Unstained Across a Hundred Thousand Kalpas
The catalogue continues: it is like a lapis lazuli gem, which, even after a hundred thousand years spent lying in filth, is never stained by it; the pure lapis lazuli gem of the mind of bodhi is likewise, dwelling a hundred thousand kalpas within the desire-realm, never defiled by the five desires, for its own nature is pure. It is like a stainless radiant pure mani-jewel, which brings forth every other jewel; the stainless radiant jewel of the mind of bodhi is likewise, bringing forth the treasures of merit of ordinary beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas alike.
Bringing Forth the Treasures of Every Being
「善男子！如瑠璃寶於百千歲處不淨中，不為所染。菩提之心淨瑠璃寶亦復如是，於百千劫住欲界中，不為五欲之所染污，其性淨故。
「善男子！如離垢光淨摩尼寶，出一切寶。菩提之心離垢光寶亦復如是，出生凡夫、聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、諸佛功德珍寶。
"Good man, it is like a lapis lazuli gem — even after a hundred thousand years spent lying in filth, it is never stained by it. The pure lapis lazuli gem of the mind of bodhi is likewise: dwelling a hundred thousand kalpas within the desire-realm, it is never defiled by the five desires, for its own nature is pure.
"Good man, it is like a stainless radiant pure mani-jewel, which brings forth every other jewel. The stainless radiant jewel of the mind of bodhi is likewise: it brings forth the treasures of merit of ordinary beings, of śrāvakas, of pratyekabuddhas, of bodhisattvas, and of buddhas alike."
The lapis lazuli simile echoes the earlier white-lotus imagery from the first catalogue ("unstained by any worldly dharma") but adds a specific and extreme time-scale — "a hundred thousand years... a hundred thousand kalpas" — that Fazang reads as directly answering a natural worry about the second hymn's own praise of Sudhana: how can prolonged, active engagement with the world (which that hymn celebrated at length) avoid producing the very defilement it claims to resist? The gem's own physical property of never absorbing what surrounds it, however long the exposure, supplies the answer without needing withdrawal from the world at all.
Part 352 Complete
Two more jewel similes are now given in full. Part 353 turns to a great jewel dispelling every darkness, and the priceless treasure that no merchant's ship could equal, carried by a bodhisattva's own great vow into the city of liberation.
Continue to Part 353 →