Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom in Ignorance's Own Darkness
The catalogue continues: lighting the lamp of wisdom in ignorance's own darkness, showing the true path on the road of birth and death, giving Dharma-medicine to the afflicted, ambrosial Dharma to those facing birth and death, cooling those blazing with the three poisons, granting fearlessness to the anxious, and severing the bonds of wrong view with the sword of wisdom.
The Sword of Wisdom, the Gate of Liberation
「……愚癡闇中，然智慧燈：於生死路，示以正道；煩惱病者，令服法藥；生老死者，授甘露法；三毒盛者，滅以定水，令得清涼；諸憂怖者，施以無畏；三有獄者，開以智門；邪見縛者，斷以慧劍；住三界城，開解脫門；在危險者，示安隱處；……」
"… In the darkness of ignorance, he lights the lamp of wisdom; on the road of birth and death, he shows the true path; to those afflicted with the disease of the afflictions, he gives them the medicine of the Dharma to take; to those facing birth, old age, and death, he bestows the ambrosial Dharma; to those blazing with the three poisons, he extinguishes them with the water of concentration, causing them to attain coolness; to those beset with worry and fear, he grants fearlessness; for those imprisoned in the three states of existence, he opens the gate of wisdom; for those bound by wrong views, he severs their bonds with the sword of wisdom; to those dwelling in the city of the three realms, he opens the gate of liberation; to those in danger, he shows a place of safety … [the catalogue continues]"
This stretch pairs each affliction with a matching remedy drawn from a distinct domain — medicine for disease, water for fire, a sword for a bond, a gate for a prison — refusing to let any single metaphor carry the whole catalogue. Fazang reads "the city of the three realms" (三界城) as a deliberately confining image, the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness pictured not as a home but as a walled enclosure whose only exit is the "gate of liberation" that Sudhana is here credited with opening for others.
Part 305 In Progress
The catalogue of rescues continues to build. Part 306 continues with rescuing beings from falling into the three evil destinies, and placing those harmed by the aggregates' own thieves into the city of nirvāṇa.
Continue to Part 306 →