Kindling a Hundred Thousand Lamps Without Loss
The catalogue turns to fire and light: it is like a small fire — whatever it burns, its flame only grows the fiercer; the fire of the mind of bodhi is likewise, and whatever dharma it takes as its object, the fire of wisdom only blazes the fiercer. It is like a single lamp that can kindle a hundred thousand other lamps, with no diminishment to itself at all; the lamp of the mind of bodhi is likewise, able to kindle the wisdom-lamps of the buddhas of the three times entire, with no diminishment to itself at all.
The Small Fire and the Lamp That Kindles a Hundred Thousand
「譬如小火，隨所焚燒，其焰轉盛。菩提心火亦復如是，隨所緣法，慧火猛盛。
「譬如一燈然百千燈，無所損減。菩提心燈亦復如是，悉然三世諸佛慧燈，無所損減。
"It is like a small fire — whatever it burns, its flame only grows the fiercer for it. The fire of the mind of bodhi is likewise: whatever dharma it takes as its object, the fire of wisdom only blazes the fiercer for it.
"It is like a single lamp that can kindle a hundred thousand other lamps, with no diminishment to itself at all. The lamp of the mind of bodhi is likewise: it is able to kindle the wisdom-lamps of the buddhas of the three times entire, with no diminishment to itself at all."
These two similes drop the customary "Good man" (善男子) address that has opened nearly every simile in this catalogue so far — a minor stylistic variation Fazang does not treat as doctrinally significant, likely reflecting the pace at which Maitreya's teaching is now flowing rather than any change of addressee. The lamp simile in particular echoes a famous image used elsewhere in Buddhist literature for the transmission of the Dharma from teacher to student without loss to the source — applied here specifically to bodhicitta being "kindled" across the buddhas of all three times, implying that even a buddha's own bodhicitta, fully realized, continues in some sense to kindle further awakening rather than being a fixed, spent achievement.
Part 361 Complete
Two fire-and-light similes are now given in full. Part 362 continues with a bright lamp entering a great dark room to dispel every darkness, and a lamp's wick whose light grows only greater the more oil is added.
Continue to Part 362 →