Good-Wealth Climbs the Mountain of Blades
After eleven Parts of testimony, doubt, and confession, Good-Wealth finally does the one thing this entire episode has been building toward — he climbs the mountain of blades and throws himself into the fire, and discovers samādhi waiting for him before he has even reached the flame.
Samādhi Before the Flame Itself
Good-Wealth's own leap unfolds in two stages, each faster than the last — a samādhi attained before he even reaches the mountain's midpoint, and a second the very instant flame actually touches him, so that what should have been his worst moment becomes, in his own words, peaceful and joyful instead.
爾時，善財童子即登刀山，自投火聚；未至中間，即得菩薩善住三昧；纔觸火焰，又得菩薩寂靜樂神通三昧。善財白言：「甚奇！聖者！如是刀山及大火聚，我身觸時安隱快樂。」時，婆羅門告善財言：「善男子！我唯得此菩薩無盡輪解脫。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth at once climbed the mountain of blades, and threw himself into the mass of fire; before he had even reached its midpoint, he attained the bodhisattva samādhi of Well-Abiding; the very moment he touched the flame, he further attained the bodhisattva samādhi of the Peaceful Bliss of Spiritual Penetration. Good-Wealth said: "How extraordinary! Noble one! This mountain of blades and this great mass of fire — the moment my own body touched them, I felt peaceful and at ease, joyful." At that time, the brahmin said to Good-Wealth: "Good son, I have attained only this bodhisattva liberation, the Inexhaustible Wheel.
未至中間，即得菩薩善住三昧 — before he had even reached its midpoint, he attained the bodhisattva samādhi of Well-Abiding. The word "Well-Abiding" already named Good-Wealth's own third teacher, back in fascicle sixty-two — here it returns not as a person's name but as the very state of mind that meets Good-Wealth partway up a mountain of knives, before the danger itself has even fully arrived.
Part 976 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 977 turns to Fierce-Heat's own confession of limitation, describing the great bodhisattvas' unshakeable minds before admitting the boundaries of what his single liberation can actually teach.