On to Lady Māyā
Gopā names the boundary of her own knowledge before the great bodhisattvas' own sovereign mastery of skillful means, then sends Sudhana onward — still within this same city of Kapilavastu — to Lady Māyā herself, the mother whose own account this pilgrimage has been circling since the garden of Lumbinī.
A Boundary Named, and a Referral to Māyā
「佛子！我唯知此法門，諸大菩薩皆悉究竟諸方便海，顯現一切眾生等身，隨順世間，於一切毛孔普放一切相海光明，了法無性，諸眾生類等如虛空，一切至處皆悉如如，顯現神變，於諸法界得自在力，遊戲普門一切諸地法門海中；我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？」
爾時，瞿夷語善財言：「善男子！此迦毘羅城摩耶夫人，汝詣彼問云何菩薩修習諸行，不染世法？供養諸佛，於菩薩行得不退轉？除滅障礙，不由他悟，入諸法門，常能應現一切佛所？攝取眾生，盡未來劫，修菩薩行而不退轉，究竟滿足大乘諸願，長養一切眾生善根？」
"Child of the Buddha, I know only this Dharma-gate. As for how the great bodhisattvas, every one of them, reach the very end of the whole ocean of skillful means, manifest bodies equal to every sentient being, accord with the world, universally send forth, from every pore, the light of the whole ocean of every mark, understand that dharmas have no fixed nature, know that every kind of sentient being is equal, like empty space, and that wherever they arrive is, in every case, thus-and-so, manifest spiritual transformations, attain sovereign power throughout every Dharma-realm, and sport freely within the whole ocean of Dharma-gates of every ground of the universal gate — how could I possibly be able to know, or to speak of, their own merit and conduct?"
At that time, Gopā said to Sudhana: "Good man, at this city of Kapilavastu, there is Lady Māyā. Go to her, and ask: how does a bodhisattva cultivate every practice without being stained by worldly dharmas? How does one make offerings to every buddha, and attain non-retrogression in the bodhisattva's own practice? How does one extinguish every obstruction, awaken without relying on another, enter every Dharma-gate, and constantly be able to manifest, in response, at the presence of every buddha? How does one gather in sentient beings, and, throughout every kalpa yet to come, cultivate the bodhisattva's own practice without retrogression, reaching the very end and fulfilling every vow of the Great Vehicle, nurturing every sentient being's own root of goodness?"
Gopā's closing self-limitation names precisely what she has just spent this entire teaching circling without ever fully reaching: bodies manifest "equal to every sentient being," light sent forth from every pore, and a sovereign power sporting freely through every ground at once — the same register of description she has already used for the bodhisattvas she beholds, now admitted as beyond her own capacity to explain. Her referral is brief and geographically close: Lady Māyā is not in a distant land but within this same city of Kapilavastu, the mother this whole account has already located, back at teacher 39's own episode, as intimately bound to this very story from before Sudhana's pilgrimage even reached her.
Part 183 In Progress
The referral to Māyā is now given. Part 184 turns to Gopā's own closing hymn, restating this final teaching in verse before her farewell to Sudhana.
Continue to Part 184 →