You Are a Vessel for the Dharma
Fascicle fifty-nine of this translation opens directly from fascicle fifty-eight, continuing the same scene without interruption, under a new sub-division of this final chapter. Having caused boundless sentient beings to raise the mind of the path through his hymn of praise, Maitreya now addresses Sudhana directly: "Excellent, excellent, young man, that you have been able to raise the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect awakening, seeking only every buddha-dharma, benefiting every world, and rescuing and protecting every sentient being. Good man, you have gained the excellent benefit of a human life and lifespan, encountering the buddhas, and beholding the great good friend Mañjuśrī; you are a vessel for the Dharma, your roots of goodness richly moistened, ever growing in pure and unsullied qualities, your nature pure and supreme in aspiration — gathered in wholly by a good friend, held in the mindfulness of every buddha."
Fascicle Fifty-Nine Opens: A New Sub-Division Begins
◎
## 大方廣佛華嚴經卷第五十八
## 大方廣佛華嚴經卷第五十九
東晉天竺三藏佛馱跋陀羅譯
### 入法界品第三十四之十六
◎爾時，彌勒菩薩以如是等，讚歎善財諸妙功德，令無量眾生發道心已，告善財言：「善哉！善哉！童子！乃能發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，專求一切佛法，饒益一切世間，救護一切眾生。善男子！汝得善利人身壽命，值遇諸佛，得見文殊師利大善知識；汝為法器，善根潤澤，長清白法，淨勝欲性，為善知識之所總攝，諸佛護念。
[Fascicle fifty-eight of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra concludes.]
[Fascicle fifty-nine of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra.]
Translated by Buddhabhadra, Tripiṭaka Master of India, under the Eastern Jin.
[Chapter Thirty-Four, Entering the Dharma-Realm, Part Sixteen.]
At that time, the bodhisattva Maitreya, having with hymns such as this praised Sudhana's wondrous merit and caused boundless sentient beings to raise the mind of the path, said to Sudhana: "Excellent, excellent, young man, that you have been able to raise the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect awakening, seeking only every buddha-dharma, benefiting every world, and rescuing and protecting every sentient being. Good man, you have gained the excellent benefit of a human life and lifespan, encountering the buddhas and beholding the great good friend Mañjuśrī; you are a vessel for the Dharma, your roots of goodness richly moistened, ever growing in pure and unsullied qualities, your nature pure and supreme in aspiration — gathered in wholly by a good friend, and held in the mindfulness of every buddha."
This passage marks a genuine narrative hinge disguised as a simple fascicle break: the "◎" symbol closing fascicle fifty-eight and opening fifty-nine falls in the very middle of a single continuous scene, with no change of speaker, setting, or audience — only the translation's own division into physical scroll-lengths accounts for the break. What follows this brief address is one of the most celebrated passages in the entire sūtra: Maitreya's extended teaching on the mind of bodhi (菩提心) itself, using two vast catalogues of similes — first "the mind of bodhi is like X, because Y" repeated for well over a hundred images, and then a second catalogue of medicine and jewel similes — a teaching so influential that later Chinese Buddhist literature frequently anthologizes it apart from its context here in the Gaṇḍavyūha.
Part 335 Complete
Maitreya has praised Sudhana directly and now turns to explain exactly why the mind of bodhi he has raised is so precious. Part 336 begins the great catalogue itself: the mind of bodhi is like the seed of every buddha, for it can give rise to every buddha-dharma.
Continue to Part 336 →