Sudhana's Own Hymn
Mañjuśrī outlines the Dharma directly to Sudhana for the first time, and the whole assembly of Jue Cheng rejoices — but it is Sudhana's own response, a long hymn describing saṃsāra as a walled city under Māra's own rule, that gives the pilgrimage to come its real emotional foundation.
Mañjuśrī's Own Outline of the Dharma
爾時，文殊師利菩薩如象王迴，觀察善財而告之曰：「吾當為汝說微妙法。」即為分別諸佛正法；分別諸佛次興世法；淨眷屬法；轉梵輪法；諸佛色身相好，清淨莊嚴之法；一切諸佛具法身法；諸佛音聲妙莊嚴法；說一切如來平等正法。
爾時，文殊師利知善財等一切大眾，聞說此法，皆大歡喜，發菩提心；顯明過去諸善根已，不捨本座；如應化度覺城眾生已，遊行南方。
爾時，善財童子從文殊師利，聞佛如是諸妙功德，專求菩提，隨從文殊師利，以偈頌曰：
At that time Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, turning as an elephant king turns, contemplated Sudhana and said to him: "I shall now expound for you a subtle and sublime Dharma." He then discerned and set forth the true Dharma of every buddha; discerned and set forth the Dharma by which every buddha arises in the world in due succession; the Dharma of purifying one's own retinue; the Dharma of turning the Brahmā-wheel; the Dharma of every buddha's own form-body, excellent marks, and pure adornment; the Dharma by which every buddha is fully endowed with the Dharma-body; the Dharma of every buddha's own voice, sublimely adorned; and he expounded the true, equal Dharma of every tathāgata.
At that time Mañjuśrī, knowing that Sudhana and the entire great assembly, having heard this teaching expounded, all rejoiced greatly and raised the mind of awakening, having made manifest the roots of goodness planted in ages past, without leaving his own seat, having transformed and delivered the people of Jue Cheng according to what was needed, he traveled onward to the south.
At that time Sudhana the Boy, having heard from Mañjuśrī of the Buddha's own such sublime merit, single-mindedly seeking awakening, followed after Mañjuśrī, and spoke in verse, saying:
This is the very first time Mañjuśrī addresses Sudhana by name, and it is worth noticing what the outline itself does and does not contain: eight named topics — the buddhas' own true Dharma, their succession in the world, purifying one's retinue, turning the wheel, the form-body's adornment, the Dharma-body, the voice, and the equal Dharma of every tathāgata — none of which yet mentions a single spiritual friend, a single journey, or a single one of the fifty-three teachers this whole pilgrimage will introduce. What Sudhana receives here is a map of the destination, not yet any instruction on how to travel there. That instruction, and the pilgrimage itself, only begin once Sudhana has answered this outline in his own voice.
Samsara as a Walled City
「三有為城郭， 高慢為園牆，諸趣為却敵， 染愛為深塹，愚癡闇覆蔽， 三毒常熾然。惡魔為君王， 童蒙依止住，貪愛所纏縛， 諂曲壞正行，疑惑障慧眼， 流轉諸邪道，慳嫉所繫縛， 趣向餓鬼難，生老病死逼， 愚癡轉趣輪。圓滿無上悲， 清淨智慧日，消竭煩惱海， 願顧少觀察。圓滿無上慈， 慧光安眾生，一切無不曜， 月王願照我。一切法界王， 淨法為四兵，常轉正法輪， 願化我妙法。具足菩提願， 積集功德藏，饒益一切眾， 大師願度我。忍鎧莊嚴身， 執持智慧劍，於魔嶮惡道， 濟我免眾難。住法須彌頂， 妙定天女侍，降伏阿脩羅， 帝釋觀察我。具足離垢力， 分別一切有，世間明淨燈， 願示我正趣。遠離諸惡道， 悉令善趣淨，開我解脫門， 超出諸世難。著常樂我淨， 迷惑於生死，清淨智慧眼， 願開解脫門。遠離諸顛倒， 無畏知正道，了達諸正趣， 示現我菩提。安住正見地， 諸佛功德樹，常雨正覺華， 願示我菩提。世間明淨日， 三世諸如來，如法而來去， 願令我悉見。分別一切業， 深知諸法性，決定智慧乘， 示我摩訶衍。諸願輪成滿， 大悲不可盡，淨妙德莊嚴， 安我菩提乘。具足淨法界， 大慈為觀察，功德華莊嚴， 賜我第一乘。安住梵行座， 三昧女朝侍，微妙法音樂， 示我法王道。無盡四攝藏， 功德莊嚴智，光明照一切， 願速示勝道。施惠圓滿光， 栴檀戒塗身，忍辱大莊嚴， 願速示正道。深入諸禪定， 教化群生類，具足方便乘， 安我勝法乘。諸願圓滿輪， 永絕生死輪，具足持智力， 安我妙法乘。一切悉殊妙， 大悲觀眾生，究竟勝妙行， 安我實智乘。安住金剛慧， 究竟一切智，除滅諸障礙， 安我賢聖乘。慈悲甚彌廣， 安樂諸群生，法界等淨眼， 安我無上乘。除滅眾苦陰， 諸業煩惱輪，降伏一切魔， 安我正法乘。智慧照十方， 莊嚴諸法界，滿足眾生願， 安我勝妙乘。心淨如虛空， 除滅邪見愛，饒益一切眾， 安我勝法乘。安住如風輪， 普持一切剎，令眾住定地， 安我殊勝乘。安住如大地， 具足大悲力，智慧益眾生， 安我最勝乘。四攝光圓滿， 饒益群生類，總持清淨光， 示我明淨日。開發淨慧眼， 莊嚴妙智王，冠以無上冠， 法王慈顧我。」
The three realms of existence are its city walls; arrogance and pride, its garden ramparts; the paths of rebirth, its watchtowers turned against me; defiled craving, its deep moat; the darkness of folly covers and conceals it, and the three poisons burn within it constantly.
Māra himself is its king, and the ignorant and unlearned dwell there in reliance on him; bound up by craving and desire, flattery and crookedness destroy right conduct; doubt obstructs the eye of wisdom, and one turns and flows through every wrong path; bound by stinginess and envy, one heads toward the peril of the hungry ghosts; pressed by birth, old age, sickness, and death, folly turns the wheel one travels on.
O sun of pure wisdom, perfected in unsurpassed compassion, who dries up the ocean of affliction — I ask only that you turn and look upon me a little.
O king of the moon, perfected in unsurpassed kindness, whose light of wisdom brings peace to every being, leaving nothing at all unlit — I ask that you shine upon me too.
O king of the entire Dharma-realm, whose four armies are the pure Dharma itself, who constantly turns the wheel of the true Dharma — I ask that you transform me with your sublime Dharma.
O you who are fully endowed with the vow of awakening, who have accumulated the treasury of merit, who bring benefit to every being — great teacher, I ask that you deliver me across.
O you whose body is adorned with the armor of patience, who wield the sword of wisdom — on this perilous, evil road of Māra, I ask you to rescue me and free me from every peril.
O you who abide at the peak of the Dharma's own Sumeru, attended by the goddesses of sublime samādhi, who subdue the asuras — Śakra, I ask you to turn your gaze upon me.
O you who are fully endowed with the power free of every stain, who discern every mode of existence, bright and pure lamp of the world — I ask you to show me the right path.
You who are forever removed from every evil path, who make every good destiny entirely pure — open for me the gate of liberation, that I may rise above every peril of this world.
Attached to permanence, pleasure, self, and purity, I am deluded within birth and death — O pure eye of wisdom, I ask you to open for me the gate of liberation.
You who are forever removed from every inverted view, who fearlessly know the right path, who fully comprehend every right direction — manifest awakening for me.
You who abide firmly on the ground of right view, the very tree of every buddha's own merit, who constantly rain down the flowers of perfect awakening — I ask you to show me awakening.
O bright and pure sun of the world, who, like every tathāgata of the three times, comes and goes in accord with the Dharma — I ask that you cause me to see all of it.
You who discern every karma, who deeply know the nature of every dharma, the resolute vehicle of wisdom — show me the Mahāyāna.
You whose wheel of every vow is perfected, whose great compassion is inexhaustible, adorned with pure and sublime virtue — establish me in the vehicle of awakening.
You who are fully endowed with the pure Dharma-realm, who look upon all with great kindness, adorned with the flower of merit — bestow upon me the foremost vehicle.
You who abide firmly upon the throne of pure conduct, attended morning by the maidens of samādhi, with the subtle music of the Dharma's own voice — show me the path of the Dharma-King.
O inexhaustible treasury of the four means of attraction, wisdom adorned with merit, whose light illumines everything — I ask you to swiftly show me the supreme path.
You whose perfect light comes from giving generously, your body anointed with the sandalwood of the precepts, greatly adorned with patience — I ask you to swiftly show me the right path.
You who enter deeply into every dhyāna and samādhi, teaching and transforming every kind of being, fully endowed with the vehicle of skillful means — establish me in the vehicle of the supreme Dharma.
You whose wheel of every vow is perfected, who have forever cut off the wheel of birth and death, fully endowed with the power to uphold wisdom — establish me in the vehicle of the sublime Dharma.
You for whom everything is entirely sublime, who look upon sentient beings with great compassion, whose supreme, sublime practice is complete — establish me in the vehicle of true wisdom.
You who abide firmly in vajra wisdom, who have reached the very end of omniscience, who extinguish every hindrance — establish me in the vehicle of the worthy and the noble.
Your compassion vast and boundless, bringing peace and joy to every being, your pure eye equal to the Dharma-realm — establish me in the unsurpassed vehicle.
You who extinguish the aggregates of every suffering, the wheel of every karma and affliction, who subdue every māra — establish me in the vehicle of the true Dharma.
Your wisdom illumining the ten directions, adorning every dharma-realm, fulfilling every sentient being's own vow — establish me in the supreme, sublime vehicle.
Your mind pure as space itself, extinguishing every wrong view and craving, bringing benefit to every being — establish me in the vehicle of the supreme Dharma.
You who abide firm as the wheel of wind, universally sustaining every land, causing every being to abide on the ground of samādhi — establish me in the surpassing vehicle.
You who abide firm as the great earth, fully endowed with the power of great compassion, your wisdom benefiting every being — establish me in the most supreme vehicle.
Your light of the four means of attraction perfected, bringing benefit to every kind of being, the pure light of every dhāraṇī — show me the bright and pure sun.
You who open and reveal the pure eye of wisdom, adorned as the king of sublime wisdom, crowned with the unsurpassed crown — O King of the Dharma, look upon me with kindness.
Specific Fazang commentary on this hymn was not available for consultation in preparing this page's reading note. What is worth noting directly from the text: this is the first time in the entire chapter that any figure speaks in the first person about their own condition rather than describing the Buddha's, a bodhisattva's, or the assembly's own qualities. Every hymn before this one — the ten directional bodhisattvas' in Part 5, Samantabhadra's in Part 6, Mañjuśrī's in Part 10 — has been a hymn of praise addressed outward. Sudhana's hymn opens instead with an extended, unflinching image of his own entrapment: saṃsāra as a fortified city, its walls arrogance, its moat craving, its king Māra himself, its ordinary residents the "ignorant and unlearned" he counts himself among. Only after twelve full lines of this self-description does the hymn turn to address Mañjuśrī, and even then in the register of urgent request — "I ask that you," repeated verse after verse — rather than praise for its own sake. Every one of the fifty-three encounters that follow, across the rest of this chapter, will be an answer, in some form, to exactly this plea.
Part 14 Complete
This closes Part 14: Mañjuśrī's own outline of the Dharma to Sudhana, and Sudhana's answering hymn — the pilgrimage's own emotional foundation, spoken before a single teacher has yet been named. Part 15 turns to Mañjuśrī's direct reply: praise for Sudhana's resolve, his own question about how a bodhisattva actually practices, and — at last — the name of the very first teacher Sudhana is sent to find.
Continue to Part 15 — The First Teacher Named →