Reaching Every Place, Taking Every Form
Universal Practice's own name turns out to describe his practice exactly — he appears throughout every destiny of existence, from devas and nāgas down to hell and the animal realm, matching a different skillful means to whatever it is that draws each kind of being.
Every Destiny of Existence
Universal Practice's own liberation is named plainly enough that it hardly needs explaining — a bodhisattva practice of reaching every place, taking birth in every form throughout every destiny of existence, wherever beings actually are.
我聞聖者善能教誨，願為我說！」遍行答言：「善哉善哉！善男子！我已安住至一切處菩薩行，已成就普觀世間三昧門，已成就無依無作神通力，已成就普門般若波羅蜜。善男子！我普於世間種種方所、種種形貌、種種行解、種種沒生一切諸趣。所謂：天趣、龍趣、夜叉趣、乾闥婆、阿脩羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、地獄、畜生、閻羅王界、人、非人等，一切諸趣，或住諸見，或信二乘，或復信樂大乘之道。如是一切諸眾生中，我以種種方便、種種智門而為利益。
I have heard that the noble one is skillfully able to teach and instruct — please, explain it to me!" Universal Practice replied: "Excellent, excellent! Good son, I have already abided securely in the bodhisattva practice of reaching every place, I have already accomplished the samādhi-gate of universally observing the world, I have already accomplished the spiritual power of relying on nothing and acting from nothing, and I have already accomplished the universal-gate prajñāpāramitā. Good son, I universally appear throughout the world in every kind of place, every kind of form, every kind of conduct and understanding, and every kind of passing away and rebirth into every destiny of existence. Namely: the destiny of devas, the destiny of nāgas, the destiny of yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, hell, animals, the realm of King Yama, humans, non-humans, and every other destiny — whether dwelling in wrong views, or trusting in the two lesser vehicles, or else trusting and delighting in the path of the Great Vehicle. Among all such beings, I bring benefit through every kind of skillful means and every kind of gate of wisdom.
A Different Teaching for a Different Longing
Universal Practice's own list of skillful means moves from ordinary crafts to the highest reaches of praise, matching each teaching to the specific thing that already draws a particular kind of being closer.
所謂：或為演說一切世間種種技藝，令得具足一切巧術陀羅尼智；或為演說四攝方便，令得具足一切智道；或為演說諸波羅蜜，令其迴向一切智位；或為稱讚大菩提心，令其不失無上道意；或為稱讚諸菩薩行，令其滿足淨佛國土度眾生願；或為演說造諸惡行受地獄等種種苦報，令於惡業深生厭離；或為演說供養諸佛種諸善根決定獲得一切智果，令其發起歡喜之心；或為讚說一切如來、應、正等覺所有功德，令樂佛身求一切智；或為讚說諸佛威德，令其願樂佛不壞身；或為讚說佛自在身，令求如來無能映蔽大威德體。
Namely: sometimes I expound every kind of worldly skill and craft, causing them to become fully endowed with the dhāraṇī-wisdom of every skillful art; sometimes I expound the skillful means of the four means of gathering, causing them to become fully endowed with the path of all-knowing wisdom; sometimes I expound the pāramitās, causing them to dedicate their merit toward the station of all-knowing wisdom; sometimes I praise the great mind of bodhi, causing them never to lose the intention of the unsurpassed path; sometimes I praise the bodhisattva practices, causing them to fulfill their own vow to purify buddha-lands and liberate beings; sometimes I expound how committing every evil deed brings every kind of suffering retribution such as hell, causing them to give rise to a deep aversion toward evil karma; sometimes I expound how making offerings to buddhas and planting every wholesome root will certainly obtain the fruit of all-knowing wisdom, causing them to give rise to a mind of joy; sometimes I praise and speak of every tathāgata's own merit, Worthy One, Truly and Rightly Awakened One, causing them to delight in a buddha's own body and seek all-knowing wisdom; sometimes I praise and speak of every buddha's own majestic virtue, causing them to wish and delight in a buddha's own indestructible body; and sometimes I praise and speak of a buddha's own sovereign body, causing them to seek the tathāgata's own body of great majestic virtue that nothing can outshine.
或為演說造諸惡行受地獄等種種苦報 — sometimes I expound how committing every evil deed brings every kind of suffering retribution such as hell. Among ten distinct teaching methods listed here, this is the only one that works through fear rather than attraction — a single admission, amid a catalogue otherwise built on praise and delight, that aversion too has its place in Universal Practice's own toolkit.
Part 1039 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-seven. Part 1040 follows Universal Practice describing how he takes on the very form of the beings he teaches throughout Tosala city itself, appearing so convincingly that no one recognizes who he truly is.