True Vow-Speech
Śibi Supreme names his liberation, True Vow-Speech: because of this very speech, bodhisattvas of the past, present, and future never once retrogress from unsurpassed awakening. Whatever he himself wishes to accomplish, abiding in true vow-speech, is never left unfulfilled. He closes with his self-limitation and refers Sudhana to a boy and a girl who teach together.
Speech So True That Nothing Wished Is Ever Left Unfulfilled
「婆羅門答言：「善男子！我得菩薩法門，名誠願語。過去、現在、未來菩薩以是語故，乃至於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提無有退轉，無已退，無現退，無當退。善男子！我以住於誠願語故，隨意所作莫不成滿。善男子！我唯知此誠語法門，如諸菩薩摩訶薩與誠願語，行止無違，言必以誠，未曾虛妄，無量功德因之出生。而我云何能知、能說？善男子！於此南方有城，名妙意華門。彼有童子，名曰德生。復有童女，名為有德。汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」」
The brahmin answered, saying: "Good man, I have attained the bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate named True Vow-Speech. Bodhisattvas of the past, the present, and the future, because of this very speech, never once retrogress all the way to unsurpassed, perfect awakening — none has ever retrogressed, none retrogresses now, and none shall ever retrogress. Good man, because I abide in true vow-speech, whatever I wish to accomplish is never left unfulfilled. Good man, I know only this Dharma-gate of true speech. As for how the great bodhisattvas, granted true vow-speech, act with their conduct never at odds with it, their every word necessarily true, never once false, boundless merit and virtue arising from this very cause — how could I possibly know it, or speak of it? Good man, to the south of here there is a city named Sublime-Intent Flower-Gate. There is a boy there named Born of Virtue. There is also a girl named Possessing Virtue. Go to them and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path."
The threefold formula — "none has ever retrogressed, none retrogresses now, and none shall ever retrogress" — extends true vow-speech's own guarantee across all three times at once, an unusually absolute claim even by this collection's own standards. Fazang connects this liberation to the classical Buddhist doctrine of the "act of truth" (satyakriyā), in which a statement made in perfect accordance with one's own vow and conduct becomes itself an efficacious cause — Śibi's own teaching that "whatever I wish to accomplish is never left unfulfilled" is this doctrine's own direct expression. The referral that follows introduces the pilgrimage's first PAIRED teacher — a boy and a girl teaching jointly, the first such pairing among the 53.
Part 243 Complete — Teacher 49 Concludes
Śibi Supreme's own account is now complete. Part 244 turns to Sudhana's journey to the city of Sublime-Intent Flower-Gate and his arrival before Born of Virtue and Possessing Virtue together.
Continue to Part 244 →