Ten Things a Bodhisattva Never Abandons
The sight of Well-Abiding attended by nine classes of beings moves Good-Wealth to open joy, and his question this time arrives in two distinct sets of ten: first, ten verbs applied to cultivating the buddha's own dharma, and then ten specific things — seeing the buddha, other bodhisattvas, great vows — that a bodhisattva must never once abandon.
Ten Verbs Applied to One Dharma
Joy comes first this time, named directly before the question itself: Good-Wealth's palms join not out of duty but because of what he has just seen, and only then does he ask, in ten different verbs, how a bodhisattva relates to the buddha's own dharma from every possible angle.
時，善財童子見是事已，心生歡喜，合掌敬禮，作如是言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何修行佛法？云何積集佛法？云何備具佛法？云何熏習佛法？云何增長佛法？云何總攝佛法？云何究竟佛法？云何淨治佛法？云何深淨佛法？云何通達佛法？
At that time, once the boy Good-Wealth had seen this scene, his mind gave rise to joy, and he joined his palms in reverent salutation, speaking these words: "Noble one! I have already, before this, given rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, and yet I do not know: how does a bodhisattva cultivate and practice the buddha's own dharma? How does he accumulate and gather the buddha's own dharma? How does he become fully equipped with the buddha's own dharma? How does he perfume and habituate himself with the buddha's own dharma? How does he increase and grow the buddha's own dharma? How does he wholly gather in the buddha's own dharma? How does he bring the buddha's own dharma to its ultimate completion? How does he purify and refine the buddha's own dharma? How does he deeply purify the buddha's own dharma? How does he penetrate and master the buddha's own dharma?
心生歡喜，合掌敬禮 — his mind gave rise to joy, and he joined his palms in reverent salutation. Unlike his approach to the previous two teachers, this time the text names Good-Wealth's own emotional response before he speaks a word — the sight of Well-Abiding's retinue has already moved him before any question is asked.
Never Abandon: Ten Things Held Onto at Once
The second half of Good-Wealth's question names ten things a bodhisattva must never let go of — and pairs several of them with an equally demanding condition: never abandoning the conditioned, and yet never abiding in it either; appearing to accept birth and death while never actually being bound by it.
我聞聖者善能誘誨，唯願慈哀，為我宣說：菩薩云何不捨見佛，常於其所精勤修習？菩薩云何不捨菩薩，與諸菩薩同一善根？菩薩云何不捨佛法，悉以智慧而得明證？菩薩云何不捨大願，能普利益一切眾生？菩薩云何不捨眾行，住一切劫心無疲厭？菩薩云何不捨佛剎，普能嚴淨一切世界？菩薩云何不捨佛力，悉能知見如來自在？菩薩云何不捨有為亦復不住，普於一切諸有趣中猶如變化，示受生死，修菩薩行？菩薩云何不捨聞法，悉能領受諸佛正教？菩薩云何不捨智光，普入三世智所行處？」
I have heard that you, noble one, are skilled in guiding and instructing others; I only wish that, out of compassion, you would proclaim for me: how does a bodhisattva never abandon seeing the buddha, constantly and diligently practicing in his very presence? How does a bodhisattva never abandon other bodhisattvas, sharing the very same roots of goodness with them? How does a bodhisattva never abandon the buddha's own dharma, coming to a clear realization of it entirely through wisdom? How does a bodhisattva never abandon his own great vows, being able to universally benefit every sentient being? How does a bodhisattva never abandon every practice, abiding throughout every eon with a mind that knows no weariness? How does a bodhisattva never abandon buddha-lands, being universally able to adorn and purify every world? How does a bodhisattva never abandon the buddha's own power, being able to know and see the tathāgata's own self-mastery entirely? How does a bodhisattva never abandon the conditioned, and yet also not abide in it, universally, within every destiny of existence, appearing like a transformation, manifesting the acceptance of birth and death, while cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice? How does a bodhisattva never abandon hearing the dharma, being able to receive and accept the true teaching of every buddha entirely? And how does a bodhisattva never abandon the light of wisdom, universally entering the domain traversed by the wisdom of the three times?"
不捨有為亦復不住 — never abandon the conditioned, and yet also not abide in it. This eighth item names the hardest of the ten: not escaping the conditioned world by fleeing it, and not being trapped in it either, but appearing within it like a transformation, accepting birth and death outwardly while remaining untouched by it inwardly.
Part 913 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-two. Part 914 turns to Well-Abiding's own answer, beginning with the bodhisattva's dharma-liberation gate without obstruction, and a light of wisdom he calls Ultimate Unobstructed.