Unsurpassed Victory, and the Grove Free of Sorrow
Sudhana takes leave of Self-Mastery the sea-captain and journeys to the city Delightful, where the elder Unsurpassed Victory settles the affairs of the land within a grove east of the city before expounding the Dharma to countless fellow elders. Sudhana prostrates and repeats his own name twice before asking his question, and learns of a single Dharma-gate that reaches every destiny of every being, throughout this world and every world in the ten directions, resting on nothing and creating nothing. The third teacher of the Ten Transferences.
The Grove East of the City
時，善財童子頭面禮足，遶無數匝，悲泣流淚，辭退南行。
爾時，善財童子增廣大慈大悲，潤澤長養功德智慧莊嚴，離煩惱垢，入平等法，心不放逸；拔不善刺，滅一切障，精進堅固修習菩薩不可思議三昧，慧光普照，寂靜快樂，功德水池，解脫華敷，滿足大願，充滿法界，無所障礙，趣一切智，一向專求菩薩正道。漸漸遊行，至可樂城，周遍推求無上勝長者。城東有林名離憂惱妙莊嚴幢；時，彼長者在此林中，無量長者周匝圍遶，理斷國事，因為說法，離我、我所及一切有，遠離嫉妬，清淨心海，安住淨心，常見諸佛，得無垢信力，受諸佛法，起菩薩力，行菩薩行，出生菩薩諸三昧力，顯現菩薩諸智慧力，演說菩薩正念之力，樂發無上菩提之心。
爾時，善財詣長者所，以敬法故，五體投地，良久乃起，白言：「大聖！我是善財，我是善財，我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行，修菩薩道，教化眾生，常見諸佛，諮問正法，悉能受持諸佛法雲，專向一切諸方便門，於一切世界、一切劫中，行菩薩行，知一切佛自在神力，能受一切諸佛所持，得諸佛力？」
At that time Sudhana the Boy bowed his head at his feet, circled him countless times, wept, tears flowing, and, taking his leave, journeyed on to the south.
At that time Sudhana the Boy broadened and expanded great loving-kindness and great compassion, moistening and nurturing the adornment of merit and wisdom, departing from the defilement of affliction, entering the Dharma of equanimity, his mind never heedless; drawing out every unwholesome thorn, extinguishing every obstruction, diligently and firmly cultivating the bodhisattva's own samādhi beyond conceiving, the light of wisdom universally illumining, tranquil and blissful, a pool of the water of merit where the flower of liberation blossoms, fulfilling the great vow, filling the whole Dharma-realm, unobstructed, advancing toward omniscience, single-mindedly seeking only the bodhisattva's own true path. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the city Delightful, and sought everywhere for the elder Unsurpassed Victory. To the east of the city was a grove named the Sublimely Adorned Banner Free of Sorrow and Vexation; at that time this elder was within this grove, surrounded on every side by countless elders, settling and deciding the affairs of the land, and, through this, expounding the Dharma — departing from self and from what belongs to self and from every kind of existence, departing far from envy, purifying the ocean of the mind, abiding securely in a pure mind, constantly beholding every buddha, attaining the power of stainless faith, receiving every buddha's own Dharma, giving rise to the bodhisattva's own power, practicing the bodhisattva's own practice, giving rise to the bodhisattva's own power of every samādhi, manifesting the bodhisattva's own power of every wisdom, expounding the bodhisattva's own power of right mindfulness, delighting in raising the mind of unsurpassed bodhi.
At that time Sudhana went before this elder, and, out of reverence for the Dharma, prostrated with all five limbs to the ground, remaining so for a long while before rising, and said: "Great sage! I am Sudhana, I am Sudhana; I have already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path, teaches and transforms sentient beings, constantly beholds every buddha, consults them on the true Dharma, is able to receive and uphold every cloud of every buddha's own Dharma entirely, turns single-mindedly toward every gate of skillful means, practices the bodhisattva's own practice throughout every world and every eon, knows every buddha's own sovereign spiritual power, is able to receive whatever every buddha sustains him with, and attains the power of every buddha?"
Fazang marks this as the third of the Ten Transferences, "the Transference of Being Equal to Every Buddha." He glosses the city's own name, 已境界等佛土，可願樂也 — "since its own domain is already equal to a buddha-land, it is worthy of aspiration and delight" — and the elder's, 以得勝通，更無加過，故以為名 — "having attained supreme spiritual penetration, with nothing surpassing it further — hence this name." On Sudhana's own prostration, held for a long while before he rises, and his repeating his own name twice, Fazang reads both gestures as deliberate: 前五體良久，以身表心。重稱己名，以語表心，顯愍重之極。又顯已是修行之器，悕其說法也 — "the prolonged full prostration expresses the mind through the body; repeating his own name expresses the mind through speech, showing the utmost depth of his earnest reverence — and also reveals that he is already a vessel fit for cultivation, hoping only that the Dharma will be spoken." The grove itself, dwelt in by an elder who spends his days settling the ordinary business of the land before he ever turns to teach, Fazang reads simply as the place most convenient for gathering and transforming beings — governance and Dharma-teaching sharing the same address, not two separate lives.
Reaching Every Destiny, and Ten Directions of Worlds Beyond Telling
時，彼長者告善財言：「善哉！善哉！善男子！乃能發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。善男子！我成就至一切趣菩薩淨行莊嚴法門，無依無作神足之力。善男子！何等為至一切趣菩薩淨行莊嚴法門？善男子！此三千大千世界，一切阿脩羅世間，一切迦樓羅、地獄、餓鬼、夜叉、羅剎、鳩槃荼、乾闥婆、人、非人等世間，三十三天、須夜摩天、刪兜率天乃至魔天；世間欲界所住一切生趣、一切天宮、一切龍宮、一切夜叉、乾闥婆、阿脩羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽等宮；人中國土、城邑、聚落於中說法；滅除諍訟，諸恚害心，悉解繫縛，皆令出獄，離諸恐怖，滅不善業，殺害眾生，乃至邪見，斷諸王事及國土事；遠不善法，悉令眾生除滅諸惡，教以巧術及種種論，饒益一切，皆令歡喜；隨順一切諸外道眾，現勝妙智；遠離邪見，樂於佛法；乃至梵天廣為說法。如此三千大千世界，乃至十方不可說不可說億那由他佛剎微塵等世界中廣說正法，所謂：佛法、菩薩法、眾生法、聲聞法、緣覺法，說地獄、餓鬼、畜生、閻羅趣法；現惡道苦，說諸天趣，現諸天樂，說世間法，離世間法；顯菩薩道，離生死惡，說一切智諸妙功德，滅愚癡苦及諸障礙；欲令眾生得離世樂，離諸虛妄，解真實法，遠離惡業，滅諸煩惱，轉淨法輪。善男子！我唯知此至一切趣菩薩淨行莊嚴法門，無依無作神通之力。諸大菩薩具足成就諸神通明佛剎等身，得普眼地，知語言道，神力自在，具足智慧，離諸諍訟，逮得大人廣長舌相，出微妙音，無能壞者，分別一切三世諸佛，亦無二想，明淨智慧，照三世法，境界無量，淨如虛空，我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！於此南方，有一國土名曰難忍，城名迦陵伽婆提，有比丘尼名師子奮迅，汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
At that time this elder said to Sudhana: "Excellent, excellent, good son! You have indeed been able to raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Good son, I have accomplished the Dharma-gate of the Bodhisattva's Adornment of Pure Practice, Reaching Every Destiny, the power of spiritual feet resting on nothing and creating nothing. Good son, what is this Dharma-gate of the Bodhisattva's Adornment of Pure Practice, Reaching Every Destiny? Good son, throughout this great trichiliocosm, every world of the asuras, every world of the garuḍas, the hells, hungry ghosts, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, gandharvas, humans and non-humans, the Trāyastriṃśa heaven, the Suyāma heaven, the Tuṣita heaven, even up to the heaven of māra; throughout the world of desire, every destiny of birth dwelt within it, every heavenly palace, every nāga palace, every palace of yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas; throughout every land, city, and village among human beings, I expound the Dharma — extinguishing dispute and litigation, every mind of hatred and harm, releasing every bond entirely, causing all to be freed from prison, departing from every fear, extinguishing unwholesome karma, the killing of sentient beings, even wrong views, settling the affairs of every king and every land; departing far from unwholesome dharmas, causing sentient beings to extinguish every evil entirely, teaching them every skillful art and every kind of treatise, bringing benefit to everyone, causing them all to rejoice; according with every assembly of every other path, I manifest supreme, sublime wisdom; departing from wrong view, delighting in the Buddha-dharma, even up to the Brahmā heaven, I broadly expound the Dharma. Just as throughout this trichiliocosm, so too throughout the ten directions, in worlds as numerous as motes of dust in a hundred million nayutas of buddha-lands beyond telling upon telling, I broadly expound the true Dharma — namely: the Dharma of the buddhas, the Dharma of bodhisattvas, the Dharma of sentient beings, the Dharma of śrāvakas, the Dharma of pratyekabuddhas; expounding the Dharma of the hells, of hungry ghosts, of animals, of the realm of King Yama; manifesting the suffering of the evil paths, expounding the destinies of every heaven, manifesting the bliss of every heaven, expounding worldly Dharma, and departing from worldly Dharma; manifesting the bodhisattva path, departing from the evil of birth and death, expounding every sublime merit of omniscience, extinguishing the suffering of folly and every obstruction; wishing to cause sentient beings to depart from worldly pleasure, to depart from every falsehood, to understand the true Dharma, to depart far from evil karma, to extinguish every affliction, and to turn the pure Dharma-wheel. Good son, I know only this Dharma-gate of the Bodhisattva's Adornment of Pure Practice, Reaching Every Destiny, the power of spiritual penetration resting on nothing and creating nothing. The great bodhisattvas, fully endowed and accomplished with every spiritual penetration, illumine bodies equal to every buddha-land, attain the ground of the universal eye, know the path of language, are sovereign in spiritual power, fully endowed with wisdom, departed from every dispute, attain the great being's own mark of the broad, long tongue, giving forth a sublime voice that nothing can destroy, discern every buddha of the three times without even a thought of duality, their bright, pure wisdom illumining the Dharma of the three times, their domain boundless, pure as space itself. How could I possibly know, how could I possibly speak of, such merit and practice as this? Good son, to the south of here there is a land, named Hard to Endure; its city, named the Grove of Contention; there is a bhikkhuni there, named Lion's Vigor. Go to her and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
Fazang glosses "resting on nothing, creating nothing" precisely: 此至一切趣，不由功用任運遍至，故云無依無作。非他力持，故云無依。非自加行，故云無作 — "this 'reaching every destiny' happens not through effortful striving but arises freely of its own accord, universally reaching everywhere — hence 'resting on nothing, creating nothing.' It is not sustained by another's power, hence 'resting on nothing'; it does not depend on the elder's own added effort, hence 'creating nothing.' This is simply what it looks like to match the Dharma-nature itself, which is universal by its very nature." On "every skillful art and every kind of treatise" taught to worldly beings, he adds a single precise gloss: 種種論者，五明等也 — "'every kind of treatise' refers to the five sciences and the like" — the traditional five branches of Indian learning: grammar, logic, medicine, craft, and the inner science of the Dharma itself. He reads the whole teaching as unfolding at two scales, deliberately doubled: first, everything just described happening throughout this one trichiliocosm; then, immediately, the identical scope of teaching happening throughout worlds beyond telling in every one of the ten directions — the same practice, demonstrated twice, once at the scale a listener can picture and once at the scale the Dharma actually operates at.
Part 44 Complete
This closes Part 44: Sudhana's arrival at Delightful, and the elder Unsurpassed Victory, third teacher of the Ten Transferences, whose Dharma-gate of Reaching Every Destiny governs a land by day and, by the same unforced power, teaches every destiny of every being throughout the ten directions. Sudhana is sent onward, to the land Hard to Endure, the city the Grove of Contention, and the bhikkhuni named Lion's Vigor.
Continue to Part 45 — Lion's Vigor, and a Garden No Crowd Can Fill →