Onward to Vātana
Sudhana bows farewell to Skilled in Every Art and makes his way to the village and city of Vātana in the kingdom of Magadha, arriving before the upāsikā Worthy Supreme to ask his now-familiar question.
An Upāsikā Named Worthy Supreme
「時，善財童子頭面敬禮眾藝之足，遶無數匝，戀仰辭去。向聚落城至賢勝所，禮足圍遶，合掌恭敬，於一面立，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。」」
At that time, Sudhana bowed his head in reverence to the feet of Skilled in Every Art, circled him countless times in longing reverence, and took his leave. Making his way toward that village and city, he arrived at the place of Worthy Supreme; he bowed at her feet, circled her, and stood to one side with palms joined in reverence, saying: "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."
The pilgrimage's register shifts again here: after a young goddess in the heavens, a boy at a royal city, and another boy skilled in every art, Sudhana now bows before an ordinary laywoman in an unremarkable village city. Fazang reads the 53 teachers' own range of social standing — deities, kings, boys, laywomen, elders, courtesans, kings' own consorts — as itself part of the teaching: awakening's own good friends are not confined to any single station.
Part 234 Complete — Teacher 45 Begins
Sudhana has arrived and asked his question. Part 235 begins Worthy Supreme's own answer: her liberation, the Bodhimaṇḍa of No Abiding Place, and the inexhaustible samādhi she has attained through it.
Continue to Part 235 →