The Seat That Bears the Vajra Throne
The vajra similes reach their close: water held within a vajra vessel can never be exhausted — the mind of bodhi is likewise, abiding in the supreme wonder of dedicated roots of goodness, entering into the destinies of birth and death, unable to be exhausted by any unwholesome dharma. Vajra is able to hold up the great earth, never letting it fall or sink — the mind of bodhi is likewise, upholding every one of a bodhisattva's own vowed practices, never letting them fall, never letting them sink into the three realms. Vajra, across a hundred thousand kalpas dwelling within water, neither decays nor changes at all — the mind of bodhi is likewise, and across boundless kalpas dwelling amid birth and death, the karma of the afflictions is unable to sever or destroy it, nor to diminish it in the least. Vajra cannot be scorched hot by any great fire — the mind of bodhi is likewise, unable to be scorched hot by the fire of craving, hatred, and delusion throughout birth and death. And it is like the vajra seat of the bodhimaṇḍa, which alone is able to bear a bodhisattva as he subdues every māra and attains complete, perfect awakening, a feat nothing else can accomplish; the mind of bodhi is likewise, able to bear every one of a bodhisattva's own vowed practices, every pāramitā, every forbearance, every ground, every dedication and prediction, cultivating the path to bodhi, making offerings to every buddha, hearing the Dharma and carrying it out — a feat that no other mind at all is able to bear.
Five Final Vajra Similes: Endurance, Support, and the Bodhimaṇḍa's Own Throne
「譬如金剛器中盛水，不可消盡。菩提之心亦復如是，安住勝妙迴向善根，入生死趣，諸不善法不能消盡。
「譬如金剛，能持大地，不令墜沒。菩提之心亦復如是，持諸菩薩一切願行，不令墜落，沒於三界。
「譬如金剛，於百千劫，處於水中而不爛壞，亦無變異。菩提之心亦復如是，於無量劫，處生死中，諸煩惱業不能斷滅，亦無損減。
「譬如金剛，一切大火不能燒熱。菩提之心亦復如是，一切生死貪恚癡火，不能燒熱。
「譬如金剛道場之座，能持菩薩，降伏諸魔，成等正覺，餘不能持。菩提之心亦復如是，能持一切菩薩願行，諸波羅蜜、諸忍、諸地，迴向受記，修菩提道，供養諸佛，聞法受行，一切諸心所不能持。
"It is like water held within a vajra vessel, which can never be exhausted. The mind of bodhi is likewise: abiding in the supreme wonder of dedicated roots of goodness, entering into the destinies of birth and death, it is unable to be exhausted by any unwholesome dharma.
"It is like vajra, which is able to hold up the great earth, never letting it fall or sink. The mind of bodhi is likewise: it upholds every one of a bodhisattva's own vowed practices, never letting them fall, never letting them sink into the three realms.
"It is like vajra, which across a hundred thousand kalpas dwelling within water neither decays nor changes at all. The mind of bodhi is likewise: across boundless kalpas dwelling amid birth and death, the karma of the afflictions is unable to sever or destroy it, nor to diminish it in the least.
"It is like vajra, which no great fire at all is able to scorch hot. The mind of bodhi is likewise: no fire of craving, hatred, or delusion throughout birth and death is able to scorch it hot.
"It is like the vajra seat of the bodhimaṇḍa, which alone is able to bear a bodhisattva as he subdues every māra and attains complete, perfect awakening — a feat that nothing else is able to accomplish. The mind of bodhi is likewise: it alone is able to bear every one of a bodhisattva's own vowed practices — every pāramitā, every forbearance, every ground, every dedication and prediction — cultivating the path to bodhi, making offerings to every buddha, hearing the Dharma and carrying it out — a feat that no other mind at all is able to bear."
This final vajra simile — the seat of the bodhimaṇḍa (道場, the "site of awakening," traditionally identified with the very spot beneath the bodhi tree where Śākyamuni attained buddhahood) — closes the whole sequence on its most consequential image: not merely a strong or enduring substance, but the singular, specific location where awakening itself is attained, a seat that "alone" can bear what occurs there. Fazang reads this deliberate progression across the entire vajra sequence — from vajra's origin, through its destructive and protective powers, to this culminating identification with the very seat of buddhahood — as building toward the catalogue's real destination: bodhicitta is now revealed not merely as vajra-like in various respects, but as itself the seat upon which the whole of the bodhisattva path, and ultimately awakening itself, comes to rest.
Part 384 Complete — The Vajra Sequence Concludes
The long sequence of vajra similes, and with it this entire second great catalogue of medicine and jewel similes for the mind of bodhi, is now complete. Part 385 turns to Maitreya's own closing declaration — and to the extraordinary moment that follows it, as Sudhana at last asks to enter the tower itself.
Continue to Part 385 →