A Mind That Does Not Rely on Beauty
The mother's verse closes on the girl's own inner life — a stainless mind free of flattery, a voice that turns hearers away from evil karma, and reverence for good and wise friends. Its final line names what has been implicit throughout: for all her sublime, lotus-born form, this girl's own heart relies on none of it, seeking only the unsurpassed path. The whole party then sets out together for the bodhimaṇḍa.
Five Stanzas: A Stainless Mind, Seeking Only the Unsurpassed Path
「『其身淨無垢， 譬如真金像，
若有覩見者， 離害具慈心。
口出微妙音， 無不樂聞者，
若有聽斯音， 遠離諸惡業。
心淨無瑕穢， 質直無諂曲，
隨其所聞法， 如說能修行。
恭敬善知識， 及所尊重者，
遠離貪欲心， 專求於正法。
此女心不恃， 妙色蓮花生，
世間諸榮樂， 唯求無上道。』」
"Her body is pure and stainless, like an image of true gold; whoever beholds it departs from harm and becomes endowed with a mind of loving-kindness.
From her mouth issues a sublime, subtle voice, and there is none who does not delight in hearing it; whoever listens to this voice departs far from every evil karma.
Her mind is pure, without flaw or blemish, her nature upright, free of flattery or crookedness; whatever Dharma she hears, she is able to practice exactly as taught.
Reverencing good and wise friends, and those worthy of honor, she departs far from a mind of greed and desire, single-mindedly seeking the true Dharma.
This girl's own mind does not rely upon her sublime form, born from the lotus flower; amid every worldly glory and pleasure, she seeks only the unsurpassed path."
The mother's own closing stanza names, at last, the point her entire twenty-four-stanza portrait and this shorter ten-stanza coda have both been circling: her daughter's mind "does not rely upon her own sublime form" at all. Every physical marvel catalogued across both verses — lotus birth, healing touch, sandalwood fragrance — is, by this final line, revealed as beside the point. What actually defines this girl, in her own mother's own words, is a heart that "seeks only the unsurpassed path," regardless of what beauty or fortune surrounds it.
Part 170 In Progress
The mother's full verse portrait is now complete, and every party has spoken. Part 171 turns to the journey itself, as the prince, the girl, and ten thousand attendant women set out together from the garden toward the bodhimaṇḍa where the newly awakened buddha waits.
Continue to Part 171 →