Ten Similes for the Good Spiritual Friend
Like the ocean that never tires of receiving rain, Good-Wealth's own mind reaches for ten different images to hold what the good spiritual friend's teaching has actually been to him — sun, moon, snowy mountain, jeweled island, tree, nāga king, and finally Sumeru itself, home to the Thirty-Three.
Sun, Moon, Mountain, Island, Tree, and King
Each simile pairs a natural image with the exact effect it produces — the spring sun makes wholesome roots grow, the full moon cools whatever it touches, a snowy mountain in summer relieves thirst, and a nāga king simply plays free in open sky, closing on Sumeru itself and the god who cannot be outshone.
爾時，善財童子觀察思惟善知識教，猶如巨海受大雲雨無有厭足，作是念言：「善知識教，猶如春日，生長一切善法根苗；善知識教，猶如滿月，凡所照及皆使清涼；善知識教，如夏雪山，能除一切諸獸熱渴；善知識教，如芳池日，能開一切善心蓮華；善知識教，如大寶洲，種種法寶充滿其心；善知識教，如閻浮樹，積集一切福智華果；善知識教，如大龍王，於虛空中遊戲自在；善知識教，如須彌山無量善法，三十三天於中止住；善知識教，猶如帝釋，眾會圍遶，無能映蔽，能伏異道、脩羅軍眾。」如是思惟。漸次遊行，至海住城，處處尋覓此優婆夷。
At that time, the boy Good-Wealth observed and reflected on the good spiritual friend's own teaching, like the great ocean receiving the rain of great clouds, never growing weary or full, and thought this thought, saying: "The good spiritual friend's own teaching is just like the spring sun, causing every root and sprout of wholesome dharma to grow; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is just like the full moon, wherever its light reaches, it makes everything cool and refreshed; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like a snowy mountain in summer, able to remove the heat and thirst of every beast; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like the sun over a fragrant pond, able to open the lotus flower of every wholesome mind; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like a great jeweled island, filling the mind entirely with every kind of dharma-treasure; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like the jambū tree, gathering together every flower and fruit of merit and wisdom; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like a great nāga king, playing freely and sovereign in the open sky; the good spiritual friend's own teaching is like Mount Sumeru's own measureless wholesome dharmas, where the Thirty-Three abide; and the good spiritual friend's own teaching is just like Śakra, surrounded by his own assembly, none able to outshine or eclipse him, able to subdue heretics and the armies of the asuras." Thus he reflected. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the city of Sea-Dwelling, searching everywhere for this laywoman.
猶如巨海受大雲雨無有厭足 — like the great ocean receiving the rain of great clouds, never growing weary or full. This frames the entire simile-list that follows: Good-Wealth's own mind is not merely comparing his teachers to natural things, but describing itself as a capacity that keeps absorbing without limit, the way an ocean never fills no matter how much rain falls into it.
Part 996 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-five. Part 997 turns to Good-Wealth's arrival at the laywoman Endowed's own house, where he stands at the gate before an entrance adorned with every kind of treasure.