Good-Wealth Journeys to Lion's Vigor
A new fascicle opens with Good-Wealth's own reflection on selflessness and non-discrimination, before the road brings him to Lion's Vigor, where he learns the maiden Loving-Conduct is a king's own daughter, and simply follows an ordinary crowd through the palace gate to reach her.
Every Sound an Echo, Every Form a Shadow
Fascicle sixty-five opens not with a scene but with a state of mind — Good-Wealth's own understanding deepened toward every kind of dharma-limit, every buddha's domain held without grasping, and the plain recognition that beings, sounds, and forms are each, in their own way, insubstantial.
爾時，善財童子於善知識所，起最極尊重心，生廣大清淨解，常念大乘，專求佛智，願見諸佛，觀法境界，無障礙智常現在前，決定了知諸法實際、常住際、一切三世諸剎那際、如虛空際、無二際、一切法無分別際、一切義無障礙際、一切劫無失壞際、一切如來無際之際；於一切佛心無分別，破眾想網，離諸執著，不取諸佛眾會道場，亦不取佛清淨國土；知諸眾生皆無有我，知一切聲悉皆如響，知一切色悉皆如影。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth, toward every good spiritual friend, gave rise to a mind of the utmost reverence, gave rise to vast and pure understanding, constantly held the Great Vehicle in mind, single-mindedly sought the Buddha's own wisdom, wished to see every buddha, contemplated the domain of every dharma, unobstructed wisdom constantly manifesting before him, decisively and clearly understanding the true limit of every dharma, the limit of permanent abiding, the limit of every instant across the three times, the limit like empty space, the limit of non-duality, the limit of non-discrimination in every dharma, the limit of no obstruction in every meaning, the limit of no loss or destruction across every kalpa, and the limitless limit of every tathāgata; toward every buddha, his mind free of discrimination, breaking through the net of every conception, free from every attachment, not grasping at any buddha's own assembly or platform of awakening, nor grasping at any buddha's own pure land; knowing that every being is without any self, knowing that every sound is entirely like an echo, and knowing that every form is entirely like a shadow.
Following the Crowd Through the Palace Gate
Rather than being announced or escorted, Good-Wealth learns of the maiden's own royal birth secondhand, and finds his own way in the simplest way possible — noticing a crowd bound for the same place, asking where they are going, and reasoning that an unrestricted gate is a gate he too may pass through.
漸次南行，至師子奮迅城，周遍推求慈行童女。聞此童女是師子幢王女，五百童女以為侍從，住毘盧遮那藏殿，於龍勝栴檀足金線網天衣座上而說妙法。善財聞已，詣王宮門，求見彼女。見無量眾來入宮中，善財問言：「諸人今者何所往詣？」咸報之言：「我等欲詣慈行童女聽受妙法。」善財童子即作是念：「此王宮門既無限礙，我亦應入。」
Gradually journeying south, he arrived at the city of Lion's Vigor, searching everywhere for the maiden Loving-Conduct. He heard that this maiden was the daughter of King Lion-Banner, with five hundred maidens as her own attendants, dwelling in the Hall of the Vairocana Treasury, teaching the wondrous dharma upon a throne of heavenly garment woven with golden thread and net, its legs of nāga-supreme sandalwood. Having heard this, Good-Wealth went to the gate of the royal palace, seeking to see that maiden. He saw measureless multitudes coming to enter the palace, and Good-Wealth asked: "Where are all of you going now?" They all replied: "We wish to go to the maiden Loving-Conduct to hear and receive the wondrous dharma." The boy Good-Wealth then thought this thought: "Since this royal palace gate has no restriction at all, I too should enter."
此王宮門既無限礙，我亦應入 — since this royal palace gate has no restriction at all, I too should enter. Every previous teacher has required Good-Wealth to search through a forest, climb a mountain, or receive direct instructions to a named place. Here, for the first time, he simply reasons his own way in by watching what ordinary people are already doing.
Part 978 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-five. Part 979 turns to what Good-Wealth actually sees inside the Hall of the Vairocana Treasury — crystal ground, beryl pillars, and a maiden whose golden skin and indigo hair speak the dharma in a voice like Brahmā's own.