No Buddha and No World
Constellation Banner Bodhisattva speaks the chapter's ninth verse, moving from the Buddha's abiding nowhere yet everywhere to a sharper claim: living beings falsely discriminate, saying "this is the Buddha, this is the world," while whoever penetrates the true nature of dharmas finds no Buddha and no world at all. The verse closes by turning back on its own method — the truly awakened one transcends language entirely, and yet is spoken of only by borrowing language, exactly as this very verse has just done.
Falsely Discriminating "Buddha" and "World"
The verse's turn comes at its midpoint: living beings falsely discriminate, saying "this is the Buddha, this is the world," but whoever penetrates the nature of dharmas finds no Buddha and no world at all — not because neither exists, but because the discrimination that separates them into fixed categories is itself the error. Even so, the verse insists, the Tathāgata still universally appears, causing living beings to believe and rejoice, though his own essence can never be obtained even by those who behold him.
「如來無所住，普住一切剎，
一切土皆往，一切處咸見。
佛隨眾生心，普現一切身，
成道轉法輪，及以般涅槃。
諸佛不思議，誰能思議佛？
誰能見正覺？誰能現最勝？
一切法皆如，諸佛境亦然，
乃至無一法，如中有生滅。
眾生妄分別，是佛是世界；
了達法性者，無佛無世界。
"The Tathāgata abides nowhere at all, and yet universally abides in every land; he goes to every land entirely, and is beheld in every single place. The Buddha follows the minds of living beings, universally manifesting every kind of body, accomplishing the path, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and entering parinirvāṇa. Every buddha is inconceivable — who could possibly conceive of the Buddha? Who could behold the truly awakened one? Who could manifest the most supreme one? Every dharma is entirely suchness, and the domain of every buddha is likewise the same; and not even a single dharma, within suchness, has any arising or ceasing at all. Living beings falsely discriminate, saying 'this is the Buddha, this is the world'; whoever penetrates the nature of dharmas finds no Buddha and no world at all.
如來普現前，令眾生信喜，
佛體不可得，彼亦無所見。
若能於世間，遠離一切著，
無礙心歡喜，於法得開悟。
神力之所現，即此說名佛，
三世一切時，求悉無所有。
若能如是知，心意及諸法，
一切悉知見，疾得成如來。
言語中顯示，一切佛自在，
正覺超語言，假以語言說。」
The Tathāgata universally appears before them, causing living beings to believe and rejoice, yet the Buddha's own essence can never be obtained, and they too behold nothing at all. If one is able, within the world, to leave behind every attachment entirely, with an unobstructed and joyful mind, one comes to awaken to the Dharma. What is manifested through spiritual power — this indeed is what is called 'buddha,' yet seeking it throughout every moment of the three periods of time, there is nothing at all to be found. If one is able to know in just this way — the mind, its intentions, and every dharma — knowing and seeing all of it entirely, one swiftly comes to accomplish the Tathāgata. Within language itself, the sovereign power of every buddha is displayed; the truly awakened one transcends language entirely, yet is spoken of by borrowing language."
The verse's closing couplet is worth pausing on, since it describes exactly what this verse itself has been doing: "the truly awakened one transcends language entirely, yet is spoken of by borrowing language." Twenty lines of denial — no Buddha, no world, no essence to be found even by those who behold him — have still been spoken, in language, to living beings who rejoice at hearing them. The verse does not treat this as a contradiction to resolve, but as the very shape language must take when it points at what exceeds it.
Part 206 Complete
This closes Part 206. Chapter 24 continues in Part 207 with Dharma Banner Bodhisattva's own verse — the tenth and final bodhisattva of this assembly.