Lion's Vigor, and a Garden No Crowd Can Fill
Sudhana takes leave of Unsurpassed Victory and journeys to the land Hard to Endure, seeking the bhikkhuni Lion's Vigor within the Grove of Sunlight. He finds her royal park first: eight named trees, each with its own wonder, and a pond of water carrying eight distinct excellent qualities, spread beneath countless jeweled thrones — a garden so vast that the whole trichiliocosm's gods, nāgas, and beings beyond number can enter it at once without it ever feeling crowded. The fourth teacher of the Ten Transferences, in the first of three parts.
Eight Trees, and a Garden Room for Every Being at Once
時，善財童子頭面敬禮彼長者足，遶無數匝，眷仰觀察，辭退南行。
爾時，善財童子漸漸遊行至彼國城，周遍推問彼比丘尼。時，有無量男女大眾答善財言：「此比丘尼今在王園日光林中，以法饒益一切眾生。」
爾時，善財詣彼園林，周遍觀察，見一大樹名曰滿月，放大光明，照百由旬；復見大樹名曰普覆，其形如蓋，放青光明；復見華樹名曰華藏，高如雪山，雨眾華雲，如天帝釋波利質多羅樹；復見大樹名曰柔軟，光明普照，常有果實；復見大樹名曰明淨，不可譬諭摩尼莊嚴，出阿僧祇清淨妙寶；復見衣樹，出阿僧祇妙寶衣藏；復見歡喜樹，自然演出微妙音聲；復見普莊嚴香熏樹，出一切香，普熏十方，無所障礙；
復見彼園泉流淵池，栴檀行樹周匝圍遶，七寶欄楯以為莊嚴，黑栴檀泥凝渟其底，布以金沙，八功德水充滿其中，優鉢羅、鉢曇摩、拘牟頭、分陀利華，敷榮鮮茂遍覆其上；寶樹周遍，端嚴殊妙，一一樹下各敷無量師子之座，布以寶衣，熏以眾香，張眾寶帳，白淨寶網羅覆其上，金鈴網中出妙音聲；或有樹下敷蓮華藏師子之座，或有樹下敷香藏座，或有樹下敷龍莊嚴藏座，或有樹下敷寶聚師子座，或有樹下敷明淨普照藏座，或有樹下敷師子樂藏座。彼一一座各有十萬寶師子座眷屬圍遶，無量莊嚴，散無量寶，充滿其中，如海寶洲。寶衣布地，柔軟妙好，蹈則沒足，舉則還復；異類眾鳥出和雅音，超越帝釋歡喜之園；種種華樹常雨華雲，超勝帝釋照明之園；妙香普熏，超於帝釋善法講堂；寶樹樂樹出微妙聲，超過善口天女歌音；無量百千樓閣莊嚴，觀者無厭，超逾帝釋善現大城。此園一切諸莊嚴具如梵天宮，眾生樂見。爾時，善財見此園林皆是菩薩業行所成，出諸世間善根所起，供養不可思議諸佛所得，無能壞者；此皆師子奮迅比丘尼了法如幻，長養功德藏善根所成，三千大千世界，天龍八部，無量眾生悉入此園而不迫迮；何以故？此比丘尼不可思議威神力故。
At that time Sudhana the Boy reverently bowed his head at this elder's feet, circled him countless times, gazing back with longing regard, and, taking his leave, journeyed on to the south.
At that time Sudhana the Boy gradually journeyed on until he arrived at that land and city, and sought everywhere, asking after this bhikkhuni. At that time countless men and women answered Sudhana: "This bhikkhuni is now within the royal park, in the Grove of Sunlight, bringing benefit to every sentient being through the Dharma."
At that time Sudhana went to this garden grove, and, looking everywhere, beheld a great tree named Full Moon, releasing great light, illumining a hundred yojanas; he further beheld a great tree named Universal Covering, its form like a canopy, releasing blue-green light; he further beheld a flowering tree named Flower-Treasury, tall as the Snow Mountains, raining down clouds of every flower, like the pārijāta tree of Śakra, lord of the gods; he further beheld a great tree named Soft and Pliant, its light universally illumining, ever bearing fruit; he further beheld a great tree named Bright and Pure, adorned with maṇi jewels beyond any likeness, giving forth countless pure, sublime jewels; he further beheld a Robe Tree, giving forth a countless treasury of sublime, jeweled robes; he further beheld a Joyful Tree, of itself giving forth a sublime, subtle sound; he further beheld a Universally Adorned, Fragrance-Perfuming Tree, giving forth every kind of fragrance, universally perfuming the ten directions without any obstruction;
he further beheld, within this garden, flowing springs and deep pools, surrounded on every side by rows of sandalwood trees, adorned with balustrades of the seven jewels, their bottom set with black sandalwood-scented mud, spread with golden sand, filled entirely with the water of the eight excellent qualities — light, cool, soft, sweet, pure, odorless, soothing to drink, and causing no illness afterward — and covered over with blue lotuses, red lotuses, white water-lilies, and white lotuses, blossoming forth in freshness and splendor. Jeweled trees stood everywhere, dignified and sublime, and beneath each and every tree were spread countless lion-thrones, spread with jeweled robes, perfumed with every fragrance, hung with jeweled canopies, covered over with nets of white, pure jewels, from within which nets of golden bells gave forth sublime sounds; beneath some trees were spread lion-thrones of the Lotus Treasury, beneath others thrones of the Fragrance Treasury, beneath others thrones of the Nāga-Adornment Treasury, beneath others jewel-heap lion-thrones, beneath others thrones of the Bright, Pure, Universally Illumining Treasury, and beneath others thrones of the Lion's Own Delight Treasury. Every single one of these thrones was surrounded by a retinue of a hundred thousand jeweled lion-thrones, adorned beyond measure, scattered with countless jewels, filling the whole place like an island of treasure within the sea. Jeweled robes were spread upon the ground, soft and marvelous, sinking beneath the foot when trodden upon and rising again once lifted; birds of every different kind gave forth harmonious, elegant sounds, surpassing even Śakra's own Garden of Delight; every kind of flowering tree constantly rained down clouds of flowers, surpassing even Śakra's own Garden of Illumination; sublime fragrance perfumed everything universally, surpassing even Śakra's own Hall of Good Dharma; jeweled trees and trees of music gave forth sublime, subtle sounds, surpassing even the songs of the heavenly maidens skilled in voice; countless hundreds of thousands of adorned pavilions, which none who beheld them ever tired of, surpassing even Śakra's own great city, Excellent Manifestation. Every adornment of this garden was like the palace of the Brahmā heaven, delightful for every sentient being to behold. At that time Sudhana beheld that this garden grove was entirely accomplished through the bodhisattva's own karmic practice, arising from every kind of transcendent root of goodness, attained through offerings made to buddhas beyond conceiving, something nothing at all could destroy; all of it was accomplished through the bhikkhuni Lion's Vigor's own understanding of the Dharma as illusion, and her nurturing of the treasury of merit and roots of goodness — and though the whole trichiliocosm's gods, nāgas, the eightfold host, and countless sentient beings all entered this garden at once, it was never crowded. Why was this? Because of this bhikkhuni's own spiritual power beyond conceiving.
Fazang marks this as the fourth of the Ten Transferences, "the Transference of Reaching Every Place." On why a bhikkhuni is found dwelling within a royal park rather than a monastery of her own, he cites the Vinaya directly: 尼投陀皆在王園，以藉外護方得長道 — "nuns and ascetic practitioners alike dwell within royal parks, relying on this outward protection in order to sustain their long cultivation of the path." He reads the garden itself, before Sudhana ever beholds the bhikkhuni in person, as unfolding in six distinct aspects: the great trees' own adornment, briefly given in eight kinds; the garden's flowing pools, their water carrying the eight qualities the sutra itself now spells out in full for the first time in this collection — light, cool, soft, sweet, pure, odorless, soothing, and healthful; the seats spread beneath each tree; every further miscellaneous adornment; the cause of it all — entirely the fruit of transcendent roots of goodness and illusion-like wisdom; and finally its sovereign, unobstructed function — that this fruit can hold the whole trichiliocosm's beings at once without ever growing crowded, since a garden accomplished through the wisdom that knows all things as illusion is not bound by the ordinary logic of finite space at all.
Part 45 In Progress
Part 45 continues in Part 46: Sudhana beholding the bhikkhuni Lion's Vigor herself, seated at once upon every throne in this garden, expounding a different teaching to a different order of being at each one — devas, nāgas, the eightfold host, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas at every one of the ten grounds, all taught simultaneously through a million incalculable gates of the perfection of wisdom.
Continue to Part 46 — Seated Everywhere at Once, Teaching Every Kind of Being →