A Hymn of Ten Stanzas, and Petals Scattered
As Sudhana ascends toward the lecture hall, the deva Sorrow-Free, Sublime Virtue, and a million devas of her own retinue, scatter fragrance, flower-garlands, and every kind of jewel over him, and sing a ten-stanza hymn describing the seeker who becomes a lamp for the world — fearless, unattached, and moving through the world like wind through empty space.
Five Stanzas: A Lamp Arises, Illumining the World's Darkness
爾時，善財將昇法堂，彼離憂妙德天與百萬眷屬，各各齎持妙香、華鬘及諸雜寶，散善財上，以偈頌曰：
「無量無數劫， 世燈或出現，
普為眾生故， 正求佛菩提。
無量億諸劫， 難見難值遇，
功德日今出， 照除世間闇。
見諸眾生類， 愚惑癡所覆，
廣發大悲心， 專求無師道。
清淨正直心， 不惜身壽命，
親近善知識， 專求佛菩提。
一切無所依， 不著於世間，
離垢清淨心， 無礙如虛空。」
At that time, as Sudhana was about to ascend to the lecture hall, that deva Sorrow-Free, Sublime Virtue, together with a million devas of her own retinue, each carrying sublime fragrances, flower-garlands, and every kind of jewel, scattered them over Sudhana, and spoke this hymn in verse:
"Throughout boundless, countless kalpas, a lamp for the world may arise from time to time; universally, for the sake of sentient beings, he rightly seeks the buddha's own bodhi.
Throughout boundless koṭis of kalpas, difficult to see, difficult to encounter; the sun of merit now arises, illumining and dispelling the darkness of the world.
Beholding every kind of sentient being, covered over by folly, delusion, and ignorance, he broadly raises the mind of great compassion, single-mindedly seeking the path without a teacher.
With a pure, upright mind, not sparing his own body or life, drawing near to good and wise friends, he single-mindedly seeks the buddha's own bodhi.
Relying on nothing whatsoever, not attached to the world, his mind stainless and pure, unobstructed, like empty space."
This ten-stanza hymn is offered directly to Sudhana himself, not about a distant figure — a shift in address this collection has used before to mark a pilgrim's own approaching maturity. Its language deliberately echoes titles this collection has applied to buddhas themselves — "a lamp for the world," "the sun of merit" — now addressed to a wandering youth still mid-journey, on the threshold of the very last of the Ten Grounds.
Five Stanzas: Wind Through Empty Space, a Lion of Vajra Wisdom
「行諸菩薩行， 具滿妙功德，
放大智慧光， 普照一切世。
不離於世間， 亦不著世間，
行世無障礙， 如風遊虛空。
譬如大災起， 一切無能滅，
勇猛精進火， 求道亦如是。
勇猛大精進， 一切莫能壞，
金剛慧師子， 遊行無所畏。
一切法海中， 一切諸佛海，
親近善知識， 速見彼諸佛。」◎
"Practicing every bodhisattva practice, fully replete with sublime merit, he sends forth the great light of wisdom, universally illumining every world.
Neither departing from the world, nor attached to the world, he moves through the world without obstruction, like the wind ranging through empty space.
It is like a great conflagration arising, which nothing whatsoever can extinguish; the fire of valiant diligence, seeking the path, is in just the same way.
Valiant, greatly diligent, indestructible by anything whatsoever, a lion of vajra wisdom, he ranges about without any fear.
Within the whole ocean of every dharma, and the whole ocean of every buddha, drawing near to good and wise friends, he swiftly beholds those buddhas."
The hymn's closing five stanzas turn to a run of similes for what cannot be stopped: wind through empty space, an unquenchable conflagration, a lion of vajra wisdom fearless in its own range. The very last line returns the hymn to the single practice this entire collection has structured itself around from its opening pages — "drawing near to good and wise friends" — naming, at the threshold of the final Ground, the same method by which Sudhana has reached every one of his first thirty-nine teachers.
Part 142 In Progress
The hymn is complete, and Sudhana has ascended to the lecture hall. Part 143 turns to the moment he finally beholds Gopā herself, seated on a jeweled-lotus lion-throne, surrounded by eighty-four thousand women of royal and noble birth.
Continue to Part 143 →