Honored From Birth Regardless of Age
The catalogue returns to royal imagery: it is like a crown prince, who, from the very moment of his birth, is already honored by every minister of state; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, and having raised the mind of bodhi, he is already jointly honored by every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha, for he cultivates great compassion. It is like a young prince, however tender his years, whom every minister of state reverently bows before; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, and having raised the mind of bodhi, he receives the reverent bow of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha alike.
Honored From Birth, Bowed to Despite Tender Years
「善男子！譬如太子初生，已為大臣之所尊重。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，發菩提心已，為一切聲聞、緣覺所共尊重，修大悲故。
「善男子！譬如王子年雖幼少，一切大臣皆悉敬禮。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，發菩提心，聲聞、緣覺皆悉敬禮。
"Good man, it is like a crown prince, who, from the very moment of his birth, is already honored by every minister of state. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having raised the mind of bodhi, he is already jointly honored by every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha, for he cultivates great compassion.
"Good man, it is like a young prince, however tender his years may be, whom every minister of state reverently bows before. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: having raised the mind of bodhi, he receives the reverent bow of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha alike."
These two prince-similes extend the birth-precedence theme already established through the kapiñjala bird and garuḍa similes earlier in this catalogue, but shift the register from raw power to social honor — a crown prince or young prince commands the deference of seasoned ministers not through personal accomplishment but through the office his birth confers upon him. Fazang reads the explicit naming of the specific cause, "for he cultivates great compassion," in the first simile as clarifying that the honor bodhicitta commands, unlike a prince's honor, is not merely conventional or positional but tracks a genuine, substantive quality — compassion — that a newly-arisen bodhicitta already actively embodies rather than merely promises for the future.
Part 376 Complete
Two more similes are now given in full. Part 377 turns to a prince who, though not yet sovereign in his own right, already bears every mark and bearing of a king, and to a person whose vision is clouded, who mistakes a pure jewel for something unclean.
Continue to Part 377 →