Boundless Marks
Unsurpassed Army names his liberation, Boundless Marks, through which he has beheld boundless buddhas and attained a boundless treasury. He closes with his self-limitation and refers Sudhana to a village named Dharma, where a brahmin named Śibi Supreme awaits.
Boundless Buddhas Beheld, a Boundless Treasury Attained
「長者答言：「善男子！我得菩薩解脫，名無盡相。我以證此菩薩解脫，見無量佛，得無盡藏。善男子！我唯知此無盡相解脫，如諸菩薩摩訶薩得無限智、無礙辯才。而我云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！於此城南有一聚落，名之為法。彼聚落中有婆羅門，名尸毘最勝。汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」」
The elder answered, saying: "Good man, I have attained the bodhisattva's own liberation named Boundless Marks. Through realizing this bodhisattva's own liberation, I have beheld boundless buddhas and attained a boundless treasury. Good man, I know only this liberation of Boundless Marks. As for how the great bodhisattvas attain unlimited wisdom and unobstructed eloquence — how could I possibly know it, or speak of it? Good man, to the south of this city there is a village named Dharma. Within that village there is a brahmin named Śibi Supreme. Go to him and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path."
Śibi is a name carried from an older layer of Buddhist story-literature — King Śibi, famous in jātaka tradition for cutting his own flesh to ransom a dove from a hawk, the paradigm of the perfection of giving. A brahmin bearing this name here, at a village literally called Dharma, signals through naming alone what territory this next teacher's own liberation is likely to concern, well before Sudhana ever asks his question.
Part 241 Complete — Teacher 48 Concludes
Unsurpassed Army's own account is now complete. Part 242 turns to Sudhana's journey to the village of Dharma and his arrival before the brahmin Śibi Supreme.
Continue to Part 242 →