Excellent Manifestation, and the Ten Practices Begin
Sudhana takes his leave of Maitrāyaṇī and journeys to the land Rescue and Deliverance, where he finds the monk Excellent Manifestation walking in meditation, honored at every step by a whole retinue of devas. Excellent Manifestation teaches a single Dharma-gate — never leaving this very walking-path, he beholds the ten directions entirely — and sends Sudhana onward, opening the pilgrimage's second great stage, the Ten Practices.
Farewell to Maitrāyaṇī, and the Monk Walking in Meditation
道。」時，善財童子頭面禮足，遶無數匝，辭退南行。
爾時，善財童子正念思惟甚深法門、思惟甚深法界、思惟甚深法地、思惟甚深眾生、思惟甚深諸行、思惟甚深眾生心流、思惟甚深眾生如光、思惟甚深諸法之性、思惟甚深眾生語法、思惟甚深法界圓滿莊嚴、思惟甚深種諸業行、思惟甚深世間業所莊飾。漸漸遊行，至救度國，於城都、聚落、村邑、市里、仙人住處、山林、曠野，周遍推求善現比丘。見彼比丘在林經行，形貌端嚴顏容姝妙；其髮右旋如紺青色，頂有肉髻，身色紫金，其目長廣如青蓮華，脣口丹色如頻婆果，頸項圓直脩短得所，胸有德字勝妙莊嚴，七處平滿；其臂纖長，手指縵網金輪莊嚴，傭髀鹿腨，腰腹不現，師子上身如淨居天；其身圓滿如尼拘樹王，相好莊嚴如雪山王，出諸良藥，圓光一尋，諸根調伏，目視安諦，智慧無礙，猶如大海；其心不動，一切世間所不能壞，天龍八部恭敬圍遶。彼比丘經行時，地天持地，步天出寶蓮華隨覆其迹，無盡圓滿天除滅眾闇，覺天雨雜華雲，不動藏天現諸寶藏，普光勝虛空天莊嚴虛空，妙德海天散寶供養，離垢藏須彌山天合掌禮侍恭敬供養，無礙力天起香華風雲而供養之，夜天以莊嚴身五體敬禮，常覺日天持明淨寶幢莊嚴虛空除滅闇冥。
"...the bodhisattva path." At that time Sudhana the Boy bowed his head at her feet, circled her countless times, and, taking his leave, journeyed on to the south.
At that time Sudhana the Boy, rightly holding it in mind, contemplated the Dharma-gate's own profundity, contemplated the profundity of the Dharma-realm, contemplated the profundity of the Dharma's own ground, contemplated the profundity of sentient beings, contemplated the profundity of every practice, contemplated the profundity of the flow of sentient beings' own minds, contemplated the profundity of sentient beings being like light, contemplated the profundity of the nature of every dharma, contemplated the profundity of sentient beings' own language and speech, contemplated the profundity of the Dharma-realm's own perfect adornment, contemplated the profundity of the many kinds of karmic conduct, and contemplated the profundity of what adorns worldly karma. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the land Rescue and Deliverance, and throughout its cities and towns, its hamlets and villages, its markets and streets, the dwellings of sages, its mountains, forests, and open wilds, he searched everywhere for the monk Excellent Manifestation. He beheld this monk walking in meditation within a forest, his form and countenance dignified, his features sublime and fine; his hair, curling to the right, was the color of deep blue-black; atop his head was a fleshy protuberance; his body was the color of purple gold; his eyes, long and wide, were like a blue lotus; his lips, red in color, were like the bimba fruit; his neck, round and straight, was neither too long nor too short; upon his chest was the mark of merit, supremely and sublimely adorned; the seven places of his body were level and full; his arms were slender and long, his fingers webbed and adorned with a golden wheel; his thighs were like a royal antelope's, his calves like a deer's; his waist and belly did not protrude; the upper part of his body, like a lion's, resembled that of a god of the Pure Abodes; his body was perfectly rounded like the king of nyagrodha trees, adorned with excellent marks like the king of the Snow Mountains, from which every excellent medicine issues forth; his halo of light extended a full fathom; his faculties were tamed and subdued, his gaze calm and steady, his wisdom unobstructed, vast as the ocean; his mind was unmoving, unable to be shaken by any world at all, and he was reverently surrounded by the eightfold host of gods and nāgas. While this monk walked in meditation, the earth-devas held up the earth beneath him; the devas of his footsteps sent forth jeweled lotus blossoms that followed and covered his every footprint; the devas of inexhaustible perfection dispelled every darkness; the devas of awakening rained down clouds of many kinds of flowers; the devas of the unmoving treasury manifested every kind of jeweled treasury; the devas of universal light supreme in space adorned the whole of space; the devas of the ocean of sublime virtue scattered jewels as offering; the devas of the stainless treasury of Sumeru joined their palms, bowed, and attended him with reverent offerings; the devas of unobstructed power raised up clouds of fragrant flowers and wind as offering; the night-devas, with their own adorned bodies, paid reverence with all five limbs; and the ever-wakeful sun-devas held aloft bright, pure jeweled banners, adorning space and dispelling every darkness.
With this teacher, Fazang marks the start of an entirely new stage: 自下明十行善知識，有十人，各當一位 — "from here on, the ten spiritual friends of the Ten Practices are set forth; there are ten people, each corresponding to one position." Excellent Manifestation is the first, standing for the very first of the ten, "the Practice of Joy" (歡喜行). He glosses both names at once: the land is called Rescue and Deliverance because "常以法財施一切故也。又行能濟物，故名為救。令得出世，復名為度" — "he constantly bestows the wealth of the Dharma on everyone; and because his practice can ferry beings across, he is called 'Rescue,' and because it causes them to attain transcendence of the world, he is also called 'Deliverance.'" The monk's own name, he explains, marks something similar turned inward: 行相超昇比丘，表示施行內成、勝報外現，故名善現 — "his practice and its marks rise far above an ordinary monk's, showing that the practice of giving is accomplished within while its excellent recompense manifests without — and so he is named 'Excellent Manifestation.'"
On why Sudhana finds him walking in meditation within a forest, rather than seated or teaching from a hall, Fazang reads the detail itself as doctrinally exact: 言在林經行者，表出世之相，亦顯修行之所 — "'walking in meditation within a forest' marks the very appearance of one who has transcended the world, and also makes visible the actual place of cultivation" — and he cites the Ten Grounds chapter directly in support: 〈地品〉云「如說行者乃得聖法」，斯之謂也 — "the Ten Grounds chapter says, 'it is the one who practices as it is taught who attains the noble Dharma' — this is exactly what is meant here." The elaborate retinue of devas attending each footstep, on his reading, is simply what that same principle looks like made visible: an entire order of unseen beings responding to a mark of realization that ordinary sight would pass by as nothing more than a monk pacing beneath the trees.
Never Leaving This Walking-Path, Yet Beholding Every Buddha
爾時，善財往詣其所，頭面禮足，白言：「大聖！我向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提求菩薩行，我聞大聖善能開導諸菩薩道，云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道，願分別說。」答言：「善男子！我年既少，出家日近，自我生來，於三十八恒沙佛所淨修梵行，或於一佛所，七日七夜淨修梵行，或餘佛所半月、一月、一歲、百歲、億那由他歲、乃至不可說不可說歲，或一小劫、半劫、一劫、或阿僧祇劫、乃至不可說不可說阿僧祇劫，淨修梵行。彼諸佛所，聞法受持，不違其教，莊嚴諸願，究竟淨修菩薩諸行，具足六波羅蜜。
知菩提境界，知種種法輪，守護佛法，乃至正法滅盡，嚴淨一切諸佛世界，出生三昧大願力故；究竟菩薩一切淨行，出生菩薩一切行願力故；淨一切佛諸波羅蜜，出生普賢諸行力故。善男子！我不離此經行處，悉見十方智慧無礙故；一切法界悉現在前，於一念中過不可說不可說諸世界故；於一念中嚴淨不可說諸佛世界，出生大願力故；不可說不可說眾生方便門悉現在前，具十力智，出生普賢菩薩行願力故；見不可說不可說諸佛悉現在前，於一念中恭敬供養不可說不可說世界微塵等佛，恭敬供養如來願力故；能聞受持不可說不可說諸佛法雲，分別了知阿僧祇諸法趣，出生法輪陀羅尼力故；不可說不可說菩薩行悉現在前，一切諸行皆悉清淨，滿足菩薩因陀羅網行願力故；不可說不可說諸三昧海悉現在前，一切三昧皆悉淨滿一三昧，出生一切三昧力故；不可說不可說諸根海皆現在前，一切根輪隨順時輪，出生安住諸根際願力故；不可說不可說時輪悉現在前，能一切時轉淨法輪，出生究竟眾生願力故；一切三世海悉現在前，分別一切世界三世，出生隨順智慧光明願力故。
善男子！我唯知此隨順菩薩燈明法門，諸金剛燈菩薩生諸佛家，具足成就不死命根無盡智慧；成無壞身，肢體具足，隨其所應悉能顯現；具妙形色，世無倫匹，毒刃火災所不能害；身如金剛不可沮壞，降伏眾魔制諸外道；身真金色超出世間，隨其所應無不聞見，普觀世間雨甘露法；普照一切滅諸障礙，見者無厭，拔斷一切諸不善根，起妙善根，難遇難見。我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！於此南方有一國土，名曰輸那，彼有童子名釋天主，汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
At that time Sudhana went before him, bowed his head at his feet, and said: "Great sage! Turning toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, I seek the bodhisattva's own practice. I have heard that the great sage is well able to open and guide bodhisattvas upon their path; how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivate the bodhisattva path? I beg you to explain it point by point." He answered: "Good son, my years are still few, and it is not long since I went forth from the household life; yet, since I was born, at the presence of thirty-eight Ganges-River-sands' worth of buddhas I have purely cultivated the holy life — sometimes at the presence of one buddha, for seven days and seven nights purely cultivating the holy life; sometimes at the presence of other buddhas, for half a month, a month, a year, a hundred years, a hundred million nayutas of years, even up to years beyond telling upon telling; sometimes for a small eon, half an eon, a full eon, or an incalculable eon, even up to incalculable eons beyond telling upon telling, purely cultivating the holy life. At the presence of those buddhas, I heard the Dharma and upheld it, never once going against their teaching, adorning every vow, cultivating to their very end every bodhisattva practice in its purity, and thereby became fully endowed with the six perfections.
I came to know the domain of bodhi, came to know every kind of Dharma-wheel, guarded the Buddha-dharma even to the very extinction of the true Dharma, purified and adorned every buddha's own world — all through the power of the great vow that gives rise to samādhi; I brought to its very end every one of a bodhisattva's own pure practices, through the power of the vow that gives rise to every one of a bodhisattva's own practices; I purified every one of a buddha's own perfections, through the power that gives rise to every one of Samantabhadra's own practices. Good son, without ever leaving this very walking-path, I behold the ten directions entirely, my wisdom unobstructed; the whole Dharma-realm stands present before me, for in a single thought-moment I pass through worlds beyond telling upon telling; in a single thought-moment I purify and adorn buddha-worlds beyond telling, through the power of the great vow that gives rise to this; the gates of skillful means for sentient beings beyond telling upon telling stand present before me, endowed with the wisdom of the ten powers, through the power of the vow that gives rise to Samantabhadra's own practices and vows; I behold buddhas beyond telling upon telling standing present before me, and in a single thought-moment reverently make offering to buddhas as numerous as motes of dust in worlds beyond telling, through the power of the vow of reverent offering to the Tathāgata; I am able to hear and uphold clouds of Dharma from buddhas beyond telling upon telling, discerning and understanding countless directions of every dharma, through the power of the dhāraṇī of the Dharma-wheel that gives rise to this; bodhisattva practices beyond telling upon telling stand present before me, every practice entirely pure, through the power of the vow that fulfills the bodhisattva's own practice within Indra's net; oceans of samādhi beyond telling upon telling stand present before me, every samādhi entirely purified and perfected within a single samādhi, through the power that gives rise to every samādhi; oceans of faculties beyond telling upon telling stand present before me, every wheel of faculty according with the wheel of time, through the power of the vow that gives rise to abiding at the very limit of every faculty; wheels of time beyond telling upon telling stand present before me, able at every time to turn the pure Dharma-wheel, through the power of the vow that brings sentient beings to their very completion; the whole ocean of the three times stands present before me, discerning the three times of every world, through the power of the vow that gives rise to the light of wisdom according with all of this.
Good son, I know only this Dharma-gate of According with the Bodhisattva's Lamp of Light. The vajra-lamp bodhisattvas, born into the household of every buddha, are fully endowed and accomplished with the life-root of deathlessness and wisdom inexhaustible; they attain an indestructible body, its every limb complete, able to manifest in whatever form is fitting; they are endowed with a sublime form and radiance, without peer in all the world, which no poisoned blade nor fire can ever harm; their body, like vajra, cannot be broken down, subduing every māra and mastering every outsider's path; their body, true gold in color, transcends the world, and there is nothing fitting that they do not hear and see, universally beholding the world and raining upon it the ambrosial Dharma; universally illumining all, they extinguish every obstruction, and none who beholds them ever tires of the sight, uprooting every unwholesome root and raising up every sublime root of goodness — beings rare to encounter, rare to behold. Such merit and practice as this — how could I possibly know it, how could I possibly explain it? Good son, to the south of here there is a land, named Purity; there is a boy there, named Lord of the Gods. Go to him and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
Fazang reads Excellent Manifestation's opening words about his own youth carefully: 初入行位，故名年少。創離十住之家，故云日近 — "he has only just entered the stage of the Ten Practices, and so is called 'young'; he has only just left the household of the Ten Abodes, and so is called 'recent.'" On the number itself — thirty-eight Ganges-River-sands of buddhas, where Maitrāyaṇī, the teacher before him, had spoken of thirty-six — he notes simply: 前位三十六，此中漸增，故三十八恒也 — "the previous position gave thirty-six; here it gradually increases, and so it is thirty-eight." He offers three readings of "since I was born" spanning such vast stretches of time: an extraordinarily long lifespan; a single lifetime in which one thought-moment already encompasses many eons; or "born" understood as the moment bodhicitta first arose, so that the years counted run from that arising rather than from ordinary birth — and he notes that the Nirvāṇa Sūtra likewise records offerings made to eight Ganges-River-sands' worth of buddhas within a single causal stage, as a parallel case.
On the Dharma-gate's own name, Fazang glosses each half in turn: 遠照顯煥名曰燈明，則十不可說等常用無竭，名為隨順 — "illumining far and manifesting resplendently is called 'Lamp of Light'; and the constant, inexhaustible function of these ten categories, each 'beyond telling,' is called 'According.'" He records the Indian original directly: 天竺本名不休息智燈菩薩解脫 — "the Indian original names this 'the liberation of Bodhisattva Lamp of Unresting Wisdom.'" The entire teaching, on his reading, turns on a single point already implicit in the walking-meditation itself: that Excellent Manifestation never once leaves this ordinary path beneath the trees, and yet from that single unmoving place beholds the ten directions, every buddha, and every eon at once — the same principle of one place holding all places that ran through Maitrāyaṇī's jeweled hall in the previous teacher, now demonstrated not through a room full of mirrors, but through a monk's own unbroken pacing.
Part 31 Complete
This closes Part 31: Sudhana's farewell to Maitrāyaṇī, his arrival at Rescue and Deliverance, and the monk Excellent Manifestation, first teacher of the Ten Practices, whose single walking-path holds the ten directions entire. Sudhana is sent onward, to the land named Purity, and the boy named Lord of the Gods.
Continue to Part 32 — Lord of the Gods, and the Science of Numbers →