The Reflection and the Magical Creation
The eighth acceptance closes on the image its name has carried all along — a reflection in water, neither inside nor outside, appearing in the world without ever moving through it. The ninth acceptance then opens and runs its entire course: every world, every buddha, every act of liberation, all of it like a magician's creation — real enough to teach with, empty enough to never be seized.
Like a Reflection in Water
The eighth acceptance concludes here. Its central image finally appears in full — a reflection in water, belonging neither to the water nor to whatever casts it, showing up in the world without inhabiting it.
為欲利世間，專意求菩提，而常入法性，於彼無分別。
普觀諸世間，寂滅無體性，而恒為饒益，修行意不動。
不住於世間，不離於世間，於世無所依，依處不可得。
了知世間性，於性無染著，雖不依世間，化世令超度。
世間所有法，悉知其自性，了法無有二，無二亦無著。
心不離世間，亦不住世間，非於世間外，修行一切智。
Wishing to benefit the world, single-mindedly seeking bodhi, they constantly enter the nature of dharmas, and within it make no discrimination.
Universally contemplating every world, tranquil and without own-nature, yet constantly acting for its benefit, they cultivate practice with a mind unmoved.
Not abiding within the world, not departing from the world, they have nothing to rely on in the world, and no place of reliance can be found.
Comprehending the nature of the world, they are undefiled and unattached to that nature; though not relying on the world, they transform the world and lead it across.
Every dharma that the world possesses, they fully know its own-nature; comprehending that dharmas are not two, they are unattached even to non-duality.
Their mind does not depart from the world, nor does it abide within the world; not outside the world either, they cultivate the wisdom of all things.
譬如水中影，非內亦非外，菩薩求菩提，了世非世間。
不於世住出，以世不可說，亦不在內外，如影現世間。
入此甚深義，離垢悉明徹，不捨本誓心，普照智慧燈。
世間無邊際，智入悉齊等，普化諸群生，令其捨眾著。
觀察甚深法，利益群生眾，從此入於智，修行一切道。
It is like a reflection in water, neither inside nor outside; the bodhisattva, seeking bodhi, comprehends the world as not the world.
Neither abiding in the world nor emerging from it, since the world cannot be spoken of, nor residing inside or outside — like a reflection, they appear within the world.
Entering this profound meaning, entirely free of stain and utterly clear, not abandoning the mind of their original vow, they universally shine the lamp of wisdom.
The world has no boundary or edge, yet wisdom enters it entirely, equally everywhere; universally transforming every being, causing them to abandon every attachment.
Observing and contemplating the profound dharma, benefiting the multitude of beings, from this they enter into wisdom and cultivate every path.
譬如水中影，非內亦非外 — it is like a reflection in water, neither inside nor outside. Part 558's prose first stated this acceptance abstractly, through the bodhisattva who appears everywhere without moving. The verse now supplies the picture it was pointing to all along: a reflection belongs wholly neither to the water that shows it nor to the face that casts it, and so it can appear anywhere the water is, without traveling and without being anywhere in particular.
The Acceptance Like a Magical Creation
The ninth acceptance opens and runs its full arc in this section — every world, every buddha, and every act of liberation shown to be a magician's creation, and the bodhisattva's own practice modeled on the same pattern.
菩薩觀諸法，諦了悉如化，而行如化行，畢竟永不捨。
隨順化自性，修習菩提道，一切法如化，菩薩行亦然。
一切諸世間，及以無量業，平等悉如化，畢竟住寂滅。
三世所有佛，一切亦如化，本願修諸行，變化成如來。
佛以大慈悲，度脫化眾生，度脫亦如化，化力為說法。
The bodhisattva contemplates all dharmas, truly comprehending that all of them are like a magical creation; and carrying out practice like a magical creation, they never abandon it, to the very end.
Following in accord with the own-nature of magical creation, they cultivate the path of bodhi; all dharmas are like a magical creation, and the bodhisattva's practice is likewise.
Every world there is, together with every measureless karma, are all equally like a magical creation, and ultimately abide in tranquil cessation.
Every buddha of the three times is likewise entirely like a magical creation; through their original vows they cultivate every practice, and through transformation become a tathāgata.
The buddha, through great kindness and compassion, delivers and liberates beings who are themselves a magical creation; that deliverance is likewise like a magical creation, and it is through the power of magical creation that the dharma is taught.
知世皆如化，不分別世間，化事種種殊，皆由業差別。
修習菩提行，莊嚴於化藏，無量善莊嚴，如業作世間。
化法離分別，亦不分別法，此二俱寂滅，菩薩行如是。
化海了於智，化性印世間，化非生滅法，智慧亦如是。
Knowing that the world is entirely like a magical creation, they make no discrimination regarding the world; the manifold particular affairs of that creation all arise from the distinctions of karma.
Cultivating the practice of bodhi, they adorn the treasury of magical creation; with measureless excellent adornments, just as karma fashions the world.
The dharma of magical creation is free of discrimination, and neither is it discriminated as a dharma; both of these are equally tranquil and still, and the bodhisattva's practice is just so.
The ocean of magical creation is comprehended through wisdom; the nature of magical creation seals the world; magical creation is not a dharma of arising and ceasing, and wisdom is likewise.
度脫亦如化，化力為說法 — that deliverance is likewise like a magical creation, and it is through the power of magical creation that the dharma is taught. The verse pushes the image past the world and the beings in it to the buddhas themselves: their vows, their liberating acts, even the very teaching they give are folded into the same likeness. Nothing is set outside the magic to judge it from a stable place — wisdom itself, the closing line says, is no different.
Part 565 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-nine, 十忍品, The Ten Kinds of Acceptance, in fascicle forty-four. Part 566 turns to the verse summary of the tenth and final acceptance, the acceptance like space, followed by the closing verses that summarize all ten acceptances together — completing both this chapter and fascicle forty-four.