Avalokiteśvara, and Eighteen Fears Removed
Sudhana climbs Mount Light and finds the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara seated at its western slope, expounding the Sūtra of Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion to a countless assembly, springs and pools and lush forest all around. Sudhana gazes at him without blinking, then learns of a single vow — the Practice of Light born of Great Compassion — to free every being from eighteen distinct fears, before another bodhisattva arrives in a blaze of light from the east. The seventh teacher of the Ten Transferences.
A Mountain of Springs and Vines, and a Boy Who Cannot Blink
爾時，善財童子正念思惟彼長者教，隨順菩薩解脫之藏，正念菩薩諸憶念力，次第分別一切諸佛及諸佛法，一心正念諸佛法流，憶念受持彼諸佛法及佛莊嚴，長養菩提，思惟正念一切諸佛不思議業。漸漸遊行，至光明山，登彼山上，周遍推求，見觀世音菩薩住山西阿，處處皆有流泉、浴池，林木欝茂，地草柔軟，結跏趺坐金剛寶座，無量菩薩恭敬圍遶，而為演說大慈悲經，普攝眾生；見已，歡喜踊躍不能自勝，合掌諦觀，目不暫瞬，作如是念：「善知識者，則是如來；善知識者，一切法雲；善知識者，諸功德藏；善知識者，十力妙寶；善知識者，難見難遇；善知識者，無盡智藏；善知識者，功德山王，善知識者，開發示導一切智門，能令一切入薩婆若海，究竟清淨無上菩提。」時，觀世音遙見善財，告言：「善來童子！專求大乘，攝取眾生，直心、深心、樂求佛法。長養大悲，救護一切，向普賢行，清淨成滿一切大願。欲聞受持一切諸佛、一切法雲，增長善根而無厭足，順善知識不違其教，從文殊師利智慧功德大海所起，成就善根，得佛勢力，光明三昧，離懈怠心，專求正法，常見諸佛，遠離眾惡，修諸善行，智慧成滿，淨如虛空。」
At that time Sudhana the Boy rightly held in mind that elder's own teaching, according with the bodhisattva's own treasury of liberation, rightly holding in mind the bodhisattva's own power of recollection, discerning in sequence every buddha and every buddha's own Dharma, single-mindedly holding in right mind the flow of every buddha's own Dharma, holding in mind and upholding every buddha's own Dharma and every buddha's own adornment, nurturing bodhi, contemplating and rightly holding in mind every buddha's own karmic work beyond conceiving. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at Mount Light, and climbed to its summit, and sought everywhere, and beheld the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara dwelling at the mountain's western slope, where everywhere there were flowing springs and bathing pools, the forest trees luxuriant, the ground's own grass soft and pliant; he sat there in full lotus posture upon a throne of vajra jewels, surrounded in reverence by countless bodhisattvas, expounding for them the Sūtra of Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion, universally gathering in sentient beings. Having beheld this, Sudhana, leaping with joy beyond his own restraint, joined his palms and gazed steadily, his eyes never once blinking, and thought thus: "A good spiritual friend is none other than the Tathāgata himself; a good spiritual friend is every cloud of the Dharma; a good spiritual friend is every treasury of merit; a good spiritual friend is the sublime treasure of the ten powers; a good spiritual friend is difficult to see, difficult to encounter; a good spiritual friend is the inexhaustible treasury of wisdom; a good spiritual friend is the very king of the mountain of merit; a good spiritual friend opens up and points the way through the gate of omniscience, able to cause everyone to enter the ocean of omniscience, and reach the very end of unsurpassed, pure bodhi." At that time Avalokiteśvara, beholding Sudhana from afar, said to him: "Welcome, O boy! You seek single-mindedly the Great Vehicle, gathering in sentient beings, your mind direct, your mind profound, delighting in seeking the Buddha-dharma. You nurture great compassion, rescuing and protecting everyone, turning toward Samantabhadra's own practice, purely fulfilling every great vow. You wish to hear and uphold every buddha, every cloud of the Dharma, increasing your own roots of goodness without ever tiring, according with your good spiritual friends and never opposing their teaching, arising from the great ocean of Mañjuśrī's own wisdom and merit, having accomplished roots of goodness, attaining the buddha's own empowering strength, the samādhi of light, departing from every mind of indolence, single-mindedly seeking the true Dharma, constantly beholding every buddha, departing far from every evil, cultivating every wholesome practice, your wisdom brought to its own perfection, pure as space itself."
Fazang marks this as the seventh of the Ten Transferences, "the Transference of According with Equanimous Regard for Every Sentient Being." On the mountain itself he is unusually precise: 光明山者，彼山樹花常有光明，表大悲光明普門示現。此山在南印度南邊，天竺本名逋多羅山，此無正翻，以義譯之名小樹蔓莊嚴山 — "'Mount Light': the trees and flowers of this mountain constantly give off their own light, marking that great compassion's own light manifests everywhere through a universal gate. This mountain stands at the southern edge of South India; the Indian original names it Mount Potalaka, which has no exact translation, but rendered by its meaning is 'the Mountain Adorned with Small Trees and Vines.'" He adds that the Sūtra of the Eleven-Faced [Avalokiteśvara] was likewise expounded on this same mountain.
On the bodhisattva's own name, Fazang gives one of the most detailed philological notes in his entire commentary: 觀世音者，有名光世音，有名觀自在，梵名逋盧羯底攝伐羅。逋盧羯底，此云觀。毘盧，此云光。以聲字相近，是以有翻為光 — "'Avalokiteśvara' is also named 'Light-Sound of the World,' also 'Sovereign Regarder'; the Sanskrit is 'Avalokiteśvara.' 'Avalokita' means 'regarding'; 'vairo-,' [as in Vairocana,] means 'light' — and because the two sounds are close, some translators rendered the name as 'Light' instead [of 'Regard']." He continues: 攝伐羅，此云自在。攝多，此云音。勘梵本諸經中有作攝多、有攝伐羅，是以翻譯不同也 — "'īśvara' means 'sovereign'; 'svara' means 'sound' — and checking the Sanskrit originals of various sūtras, some give 'svara' and some 'īśvara,' which is why the Chinese renderings differ between 'Regarder of the World's Sounds' and 'Sovereign Regarder.'" He then cites the bodhisattva's own eponymous sūtra directly — 即時觀其音聲皆得解脫 — "'at that very moment, attending to their cries, all attain liberation'" — and reads the three names as corresponding to three distinct modes of saving action: verbal karma alone (calling the name, removing the seven calamities) yields "Regarder of the World's Sounds"; body and speech together (light reaching beings, prostration fulfilling vows) yields "Light-Sound of the World"; and all three modes together — body, speech, and mind, gathering beings without obstruction — yields "Sovereign Regarder," the fullest name of the three.
Eighteen Fears, and a Bodhisattva Who Arrives in Light
爾時，善財詣觀世音，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：「善哉！善哉！善男子！乃能發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。善男子！我已成就大悲法門光明之行，教化成熟一切眾生。常於一切諸佛所住，隨所應化，普現其前。或以惠施攝取眾生，乃至同事攝取眾生，顯現妙身不思議色攝取眾生。放大光網，除滅眾生諸煩惱熱，出微妙音而化度之，威儀說法，神力自在，方便覺悟；顯變化身，現同類身，乃至同止攝取眾生。善男子！我行大悲法門光明行時，發弘誓願，名曰：攝取一切眾生，欲令一切離險道恐怖、熱惱恐怖、愚癡恐怖、繫縛恐怖、殺害恐怖、貧窮恐怖、不活恐怖、諍訟恐怖、大眾恐怖、死恐怖、惡道恐怖、諸趣恐怖、不同意恐怖、愛不愛恐怖、一切惡恐怖、逼迫身恐怖、逼迫心恐怖、愁憂恐怖。
復次，善男子！我出生現在正念法門，名字輪法門故，出現一切眾生等身種種方便，隨其所應，除滅恐怖而為說法，令發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，得不退轉，未曾失時。善男子！我唯知此菩薩大悲法門光明之行；諸大菩薩，一切普賢大願成滿，究竟成就普賢所行，不斷一切諸善根流，不斷一切菩薩諸三昧流，一切劫流修菩薩行，未曾斷絕；順三世流，善知一切成敗，諸世界流，斷一切眾生不善根流，出生一切眾生諸善根流，除滅一切諸生死流，我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？」
爾時，東方有一菩薩，名曰正趣，來詣此土。住金剛山頂，至此山時，娑婆世界六種震動，眾寶莊嚴放大光明，映蔽日月。釋、梵、天龍八部，光明悉如聚墨，普照地獄、餓鬼、畜生、閻羅王處，滅除眾苦，斷除煩惱及諸病苦。普雨寶雨，充滿佛剎，乃至普雨一切莊嚴雲雨，供養如來。隨其所應，示現其身，然後來詣觀世音所。
時，觀世音告善財言：「善男子！汝見此眾中正趣菩薩不？」
答言：「唯然，已見。」
「善男子！汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
At that time Sudhana went before Avalokiteśvara, bowed his head at his feet, circled him 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?"
He answered: "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 Practice of Light, born of Great Compassion, teaching and maturing every sentient being. Constantly dwelling at the presence of every buddha, I manifest universally before whatever beings need transforming, according to what is fitting. Sometimes I gather in sentient beings through generosity, even gathering them in through shared endeavor, manifesting a sublime body, a form beyond conceiving, to gather them in. I release a great net of light, extinguishing every sentient being's own feverish affliction, giving forth a sublime, subtle voice to teach and deliver them, my dignified bearing itself expounding the Dharma, sovereign in spiritual power, awakening them through skillful means; I manifest a transformation-body, appearing in a form like their own kind, even dwelling together with them, to gather them in. Good son, when I practice this Dharma-gate of the Practice of Light, born of Great Compassion, I give rise to a vast vow, named thus: gathering in every sentient being, wishing to cause everyone to depart from the fear of the perilous road, the fear of feverish affliction, the fear of folly, the fear of bondage, the fear of being killed, the fear of poverty, the fear of not surviving, the fear of litigation, the fear of crowds, the fear of death, the fear of the evil paths, the fear of every destiny, the fear of disagreement, the fear of love and of what is unloved, the fear of every evil, the fear of bodily oppression, the fear of mental oppression, and the fear of sorrow and worry.
Furthermore, good son, I give rise to the Dharma-gate of Present Right Mindfulness, the Dharma-gate of the Wheel of Names, and, through this, manifest bodies equal to every sentient being, through every kind of skillful means, according to what is fitting, extinguishing fear and expounding the Dharma for them, causing them to raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening and attain non-retrogression, never once missing the right moment. Good son, I know only this bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate of the Practice of Light, born of Great Compassion; the great bodhisattvas, having fulfilled entirely Samantabhadra's own great vow, bring Samantabhadra's own practice to its very completion, never severing the flow of every root of goodness, never severing the flow of every bodhisattva samādhi, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice through the flow of every eon, never once broken off; according with the flow of the three times, skillfully knowing the arising and dissolution of every world, severing the flow of every sentient being's own unwholesome root, giving rise to the flow of every sentient being's own wholesome root, and extinguishing the flow of every kind of birth and death — how could I possibly know, how could I possibly speak of, such merit and practice as this?"
At that time, from the east, there was a bodhisattva named True Course, who came to this very land. He dwelt at the summit of Mount Vajra, and, upon reaching this mountain, the sahā world shook in six ways; adorned with every jewel, he released great light, so bright it eclipsed the sun and moon. Before it, the light of Śakra, Brahmā, and the eightfold host of gods and nāgas all seemed like gathered ink; his light universally illumined the hells, the hungry ghosts, the animals, and the realm of King Yama, extinguishing every suffering, severing every affliction and every sickness and pain. He rained down a universal rain of jewels, filling every buddha-land, and, further still, rained down a universal rain of clouds of every adornment, making offering to the Tathāgatas. According to what was fitting, he manifested his own body, and only then came before Avalokiteśvara.
At that time Avalokiteśvara said to Sudhana: "Good son, do you see, within this assembly, the bodhisattva True Course?"
He answered: "Indeed, I have seen him."
"Good son, go to him and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
Fazang glosses "great compassion" itself precisely: 大悲者，是同體悲也。又是無緣悲也，故名大悲。又具三悲，故名大悲 — "'great' compassion is compassion of shared essence with every being; it is also compassion without any conceptual object at all — hence 'great.' And because it is endowed with all three kinds of compassion together, it is called 'great' for this reason too." He records the Indian original of the Dharma-gate's own name as "the liberation of the secret wisdom-treasury of every buddha's own compassion" — 以巧悲密攝眾生故也, "because he skillfully and secretly gathers in sentient beings through compassion." The eighteen fears he counts as exactly that — eighteen distinct kinds, each named — the most granular catalogue of what a being might fear anywhere in this pilgrimage so far.
On the bodhisattva True Course's own sudden, blazing arrival, Fazang reads the direction itself as doctrinally exact: 東方來者，表如相，證智開明之狀 — "'coming from the east' marks the mark of suchness, the very state of realized wisdom opening into brightness." He glosses the name itself two ways: 神力速至十方諸趣，以正法攝生，故以為名 — "his spiritual power swiftly reaches every destiny throughout the ten directions, gathering in beings through the true Dharma — hence this name"; but the Indian original, he notes, phrases the same idea by negation rather than affirmation: 天竺本云：有一菩薩名不行餘道...梵本約遮，漢本就表 — "the Indian original names him 'the bodhisattva who practices no path but this one'... the Sanskrit expresses it by exclusion, the Chinese by affirmation" — one language saying what he refuses, the other saying what he pursues, for the identical bodhisattva. Fazang also notes that "Mount Vajra," where True Course stands, is in fact this very Mount Light under another name, marking his abiding in a suchness that cannot be broken.
Part 50 Complete
This closes Part 50: Sudhana's ascent of Mount Light, and the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, seventh teacher of the Ten Transferences, whose Practice of Light born of Great Compassion frees beings from eighteen distinct fears through body, speech, and mind alike. Rather than sending Sudhana elsewhere, Avalokiteśvara simply points to the bodhisattva True Course, who has just arrived in a blaze of light from the east, already present within the very same assembly.
Continue to Part 51 — True Course, and the Universal Gate of Swift Practice →