Ten Pāramitās in Every Thought
Each of the ten pāramitās gets a single clause here, and the definitions are not the expected ones — discipline is defined as putting out a fever, wisdom as being able to bear something. Then Vimuktacandra asks a genuinely good question, and the answer explains what is actually special about the seventh ground: it is where effort finishes.
Each in a Single Clause
The ten are defined not by what they are but by what, in this bodhisattva, they amount to — and several of the definitions would not identify the pāramitā they belong to if the names were removed.
此菩薩於念念中，常能具足十波羅蜜。何以故？念念皆以大悲為首，修行佛法，向佛智故。所有善根，為求佛智，施與眾生，是名：檀那波羅蜜；能滅一切諸煩惱熱，是名：尸羅波羅蜜；慈悲為首，不損眾生，是名：羼提波羅蜜；求勝善法，無有厭足，是名：毘梨耶波羅蜜；一切智道常現在前，未甞散亂，是名：禪那波羅蜜；能忍諸法無生無滅，是名：般若波羅蜜；能出生無量智，是名：方便波羅蜜；能求上上勝智，是名：願波羅蜜；一切異論及諸魔眾無能沮壞，是名：力波羅蜜；如實了知一切法，是名：智波羅蜜。
This bodhisattva, in every single thought-moment, is constantly able to be complete in the ten pāramitās. And why? Because in every thought-moment great compassion is at their head, and they cultivate the buddha-dharma and head toward a buddha's wisdom. That every wholesome root they have is given to beings for the sake of seeking a buddha's wisdom is called dāna-pāramitā, the perfection of giving. That they are able to extinguish the fever of every affliction is called śīla-pāramitā, the perfection of discipline. That loving-kindness and compassion are at their head and they do no injury to beings is called kṣānti-pāramitā, the perfection of patience. That they seek the surpassing good dharmas and are never satisfied is called vīrya-pāramitā, the perfection of effort. That the path of all-knowing wisdom constantly stands present before them and is never once scattered is called dhyāna-pāramitā, the perfection of meditative absorption. That they are able to bear that dharmas neither arise nor cease is called prajñā-pāramitā, the perfection of wisdom. That they are able to bring forth measureless wisdom is called the pāramitā of skillful means. That they are able to seek the ever higher and more surpassing wisdom is called the pāramitā of vow. That no differing doctrine and no host of Māra is able to break them down is called the pāramitā of power. And that they comprehend all dharmas as they truly are is called the pāramitā of knowledge.
佛子！此十波羅蜜，菩薩於念念中皆得具足；如是，四攝、四持、三十七品、三解脫門，略說乃至一切菩提分法，於念念中皆悉圓滿。」
Child of the Buddha! These ten pāramitās a bodhisattva comes to possess completely in every single thought-moment; and likewise the four means of gathering, the four holdings, the thirty-seven factors, and the three liberation gateways — stated in brief, on up to all the factors of awakening — are in every thought-moment entirely fulfilled."
能忍諸法無生無滅，是名：般若波羅蜜 — that they are able to bear that dharmas neither arise nor cease is called the perfection of wisdom. Wisdom is defined here by 忍, bearing, the same word used for the forbearances the sūtra keeps grading. Knowing that nothing arises is not what makes this a pāramitā; being able to withstand knowing it is. The sixth ground saw this; the seventh can hold it.
能滅一切諸煩惱熱，是名：尸羅波羅蜜 — discipline defined as extinguishing the fever of the afflictions. Not as restraint, not as a set of rules kept, but as a cooling. It matches the moonlight simile of Part 445 and the second ground's own account of the precepts as something that increases compassion rather than producing purity.
Read as a set, the ten are held together by the clause at the top: 念念皆以大悲為首. What makes giving a pāramitā rather than generosity, and patience a pāramitā rather than forbearance, is not the act but what stands at its head, moment by moment.
Where Effort Finishes
Vimuktacandra's question is the natural one to ask after such a claim, and Vajragarbha's answer declines the flattering reply. All ten grounds fulfil the factors of awakening; what distinguishes this one is stated in six characters.
爾時，解脫月菩薩問金剛藏菩薩言：「佛子！菩薩但於此第七地中滿足一切菩提分法，為諸地中亦能滿足？」金剛藏菩薩言：「佛子！菩薩於十地中皆能滿足菩提分法，然第七地最為殊勝。何以故？此第七地功用行滿，得入智慧自在行故。
Then Vimuktacandra Bodhisattva asked Vajragarbha Bodhisattva: "Child of the Buddha! Is it only on this seventh ground that a bodhisattva fulfils all the factors of awakening, or are they able to fulfil them on the other grounds as well?" Vajragarbha Bodhisattva said: "Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva is able to fulfil the factors of awakening on all ten grounds; but the seventh is the most surpassing of them. And why? Because on this seventh ground the practice of effort is complete, and one gains entry into the practice of sovereign wisdom.
佛子！菩薩於初地中，緣一切佛法願求故，滿足菩提分法；第二地離心垢故，第三地願轉增長得法光明故，第四地入道故，第五地順世所作故，第六地入甚深法門故，第七地起一切佛法故，皆亦滿足菩提分法。何以故？菩薩從初地乃至第七地，成就智功用分。以此力故，從第八地乃至第十地，無功用行皆悉成就。
Child of the Buddha! On the first ground, because they vow and seek with all the buddha-dharmas as their object, they fulfil the factors of awakening; on the second, because they are apart from the mind's stain; on the third, because their vows increase further and they gain the light of the Dharma; on the fourth, because they enter the path; on the fifth, because they accord with what is done in the world; on the sixth, because they enter the gateway of the profound Dharma; and on the seventh, because they rouse all the buddha-dharmas — on all of these they likewise fulfil the factors of awakening. And why? Because from the first ground up to the seventh a bodhisattva accomplishes the portion of wisdom that is exerted; and by the strength of this, from the eighth ground up to the tenth, the practice that is without effort is entirely accomplished.
此第七地功用行滿 — on this seventh ground the practice of effort is complete. Not abandoned, not transcended: finished. The seven grounds up to here have been 智功用分, the portion of wisdom that is exerted, and the strength built by that exertion is what makes the last three grounds effortless. Effort is not the opposite of effortlessness in this account; it is its cause.
The one-line summary of each earlier ground is worth reading as a table of contents to Parts 403 through 446. The second is 離心垢, apart from the mind's stain; the fifth is 順世所作, according with what is done in the world — which is exactly the ground that required learning medicine and town planning. Six grounds, six clauses, and each one recognizable.
Part 449 Complete
This continues Dūraṅgamā, the seventh of the Ten Grounds. Chapter 26 continues in Part 450 with a simile of two worlds, one defiled and one wholly pure, with a passage between them that nothing can cross except a bodhisattva's vow-power and skillful means — and then Vimuktacandra's sharper question: is the practice of this seventh-ground bodhisattva defiled, or is it pure?