Karma Like an Illusion, Retribution Like a Reflection
Even while following the course of birth and death, the bodhisattva never changes and never regresses in seeking all-knowing wisdom, remaining undisturbed within every realm of existence. This stability rests on a chain of similes for how the bodhisattva understands ordinary experience: karma like an illusion, its retribution like a reflection, every conditioned activity like a magical transformation, every dharma born of causes and conditions like an echo, and every practice of the bodhisattva itself like a shadow.
A Chain of Five Similes
Five similes in close succession describe the bodhisattva's own understanding of experience — illusion, reflection, magical transformation, echo, and shadow — each naming something whose appearance is entirely real to perception while being empty of any substance to grasp. Understanding this, the bodhisattva realizes the nature of quiescent cessation and the non-duality of dharmas, while still clinging to no mark at all and never abandoning the pure and undefiled Dharma.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以諸善根如是迴向時，雖隨生死而不改變，求一切智未曾退轉，在於諸有心無動亂，悉能度脫一切眾生，不染有為法，不失無礙智。菩薩行位，因緣無盡；世間諸法，無能變動；具足清淨諸波羅蜜，悉能成就一切智力。菩薩如是離諸癡暗，成菩提心，開示光明，增長淨法，迴向勝道，具足眾行；以清淨意，善能分別；了一切法，悉隨心現；
"Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates every wholesome root in just this way, although they follow the course of birth and death, they never change; seeking all-knowing wisdom, they have never once regressed; dwelling within every realm of existence, their mind never disturbed, they are entirely able to liberate every living being, never defiled by conditioned dharmas, and never losing their unhindered wisdom. The bodhisattva's own stage of practice has inexhaustible causes and conditions; no worldly dharma is able to change or move it; fully endowed with every pure pāramitā, they are entirely able to accomplish the power of all-knowing wisdom. The bodhisattva, having left behind every darkness of delusion in just this way, accomplishes the mind of bodhi, reveals light, increases pure dharmas, dedicates toward the supreme path, and is fully endowed with every practice; with a pure intention, they are skillfully able to discern; understanding every dharma, they know it all appears according to the mind;
知業如幻，業報如像，諸行如化；因緣生法，悉皆如響；菩薩諸行，一切如影；出生無著清淨法眼，見於無作廣大境界；證寂滅性，了法無二；得法實相，具菩薩行；於一切相，皆無所著；善能修行同事諸業，於白淨法恒無廢捨；離一切著，住無著行。
knowing that karma is like an illusion, its retribution like a reflection, and every conditioned activity like a magical transformation; every dharma born from causes and conditions is entirely like an echo; every one of the bodhisattva's own practices is like a shadow; giving rise to the unattached and pure Dharma-eye, they behold the vast domain of non-action; realizing the nature of quiescent cessation, understanding that dharmas are without duality; attaining the true reality-mark of dharmas, they are endowed with the bodhisattva's own conduct; toward every mark, they cling to nothing at all; skillfully able to cultivate and practice, joining together in every karmic deed, forever never abandoning the pure and undefiled Dharma; leaving behind every attachment, they abide in unattached conduct.
The five similes — illusion, reflection, magical transformation, echo, shadow — form a well-known set in Mahāyāna literature for describing dependently arisen phenomena, but their placement here does specific work: they explain how the bodhisattva can follow the course of birth and death "without changing," since none of the images denies that karma or its retribution appears, only that any of them possesses a fixed, independent nature capable of altering the bodhisattva's own resolve.
Part 230 Complete
This closes Part 230. Chapter 25 continues in Part 231 as the second dedication reaches its close, describing skillful thinking free of confusion and a final vow that living beings attain pure wisdom and forever sever every deed of Māra.