The Samādhi of Cessation
The tenth and final penetration is a samādhi in which every dharma ceases — entered in thought after thought, sustained across spans of time too large to picture, and never once interrupting a single vow the bodhisattva has made to any being.
The Samādhi of Cessation
The tenth penetration names the deepest-sounding attainment of the ten — cessation itself — and immediately lists eleven things this cessation does not touch.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以一切法滅盡三昧智通，於念念中入一切法滅盡三昧，亦不退菩薩道，不捨菩薩事，不捨大慈大悲心，修習波羅蜜未嘗休息，觀察一切佛國土無有厭倦，不捨度眾生願，不斷轉法輪事，不廢教化眾生業，不捨供養諸佛行，不捨一切法自在門，不捨常見一切佛，不捨常聞一切法；知一切法平等無礙，自在成就一切佛法，所有勝願皆得圓滿，了知一切國土差別，入佛種性到於彼岸；能於彼彼諸世界中，學一切法，了法無相，知一切法皆從緣起，無有體性，然隨世俗方便演說；雖於諸法心無所住，然順眾生諸根欲樂，方便為說種種諸法。
Sons of the Buddha! Through the penetration of the wisdom of the samādhi of the cessation of all dharmas, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva enters the samādhi of the cessation of all dharmas in thought after thought, yet does not regress from the bodhisattva path, does not abandon the bodhisattva's own work, does not abandon the mind of great loving-kindness and great compassion; cultivating the pāramitās, he never once rests; observing every buddha-land, he never grows weary; he does not abandon the vow to deliver beings, does not interrupt the work of turning the Dharma-wheel, does not neglect the deed of teaching and transforming beings, does not abandon the practice of making offerings to buddhas, does not abandon the gateway of sovereign freedom in all dharmas, does not abandon constantly beholding every buddha, and does not abandon constantly hearing every dharma. Knowing that all dharmas are equal and unobstructed, he sovereignly accomplishes every buddha-dharma, and every one of his supreme vows is brought to fulfillment; fully knowing the distinctions among all lands, he enters the buddha's own lineage and reaches the far shore. He is able, in each and every world, to study every dharma, comprehending that dharma is without mark, knowing that all dharmas arise entirely from dependent origination and have no substantial nature, and yet he expounds them in accord with worldly skillful means; though his mind rests nowhere in any dharma, according with beings' faculties and desires, he expounds manifold dharmas through skillful means.
此菩薩住三昧時，隨其心樂，或住一劫，或住百劫，或住千劫，或住億劫，或住百億劫，或住千億劫，或住百千億劫，或住那由他億劫，或住百那由他億劫，或住千那由他億劫，或住百千那由他億劫，或住無數劫，或住無量劫，乃至或住不可說不可說劫。菩薩入此一切法滅盡三昧，雖復經於爾所劫住，而身不離散、不羸瘦、不變異，非見非不見，不滅不壞，不疲不懈，不可盡竭。雖於有於無悉無所作，而能成辦諸菩薩事。所謂：恒不捨離一切眾生，教化調伏未曾失時，令其增長一切佛法，於菩薩行悉得圓滿；為欲利益一切眾生，神通變化無有休息，譬如光影普現一切，而於三昧寂然不動。是為菩薩摩訶薩入一切法滅盡三昧智神通。
When this bodhisattva abides in the samādhi, according to what his mind delights in, he may abide for one kalpa, or a hundred kalpas, a thousand kalpas, a koṭi of kalpas, a hundred koṭis of kalpas, a thousand koṭis of kalpas, a hundred thousand koṭis of kalpas, a nayuta of koṭis of kalpas, a hundred nayutas of koṭis of kalpas, a thousand nayutas of koṭis of kalpas, a hundred thousand nayutas of koṭis of kalpas, countless kalpas, measureless kalpas, up to ineffably ineffable kalpas. The bodhisattva, having entered this samādhi of the cessation of all dharmas, though abiding through that many kalpas, his body does not disperse, does not become emaciated, does not change or alter — neither seen nor unseen, neither destroyed nor broken, neither wearied nor slackened, never exhausted. Though with regard to existence and nonexistence he does nothing at all, he is yet able to accomplish every bodhisattva work — namely: forever not abandoning any being, teaching, transforming, and taming them, never once missing the right moment, causing them to increase in every buddha-dharma, and bringing every bodhisattva practice to complete fulfillment; wishing to benefit all beings, his spiritual powers and transformations never resting, like light and shadow appearing universally in all things, while within the samādhi itself he remains still and unmoving. This is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's spiritual penetration of entering the wisdom of the samādhi of the cessation of all dharmas.
非見非不見，不滅不壞，不疲不懈，不可盡竭 — neither seen nor unseen, neither destroyed nor broken, neither wearied nor slackened, never exhausted. A body sustained through kalpas beyond counting inside a samādhi named for cessation itself — the paradox is not resolved, only stated in the same tetralemma shape Part 553 used for every other dharma. What cessation cancels turns out not to include duration, or work, or the body that carries both.
譬如光影普現一切，而於三昧寂然不動 — like light and shadow appearing universally in all things, while within the samādhi itself remaining still and unmoving. The closing image folds together every simile this chapter has used for reach-without-motion — Part 545's elephant, Part 550's arriving-without-going — into one line, at the very moment the chapter's list of ten penetrations comes to its end.
Inconceivable Even to Bodhisattvas
The chapter closes not by returning to the beginning but by stating, plainly, who is capable of understanding what has just been described — and who is not.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩住於如是十種神通，一切天人不能思議，一切眾生不能思議；一切聲聞、一切獨覺，及餘一切諸菩薩眾，如是皆悉不能思議。此菩薩，身業不可思議，語業不可思議，意業不可思議，三昧自在不可思議，智慧境界不可思議，唯除諸佛及有得此神通菩薩，餘無能說此人功德稱揚讚歎。佛子！是為菩薩摩訶薩十種神通。若菩薩摩訶薩住此神通，悉得一切三世無礙智神通。」
Sons of the Buddha! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who abides in these ten kinds of spiritual penetration is inconceivable to all devas and humans, inconceivable to all beings; all śrāvakas, all pratyekabuddhas, and every other assembly of bodhisattvas likewise find him entirely inconceivable. This bodhisattva's deeds of body are inconceivable, his deeds of speech are inconceivable, his deeds of mind are inconceivable, his sovereign freedom in samādhi is inconceivable, and the realm of his wisdom is inconceivable — only the buddhas, and bodhisattvas who have themselves attained these spiritual penetrations, are excepted; no one else is able to speak of, extol, or praise this person's merits. Sons of the Buddha! These are the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's ten kinds of spiritual penetration. If a bodhisattva-mahāsattva abides in these penetrations, he attains entirely the unobstructed wisdom-penetration of all the three times.
唯除諸佛及有得此神通菩薩，餘無能說此人功德稱揚讚歎 — only the buddhas, and bodhisattvas who have themselves attained these spiritual penetrations, are excepted. The closing line does not simply say the ten penetrations are hard to understand — it names exactly two categories of being capable of praising them, buddhas and bodhisattvas who already have them, and places every śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and ordinary bodhisattva outside that circle, including, implicitly, the very act of reading this description.
Chapter 28 Complete
This completes chapter twenty-eight, 十通品, The Ten Kinds of Spiritual Penetration, begun in Part 547 with a mind that reads every mind and closing here with a samādhi of cessation that never once interrupts a vow. Part 555 opens chapter twenty-nine, 十忍品, The Ten Kinds of Acceptance, still in fascicle forty-four, as Samantabhadra addresses the assembly on ten kinds of patience a bodhisattva must attain.