The Cesspit: A Bodhisattva's Rescue
Point eight, pervading every place, now turns to the time of mixed purity and impurity — the bodhisattva stage — where a being has already realized that buddha-nature is beyond birth and death, and manifests birth and death anyway, purely out of compassion, exactly as an elder's son plunges into a cesspit for a child that is not, in any literal sense, his own.
Knowing Buddha-Nature Is Unborn, Yet Manifesting Birth
◎次說依淨不淨時不變不異故，說二偈：
菩薩摩訶薩， 如實知佛性，
不生亦不滅， 復無老病等。
菩薩如是知， 得離於生死，
憐愍眾生故， 示現有生滅。
此偈示現何義？偈言：
老病死諸苦， 聖人永滅盡，
依業煩惱生， 諸菩薩無彼。
此偈明何義？明此老病死等苦火於不淨時依業煩惱本生，如世間火依薪本生，以諸菩薩得生意生身於淨不淨時畢竟永滅盡。以是義故，諸業煩惱等常不能燒燃，而依慈悲力故示現生老病死，而遠離生等，以見如實故。以是義故，諸菩薩摩訶薩依善根結使生，非依業煩惱結使生。以依心自在力生，依大悲力現於三界，示現生、示現老、示現病、示現死，而彼無有生老病死諸苦等法。以如實見真如佛性不生不滅，是名不淨淨時。如修多羅中依愛無漏業根本煩惱廣說應知。
Next, to explain the unchanging, undiffering nature within the time of mixed purity and impurity, two verses are spoken:
The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, truly knowing buddha-nature,
knows it is neither born nor ceases, and is free of old age, sickness, and the rest.
Knowing this, the bodhisattva attains freedom from birth-and-death —
yet out of compassion for sentient beings, manifests as though having birth and cessation.
What meaning do these verses reveal? A verse says:
The sufferings of old age, sickness, and death are forever extinguished for the noble ones;
arising in dependence on karma and affliction, bodhisattvas are free of these.
What meaning does this verse make clear? It clarifies that this fire of suffering — old age, sickness, and death — arises, within the time of impurity, in root dependence on karma and affliction, just as worldly fire arises in root dependence on fuel; and that, because bodhisattvas have attained the mind-made body, this fire is, within the time of mixed purity and impurity, ultimately and forever extinguished. For this reason, karma and affliction and the rest can never burn them; yet in dependence on the power of compassion, they manifest birth, old age, sickness, and death, while remaining apart from birth and the rest, because they see reality as it truly is. For this reason, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas are born in dependence on the bond of wholesome roots, not in dependence on the bond of karma and affliction. Being born by the power of mastery over mind, and manifesting within the three realms by the power of great compassion, they manifest birth, manifest old age, manifest sickness, manifest death — yet are without any of the dharmas of the suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Because they see, as it truly is, that suchness, buddha-nature, is neither born nor ceases, this is called the time of mixed impurity and purity. This should be understood as explained at length in the sūtras, in terms of the root affliction that is uncontaminated karma born of love for beings.
The phrase translated here as "the bond of wholesome roots" (善根結使) is deliberately paradoxical: 結使 ordinarily names the fetters of affliction that bind a being to saṃsāra, yet the treatise applies the same word to what motivates a bodhisattva's rebirth — love for beings, expressed as an "uncontaminated karma born of love." The point is structural, not merely poetic: a bodhisattva's return to birth-and-death has the outward shape of the very thing liberation is supposed to end, but none of its inward cause. What looks, from outside, like bondage is, from within, an act of mastery.
The Sāgaramati Bodhisattva Sūtra: An Affliction That Is Not Defiled
如如來於《大海慧菩薩經》中說言：大海慧！何者能住世間善根相應煩惱？所謂集諸善根無有厭足故，以心願生攝取諸有故、求見一切諸佛如來故、教化一切眾生心不疲惓故、攝取一切諸佛妙法故、於諸眾生常作利益故、常不捨離樂貪諸法結使故、常不捨離諸波羅蜜結使故。大海慧！是名諸菩薩摩訶薩世間善根相應煩惱。依此煩惱，諸菩薩摩訶薩生於三界受種種苦，不為三界煩惱過患之所染污。
大海慧菩薩白佛言：世尊！此諸善根以何義故說名煩惱？佛告大海慧菩薩言：大海慧！如是煩惱，諸菩薩摩訶薩能生三界受種種苦。依此煩惱故有三界，非染煩惱三界中生。大海慧！菩薩以方便智力，依善根力故，心生三界。是故名為善根相應煩惱而生三界，非染心生。
Thus the Tathāgata says in the Sāgaramati Bodhisattva Sūtra: "Sāgaramati! What is the affliction associated with wholesome roots that can sustain a being in the world? It is: gathering every wholesome root without ever growing weary of it; through the mind's own vow, taking up rebirth so as to embrace every mode of existence; seeking to behold every buddha, every tathāgata; teaching and transforming every sentient being without the mind ever growing tired; taking up the wondrous Dharma of every buddha; ever working benefit for every sentient being; never abandoning the bond of delighting in and cherishing the Dharma; and never abandoning the bond of the pāramitās. Sāgaramati! This is called the affliction associated with wholesome roots of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas in the world. In dependence on this affliction, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas are born within the three realms and undergo every kind of suffering, yet are not stained by the fault of the afflictions of the three realms."
Bodhisattva Sāgaramati said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! For what reason are these wholesome roots spoken of as affliction?" The Buddha said to Bodhisattva Sāgaramati: "Sāgaramati! It is by means of such affliction that bodhisattva-mahāsattvas are able to be born within the three realms and undergo every kind of suffering. In dependence on this affliction, there is birth in the three realms — it is not birth in the three realms of defiled affliction. Sāgaramati! By the power of skillful means and wisdom, in dependence on the power of wholesome roots, the bodhisattva's mind gives rise to birth in the three realms. For this reason it is called the affliction associated with wholesome roots that gives rise to birth in the three realms — it is not birth from a defiled mind."
The Cesspit Parable
大海慧！譬如長者若居士等唯有一子，甚愛甚念見者歡喜。而彼一子依愚癡心因戲樂故，墮在極深糞廁井中。時彼父母及諸親屬，見彼一子墮在大廁深坑糞中，見已歔欷悲泣啼哭，而不能入彼極深廁糞屎器中而出其子。
爾時彼處眾中更有一長者子或一居士子，見彼小兒墮在深廁糞屎井中，見已疾疾生一子想，生愛念心不起惡心，即入深廁糞屎井中出彼一子。
大海慧！為顯彼義說此譬喻。大海慧！何者彼義？大海慧！言極深井糞屎坑者，名為三界。大海慧！言一子者，一切眾生，諸菩薩等於一切眾生生一子想。大海慧！爾時父母及諸親者，名為聲聞辟支佛人，以二乘人見諸眾生墮在世間極大深坑糞屎井中，既見彼已悲泣啼哭，而不能拔彼諸眾生。
大海慧！彼時更有一長者子一居士子者，名為菩薩摩訶薩，離諸煩惱清淨無垢，以離垢心現見無為真如法界，以自在心現生三界，為教化彼諸眾生故。大海慧！是名菩薩摩訶薩大悲，畢竟遠離諸有、畢竟遠離諸縛而迴生於三界有中。以依方便般若力故，諸煩惱火不能焚燒，欲令一切諸眾生等遠離諸縛而為說法。
大海慧！我今說此修多羅句，依諸菩薩心，為利益一切眾生，得自在力而生三有，依諸善根慈悲心力，依於方便般若力故。是名示現淨不淨時。
"Sāgaramati! It is like an elder or householder who has an only son, deeply loved and cherished, whose very sight brings joy. That only son, through a foolish mind and for the sake of play, falls into an extremely deep cesspit. At that time, his father and mother and all his relatives, seeing their only son fallen into that vast, deep pit of filth, weep and wail and cry out in grief, but are unable to enter that extremely deep vessel of filth and excrement to bring their son out.
"At that time, among the crowd gathered there, there is another son of an elder, or son of a householder, who sees that child fallen into the deep pit of filth and excrement. Seeing this, he swiftly conceives the thought 'this is my own son,' giving rise to a mind of love and affection, without any thought of aversion arising, and at once enters the deep pit of filth and excrement and brings that son out.
"Sāgaramati! This parable is spoken to reveal that meaning. Sāgaramati! What is that meaning? Sāgaramati! The extremely deep pit of filth and excrement is called the three realms. Sāgaramati! The only son is every sentient being — bodhisattvas conceive the thought 'this is my own son' toward every sentient being. Sāgaramati! The father, mother, and relatives at that time are called śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, since practitioners of the two vehicles, seeing sentient beings fallen into the vast, deep pit of filth and excrement that is the world, weep and wail upon seeing it, yet are unable to pull those sentient beings out.
"Sāgaramati! That other son of an elder, son of a householder, is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva — apart from every affliction, pure and stainless, who with a stainless mind directly beholds the unconditioned realm of true suchness, and with a mind of mastery manifests birth within the three realms, for the sake of teaching and transforming those sentient beings. Sāgaramati! This is called the great compassion of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva — ultimately apart from every mode of existence, ultimately apart from every bond, and yet turning back to be born within the existence of the three realms. By the power of skillful means and wisdom, the fire of every affliction cannot burn him, and he wishes to cause every sentient being to become apart from every bond, and so teaches them the Dharma.
"Sāgaramati! I now speak this passage of sūtra: in dependence on the bodhisattva's mind, for the benefit of every sentient being, he attains the power of mastery and is born within the three modes of existence, in dependence on the power of wholesome roots and the mind of compassion, in dependence on the power of skillful means and wisdom." This is called manifesting the time of mixed purity and impurity.
What distinguishes the rescuer's son from the grieving parents is not power — nothing in the parable suggests the parents lack the physical strength to climb into the pit — but a prior act of the heart: he has already "swiftly conceived the thought, 'this is my own son.'" The parable places the moment of resolve before the moment of contact with the filth, which maps precisely onto the doctrinal point it illustrates: the bodhisattva's fearlessness in the midst of saṃsāra's uncleanness is not stoic endurance of something repellent, but the direct consequence of having already, inwardly, claimed every being as one's own child. Weeping at the edge of the pit and entering it are not two degrees of the same compassion; they are two different relationships to the one who has fallen in.
Part 14 Complete
Part 15 continues the treatise's account of the bodhisattva stage with the parable of the priceless beryl jewel buried for a thousand years in mud, the Śrīmālā Sūtra's distinction between conditioned and unconditioned nirvāṇa, and the Ratnamālā Sūtra's parable of the traveler who reaches the very gate of a magnificent city and turns back for the sake of his one remaining son.
Continue to Part 15 — The Jewel in the Mud, and the Gate of the City →