A Sword, a Hammer, a Blade, a Banner
The catalogue's martial imagery unfolds at length: a Nārāyaṇa arrow, piercing clean through the armor of the view of self; renunciation, resolutely knowing the mark of suffering; a sharp spear, piercing every bandit of the afflictions; an ambrosial rain, extinguishing every fire of the afflictions; a sharp sword, cutting away every evil of the afflictions; a golden hammer, shattering every mountain of pride; a sharp blade, cutting through the armor of the seven proclivities; a valiant banner, toppling every banner of every māra; an axe, felling every tree of suffering; a weapon, guarding against every hardship; a good hand and a wondrous foot, protecting and establishing every merit; eye-medicine, removing the haze of every ignorance; a good thorn-remover, pulling out the thorn of the view of self; a bed of peace; a good friend and a good profit; a teacher of gods and humans; a treasury of jewels; a gushing spring; a pure mirror; and a pure pool.
Cutting Through the Armor of the Seven Proclivities
菩提心者，則為那羅延箭，悉能鑒徹身見鎧故；菩提心者，則為厭離，決定了知苦患相故；菩提心者，則為利矟，能刺一切煩惱賊故；菩提心者，則為甘露雨，能滅一切煩惱火故；菩提心者，則為利劍，斬除一切煩惱惡故；菩提心者，則為金椎，壞散一切憍慢山故；菩提心者，則為利刀，斬截七使煩惱鎧故；菩提心者，則為勇健幢，傾倒一切諸魔幢故；菩提心者，則為釿斧，斫伐無知諸苦樹故；菩提心者，則為器仗，防護一切諸艱難故；菩提心者，則為善手，防護一切諸度身故；菩提心者，則為妙足，安立一切諸功德故；菩提心者，則為眼藥，除滅一切無明曀故；菩提心者，則為善拔刺，悉能拔出身見刺故；菩提心者，則為安隱床，除滅一切生死苦床故；菩提心者，則為善友，度脫無量生死難故；菩提心者，則為善利，遠離一切衰耗法故；菩提心者，則為天人師，善知菩薩出要道故；菩提心者，則為寶藏，無量功德不可盡故；菩提心者，則為涌泉，清冷智慧無窮盡故；菩提心者，則為淨鏡，顯現一切諸法門故；菩提心者，則為淨池，洗濯一切諸垢穢故；
"…the mind of bodhi is a Nārāyaṇa arrow, for it can pierce clean through the armor of the view of self; the mind of bodhi is renunciation, for it resolutely and clearly knows the mark of suffering; the mind of bodhi is a sharp spear, for it can pierce every bandit of the afflictions; the mind of bodhi is an ambrosial rain, for it can extinguish every fire of the afflictions; the mind of bodhi is a sharp sword, for it cuts away every evil of the afflictions; the mind of bodhi is a golden hammer, for it shatters and scatters every mountain of pride; the mind of bodhi is a sharp blade, for it cuts through the armor of the seven proclivities of affliction; the mind of bodhi is a valiant banner, for it topples every banner of every māra; the mind of bodhi is an axe, for it fells every tree of suffering born of ignorance; the mind of bodhi is a weapon, for it guards against every hardship; the mind of bodhi is a good hand, for it protects the body of every one who crosses over; the mind of bodhi is a wondrous foot, for it establishes every merit; the mind of bodhi is eye-medicine, for it removes the haze of every ignorance; the mind of bodhi is a good thorn-remover, for it is able to pull out the thorn of the view of self; the mind of bodhi is a bed of peace, for it removes the bed of suffering that is birth and death; the mind of bodhi is a good friend, for it delivers one from boundless perils of birth and death; the mind of bodhi is a good profit, for it is far removed from every dharma of decline and loss; the mind of bodhi is a teacher of gods and humans, for it well knows the bodhisattva's own path of escape; the mind of bodhi is a treasury of jewels, for its boundless merit can never be exhausted; the mind of bodhi is a gushing spring, for its cool, clear wisdom is inexhaustible; the mind of bodhi is a pure mirror, for it reveals every gate of every dharma; the mind of bodhi is a pure pool, for it washes away every defilement and impurity;"
"The seven proclivities" (七使, saptānuśaya) names a standard Abhidharma list of underlying dispositions toward affliction — craving, resistance, pride, ignorance, views, doubt, and craving for existence — that persist beneath the level of active affliction even when no affliction is currently manifest; Fazang reads the image of a blade cutting through their "armor" as significant precisely because these seven are notoriously difficult to sever, being dormant rather than active. This stanza's weapon imagery — arrow, spear, sword, hammer, blade, banner, axe — forms one of the densest sustained runs of martial similes anywhere in the sūtra, each aimed at a different specific target: self-view, pride, the proclivities, the māras, and the tree of suffering in turn.
Part 339 In Progress
The catalogue continues to unfold. Part 340 turns to a great flowing river, a nāga king raining ambrosial Dharma, the life-faculty, a net and snare gathering in every being, and a hook and bait fishing beings from the abyss of birth and death.
Continue to Part 340 →