Go Now to Mañjuśrī
"Good man, go now to Mañjuśrī, and ask him: how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivate the bodhisattva's own path, fully accomplishing what Samantabhadra himself practices? He will explain and proclaim it for you, distinguishing each part. Why is this so? Mañjuśrī has fulfilled the vowed practice of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of bodhisattvas, and is constantly the mother of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of buddhas. He is likewise the teacher of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of bodhisattvas, valiant and diligent in teaching and transforming sentient beings, his renown universally heard throughout the worlds of the ten directions; he is constantly, in the midst of every buddha's own assembly, a great Dharma-master, praised by every buddha, abiding in the gate of the most profound wisdom, discerning and fully knowing the entire Dharma-realm; across boundless kalpas he has cultivated every Dharma-gate, consummating what the bodhisattva Samantabhadra himself practices. Good man, Mañjuśrī is your own good friend — he is able to cause you to be born into the tathāgata's own family, nurturing your roots of goodness, accumulating a mass of merit; he is able to point out and speak to you of every good friend, fulfilling every great vow, manifesting the inconceivable merit of every bodhisattva. For this reason, good man, you should, with a wholehearted mind, revere and reverently go to where he dwells. Why is this so? Every good friend you have already seen, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice and fulfilling every great vow, attaining every Dharma-gate — all of it has come about through Mañjuśrī's own awesome spiritual power."
"Mother to Boundless Buddhas, Teacher to Boundless Bodhisattvas"
善男子！汝今往詣文殊師利，問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道，具足成就普賢所行？彼當為汝分別演說。何以故？文殊師利滿足無量億那由他菩薩願行，常為無量億那由他諸佛之母。又為無量億那由他諸菩薩師，勇猛精進，教化眾生，名稱普聞十方世界；常於一切諸佛眾中，為大法師，悉為諸佛之所讚歎，安住甚深智慧法門，分別了知一切法界；於無量劫，修諸法門，究竟普賢菩薩所行。善男子！文殊師利是汝善知識，能令汝得生如來家，長養善根，積功德聚；能示語汝諸善知識，滿足大願，顯現一切菩薩不可思議功德。是故，善男子！汝應一心尊重，恭敬往詣其所。何以故？汝先所見諸善知識，修菩薩行，滿足大願，得諸法門，皆由文殊師利威神力故。」
"Good man, go now to Mañjuśrī, and ask him: how does a bodhisattva learn the bodhisattva's own practice and cultivate the bodhisattva's own path, fully accomplishing what Samantabhadra himself practices? He will explain and proclaim it for you, distinguishing each part. Why is this so? Mañjuśrī has fulfilled the vowed practice of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of bodhisattvas, and is constantly the mother of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of buddhas. He is likewise the teacher of boundless hundred-millions of niyutas of bodhisattvas, valiant and diligent in teaching and transforming sentient beings, his renown universally heard throughout the worlds of the ten directions; he is constantly, in the midst of every buddha's own assembly, a great Dharma-master, praised by every buddha, abiding in the gate of the most profound wisdom, discerning and fully knowing the entire Dharma-realm; across boundless kalpas he has cultivated every Dharma-gate, consummating what the bodhisattva Samantabhadra himself practices.
"Good man, Mañjuśrī is your own good friend — he is able to cause you to be born into the tathāgata's own family, nurturing your roots of goodness, accumulating a mass of merit; he is able to point out and speak to you of every good friend, fulfilling every great vow, manifesting the inconceivable merit of every bodhisattva. For this reason, good man, you should, with a wholehearted mind, revere and reverently go to where he dwells. Why is this so? Every good friend you have already seen, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice and fulfilling every great vow, attaining every Dharma-gate — all of it has come about through Mañjuśrī's own awesome spiritual power."
This is the passage's own first explicit naming of "Samantabhadra's own practice" (普賢所行) as the specific object of Sudhana's remaining search — the very teaching this entire sixty-fascicle sūtra is building toward. Fazang reads Maitreya's closing revelation — that every one of the fifty good friends Sudhana has already visited succeeded only "through Mañjuśrī's own awesome spiritual power" — as recasting the entire pilgrimage retroactively: Mañjuśrī was never simply the first of fifty-three teachers in a sequence, but the hidden source sustaining every subsequent teacher's own capacity to teach, present throughout even when physically absent, exactly as Maitreya's own bodhicitta similes described a power that "comes from nowhere" yet is brought forth wherever needed.
Part 411 Complete
Maitreya's instruction to seek out Mañjuśrī once more is now given in full. Part 412 turns to Sudhana's departure — his reverent bow, his circling of Maitreya countless times — and to his long journey through a hundred and ten cities in search of Mañjuśrī once more.
Continue to Part 412 →