An Upright Mind, and Ten Stanzas of Request
The eighty-four shared dharmas leave Sudhana with a boundless, upright mind of his own. Baring his right shoulder in reverence, he sings ten stanzas — three recounting the ten minds, the shared dharmas, and the upright mind he has just received, and seven asking, in turn, for the teaching and the practice still to come.
Ten Stanzas
爾時，善財入如是等菩薩共法，於善知識得無量無邊淨正直心，偏袒右肩，恭敬合掌，以偈讚歎彼夜天曰：
「我以無上心， 專求佛菩提，
今於善知識， 而起自己心。
遠離諸惡業， 成就清淨行，
由見善知識， 得無盡白法。
我見知識已， 功德莊嚴心，
盡未來剎劫， 修行菩薩道。
唯願善知識， 哀愍攝取我，
為我悉顯現， 正教真實法。
閉塞諸惡趣， 廣開天人路，
佛一切智道， 為我悉顯現。
念彼善知識， 一切功德藏，
我於念念得， 虛空功德海。
授我波羅蜜， 不思議功德，
長養諸善福， 智繒速冠頂。
我念善知識， 一切種智道，
依止善知識， 滿足白淨法。
具足眾善利， 功德普成滿，
究竟一切法， 成就薩婆若。
知識為大師， 安立無上法，
無量無數劫， 不能報其恩。」
At that time Sudhana, having entered shared dharmas such as these, attained, toward the good friend, a boundless, unbounded, pure, and upright mind; baring his right shoulder, respectfully joining his palms, he praised this night-deva with this hymn in verse:
"With the unsurpassed mind, single-mindedly seeking the buddha's own bodhi,
I now, toward the good friend, give rise to my own very mind.
Departing far from every evil karma, accomplishing pure practice —
through beholding the good friend, I have attained the inexhaustible pure dharma.
Having beheld the good friend, my mind adorned with merit,
to the very end of every future land and kalpa, I shall cultivate the bodhisattva's own path.
I ask only that the good friend, in compassion, gather me in,
and manifest for me entirely the true teaching, the real Dharma.
Closing off every evil destiny, broadly opening the path of gods and humans,
the buddha's own path of every wisdom — manifest all of this for me.
Holding in mind this good friend, the treasury of every merit,
within every single thought-moment I attain the ocean of merit vast as space itself.
Bestow upon me the perfections, this inconceivable merit;
nurture every wholesome blessing, and swiftly crown my head with the silk ribbon of wisdom.
I hold in mind the good friend, the path of every kind of wisdom;
relying upon the good friend, I fulfill the pure dharma entirely.
Fully endowed with every wholesome benefit, my merit universally accomplished and fulfilled,
reaching the very end of every dharma, I accomplish all-wisdom.
The good friend is the great teacher, establishing the unsurpassed Dharma;
throughout boundless, countless kalpas, I could never repay this kindness."
Fazang divides these ten stanzas in two: 三頌讚中十偈，分二：初三頌前法、餘七請後行。前中，初一頌所起十心，標初心統於後也；次一頌所得共法；後一頌所得正直心。二唯願下請後行，初三請授法、次三請授行、後一結重恩 — "third, the ten stanzas of hymned praise divide in two: the first three stanzas recite the Dharma just received; the remaining seven request the practice still to come. Within the first: the first stanza marks the ten minds just raised, its opening mind standing for all that follow; the next stanza, the shared dharmas attained; the last, the upright mind attained. Second, beginning with 'I ask only,' requesting the practice to come: the first three request the teaching to be given, the next three request the practice to be given, and the last concludes by acknowledging a debt of gratitude." Three stanzas looking back, seven stanzas reaching forward — and even the very first mind Sudhana raised, standing in for the whole set of ten, is enough, in Fazang's own reading, to represent everything that followed from it.
Part 106 In Progress
Sudhana's own hymn has closed the account of what he attained simply by contemplating this teacher in silence — ten minds, eighty-four shared dharmas, and a boundless, upright mind of his own. Part 107 turns to his question and her answer: the name of this Dharma-gate, and what "awakening" itself means within it.
Continue to Part 107 →