The Dwelling of One Who Has Resolved Emptiness
Before his bow has even ended, Sudhana attains inconceivable roots of goodness, his body and mind grown soft; he finishes bowing, circles the tower ten times in reverence, gazes at it with palms joined, and begins an extended new reflection on what kind of person this tower's own dwelling represents.
Circling the Tower Ten Times, a New Reflection Begins
「爾時，善財禮未起間，知法如是，得不思議善根；柔軟身心，稽首禮畢，敬遶十匝，合掌諦觀。復作是念：「此是解空無相願者之所住處；離虛妄者之所住處；住法界者；了知眾生非實有者；知不生者；知一切世間無所著者；方便分別一切眾生者；一切無所依者；離一切相者；知一切法無自性者；不虛妄取一切業者；了知一切心意識相者；……」
At that time, before Sudhana's own bow had even ended, he knew the Dharma to be thus and attained inconceivable roots of goodness; his own body and mind grown soft, he finished bowing, circled the tower ten times in reverence, and gazed at it with palms joined. He then formed this further thought: "This is the dwelling-place of one who has resolved emptiness, marklessness, and wishlessness; the dwelling-place of one free of falsehood; of one who dwells in the dharma-realm; of one who fully knows sentient beings are not truly existent; of one who knows non-arising; of one who is unattached to anything in the entire world; of one skilled in discerning every sentient being through skillful means; of one utterly without any reliance; of one free of every mark; of one who knows every dharma is without any nature of its own; of one who never falsely grasps at any karma; of one who fully knows the marks of mind, intellect, and consciousness … [the reflection continues]"
Rising from a bow he had not even completed, Sudhana already possesses inconceivable roots of goodness — Fazang reads this as the tower's own first concrete effect on him, distinct from mere contemplation. The new reflection that follows takes a form this collection has used before at moments of especially concentrated teaching: a long chain of "one who..." (者) epithets, each naming a distinct realization the tower's own dwelling represents, building cumulatively toward a single, comprehensive picture.
Part 280 In Progress
This extended reflection is only beginning. Part 281 continues with knowing every path as neither emerging nor not emerging, and abiding in the profound perfection of wisdom.
Continue to Part 281 →