Fierce-Heat Between Fire and Knives
Nothing in this pilgrimage has prepared Good-Wealth for what he finds at Iṣāna — a mountain of fire on every side, a mountain of blades rising without limit inside it, and a brahmin climbing to the summit only to throw his own body down into the flame, who answers Good-Wealth's familiar question with an instruction that is anything but familiar.
A Mountain of Fire, A Mountain of Blades
Good-Wealth's eight previous teachers included forest ascetics dressed in bark and grass, but nothing as extreme as this — an austerity built from two mountains at once, one of fire and one of knives, with Fierce-Heat himself climbing the second only to fall into the first.
見彼勝熱修諸苦行求一切智。四面火聚猶如大山，中有刀山高𡺲無極，登彼山上投身入火。時，善財童子頂禮其足，合掌而立，作如是言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行？云何修菩薩道？我聞聖者善能誘誨，願為我說！」婆羅門言：「善男子！汝今若能上此刀山，投身火聚，諸菩薩行悉得清淨。
He saw Fierce-Heat practicing every kind of ascetic austerity, seeking omniscience. On all four sides, a mass of fire rose up like a great mountain; within it there was a mountain of blades, its height without limit, and he was climbing to the top of that mountain, throwing his own body down into the fire. At that time, the boy Good-Wealth bowed his head at his feet, stood with his palms joined, and spoke these words: "Noble one! I have already given rise to the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, but I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva practices, or how a bodhisattva cultivates the bodhisattva path. I have heard that the noble one is skilled in guiding and instructing others — I wish that you would explain it to me!" The brahmin said: "Good son, if you are now able to climb this mountain of blades, and throw your own body into this mass of fire, every bodhisattva practice will become entirely pure."
汝今若能上此刀山，投身火聚 — if you are now able to climb this mountain of blades, and throw your own body into this mass of fire. Every teacher so far has answered Good-Wealth's question with words, a touch, or a vision. Fierce-Heat is the first to answer with a demand that Good-Wealth risk his own body directly — and the very next Part will show how Good-Wealth actually responds.
Part 965 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 966 turns to Good-Wealth's own reaction to this demand, and the doubt that immediately rises in him before he decides how to answer it.