Light Free of Defilement
Sudhana praises Vāsantī in ten verses before journeying, still within the land of Magadha, to the next night-deva: Profound Sublime Virtue, Light Free of Defilement. She opens her own teaching with ten dharmas — from the samādhi of beholding every buddha directly to manifesting a buddha's own sovereign power beyond conceiving — that together, she says, fulfill every one of a bodhisattva's practices. The second teacher of the Ten Grounds, in the first of three parts.
Ten Verses for Vāsantī, and a Journey Onward
爾時，善財即以偈讚彼夜天曰：
「我見清淨身， 相好自莊嚴，
如文殊師利， 亦如寶山王。
具足淨法身， 三世悉平等，
普攝諸群生， 其心無所著。
放演淨光明， 遍照一切趣，
於一毛孔中， 悉見諸星宿。
離垢清淨心， 如空滿十方，
攝取諸法王， 明淨深智慧。
一一毛孔中， 悉放無量光，
十方諸佛所， 普雨功德雲。
一一毛孔中， 出諸變化身，
充滿十方界， 方便度眾生。
本為菩薩時， 淨不思議剎，
一一毛孔中， 皆悉得顯現。
若有見聞者， 悉獲功德利，
專求菩薩道， 成就佛菩提。
若有見聞者， 發大歡喜心，
遠離惡道難， 除滅諸煩惱。
千剎微塵劫， 讚歎其功德，
諸劫猶可盡， 功德無窮已。」
時，善財童子頭面敬禮彼夜天足，遶無數匝，眷仰觀察，心無厭足，辭退遊行向摩竭國。
爾時，善財童子一心思惟彼夜天神初發道心，圓滿清淨。思惟是已，即得深入諸菩薩藏，出生菩薩諸大願海，淨諸菩薩波羅蜜道，逮得菩薩圓滿諸地，住諸菩薩圓滿行業，窮盡菩薩發趣道海，善能深入一切智海；皆悉救護一切眾生，長養增廣大慈悲雲，於一切剎出生普賢諸大願行。漸漸遊行，至甚深妙德離垢光明夜天所；頭面禮足，遶無數匝，恭敬合掌於一面住，白言：「天神！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何修菩薩行、具足諸地？」
At that time Sudhana then praised this night-deva with a verse:
"I behold your pure body, its excellent marks self-adorned,
like Mañjuśrī himself, and like a king of jeweled mountains.
Fully endowed with a pure Dharma-body, equanimous across the three times,
universally gathering in every being, your mind attached to nothing at all.
Releasing and giving forth pure light, illumining every destiny entirely,
within a single pore of yours, every star and constellation is beheld.
A mind free of defilement, pure, filling the ten directions like space itself,
gathering in every king of the Dharma, your wisdom bright, pure, and profound.
From every single pore, you release light beyond measure,
at the presence of every buddha in the ten directions, raining down clouds of merit universally.
From every single pore, you give forth every transformation-body,
filling the worlds of the ten directions, delivering sentient beings through skillful means.
In the very time you were once a bodhisattva, purifying lands beyond conceiving,
within every single pore of yours, all of it is manifest entirely.
Whoever sees or hears you attains the benefit of merit entirely,
single-mindedly seeking the bodhisattva path, accomplishing the buddha's own bodhi.
Whoever sees or hears you gives rise to a mind of great joy,
departing far from the peril of the evil paths, extinguishing every affliction.
Through eons as numerous as motes of dust in a thousand lands, one could praise your merit,
and though every eon could be exhausted, your merit could never be exhausted at all."
At that time Sudhana the Boy reverently bowed his head at this night-deva's feet, circled her countless times, gazing upon her with longing regard, his mind never tiring, and, taking his leave, journeyed on toward the land of Magadha.
At that time Sudhana the Boy single-mindedly contemplated this night-deva's own first raising of the mind of the path, perfect and pure. Having contemplated this, he attained at once a deep entry into the treasury of every bodhisattva, giving rise to the whole ocean of every bodhisattva's own great vow, purifying every bodhisattva's own path of the perfections, attaining the bodhisattva's own perfect grounds, abiding in the bodhisattva's own perfect karmic practice, reaching the very end of the whole ocean of the bodhisattva's own path of setting forth, well able to enter deeply into the whole ocean of omniscience; rescuing and protecting every sentient being entirely, nurturing and expanding the cloud of great compassion, giving rise, throughout every land, to Samantabhadra's own every great vow and practice. Gradually journeying on, he arrived at the place of the night-deva Profound, Sublime Virtue, Light Free of Defilement; he bowed his head at her feet, circled her countless times, and, joining his palms in reverence, stood to one side, and said: "Deva! I have already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and I do not yet know how a bodhisattva cultivates the bodhisattva's own practice, and becomes fully endowed with every ground?"
Fazang reads Sudhana's own ten-verse praise as deliberately structured, not simply admiring: the first two verses praise the profundity of Vāsantī's own body and wisdom; the next two, their vastness; the next two, the transformative function of the light from her pores; one verse praises the adornment of her own original causal ground; two more praise the benefit gained by anyone who merely sees or hears her; and the last concludes by praising her inexhaustibility outright. He glosses this teacher's own name, the second of the Ten Grounds, in the same careful register as before: 最勝法界稱曰甚深，正智證入名為妙德。戒無誤犯之垢，智有照俗之功，故云離垢光明也 — "the supreme Dharma-realm is called 'Profound'; right wisdom's own realization is called 'Sublime Virtue.' Her precepts free of the defilement of any mistaken transgression, her wisdom carrying the merit of illumining the mundane world — hence 'Light Free of Defilement.'" On Sudhana's own contemplation while traveling, he counts it in two parts — recollecting the moment Vāsantī first raised the awakening-mind, and recollecting the moment her own Dharma reached its full perfection — the same two poles, beginning and completion, that this project has now seen echoed across several night-deva teachers in a row.
Ten Dharmas, and Every Bodhisattva Practice Fulfilled
答言：「善哉！善哉！童子乃能發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，問菩薩行，具足諸地！善男子！菩薩成就十法則能具足菩薩所行。何等為十？一者、得現前三昧，見一切佛。二者、得清淨眼，見一切佛相好嚴身。三者、分別了知一切諸佛，無量無邊功德大海。四者、無量無邊佛光明海，悉能普照一切法界。五者、於一毛孔放一切眾生數等大光明海，隨其所應，度脫眾生。六者、於一一毛孔悉見一切寶光焰海。七者、於念念中出一切佛，變化大海，充滿法界，究竟一切諸佛境界，教化眾生而無障礙。八者、出一切佛妙音聲海，轉三世佛清淨法輪。九者、演說一切修多羅雲，究竟佛音，深入一切諸如來海。十者、現不思議佛自在神力，化度眾生。善男子！若有菩薩具此十法，則滿足菩薩一切諸行。
She answered: "Excellent, excellent! O boy, you have indeed been able to raise the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and to ask about the bodhisattva's own practice, becoming fully endowed with every ground! Good son, a bodhisattva who accomplishes ten dharmas is thereby able to become fully endowed with the bodhisattva's own practice. What are these ten? First, attaining the samādhi of direct presence, beholding every buddha. Second, attaining the pure eye, beholding every buddha's own body adorned with excellent marks. Third, discerning and understanding entirely every buddha's own boundless, limitless great ocean of merit. Fourth, the boundless, limitless ocean of every buddha's own light, universally able to illumine the whole Dharma-realm. Fifth, from a single pore releasing a great ocean of light equal in number to every sentient being, delivering sentient beings according to what is fitting. Sixth, within every single pore beholding entirely the whole ocean of every jeweled flame of light. Seventh, within every single thought-moment giving rise to the great ocean of every buddha's own transformation, filling the Dharma-realm, reaching the very end of every buddha's own domain, teaching and transforming sentient beings without any obstruction. Eighth, giving forth the whole ocean of every buddha's own sublime voice, turning the pure Dharma-wheel of the buddhas of the three times. Ninth, expounding the whole cloud of every sūtra, reaching the very end of the Buddha's own voice, entering deeply into the whole ocean of every tathāgata. Tenth, manifesting every buddha's own sovereign spiritual power beyond conceiving, transforming and delivering sentient beings. Good son, should any bodhisattva be endowed with these ten dharmas, they thereby fulfill every one of the bodhisattva's own practices."
Fazang reads these ten dharmas as one overall statement followed by nine specific instances: the first item — relying on samādhi to behold buddhas — states the principle as a whole; the remaining nine unpack it in turn: seeing the buddha's own form-body; knowing the buddha's own body of merit; knowing the buddha's own body of light; seeing the buddha's own pore-light benefiting beings; seeing the buddha's own body manifesting light from every pore; seeing the buddha's own bodily transformation at work; two items on the buddha's own verbal transformation, one broad and one deep; and a final phrase concluding the whole set with spiritual power itself. He treats this list as the "preparatory means" of the Dharma-gate she is about to name — the scaffolding a bodhisattva builds before the deeper teaching, on tranquil extinction, dhyāna-bliss, and diligence, that follows in what she says next.
Part 57 In Progress
Part 57 continues in Part 58: this night-deva's own Dharma-gate of Tranquil Extinction, the Bliss of Samādhi, and Diligence — ten reasons a buddha's own form can never be grasped as any fixed thing, the four dhyānas entered in turn, and twelve contemplations taught to householders bound by heedlessness.
Continue to Part 58 — Tranquil Extinction, and Twelve Contemplations →