Indriyeshvara
This next particular kalyānamitra is another example of the agelessness behind transcendent beings who carry the imageless mark of bodhikaya. Sudhana makes his way “to the city of Sumukha in the land of Shramanamandala, looking for the boy Indriyeshvara.” He finds him “playing in the sand” with thousands of other boys. “Playing in the Sand” is an appropriate designation for the “effortlessness” exhibited by those wunderkind characters who bespeak the multifaceted expressions of the Buddhadharma. Here we have a mere boy, yet one incurred with a perfected-wisdomocity bestowed by non-other than the premier proponent and embodiment of Wisdom itself, Mañjuśrī:
Indriyeshvara said, “I have been taught writing and mathematics by
Manjushri, and have been led into the door of knowledge encompassing
higher knowledge of all practical arts. So I know all the various arts and
crafts and sciences in the world dealing with writing, mathematics and symbols, physiology, rhetoric, physical and mental health, city planning, architecture and construction, mechanics and engineering, divination, agriculture and commerce, conduct and manners, good and bad actions, good and bad principles, what makes for felicity and what for misery, what is necessary for the vehicles of buddhas, disciples, and individual illuminates, what is necessary for buddhahood, and behavior linking reason and action. I know all these sciences, and I also introduce and teach them to people, and get people to study and practice them, to master and develop them, using these as means to purify, refine, and broaden people.
Here we have yet another outstanding child-prodigy who perfects the above quote with a mathematical precision:
“I myself know enlightening beings’ method of reckoning, which goes
like this: a hundred hundred thousand is a koti; a koti squared is an ayuta; an
ayuta squared is a niyuta; a niyuta squared is a bimbara; a bimbara squared is a kinkara; a kinkara squared is an agara; an agara squared is a pravara…
He counted out the grains of sand in the miles-wide mass of sand before
him, telling how many grains of sand there were, and how many unspeakable
numbers of grains of sand there were; then, having indicated this by
these conventions of enumeration, he said, “This counting device serves
enlightening beings for the succession of worlds; by this method of counting
they count the multitudes of worlds in the ten directions. This method
of counting serves enlightening beings in indicating the worlds in the ten
directions in an orderly continuum. By this method of counting, enlightening
beings count the string of names of the worlds in the ten directions.
“I know this light of knowledge of enlightening beings which is characterized
by higher knowledge of all arts and sciences.”
The mathematical precision incurred by Indriyeshvara is a form of prime-directive illuminating the inconceivable and unmeasurable quality that makes-up the unbounded Matrix of the Dharmadhātu.
Prabhuta
Then Sudhana went to Samudrapratishthana, looking for the [lay] devotee Prabhuta:
Sudhana went to Prabhuta’s house and stood before the entrance with his
hands joined in respectful salutation. He saw that her house was very large,
covered with precious ornaments, with doors on all four sides, arrayed with
countless jewels, the result of the development of inconceivable virtues.
Entering the house and looking around, he saw the devotee Prabhuta in a
jeweled chair, young, slim, fresh, in the blossom of youth, radiantly beautiful,
her hair hanging loose, wearing no ornaments on her body, clothed in
pure white garments. Except for Buddhas and enlightening beings, no one
came to that house whom she did not overwhelm by her appearance, her
mastery of mind, her radiance, her voice, or her splendor. All who saw
Prabhuta, whether human or celestial beings, thought of her as a teacher.
Prabhuta symbolizes the beauty of Spiritual Abundance. She has attained and she teaches a most enlightening liberation:
She said, “I have attained an enlightening liberation which is an inexhaustible
treasury of manifestations of good. From this one vessel I satisfy sentient beings of various tastes with food conforming to their wishes, with various sauces and spices, of various colors and aromas. From this one vessel I satisfy even a hundred beings with whatever food they wish, even a thousand beings, a hundred thousand, a million, a billion; I satisfy untold numbers of sentient beings of various tastes with whatever foods they wish, gratifying and pleasing them and making them happy—and yet this vessel does not diminish or run out. In this way, even if as many sentient beings as atoms in a continent, or four continents, or a thousand-world universe, or a million-world universe, or a billion-world universe, or even if as many sentient beings as atoms in untold buddha-lands come to me with various tastes, I satisfy, please, and delight them with foods according to their wishes, with various sauces, spices, colors, and aromas—yet this vessel never diminishes or runs out, it is never depleted or exhausted. Even if all the beings in all worlds in the ten directions, with various tastes and desires, should come to me, I would satisfy them all with whatever food they wished. And as with food, so also would I satisfy and please them with various kinds of drinks, various delicacies, various couches, various clothing, various flowers, various garlands, various fragrances, various incenses, various unguents, various aromatic powders, various jewels, various ornaments, various conveyances, various parasols, various banners, various pennants, and various kinds of utensils.
Prabhuta is also a most hospitable host, serving a most delectable feast to all who yearn for the Spirit of Liberation, who want to be served with a divine sustenance wherein they will never hunger for spiritual-autonomy ever again. She also makes Sudhana aware of the other surrounding “ten-thousand women” who are her spiritual companions, all who equally share in her service of spiritual-emancipation:
“These ten thousand women pervade the ten directions in a single instant
to present food to the enlightening beings who are bound to become
enlightened in one lifetime, giving them food from this same vessel. They
pervade the ten directions to give food and drink to the saints and individual
illuminates who are in their last existence. They go everywhere and satisfy
all hungry ghosts with food. I also satisfy all the celestial beings with celestial
food from this same vessel: I satisfy dragons with dragon food, spirits
with spirit food, cherubim with cherub food, titans with titan food, birds
with bird food, centaurs with centaur food, serpents with serpent food,
humans with human food, and nonhumans with nonhuman food.”
This divine “catering-service” provides for the full-spectrum of sentient beings who make up the multifarious chemistry of the Totality of Dharmadhātu. Each being is assured a full quotient of what makes-up their own unique requirements. Hence we can discern from these two segments that nothing is lacking for those who aspire towards Bodhisattvahood as all needs will be provided for with a perfectly calculated exactitude.