"Mañjuśrī First Taught Me"
Beholding all of this, Sudhana transforms his own body to match Lady Māyā's, bows fully to the ground, and attains boundless, measureless samādhi-gates before he ever speaks a word. Rising, he reverently circles her, then addresses her by invoking the very teacher who first set him on this entire pilgrimage: the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.
A Body Transformed, and Countless Samādhis Attained
「爾時，善財見摩耶夫人有如是等閻浮提微塵等未曾有事，即變化己身，悉與摩耶夫人身等，合掌禮敬，五體投地，即得無量無邊諸三昧門。正念修習，分別觀察，隨順出生印證。證已，從三昧起；起已，敬遶摩耶夫人及諸眷屬，恭敬合掌於一面住，白言：「大聖！
文殊師利菩薩，往昔教我發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，求善知識，親近供養。我已漸求至大聖所，願為演說云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道？」」
At that time, Sudhana, beholding Lady Māyā possessed of unprecedented matters such as these, as numerous as motes of dust in Jambudvīpa, at once transformed his own body, making it entirely equal to Lady Māyā's own body, and, with palms joined in reverence, threw his whole body to the ground, at once attaining boundless, measureless samādhi-gates. Rightly recollecting and cultivating, discerning and contemplating, according with and giving rise to their own confirmation. Having confirmed this, he arose from that samādhi; having arisen, he reverently circled Lady Māyā and her own retinue, and, with palms joined in reverence, stood to one side, and said: "Great sage!
The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, in ages past, taught me to raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, to seek good and wise friends, and to draw near to them and make offerings. I have already, gradually seeking, arrived at the great sage's own presence; I beg you to expound for me how a bodhisattva studies the bodhisattva's own practice, and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path."
Sudhana's transformation of his own body to match Māyā's own, before he has even spoken to her, is a gesture this collection has not used at any earlier teacher: not merely bowing in reverence, but making himself equal in form to the one he approaches, as a precondition for what follows — attaining boundless samādhis in that very moment, prior to any teaching being given. His own invocation of Mañjuśrī is equally significant: this is the same bodhisattva who, at the very opening of this entire pilgrimage, first set Sudhana on the path of seeking good and wise friends. Naming him here, dozens of teachers and hundreds of parts later, is this account's own way of marking how far the journey has come while insisting it has never actually left its own starting point.
Part 205 In Progress
Sudhana's own question is now asked. Part 206 turns to Māyā's answer — naming her own liberation, the Dharma-gate of the vow's own wisdom-illusion, and beginning the account of how she came to be the mother of the buddha Vairocana.
Continue to Part 206 →