Vimukta, and the Body That Holds Every World
After twelve years searching, Sudhana finds the elder Vimukta at Grove-Dwelling. A single samādhi reveals, within Vimukta's own body, buddha-lands beyond counting — each one showing an entire buddhahood, from descent from Tuṣita to the raising of a stūpa, unfolding at once.
Twelve Years, and a Long Request
爾時，善財童子正念菩薩所言不虛法門：入菩薩語言海、念一切眾生微細方便海、思惟菩薩諸垢淨法、出生菩薩善根光明、淨修菩薩教化眾生巧方便門、明淨菩薩攝眾生智、堅固菩薩正直心力、長養菩薩深心之力、淨修菩薩種種欲力、信菩薩心遠離諸惡。願心堅固，以大莊嚴而自莊嚴，心無疲倦，勇猛精進，心不退轉，具不可壞淨信心力，金剛那羅延所不能壞；攝取一切善知識教，無礙境界皆悉清淨；無垢境界，妙心現前；逮得普眼方便光明陀羅尼地，了法界地，心常現前；知平等地非地，莊嚴清淨，不著我所；無二境界，逮得清淨無礙智慧。了知法地無所障礙；知諸方地而不退轉；分別了知一切業地；嚴淨顯現諸佛大地；得智慧輪，分別三世，逮得普樂光明三昧，遍照身心，順至一切諸境界地。如來智慧，普照境界，興起一切智慧波浪；身常不離佛法勢力，為諸如來之所護持；其心悉與一切佛等，隨順智慧，普照一切；其身充滿一切剎網，成就大願，己身容受一切法界。如是念已，漸漸遊行，經十二年，至住林國；周遍推求解脫長者。見已，禮足，於一面住，作如是念：「我得善利，見善知識。善知識者出興世難、至其所難、得值遇難、得見知難、得親近難、得共住難、得其意難、得隨順難。」
念已，白言：「大聖！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，欲值一切佛；欲見一切佛；欲得一切佛意；欲知一切佛心；欲得一切諸佛三昧；隨順一切佛一切大願；欲滿一切佛一切大願；欲求一切佛智慧光明；欲自身中出一切佛；欲得諸明，知一切佛自在神通；欲淨一切佛力無畏法；欲聞一切佛法，心無厭足；欲受一切佛法；欲持一切佛法；欲分別一切佛法；欲護一切佛教；欲與一切諸菩薩同；欲與菩薩同善根友；欲具菩薩諸波羅蜜；欲滿一切諸菩薩行；欲發菩薩清淨大願；欲得一切諸佛菩薩因緣法藏；欲得一切菩薩無量法藏智慧光明；欲得一切菩薩諸三昧藏；欲出生一切菩薩諸通明藏；欲發大悲藏教化眾生無有窮盡；欲分別知遊戲神通藏；欲分別知自在之藏；欲於自在藏，心得自在；欲清淨十種藏，一向專求此諸功德，詣長者所；欲滿諸願；欲超出生死；欲得自在法；欲具恭敬門；欲具方便門；欲遠離諸垢；欲清淨莊嚴；欲身心柔軟；欲調伏諸根。」白言：「我聞大聖，善教菩薩方便正道，普照一切顯現妙法；示導津濟，開正法門；除滅顛倒，拔疑惑刺；心離迷垢，照除重闇；離諸煩惱，永得清涼；棄捨諂曲，超出生死；離不善根，長養善根；遠離諸趣，無所染著；滅一切障，求薩婆若；到法王城，其心安住大慈大悲；教菩薩行，修諸三昧；其心安住隨順法門，發廣大心；具足諸力，照明一切諸群生心。唯願大聖為我分別云何菩薩向菩薩道，修菩薩道；既修習已，令速清淨菩薩之行，具成菩薩圓滿淨行？」
At that time Sudhana the Boy, rightly holding in mind the bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate called Never in Vain — entering the ocean of a bodhisattva's own language, holding in mind the ocean of every sentient being's own subtle skillful means, contemplating the bodhisattva's own dharmas of defilement and purity, giving rise to the light of the bodhisattva's own root of goodness, purely cultivating the bodhisattva's own skillful gate for teaching and transforming sentient beings, brightly purifying the bodhisattva's own wisdom for gathering sentient beings in, making firm the bodhisattva's own power of an upright mind, nurturing the bodhisattva's own power of a profound mind, purely cultivating the bodhisattva's own power over every kind of desire, and trusting the bodhisattva's own mind, forever removed from every evil — his vow-mind firm, adorning himself with great adornment, his mind never wearied, courageously advancing with vigor, his mind never regressing, endowed with an unshakeable power of pure faith that even vajra and Nārāyaṇa themselves could not destroy; gathering in the teaching of every good spiritual friend, his unobstructed domain entirely pure; his stainless domain, a sublime mind manifest before him; attaining the ground of the dhāraṇī of the universal eye's skillful light, understanding the ground of the Dharma-realm, his mind constantly manifest before him; knowing the ground of equanimity that is no ground at all, adorned and purified, attached to no notion of "mine"; his domain free of duality, attaining pure, unobstructed wisdom. Understanding the ground of the Dharma without any obstruction; knowing the grounds of every direction without ever regressing; discerning and understanding entirely the ground of every karma; adorning and purifying, manifesting the great ground of every buddha; attaining the wheel of wisdom, discerning the three times, attaining the samādhi of universal joy and light, universally illumining body and mind, according with and reaching the ground of every domain entirely. The Tathāgata's own wisdom, universally illumining every domain, giving rise to the waves of every wisdom; his body constantly never apart from the power of the Buddha-dharma, upheld and guarded by every tathāgata; his mind entirely equal to every buddha, according with wisdom, universally illumining everything; his body filling entirely the net of every land, accomplishing the great vow, his own body containing the entire Dharma-realm. Holding all this in mind, he gradually traveled onward, and, after twelve years, arrived at the land of Grove-Dwelling, seeking everywhere for the elder Vimukta. Having seen him, he bowed at his feet, and, standing to one side, thought thus: "I have gained good benefit, to see a good spiritual friend. A good spiritual friend arises in the world only with difficulty; reaching where they are is difficult; encountering them is difficult; seeing and knowing them is difficult; drawing near to them is difficult; dwelling together with them is difficult; gaining their favor is difficult; according with them is difficult."
Having thought this, he said: "Great sage! I have already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; I wish to encounter every buddha; I wish to see every buddha; I wish to attain every buddha's own intent; I wish to know every buddha's own mind; I wish to attain every buddha's own samādhi; I wish to accord with every buddha's every great vow; I wish to fulfill every buddha's every great vow; I wish to seek the light of wisdom of every buddha; I wish to bring forth every buddha from within my own body; I wish to attain every brightness, knowing every buddha's own sovereign spiritual power; I wish to purify the power and fearlessness of every buddha's own Dharma; I wish to hear every buddha's own Dharma, my mind never wearying of it; I wish to receive every buddha's own Dharma; I wish to uphold every buddha's own Dharma; I wish to discern every buddha's own Dharma; I wish to guard every buddha's own teaching; I wish to be equal to every bodhisattva; I wish to share the same root of goodness as every bodhisattva-friend; I wish to be endowed with every bodhisattva's own pāramitās; I wish to fulfill every bodhisattva's every practice; I wish to raise a bodhisattva's own pure, great vow; I wish to attain the treasury of every buddha's and bodhisattva's own causes and conditions; I wish to attain the wisdom-light of the treasury of every bodhisattva's boundless Dharma; I wish to attain the treasury of every bodhisattva's own samādhis; I wish to give rise to the treasury of every bodhisattva's own spiritual brightness; I wish to raise the treasury of great compassion, teaching and transforming sentient beings without end; I wish to discern and know the treasury of playful spiritual powers; I wish to discern and know the treasury of sovereign mastery; I wish, within that very treasury of sovereign mastery, to attain sovereign mastery of mind; I wish to purify the ten treasuries, single-mindedly seeking these very merits as I go before the elder; I wish to fulfill every vow; I wish to transcend birth and death; I wish to attain the sovereign Dharma; I wish to be endowed with the gate of reverence; I wish to be endowed with the gate of skillful means; I wish to leave every stain far behind; I wish to be purely adorned; I wish my body and mind to become supple; I wish to tame every faculty."
He continued: "I have heard that you, great sage, well teach the bodhisattvas' own skillful, true path, universally illumining and manifesting the sublime Dharma; showing the ferry-crossing, opening the gate of true Dharma; extinguishing inversion, drawing out the thorn of doubt; the mind free of the stain of confusion, illumining and removing heavy darkness; free of every affliction, forever attaining coolness and relief; casting off flattery and crookedness, transcending birth and death; free of every unwholesome root, nurturing every wholesome root; forever removed from every destiny, attached to nothing at all; extinguishing every hindrance, seeking omniscience; reaching the city of the Dharma-King, your mind abiding firmly in great kindness and great compassion; teaching the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivating every samādhi; your mind abiding firmly in the Dharma-gate of according with, raising the vast, great mind; endowed with every power, illumining the mind of every kind of being. I ask only that you, great sage, discern for me how a bodhisattva turns toward the bodhisattva path, and cultivates the bodhisattva path — and, having cultivated it, swiftly purify a bodhisattva's own practice, fully accomplishing a bodhisattva's own perfected, pure conduct."
Fazang glosses "Grove-Dwelling" as a compound of two separate images: 行德建立名林 — "conduct and virtue, once firmly established, are called a forest"; 安固不動稱住 — "firm and unmoving is called 'dwelling.'" He adds a further sense specific to this elder: abiding in samādhi, his own body broadly manifests the buddha-realm's own causes and fruits the way a forest holds countless trees. On the name Vimukta itself: 身內容現無邊佛境，定用自在名為解脫 — "his body contains and manifests boundless buddha-realms, his mastery of samādhi entirely sovereign — hence he is called Liberation."
Fazang draws out a general principle from the pattern this page repeats yet again — Sudhana stating, before any teaching is given, that he has "already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening": 以此文驗，即知欲受大法，要須發菩提心；若不發此心，非此法器 — "from this passage we can verify that to receive the great Dharma, one absolutely must have raised the mind of awakening; without raising this mind, one is not a fit vessel for it." This is why, Fazang notes, every single one of Sudhana's fifty-three encounters opens the same way, confirming his own resolve before a single word of teaching passes between them — not a formality, but the entry requirement the whole pilgrimage rests on.
Every Buddha's Career, Within a Single Body
時，解脫長者以過去善根力、佛威神力、文殊師利憶念力故，入菩薩三昧門；其三昧門，名攝一切佛剎無量旋陀羅尼。入已，得清淨身；於其身內，十方各見十佛世界微塵等佛，及嚴淨剎，一切大眾過去所行。彼諸如來，神力自在，一切大願功德之具；諸清淨行，莊嚴正道，成等正覺，轉淨法輪，教化眾生，究竟諸法。於其身內，皆悉顯現而無雜亂，不相障礙；如本相住，形色不同，種種莊飾；菩薩大眾，圍遶莊嚴，顯現一切諸佛自在，說諸願門，示現無量自在神力。或於一剎，處兜率天，而作佛事；或於一剎，示現命終；或現受胎；或現處胎，顯自在力；或現出生；或現處中宮；或現出家；或現往詣莊嚴道場；或現降魔；或現成佛；或現天宮、夜叉、乾闥婆、諸世界王，大眾圍遶，請轉法輪；或現轉法輪；或現入諸趣；或現般涅槃；或現分舍利；或現起塔種種莊嚴。彼諸如來，為種種眾生，諸眾生海，種種方便、種種根、種種煩惱習氣；或於小眾而現大眾，所謂：一由旬眾現十由旬眾，乃至不可說佛剎微塵等由旬眾，而為說法。彼諸如來以微妙音所說正法，善財童子悉聞受持；又見彼佛自在神力，不可思議菩薩三昧。
At that time the elder Vimukta, through the power of roots of goodness planted in the past, the Buddha's own majestic spiritual power, and the power of Mañjuśrī's own remembrance, entered a bodhisattva's own samādhi-gate; this samādhi-gate is named the Boundless Revolving Dhāraṇī That Gathers In Every Buddha-Land. Having entered it, he attained a pure body; and within that very body, in each of the ten directions, he beheld buddhas as numerous as motes of dust in ten buddha-worlds, together with their adorned, pure lands, and the past conduct of their entire great assemblies. Those tathāgatas' own sovereign spiritual power, every implement of the great vow's own merit; every pure practice, the adorned true path, the attainment of perfect awakening, the turning of the pure Dharma-wheel, the teaching and transformation of sentient beings, the completion of every dharma — all of this appeared entirely within his own body, without any confusion, without any mutual obstruction; each remaining in its own original form, its shape and color all different, adorned in every kind of way; the great assembly of bodhisattvas surrounding and adorning them, manifesting the sovereign mastery of every buddha, expounding the gate of every vow, manifesting sovereign spiritual power without measure. In one land, a buddha might be shown performing buddha-work in the Tuṣita Heaven; in another land, manifesting the ending of life; or manifesting the entering of the womb; or manifesting dwelling within the womb, revealing his own sovereign power; or manifesting birth; or manifesting dwelling within the palace; or manifesting going forth from home; or manifesting proceeding to the adorned place of awakening; or manifesting the subduing of Māra; or manifesting the attainment of buddhahood; or manifesting heavenly palaces, yakṣas, gandharvas, and the kings of every world, surrounded by their great assemblies, requesting the turning of the Dharma-wheel; or manifesting the turning of the Dharma-wheel; or manifesting entry into every destiny; or manifesting entry into final nirvāṇa; or manifesting the distribution of relics; or manifesting the raising of stūpas, adorned in every kind of way. Those tathāgatas, for the sake of every kind of sentient being, the oceans of every kind of being, with every kind of skillful means, every kind of faculty, and every kind of afflictive habitual tendency; sometimes, from a small assembly, manifesting a great one — namely, an assembly of a single yojana manifesting as an assembly of ten yojanas, even up to an assembly of yojanas as numerous as motes of dust in buddha-lands beyond telling — expounding the Dharma for their sake. Sudhana the Boy heard and upheld entirely the true Dharma expounded by those tathāgatas in their subtle and marvelous voices; he also beheld those buddhas' own sovereign spiritual power, the bodhisattvas' own samādhi beyond conceiving.
Fazang glosses the samādhi's own name in two halves: 攝剎從境為目 — "'gathering in lands' names it from its object"; 旋持從智為名 — "'revolving-holding' names it from the wisdom that holds it" — gathering in those lands according with his own wisdom's own turning, containing and holding them all together at once. He identifies four distinct senses in which this vision counts as "unobstructed" (無礙): each tathāgata individually possesses every unobstructed adornment; each tathāgata mutually pervades every other without obstruction; the adornments of every tathāgata all enter within this elder's own single body; and he thoroughly beholds the ocean of buddhas throughout the ten directions at once. All four, Fazang notes, are present in this one passage — which is why the Dharma-gate itself is named for being unobstructed rather than for any one of these four alone.
The eight-fold catalogue of a single buddha's career — Tuṣita, death, conception, the womb, birth, the palace, going forth, awakening, subduing Māra, teaching, nirvāṇa, relics, stūpas — is the traditional account of a buddha's major life-events, and its appearance here, repeated across buddha-lands beyond counting simultaneously, previews something worth watching for across the rest of this pilgrimage: this same eightfold pattern will recur, at much greater length, in Sudhana's climactic encounter with Maitreya many pages from now. Its first appearance here, compressed into a single elder's meditative vision, is a small foreshadowing of the far larger vision still to come.
Part 21 Complete
This closes Part 21: Sudhana's twelve-year search, his extensive request, and Vimukta's samādhi revealing every buddha's career unfolding at once within a single body. Part 22 turns to what Vimukta says once he rises from this samādhi — a teaching that everything just witnessed, however vast, comes entirely through one's own mind.
Continue to Part 22 — "Entirely Through One's Own Mind" →