A Body Like a Wish-Fulfilling Jewel
The catalogue of form-bodies continues: a body reaching the very end of the Dharma-realm, pure like empty space; a body relying on nothing at all, teaching sentient beings to the very end of the vow; an incomparable body transcending the world; and, closing this run, a body like a wish-fulfilling jewel, satisfying every sentient being's own vow.
Twelve More Bodies, Each Reasoned in Turn
「究竟法界色身，淨如虛空故；現大悲色身，成就一切眾生故；顯現無礙門色身，於念念中滿法界故；無量無邊色身，淨一切世門離語言道故；無所依色身，教化眾生究竟願故；住持色身，能辦一切眾生事故；不生色身，幻願滿故；無比色身，出世間故；隨應色身，隨應度故；不雜色身，隨業相續故；如意珠色身，滿足一切眾生願故；離虛妄色身，一切眾生虛妄起故；」
"...a body reaching the very end of the Dharma-realm, because it is pure like empty space; a body manifesting great compassion, because it accomplishes every sentient being's own good; a body manifesting the unobstructed gate, because within every single thought-moment it fills the Dharma-realm; a boundless, measureless body, because it purifies every gate of the world, departing from the path of language; a body relying on nothing, because it teaches and transforms sentient beings to the very end of the vow; a body that abides and upholds, because it is able to accomplish every affair of sentient beings; an unborn body, because the illusion-like vow is fulfilled; an incomparable body, because it transcends the world; a body according with what is fitting, because it delivers according to what is fitting; an unmixed body, because it continues according to karma; a body like a wish-fulfilling jewel, because it fulfills every sentient being's own vow; a body free of falsehood, arising wherever every sentient being's own falsehood arises."
The wish-fulfilling jewel simile arrives at the exact midpoint of this run, and its own logic threads through everything around it: a body relying on nothing, unmixed, incomparable, yet answering "according to what is fitting" wherever it is needed — precisely how a wish-fulfilling jewel is traditionally described, granting whatever is asked without itself being diminished or altered by the granting.
Part 199 In Progress
Twelve further bodies are now catalogued. Part 200 closes this entire list on the structure of the five skandhas themselves — form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness — each declared, in the same breath, to be and not to be itself.
Continue to Part 200 →