Twenty Bodies, Seen Before a Word Is Spoken
Within the same bodhimaṇḍa Sudhana has now occupied through four teachers running, he arrives at the night-deva Vow-Valor Light, Guardian of Sentient Beings — eighth teacher of the Ten Grounds. No question is asked and no request is made; her body itself, manifest in twenty kinds at once, is the teaching, and Sudhana can only prostrate himself in silence before it.
Twenty Kinds of Body
爾時，善財童子往詣願勇光明守護眾生夜天所，見彼夜天在大眾中，處於普照摩尼王藏師子之座，摩尼王網羅覆其身，光明普照一切法界，一切日月星宿光明以為其身，一切眾生形類色像，悉於中現；又現一切諸色海身，諸威儀身，諸方面身，應現一切眾生前身，遊行十方自在力身，於一切時現眾生前不失時身，詣諸佛所敬禮之身，長養一切諸善根身，受持一切佛正法雲不忘失身，滿足一切菩薩願身，普照一切諸世界身，除滅癡闇普照一切明淨燈身，知法如幻離垢深慧了諸法身，覺悟一切普現意身，離熾然身，不可壞身，無所依住佛行持身，無有染污清淨法身。善財見已，五體投地，起佛世界微塵等念，念彼天身；良久乃起，恭敬合掌，一心諦觀，於善知識得十種心。何等為十？所謂：得自己心，勇猛精進求薩婆若，能受持故；得具一切智法心，隨順一切正教道故；得自受生心，安住無上正法門故；得同行心，共普賢菩薩諸行願故；得具一切功德藏心，長養一切白淨法故；得勇猛心，長養諸佛大精進故；得具一切諸善根心，成滿一切諸大願故；得辨一切大利益心，具足菩薩自在力故。是為於善知識得十種心。
At that time Sudhana the Boy journeyed onward to the place of the night-deva Vow-Valor Light, Guardian of Sentient Beings. He beheld this night-deva within the great assembly, seated upon a lion-throne of the treasury of the King of Maṇi-Gems Universally Illumining, a net of the King of Maṇi-Gems covering her body, her light universally illumining the whole Dharma-realm; the light of every sun, moon, and star as her own body, the forms and appearances of every kind of sentient being all appearing within her. She further manifested a body of the whole ocean of every form; a body of every kind of bearing; a body according with every direction; a body appearing before every sentient being; a body of sovereign power ranging through the ten directions; a body appearing before sentient beings at every time, never missing the right moment; a body reverently bowing at the place of every buddha; a body nurturing every root of goodness; a body upholding the cloud of every buddha's own true Dharma, never forgetting it; a body fulfilling every bodhisattva's own vow; a body universally illumining every world; a body of a bright, pure lamp extinguishing the darkness of folly and universally illumining all; a body knowing the Dharma as like unto an illusion, stainless, of profound wisdom, understanding every dharma; a body of awakened mind universally manifest; a body free of blazing affliction; a body indestructible; a body of the buddha's own conduct, abiding nowhere; and a body of the pure Dharma, stained by nothing.
Having beheld this, Sudhana threw all five limbs to the ground, and, for a span as long as motes of dust in every buddha-land, held this deva's body in mind; only after a long while did he rise, respectfully joining his palms, single-mindedly gazing upon her, and, toward the good friend, attained ten kinds of mind. What are these ten? Namely: attaining the mind of himself, valiantly and diligently seeking all-wisdom, able to uphold it; attaining the mind fully endowed with the dharma of every wisdom, according with the path of every true teaching; attaining the mind of his own rebirth, abiding securely in the unsurpassed, true Dharma-gate; attaining the mind of shared practice, sharing in Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own every practice and vow; attaining the mind fully endowed with the treasury of every merit, nurturing every pure dharma; attaining the mind of valor, nurturing every buddha's own great diligence; attaining the mind fully endowed with every root of goodness, fulfilling every great vow entirely; and attaining the mind that discerns every great benefit, fully endowed with the bodhisattva's own sovereign power. These are the ten kinds of mind attained toward the good friend.
Fazang glosses this teacher's name in two senses at once: 願勇光明守護眾生者，以此地中願波羅蜜增上，故云勇也。又准梵本，是精進勇猛之義，非是勇出之狀。以此願勇之光饒益眾生，故云守護 — "'Vow-Valor Light, Guardian of Sentient Beings': because, within this ground, the perfection of the vow predominates, hence 'valor.' Also, checking the Sanskrit original, this carries the sense of diligent valor, not the sense of a bold or striking appearance. Because the light of this vow and valor brings benefit to sentient beings, hence 'guardian.'" He notes something structurally unusual about this teacher's opening: 第三見敬申請中三：先見、二禮、三觀。略無申請，以理法於身，見已無請 — "the third part, seeing, reverence, and request, has three steps: first seeing, second bowing, third contemplating. The request itself is entirely absent, because the principle and the Dharma are already present in her very body — once seen, no request is needed." No question is asked in this opening scene because, for the first time in this pilgrimage, the teacher's body alone is judged sufficient teaching.
Of the twenty bodies themselves, Fazang gives a precise threefold count: 一切日月下別辨二十種身雲自在，於中初八是應機攝化身、二詣諸佛所下八是應法成行身、三離熾燃下四是應理平等身 — "beginning with 'every sun, moon,' twenty kinds of sovereign body-cloud are particularly distinguished: within this, the first eight are bodies responding to capacity, gathering in and transforming beings; the second, beginning with 'reverently bowing at the place of every buddha,' eight are bodies according with the Dharma, accomplishing practice; the third, beginning with 'free of blazing affliction,' four are bodies according with principle, in equality." Eight, eight, and four — twenty bodies in total, exactly matching this translation — moving from bodies that meet beings where they are, through bodies that enact the Dharma itself, to bodies that simply embody equality and indestructibility without further qualification.
Part 104 In Progress
Sudhana has crossed into the eighth teacher's episode within the same bodhimaṇḍa as the fourth through seventh: twenty kinds of body beheld in silence, prostration held for a span as long as motes of dust in every buddha-land, and ten minds attained before a single question has been asked. Part 105 turns to what Sudhana attains next — an ocean of bodhisattva "shared dharmas," eighty-four of them, each shared between this teacher and every buddha, every bodhisattva, and every sentient being at once.
Continue to Part 105 →