Fascicle Sixty-Four Closes Toward Loving-Conduct
Fierce-Heat closes his own teaching with a description of the great bodhisattvas' unshakeable resolve — a mind like Nārāyaṇa's own vajra-treasury, vows as steady as a wind-wheel — before confessing his limit and sending Good-Wealth south once more, to a maiden named Loving-Conduct in the city of Lion's Vigor.
A Mind Like Nārāyaṇa's Own Vajra-Treasury
Fierce-Heat's own confession of limitation opens with an image of unbreakable resolve — a flame of merit strong enough to burn away every trace of wrong view, a mind as steady as Nārāyaṇa's own vajra-treasury, and vows that turn like a wind-wheel without ever slowing.
如諸菩薩摩訶薩大功德焰，能燒一切眾生見惑令無有餘，必不退轉無窮盡心、無懈怠心、無怯弱心，發如金剛藏那羅延心，疾修諸行無遲緩心，願如風輪普持一切精進大誓皆無退轉；而我云何能知能說彼功德行？
As for the great bodhisattvas' own great flame of merit, able to burn away every being's own delusion of view without any remainder, certainly never regressing from an inexhaustible mind, a mind without laziness, a mind without timidity, giving rise to a mind like the vajra-treasury of Nārāyaṇa, swiftly cultivating every practice with a mind never sluggish, their vows like a wind-wheel universally upholding every great vow of diligence, none ever regressing — how could I possibly know or describe their own meritorious practice?
發如金剛藏那羅延心 — giving rise to a mind like the vajra-treasury of Nārāyaṇa. Fierce-Heat's own austerity has been a fire and a mountain of blades. His closing image reaches for a different kind of strength entirely — not heat or height, but the unbreakable firmness traditionally attributed to Nārāyaṇa, a strength that cannot be forced open at all.
South Once More, to Loving-Conduct
As with every teacher before him, Fierce-Heat's own confession closes not with silence but with directions — south to the city of Lion's Vigor, and a maiden whose very name, Loving-Conduct, promises something gentler than fire and blades.
「善男子！於此南方，有城名：師子奮迅；中有童女，名曰：慈行。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」時，善財童子頂禮其足，遶無數匝，辭退而去。
"Good son, to the south of here, there is a city named Lion's Vigor; within it there is a maiden named Loving-Conduct. Go to her and ask: 'How does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva practices, and cultivate the bodhisattva path?'" At that time, the boy Good-Wealth bowed his head at his feet, circumambulated him countless times, took his leave, and departed.
Part 977 Complete — Fascicle Sixty-Four Finished
This closes chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, and completes fascicle sixty-four of the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra — the entire episodes of Rest-and-Release, Bhīṣmottaranirghoṣa, and Fierce-Heat now finished in full. Part 978 opens fascicle sixty-five with Good-Wealth's journey to Lion's Vigor and his first sight of the maiden Loving-Conduct.