Crossing the Mountain-Torrent of Delusion
What the good friend removes is now named in vivid, concrete images: māra's own hooks and bait severed, the thorns of suffering pulled out, the mountain-torrent of delusion crossed, and the pure, correct path of awakening shown and guided to.
Māra's Hooks Severed, the Mountain-Torrent Crossed
「……遠不善法，離惡知識，滅無明闇，諸邪見縛，超出生死一切世間；斷魔鉤餌，拔苦惱刺，出無智險難，邪惑山㵎，越度有流，諸惡邪徑；示導清淨菩提正道，教菩薩法，修習四道明淨慧眼；安立薩婆若，增長菩提心，廣大慈悲；……」
"… far from unwholesome dharmas, separated from evil companions, extinguishing the darkness of ignorance and every bond of wrong view, transcending the entire worldly state of birth and death; severing every hook and bait set by māra, pulling out the thorns of suffering and affliction, escaping the perilous hardship of ignorance and the mountain-torrent of delusion, crossing beyond the flowing stream of existence and every evil, deviant path; showing and guiding one to the pure, correct path of awakening, teaching the bodhisattva's own Dharma, cultivating the bright, pure wisdom-eye of the four paths; establishing one in omniscience, increasing the mind of awakening, and vast loving-kindness and compassion … [the teaching continues]"
"The mountain-torrent of delusion" (邪惑山㵎) uses the same rare character, 㵎 ("mountain stream" or "torrent"), that named Maitreya's own country, Sea-Torrent — a deliberate echo linking the geography Sudhana is about to travel through with the very obstacles the good friend's own teaching removes. Fazang reads the sequence — darkness dispelled, hooks severed, thorns pulled, a torrent crossed, a path shown — as moving from removing obstruction to actively guiding, the two halves of what a good friend does for anyone under their care.
Part 259 In Progress
The good friend's own removal of obstruction and guidance toward the path are now described. Part 260 continues with the pāramitās, the bodhisattva grounds, and beholding every buddha with great joy.
Continue to Part 260 →