Playing Freely in Every Dharma-Gate
Sudhana bows before Maitreya with his five limbs once more and asks his question yet again — this time listing, one by one, Maitreya's own already-attained qualities: prediction of one-more-birth to buddhahood, realization of the bodhisattva's own dharma of transcending birth, every pāramitā and forbearance-gate consummated, every ground accomplished, playing freely in every Dharma-gate, and every samādhi attained.
Already Predicted for One More Birth to Buddhahood
「爾時，善財五體敬禮彌勒菩薩，合掌白言：「大聖！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行、修菩薩道？大聖！今者已為諸佛授一生記，證於菩薩離生正法，住菩薩住；究竟一切諸波羅蜜，具足一切諸法忍門；成就菩薩一切諸地，自在遊戲，一切法門；得一切三昧，到於菩薩隨所至趣；……」
At that time, Sudhana bowed with his five limbs in reverence before the bodhisattva Maitreya, and joining his palms, said: "Great sage, I have already raised the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect awakening, but I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivates the bodhisattva's own path. Great sage! You have now already been granted prediction of one-more-birth to buddhahood by every buddha, realizing the bodhisattva's own true dharma of transcending birth, abiding in the bodhisattva's own abiding; you have consummated every one of the pāramitās, and are endowed with every gate of forbearance in every dharma; you have accomplished every one of the bodhisattva's own grounds, playing freely in every Dharma-gate; you have attained every samādhi, reaching wherever a bodhisattva goes … [the list continues]"
Sudhana's own question, unchanged in its wording since he first asked it of Mañjuśrī many teachers ago, now arrives framed by an entirely new element — a detailed recitation of exactly why Maitreya, uniquely among everyone he has met, is qualified to answer it. Fazang reads "prediction of one-more-birth to buddhahood" (一生記, technically ekajāti-pratibaddha, "bound to a single [remaining] birth") as the single most precise credential in this whole list: Maitreya is not merely advanced but formally certified to attain buddhahood after exactly one further life, the exact status this entire pilgrimage has been building toward Sudhana's own eventual arrival at.
Part 320 In Progress
This extensive list of Maitreya's own attainments has only just begun. Part 321 continues with every dhāraṇī and eloquence attained, and the wisdom-jewel of bodhisattva merit brought forth through the tathāgatas' own secret teaching.
Continue to Part 321 →