Traveling Through Indra's Own Net of Worlds
Wandering the dharma-realm's own place, illumining every sentient being like the rising sun and moon, unattached to any mark like a bird in empty space, Sudhana travels unobstructed like the wind through the worlds of Indra's own net, beholding every buddha of the three times with a mind leaping in boundless delight, and manifesting sovereign power as a true vessel of the sacred Dharma.
Unobstructed as the Wind, Deep as the Dharma-Realm
「……遊行法界處；如日月出，照一切眾生處。不依諸相，如空中鳥；常樂寂靜，無壞法門；遍遊因陀羅網世界，諸佛世界，如風無礙，深入法界；現諸世間，見三世佛，心大歡喜，踊躍無量；隨諸佛教，為聖法器；得諸法門，具菩薩行，現自在力。」
"… he wanders the place of the dharma-realm; like the rising sun and moon, he illumines the place of every sentient being. Unattached to any mark, he is like a bird in empty space; ever delighting in tranquility, he holds the indestructible Dharma-gate; universally traveling through the worlds of Indra's own net, and every buddha-world, like the wind, unobstructed, he enters deeply into the dharma-realm; manifesting throughout every world, beholding the buddhas of the three times, his mind is greatly joyful, leaping with boundless delight; according with every buddha's own teaching, he is a vessel for the sacred Dharma; attaining every Dharma-gate, endowed with the bodhisattva's own practice, he manifests sovereign power."
"The worlds of Indra's own net" (因陀羅網世界) invokes the classical image of a vast net strung with a jewel at every knot, each jewel reflecting every other jewel without end — a figure this collection has drawn on before to describe interpenetrating totality, here applied directly to the scope of Sudhana's own travel. Fazang reads this whole stretch of praise, from the bird in empty space through the wind's own unobstructed movement, as closing Maitreya's address to the crowd on the same note that opened it: everything just described has been offered as evidence for the initial claim, that this boy is "endowed with every merit."
Part 311 Complete — Maitreya's Address to the Crowd Concludes
Maitreya's entire address to the assembled crowd is now complete. Part 312 turns to what comes next — Maitreya speaking directly to Sudhana himself for the first time, declaring that he has now attained the greatest benefit imaginable.
Continue to Part 312 →