Mahādeva, and the Dharma-Gate of the Cloud-Net
Sudhana takes leave of True Course and journeys to the city Dvāravatī, where Mahādeva, teaching in the Great Dharma Hall, washes his own four-armed face with water drawn from the four seas before scattering golden flowers upon Sudhana. He then piles up mountains of jewels and summons countless girls to demonstrate a single Dharma-gate — giving, precepts, and every perfection at once, likened to a cloud that moistens and a net that catches. The ninth teacher of the Ten Transferences.
Four Arms, Four Seas, and a Face Washed Clean
爾時，善財童子正念思惟菩薩無障礙行，一向專求，正趣菩薩智慧境界，出生通明境界一切功德，精進堅固，歡喜無量，得不思議遊戲神通，決定了知諸功德地、諸三昧地、陀羅尼地、諸大願地、諸辯才地、具諸力地。漸漸遊行至於彼城，推問：「大天今在何所？」
時，有人言：「善男子！在此城內大法堂上，化現其身，大眾圍遶而為說法。」
爾時，善財往詣其所，頭面敬禮彼大天足，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？」
爾時，大天出四長臂，取四海水，澡洗其面，洗已，取諸金華以散善財，作如是言：「善男子！菩薩難聞、難見，乃是世間奇特之法。諸男子中分陀利華，為眾生歸依，攝取、饒益、載育眾生，普照一切，顯現正道，遠離愚癡；為眾生師，救護正法；為眾生將，救護安隱。悉令得至一切智城，具足成就，淨身、口業，永離眾惡；於眾生類常以愛語，隨其所應，悉現其前，未曾失時。善男子！我已成就菩薩雲網法門。」
At that time Sudhana the Boy rightly held in mind the bodhisattva's own unobstructed practice, single-mindedly seeking the bodhisattva True Course's own domain of wisdom, giving rise to every merit within the domain of spiritual penetration, his diligence firm, his joy boundless, attaining the playful spiritual power beyond conceiving, resolving and understanding entirely the ground of every merit, the ground of every samādhi, the ground of dhāraṇī, the ground of every great vow, the ground of every eloquence, and the ground endowed with every power. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at that city, and sought there, asking: "Where is Mahādeva now?"
At that time someone said: "Good son, he is within this city, in the Great Dharma Hall, manifesting his own body, surrounded by a great assembly, expounding the Dharma for them."
At that time Sudhana went before him, bowed his head at Mahādeva's own 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?"
At that time Mahādeva put forth his four long arms, and, taking water from the four seas — one sea for each arm — washed his own face; having washed it, he took golden flowers and scattered them upon Sudhana, and spoke thus: "Good son, a bodhisattva is difficult to hear of, difficult to behold — this is indeed an extraordinary matter the world does not otherwise possess. Among men, you are like the white lotus, a refuge for sentient beings, gathering them in, bringing them benefit, bearing and nurturing them, universally illumining everyone, manifesting the true path, departing far from folly; a teacher for sentient beings, guarding and protecting the true Dharma; a general for sentient beings, guarding and protecting their peace and security. You cause them all to reach the city of omniscience, fully accomplished, your bodily and verbal karma made pure, forever departed from every evil; toward every kind of sentient being you constantly speak with loving words, manifesting yourself before them according to what is fitting, never once missing the right moment. Good son, I have accomplished the bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate of the Cloud-Net."
Fazang marks this as the ninth of the Ten Transferences, "the Transference of the Liberation of Being Unbound and Unattached." He glosses the city's own name, 正云墮羅拔提，此云有門城，謂城有端嚴之門，故以為名也 — "properly 'Dvāravatī,' meaning 'City with a Gate,' because the city has a dignified, fine gate — hence this name" — and the deva's own title, 無縛淨報，勝出自在，故立斯號 — "unbound, his recompense pure, supreme and sovereign — hence this title."
On the gesture with which Mahādeva greets Sudhana, Fazang corrects a misreading he says has stood for a long time: 古來皆謂洗善財面，今勘梵本，以四長臂於四方處各取一海水自洗己面，是則水洗淨己，能對花散善財就其所 — "traditionally, everyone has understood this as 'washing Sudhana's own face'; but checking the Sanskrit original now, [it is] Mahādeva's four long arms, one at each of the four directions, each taking water from a single sea, washing his own face — the water purifies himself, and only then is he able to scatter flowers upon Sudhana where he stands." The gesture, read correctly, is Mahādeva preparing himself to teach, not performing a ritual upon his visitor — a small but genuine correction this project follows Fazang in making explicit rather than repeating the older error. On the Dharma-gate's own name, he writes: 雲網者，六度行法有潤益義、遍覆義，喻之如雲；有澇漉義、隱映義，況之以網，則以六度行為體 — "'Cloud-Net': the practice of the six perfections carries the meaning of moistening and benefiting, and of universally covering — likened to a cloud; it also carries the meaning of filtering and of hidden reflection — likened to a net. Its own substance is simply the practice of the six perfections themselves."
Mountains of Jewels, and a Net Cast Over Every Fear
白言：「大聖！此法門者，境界云何？」爾時，大天於善財前積天金聚，猶如山王。白銀、瑠璃、玻瓈、硨磲、碼碯、夜光離垢藏寶、明淨寶、諸方便門摩尼寶、周羅寶、瓔珞寶、吉由羅寶、莊嚴髮寶、莊嚴童子寶、彌阿羅莊嚴寶、彌拘羅寶、赤真珠寶、莊嚴一切諸肢節寶、如意珠寶，皆悉積聚，猶若山王。一切華、一切香、一切塗香、一切末香、一切鬘、一切衣、一切蓋、一切幢、一切幡、一切娛樂、具五欲境界，如是等積，悉如山王。又復顯現阿僧祇諸童女眾，語善財言：「善男子！汝取此諸物供養如來，惠施一切，攝取眾生，悉令眾生修檀波羅蜜，學檀波羅蜜，捨離一切。善男子！我以此物教汝惠施，教一切眾生亦復如是，悉令眾生以無貪善根普熏身心，近善知識，恭敬、供養諸佛菩薩，出生、長養一切善根，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。復次，善男子！若有眾生貪五欲者，為彼顯現不淨境界。若瞋恚、放逸、憍慢、諍訟，如羅剎鬼飲血、食肉，悉教彼等修大慈悲，皆令永離瞋恚、放逸。若懈怠者，為現水火、盜賊、惡王、怨敵等難。善男子！如是等類諸惡眾生，種種方便滅不善根，長養善根，除滅一切波羅蜜障礙、怨敵，具足成滿諸波羅蜜，超出障礙，得無礙法。善男子！我唯知此菩薩雲網法門，諸大菩薩、帝釋、天王滅一切煩惱、阿脩羅難。諸菩薩水，滅煩惱火；諸菩薩火，能燒一切眾生貪愛；諸菩薩風，能散一切諸染著心；菩薩金剛，摧滅一切吾我之想。我當云何能知、能說彼功德行？善男子！此閻浮提內，有一國土名摩竭提；有道場地神名曰安住。汝詣彼問云何菩薩學菩薩行、修菩薩道。」
Sudhana said: "Great sage, what is the domain of this Dharma-gate?" At that time Mahādeva, before Sudhana, amassed a heap of heavenly gold, towering like a king of mountains — silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, giant clam-shell, agate, night-shining stainless-treasury jewels, bright, pure jewels, maṇi jewels of every skillful gate, crested jewels, necklace jewels, kiṃśuka jewels, hair-adorning jewels, boy-adorning jewels, amāla-adorning jewels, mukura jewels, red pearl jewels, jewels adorning every limb and joint, and wish-fulfilling jewels — all of it amassed, towering like a king of mountains. Every flower, every incense, every fragrant unguent, every powdered incense, every garland, every robe, every parasol, every banner, every pennant, every kind of entertainment, every object of the five desires — heaps such as these, all towering like a king of mountains. He further manifested countless girls, and said to Sudhana: "Good son, take these things and make offering to the Tathāgatas, bestow them as gifts upon everyone, gather in sentient beings, and cause every sentient being to cultivate the perfection of giving, to learn the perfection of giving, relinquishing everything entirely. Good son, I use these things to teach you giving, and I likewise teach every sentient being in exactly the same way, causing every sentient being, through the root of goodness free of greed, to universally scent body and mind, draw near to good spiritual friends, reverently make offering to every buddha and bodhisattva, give rise to and nurture every root of goodness, and raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Furthermore, good son, should there be sentient beings greedy for the five desires, I manifest for them the domain of impurity. Should there be those given to hatred, heedlessness, arrogance, or contention — like rākṣasa demons drinking blood and eating flesh — I teach them all to cultivate great loving-kindness and compassion, causing them all to depart forever from hatred and heedlessness. Should there be those given to indolence, I manifest for them the perils of flood and fire, of thieves and bandits, of an evil king, of enemies and foes. Good son, for evil sentient beings of every kind such as these, through every kind of skillful means, I extinguish their unwholesome roots and nurture their wholesome roots, extinguishing every obstruction and enemy to every perfection, causing them to accomplish and fulfill every perfection completely, transcending every obstruction, and attaining the unobstructed Dharma. Good son, I know only this bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate of the Cloud-Net; the great bodhisattvas, like Śakra and the kings of heaven, extinguish every affliction and every peril from the asuras. The bodhisattvas are like water, extinguishing the fire of affliction; the bodhisattvas are like fire, able to burn away every sentient being's own craving and desire; the bodhisattvas are like wind, able to scatter every mind of defiled attachment; the bodhisattvas are like vajra, crushing and destroying every notion of 'I' and 'mine.' How could I possibly know, how could I possibly speak of, such merit and practice as this? Good son, within this Jambudvīpa there is a land, named Magadha; there is an earth-deity of the bodhimaṇḍa there, named Secure Abiding. Go to her and ask how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own practice, cultivates the bodhisattva path."
Fazang reads Mahādeva's demonstration in three movements: first, teaching the practice of giving through the very mountains of treasure piled before Sudhana; second, teaching precepts and the remaining perfections through the fear-scenes that follow — impurity for the greedy, loving-kindness taught to those prone to hatred, and threats of flood, fire, and bandits held before the indolent; and third, closing with a set of similes for the great bodhisattvas' own function — water extinguishing the fire of affliction, fire burning away craving, wind scattering attachment, vajra crushing the very notion of self. Read together with the corrected opening gesture, the whole episode carries one implicit lesson: even the choice of what to display before teaching — a mountain of jewels, a fear rightly matched to its remedy — is itself already the Dharma-gate of the Cloud-Net in action, moistening what needs rain and catching what needs to be caught.
Part 52 Complete
This closes Part 52: Sudhana's arrival at Dvāravatī, and Mahādeva, ninth teacher of the Ten Transferences, whose Dharma-gate of the Cloud-Net turns mountains of jewels and a catalogue of fears alike into a single demonstration of the six perfections. Sudhana is sent onward, to the land Magadha, and the earth-deity of the bodhimaṇḍa, named Secure Abiding.
Continue to Part 53 — Secure Abiding, the Earth-Goddess of the Bodhimaṇḍa →