Non-Arising in Verse
The verse summary closes non-arising in one unbroken chain of implication, moves through the acceptance like an illusion with the image of a skilled conjurer entertaining a crowd for nothing, and opens the acceptance like a mirage not on the world but on perception itself.
The Highest Acceptance
The non-arising acceptance closes on a single chain of twelve lines running without a break, then three couplets naming what it makes possible.
「菩薩亦如是，觀察一切法，悉從因緣起，無生故無滅，無滅故無盡，無盡故無染，於世變異法，了知無變異，無異則無處，無處則寂滅，其心無染著，願度諸群生。
專念於佛法，未嘗有散動，而以悲願心，方便行於世。
勤求於十力，處世而不住，無去亦無來，方便善說法。
此忍最為上，了法無有盡，入於真法界，實亦無所入。
菩薩住此忍，普見諸如來，同時與授記，斯名受佛職。
了達三世法，寂滅清淨相，而能化眾生，置於善道中。
"The bodhisattva is likewise: observing all dharmas, entirely arising from causes and conditions — without arising, therefore without ceasing; without ceasing, therefore without exhaustion; without exhaustion, therefore without defilement; toward the world's own changing dharmas, understanding there is no change; without change, then no place; without place, then quiescence — their heart unstained, they vow to deliver every being.
Single-mindedly recollecting the buddha-dharma, never once scattered or moved, yet with a heart of compassion and vow, they move through the world with skillful means.
Diligently seeking the ten powers, dwelling in the world yet not abiding in it, neither going nor coming, they skillfully teach the dharma through skillful means.
This acceptance is the very highest; comprehending that dharma is without end, they enter the true dharma-realm — though in truth there is nowhere entered.
The bodhisattva, abiding in this acceptance, universally beholds every tathāgata; receiving prediction from them all at once, this is called receiving the buddha's own office.
Fully comprehending the dharmas of the three times, their mark tranquil and pure, they are yet able to transform beings, placing them upon the wholesome path.
無生故無滅，無滅故無盡，無盡故無染… — without arising, therefore without ceasing; without ceasing, therefore without exhaustion; without exhaustion, therefore without defilement… Part 555 built the third acceptance's prose out of exactly this shape, eleven links of pure implication. The verse keeps the chain intact rather than breaking it into separate quatrains — the logic still has to run in one breath.
The Illusionist's Crowd
The verse turns to the fourth acceptance with a specific image — not illusion in the abstract, but a performer working a paying audience for nothing at all.
世間種種法，一切皆如幻，若能如是知，其心無所動。
諸業從心生，故說心如幻，若離此分別，普滅諸有趣。
譬如工幻師，普現諸色像，徒令眾貪樂，畢竟無所得。
世間亦如是，一切皆如幻，無性亦無生，示現有種種。
度脫諸眾生，令知法如幻，眾生不異幻，了幻無眾生。
眾生及國土，三世所有法，如是悉無餘，一切皆如幻。
The manifold dharmas of the world are all entirely like an illusion; if one is able to know this, their heart is moved by nothing.
Every deed arises from the mind, and so mind itself is said to be like an illusion; if one departs from this discrimination, every destiny of existence is entirely extinguished.
It is like a skilled illusionist, who universally manifests every form and image, only causing the crowd to delight and crave, though ultimately nothing at all is gained.
The world is likewise: all of it entirely like an illusion, without own-nature and without arising, yet displaying manifold things.
Delivering every being, causing them to know that dharma is like an illusion — beings are no different from the illusion; fully comprehending the illusion, there is no being at all.
Beings and lands, every dharma of the three times — all of this, without exception, is entirely like an illusion.
幻作男女形，及象馬牛羊，屋宅池泉類，園林華果等。
幻物無知覺，亦無有住處，畢竟寂滅相，但隨分別現。
菩薩能如是，普見諸世間，有無一切法，了達悉如幻。
眾生及國土，種種業所造，入於如幻際，於彼無依著。
如是得善巧，寂滅無戲論，住於無礙地，普現大威力。
The illusion fashions forms of men and women, and elephants, horses, oxen and sheep, kinds of houses and pools and springs, gardens and forests, flowers and fruits, and so on.
The illusory things have no awareness, nor do they have any dwelling-place; their mark is ultimately tranquil, yet they appear only in accordance with discrimination.
The bodhisattva is able to do the same: universally beholding every world, every dharma both existent and non-existent, fully comprehending that all of it is like an illusion.
Beings and lands, fashioned by manifold karma — entering the very limit of illusion, they have no reliance or attachment to any of it.
Thus attaining skillful mastery, tranquil and free of idle discourse, abiding in the unobstructed ground, they universally manifest great awesome power.
譬如工幻師，普現諸色像，徒令眾貪樂，畢竟無所得 — it is like a skilled illusionist, who universally manifests every form and image, only causing the crowd to delight and crave, though ultimately nothing at all is gained. Part 556's prose treated illusion as a philosophical category — not an elephant, not a horse. The verse gives it a stage and an audience: someone is performing, someone is watching and wanting, and the whole transaction ends with nothing changing hands.
Every Perception Is a Mirage
The fifth acceptance opens, and the verse makes a move the prose never did — the mirage is not the world itself, but the very perception that takes the world to be one way or another.
勇猛諸佛子，隨順入妙法，善觀一切想，纏網於世間。
眾想如陽焰，令眾生倒解，菩薩善知想，捨離一切倒。
眾生各別異，形類非一種，了達皆是想，一切無真實。
十方諸眾生，皆為想所覆，若捨顛倒見，則滅世間想。
The courageous children of the Buddha, complying, enter the wondrous dharma; skillfully observing every perception, seeing how it entangles the world like a net.
Every perception is like a mirage, causing beings to understand things inverted; the bodhisattva, well knowing perception, abandons every inversion.
Beings are each distinct and different, their forms and kinds not of a single sort; fully comprehending that all of this is merely perception, none of it has any reality.
All beings of the ten directions are covered over by perception; if they abandon their inverted views, the world's own perception is extinguished.
眾想如陽焰 — every perception is like a mirage. The illusion-acceptance just closed on the world being like an illusion; the mirage-acceptance opens one step further back, on 想, the perceiving itself, being the mirage. The object recedes and the act of taking-something-to-be-something becomes the thing examined.
Part 563 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-nine, 十忍品, The Ten Kinds of Acceptance, in fascicle forty-four. Part 564 continues the verse summary of the acceptance like a mirage, using the same heat-shimmer image the prose used — mistaken for water by those who see it, sought by no one who understands what it actually is.