Farewell to Māyā, Onward to Trāyastriṃśa
Māyā refers Sudhana onward to a young goddess named Light, Lord of the Devas, under a king named Right-Mindfulness, in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. Sudhana bows and circles her in reverence before departing, arrives at the heavenly palace, and asks his now-familiar question.
A Referral to Trāyastriṃśa Heaven
「爾時，摩耶夫人告善財童子言：「善男子！於此世界三十三天，有王名正念王，有童女名天主光。汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」時，善財童子敬受其教，頭面作禮，遶無數匝，戀慕瞻仰，却行而退。遂往天宮見彼童女，禮足圍遶，合掌前住，白言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？我聞聖者善能誘誨，願為我說。」」
Then Lady Māyā said to Sudhana: "Good man, in this world, in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, there is a king named Right-Mindfulness, and a young goddess named Light, Lord of the Devas. Go to her and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path." At that time, Sudhana reverently received her teaching, bowed his head to her feet, circled her countless times in longing reverence and admiration, and withdrew, walking backward. He then went to the heavenly palace and saw that young goddess; he bowed at her feet, circled her, stood before her with palms joined, and said: "Noble one, I have already raised the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect awakening, but I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path. I have heard that you, noble one, are skilled in guiding and instructing — I ask that you teach me."
Māyā's own episode, the longest single teacher's account so far after the Ten Grounds, closes here — and the farewell formula returns to its usual placement: bowing, circling, and withdrawal happen entirely within this part, before the referral's own destination is even reached, exactly as this collection's established convention requires. Fazang notes that Trāyastriṃśa, the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, sits directly above Jambudvīpa in this cosmology's own reckoning — the pilgrimage's course has now risen, quite literally, from the human world into the heavens.
Part 220 Complete — Teacher 42 Begins
Sudhana has arrived before Light, Lord of the Devas, and asked his question. Part 221 begins her answer: her liberation, Unobstructed-Mindfulness Pure Adornment, and the first of her kalpa-by-kalpa accounts of buddhas she has served.
Continue to Part 221 →