Mistaking a Pure Jewel for Something Unclean
The catalogue continues: it is like a prince who, though not yet sovereign in his own right, already bears every mark and bearing of a king; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise, and though still covered by the hindrance of karma and the afflictions, he already bears every mark of the mind of bodhi's own accomplishment. It is like clouded vision, which, seeing a truly pure jewel, mistakes it for something unclean; the jewel of the mind of bodhi is likewise, and those without wisdom, lacking faith in it, mistakenly conceive of it as impure.
Royal Bearing Before Sovereignty, and the Clouded Eye's Error
「善男子！譬如王子雖未自在，已具成就國王儀相。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，雖為煩惱業障所覆，以具成就菩提心相。
「善男子！譬如目翳，見真淨寶，謂為不淨。菩提心寶亦復如是，無智不信，起不淨想。
"Good man, it is like a prince who, though not yet sovereign in his own right, already bears every mark and bearing of a king in full. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: though still covered over by the hindrance of karma and the afflictions, he already bears every mark of the mind of bodhi's own accomplishment in full.
"Good man, it is like clouded vision, which, seeing a truly pure jewel, mistakes it for something unclean. The jewel of the mind of bodhi is likewise: those without wisdom, lacking faith in it, mistakenly give rise to the thought that it is impure."
This pair of similes candidly addresses a real pastoral concern rather than only celebrating bodhicitta: the prince simile explains why a bodhisattva's own attainment can remain genuinely accomplished even while still visibly obstructed by ordinary karma and affliction, while the clouded-vision simile explains why some observers fail to recognize that accomplishment at all, attributing the failure not to any flaw in bodhicitta itself but to a defect in the observer's own vision. Fazang reads the second simile in particular as a caution against the kind of skepticism that might arise from seeing an ordinary-seeming bodhisattva, still entangled in worldly affliction, and concluding wrongly that his bodhicitta must therefore be lesser or impure.
Part 377 Complete
Two more similes are now given in full. Part 378 turns to a spell-medicine whose mere sight or proximity cures every disease, and to a swan-down robe that repels dust of every kind.
Continue to Part 378 →