The Head of Boundless Further Gates
The boy declares that the forty-two syllable-gates just given are only the head of boundless, uncountable further gates of perfect wisdom. His own account then turns from letters to his mastery of writing, arithmetic, medicine, and the mantric arts of healing — curing every affliction from possession by spirits to epilepsy and wasting disease.
Forty-Two Gates, and Boundless Gates Beyond
「善男子！我唱如是入諸解脫根本字時，此四十二般若波羅蜜門為首，入無量無數般若波羅蜜門。善男子！我唯知此善知眾藝菩薩解脫，如諸菩薩摩訶薩能於一切世、出世間善巧之法，以智通達到於彼岸。殊方異藝，咸綜無遺；文字算數蘊其深解；醫藥呪術善療眾病。有諸眾生，鬼魅所持怨憎呪詛、惡星變怪、死屍奔逐、癲癇羸瘦種種諸疾，咸能救之使得痊愈。」
"Good man, when I recite root letters that enter every liberation in this way, these forty-two prajñā-pāramitā gates serve as the head, and through them I enter boundless, uncountable prajñā-pāramitā gates. Good man, I know only this bodhisattva's own liberation, Skilled in Every Art. As for how the great bodhisattvas are able, through wisdom, to penetrate every skillful means of both the worldly and the transcendent Dharma, reaching all the way to the other shore — every exotic art of every distant land, they have mastered without exception; in writing and arithmetic they hold the deepest understanding; in medicine, pharmacology, and the mantric arts, they are skilled at healing every kind of illness. Whatever sentient beings are possessed by ghosts or spirits, cursed by hatred and malediction, afflicted by inauspicious stars and uncanny omens, pursued by animated corpses, or suffering epilepsy, wasting, and every other kind of disease — they are able to save every one of them and bring them to full recovery."
The boy's own declaration that forty-two gates serve as "the head" of boundless further gates reframes the entire preceding list: it was never meant as a closed inventory but as a demonstration of a generative principle, forty-two instances standing for a capacity without limit. Fazang reads the shift that follows — from syllables to worldly arts like medicine and healing — as showing that this same liberation, "Skilled in Every Art," names a single capacity expressing itself equally through sacred letters and through ordinary practical skill.
Part 231 In Progress
His mastery of letters, arithmetic, and healing arts is now told. Part 232 continues with his knowledge of gems and his protection of every human dwelling-place.
Continue to Part 232 →