Self-Mastery, and the Vessel That Never Empties
Sudhana takes leave of Lord of the Gods and journeys to the city Sea-Dwelling, where he finds the laywoman Self-Mastery — unadorned, plainly robed, her hair unbound, yet more radiant than any but a buddha or bodhisattva. From a single vessel of food she feeds every being throughout the ten directions, without it ever once diminishing: the third teacher of the Ten Practices.
Farewell to Lord of the Gods, and the Laywoman Self-Mastery
時，善財童子聞善知識教，歡喜無量，得未曾有奇特正直心寶，其心弘廣，普覆眾生，得算數諸佛次第出世自在法門，淨法圓滿，智慧究竟，分別顯現一切諸趣，於三世境界無所障礙，出生無盡功德海心，得大智慧自在光明，斷三界縛；頭面禮足，右遶三匝，辭退南行。
爾時，善財童子於善知識心無厭足，猶如大海吞納眾流；善知識日，明淨慧光開發其心，猶蓮華敷長養一切善根，萌芽莖節枝葉功德大樹；善知識月，能以清涼教法光明，除眾熱惱；善知識者如夏雪山，眾獸所集樂；善知識心，猶如大海，眾寶充滿；善知識教長養法身，如閻浮樹華果具足，心常樂住；善知識教法譬如龍王，於虛空中神變自在；善知識教起大寶山，顯現一切；以善知識教而自圍遶，猶如帝釋降阿修羅，無能壞者。漸漸遊行至海住城，周遍推求自在優婆夷；時，有人言：「善男子！此優婆夷在此城中深宮之內。」善財聞已，往詣宮門，敬心而立；彼優婆夷所住之處，廣博嚴飾，眾寶垣牆，周匝圍遶；開置四門，阿僧祇寶以為莊嚴。
善財進入，見優婆夷處師子座，年在盛美，容色殊妙，觀者無厭；除莊嚴具，素服被髮，身色光明，除佛菩薩餘無能及。於其宮內敷十億床，出過天人，菩薩宿世行業所造；衣服、飲食、眾妙寶物諸莊嚴具，常開四門，周給一切而無窮盡。一萬女眾眷屬圍遶，容色威儀悉如諸天，猶如莊嚴眾妙寶樹，口常演出天妙音聲，敬樂觀察此優婆夷，禮拜供養。彼諸女身常出妙香普熏大城，若有聞者皆得不退菩提之心、無怒害心、無怨敵心、無慳嫉心、無幻偽心、無諂曲心、無貪愛心、無瞋恚心、無懈怠心、無量心、平等心、大慈心、益眾生心、淨持戒心、無求欲心，聞彼音聲皆悉歡喜，身心柔軟，其有見者皆得離欲。
爾時，善財頭面禮彼優婆夷足，敬心右遶，於一面住，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。」答言：「善男子！我成就無盡功德藏莊嚴法門，以一器食施百眾生，隨其所欲皆得充滿千眾生、百千眾生、億眾生、千億眾生、百千億眾生、那由他眾生、百那由他眾生、百千那由他眾生、乃至不可說不可說眾生、閻浮提微塵等眾生、乃至不可說不可說佛剎微塵等眾生，隨其所欲皆悉充滿而無損減。又復施與上味美膳、輦輿、衣服、華鬘、妙香、末香、塗香、寶莊嚴具。又施床座、車乘、妙蓋、幢幡，如是等種種諸物，隨其所欲悉令充滿，皆大歡喜。善男子！於東方一世界、乃至不可說不可說世界、閻浮提微塵等世界、乃至不可說不可說佛剎微塵等世界中，一切聲聞、緣覺，食我食已，悉成道果。又於東方乃至不可說不可說佛剎微塵等世界中，一生補處菩薩，食我食已，降魔成道；南、西、北方，四維，上、下，亦復如是。善男子！汝見我此一萬眷屬女不？」「唯然，已見。」
At that time Sudhana the Boy, having heard the good spiritual friend's teaching, rejoiced beyond measure, and attained a treasure of a mind, upright and rare beyond anything known before; his mind vast and expansive, universally covering every sentient being, he attained the Dharma-gate of sovereign mastery over the sequential arising of every buddha through calculation, the pure Dharma made perfect, his wisdom brought to its very end, discerning and manifesting every destiny, unobstructed within the domain of the three times; giving rise to a mind like an inexhaustible ocean of merit, he attained the light of great wisdom's own sovereign mastery, severing the bonds of the three realms; he bowed his head at his feet, circled him three times to the right, and, taking his leave, journeyed on to the south.
At that time Sudhana the Boy's mind was never sated with good spiritual friends, just as the great ocean swallows every river without ever being filled; a good spiritual friend is like the sun, its bright, pure light of wisdom opening up the mind, the way a lotus unfolds and nurtures every root of goodness into the great tree of merit, budding, stemmed, jointed, branched, and leaved; a good spiritual friend is like the moon, whose cool light of teaching extinguishes every feverish affliction; a good spiritual friend is like the Snow Mountains in summer, where every kind of beast gathers with delight; a good spiritual friend's own mind is like the great ocean, filled with every kind of jewel; a good spiritual friend's teaching nurtures the Dharma-body, the way the flowers and fruit of the jambū tree are fully endowed, the mind ever dwelling there with delight; a good spiritual friend's teaching is like a nāga-king, sovereign in spiritual transformation throughout the whole of space; a good spiritual friend's teaching raises up a great mountain of jewels, manifesting everything; surrounding oneself with a good spiritual friend's teaching is like Śakra subduing the asuras — nothing at all can destroy it. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the city Sea-Dwelling, and searched everywhere for the laywoman Self-Mastery. At that time someone told him: "Good son, this laywoman is within the deep palace, inside this very city." Having heard this, Sudhana went to the palace gate and stood there with a reverent mind; the place where this laywoman dwelt was vast, broad, and richly adorned, a wall of every kind of jewel surrounding it on every side; four gates stood open, adorned with countless jewels.
Sudhana went in, and beheld the laywoman seated upon a lion-throne, in the full bloom of her years, her countenance and coloring sublime and rare, so that none who beheld her ever tired of the sight; she wore no adornment at all, plain-robed, her hair unbound, yet her body's own light and color were such that none but a buddha or bodhisattva could equal them. Within her palace were spread a billion couches, surpassing even those of gods and men, fashioned from the bodhisattva's own past deeds and practice; robes, food and drink, every kind of marvelous jeweled object and ornament — she kept her four gates ever open, supplying everyone completely, without exhaustion. A retinue of ten thousand women surrounded her, their countenance and bearing entirely like the gods', as though a grove of every kind of adorned, marvelous jeweled tree, their mouths ever giving forth sublime, heavenly sounds; reverently delighting in beholding this laywoman, they paid her homage and made offering. The bodies of all these women constantly gave forth a sublime fragrance, filling the whole great city; whoever caught its scent attained a mind never turning back from bodhi, a mind free of anger and malice, free of enmity, free of stinginess and envy, free of deceit, free of flattery and crookedness, free of greed and craving, free of hatred and rage, free of indolence, a mind boundless, a mind of equanimity, a mind of great loving-kindness, a mind that benefits sentient beings, a mind that purely upholds the precepts, a mind free of craving desire; hearing that sound, they all rejoiced, their bodies and minds made soft and pliant, and whoever beheld them attained freedom from desire.
At that time Sudhana bowed his head at this laywoman's feet, circled her reverently to the right, and, standing to one side, said: "Great sage! I have already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path." She answered: "Good son, I have accomplished the Dharma-gate of the Adornment of the Inexhaustible Treasury of Merit. With a single vessel of food I feed a hundred sentient beings, and, according to what each desires, cause it to satisfy fully a thousand sentient beings, a hundred thousand, a hundred million, a thousand hundred-millions, a hundred thousand hundred-millions, a nayuta, a hundred nayutas, a hundred thousand nayutas, even up to sentient beings beyond telling upon telling, sentient beings as numerous as motes of dust in Jambudvīpa, even up to sentient beings as numerous as motes of dust in buddha-lands beyond telling upon telling — according to what each desires, I cause it to satisfy them all completely, without the vessel ever diminishing. I likewise give the finest, most delicious food, palanquins, robes, garlands of flowers, sublime incense, powdered incense, perfumed unguents, and every kind of jeweled ornament. I likewise give couches and seats, chariots, sublime parasols, banners and pennants — every kind of thing such as these, according to what each desires, I cause it to satisfy them fully, and all rejoice greatly. Good son, in one world of the eastern direction, even up to worlds beyond telling upon telling, worlds as numerous as motes of dust in Jambudvīpa, even up to worlds as numerous as motes of dust in buddha-lands beyond telling upon telling — every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha there, having eaten my food, attains entirely the fruit of the path. And likewise in the eastern direction, even up to worlds as numerous as motes of dust in buddha-lands beyond telling upon telling, every bodhisattva bound for buddhahood in one more lifetime, having eaten my food, subdues māra and attains the path; and it is the same in the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate directions, and above and below. Good son, do you see this retinue of ten thousand women of mine?" "Indeed, I see them."
Fazang marks this as the third of the Ten Practices, "the Practice of No Anger" (無恚恨行). He gives the city's own name two readings at once: 若隨相釋，此城近南海而住。若准下文，出於財法，施不可盡，故云海住 — "read literally, this city dwells near the southern sea; but following what the text itself goes on to say, its giving of wealth and Dharma is inexhaustible, and that is why it is called 'Sea-Dwelling.'" The laywoman's own name he likewise glosses two ways: 約行則忍離瞋癡，故云自在。若約德用則作用任志，故云自在 — "in terms of practice, her patience stands apart from anger and delusion, and so she is called 'Self-Mastery'; in terms of virtue's own function, her every activity follows her will freely, and so she is called 'Self-Mastery' by that measure too." He records the Indian original as a third, complementary name: 天竺本名真實富滿。解云：以財法遍充故也 — "the Indian original names her 'True and Complete Abundance' — explained: because she fills everyone, everywhere, completely, with both wealth and Dharma." On why she appears "unadorned, plain-robed, her hair unbound," he reads the detail as the mark of this very practice made visible: 除嚴具素服者，表忍相故 — "removing every ornament and wearing plain robes marks the very mark of patience" — fitting exactly for the teacher of the Practice of No Anger. The four gates standing open on every side of her palace he reads as the Four Means of Attraction — giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, and cooperation — 四攝攝生故也，"because it is by these four that she gathers sentient beings in."
The Vessel That Never Empties
「善男子！如是等百萬阿僧祇菩薩悉我同行、同願、同善根、同修道、同欲性、同淨正念、同清淨趣、同菩提無量、同得諸根、同心依果、同境界、同正趣離生、同真實義、同明正法、同具菩薩清淨妙色、同無量力、同堅精進、同正法音、同語言道、同諸功德、同清淨業、同清淨報、同清淨大悲救護一切、同清淨業不違因緣、同清淨口業於一切佛眾隨其所應悉為說法、同恭敬供養諸佛、同決定知一切諸法、同得菩薩清淨諸地，此諸菩薩取我器食，於一念頃遍遊十方，供養一切聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、諸佛及施餓鬼，悉令滿足，而我器食無所損減。善男子！我此器食隨應諸天悉令充滿，乃至施人亦復如是。善男子！且待須臾，汝自見之。」善財即見無量人眾從四門入，彼優婆夷皆令安坐，隨所適樂悉令充悅。
「善男子！我唯得此無盡功德藏莊嚴法門，諸大菩薩無盡功德藏海猶如虛空，以無量功德熏修其心，如隨意寶，滿足一切眾生願故，大功德城悉滅一切諸貧苦故，功德須彌雨眾寶故，大功德藏開法城門故，功德燈明滅貧闇故，大功德蓋勝妙善根覆一切眾生故；我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！於此南方，有城名曰大興，彼有長者名甘露頂，汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
"Good son, bodhisattvas such as these, numbering a million incalculables, are all the same as me: the same in practice, the same in vow, the same in roots of goodness, the same in cultivating the path, the same in the nature of aspiration, the same in pure right mindfulness, the same in pure destiny, the same in boundless bodhi, the same in attaining every faculty, the same in the mind's own dependent fruit, the same in domain, the same in the true destiny that transcends birth, the same in true meaning, the same in illumining the true Dharma, the same in being endowed with the bodhisattva's own pure, sublime form, the same in boundless power, the same in firm diligence, the same in the voice of true Dharma, the same in the path of language, the same in every merit, the same in pure karma, the same in pure recompense, the same in the pure great compassion that rescues and protects everyone, the same in pure karma that never opposes cause and condition, the same in pure verbal karma that, before every buddha's own assembly, expounds the Dharma according to what is fitting, the same in reverently making offering to every buddha, the same in resolving and knowing every dharma with certainty, and the same in attaining every one of the bodhisattva's own pure grounds. These bodhisattvas take my vessel of food, and within a single thought-moment travel throughout the ten directions, making offering to every śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, and buddha, and giving to every hungry ghost, causing them all to be satisfied completely, and yet my vessel of food never diminishes at all. Good son, this vessel of food of mine, according to what is fitting, satisfies the gods completely, and it is exactly the same in giving to human beings. Good son, wait but a moment, and you will see it for yourself." Sudhana then beheld countless multitudes of people entering through the four gates, and this laywoman caused every one of them to be seated in peace, satisfying and delighting them entirely according to what pleased them.
"Good son, I have attained only this Dharma-gate of the Adornment of the Inexhaustible Treasury of Merit; the great bodhisattvas' own ocean of the inexhaustible treasury of merit is like space itself — they scent and cultivate their minds with boundless merit; like a wish-fulfilling jewel, they satisfy every sentient being's own wish; a great city of merit, they extinguish entirely every kind of poverty and suffering; a Sumeru of merit, they rain down every kind of jewel; a great treasury of merit, they open the gate of the city of the Dharma; a lamp of merit's own light, they extinguish the darkness of poverty; a great canopy of merit, their supreme and sublime roots of goodness cover every sentient being. 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 city, named Great Flourishing; there is an elder there, named Nectar Crown. Go to him and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
Fazang names the Dharma-gate's own two halves directly: 以出生業用無窮竭故，名無盡藏。所出利物具勝德故，名功德莊嚴 — "because its function of arising is inexhaustible, it is named 'Inexhaustible Treasury'; because what it brings forth to benefit beings is endowed with excellent virtue, it is named 'Adornment of Merit.'" On the single vessel itself, he records an older reading he clearly regards with respect: 古釋云：勝流所依一味真如也 — "an ancient interpretation says: it is the single flavor of true suchness itself, that on which the supreme stream depends" — and glosses "without increase or decrease" as simply "function that is never exhausted" (用而無盡也), before offering his own reading alongside it: 只是一器飯，即融同法界無盡緣起，是故無不應機，應無不益，益無不稱本位法界故 — "it is only a single vessel of rice, yet fused as one with the Dharma-realm's own inexhaustible dependent origination — and so there is nothing it fails to answer according to capacity, nothing it answers that fails to benefit, and nothing it benefits that fails to correspond to the Dharma-realm's own fundamental ground." He counts the twenty-eight phrases of shared quality in three groups: the first ten name practices particular to herself alone; the next four, opened by "the same in domain," name the dharma she and these bodhisattvas cultivate in common; and the final fourteen, opened by "the same in being endowed with the bodhisattva's own pure form," name practices in which self and other are equally fulfilled.
Part 33 Complete
This closes Part 33: Sudhana's farewell to Lord of the Gods, his arrival at Sea-Dwelling, and the laywoman Self-Mastery, third teacher of the Ten Practices, whose single vessel of food feeds every being in the ten directions and never once diminishes. Sudhana is sent onward, to the city Great Flourishing, and the elder named Nectar Crown.
Continue to Part 34 — Nectar Crown, and the Rain That Falls from Open Sky →