An Army in a Lotus-Stalk
Four more similes, and they descend from magic to farming to conception. The asuras lose their battle and escape into the hole in a lotus-stalk; a seed goes down and the fruit comes up; and a speck in the womb becomes a person with all his senses.
The Exchanges, and the Spell That Is Only a Sound
Nine pairs, and then a conjuror whose whole apparatus is a noise — from which come sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and objects of mind.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩住此三昧，無量境界種種差別。所謂：一入多起，多入一起；同入異起，異入同起；細入麁起，麁入細起；大入小起，小入大起；順入逆起，逆入順起；無身入有身起，有身入無身起；無相入有相起，有相入無相起；起中入，入中起。如是皆是此之三昧自在境界。
"Child of the Buddha! For a bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding in this samādhi the domains are measureless and differ in every kind of way. Namely: entering as one and rising as many, entering as many and rising as one; entering in the same and rising in the different, entering in the different and rising in the same; entering in the fine and rising in the coarse, entering in the coarse and rising in the fine; entering in the great and rising in the small, entering in the small and rising in the great; entering with the grain and rising against it, entering against the grain and rising with it; entering without a body and rising with one, entering with a body and rising without one; entering without characteristics and rising with them, entering with characteristics and rising without them; entering within the rising, and rising within the entering. All of this is the sovereign domain of this samādhi.
佛子！譬如幻師，持呪得成，能現種種差別形相；呪與幻別而能作幻，呪唯是聲而能幻作眼識所知種種諸色、耳識所知種種諸聲、鼻識所知種種諸香、舌識所知種種諸味、身識所知種種諸觸、意識所知種種境界。菩薩摩訶薩住此三昧亦復如是，同中入定異中起，異中入定同中起。
Child of the Buddha! It is like a conjuror who, holding a spell, brings it to effect and can display every kind of differing form and appearance: the spell and the conjuring are distinct, and yet it produces the conjuring; the spell is nothing but sound, and yet it conjures up every kind of visible form known to eye-consciousness, every kind of sound known to ear-consciousness, every kind of scent known to nose-consciousness, every kind of taste known to tongue-consciousness, every kind of touch known to body-consciousness, and every kind of object known to mind-consciousness. A bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding in this samādhi is likewise — entering concentration in the same they rise in the different, and entering in the different they rise in the same.
起中入，入中起 — entering within the rising, and rising within the entering. The last of the pairs collapses the distinction the whole passage has been built on. After eight symmetrical exchanges of contents, the ninth exchanges the operations themselves.
呪唯是聲 — the spell is nothing but sound. The observation is deliberately deflating, and it is the point: a sound and the things it produces belong to different orders entirely, and no one is puzzled that a sound can produce a sight. The chapter uses this to make the samādhi's exchanges ordinary rather than marvellous.
The Asuras, the Seed, the Embryo
A defeated army escaping into a stalk; a seed buried and a fruit above; a speck of matter becoming someone with eyes and a clear mind.
佛子！譬如三十三天共阿脩羅鬪戰之時，諸天得勝，脩羅退衄；阿脩羅王其身長大七百由旬，四兵圍遶無數千萬，以幻術力將諸軍眾，同時走入藕絲孔中。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，已善成就諸幻智地，幻智即是菩薩，菩薩即是幻智，是故能於無差別法中入定、差別法中起，差別法中入定、無差別法中起。佛子！譬如農夫田中下種，種子在下，果生於上。菩薩摩訶薩住此三昧亦復如是，一中入定多中起，多中入定一中起。
Child of the Buddha! It is as when the gods of the Thirty-Three do battle with the asuras: the gods gain the victory and the asuras are routed and retreat. The asura king's body is seven hundred yojanas tall, and his four divisions of troops, numberless thousands upon ten-thousands, surround him; and by the power of conjuring he leads all his armies and they run at once into the hole in a lotus-stalk. A bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise: having well accomplished the grounds of conjuring wisdom — the conjuring wisdom being the bodhisattva, and the bodhisattva being the conjuring wisdom — they can therefore enter concentration in the undifferentiated dharma and rise in the differentiated, and enter in the differentiated and rise in the undifferentiated. Child of the Buddha! It is like a farmer sowing seed in a field: the seed is below and the fruit grows above. A bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding in this samādhi is likewise — entering concentration in the one they rise in the many, and entering in the many they rise in the one.
佛子！譬如男女赤白和合，或有眾生於中受生，爾時名為：歌羅邏位，從此次第，住母胎中，滿足十月；善業力故，一切肢分皆得成就，諸根不缺，心意明了；其歌羅邏與彼六根體狀各別，以業力故，而能令彼次第成就，受同異類種種果報。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，從一切智歌羅邏位，信解願力漸次增長；其心廣大，任運自在，無中入定有中起，有中入定無中起。
Child of the Buddha! It is as when the red and white of a man and a woman come together and a being takes birth within it: at that time it is called the stage of the kalala; and from there, in due order, it dwells in the mother's womb for the full ten months, and by the power of wholesome karma every limb and part is brought to completion, no faculty is lacking, and mind and thought are clear. The kalala and those six faculties differ from one another in substance and shape, and yet by the power of karma they are brought to completion in due order, and receive the many recompenses of like and unlike kinds. A bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise: from the kalala-stage of all-knowing wisdom, the power of their faith, understanding and vows increases by degrees; their mind becomes vast and moves of itself in sovereign freedom; and they enter concentration in what is not and rise in what is, and enter in what is and rise in what is not.
幻智即是菩薩，菩薩即是幻智 — the conjuring wisdom being the bodhisattva, and the bodhisattva being the conjuring wisdom. Stated as an identity in both directions, and it is what distinguishes the bodhisattva from the asura king in the simile. The asura has a technique; here there is no one holding one.
從一切智歌羅邏位 — from the kalala-stage of all-knowing wisdom. The embryo simile returns from Part 505, now stretched across a whole career: the first stirring of the resolve is a speck, and the faculties come later, in order, by the force of what has been done. Nothing is added from outside.
Part 518 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-seven, 十定品, The Ten Concentrations, in fascicle forty-two. Part 519 continues the eighth samādhi and its similes, and moves toward the ninth of the ten great concentrations, sovereign freedom in the dharma-realm.