A Jeweled Maiden, Rare in All the World
The mother's verse continues: a body like purple gold seated on the lotus itself, a fragrance of sandalwood from every pore, and a mastery of every worldly skill, language, and art. Most striking of all, she already knows the source of sentient beings' own illness, and the remedy that dispels it.
Eight Stanzas: A Body Like Purple Gold, a Mastery of Every Skill
「『目髮紺青色， 其身如紫金，
眾寶以莊嚴， 觀者心無厭。
離垢淨無穢， 肢節悉具足，
猶如真金像， 安處寶蓮華。
毛孔栴檀香， 普熏於一切，
口出蓮華香， 演妙梵音聲。
此是玉女寶， 世間所希有，
身相悉具足， 種種妙莊嚴。
一切諸技術， 世間言論法，
究竟悉縷練， 願為哀納受。
此是玉女寶， 身分悉圓滿，
功德具莊嚴， 宿行之所得。
善知眾生病， 起患之所由，
又知對治法， 除滅眾疑惑。
一切閻浮提， 眾生語言法，
種種妓樂音， 無不善通達。』」
"Her eyes and hair a deep blue-black hue, her body like purple gold, adorned with every kind of jewel; those who beheld her, their minds never grew weary.
Stainless, pure, and free of every impurity, every one of her limbs and joints complete, like an image of true gold, seated securely upon the jeweled lotus.
From her every pore, the fragrance of sandalwood universally perfumed everything; from her mouth came the fragrance of the lotus flower, and she gave forth a sublime, Brahmā-like voice.
This is the treasure of a jeweled maiden, rare in all the world; her bodily marks all complete, adorned in every kind of sublime way.
Every kind of skill and craft, and every worldly art of discourse, she has thoroughly mastered in every detail; I beg you, in compassion, to accept her.
This is the treasure of a jeweled maiden, her every bodily part entirely complete, adorned and endowed with merit, attained through her own past conduct.
She well knows sentient beings' own illnesses, and the source from which their afflictions arise, and further knows the dharma that counters them, extinguishing every doubt and confusion.
Every language and mode of speech of the sentient beings of the whole of Jambudvīpa, and every kind of musical sound, there is none she has not thoroughly mastered."
The mother's catalogue moves, across these eight stanzas, from physical beauty to accomplishment to something closer to a bodhisattva's own skillful means: knowing "sentient beings' own illnesses, and the source from which their afflictions arise," and the dharma that counters them. This is medical language repurposed for spiritual diagnosis, the same framing this collection has used elsewhere for a bodhisattva's own compassionate skill — and it arrives here from the mouth of a mother still, ostensibly, arranging an ordinary royal marriage.
Part 163 In Progress
The girl's accomplishments are now fully catalogued. Part 164 continues the mother's verse with her inner virtues — compassion for the poor and suffering, freedom from jealousy and anger, and a wisdom without equal.
Continue to Part 164 →