Unmoving in One Land, Present in All
Having stopped, the bodhisattva now appears everywhere. Birth is taken in one world-system, then two, then a thousand, then in worlds beyond speaking; the form shown in each assembly is that assembly's own; and then comes the list of ten bodies, any one of which can be made to do the work of any other.
A Form for Every Assembly
The catalogue runs from the ascetic and the brahmin through the four social orders, up through every heaven to the highest, and then through the four kinds of holy body — and the principle governing it is not the bodhisattva's choice but the audience's understanding.
此菩薩於一三千大千世界，隨眾生身信解差別，以智光明普現受生；如是，若二、若三，乃至百千，乃至不可說三千大千世界，隨眾生身信解差別，普於其中示現受生。此菩薩成就如是智慧故，於一佛剎其身不動，乃至不可說佛剎眾會中悉現其身。
This bodhisattva, within a single great trichiliocosm, in accordance with the differences in the bodies and the faith and understanding of beings, universally manifests the taking of birth by the light of their wisdom; and so likewise in two, in three, up to a hundred thousand, and up to ineffably many great trichiliocosms, in accordance with the differences in the bodies and the faith and understanding of beings, they universally display the taking of birth within them. Because this bodhisattva has accomplished such wisdom as this, their body does not move within a single buddha-land, and yet in the assemblies of ineffably many buddha-lands they manifest their body in all of them.
佛子！此菩薩隨諸眾生身心信解種種差別，於彼佛國眾會之中而現其身。所謂：於沙門眾中示沙門形，婆羅門眾中示婆羅門形，剎利眾中示剎利形；如是，毘舍眾、首陀眾、居士眾、四天王眾、三十三天眾、夜摩天眾、兜率陀天眾、化樂天眾、他化自在天眾、魔眾、梵眾，乃至阿迦尼吒天眾中，各隨其類而為現形。又應以聲聞身得度者，現聲聞形；應以辟支佛身得度者，現辟支佛形；應以菩薩身得度者，現菩薩形；應以如來身得度者，現如來形。佛子！菩薩如是於一切不可說佛國土中，隨諸眾生信樂差別，如是如是而為現身。
Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva, in accordance with the many differences in the bodies and minds and the faith and understanding of beings, manifests their body within the assemblies of those buddha-lands. That is to say: among an assembly of śramaṇas they show the form of a śramaṇa; among an assembly of brāhmaṇas, the form of a brāhmaṇa; among an assembly of kṣatriyas, the form of a kṣatriya; and so likewise among assemblies of vaiśyas, of śūdras, of householders, of the Four Heavenly Kings, of the Trāyastriṃśa devas, of the Yāma devas, of the Tuṣita devas, of the Nirmāṇarati devas, of the Paranirmita-vaśavartin devas, of Māra's hosts and of Brahmā's hosts, on up to the assembly of the Akaniṣṭha devas — among each of them they manifest a form according to its kind. Again, for those who are to be liberated by a śrāvaka's body, they show a śrāvaka's form; for those to be liberated by a pratyekabuddha's body, a pratyekabuddha's form; for those to be liberated by a bodhisattva's body, a bodhisattva's form; and for those to be liberated by a tathāgata's body, a tathāgata's form. Child of the Buddha! In this way, throughout all the ineffably many buddha-lands, a bodhisattva manifests their body just so, and just so, according to the differences in what beings have faith in and delight in.
於一佛剎其身不動 — their body does not move within a single buddha-land. This is the Immovable Ground's name doing work. The universal appearance is not travel and not multiplication of effort; it is what an unmoving body looks like from ineffably many places at once.
The social catalogue is worth reading slowly. Śramaṇa and brāhmaṇa are the two religious classes; kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra are three of the four varṇas, with the householder standing in beside them; then the heavens in strict order. The bodhisattva takes the śūdra's form as readily as Brahmā's, and the text spends no words justifying it.
Ten Bodies, and Their Exchange
Then the famous list. What follows it is stranger than the list itself — each of the first several bodies can be made to serve as the bodhisattva's own body, and their own body can be made to serve as any of them.
「佛子！此菩薩遠離一切身想分別，住於平等。此菩薩知眾生身、國土身、業報身、聲聞身、獨覺身、菩薩身、如來身、智身、法身、虛空身。此菩薩知諸眾生心之所樂，能以眾生身作自身，亦作國土身、業報身，乃至虛空身。又知眾生心之所樂，能以國土身作自身，亦作眾生身、業報身，乃至虛空身。又知諸眾生心之所樂，能以業報身作自身，亦作眾生身、國土身，乃至虛空身。又知眾生心之所樂，能以自身作眾生身、國土身，乃至虛空身。隨諸眾生所樂不同，則於此身現如是形。
"Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva is far removed from every notion and discrimination about bodies, and abides in sameness. This bodhisattva knows the body of beings, the body of the land, the body of karmic recompense, the body of a śrāvaka, the body of a pratyekabuddha, the body of a bodhisattva, the body of a tathāgata, the body of wisdom, the body of Dharma, and the body of open space. This bodhisattva, knowing what the minds of beings delight in, is able to make the body of beings serve as their own body, and to make it serve as the body of the land, as the body of karmic recompense, and so on up to the body of open space. Again, knowing what the minds of beings delight in, they are able to make the body of the land serve as their own body, and as the body of beings, as the body of karmic recompense, and so on up to the body of open space. Again, knowing what the minds of beings delight in, they are able to make the body of karmic recompense serve as their own body, and as the body of beings, as the body of the land, and so on up to the body of open space. Again, knowing what the minds of beings delight in, they are able to make their own body serve as the body of beings, as the body of the land, and so on up to the body of open space. According to the differences in what beings delight in, they manifest such a form as that within this body.
遠離一切身想分別，住於平等 — far removed from every notion and discrimination about bodies, abiding in sameness. This sentence licenses everything after it. The exchange of bodies is possible only for one who has stopped holding any of them apart, and the sūtra places the sameness first so that the list which follows cannot be read as a repertoire of tricks.
能以眾生身作自身 — able to make the body of beings serve as their own body. The direction of the phrase matters and is easily reversed by a translator. It is not that the bodhisattva takes on the appearance of beings; it is that the body of beings functions as the bodhisattva's own. What in the sixth ground was 唯是一心, mind alone, has become in the eighth a fact about bodies.
Part 459 Complete
This continues Acalā, the Immovable Ground, the eighth of the Ten Grounds, in fascicle thirty-eight. Part 460 continues the analysis of the ten bodies — the aspects of the body of the land, small and great, defiled and pure, inverted and upright; the conventional distinctions of the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva bodies; and the tathāgata body reckoned in its own kinds, from the body of awakening and the body of vows to the body born of intent.