Raising the Mind of Awakening
The prince's verse widens further: reverence for every guide, the true Dharma, and the noble saṅgha; great loving-kindness for those without any refuge, and great compassion for those trapped in the three evil destinies; equanimity before the truth that whatever is formed must decay; and, finally, raising the mind of awakening itself, to be cultivated across boundless kalpas without ever growing weary.
Five Stanzas: The Triple Gem, Compassion, and Equanimity
「『一切諸導師， 正法菩薩眾，
聖僧功德海， 皆悉應恭敬。
修習諸功德， 遠離一切惡，
安住於正法， 廣行菩薩道。
若無歸依者， 應起大慈心，
諸在三惡道， 應發大悲念。
一切諸法界， 有成必有敗，
捨心平等觀， 莫隨煩惱魔。』」
"Every guide, the true Dharma, the assembly of bodhisattvas, and the ocean of merit of the noble saṅgha — all of these one ought to revere.
Cultivating every merit, departing far from every evil, abiding securely in the true Dharma, broadly practicing the bodhisattva's own path.
Toward those without any refuge, one ought to raise the mind of great loving-kindness; toward those within the three evil destinies, one ought to raise the thought of great compassion.
Throughout the whole Dharma-realm, whatever is formed must surely decay; with an equanimous mind, contemplate all things equally, and do not follow the māra of affliction."
These four stanzas move through what amounts to the triple gem — guides (the buddhas), the true Dharma, and the noble saṅgha — before turning outward to compassion for two specific groups: those without any refuge at all, and those already within the three evil destinies. The final stanza then supplies the philosophical ground beneath all of it: "whatever is formed must surely decay," an equanimity that does not cancel compassion but grounds it, refusing to let grief at impermanence curdle into being "followed by the māra of affliction."
A Final Stanza: The Mind of Awakening, Without Weariness
「『應發菩提心， 覺悟諸群生，
無量劫修行， 不起疲倦想。』」
"One ought to raise the mind of awakening, awakening the sprouting multitudes, and cultivate throughout boundless kalpas, never giving rise to any thought of weariness."
The prince's own eleven-stanza teaching closes on the single vow this whole collection has been unpacking across all fifty-three teachers: raising the mind of awakening, for the sake of every sentient being, without limit of time. That a prince, mid-courtship, delivers this entire teaching unprompted — moving from a personal scruple about improper desire to a full ethical vision spanning boundless kalpas — signals plainly that this account is building toward something larger than a marriage plot. What that turns out to be is what the girl's own mother reveals next.
Part 161 In Progress
The prince's own verse teaching is now complete. Part 162 turns to the girl's mother, who answers with a verse of her own — the full story of her daughter's own extraordinary birth from a lotus flower.
Continue to Part 162 →