Eleven Bodies, and Ten Practices of the Dharma-Realm
Within the same bodhimaṇḍa Sudhana has now occupied through two teachers running, he arrives at the night-deva Sublime Virtue, Guardian of Every City — sixth teacher of the Ten Grounds. Before he can speak, he beholds her manifest in eleven kinds of body at once. She then names six ways she guides beings toward wisdom, and ten practices by which she contemplates, accords with, and gathers in the Dharma-realm itself.
An Approach, and Eleven Bodies
爾時，善財童子正念思惟智慧分別隨順正趣修廣身證無量歡喜莊嚴法門，往詣妙德守護諸城夜天所。見彼夜天處普照一切宮殿寶師子座，不可說諸天眷屬圍遶，隨方面身、一切眾生色身，普現一切眾生前身、一切眾生無所著身、一切眾生身身、一切眾生無上身、隨順教化一切眾生身；遊十方身、至一切十方身、究竟佛身、究竟教化一切眾生身。善財見此身已，歡喜無量，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，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩道，饒益眾生；以無上攝法，攝取眾生，順如來業，親近法王。」
At that time Sudhana the Boy rightly held in mind and contemplated the Dharma-gate of the Adornment of Boundless Joy — its wisdom discerning its meaning, following it in accord toward a corresponding realization, cultivating the vast body wherein direct realization resides — and journeyed onward to the place of the night-deva Sublime Virtue, Guardian of Every City. He beheld this night-deva dwelling upon a jeweled lion-throne that universally illumined every palace, surrounded by an unspeakable retinue of devas, manifesting a body according with every direction, a body of every sentient being's own form, a body universally appearing before every sentient being, a body of every sentient being unattached to anything, a body that is every sentient being's own very body, a body unsurpassed by any sentient being, a body according with the teaching and transformation of every sentient being; a body ranging through the ten directions, a body reaching every place of the ten directions, a body of the ultimate buddha, and a body of the ultimate teaching and transformation of every sentient being. Having beheld this body, Sudhana rejoiced without measure; reverently bowing his head at her feet, circling her countless times, respectfully joining his palms, he stood to one side, and said: "O deva! I have already raised the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, yet do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva's own path, bringing benefit to sentient beings; through the unsurpassed means of gathering-in, gathering in sentient beings, according with the Tathāgata's own karma, drawing near to the Dharma-king."
Fazang opens this teacher with her name's own two layers of meaning: 妙德守護諸城者，依證智總持，智名妙德。常入一切城，故云守護。又以觀智守護心城，令離妄念故名也 — "'Sublime Virtue, Guardian of Every City': relying on the retained wisdom of direct realization, this wisdom itself is named Sublime Virtue. Constantly entering every city, hence 'guardian.' And also, using contemplative wisdom to guard the very city of the mind, causing it to depart from false thought — this too is why she bears the name." Interestingly, before naming Sudhana's own approach section, Fazang assigns the ten-stanza hymn this project has already translated at the close of the previous teacher's episode to this teacher's own opening structure — the moment Sudhana turns his mind toward the road ahead is, in the commentary's own architecture, already the beginning of the next encounter, even while the words themselves are still addressed to the teacher just left behind.
Of the eleven-fold body Sudhana beholds before a word is spoken, Fazang notes simply: 先見勝依正中，一見依報眷屬、二見正報身雲有十一種身 — "first, beholding the supreme dependent and direct retributions: first, beholding the dependent retribution, her retinue; second, beholding the direct retribution, a cloud of body manifesting eleven kinds of body." Eleven is the exact count this translation preserves — a body for every direction, every sentient being's own form, a body appearing before, unattached, identical to, unsurpassed by, according with, ranging through, reaching, and finally two bodies of ultimacy: the buddha's own, and the teaching of every being's own. The vision precedes the request; Sudhana does not ask what she teaches before he has already seen, in her body alone, eleven ways of being present to a being.
Six Ways of Guiding, and Ten Practices of the Dharma-Realm
時，彼夜天告善財言：「善哉！善哉！佛子！為救護一切眾生故，問菩薩行；為嚴淨一切佛剎、供養一切佛、住一切劫、救護一切眾生、守護一切如來種姓、究竟十方一切法界海平等之心，充滿一切；悉聞受持一切諸佛所轉法輪，隨其所應，雨甘露法故，問菩薩行。善男子！我已成就甚深妙德自在音聲法門；是故，佛子！我為勝大法師，無所罣礙；於一切法，心無所著、分別如來一切法藏，安住如來大慈大悲。建立眾生，於菩提心，得一切利，不捨菩提心，長養一切善根。為一切眾生，調御大師，安立眾生一切智道故。於一切世界，為明淨日，照一切眾生無量善根故。等心觀察一切眾生，不捨一切眾生，出生長養一切善根，甚深智慧，觀淨爾焰，斷一切不善業，行諸善業，救護眾生，顯現一切諸佛世界，修行嚴淨諸本事業，立一切眾生清淨善根，令值一切諸善知識，無能壞者，立一切眾生佛正教故。佛子！我常以法施為首，出生長養諸白淨法，一切智心，堅固不動，如金剛藏，不可沮壞；心常依止佛力、魔力、善知識力，心壞一切諸結業山，心能專求一切智，因滿白淨法無礙法門一切種智。佛子！我以如是智慧光明，淨諸眾生無量善法，饒益一切。
「復次，佛子！我以十行觀察法界，隨順法界，攝取法界。何等為十？所謂：知法界無量，智慧無量故；知法界無量無邊，悉見一切諸如來故；知佛法界無量無邊，詣一切剎，恭敬供養一切佛故；知法界無分齊，於一切世界海，行菩薩行故；知法界不可壞，究竟如來不可沮壞圓滿智故；知法界一如來妙音，一切眾生無不聞故；知法界自然清淨，教化一切眾生，滿佛願故；知法界遍至眾生，深入普賢菩薩行故；知法界一切莊嚴普賢菩薩行，自在莊嚴故；知法界不可滅一切智善根，充滿法界，令諸眾生悉清淨故。佛子！我以此十行，觀察法界，增長善根，知佛奇特境界，不可思議。」
At that time the night-deva said to Sudhana: "Excellent, excellent, child of the Buddha! For the sake of rescuing and protecting every sentient being, you ask of the bodhisattva's own practice; for the sake of adorning and purifying every buddha-land, making offering to every buddha, dwelling throughout every kalpa, rescuing and protecting every sentient being, guarding every tathāgata's own lineage, reaching the very end of the equal mind of the whole ocean of the Dharma-realm of the ten directions, filling all entirely; hearing and upholding entirely the Dharma-wheel turned by every buddha, and, according to what is fitting, raining down the ambrosial Dharma, you ask of the bodhisattva's own practice. Good son, I have already accomplished the Dharma-gate of Profound Sublime Virtue, Sovereign Sound; therefore, child of the Buddha, I am the supreme great Dharma-teacher, unobstructed in every way; within every dharma, my mind is attached to nothing, discerning the Tathāgata's own every treasury of Dharma, abiding in the Tathāgata's own great loving-kindness and great compassion. I establish sentient beings in the mind of bodhi, causing them to attain every benefit, never relinquishing the mind of bodhi, nurturing every root of goodness. For every sentient being, I am the great tamer and guide, establishing sentient beings in the path of every wisdom. Throughout every world, I am the bright, pure sun, illumining the boundless roots of goodness of every sentient being. Contemplating every sentient being with an equal mind, never relinquishing any sentient being, giving rise to and nurturing every root of goodness, with profound wisdom contemplating pure suchness, cutting off every unwholesome karma, practicing every wholesome karma, rescuing and protecting sentient beings, manifesting every buddha's own world, cultivating and adorning every original undertaking, establishing every sentient being's own pure root of goodness, causing them to meet every good friend, which nothing can destroy, establishing every sentient being in the buddha's own true teaching. Child of the Buddha, I constantly take the giving of the Dharma as foremost, giving rise to and nurturing every pure dharma, the mind of every wisdom firm and unmoving, like a treasury of vajra, which cannot be destroyed; my mind constantly relies upon the buddha's own power, māra's own power, and the good friend's own power, my mind breaking apart the mountain of every fetter and karma, my mind able to single-mindedly seek every wisdom, through the cause of fulfilling every pure dharma, the unobstructed Dharma-gate, and every kind of wisdom. Child of the Buddha, with wisdom-light such as this, I purify sentient beings' boundless wholesome dharmas, bringing benefit to all.
"Furthermore, child of the Buddha, I contemplate the Dharma-realm through ten practices, according with the Dharma-realm, gathering in the Dharma-realm. What are these ten? Namely: knowing that the Dharma-realm is boundless, for wisdom itself is boundless; knowing that the Dharma-realm is boundless and unbounded, for I behold every tathāgata entirely; knowing that the buddha-Dharma-realm is boundless and unbounded, for I go to every land, reverently making offering to every buddha; knowing that the Dharma-realm has no division or boundary, for I practice the bodhisattva's own practice throughout every world; knowing that the Dharma-realm cannot be destroyed, for I reach the very end of the Tathāgata's own indestructible, perfect wisdom; knowing that the Dharma-realm is the single sublime voice of the one tathāgata, for there is no sentient being who does not hear it; knowing that the Dharma-realm is naturally pure, for I teach and transform every sentient being, fulfilling the buddha's own vow; knowing that the Dharma-realm pervades and reaches every sentient being, for I enter deeply into Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own practice; knowing that the Dharma-realm is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own every adorned practice, sovereign in its own adornment; and knowing that the Dharma-realm's own inextinguishable root of every wisdom fills the Dharma-realm entirely, causing every sentient being to become entirely pure. Child of the Buddha, through these ten practices, I contemplate the Dharma-realm, increasing roots of goodness, and know the buddha's own extraordinary state, inconceivable."
Fazang gives the whole Dharma-gate's own name a three-part gloss before naming its function: 正證法界名曰甚深，後智蘊辯名為妙德。宣教隨機，廣略無礙，名自在音聲 — "the direct realization of the Dharma-realm is called 'profound'; the eloquence of the wisdom-aggregate that follows is called 'sublime virtue'; and proclaiming the teaching according to capacity, broad or brief without any obstruction, is called 'sovereign sound.'" Of the function that follows, he counts six: 一勝大師化、二調御師化、三明淨日化、四平等心化、五...正顯法施攝生、六...總結智慧益 — "first, transformation as the supreme great teacher; second, transformation as the tamer and guide; third, transformation as the bright, pure sun; fourth, transformation through the equal mind; fifth, directly revealing the gathering-in of beings through the gift of Dharma; sixth, a general conclusion on the benefit of wisdom." Teacher, tamer, sun, equal mind, giver, and finally wisdom itself — six roles compressed into a single passage, each one already familiar from earlier teachers of this pilgrimage, gathered here under one deva's own account of herself.
Of the ten-fold contemplation of the Dharma-realm, he glosses the three governing verbs first: 初總中觀察者，智照故。隨順者，趣向故。攝取者，正證故 — "within the general statement, 'contemplate' means illumining through wisdom; 'accord with' means moving toward; 'gather in' means directly realizing." Then, of the ten clauses themselves: 別中，舉法界中十種義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故也 — "within the particular section, ten meanings within the Dharma-realm are cited, revealed in terms of ten practices, because practice must correspond to principle, and principle is revealed through practice." Each of the ten clauses follows an identical shape — "knowing that the Dharma-realm is [some quality], for [some corresponding practice]" — principle and practice locked together in every single line, so that no attribute of the Dharma-realm is ever named without also naming the deed that proves it.
Part 84 In Progress
Sudhana has crossed into the sixth teacher's episode within the same bodhimaṇḍa as the fourth and fifth: an eleven-fold body beheld before a word is spoken, six roles this night-deva plays in guiding beings toward wisdom, and ten practices by which she contemplates, accords with, and gathers in the Dharma-realm itself. Part 85 turns to ten thousand dhāraṇīs she teaches with, and to how she expounds the same Dharma broadly or briefly according to who is listening.
Continue to Part 85 →