A Flame Fed Without End
Part 536 closed asking why the bodhisattva's manifested bodies never cease; Part 537 answers with fire, then turns from what he does to what he does not rely on — words, the world, any dharma seized upon — before naming what wisdom is abided in rather than measured.
A Flame Fed Without End
The fire simile answers, directly, the question the previous part left open: what keeps something going without cease is not a special exemption from ending — it is simply not running out of what it needs.
何以故？譬如然火，隨所有緣，於爾所時火起不息。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，觀察眾生界、法界、世界，猶如虛空無有邊際，乃至能於一念之頃，往不可說不可說佛剎微塵數佛所。一一佛所入不可說不可說一切智種種差別法；令不可說不可說眾生界出家為道，勤修善根，究竟清淨；令不可說不可說菩薩於普賢行願未決定者而得決定，安住普賢智慧之門；以無量方便，入不可說不可說三世成、住、壞廣大差別劫，於不可說不可說成、住、壞世間差別境界，起於爾所大悲大願，調伏無量一切眾生悉使無餘。何以故？此菩薩摩訶薩為欲度脫一切眾生，修普賢行，生普賢智，滿足普賢所有行願。
Why is this so? It is like a burning fire: for as long as it has fuel, the fire keeps burning without ceasing. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: observing the realm of beings, the dharma-realm, and the realm of worlds, each like empty space and without limit, he is able, within the space of a single thought, to go to the presence of buddhas as numerous as the dust-motes of ineffably ineffable buddha-lands. At each and every buddha's presence he enters the manifold, distinct dharmas of ineffably ineffable all-knowing wisdom; he causes ineffably ineffable realms of beings to leave the household life for the path, diligently cultivate wholesome roots, and reach ultimate purity; he causes ineffably ineffable bodhisattvas who are undecided in Samantabhadra's practices and vows to become decided, abiding securely in the gate of Samantabhadra's wisdom; with measureless skillful means he enters ineffably ineffable vast and distinct kalpas of formation, abiding, and destruction across the three times, and amid ineffably ineffable distinct realms of worlds forming, abiding, and being destroyed, he gives rise to great compassion and great vows to that same measure, taming measureless beings and leaving not one of them out. Why is this so? Because this bodhisattva-mahāsattva, wishing to liberate all beings, cultivates the practice of Samantabhadra, gives rise to the wisdom of Samantabhadra, and fulfills every one of Samantabhadra's practices and vows.
隨所有緣，於爾所時火起不息 — for as long as it has fuel, the fire keeps burning without ceasing. A plain mechanical fact offered as the answer to Part 536's closing question, why the manifested bodies never stop. Fire is not praised for its endurance; it simply has what it needs — and the passage that follows spells out what that is, for a bodhisattva: beings to teach, kalpas to enter, vows already made.
Not Measured, Only Abided In
The description turns from what sustains the fire to what does not — a run of negations — before naming, positively, what the practice actually consists of.
是故，諸菩薩應於如是種類、如是境界、如是威德、如是廣大、如是無量、如是不思議、如是普照明、如是一切諸佛現前住、如是一切如來所護念、如是成就往昔善根、如是其心無礙不動三昧之中，勤加修習，離諸熱惱，無有疲厭，心不退轉，立深志樂，勇猛無怯，順三昧境界，入難思智地。
Therefore, all bodhisattvas should, amid a samādhi of such a kind, such a realm, such awesome virtue, such vastness, such immeasurability, such inconceivability, such universal illumination, such a presence before all buddhas, such a being held in mindful protection by all tathāgatas, such accomplishment of wholesome roots from ages past, and such an unobstructed, unmoving mind, diligently apply themselves in practice, free from every feverish affliction, without fatigue or weariness, their minds never regressing, establishing a deep aspiration and delight, courageous and without timidity, according with the realm of this samādhi, entering the ground of wisdom hard to conceive of.
不依文字，不著世間，不取諸法，不起分別，不染著世事，不分別境界，於諸法智但應安住，不應稱量。所謂：親近一切智，悟解佛菩提，成就法光明，施與一切眾生善根。於魔界中拔出眾生，令其得入佛法境界，令不捨大願，勤觀出道，增廣淨境，成就諸度，於一切佛深生信解。
Not relying on words, not attached to the world, not grasping at any dharma, not giving rise to discrimination, not stained by worldly affairs, not discriminating among realms — with regard to the wisdom of all dharmas, one should simply abide securely in it, not attempt to measure it. That is to say: drawing near to all-knowing wisdom, awakening to and understanding buddha-bodhi, accomplishing the light of the dharma, bestowing wholesome roots on all beings; drawing beings out from the realm of Māra and causing them to enter the realm of the buddha-dharma; never abandoning the great vow, diligently contemplating the path of release, broadening and purifying one's own realm, accomplishing the pāramitās, and giving rise to deep faith and understanding toward all buddhas.
於諸法智但應安住，不應稱量 — with regard to the wisdom of all dharmas, one should simply abide securely in it, not attempt to measure it. Six negations lead here: not relying on words, not attached to the world, not grasping, not discriminating. The instruction is not to stop knowing — it is to stop trying to weigh what is known, since weighing is itself a kind of grasping.
於魔界中拔出眾生 — drawing beings out from the realm of Māra. After a long stretch of abstractions, a concrete adversary appears for one line only. The rescue named here is not rescue from suffering in the abstract, but from a specific realm with a specific name.
Part 537 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-seven, 十定品, The Ten Concentrations, in fascicle forty-three. Part 538 opens a further list of what a bodhisattva "should" do — 應常觀察一切法性，無時暫捨 — turning from what this samādhi accomplishes to a direct catalogue of practice, ending in a run of similes: mind like illusion, the deeds of the world like a dream, the buddhas' vow-power like a reflection.