At Every Hair's-Tip of the Dharma-Realm
The seventh practice reaches its own extreme: a vow to teach even a single living being for kalpas beyond telling at every single hair's-tip throughout the Dharma-realm — and a contemplation that lets this vast labor remain effortless, because every dharma, every buddha, and every being is already like an illusion, a shadow, a dream, an echo.
A Vow at Every Hair's-Tip
菩薩爾時復作是念：『我當為一眾生，於十方世界一一國土，經不可說不可說劫，教化成熟。如為一眾生，為一切眾生皆亦如是；終不以此而生疲厭，捨而餘去。』又以毛端遍量法界，於一毛端處，盡不可說不可說劫，教化調伏一切眾生；如一毛端處，一一毛端處皆亦如是。乃至不於一彈指頃，執著於我，起我、我所想。於一一毛端處，盡未來劫修菩薩行；不著身，不著法，不著念，不著願，不著三昧，不著觀察，不著寂定，不著境界，不著教化調伏眾生，亦復不著入於法界。
The bodhisattva, at that time, further reflects in this way: "I shall, for the sake of a single living being, throughout every single land in the worlds of the ten directions, undergo kalpas beyond telling, beyond all telling, teaching and transforming and bringing them to maturity. Just as for one single living being, so for every living being, entirely in the same way; I shall never, because of this, give rise to weariness and turn away to go elsewhere." And further, taking the very tip of a single hair as a measure spanning the whole Dharma-realm, at that single hair's-tip, they exhaust kalpas beyond telling, beyond all telling, teaching and taming every living being; and just as at that one hair's-tip, so at every single hair's-tip, entirely in the same way. And never, not even for the space of a single finger-snap, do they grasp at a self, or give rise to any notion of "I" or "mine." At each and every hair's-tip, through kalpas to the very end of the future, they cultivate the bodhisattva's own conduct; clinging to no body, clinging to no dharma, clinging to no thought, clinging to no vow, clinging to no samādhi, clinging to no contemplation, clinging to no tranquil concentration, clinging to no realm, clinging to no teaching or taming of living beings, and, moreover, clinging to no entering into the Dharma-realm either.
何以故？菩薩作是念：『我應觀一切法界如幻，諸佛如影，菩薩行如夢，佛說法如響，一切世間如化，業報所持故；差別身如幻，行力所起故；一切眾生如心，種種雜染故；一切法如實際，不可變異故。』又作是念：『我當盡虛空遍法界，於十方國土中行菩薩行，念念明達，一切佛法正念現前，無所取著。』菩薩如是觀身無我，見佛無礙，為化眾生，演說諸法，令於佛法發生無量歡喜淨信，救護一切，心無疲厭。
Why is this? The bodhisattva reflects in this way: "I should contemplate the whole Dharma-realm as like an illusion, every buddha as like a reflection, the bodhisattva's own conduct as like a dream, the Buddha's own teaching of the Dharma as like an echo, and the whole world as like a magical transformation, sustained by the force of karmic recompense; every distinct body as like an illusion, arisen from the power of past deeds; every living being as like a projection of mind, made from every kind of mixed defilement; and every dharma as like the very reality-limit itself, unable ever to be altered or changed." They further reflect: "I shall, to the very limit of empty space and throughout the whole Dharma-realm, cultivate the bodhisattva's own conduct within the lands of the ten directions, moment after moment clear and penetrating, every buddha-dharma present before me in right mindfulness, grasping at and clinging to nothing at all." The bodhisattva, contemplating the body as without self in this way, sees the Buddha without any obstruction, and, for the sake of transforming living beings, expounds every dharma, causing them to give rise to immeasurable joy and pure faith toward the buddha-dharma, saving and protecting everyone, their mind never once wearied.
無疲厭故，於一切世界，有眾生未成熟、未調伏處，悉詣於彼，方便化度。其中眾生種種音聲、種種諸業、種種取著、種種施設、種種和合、種種流轉、種種所作、種種境界、種種生、種種沒，以大誓願，安住其中而教化之，不令其心有動有退，亦不一念生染著想。何以故？得無所著、無所依故，自利、利他，清淨滿足。是名菩薩摩訶薩第七無著行。
Because their mind is never wearied, wherever throughout every world there are living beings not yet matured, not yet tamed, they go entirely to those very places, transforming and saving them through skillful means. Amid living beings there of every kind of sound, every kind of karmic action, every kind of grasping attachment, every kind of arrangement, every kind of combination, every kind of flowing transformation, every kind of activity, every kind of realm, every kind of birth, and every kind of passing away, they abide settled within it all through their own great vow, teaching and transforming them, never allowing their own mind to be shaken or to retreat, and never, for even a single thought, giving rise to any notion of stain or attachment. Why is this? Because, having attained a state of clinging to nothing and relying on nothing, they benefit themselves and benefit others, pure and fully satisfied. This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's own seventh practice, the practice free of attachment.
The measuring image here — a single hair's-tip taken as a span equal to the whole Dharma-realm, with kalpas beyond telling unfolded at every hair's-tip in turn — is one of the sūtra's characteristic devices for expressing scale that ordinary numbers cannot reach: infinity nested inside infinity. The eightfold list of similes that follows (illusion, reflection, dream, echo, magical transformation) is drawn directly from a stock set found throughout Prajñāpāramitā literature, here applied item by item to the Dharma-realm, the buddhas, practice, teaching, the world, bodies, beings, and dharmas in turn.
Part 143 Complete
This closes Part 143. Chapter 21 continues in Part 144 with the eighth practice, the practice difficult to attain.