Abiding in Neither
The contemplation of dependent arising reaches its result. Three liberation gateways open in sequence, and the third opens on a technicality worth noticing — having no wish left, the bodhisattva still has one. And the Part ends on the position this whole path has been working toward: not in the conditioned, and not in its cessation either.
Ten Ways of Looking
Four more sortings of the twelve links complete the set, and the sūtra then counts them: ten ways in all, gathered into a single list that names each of the passes made since Part 441.
復次，十二有支名為三苦，此中無明、行乃至六處是行苦，觸、受是苦苦，餘是壞苦；無明滅行滅者，是三苦斷。復次，無明緣行者，無明因緣能生諸行；無明滅行滅者，以無無明，諸行亦無，餘亦如是。又無明緣行者，是生繫縛；無明滅行滅者，是滅繫縛。餘亦如是。又無明緣行者，是隨順無所有觀；無明滅行滅者，是隨順盡滅觀。餘亦如是。
Furthermore, the twelve links of existence are called the three kinds of suffering: herein ignorance, formations, and so on up to the six sense-fields are the suffering of conditionedness; contact and feeling are the suffering of suffering; and the rest are the suffering of change. That when ignorance ceases formations cease is the cutting off of the three sufferings. Furthermore: that formations are conditioned by ignorance means that ignorance, as cause and condition, is able to produce formations; and that when ignorance ceases formations cease means that, there being no ignorance, formations too are not — and so it is with the rest. Again: that formations are conditioned by ignorance is the binding of arising; and that when ignorance ceases formations cease is the binding of cessation — and so it is with the rest. Again: that formations are conditioned by ignorance accords with the contemplation of there being nothing at all; and that when ignorance ceases formations cease accords with the contemplation of exhaustion and cessation — and so it is with the rest.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是十種逆順觀諸緣起。所謂：有支相續故，一心所攝故，自業差別故，不相捨離故，三道不斷故，觀過去、現在、未來故，三苦聚集故，因緣生滅故，生滅繫縛故，無所有、盡觀故。
"Child of the Buddha! In these ten ways the bodhisattva mahāsattva contemplates dependent arising, forwards and backwards. That is to say: because the links of existence follow one upon another; because they are gathered within a single mind; because their own karma differs; because they do not part from one another; because the three paths are not cut off; because one contemplates past, present, and future; because the three sufferings are gathered together; because of arising and ceasing through causes and conditions; because of the binding of arising and of ceasing; and because of the contemplation of there being nothing at all, and of exhaustion.
逆順觀 — contemplating forwards and backwards. Each of the ten passes has had two halves: how the chain runs when ignorance conditions formations, and how it unravels when ignorance ceases. Nothing new is being learned in the second half; it is the same knowledge stated from the other end. The sūtra treats being able to run the sequence in reverse as a distinct competence, which is the difference between knowing a mechanism and being able to stop one.
Three Gateways, and the Position Between
The gateways open in strict order, each from what the previous one has established. The third is the interesting one — wishlessness arrived at with an exception clause attached.
「佛子，菩薩摩訶薩以如是十種相觀諸緣起，知無我、無人、無壽命、自性空、無作者、無受者，即得空解脫門現在前。觀諸有支皆自性滅，畢竟解脫，無有少法相生，即時得無相解脫門現在前。如是入空、無相已，無有願求，唯除大悲為首，教化眾生，即時得無願解脫門現在前。菩薩如是修三解脫門，離彼、我想，離作者、受者想，離有、無想。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, contemplating dependent arising by these ten characteristics, knows that there is no self, no person, and no life-span, that its own nature is empty, and that there is no doer and no one who undergoes — and at once the liberation gateway of emptiness stands present before them. Contemplating that all the links of existence are by their own nature ceased, ultimately liberated, with not the least dharma arising as a characteristic, at that moment the liberation gateway of signlessness stands present before them. Having thus entered emptiness and signlessness, they have no wish and no seeking — save only that great compassion is at their head and they teach and transform beings — and at that moment the liberation gateway of wishlessness stands present before them. Cultivating the three liberation gateways in this way, the bodhisattva is apart from the notion of other and of self, apart from the notion of a doer and of one who undergoes, and apart from the notion of existence and of non-existence.
「佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩大悲轉增，精勤修習，為未滿菩提分法令圓滿故，作是念：『一切有為，有和合則轉，無和合則不轉；緣集則轉，緣不集則不轉。我如是知有為法多諸過患，當斷此和合因緣；然為成就眾生故，亦不畢竟滅於諸行。』佛子！菩薩如是觀察有為多諸過患，無有自性，不生不滅，而恒起大悲，不捨眾生，即得般若波羅蜜現前，名：無障礙智光明。成就如是智光明已，雖修習菩提分因緣而不住有為中，雖觀有為法自性寂滅亦不住寂滅中，以菩提分法未圓滿故。
"Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva mahāsattva's great compassion increases further, and they cultivate diligently; and in order to bring to fullness the factors of awakening not yet fulfilled, they think: 'Everything conditioned turns when there is combination and does not turn when there is no combination; it turns when conditions gather and does not turn when conditions do not gather. Knowing thus that conditioned dharmas have many faults, I ought to cut off these causes and conditions of combination — and yet, for the sake of ripening beings, I do not utterly extinguish the formations either.' Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva, contemplating thus that what is conditioned has many faults, is without own-nature, and neither arises nor ceases, and yet constantly giving rise to great compassion and not abandoning beings, at once obtains the pāramitā of wisdom standing present before them, named the Radiance of Unobstructed Wisdom. Having accomplished this radiance of wisdom, though they cultivate the causes and conditions of the factors of awakening they do not abide within the conditioned; and though they contemplate that conditioned dharmas are by their own nature quiescent they do not abide within quiescence either — because the factors of awakening are not yet fulfilled.
無有願求，唯除大悲為首 — they have no wish and no seeking, save only that great compassion is at their head. The exception is what makes this a bodhisattva's wishlessness rather than an arhat's. Every wish has gone except the one that was never about the wisher, and the sūtra does not treat that survival as a failure of the gateway. It records it as the condition under which the gateway opens.
當斷此和合因緣；然為成就眾生故，亦不畢竟滅於諸行 — I ought to cut off these causes and conditions of combination, and yet, for the sake of ripening beings, I do not utterly extinguish the formations either. This is the sixth ground's characteristic difficulty stated flatly. Having understood exactly how the machinery of existence works, and that it is faulty, the bodhisattva declines to switch it off, because other people are still inside it.
不住有為中…亦不住寂滅中 — not abiding in the conditioned, and not abiding in quiescence either. The stated reason is almost anticlimactic: 以菩提分法未圓滿故, because the factors of awakening are not yet fulfilled. The refusal to settle is not presented as a metaphysical achievement but as unfinished business. There is still work, and neither position would let it be done.
Part 443 Complete
This continues Abhimukhī, the sixth of the Ten Grounds. Chapter 26 continues in Part 444 as the bodhisattva on this ground enters a series of samādhis on emptiness — the samādhi of emptiness itself, of the emptiness of own-nature, of the emptiness of ultimate meaning, of great emptiness, of emptiness undiscriminated as it truly is, and of emptiness neither abandoned nor held apart from — and by them comes to see the dharmas as they are.