Vasumitrā, and Desire Itself as the Path
Sudhana takes leave of the bhikkhuni Lion's Vigor and journeys to the city Jewel Adornment, seeking the woman Vasumitrā — whose reputation makes strangers doubt his own motives before he ever reaches her gate, until those who already know her set them right. She teaches that whoever comes to her bound by desire leaves free of it entirely, each mode of contact — a glance, a word, a touch, an embrace, even a kiss — granting its own distinct samādhi. The fifth teacher of the Ten Transferences.
A Boy No One Suspects, Until Someone Does
爾時，善財童子大慧光明以照其心，具足長養一切種智，一心思惟諸法實相，建立一切語言陀羅尼藏，廣修受持一切法輪陀羅尼，為眾生歸長大悲力，方便觀察一切種智，滿法界等清淨大願，明淨慧光，普照十方眾生，一切莊嚴諸通明力，充滿十方一切世界，究竟成滿菩薩諸業。漸漸遊行，至險難國寶莊嚴城，推問：「婆須蜜多女今在何所？」
爾時，有人不知彼女深智慧者作如是念：「今此童子，威儀庠序，其心寂靜，調伏諸根，遠離放逸、顛倒、惑亂，念慧現前，視瞻詳審，言音和雅，不著形色，正念思惟甚深法相，遠離懈倦，心如大海，此非染欲顛倒之人；無情欲想，不沒欲泥，不隨諸根，行出魔界，不服五欲，不為一切諸魔所縛，所不應作，已能不為，有何等意而求此女？」其中有人先知彼女有智慧者，作如是言：「善哉！童子得大善利，乃能推求深智女人。當知童子一向求佛，悉欲攝取一切眾生，拔諸欲刺，壞散淨想。善男子！今此女人，在此城中深宮之內。」
爾時，善財聞此語已，心大歡喜，往詣其門。見彼宮宅嚴飾廣大，十重寶牆周匝圍遶，列植十行寶多羅樹，十重深塹，八功德水充滿其中，底布金沙，妙寶蓮華、優鉢羅、鉢曇摩、拘牟頭、分陀利，敷榮鮮茂，彌覆水上，出微妙香，能轉人心，不生垢染。眾寶宮殿，臺觀樓閣，阿僧祇寶以為嚴飾；紺瑠璃地灑以香水，熏以沈香，塗以栴檀，寶網羅覆；閻浮檀金以為垂鈴，出和雅音；散眾寶華，猶如降雲；諸妙莊嚴，說不可盡；金剛摩尼真珠寶藏充滿宅內，十種園林以為莊嚴。
爾時，善財見彼女人處寶師子座，顏貌端嚴，妙相成就，身如真金，目髮紺色，不長不短，不白不黑，身分具足，一切欲界無與等者，何況有勝？言音婉妙，世無倫匹；善知字輪，技藝諸論，成就幻智菩薩方便；以阿僧祇寶莊嚴其身，寶網羅覆，首冠天冠；大眾圍遶，皆悉修善，同其願行；成就善根，不可沮壞；具足無盡功德寶藏，身出光明，普照一切，觸斯光者，歡喜悅樂，身心柔軟，滅煩惱熱。
At that time Sudhana the Boy, the light of great wisdom illumining his mind, fully endowed and nurturing every kind of omniscience, single-mindedly contemplated the true mark of every dharma, established the treasury of dhāraṇī for every kind of language, broadly cultivated and upheld the dhāraṇī of every Dharma-wheel, for the sake of sentient beings nurtured the power of great compassion as his own refuge, through skillful means contemplated every kind of omniscience, fulfilling a pure great vow equal to the whole Dharma-realm, his bright, pure light of wisdom universally illumining sentient beings throughout the ten directions, every adorned power of spiritual penetration filling every world of the ten directions, bringing the bodhisattva's own every karmic work to its ultimate fulfillment. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the city Jewel Adornment, in the land Perilous and Difficult, and sought there, asking: "Where is the woman Vasumitrā now?"
At that time there were people who did not know of this woman's own profound wisdom, and thought thus: "This boy here, his bearing composed and measured, his mind tranquil, his every faculty tamed and subdued, departed far from heedlessness, inversion, and confusion, mindfulness and wisdom present before him, his gaze careful and attentive, his voice gentle and elegant, unattached to form and appearance, rightly holding in mind and contemplating the most profound marks of the Dharma, departed far from indolence and weariness, his mind like the great ocean — this is no man given over to the inversion of tainted desire; free of any thought of carnal desire, not sunk in the mire of desire, not following his own faculties, walking already beyond the domain of māra, not clothed in the five desires, bound by none of the māras at all, already able to refrain from whatever ought not be done — what possible motive could he have in seeking out this woman?" Among them, though, were some who already knew of this woman's own wisdom, and they said: "Excellent! This boy has gained a great and true benefit, and is indeed able to seek out a woman of such profound wisdom. You should know that this boy turns single-mindedly toward the Buddha alone, wishing only to gather in every sentient being, drawing out the thorn of every desire, breaking apart every notion of purity itself. Good son, this woman is now within the deep palace, inside this very city."
At that time Sudhana, having heard these words, his mind rejoicing greatly, went to her gate. He beheld this palace household, vast and richly adorned, a wall of ten jeweled layers surrounding it on every side, rows of ten lines of jeweled palm trees planted there, a moat ten layers deep, filled entirely with the water of the eight excellent qualities, its bottom spread with golden sand, sublime jeweled lotuses, blue lotuses, red lotuses, white water-lilies, and white lotuses, blossoming forth in freshness and splendor, covering over the water and giving forth a sublime, subtle fragrance able to transform the human mind, so that no defilement could ever arise. Palace halls of every jewel, terraces, towers, and pavilions, adorned with countless jewels; the ground of dark lapis lazuli sprinkled with fragrant water, perfumed with aloeswood, anointed with sandalwood, covered over with jeweled nets; bells of Jambū-river gold hung down, giving forth gentle, elegant sounds; scattered jeweled flowers fell like descending clouds; every kind of sublime adornment, beyond telling in full; a treasury of vajra, maṇi jewels, and true pearls filled the whole household within, adorned further by ten kinds of garden grove.
At that time Sudhana beheld this woman seated upon a jeweled lion-throne, her countenance dignified and fine, her sublime marks fully accomplished, her body the color of true gold, her eyes and hair a deep blue-black color, neither too long nor too short, neither too pale nor too dark, every part of her body complete, with no equal at all throughout the whole realm of desire — how much less could there be anyone still greater? Her voice, gentle and sublime, was without peer in all the world; skilled in the wheel of letters, in every craft and treatise, she had accomplished the bodhisattva's own skillful means of illusion-like wisdom; her body adorned with countless jewels, covered over with jeweled nets, a heavenly crown upon her head; surrounded by a great assembly, every one of them cultivating goodness, sharing in her own vow and practice; her roots of goodness accomplished, unable to be shaken; fully endowed with an inexhaustible treasury of merit, her body gave forth light, universally illumining everything, and whoever this light touched rejoiced and delighted, their body and mind made soft and pliant, every feverish affliction extinguished.
Fazang marks this as the fifth of the Ten Transferences, "the Transference of the Inexhaustible Treasury of Merit." He poses a question that goes straight to the heart of the episode: earlier, beholding King Fulfillment's apparent wrath, it was Sudhana himself who doubted; here, beholding a woman associated with desire, it is others who doubt on his behalf — why the difference? His answer draws on the Sūtra of Determining the Vinaya: 以前二親障菩薩道故，貪愛順悲障行劣故，是故《決定毘尼經》菩薩寧起百千貪心，不起一瞋等 — "wrath and wrong view directly obstruct the bodhisattva path, whereas desire, though it runs parallel to compassion, obstructs practice only weakly — which is why the Sūtra of Determining the Vinaya says a bodhisattva would rather give rise to a hundred thousand thoughts of desire than a single thought of anger." He offers a second explanation alongside the first: Sudhana had already been tested and tamed by wrath and wrong view in earlier episodes, and so no longer doubts when a milder test appears. On the "deep palace" itself, he cites the Sūtra on the Three Measures of the Dharma: 國是智慧境，城是神通境，宮殿是說法境 — "the land is the domain of wisdom, the city the domain of spiritual power, and the palace the domain of Dharma-teaching" — and reads Vasumitrā's own dwelling there as fitting exactly, since she directly realizes the suchness of desire itself.
On the palace's own architecture, Fazang records an older allegorical reading, mapping each element directly onto a stage of practice: 十重寶牆者，是十地位。十行樹者，是十度行。十重塹者，是十地中戒行。八功德水者，是八定水盈滿也 — "the ten-layered jeweled wall represents the ten grounds themselves; the ten rows of trees represent the ten perfections' own practice; the ten-layered moat represents the precept-conduct held within the ten grounds; and the water of the eight excellent qualities represents the fullness of the water of the eight dhyānas." Read this way, nothing in the setting is mere ornament — the whole palace is itself a diagram of the path, built around a woman whose own teaching will turn out to run directly through what most paths are built to avoid.
Whoever Comes to Me Bound by Desire
爾時，善財頭面禮足，遶無數匝，恭敬合掌，於一面住，白言：「大聖！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？」
答言：「善男子！我已成就離欲實際清淨法門。若天見我，我為天女；若人見我，我為人女；乃至非人見我，我為非人女；形體姝妙，光明色像，殊勝無比。若有眾生，欲所纏者，來詣我所，為其說法，皆悉離欲，得無著境界三昧；若有見我，得歡喜三昧；若有眾生與我語者，得無礙妙音三昧；若有眾生執我手者，得詣一切佛剎三昧；若有眾生共我宿者，得解脫光明三昧；若有眾生目視我者，得寂靜諸行三昧；若有眾生見我頻申者，得壞散外道三昧；若有眾生觀察我者，得一切佛境界光明三昧；若有眾生阿梨宜我者，得攝一切眾生三昧；若有眾生阿眾鞞我者，得諸功德密藏三昧；如是等類一切眾生來詣我者，皆得離欲實際法門。」
善財白言：「大聖！昔於何所種諸善根，修何等業，得此法門？」
答言：「善男子！過去有佛號曰常住如來、應供、等正覺，出興于世。彼佛哀愍饒益諸群生故，入安樂城，足蹈門閫，即時大地六種震動，其城自然奇妙廣博，眾寶莊嚴，散諸雜華，自然演出娛樂之音，放大光明，一切諸天充滿虛空，廣說如佛入城經中現奇特事。
善男子！我於爾時為長者婦，名曰善女，見如是等諸奇特事，從夫長者出於道巷，奉彼如來妙寶天冠。時，文殊師利為佛侍者，為我說法，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。善男子！我唯知此離欲實際法門，諸大菩薩成就無量方便智慧，廣大智藏，智慧境界無能壞者，我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！於此南方，有城名首婆波羅，彼有長者名曰安住，彼常供養栴檀佛塔，汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
時，善財童子頭面敬禮彼女人足，乃至辭退南行。
At that time Sudhana bowed his head at her feet, circled her countless times, and, joining his palms in reverence, stood to one side, and said: "Great sage! 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?"
She answered: "Good son, I have accomplished the Dharma-gate of the Pure True Limit of Freedom from Desire. Should a deva behold me, I become a goddess for them; should a human behold me, I become a human woman for them; even should a non-human behold me, I become a non-human woman for them; my form and body, sublime and fine, my light and appearance, supreme beyond compare. Should any sentient being bound by desire come before me, I expound the Dharma for them, and they all depart from desire entirely, attaining the samādhi of the unattached domain; whoever beholds me attains the samādhi of joy; whoever converses with me attains the samādhi of the unobstructed, sublime voice; whoever takes hold of my hand attains the samādhi of going before every buddha-land; whoever lodges together with me attains the samādhi of the light of liberation; whoever gazes upon me attains the samādhi of tranquility in every activity; whoever beholds me stretch and yawn attains the samādhi that breaks apart every other path; whoever contemplates me attains the samādhi of the light of every buddha's own domain; whoever embraces me attains the samādhi that gathers in every sentient being; whoever kisses me attains the samādhi of the secret treasury of every merit; every sentient being such as these who comes before me attains this same Dharma-gate of the True Limit of Freedom from Desire."
Sudhana said: "Great sage, in what place, in ages past, did you plant such roots of goodness, and what karma did you cultivate, to attain this Dharma-gate?"
She answered: "Good son, in ages past there arose in the world a buddha named Ever-Abiding Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened. This buddha, out of compassion for every kind of being, wishing to bring them benefit, entered the city Peace and Bliss; and the very moment his foot touched the threshold of the gate, the great earth shook in six ways; this city became of itself wondrous and vast, adorned with every jewel, scattering every kind of flower, giving forth of itself the sound of joyful music, releasing great light, and every deva filled the whole of space — the full account is given at length in the Sūtra of the Buddha's Entry into the City, of the extraordinary events that appeared then.
Good son, at that time I was the wife of an elder, named Good Woman, and, beholding wonders such as these, I went out with my husband, the elder, into the road, and offered this tathāgata a sublime, jeweled heavenly crown. At that time Mañjuśrī was in attendance upon the Buddha, and expounded the Dharma for me, and I raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Good son, I know only this Dharma-gate of the True Limit of Freedom from Desire; the great bodhisattvas accomplish boundless skillful means and wisdom, a vast treasury of wisdom, their domain of wisdom unable to be destroyed by anything at all. 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 city, named Sublime Crossing to the Far Shore; there is an elder there, named Secure Abiding, who constantly makes offering at a sandalwood buddha-stūpa. Go to him and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
At that time Sudhana the Boy reverently bowed his head at this woman's feet, and, in brief, took his leave and journeyed on to the south.
Fazang finds two meanings folded into "the Pure True Limit of Freedom from Desire," neither one canceling the other: 一約自行，雖悲願留惑示現欲處，然大智照欲則體性空，名實際淨也 — "first, in terms of her own practice: though compassion and vow retain a trace of affliction in order to manifest within the domain of desire, her great wisdom illumines desire until its own nature is seen as empty — this is called the pure true limit," citing the Vimalakīrti Sūtra's "abiding within desire, yet practicing meditation," and the Sūtra on the Non-Activity of Every Dharma's still bolder line, "desire itself is the path; hatred and delusion are likewise so." The second meaning turns outward: though she retains this same trace of affliction to appear as one within desire, she causes every being who dwells there to necessarily depart from it, attaining this identical pure limit for themselves. On the ten modes of contact, each granting its own named samādhi, Fazang glosses the two least obvious terms directly: 阿梨宜者，此云抱持摩觸，是攝受之相 — "'āliṅgya' means 'to embrace and touch' — this is the mark of gathering-in, and so grants that samādhi"; 阿眾毘者，此云嗚口，得言教密藏之定 — "'acumbita' means 'to kiss the mouth' — this grants the concentration of the secret treasury of verbal teaching." He closes with a citation from the Compendium of the Mahāyāna's own section on the training of samādhi, that work of this kind belongs entirely to a bodhisattva at the very utmost stage — nothing a lower stage of practice could ever attempt to imitate.
Part 48 Complete
This closes Part 48: Sudhana's arrival at Jewel Adornment, and the woman Vasumitrā, fifth teacher of the Ten Transferences, whose Dharma-gate of the True Limit of Freedom from Desire turns every mode of contact — sight, speech, touch, even a kiss — into a distinct gate of samādhi, traced back to a single offering made before a buddha long ago. Sudhana is sent onward, to the city Sublime Crossing to the Far Shore, and the elder named Secure Abiding.
Continue to Part 49 — Secure Abiding, and the Sandalwood Stūpa →