Thirty-Two Similes, and Ten Perfections
Asked what skillful means her Dharma-gate employs, the night-deva answers through thirty-two gates — nine stated directly, twenty-three given as similes: lightning, illusion, the wheels of earth, water, fire, and wind, the ocean, Sumeru, the sun, the full moon, vajra — before declaring that this Dharma is, in truth, beyond any simile at all. Asked what practice produced it, she names the ten perfections in turn.
Thirty-Two Gates of Skillful Means
「佛子！此法門者，無量無邊，究竟方便諸法海故；此法門者，不可損減薩婆若，心不可壞故；此法門者，不可窮盡眾生妄想，不可盡故；此法門者，最為甚深寂靜智境界故；此法門者，最為廣大一切佛境界故；此法門者，不可破壞菩薩智所知故；此法門者，不可稱量，不可破壞，滿法界故；此法門者，即是普門於一相中，攝取一切自在力故；此法門者，是第一法，一切法無身，行無二故；此法門者，非生一切諸法，悉如幻故；此法門者，如電，攝薩婆若諸大願故；此法門者，如化，善能變化菩薩行故；此法門者，如大地輪，饒益一切諸眾生故；此法門者，如大水輪，以廣大悲潤眾生故；此法門者，如大火輪，消竭眾生諸貪愛故；此法門者，如大風輪，立一切眾生薩婆若故；此法門者，猶如大海，功德莊嚴一切眾生故；此法門者，如須彌山，一切功德海中起故；此法門者，如大城郭，一切法街巷而莊嚴故；此法門者，猶如虛空，三世諸佛自在，最無上故；此法門者，猶如慶雲，普雨眾生甘露法故；此法門者，猶如白日，普照一切，滅癡闇故；此法門者，猶如滿月，滿足眾生功德海故；此法門者，如如，至一切故；此法門者，如影，善能應化諸業報故；此法門者，如響，隨其所應，為說法故；此法門者，猶如電光，隨其所應，悉照知故；此法門者，猶如樹王，一切諸佛功德妙華，成就一切智果實故；此法門者，猶如金剛，一切世間無能壞故；此法門者，如隨意寶王，出生無量自在力故；此法門者，如離垢寶，悉分別知三世佛故；此法門者，猶如寶幢，出一切佛平等法輪妙音聲故。佛子！如此諸諭，非諭為諭。」
"Child of the Buddha, this Dharma-gate is boundless and unbounded, reaching the very end of the ocean of every dharma's skillful means; this Dharma-gate cannot diminish all-wisdom, for its mind cannot be destroyed; this Dharma-gate cannot exhaust sentient beings' every false thought, for it is itself inexhaustible; this Dharma-gate is the most profound state of tranquil wisdom; this Dharma-gate is the most vast state of every buddha; this Dharma-gate is indestructible, known only by the bodhisattva's own wisdom; this Dharma-gate is immeasurable and indestructible, filling the Dharma-realm entirely; this Dharma-gate is itself the universal gate, gathering in every sovereign power within a single mark; this Dharma-gate is the foremost dharma, every dharma without any body of its own, its practice without duality.
"This Dharma-gate does not give rise to any dharma, for every dharma is like an illusion; this Dharma-gate is like lightning, gathering in every great vow of all-wisdom; this Dharma-gate is like a magical transformation, well able to transform the bodhisattva's own practice; this Dharma-gate is like the great wheel of earth, bringing benefit to every sentient being; this Dharma-gate is like the great wheel of water, moistening sentient beings with vast compassion; this Dharma-gate is like the great wheel of fire, exhausting away every craving and desire of sentient beings; this Dharma-gate is like the great wheel of wind, establishing every sentient being in all-wisdom; this Dharma-gate is like the great ocean, adorning every sentient being with merit; this Dharma-gate is like Mount Sumeru, arising from within the ocean of every merit; this Dharma-gate is like a great walled city, adorned by the streets and lanes of every dharma; this Dharma-gate is like space itself, the sovereign freedom of every buddha of the three times, most unsurpassed; this Dharma-gate is like an auspicious cloud, universally raining down the ambrosial Dharma upon sentient beings; this Dharma-gate is like the bright sun, universally illumining all, extinguishing the darkness of folly; this Dharma-gate is like the full moon, fulfilling the ocean of merit of sentient beings; this Dharma-gate is like suchness itself, reaching every place; this Dharma-gate is like a shadow, well able to respond and transform according to every karmic recompense; this Dharma-gate is like an echo, according to what is fitting, expounding the Dharma; this Dharma-gate is like a flash of lightning, according to what is fitting, illumining and knowing all entirely; this Dharma-gate is like the king of trees, whose sublime flowers of every buddha's own merit bring to fruition the fruit of every wisdom; this Dharma-gate is like vajra, which nothing in any world can destroy; this Dharma-gate is like the wish-fulfilling gem-king, giving rise to boundless sovereign power; this Dharma-gate is like the stainless gem, discerning and knowing every buddha of the three times entirely; this Dharma-gate is like a jeweled banner, sending forth the sublime sound of the equal Dharma-wheel of every buddha. Child of the Buddha, these similes are given though this Dharma-gate is, in truth, beyond any simile — a non-simile taken as simile."
Fazang counts and classifies the whole passage: 於中有三十二門：初一是總顯方便、次八約法說方便、後二十三約喻顯方便善巧 — "within this there are thirty-two gates: the first is a general revealing of skillful means; the next eight speak of skillful means in terms of dharma directly; the last twenty-three reveal the skillfulness of its means through simile." One general statement, eight abstract dharma-clauses with no image attached, then twenty-three concrete similes — every count matches what this translation preserves in full. Of the closing line, he adds: 後結以非喻為喻者，理實此法非世喻能譬，略舉少分喻也 — "the close, 'a non-simile taken as simile,' means that, in principle, this Dharma truly cannot be likened to any worldly simile; only a small portion of it has been given in figure here." Twenty-three images — lightning, illusion, the four elemental wheels, ocean, mountain, city, sky, cloud, sun, moon, shadow, echo, tree, vajra, jewel, banner — offered not because any one of them fits, but because the text itself says, in effect: these are the best a worldly tongue can do, and even these fall short.
Ten Perfections
爾時，善財白寂靜音夜天言：「菩薩修何等法，得此法門？」
答言：「佛子！菩薩修行十妙法故，得此法門。何等為十？所謂：菩薩修行布施，令一切眾生海，皆悉歡喜；修行淨戒，成滿諸佛功德大海；修行忍辱，了知一切諸法真性；修行精進，於薩婆若堅固不退；修行禪定，除滅一切眾生煩惱；修行智慧，分別了知一切法海；修行方便教化，成熟一切眾生海；修行大願，於一切佛剎海，盡未來劫，修菩薩行；修行諸力，於念念中，現一切剎，成等正覺；修行無盡智，了三世法，無所障礙。佛子！是為十妙法；菩薩摩訶薩修行此法、起此法門、得此法門、淨此法門、成此法門，長養增廣，不可沮壞。」
At that time Sudhana said to the night-deva Tranquil Sound: "What dharma does a bodhisattva cultivate, to attain this Dharma-gate?"
She answered: "Child of the Buddha, a bodhisattva, by cultivating ten sublime dharmas, attains this Dharma-gate. What are these ten? Namely: cultivating the practice of giving, causing the whole ocean of sentient beings to rejoice entirely; cultivating pure precepts, fulfilling the whole great ocean of every buddha's own merit; cultivating patience, discerning and knowing the true nature of every dharma; cultivating diligence, firm and unretreating in all-wisdom; cultivating meditative concentration, extinguishing every affliction of every sentient being; cultivating wisdom, discerning and knowing the whole ocean of every dharma; cultivating skillful means of teaching and transformation, bringing the whole ocean of sentient beings to maturity; cultivating the great vow, throughout the whole ocean of every buddha-land, to the very end of future kalpas, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice; cultivating every power, within every single thought-moment, manifesting in every land, attaining the most correct awakening; and cultivating inexhaustible wisdom, understanding the dharmas of the three times without any obstruction. Child of the Buddha, these are the ten sublime dharmas; a bodhisattva-mahāsattva who cultivates this dharma, gives rise to this Dharma-gate, attains this Dharma-gate, purifies this Dharma-gate, and accomplishes this Dharma-gate, nurtures and enlarges it, and it can never be destroyed."
Fazang notes why Sudhana must ask this fourth question outright, rather than have it answered in sequence with the rest: 第五善財白下明法門因行。以去前問遠故，是故重問發起 — "fifth, beginning with 'Sudhana said,' reveals the practice and cause of the Dharma-gate. Because this lies far from the earlier question, he must ask again to prompt it." He then divides the answer in three: 答中三：初總標數；二別列行相，以修十波羅蜜行故得此法門；三佛子是為下結行得果 — "the answer has three parts: first, a general statement of the number; second, individually listing the aspect of each practice — it is by cultivating the practice of the ten pāramitās that this Dharma-gate is attained; third, beginning with 'Child of the Buddha, these are,' concluding the practice and the fruit it attains." The ten perfections named here — giving, precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, wisdom, skillful means, vow, power, and wisdom-gnosis — are the very same ten this project has already seen structure the sixteen-clause Dharma-wheel of the teacher before this one, and the same ten the third teacher's pore-clouds once demonstrated one at a time. Each teacher of the Ten Grounds, in turn, keeps returning to the identical ten perfections as the practice underlying every Dharma-gate — the content changes; the scaffolding does not.
Part 79 In Progress
All four of Sudhana's original questions have now been answered in full: what this Dharma-gate does, what state it contemplates, what skillful means it employs, and what practice produced it. Part 80 turns to a fifth question — how long she has held this Dharma-gate — and to the long account of a kalpa named Universal Illumination Banner that answers it.
Continue to Part 80 →