Good-Wealth Meets Elder Liberation
Twelve years of travel end in a prostration and a list — ten ways of naming how rare a good spiritual friend actually is, followed by thirty distinct reasons, one after another, for why Good-Wealth gave rise to the mind of enlightenment in the first place.
Ten Ways to Say Rare
Good-Wealth's own praise of the good spiritual friend does not settle for a single word; it names ten distinct difficulties in a row — difficult to see, to hear of, to encounter, to serve, to draw near, to be received by, to happen upon, to dwell with, to delight, to follow.
既得見已，五體投地，起立合掌，白言：「聖者！我今得與善知識會，是我獲得廣大善利。何以故？善知識者，難可得見，難可得聞，難可出現，難得奉事，難得親近，難得承接，難可逢值，難得共居，難令喜悅，難得隨逐。我今會遇，為得善利。
Once he had found him, he threw all five limbs to the ground, then rose and stood with palms joined, speaking these words: "Noble one! That I now am able to meet with a good spiritual friend — this is my own attainment of vast and excellent benefit. Why is this? A good spiritual friend is difficult to see, difficult to hear of, difficult to encounter appearing at all, difficult to be able to serve, difficult to draw near to, difficult to be received by, difficult to happen upon, difficult to dwell together with, difficult to bring to delight, and difficult to be allowed to follow. That I now have this meeting is my own attainment of excellent benefit.
難可得見，難可得聞……難得隨逐 — difficult to see, difficult to hear of … difficult to be allowed to follow. Good-Wealth has spent twelve years to reach this single meeting. His own list of ten difficulties reads almost as a retrospective account of everything that twelve-year journey actually had to overcome.
Thirty Reasons for One Resolve
Rather than restate his own question yet again, Good-Wealth this time explains himself — thirty distinct reasons, each beginning "because I wish," moving from serving and knowing every buddha to attaining the specific treasuries — of samādhi, of spiritual power, of purity — that belong to every bodhisattva.
「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，為欲事一切佛故，為欲值一切佛故，為欲見一切佛故，為欲觀一切佛故，為欲知一切佛故，為欲證一切佛平等故，為欲發一切佛大願故，為欲滿一切佛大願故，為欲具一切佛智光故，為欲成一切佛眾行故，為欲得一切佛神通故，為欲具一切佛諸力故，為欲獲一切佛無畏故，為欲聞一切佛法故，為欲受一切佛法故，為欲持一切佛法故，為欲解一切佛法故，為欲護一切佛法故，為欲與一切諸菩薩眾同一體故，為欲與一切菩薩善根等無異故，為欲圓滿一切菩薩波羅蜜故，為欲成就一切菩薩所修行故，為欲出生一切菩薩清淨願故，為欲得一切諸佛菩薩威神藏故，為欲得一切菩薩法藏無盡智慧大光明故，為欲得一切菩薩三昧廣大藏故，為欲成就一切菩薩無量無數神通藏故，為欲以大悲藏教化調伏一切眾生皆令究竟到邊際故，為欲顯現神變藏故，為於一切自在藏中悉以自心得自在故，為欲入於清淨藏中以一切相而莊嚴故。
"Noble one! I have already, before this, given rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, because I wish to serve every buddha; because I wish to encounter every buddha; because I wish to see every buddha; because I wish to behold every buddha; because I wish to know every buddha; because I wish to realize the equality of every buddha; because I wish to give rise to every buddha's own great vow; because I wish to fulfill every buddha's own great vow; because I wish to be complete in every buddha's own light of wisdom; because I wish to accomplish every buddha's own multitude of practices; because I wish to attain every buddha's own spiritual power; because I wish to be complete in every buddha's own powers; because I wish to obtain every buddha's own fearlessness; because I wish to hear every buddha's own dharma; because I wish to receive every buddha's own dharma; because I wish to uphold every buddha's own dharma; because I wish to understand every buddha's own dharma; because I wish to protect every buddha's own dharma; because I wish to be one and the same body with every bodhisattva assembly; because I wish to be equal and without difference from every bodhisattva's own roots of goodness; because I wish to bring every bodhisattva's own pāramitā to full completion; because I wish to accomplish every practice a bodhisattva cultivates; because I wish to give rise to every bodhisattva's own pure vow; because I wish to attain the treasury of majestic spiritual power of every buddha and bodhisattva; because I wish to attain the great light of inexhaustible wisdom that is every bodhisattva's own treasury of dharma; because I wish to attain every bodhisattva's own vast treasury of samādhi; because I wish to accomplish every bodhisattva's own measureless, countless treasury of spiritual power; because I wish, with the treasury of great compassion, to teach, transform, and tame every sentient being, causing every one of them to reach the ultimate limit; because I wish to manifest the treasury of spiritual transformation; because, within every treasury of self-mastery, I wish to attain self-mastery entirely through my own mind; and because I wish to enter into the treasury of purity, adorned with every kind of mark."
為欲以大悲藏教化調伏一切眾生皆令究竟到邊際故 — because I wish, with the treasury of great compassion, to teach, transform, and tame every sentient being, causing every one of them to reach the ultimate limit. Of thirty reasons Good-Wealth names for his own resolve, this one alone turns outward toward every other sentient being rather than toward his own attainment — a single vow embedded among twenty-nine that are otherwise about what he himself wishes to become.
Part 922 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-three. Part 923 turns to Good-Wealth's own request that Liberation teach him, and to Liberation's response — entering a samādhi that reveals buddha-lands beyond counting within his own body.