No Enemy Can Prevail
The catalogue continues: it is like a person who obtains a nāga-king medicine — should any venomous insect catch its scent, it flees far away at once. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the great nāga-king medicine of the mind of bodhi, every venomous, evil insect of the afflictions, catching its scent, scatters and vanishes entirely. It is like a person who obtains an indestructible medicine, against whom no enemy at all can gain any opening; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, having obtained the indestructible dharma-medicine of the mind of bodhi, against whom no māra or enemy of the afflictions can prevail. It is like a person who obtains the piṅgala medicine, able to draw out a poisoned thorn; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, having obtained the piṅgala medicine of the mind of bodhi, able to draw out the thorns of the three poisons and every wrong view.
The Nāga-King Medicine, the Indestructible Medicine, the Piṅgala Medicine
「善男子！譬如有人得龍王藥，若有毒蟲聞其藥氣，即避遠去。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，得菩提心大龍王藥，一切煩惱諸惡毒蟲，聞其藥氣，皆悉散滅。
「善男子！譬如有人得不可壞藥，一切怨敵，不得其便。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，得菩提心不壞法藥，一切煩惱諸魔怨敵，所不能壞。
「善男子！譬如有人得頻伽陀藥，能出毒刺。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，得菩提心頻伽陀藥，能出三毒諸邪見刺。
"Good man, it is like a person who obtains a nāga-king medicine — should any venomous insect catch the scent of that medicine, it flees far away at once. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the great nāga-king medicine of the mind of bodhi, every venomous, evil insect of the afflictions, catching the scent of that medicine, scatters and vanishes entirely.
"Good man, it is like a person who obtains an indestructible medicine, against whom no enemy at all can gain any opening. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the indestructible dharma-medicine of the mind of bodhi, no māra or enemy of the afflictions is able to prevail against him.
"Good man, it is like a person who obtains the piṅgala medicine, able to draw out a poisoned thorn. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the piṅgala medicine of the mind of bodhi, he is able to draw out the thorns of the three poisons and every wrong view."
"Piṅgala" (頻伽陀, likely a transliteration related to piṅga or a similarly named legendary antidote plant, though the precise botanical or pharmacological referent is uncertain) names a medicine whose specific property — drawing out an embedded, poisoned thorn — maps cleanly onto "the three poisons" (三毒: greed, hatred, and delusion) together with wrong views, treated here as a single thorn lodged within the mind. Fazang reads the nāga-king medicine's scent-based potency, requiring no direct contact to repel harm, as illustrating that bodhicitta's own protective power operates even before an affliction draws near, rather than only once it has already taken hold.
Part 344 Complete
Three more medicine similes are now given in full. Part 345 turns to the good-sight medicine-king that cures every disease, the medicine-tree Sandana whose very shade heals every sore, and the medicine-king tree called Indestructible-Root.
Continue to Part 345 →