Good-Wealth Finds Sovereign Lord at the Riverbank
Gods, nāgas, and gandharvas escort Good-Wealth all the way to the land of Renown, and when he cannot find the boy he seeks, voices from the sky simply tell him where to look — a river islet, where Sovereign Lord is surrounded by ten thousand other children, doing nothing more remarkable than playing in the sand.
Ten Thousand Children, Gathering Sand in Play
After teachers surrounded by vast celestial assemblies, hall-fulls of mirrors, and forests of blades and fire, Sovereign Lord's own scene is the plainest one yet — a riverbank, ten thousand ordinary children, and a game built from nothing more than sand.
爾時，善財童子受善見比丘教已，憶念誦持，思惟修習，明了決定，於彼法門而得悟入。天、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆眾前後圍遶，向名聞國，周遍求覓自在主童子。時，有天、龍、乾闥婆等，於虛空中告善財言：「善男子！今此童子在河渚上。」爾時，善財即詣其所，見此童子，十千童子所共圍遶，聚沙為戲。善財見已，頂禮其足，遶無量匝，合掌恭敬，却住一面，白言：「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？願為解說！」
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth, having received the monk Well-Seen's own teaching, called it to mind, recited it, upheld it, reflected upon it, cultivated it, understanding it clearly and with certainty, and awakened to and entered that dharma-gate. Gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and gandharvas surrounded him on every side as he headed toward the land of Renown, searching everywhere for the boy Sovereign Lord. At that time, gods, nāgas, gandharvas, and others, in the sky, said to Good-Wealth: "Good son, this boy is now on the river islet." At that time, Good-Wealth went at once to that place, and saw this boy, surrounded together by ten thousand other boys, gathering sand in play. Having seen him, Good-Wealth bowed his head at his feet, circumambulated him countless times, joined his palms in reverence, and withdrew to stand to one side, saying: "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 wish that you would explain it to me!"
聚沙為戲 — gathering sand in play. Nothing in this description hints yet at what makes this particular child a teacher at all — after the elaborate halls and forests of the last several teachers, the sūtra offers no adornment here, only the plainest possible image of children playing by a river.
Part 991 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-five. Part 992 turns to Sovereign Lord's own answer, revealing what his childhood game of sand actually conceals — a mastery of writing, numbers, and calculation learned directly from Mañjuśrī himself.