The Acceptance Like a Mirage
Three acceptances in quick succession — the world compared to a shimmer of heat with no fixed place, to a dream circled by nine different reasons it is one, and to an echo, in a tathāgata's voice that comes from nowhere and yet teaches every listener something different at once.
Like a Mirage, Like a Dream
The fifth acceptance is brief, almost a single breath; the sixth circles the same word nine times, as if repetition itself were doing the demonstrating.
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩如焰忍？佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩知一切世間同於陽焰。譬如陽焰，無有方所，非內、非外，非有、非無，非斷、非常，非一色、非種種色亦非無色，但隨世間言說顯示。菩薩如是如實觀察，了知諸法，現證一切，令得圓滿。是名：菩薩摩訶薩第五如焰忍。
Sons of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's acceptance like a mirage? Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows that every world is the same as a mirage. It is like a mirage, which has no fixed location — neither inside nor outside, neither existent nor nonexistent, neither annihilated nor eternal, neither a single color, nor manifold colors, nor no color at all — but is displayed only according to worldly speech. The bodhisattva, observing thus in accordance with reality, fully comprehends all dharmas, directly realizing all of them and bringing them to complete fulfillment. This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's fifth acceptance, the acceptance like a mirage.
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩如夢忍？佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩知一切世間如夢。譬如夢，非世間、非離世間，非欲界、非色界、非無色界，非生、非沒，非染、非淨，而有示現。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，知一切世間悉同於夢，無有變異故，如夢自性故，如夢執著故，如夢性離故，如夢本性故，如夢所現故，如夢無差別故，如夢想分別故，如夢覺時故。是名：菩薩摩訶薩第六如夢忍。
Sons of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's acceptance like a dream? Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows that every world is like a dream. It is like a dream, which is neither the world nor apart from the world; neither the desire realm, nor the form realm, nor the formless realm; neither arising nor passing away; neither defiled nor pure — and yet it is displayed. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: knowing that every world is entirely the same as a dream, because it has no change or alteration, because it has the self-nature of a dream, because it has the grasping-attachment of a dream, because it has the departed nature of a dream, because it has the original nature of a dream, because it is manifested the way a dream is manifested, because it is without distinction the way a dream is, because it is discriminated by thought the way a dream is, and because it is like the very moment of waking from a dream. This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's sixth acceptance, the acceptance like a dream.
如夢自性故，如夢執著故，如夢性離故，如夢本性故… — because it has the self-nature of a dream, the grasping-attachment of a dream, the departed nature of a dream, the original nature of a dream… Nine reasons in a row, every one of them the word 夢, dream, attached to a different Buddhist technical term. The proof is not that nine different arguments converge on the same conclusion — it is the same word, tried against nine different categories, fitting each one.
The Acceptance Like an Echo
The seventh acceptance is the longest of the three, and turns from what the world is like to where a buddha's own voice comes from — and it comes from nowhere at all.
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩如響忍？佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩聞佛說法，觀諸法性，修學成就，到於彼岸；知一切音聲，悉同於響，無來無去，如是示現。佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩觀如來聲，不從內出，不從外出，亦不從於內外而出；雖了此聲非內、非外、非內外出，而能示現善巧名句，成就演說。譬如谷響，從緣所起，而與法性無有相違，令諸眾生隨類各解而得修學。如帝釋夫人阿脩羅女，名曰：舍支，於一音中出千種音，亦不心念令如是出。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，入無分別界，成就善巧隨類之音，於無邊世界中恒轉法輪。此菩薩善能觀察一切眾生，以廣長舌相而為演說，其聲無礙，遍十方土，令隨所宜，聞法各異；雖知聲無起而普現音聲，雖知無所說而廣說諸法；妙音平等，隨類各解，悉以智慧而能了達。是名：菩薩摩訶薩第七如響忍。
Sons of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's acceptance like an echo? Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva, hearing the buddhas expound the dharma, observes the nature of all dharmas, cultivates and studies to accomplishment, and reaches the far shore; he knows that all sounds are entirely the same as an echo, without coming and without going, displayed in this way. Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva, observing the tathāgata's voice, knows it does not come from within, does not come from without, nor does it come from both within and without; though he understands this voice is neither inner, nor outer, nor arising from both, he is yet able to display skillful names and phrases, accomplishing exposition. It is like a valley's echo, arising from conditions, yet not contradicting the nature of dharma, causing all beings, each according to their kind, to understand and gain learning. It is like Śakra's consort, the asura maiden named Śacī, who from a single sound produces a thousand kinds of sound, without any thought in her mind causing it to come out this way. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is likewise: entering the realm free of discrimination, he accomplishes skillful sounds that follow every kind of being, forever turning the Dharma-wheel throughout boundless worlds. This bodhisattva is well able to observe all beings and expounds the dharma with the sign of the broad and long tongue, his voice unobstructed, pervading lands in the ten directions, causing each to hear the dharma differently, as is fitting; though he knows sound has no arising, he universally manifests sound; though he knows there is nothing spoken, he expounds every dharma at length. His wondrous voice is equal to all, and each kind of being understands according to itself, all of it fully comprehended through wisdom. This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's seventh acceptance, the acceptance like an echo.
如帝釋夫人阿脩羅女，名曰：舍支，於一音中出千種音，亦不心念令如是出 — it is like Śakra's consort, the asura maiden named Śacī, who from a single sound produces a thousand kinds of sound, without any thought in her mind causing it to come out this way. A named figure from outside the sūtra's usual cast, introduced for exactly one sentence to make a single point: multiplicity without deliberation. She does not decide to speak in a thousand voices; it is simply what her single sound already is.
不從內出，不從外出，亦不從於內外而出…而能示現善巧名句 — does not come from within, does not come from without, nor from both within and without… yet is able to display skillful names and phrases. The tathāgata's voice fails every test for where a sound could originate, and teaches anyway — the same shape as the mirage's 但隨世間言說顯示, displayed only according to worldly speech, now applied to the very voice doing the teaching.
Part 557 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-nine, 十忍品, The Ten Kinds of Acceptance, in fascicle forty-four. Part 558 turns to the eighth acceptance, 如影忍, the acceptance like a reflection — a bodhisattva who neither leaves this world nor arrives in the next, appearing in both the way a reflection appears in water without ever leaving its source.