Taking On the Color of Sumeru
The catalogue continues: it is like Sumeru — every class of being that draws near that mountain takes on its very color; the mountain of the mind of bodhi is likewise, and whoever draws near it likewise takes on the very color of all-wisdom. It is like the fragrance of the Pārijāta tree's own flower, which every jasmine and campaka blossom found within Jambudvīpa is unable to match; the fragrance of the mind of bodhi is likewise — its wondrous fragrance of merit is a fragrance the pure precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and vision of the knowledge of liberation of every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha are unable to match.
The Pārijāta Flower Surpasses Jasmine and Campaka
「善男子！譬如須彌山眾生品類，近彼山者，悉同其色。菩提心山亦復如是，若有近者，皆得同彼薩婆若色。
「善男子！譬如波利質多樹華香，閻浮提中，諸婆師華、薝蔔華等所不能及。菩提心香亦復如是，妙功德香，聲聞、緣覺，無漏戒定，智慧解脫，解脫知見，所不能及。
"Good man, it is like Sumeru — every class of sentient being that draws near that mountain takes on its very color. The mountain of the mind of bodhi is likewise: whoever draws near it likewise takes on the very color of all-wisdom.
"Good man, it is like the fragrance of the Pārijāta tree's own flower, a fragrance that every jasmine and campaka blossom found within Jambudvīpa is unable to match. The fragrance of the mind of bodhi is likewise: its wondrous fragrance of merit is a fragrance that the pure precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and vision of the knowledge of liberation of every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha are unable to match."
Sumeru reappears here for a second time in this catalogue under a distinct justification: the first catalogue used it for unmoved equanimity before friend and foe, while here it illustrates a transformative property of proximity — a mountain of legendary color (traditionally described in Buddhist cosmology as composed of four different jeweled faces, one per cardinal direction) that colors whatever draws near it. "The five dharma-aggregates" of a liberated being — precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation (戒定慧解脫解脫知見) — is a standard formula summarizing the complete attainment of an arhat; Fazang reads its citation here as asserting that bodhicitta's fragrance surpasses not a partial or preliminary attainment but the entire completed range of what a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha can achieve.
Part 358 Complete
Two more similes are now given in full. Part 359 continues the Pārijāta flower theme with two further comparisons: its fragrance pervading Jambudvīpa even before the flower opens, and a single day's scenting of a garment outlasting a thousand years of ordinary blossoms.
Continue to Part 359 →