In Verse, the Conduct of Indra's Net
Gopā retells her two ten-dharma teachings a second time in a hymn — opening with a mind that honors good and wise friends as it would honor a buddha, a liberated mind whose own measure equals empty space, and a lamp of wisdom illumining the world without ever growing weary of hearing the Dharma.
Six Stanzas: A Mind Equal to Empty Space
爾時，瞿夷承佛神力，觀察十方，欲重明此義，以偈頌曰：
「無諂於知識， 智慧廣無量，
專求佛菩提， 利益諸眾生。
恭敬善知識， 其心如佛想，
勇猛精進力， 具因陀網行。
解脫心增廣， 其量均虛空，
攝取於三世， 佛剎及眾生。
直心如虛空， 遠離煩惱垢，
出生佛功德， 是為身雲行。
不思議智慧， 積集功德海，
清淨福業藏， 不染於世間。
一切諸佛所， 聞法無厭足，
智慧燈普照， 是為照世行。」
At that time, Gopā, upholding the buddha's own spiritual power, contemplated the ten directions, and, wishing to make this meaning clear once more, spoke this hymn in verse:
"Without flattery toward good and wise friends, his wisdom vast and boundless, he single-mindedly seeks the buddha's own bodhi, benefiting every sentient being.
Reverently honoring good and wise friends, his mind regarding them with the very thought of a buddha, through valiant, diligent power, he is fully endowed with the conduct of Indra's Net.
His liberated mind ever increasing and expanding, its measure equal to empty space itself, he gathers in the three times, every buddha-land, and every sentient being.
His upright mind like empty space, departing far from the defilement of affliction, giving rise to the buddha's own merit — this is the conduct of the cloud-body.
Inconceivable wisdom, accumulating the very ocean of merit, the pure treasury of blessed karma, unstained by the world.
At the presence of every buddha, hearing the Dharma without ever growing weary, the lamp of wisdom universally illumining — this is the conduct of illumining the world."
This hymn retells, in a different order and different imagery, the same ground the two prose lists of ten already covered — honoring good friends, the conduct of Indra's Net, purity untouched by the world. Several stanzas here name their own conduct explicitly ("this is the conduct of the cloud-body," "this is the conduct of illumining the world"), a naming convention this hymn will continue through its remaining stanzas — each pairing an image with the specific "conduct" (行) it constitutes, building toward a fuller vocabulary for what this final Ground's practice actually looks like in motion.
Part 147 In Progress
Six of the hymn's thirteen stanzas are now complete. Part 148 continues with seven more, naming further conduct — the conduct of according with, of Indra's Net again, of the Dharma's own light, of wisdom's own sun, and of Samantabhadra himself.
Continue to Part 148 →