Single-Mindedly Wishing to See Samantabhadra
At this, Sudhana came to see good friends equal in number to the fine motes of dust throughout a great trichiliocosm, never transgressing their teaching, growing the treasury of great compassion for the sake of all-wisdom; with a pure eye of wisdom, universally observing sentient beings, abiding in the bodhisattva's own tranquil Dharma-gate, discerning and fully knowing the objects of every dharma, entering the buddha's own ocean of most profound merit; endowed with the path of liberation, nurturing diligence, cultivating an upright mind for the sake of all-wisdom, entering the most profound ocean of Dharma across the three times; according with every buddha's own pure Dharma-wheel, manifesting entry into every destiny, carrying out the bodhisattva's own practice across every kalpa, fulfilling every great vow; with bright, pure light of wisdom illuminating the domain of all-wisdom, purifying the bodhisattva's own faculties, using that pure light of wisdom to remove the haze of ignorance, illuminating every dharma, fully realizing the Dharma-realm, every buddha-land, and every sentient being; destroying the mountain of every hindrance, abiding in the unobstructed Dharma, fully accomplishing the treasury of Dharma at every ground, cultivating what the bodhisattva Samantabhadra himself practices. Sudhana the youth came to hear the name of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his vowed practice and merit, the completeness of every ground, the Dharma of every ground, the attainment of every ground, the sequence of every ground, the cultivation of every ground, the abiding of every ground, the domain of every ground, the sustaining of every ground, the sharing of every ground, and the true path of every ground — and with his whole mind, he wished to behold the bodhisattva Samantabhadra.
Every Ground of the Path, and a Whole Mind Set Upon Samantabhadra
善財得見三千大千世界微塵等諸善知識，不違其教，增長薩婆若大慈悲藏；以淨慧眼，普觀眾生，安住菩薩寂靜法門，分別了知諸法境界，入佛甚深大功德海；具解脫道，長養精進，為薩婆若修正直心，入於三世甚深法海；隨順諸佛清淨法輪，現入諸趣，於一切劫，修菩薩行，滿足大願；明淨慧光，照一切智境，淨菩薩根，以淨慧光除愚癡翳，照一切法，了達法界一切佛剎及諸眾生；壞障礙山，住無礙法，具足成就諸地法藏，修習普賢菩薩所行。善財童子得聞普賢菩薩名號，行願功德，諸地地具、地法、地得、地次第、地修、地住、地境界、地持、地共、地正道，一心欲見普賢菩薩。
Sudhana came to see good friends equal in number to the fine motes of dust throughout a great trichiliocosm, never transgressing their teaching, growing the treasury of great compassion for the sake of all-wisdom; with a pure eye of wisdom, universally observing sentient beings, abiding in the bodhisattva's own tranquil Dharma-gate, discerning and fully knowing the objects of every dharma, entering the buddha's own ocean of most profound merit; endowed with the path of liberation, nurturing diligence, cultivating an upright mind for the sake of all-wisdom, entering the most profound ocean of Dharma across the three times; according with every buddha's own pure Dharma-wheel, manifesting entry into every destiny, carrying out the bodhisattva's own practice across every kalpa, fulfilling every great vow; with bright, pure light of wisdom illuminating the domain of all-wisdom, purifying the bodhisattva's own faculties, using that pure light of wisdom to remove the haze of ignorance, illuminating every dharma, fully realizing the Dharma-realm, every buddha-land, and every sentient being; destroying the mountain of every hindrance, abiding in the unobstructed Dharma, fully accomplishing the treasury of Dharma at every ground, cultivating what the bodhisattva Samantabhadra himself practices.
Sudhana the youth came to hear the name of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his vowed practice and merit, the completeness of every ground, the Dharma of every ground, the attainment of every ground, the sequence of every ground, the cultivation of every ground, the abiding of every ground, the domain of every ground, the sustaining of every ground, the sharing of every ground, and the true path of every ground — and with his whole mind, he wished to behold the bodhisattva Samantabhadra.
This passage functions as a formal overture to the sūtra's final teacher, opening with a description of the fruits of Sudhana's entire prior pilgrimage (compassion, discernment, an upright mind, unobstructed Dharma) before naming, for the first time as an actual object of longing rather than a distant reference, Samantabhadra himself. Fazang reads the tenfold list of grounds here — completeness, Dharma, attainment, sequence, cultivation, abiding, domain, sustaining, sharing, and true path — as anticipating the systematic, structured teaching Samantabhadra himself is about to give, since Samantabhadra is traditionally associated above all with the ten bodhisattva grounds (daśabhūmi) and their full elaboration, a role distinct from every teacher Sudhana has visited before him.
Part 415 Complete
Sudhana's longing to see Samantabhadra is now given in full. Part 416 turns to Sudhana raising ten specific states of mind — vast as space, unattached to anything, filling all ten directions — in preparation for the vision about to unfold.
Continue to Part 416 →