Mind Like Illusion, the World Like a Dream
Twenty-four resolutions, moving without any change of tone from ordinary diligence and modesty about one's own merit into a cluster of similes for what everything actually is — illusion, dream, reflection, echo — before an eleven-part summary of the practice closes the pair of lists.
What a Bodhisattva Should Do
The first thirteen resolutions stay close to ordinary practice — diligence, honesty about one's own limits, the company one keeps — before the list turns, without any signal, toward how things actually are.
常應觀察一切法性，無時暫捨；應知自身與諸法性普皆平等；應當明解世間所作，示其如法智慧方便；應常精進，無有休息；應觀自身善根鮮少；應勤增長他諸善根；應自修行一切智道；應勤增長菩薩境界；應樂親近諸善知識；應與同行而共止住；應不分別佛；應不捨離念；應常安住平等法界；
He should constantly observe the nature of all dharmas, never abandoning this for a moment; he should know that his own self and the nature of all dharmas are everywhere equal; he should clearly understand the workings of the world and reveal wisdom and skillful means in accord with the dharma; he should be constantly diligent, without rest; he should observe that his own wholesome roots are scant; he should diligently increase the wholesome roots of others; he should himself cultivate the path of all-knowing wisdom; he should diligently expand the bodhisattva's realm; he should delight in drawing near to good spiritual friends; he should dwell together with fellow practitioners; he should not discriminate among buddhas; he should not abandon mindfulness; and he should constantly abide in the equal dharma-realm.
應知一切心識如幻；應知世間諸行如夢；應知諸佛願力出現猶如影像；應知一切諸廣大業猶如變化；應知言語悉皆如響；應觀諸法一切如幻；應知一切生滅之法皆如音聲；應知所往一切佛剎皆無體性；應為請問如來佛法不生疲倦；應為開悟一切世間，勤加教誨而不捨離；應為調伏一切眾生，知時說法而不休息。
He should know that all mind and consciousness are like an illusion; he should know that all worldly deeds are like a dream; he should know that the buddhas' vow-power appears like a reflection; he should know that all vast deeds are like a magical transformation; he should know that all words are like an echo; he should observe that all dharmas are entirely like an illusion; he should know that all dharmas of arising and ceasing are like sound; he should know that every buddha-land he goes to has no substantial nature; he should, in questioning the tathāgatas about the buddha-dharma, never grow weary; he should, in awakening the whole world, diligently teach without ever abandoning it; and he should, in taming all beings, know the right time to teach the dharma, without ever resting.
應觀自身善根鮮少 — he should observe that his own wholesome roots are scant. Placed between diligence and cultivating the path, an odd note of self-assessment in a list otherwise describing a being of near-limitless power. The humility is not decorative; the very next line has him diligently increasing the roots of others, which only makes sense from someone who still sees his own as small.
如幻…如夢…猶如影像…猶如變化…如響…如音聲 — like an illusion… like a dream… like a reflection… like a magical transformation… like an echo… like sound. Six similes for unreality in eleven lines, each attached to something different — mind, worldly deeds, the buddhas' own vow-power, words. The list does not use one image twice for the same thing; it keeps finding new occasions for the same point.
Eleven Ways of Practicing in This Way
A second list follows immediately, this one summarizing rather than instructing — eleven clauses, each opening on the same two words, 如是, "in this way."
佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是修行普賢之行，如是圓滿菩薩境界，如是通達出離之道，如是受持三世佛法，如是觀察一切智門，如是思惟不變異法，如是明潔增上志樂，如是信解一切如來，如是了知佛廣大力，如是決定無所礙心，如是攝受一切眾生。
Sons of the Buddha! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, cultivating the practice of Samantabhadra in this way, perfecting the bodhisattva's realm in this way, fully comprehending the path of release in this way, upholding the buddha-dharma of the three times in this way, observing the gate of all-knowing wisdom in this way, contemplating the dharma that never changes or alters in this way, holding a bright and pure, ever-ascending resolve in this way, having faith in and understanding of all tathāgatas in this way, fully knowing the buddha's vast power in this way, holding a mind decisively free of any obstruction in this way, and embracing and receiving all beings in this way —
如是…如是…如是攝受一切眾生 — in this way… in this way… in this way embracing and receiving all beings. Eleven repetitions of 如是 close the sentence without closing it — the Chinese leaves the clause open, pointing forward rather than concluding. Part 539 answers what all of this was leading to: buddhas appearing before him in every direction, the moment he enters the great wisdom samādhi.
Part 538 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-seven, 十定品, The Ten Concentrations, in fascicle forty-three. Part 539 opens on buddhas appearing before the bodhisattva in every direction the instant he enters this samādhi, each bestowing one of ten gifts — the power of mindfulness, unimpeded eloquence, a voice that never goes to waste — a tenfold list closing this long meditation on the tenth samādhi.