Like a Nāga's Rain, Coming From Nowhere at All
Sudhana said: "Great sage, from where do these extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas come?" Maitreya answered: "They are brought forth by a bodhisattva's own spiritual power, and yet they do not reside within that spiritual power either; they do not come, they do not go, and they gather nowhere at all. It is like a nāga's own rain, which does not come from its body, and does not come from its mind, but arises only when intention is set upon it — should it wish to rain, it rains; and yet that very realm is itself inconceivable. Good man, these extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas are likewise: they come from nowhere at all, but are brought forth only through a bodhisattva's own spiritual power. Good man, it is like a master illusionist, who manifests every kind of scene, though there is no place it comes from or goes to; it is only through the illusionist's own power that every kind of scene is manifested. These extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas are likewise: they neither come nor go, they neither abide nor cling to anything, they are neither born nor do they cease — they only, through the power of a bodhisattva's own wisdom and vow, manifest as things such as these."
Neither Coming Nor Going, Neither Born Nor Ceasing
「大聖！此諸奇特妙莊嚴法，從何所來？」
答言：「菩薩神力之所出生，而亦不在神力之中；不來、不去、無積聚處。譬如龍雨，不從身心，但以發意，欲雨則雨；然彼境界，不可思議。善男子！此諸奇特妙莊嚴法，亦復如是；無所從來，但以菩薩神力出生。善男子！譬如幻師，現種種事，無來去處；但以幻力，現種種事。此諸奇特妙莊嚴法，亦復如是；無來、無去，無住、無著，不生、不滅，但學菩薩智願力故，現如是事。」
"Great sage, from where do these extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas come?"
Maitreya answered: "They are brought forth by a bodhisattva's own spiritual power, and yet they do not reside within that spiritual power either; they do not come, they do not go, and they gather nowhere at all. It is like a nāga's own rain, which does not come from its body, and does not come from its mind, but arises only when intention is set upon it — should it wish to rain, it rains; and yet that very realm is itself inconceivable. Good man, these extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas are likewise: they come from nowhere at all, but are brought forth only through a bodhisattva's own spiritual power. Good man, it is like a master illusionist, who manifests every kind of scene, though there is no place it comes from or goes to; it is only through the illusionist's own power that every kind of scene is manifested. These extraordinary, wondrously adorned dharmas are likewise: they neither come nor go, they neither abide nor cling to anything, they are neither born nor do they cease — they only, through the power of a bodhisattva's own wisdom and vow, manifest as things such as these."
The nāga-rain simile carries a subtle but important qualification Fazang draws attention to: the rain does not come from the nāga's own body or mind, and yet the nāga's intention is still the necessary condition for it — "should it wish to rain, it rains." Read alongside the illusionist simile that follows, this establishes a middle position between two extremes: the vision is neither an objectively existing thing traveling from somewhere to Sudhana, nor merely arbitrary or causeless, but arises dependently upon the bodhisattva's own wisdom and vow without residing anywhere, including within that wisdom and vow themselves — a compact statement, in narrative form, of the Madhyamaka teaching on dependent origination's own middle way between existence and non-existence.
Part 404 Complete
Maitreya's teaching on the vision's own non-arising is now given in full. Part 405 turns to Sudhana's next and most personal question — "Great sage, where do you yourself come from?" — opening Maitreya's own extended, philosophically dense answer.
Continue to Part 405 →