You Have Now Attained the Greatest Benefit
Maitreya turns at last to speak directly to Sudhana: he has heard and seen, across a single life, what is difficult to encounter even across boundless kalpas — seeing Mañjuśrī, transcending the ground of childish ignorance, abiding in the bodhisattvas' own ground of merit, and fulfilling a treasury of every buddha's own wisdom equal to empty space itself, his mind never once wearied.
A Treasury of Wisdom Equal to Empty Space Itself
「善財！汝今得最大利；於無量劫，難聞見者，汝悉聞見，知彼功德；所謂：得見文殊師利，積無量德，遠離一切險難惡道，安住正法；過童蒙地，住諸菩薩功德之地，具智慧地，得諸佛地，菩薩行海；成滿虛空等諸佛智藏，專求無量諸妙功德，心無厭倦。若能如是堅直心者，則能樂求諸善知識，具菩薩行；教化眾生，具不思議……」
"Sudhana! You have now attained the greatest benefit; that which is difficult to hear of or see across boundless kalpas, you have entirely heard and seen, and known its own merit — namely: you were able to see Mañjuśrī, accumulating boundless virtue, becoming far removed from every perilous, hardship-filled evil destiny, and abiding firmly in the true Dharma; transcending the ground of ignorant childishness, abiding in the very ground of the bodhisattvas' own merit, endowed with the ground of wisdom, attaining the ground of every buddha, the ocean of bodhisattva practice; fulfilling a treasury of every buddha's own wisdom equal to empty space, single-mindedly seeking boundless sublime merit, your mind never once wearied. If one is able to have a firm, upright mind such as this, one is then able to delight in seeking out every good friend, endowed with the bodhisattva's own practice; teaching and transforming sentient beings, endowed with inconceivable … [the address continues]"
This is the first moment in this entire episode where Maitreya speaks to Sudhana rather than about him — everything said until now was addressed to the crowd, with Sudhana as its subject rather than its listener. Fazang reads this shift in address as itself significant: praise offered publicly, before witnesses, now gives way to direct instruction, matching a pattern of confirmation-before-teaching that recurs at especially weighty transitions across this pilgrimage.
Part 312 In Progress
Maitreya's direct address to Sudhana has only just begun. Part 313 continues with what a firm, upright mind makes possible — meeting every buddha's true child in sequence, and gaining entirely what each one has spoken of their own attainment.
Continue to Part 313 →