A Girl Named Stainless, Sublime Virtue
Along a road strewn with flowers and every treasure, a woman named Sublimely Manifest travels with her young daughter, Stainless, Sublime Virtue — a girl of unequaled countenance, a voice like Brahmā's own, and a mind already free of greed, hatred, and delusion. The prince arrives at the garden just after her, and, overcome at the sight of her, at once asks her mother for her hand in marriage.
A Road of Every Treasure, and a Girl Beyond Compare
「時，彼道路坦然平正，種種莊嚴，散眾妙華，寶樹行列，眾妙寶帳以覆其上。於彼路側，積眾寶，聚雜種寶，衣諸莊嚴，具肴膳飲食，如是等事，隨其所須，皆給施之。時，有母人，名曰善現。將一童女，名離垢妙德，端嚴姝妙，修短得所，顏容無倫，目髮紺色，脣齒丹素，口出梵音，才能巧妙，言語聰辯，修習慈心，見者無厭，少貪恚癡，常懷慚愧，心無諂曲，乘妙寶車，采女圍遶，從母遊觀。先太子前至香芽園，太子見已，生染愛心，語其母言：『欲娉賢女以為我妻。』」
"At that time, that road was level and even, adorned in every kind of way, strewn with every sublime flower, jeweled trees standing in rows, and every kind of sublime, jeweled canopy covering it overhead. Along the sides of that road, every kind of treasure was heaped up, gathered together with every manner of jewel, garments and every kind of adornment, and every kind of food and drink prepared — matters such as these, whatever was needed, were all given and bestowed. At that time, there was a woman, named Sublimely Manifest, who brought with her a young girl, named Stainless, Sublime Virtue — upright, dignified, and graceful, of just the right height, her countenance without equal, her eyes and hair of a deep blue-black hue, her lips and teeth vermilion and white, her mouth giving forth a Brahmā-like voice, her talents skillful and sublime, her speech clever and eloquent; she cultivated a mind of loving-kindness, and those who beheld her never grew weary of it; with little greed, hatred, or delusion, she constantly held a sense of conscience and shame, her mind free of flattery or crookedness. Riding in a sublime, jeweled carriage, surrounded by attendant women, she wandered about, sightseeing, together with her mother. She arrived at the garden of Fragrant Sprout ahead of the prince, and, when the prince beheld her, a mind of tainted love arose within him, and he said to her mother: 'I wish to take this virtuous girl in marriage, to become my own wife.'"
The girl's own description here is unusually physical and detailed even by this collection's standards — countenance, eye and hair color, lips and teeth, voice — before pivoting, in the same breath, to her inner qualities: loving-kindness, minimal greed and hatred, a mind free of flattery. This pairing of outward beauty with settled inner virtue is deliberate, and matters for what follows: the prince's own "mind of tainted love" (染愛心) is named plainly as desire, not admiration for virtue — setting up a contrast this account will resolve only once the girl's own true nature, and her own vow, come fully into view.
Part 154 In Progress
The prince has declared his wish to marry the girl. Part 155 turns to the mother's reply, the girl's own startling response, and the mother's warning about what the prince's own destiny may hold.
Continue to Part 155 →