"Entirely Through One's Own Mind"
Vimukta names ten specific buddha-lands he beholds within his own body, then names the principle underneath the entire vision: no buddha comes to him, he goes nowhere, and both the buddhas seen and the mind that sees them are alike a dream, a flash of lightning, an illusion, an echo.
Ten Named Buddha-Lands, and a Boundless Company Besides
爾時，解脫長者從三昧起，告善財言：「善男子！我已成就如來無礙莊嚴法門。得此法門已，覩見東方閻浮檀光世界，星宿王如來、應供、等正覺，明淨藏菩薩等一切大眾；又見南方諸力世界，普香如來、應供、等正覺，心王菩薩等一切大眾；又見西方香光世界，須彌燈王如來、應供、等正覺，無礙心菩薩等一切大眾；又見北方聖服幢世界，自在神力無有能壞如來、應供、等正覺，自在勢菩薩等一切大眾；又見東北方一切樂寶世界，無礙眼如來、應供、等正覺，無礙化菩薩等一切大眾；又見東南方香焰光世界，香智如來、應供、等正覺，自在慧焰光菩薩等一切大眾；又見西南方普照慧日世界，法界輪幢如來、應供、等正覺，散一切化幢菩薩等一切大眾；又見西北方普淨現世界，一切佛寶無上幢如來、應供、等正覺，法幢王菩薩等一切大眾；又見上方無盡佛性世界，無量慧光圓滿幢如來、應供、等正覺，法界地幢王菩薩等一切大眾；又見下方佛解脫光世界，無礙慧幢如來、應供、等正覺，一切眾生世界幢王菩薩等一切大眾。善男子！我見十方各一萬佛剎微塵等如來；彼諸如來不來至此，我不往彼。善男子！我若欲見安樂世界，無量壽佛，隨意即見。妙樂世界，阿閦如來；善住世界，師子如來；善現圓滿光明世界，月慧如來；寶師子莊嚴世界，毘樓遮那如來；善男子！如是等一切諸佛，隨意即見。彼諸如來，不來至此，我不往彼。
At that time the elder Vimukta rose from his samādhi, and said to Sudhana: "Good son, I have already accomplished the Tathāgata's own unobstructed, adorned Dharma-gate. Having attained this Dharma-gate, I behold, in the east, the world of Jambū-River Light, the Tathāgata King of Constellations, worthy of offerings, perfectly and fully awakened, together with Bright and Pure Treasury Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the south, the world of Every Power, the Tathāgata Universal Fragrance, together with King-Mind Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the west, the world of Fragrant Light, the Tathāgata King Lamp of Sumeru, together with Unobstructed-Mind Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the north, the world of the Banner of Sacred Vestments, the Tathāgata Sovereign Spiritual Power None Can Destroy, together with Sovereign-Strength Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the northeast, the world of Every Delightful Jewel, the Tathāgata Unobstructed Eye, together with Unobstructed-Transformation Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the southeast, the world of Fragrant Flame Light, the Tathāgata Fragrance-Wisdom, together with Sovereign Wisdom-Flame-Light Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the southwest, the world of the Universally Illumining Sun of Wisdom, the Tathāgata Banner of the Dharma-Realm's Wheel, together with Scattering Every Transformation-Banner Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, in the northwest, the world of Universal Purity Manifest, the Tathāgata Unsurpassed Banner of Every Buddha's Jewel, together with King Dharma-Banner Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, above, the world of Inexhaustible Buddha-Nature, the Tathāgata Banner of Immeasurable Wisdom-Light Perfected, together with King Banner of the Dharma-Realm's Ground Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly; and I behold, below, the world of the Buddha's Light of Liberation, the Tathāgata Banner of Unobstructed Wisdom, together with King Banner of Every Sentient Being's World Bodhisattva and the entire great assembly.
"Good son, I behold, in each of the ten directions, tathāgatas as numerous as motes of dust in ten thousand buddha-lands; those tathāgatas do not come here, and I do not go there. Good son, if I wish to see the world of Sukhāvatī and the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, I see him at will; the world of Wondrous Bliss and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya; the world of Excellent Abiding and the Tathāgata Lion; the world of Excellent Manifestation of Perfect Light and the Tathāgata Moon-Wisdom; the world of Jeweled Lion Adornment and the Tathāgata Vairocana — good son, every buddha such as these, I see at will. Those tathāgatas do not come here, and I do not go there."
Ten named directions, ten named worlds, ten named buddhas, ten named bodhisattvas — a structure this collection has already met, in a different key, in the ten directional bodhisattvas of Part 3. Here every direction converges instead within one meditator's own body, and the pattern closes on a deliberate second movement: after the ten fixed directions, Vimukta names Sukhāvatī and Amitābha specifically, followed by four more named buddha-lands "seen at will," each time repeating the same refrain — 彼諸如來不來至此，我不往彼, "those tathāgatas do not come here, and I do not go there." The refrain is the real point of the whole catalogue; the specific names are almost incidental to it.
| Direction | World | Buddha |
|---|---|---|
| East | Jambū-River Light | King of Constellations |
| South | Every Power | Universal Fragrance |
| West | Fragrant Light | King Lamp of Sumeru |
| North | Banner of Sacred Vestments | Sovereign Spiritual Power None Can Destroy |
| Northeast | Every Delightful Jewel | Unobstructed Eye |
| Southeast | Fragrant Flame Light | Fragrance-Wisdom |
| Southwest | Universally Illumining Sun of Wisdom | Banner of the Dharma-Realm's Wheel |
| Northwest | Universal Purity Manifest | Unsurpassed Banner of Every Buddha's Jewel |
| Above | Inexhaustible Buddha-Nature | Banner of Immeasurable Wisdom-Light Perfected |
| Below | The Buddha's Light of Liberation | Banner of Unobstructed Wisdom |
Dream, Lightning, Illusion, Echo
知一切佛無所從來，我無所至；知一切佛，及與我心，皆悉如夢；知一切佛，悉如電光，了知己心，如水中像；知一切佛，皆悉如幻，己心亦爾；知一切佛，音聲如響，己心亦爾。如是知，如是解，如是入。善男子！當知菩薩皆由己心得諸佛法，修菩薩行，淨一切剎；教化眾生，出諸大願；一切智城，遊戲神通不思議門；諸佛菩提，一切自在，無礙境界，皆由己心，具甚深智，了一切法。
是故，善男子！以諸善根增長己心，雨甘露法，潤澤其心；於境界中，令心清淨，勤修精進；令心堅固，專念正法；令心不亂，智慧明淨，遠離心垢；明淨慧光，照察其心，生自在心，發廣大心，與諸佛等如來十力，以照其心。善男子！我唯修此如來無礙法門，云何能說菩薩諸行，無障礙智，無礙淨行；安住觀察現在諸佛三昧，得無涅槃三昧；具足三世平等正法；善知平等三昧境界之地；具足淨身，住諸佛住不壞境界；一切諸方法門境界，智門圓滿，智慧觀察；普照一切於己身中，悉現一切世界成壞，而於己身及諸世界，不生二想；究竟眾行，功德具足。善男子！於此南方，有一國土，
"I know that no buddha comes from anywhere, and that I go nowhere at all; I know that every buddha, and my own mind as well, are both entirely like a dream; I know that every buddha is entirely like a flash of lightning, and I understand my own mind as being like a reflection in water; I know that every buddha is entirely like an illusion, and my own mind is exactly the same; I know that every buddha's own voice is like an echo, and my own mind is exactly the same. Knowing in this way, understanding in this way, entering in this way — good son, you should know that a bodhisattva attains every buddha-dharma entirely through his own mind, cultivating the bodhisattva path, purifying every land; teaching and transforming sentient beings, bringing forth every great vow; the city of omniscience, the inconceivable gate of playful spiritual powers; every buddha's own awakening, every sovereign mastery, every unobstructed domain — all of it comes entirely through one's own mind, endowed with the most profound wisdom, understanding every dharma.
"For this reason, good son, nurture your own mind through every root of goodness, raining down the ambrosial Dharma to moisten and enrich your mind; amid every domain, cause your mind to become pure, diligently cultivating vigor; cause your mind to become firm, single-mindedly holding the true Dharma in mind; cause your mind to become free of confusion, your wisdom bright and pure, forever removed from every stain of mind; through bright, pure light of wisdom, illumine and examine your own mind, giving rise to a sovereign mind, raising a vast, great mind, equal to every buddha's own ten powers, and illumine your mind with them.
"Good son, I have cultivated only this Tathāgata's own unobstructed Dharma-gate — how could I possibly explain a bodhisattva's own every practice, unobstructed wisdom, unobstructed pure conduct; abiding firmly, contemplating the samādhi of every present buddha, attaining the samādhi without nirvāṇa; being fully endowed with the equal, true Dharma of the three times; skillfully knowing the ground of the domain of the samādhi of equanimity; being fully endowed with a pure body, abiding in every buddha's own abiding, an indestructible domain; the domain of every Dharma-gate in every direction, the gate of wisdom perfected, wisdom's own contemplation; universally illumining everything within his own body, manifesting entirely the formation and dissolution of every world, yet giving rise, regarding his own body and every world, to no thought of duality at all; reaching the very end of every practice, merit fully endowed. Good son, to the south of here there is a land —"
Fazang treats the "not coming, not going, yet seeing" teaching as needing genuine philosophical unpacking, not just poetic restatement, and works through all four similes in turn. The dream simile he reads at the level of ontology itself: 以能見所見俱在夢中各無自體，何所來至 — "since both the seer and what is seen are alike within a dream, and neither has any self-nature of its own, where would there be any coming or going at all? A dream has no location to begin with." The lightning-and-reflection simile he unpacks into four separate points at once: water reflects light because it responds to conditions; light breaks darkness and reveals the path, extinguishing a being's own hindrance; it cannot be grasped or held, being free of any fixed mark; and it vanishes swiftly without abiding, since it belongs to nothing the ordinary world can lay claim to. His own summary line is worth keeping whole: 心水定澄能現彼像，水亦不去電亦不來，而像無不現故也 — "the water of the mind, made calm and clear through samādhi, is able to manifest that very reflection; the water itself does not go anywhere, and the light does not come from anywhere, and yet the reflection is never once absent." The illusion simile he reads as showing a specific kind of mastery — an illusory mind free of obstruction is able to manifest an illusory buddha equally free of obstruction, manifesting many illusory buddhas within a single illusory body without any hindrance between them — which he identifies as the same "dependent-arising, mutual reliance" mastery this whole vision has been demonstrating from its opening line. And the echo simile, more simply, accounts for how Sudhana can hear these buddhas actually teaching the Dharma in Part 21's own vision: a voice heard without any speaker who has traveled anywhere to speak it.
Fazang closes by distinguishing two different kinds of deferral a spiritual friend can make at the end of their own teaching — a distinction worth carrying forward, since it recurs across the rest of this pilgrimage: 一即於自己法門之內更有深細，非己能知...二推異類法門非己能知 — "one kind defers because there is yet further depth and subtlety within this very same Dharma-gate that they themselves cannot fully know [as here, and as with Meghaśrī and Sāgaramegha before him]; the other kind defers to an entirely different category of Dharma-gate outside their own practice altogether [as Susthitamati did, deferring on the twenty precepts he does not himself cultivate]." Both are genuine humility; they are not, on Fazang's reading, quite the same gesture.
Part 22 Complete
This closes Part 22, and the whole of Vimukta's teaching: ten named buddha-lands beheld within his own body, and the teaching beneath the entire vision — that every buddha seen and the mind that sees them are alike a dream, lightning, an illusion, an echo, and that everything a bodhisattva attains comes entirely through one's own mind. Teacher 6, the monk Sāgaradhvaja, awaits south of Grove-Dwelling, in the land called Adorning the Peak of Jambudvīpa.
Continue to Part 23 — Sāgaradhvaja, in Deep Samādhi →