Skillful Means, Vow, Power, and Knowledge
The last four of ten pore-cloud visions complete the sequence of perfections — skillful means, vow, power, and knowledge — before a further vision reveals this night-deva's own past cultivation of all ten in turn: giving away a kingdom's palace and retinue, enduring every abuse with patience, and building, perfection by perfection, toward a treasury of knowledge that gathers in every dharma.
Skillful Means, Vow, Power, and Knowledge, Released from Every Pore
又於一切毛孔，出一切眾生數等身雲，現種種色身、不思議身，隨其所應，悉現其前；以無量音，為諸眾生，演說世間功德之藏。世間行業，一切三界，皆不可樂；歎離三界諸惡邪見，遠離邪道，向一切智，超出聲聞、緣覺之地。於有為無為，心無所著；背捨生死，正向涅槃；而亦不捨諸趣往來，不捨發菩提心，成等正覺，教化眾生，得一切智。
又於一一毛孔，出一切佛剎微塵等變化身雲，普現一切諸眾生前，修普賢行，滿普賢願，讚歎究竟一切大願。於念念中，嚴淨一切諸世界海；於念念中，恭敬供養一切諸佛；於念念中，悉能受持一切法海；於念念中，一一微塵中，出生一切世界海、微塵等法界方便海，住持一切剎、一切劫，淨一切智道，未曾休息；於念念中，悉入一切諸如來力，究竟三世方便海。於一切剎，現自在力，令一切眾生，修菩薩行，成滿大願，得一切智。
又於一一毛孔，出一切眾生心等身雲，悉現一切諸眾生前，顯現無量一切智力，不可窮盡，無能壞者；修不退轉菩薩諸行，於生死法，心無所染，降伏眾魔，滅煩惱力，壞散一切障礙山力，具大悲力。於一切劫，修菩薩行，心無疲倦，震動一切諸佛世界，令眾生喜，轉淨法輪，建立法幢，制諸外道；修菩薩行力波羅蜜，得一切智。
又於一一毛孔，出一切眾生心等種種色身雲，充滿無量諸眾生界，隨其所應，現菩薩行；智力精進，度眾生海，分別了知一切眾生心心所行海、一切眾生諸根海、一切眾生行海；教化眾生，未曾失時，明淨智慧，究竟法性。於念念中，明淨智慧，充滿法界，了知一切世界成敗，及其莊嚴自在神力；詣諸佛所，恭敬供養，守護受持正法輪雲。如是顯現智波羅蜜，悉令眾生，皆大歡喜，熙怡悅樂，身心柔軟；除滅熱惱，遠離憂慼，棄捨眾惡，調伏諸根，心得解脫，於一切智，得不退轉。如顯現諸波羅蜜，化度眾生；顯現菩薩一切功德，化度眾生，亦復如是。
She further, from every pore, gave forth clouds of bodies equal in number to every sentient being, manifesting every kind of form, bodies beyond conceiving, appearing before them entirely according to what was fitting; with boundless voice, expounding for these sentient beings the treasury of worldly merit. Every worldly deed, throughout all three realms, is never a true source of delight; praising departure from every evil and wrong view of the three realms, departing far from every wrong path, turning toward omniscience, transcending the ground of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha. Toward both the conditioned and the unconditioned, her mind attached to nothing at all; turning her back on birth and death, facing directly toward nirvāṇa; and yet never abandoning her own coming and going among every destiny, never abandoning the raising of the bodhi-mind, accomplishing perfect awakening, teaching and transforming sentient beings, attaining omniscience.
She further, from every single pore, gave forth clouds of transformation-bodies as numerous as motes of dust in every buddha-land, manifesting universally before every sentient being, cultivating Samantabhadra's own practice, fulfilling Samantabhadra's own vow, praising the reaching of every great vow to its very end. Within every single thought-moment, purifying and adorning the whole ocean of every world; within every single thought-moment, reverently making offering to every buddha; within every single thought-moment, able to receive and uphold the whole ocean of every dharma entirely; within every single thought-moment, within every single mote of dust, giving rise to the whole ocean of every world, the ocean of skillful means of the Dharma-realm equal to every mote of dust, upholding every land and every eon, purifying the path of omniscience, never once resting; within every single thought-moment, entering entirely into every tathāgata's own power, reaching the very end of the ocean of skillful means of the three times. Throughout every land, manifesting sovereign power, causing every sentient being to cultivate the bodhisattva's own practice, fulfilling the great vow, attaining omniscience.
She further, from every single pore, gave forth clouds of bodies equal to every sentient being's own mind, manifesting entirely before every sentient being, manifesting the power of boundless omniscience, inexhaustible, unable to be destroyed by anything; cultivating the bodhisattva's own every non-retrogressive practice, her mind untainted by the Dharma of birth and death, subduing every māra, the power that extinguishes affliction, the power that breaks apart and scatters every mountain of obstruction, endowed with the power of great compassion. Throughout every eon, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice, her mind never weary, shaking every buddha's own world, causing sentient beings to rejoice, turning the pure Dharma-wheel, raising up the banner of the Dharma, mastering every outsider's path; cultivating the perfection of the bodhisattva's own power, attaining omniscience.
She further, from every single pore, gave forth clouds of every kind of form equal to every sentient being's own mind, filling boundless realms of sentient beings, manifesting the bodhisattva's own practice according to what was fitting; through the power of wisdom and diligence, delivering the ocean of sentient beings, discerning and understanding entirely the whole ocean of every sentient being's own mind and every mental activity, the whole ocean of every sentient being's own faculties, the whole ocean of every sentient being's own conduct; teaching and transforming sentient beings, never once missing the right moment, her wisdom bright and pure, reaching the very end of the Dharma's own nature. Within every single thought-moment, her bright, pure wisdom filling the Dharma-realm, understanding entirely the arising and dissolution of every world, and its own adornment and sovereign spiritual power; going before every buddha, reverently making offering, guarding and upholding the cloud of the true Dharma-wheel. Manifesting the perfection of wisdom in this way, causing every sentient being to rejoice greatly, cheerful and delighted, their body and mind made soft and pliant; extinguishing feverish affliction, departing far from sorrow and grief, casting aside every evil, taming and subduing every faculty, their mind attaining liberation, attaining non-retrogression within omniscience. Just as she manifests every perfection to deliver sentient beings, so too does she manifest every one of the bodhisattva's own merits to deliver sentient beings, in exactly the same way.
These four final clouds complete Fazang's count of ten sections, each one perfection: skillful means, vow, power, and, closing the set, knowledge itself — the tenth perfection returning to wisdom at a further depth than the sixth cloud already shown. With the tenth cloud, the sequence that opened this teacher's episode is now complete in full: every one of the ten perfections has been demonstrated once, through countless simultaneous bodies, before Sudhana has said a single word to this teacher directly.
Her Own Past, Perfection by Perfection
又於一切毛孔，顯現喜目觀察眾生夜天，從初發心所為功德，求善知識，往詣諸佛，恭敬供養，修習善根。行檀波羅蜜，難捨能施；行尸波羅蜜，棄捐天下宮殿眷屬，出家學道，淨修禁戒；行羼提波羅蜜，一切眾生，悉加惡言，無量逼切，皆悉能忍；行毘梨耶波羅蜜，修諸苦行，專求菩提，其心堅固而不退轉；行禪波羅蜜，諸方便道，滿足清淨禪波羅蜜，於諸三昧而得自在，究竟一切諸三昧海，相續次第，未曾斷絕；行般若波羅蜜，清淨菩薩圓滿智慧，出明淨慧日無盡慧藏，究竟智海；行方便波羅蜜，出生一切諸方便身、方便功德、方便清淨、方便本事；行願波羅蜜，出生一切諸願淨身，成滿諸願，隨應行願，及願波羅蜜本事；行力波羅蜜、力波羅蜜因緣功德、力波羅蜜方便海，分別演說力波羅蜜本事；行智波羅蜜、智波羅蜜出生、智波羅蜜淨身、智波羅蜜說、智波羅蜜境界、智波羅蜜所攝、智波羅蜜光明、智波羅蜜本事、智波羅蜜分別行、智波羅蜜深入、智波羅蜜攝取諸法；隨順知法、知業、知剎、知劫、知三世、知佛出世、知佛智、知菩薩、知菩薩智、知菩薩住、知菩薩功德、知菩薩迴向、知諸大願、知轉法輪、知分別法、知入法海、知方便海、知法旋流、知諸法趣；如是等一切智波羅蜜，於一切毛孔，皆悉顯現，化度眾生。
She further, from every pore, manifested the night-deva Joyful Eyes Observing Sentient Beings' own merit from her first raising of the mind: seeking good spiritual friends, going before every buddha, reverently making offering, cultivating roots of goodness. Practicing the perfection of giving, giving even what was difficult to relinquish; practicing the perfection of precepts, relinquishing the palace, halls, and retinue of an entire kingdom, going forth to learn the path, purely cultivating the restraining precepts; practicing the perfection of patience, enduring entirely every kind of evil word from every sentient being, every boundless oppression, all of it borne with patience; practicing the perfection of diligence, cultivating every ascetic practice, single-mindedly seeking bodhi, her mind firm and never retreating; practicing the perfection of meditation, every path of skillful means, fulfilling the pure perfection of meditation completely, attaining sovereign mastery over every samādhi, reaching the very end of the whole ocean of every samādhi, continuing in sequence, never once broken off; practicing the perfection of wisdom, the bodhisattva's own pure, perfect wisdom, giving forth the bright, pure sun of wisdom, the inexhaustible treasury of wisdom, reaching the very end of the ocean of wisdom; practicing the perfection of skillful means, giving rise to every body of skillful means, every merit of skillful means, every purity of skillful means, every past deed of skillful means; practicing the perfection of vow, giving rise to every pure body of vow, fulfilling every vow, practicing vow according to what was fitting, and every past deed of the perfection of vow; practicing the perfection of power, the merit of the causes and conditions of the perfection of power, the ocean of skillful means of the perfection of power, discerning and expounding the past deeds of the perfection of power; practicing the perfection of knowledge, the arising of the perfection of knowledge, the pure body of the perfection of knowledge, the expounding of the perfection of knowledge, the domain of the perfection of knowledge, what the perfection of knowledge gathers in, the light of the perfection of knowledge, the past deeds of the perfection of knowledge, the discerning conduct of the perfection of knowledge, the deep entry of the perfection of knowledge, the perfection of knowledge gathering in every dharma; according with this, knowing the Dharma, knowing karma, knowing every land, knowing every eon, knowing the three times, knowing the arising of every buddha, knowing every buddha's own wisdom, knowing every bodhisattva, knowing every bodhisattva's own wisdom, knowing every bodhisattva's own abiding, knowing every bodhisattva's own merit, knowing every bodhisattva's own dedication, knowing every great vow, knowing the turning of the Dharma-wheel, knowing the discerning of the Dharma, knowing entry into the ocean of the Dharma, knowing the ocean of skillful means, knowing the revolving flow of the Dharma, knowing every destiny of every dharma; every perfection of knowledge such as these, manifested entirely from every pore, delivering sentient beings.
Fazang distinguishes this vision sharply from the ten pore-clouds just shown: those manifested the ten perfections in the abstract, through countless bodies acting them out; this one manifests specifically the night-deva's own past cultivation of the identical ten, in her own particular history. He reads the entries for skillful means, vow, and power as each following the same internal five-part pattern — 一標行體、二修行身、三所修行、四行離障、五行本因 — "first naming the practice's own substance, second the body that carries out this practice, third what the practice accomplishes, fourth the practice's own freedom from obstruction, fifth the practice's own original cause" — while the final entry, knowledge, first states the very scope of this perfection before the long list beginning "according with this, knowing..." reveals everything it comes to know. Read this way, what looks at first like an escalating list of near-synonyms is in fact a deliberately structured curriculum, the same five movements repeating under three different names before the tenth perfection closes the set by naming, one by one, every kind of thing that knowledge itself must finally take in.
Part 61 In Progress
Part 61 continues in Part 62: a further vision manifesting sixty classes of beings, from the highest heavens to vajra-warriors, each given voice through twenty-four kinds of sound, before Sudhana at last understands what he has witnessed and offers his own verse of praise.
Continue to Part 62 — Sixty Classes of Beings, Twenty-Four Kinds of Sound →