived at the village of Sea-Shore beside the road to Laṅkā; observing every direction, he searched for Well-Abiding.
深入法漩澓 — deeply entered the whirlpool of dharma. Among ten mostly serene verbs of holding and reflecting, this one image breaks the pattern: a whirlpool, something that pulls a person under rather than something quietly contemplated.
Nine Classes of Beings, Nine Kinds of Offering
Every class of being that attends Well-Abiding offers something matched to its own nature — nāgas with thunder and lightning, kiṃnaras with music, mahoragas with impossibly fine garments, even rākṣasas, normally fearsome, bowing with a compassion his presence draws out of them.
見此比丘於虛空中來往經行，無數諸天恭敬圍遶，散諸天華，作天妓樂，幡幢繒綺悉各無數，遍滿虛空以為供養；諸大龍王，於虛空中興不思議沈水香雲，震雷激電以為供養；緊那羅王奏眾樂音，如法讚美以為供養；摩睺羅伽王以不思議極微細衣，於虛空中周迴布設，心生歡喜，以為供養；阿脩羅王興不思議摩尼寶雲，無量光明種種莊嚴，遍滿虛空以為供養；迦樓羅王作童子形，無量采女之所圍遶，究竟成就無殺害心，於虛空中合掌供養；不思議數諸羅剎王，無量羅剎之所圍遶，其形長大，甚可怖畏，見善住比丘慈心自在，曲躬合掌瞻仰供養；不思議數諸夜叉王，各各悉有自眾圍遶，四面周匝恭敬守護；不思議數諸梵天王，於虛空中曲躬合掌，以人間法稱揚讚歎；不思議數諸淨居天，於虛空中與宮殿俱，恭敬合掌發弘誓願。
He saw this monk walking back and forth through open air, countless devas surrounding him with reverence, scattering every kind of heavenly flower, making heavenly music, banners and pennants and silks each countless in number, filling all of empty space as their own offering; great nāga kings, in the midst of empty space, raised up inconceivable clouds of aloeswood incense, and made offerings with rolling thunder and flashing lightning; kiṃnara kings played every kind of music, praising him in accordance with the dharma as their own offering; mahoraga kings, with inconceivably fine and subtle garments, spread them out circling through empty space, their minds giving rise to joy as their own offering; asura kings raised up inconceivable clouds of maṇi jewels, adorned with measureless light of every kind, filling all of empty space as their own offering; garuḍa kings, taking the form of youths, surrounded by measureless attendant maidens, having ultimately accomplished a mind free of any wish to kill, joined their palms in empty space as their own offering; inconceivably many rākṣasa kings, surrounded by measureless rākṣasas, their forms towering and utterly fearsome, seeing the monk Well-Abiding's own compassionate mind and self-mastery, bent their bodies, joined their palms, and gazed up in offering; inconceivably many yakṣa kings, each surrounded by their own retinue, guarded him with reverence on every one of the four sides; inconceivably many Brahmā-heaven kings, in empty space, bent their bodies and joined their palms, extolling and praising him according to the manner of the human world; and inconceivably many pure-abode devas, in empty space together with their own palaces, joined their palms with reverence and gave rise to vast vows.
其形長大，甚可怖畏，見善住比丘慈心自在，曲躬合掌瞻仰供養 — their forms towering and utterly fearsome, seeing the monk Well-Abiding's own compassionate mind and self-mastery, bent their bodies, joined their palms, and gazed up in offering. Of all nine classes of attendants, the rākṣasas are the only ones whose own fearsome nature is named directly — and it is precisely their own encounter with Well-Abiding's compassion that transforms them into worshippers rather than threats.
Part 912 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 913 turns to Good-Wealth's own joyful reaction upon seeing this scene, and to a new question, phrased as ten paired refusals — how a bodhisattva never abandons seeing the buddha, never abandons other bodhisattvas, never abandons the buddha's own dharma.