A Single Drop Dissolves Every Lesser Milk
The catalogue continues with two further lion-imagery similes: it is like a person who strings a lute with lion-sinew — once its sound is played, every other string snaps at once; every one of the tathāgata's own pāramitā-bodies sends forth the merit-sound of the mind of bodhi in just this way, and should anyone who delights in the five desires or in the vehicle of the two lesser paths hear it, they are cut off from that delight entirely. It is like cow's, horse's, or goat's milk gathered together in a single vessel — should a lion's own milk be poured into that vessel, every other milk dissolves completely, passing through without any obstruction; the tathāgata's own lion-milk that is the mind of bodhi is likewise, placed among the milk of every karma and affliction accumulated across boundless kalpas — all of it dissolves entirely, unable to remain within the dharma of the śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha.
The Lion-Sinew String and the Lion's Milk
「譬如有人用師子筋以為琴絃，音聲既奏，餘絃斷絕。一切如來波羅蜜身，出菩提心功德音聲，若樂五欲二乘法者，聞悉斷滅。
「譬如牛、馬、羊乳合在一器，以師子乳投彼器中，餘乳消盡，直過無礙。如來師子菩提心乳，著無量劫所積諸業煩惱乳中，皆悉消盡，不住聲聞、緣覺法中。
"It is like a person who strings a lute with lion-sinew — once its sound has been played, every other string snaps at once. Every one of the tathāgata's own pāramitā-bodies is likewise: it sends forth the merit-sound of the mind of bodhi, and should anyone who delights in the five desires or in the dharma of the two lesser vehicles hear it, that delight is cut off and destroyed entirely.
"It is like cow's, horse's, or goat's milk gathered together within a single vessel — should a lion's own milk be poured into that vessel, every other milk dissolves completely, passing straight through without any obstruction. The tathāgata's own lion-milk that is the mind of bodhi is likewise: placed among the milk of every karma and affliction accumulated across boundless kalpas, all of it dissolves entirely, unable to remain within the dharma of the śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha."
These two similes complete a set of four consecutive lion-imagery comparisons (roar, crown having been the prior pair, sinew-string and milk here), an unusually concentrated cluster Fazang reads as drawing on the lion's standard role throughout Buddhist literature as the animal-symbol of a buddha's own fearless authority (hence "lion's roar," siṃhanāda, as a technical term for a buddha's definitive pronouncement). The milk simile in particular carries a long pedigree in Buddhist commentarial literature as an image for the incompatibility of a superior teaching with lesser vessels — its application here to bodhicitta specifically, rather than to the Buddha's teaching in general, treats bodhicitta itself as possessing this same purifying, dissolving potency wherever it is introduced.
Part 364 Complete
Two more lion similes are now given in full. Part 365 turns to a young garuḍa bird, whose eyes and strength already surpass every ordinary bird from the moment of its birth, and to a bird within its shell whose power exceeds every bird still living outside one.
Continue to Part 365 →