Foremost Among the Great Assembly of Bodhisattvas
Sudhana's list continues: every dhāraṇī and eloquence attained, every component that aids awakening accumulated, every vehicle's own gate known, the tathāgatas' own secret teaching brought forth as a wisdom-jewel, and constant foremost standing among the great assembly of bodhisattvas — subduing the bandits of the afflictions through valiant power, and showing the true path to those lost in the wilderness of birth and death.
The Tathāgatas' Own Secret Teaching, Brought Forth as a Wisdom-Jewel
「……逮得一切陀羅尼辯才，方便光明，具足成就菩薩自在；積集一切助菩提分，遊戲巧方便慧；得一切通明；隨所修學，悉已究竟菩薩諸行；具一切願，知諸乘門，持如來持，攝佛菩提，守護一切諸佛法藏；出生智寶菩薩功德，如來密教，常為菩薩大眾上首。為煩惱賊所逼迫者，以勇猛力，能為摧滅，令得安隱；生死曠野，迷正路者，示以正道；……」
"… you have attained every dhāraṇī and eloquence, the light of skillful means, fully accomplished the bodhisattva's own sovereign mastery; you have accumulated every component that aids awakening, playing freely in skillful and wondrous wisdom; you have attained every penetrating insight; whatever you have studied and cultivated, you have already consummated every one of the bodhisattva's own practices; you are endowed with every vow, knowing every gate of every vehicle, upholding what the tathāgatas themselves uphold, embracing the buddha's own awakening, guarding the treasury of every buddha's own Dharma; you bring forth the wisdom-jewel of the bodhisattva's own merit, the tathāgatas' own secret teaching, and are constantly foremost among the great assembly of bodhisattvas. For those pressed by the bandits of the afflictions, through valiant power, you are able to subdue and destroy them, causing them to attain peace; for those lost on the right path in the wilderness of birth and death, you show them the true path … [the list continues]"
"The tathāgatas' own secret teaching" recurs here from earlier in the good-friend teaching, where secrecy was defined as accessible only through the mediation of a good friend — now attributed directly to Maitreya himself as something he "brings forth," rather than merely receives, an escalation Fazang reads as marking the shift from student to source. This list's own rescue-imagery, subduing "the bandits of the afflictions" and guiding those "lost... in the wilderness of birth and death," directly echoes the rescue-catalogue Maitreya himself gave about Sudhana several parts earlier — the two teachers, in Sudhana's own account, now mirror each other's language of compassionate action.
Part 321 In Progress
This list of Maitreya's own qualities continues. Part 322 closes it with his role as guide across the ocean of birth and death, before Sudhana finally repeats his question in full.
Continue to Part 322 →