Fascicle Sixty-Three Opens with Megha
Good-Wealth's search ends not on a mountain or by an ocean but in the middle of a marketplace, where the layman Megha teaches from a lion-throne to ten thousand people at once. Good-Wealth's own new question arrives as eleven questions, each pressing on how a bodhisattva holds his own resolve firm against every possible erosion.
A Teacher Found in the Marketplace
Every previous teacher was found in a natural or secluded setting — a mountain peak, an ocean shore, open sky. Megha is found instead exactly where his own name would least suggest: in the middle of a market, teaching from a lion-throne to ten thousand people gathered at once.
爾時，善財童子一心正念法光明法門，深信趣入，專念於佛，不斷三寶，歎離欲性，念善知識普照三世，憶諸大願普救眾生，不著有為，究竟思惟諸法自性，悉能嚴淨一切世界，於一切佛眾會道場心無所著。漸次南行，至自在城，求覓彌伽。乃見其人於市肆中，坐於說法師子之座，十千人眾所共圍遶，說輪字莊嚴法門。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth, single-mindedly and rightly holding in mind the dharma-gate of the light of dharma, deeply believed in it and entered into it; single-mindedly holding the buddha in mind, never severing the three jewels, praising the nature of freedom from desire, remembering how the good spiritual friend universally illuminates the three times, calling to mind how every great vow universally rescues sentient beings, not attached to the conditioned, ultimately reflecting on the intrinsic nature of every dharma, able to adorn and purify every world entirely, his mind attached to nothing amid the assembly at the site of awakening of every buddha. He traveled south by stages, and arrived at the city of Self-Mastery, searching for Megha. He then saw this person in the midst of the marketplace, seated upon a lion-throne for speaking the dharma, surrounded together by ten thousand people, speaking the dharma-gate of the Wheel-Syllable Adornment.
於市肆中，坐於說法師子之座 — in the midst of the marketplace, seated upon a lion-throne for speaking the dharma. Every teacher so far has been sought out in a place set apart from ordinary life. Megha's own dharma-gate opens instead in the noisiest, most commercial setting the sūtra has yet offered — dharma taught in the very place people go to buy and sell.
Eleven Ways to Hold a Resolve Firm
Good-Wealth's question no longer asks simply how to begin; it asks how a bodhisattva's own resolve survives contact with the world — never forgotten while circulating through every destiny, never disheartened, never fatigued by compassion, never darkened by ignorance.
時，善財童子頂禮其足，遶無量匝，於前合掌，而作是言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而我未知菩薩云何學菩薩行？云何修菩薩道？云何流轉於諸有趣常不忘失菩提之心？云何得平等意堅固不動？云何獲清淨心無能沮壞？云何生大悲力恒不勞疲？云何入陀羅尼普得清淨？云何發生智慧廣大光明，於一切法離諸暗障？云何具無礙解辯才之力，決了一切甚深義藏？云何得正念力，憶持一切差別法輪？云何得淨趣力，於一切趣普演諸法？云何得智慧力，於一切法悉能決定分別其義？」
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth bowed his head at his feet, circled him measureless times, and stood before him with palms joined, 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 study the bodhisattva's own practice? How does he cultivate the bodhisattva's own path? How, while circulating through every destiny of existence, does he constantly never forget or lose the mind of enlightenment? How does he attain an impartial intention that is firm and unmoving? How does he obtain a pure mind that nothing can dishearten or destroy? How does he give rise to the power of great compassion, forever without fatigue or weariness? How does he enter dhāraṇī and universally attain purity? How does he give rise to a vast light of wisdom, departing from every dark obstruction in every dharma? How does he become complete in the power of unobstructed understanding and eloquence, resolving and comprehending every profound treasury of meaning? How does he attain the power of right mindfulness, holding in mind every distinct dharma-wheel? How does he attain the power of pure destiny, universally proclaiming every dharma within every destiny? And how does he attain the power of wisdom, being able to resolutely distinguish the meaning of every dharma entirely?"
云何流轉於諸有趣常不忘失菩提之心 — how, while circulating through every destiny of existence, does he constantly never forget or lose the mind of enlightenment? Asked in a marketplace rather than on a mountain, this question carries a particular weight: Good-Wealth wants to know how resolve survives not solitude and contemplation, but ordinary circulation through the world Megha's own setting represents.
Part 917 Complete
This opens chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-three. Part 918 turns to Megha's own immediate response — descending from his lion-throne to prostrate himself before Good-Wealth and shower him with offerings before speaking a word.