The Jewel on the High Staff
The ocean's ten marks are matched to the ten grounds, and then the last of the three figures arrives — a maṇi jewel taken from the sea, cut, polished, drilled, strung, and finally raised on a staff where it rains down whatever anyone wishes for.
The Ocean's Marks, Matched
Ten marks, ten grounds, in order — and the pairings are chosen with care: the corpse refused belongs to the precepts, the one taste to the fourth ground, the tide that keeps its limit to the ninth, and the rain that never overflows to the tenth.
菩薩行亦復如是，以十相故，名菩薩行，不可移奪。何等為十？所謂歡喜地，出生大願漸次深故；離垢地，不受一切破戒屍故；發光地，捨離世間假名字故；焰慧地，與佛功德同一味故；難勝地，出生無量方便神通、世間所作眾珍寶故；現前地，觀察緣生甚深理故；遠行地，廣大覺慧善觀察故；不動地，示現廣大莊嚴事故；善慧地，得深解脫行於世間，如實而知不過限故；法雲地，能受一切諸佛如來大法明雨無厭足故。
The bodhisattva's practice is likewise: by ten marks it is named the bodhisattva's practice, and cannot be deprived of that name. What are the ten? Namely, Pramuditā, the Ground of Joy, because there the great vows are produced and deepen gradually and in order; Vimalā, the Ground Free of Defilement, because it does not accept any corpse of broken precepts; Prabhākarī, the Luminous Ground, because there the world's conventional names are left behind; Arciṣmatī, the Blazing Ground, because there one is of one and the same taste with the buddhas' merits; Sudurjayā, the Ground Difficult to Conquer, because there measureless skillful means and spiritual penetrations, and the many treasures made in the world, are produced; Abhimukhī, the Ground of Direct Presence, because there the profound principle of dependent arising is contemplated; Dūraṅgamā, the Far-Reaching Ground, because there vast awakened wisdom contemplates well; Acalā, the Immovable Ground, because there vast adorned matters are displayed; Sādhumatī, the Ground of Excellent Wisdom, because there one attains profound liberation and moves in the world, knowing it exactly as it is and not passing the limit; and Dharmameghā, the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud, because there one can receive the great rain of the Dharma-light of all the buddhas, the Tathāgatas, without ever having enough.
捨離世間假名字故 — because there the world's conventional names are left behind. Matched to the third mark, in which every river entering the sea loses its name. The third ground was where the dhyānas and the formless attainments were mastered, and the mark chosen for it is the surrender of what one was called.
能受一切諸佛如來大法明雨無厭足故 — because there one can receive the great rain of the Dharma-light of all the buddhas without ever having enough. The ocean never overflows; the tenth ground is never satisfied. Both are the same fact about capacity, and 無厭足 keeps the seventh ground's 心未足 — the mind not yet satisfied — alive to the very end of the ten.
What Is Done to a Jewel
The jewel's ten stages are all things done to it, most of them by someone else, and several of them violent — cutting, drilling, threading. The bodhisattva's ten answer them one for one, ending with consecration and the work of buddhas.
佛子！譬如大摩尼珠有十種性出過眾寶。何等為十？一者從大海出；二者巧匠治理；三者圓滿無缺；四者清淨離垢；五者內外明徹；六者善巧鑽穿；七者貫以寶縷；八者置在瑠璃高幢之上；九者普放一切種種光明；十者能隨王意雨眾寶物，如眾生心充滿其願。
Child of the Buddha! It is like a great maṇi jewel, which has ten qualities that surpass all other jewels. What are the ten? First, it comes out of the great ocean. Second, a skilled craftsman works upon it. Third, it is round and complete, without flaw. Fourth, it is pure and free of stain. Fifth, it is clear and translucent within and without. Sixth, it is skilfully drilled through. Seventh, it is threaded upon a jeweled cord. Eighth, it is set upon a high staff of beryl. Ninth, it sends forth every kind of radiance everywhere. Tenth, it can rain down all manner of treasures according to the king's intent, fulfilling the wishes of beings' minds.
佛子！當知菩薩亦復如是，有十種事出過眾聖。何等為十？一者發一切智心；二者持戒頭陀，正行明淨；三者諸禪三昧，圓滿無缺；四者道行清白，離諸垢穢；五者方便神通，內外明徹；六者緣起智慧，善能鑽穿；七者貫以種種方便智縷；八者置於自在高幢之上；九者觀眾生行，放聞持光；十者受佛智職，墮在佛數，能為眾生廣作佛事。「佛子！此集一切種、一切智功德菩薩行法門品，若諸眾生不種善根不可得聞。」解脫月菩薩言：「聞此法門，得幾所福？」金剛藏菩薩言：「如一切智所集福德，聞此法門福德如是。何以故？非不聞此功德法門而能信解、受持、讀誦，何況精進、如說修行！是故當知，要得聞此集一切智功德法門，乃能信解、受持、修習，然後至於一切智地。」
Child of the Buddha! Know that a bodhisattva is likewise, having ten things that surpass all the noble ones. What are the ten? First, they rouse the mind of all-knowing wisdom. Second, keeping the precepts and the austerities, their right conduct is bright and pure. Third, the dhyānas and samādhis are round and complete, without flaw. Fourth, their practice of the path is clean and white, free of every stain. Fifth, in skillful means and spiritual penetration they are clear and translucent within and without. Sixth, the wisdom of dependent arising drills skilfully through. Seventh, they are threaded upon the cord of every kind of skillful wisdom. Eighth, they are set upon the high staff of sovereign freedom. Ninth, contemplating beings' conduct, they send forth the light of hearing and retaining. Tenth, receiving the consecration of the buddhas' wisdom, they are counted among the buddhas and can widely perform the buddhas' work for beings. "Child of the Buddha! As for this Dharma-gateway chapter on the bodhisattva's practice, which gathers the merits of all modes and of all-knowing wisdom — beings who have not planted wholesome roots cannot even hear it." Vimuktacandra Bodhisattva said: "How much merit is gained by hearing this Dharma-gateway?" Vajragarbha Bodhisattva said: "As is the merit gathered by all-knowing wisdom, such is the merit of hearing this Dharma-gateway. Why? Because without having heard this Dharma-gateway of merits, none could have faith in it and understand it, uphold it, recite it — how much less press on diligently and practice it as it is taught! Therefore know that one must first hear this Dharma-gateway that gathers the merits of all-knowing wisdom, and only then can one have faith and understanding in it, uphold it and cultivate it, and afterward arrive at the ground of all-knowing wisdom."
善巧鑽穿 — skilfully drilled through. A jewel is bored so that a cord can pass through it and it can be hung where it will be seen. Matched to the wisdom of dependent arising, the sixth ground's whole subject: what makes a person useful to others is the hole made in them by seeing how things arise.
如一切智所集福德，聞此法門福德如是 — as is the merit gathered by all-knowing wisdom, such is the merit of hearing this Dharma-gateway. The answer is extravagant and is immediately given a reason that is not extravagant at all: nobody practices what they have never heard. Hearing is credited with the whole of what follows from it.
Part 486 Complete
This continues Dharmameghā, the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud, the tenth and last of the Ten Grounds, in fascicle thirty-nine. Part 487 shakes the worlds of the ten directions in six ways and eighteen aspects, brings bodhisattvas from beyond ten billion buddha-lands — every one of them also named Vajragarbha, from worlds all named Vajra-Virtue, whose buddhas are all named Vajra-Banner — to testify that the same teaching is being given in the same words everywhere, and begins the chapter's closing verse.