Entering the Sea of Birth and Death Without Sinking
The catalogue continues: it is like a water-clarifying pearl — placed within murky water, that water at once becomes clear; the pearl of the mind of bodhi is likewise, removing the defiling turbidity of every affliction. It is like a person who obtains a water-dwelling treasure-pearl, and wears it upon the body as an ornament, entering deep water without ever drowning; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, having obtained the water-dwelling treasure-pearl of the mind of bodhi, entering the ocean of birth and death without ever sinking. It is like a person who obtains a great nāga-treasure-pearl, and goes to where the nāgas dwell, whom the nāgas cannot harm; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, having obtained the great nāga-treasure-pearl of the mind of bodhi, entering into the midst of the desire-realm, whom the evil nāgas of the afflictions cannot harm.
The Water-Clarifying, Water-Dwelling, and Great Nāga Pearls
「善男子！譬如水珠，置濁水中，水即澄清。菩提心珠亦復如是，除滅一切煩惱垢濁。
「善男子！譬如有人得住水寶珠，瓔珞其身，入深水中而不沒溺。
菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，得菩提心住水寶珠，入生死海而不沈沒。
「善男子！譬如有人得大龍寶珠，往到龍所，龍不為害。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，得菩提心大龍寶珠，入欲界中，煩惱惡龍所不能害。
"Good man, it is like a water-clarifying pearl — placed within murky water, that water at once becomes clear. The pearl of the mind of bodhi is likewise: it removes the defiling turbidity of every affliction.
"Good man, it is like a person who obtains a water-dwelling treasure-pearl, and wears it upon the body as an ornament, entering deep water without ever drowning.
A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the water-dwelling treasure-pearl of the mind of bodhi, he enters the ocean of birth and death without ever sinking.
"Good man, it is like a person who obtains a great nāga-treasure-pearl, and goes to where the nāgas dwell, whom the nāgas are unable to harm. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having obtained the great nāga-treasure-pearl of the mind of bodhi, he enters into the midst of the desire-realm, whom the evil nāgas of the afflictions are unable to harm."
The water-dwelling pearl's simile of entering deep water without drowning directly parallels imagery Maitreya used of Sudhana himself only a short while earlier, in the second hymn, where Sudhana was praised for entering the ocean of birth and death "attached to nothing at all" and not sinking — Fazang reads this echo as intentional, the abstract teaching on bodhicitta here retroactively explaining the concrete praise of Sudhana that preceded it. "The evil nāgas of the afflictions" (煩惱惡龍) is this catalogue's own recurring figure for affliction as a dangerous, semi-divine serpent-being, distinct from the venomous insects and poison of earlier similes — a shift from small, creeping harms to a single, more powerful adversary.
Part 348 Complete
Three pearl similes are now given in full. Part 349 turns to Śakra's own mani, worn as an ornament of honor among the gods; a wish-fulfilling pearl removing every poverty; and a fire-pearl kindled to flame by the light of the sun.
Continue to Part 349 →