The Medicine-King Tree of Inexhaustible Root
Just as every realm of existence, from the water's edge up to the peak of the formless heavens, rests on empty space without space itself discriminating among them, so every kind of wisdom rests on the tathāgata's own; the seventh mark then reaches for a single towering tree atop the snow mountains, whose root gives rise to stem, whose stem gives rise back to root, endlessly — and whose root, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit are named, one by one, for the vow, the practice, and the awakening that make a tathāgata.
A Root That Never Runs Out
Space supports every realm without discriminating among them, and the tathāgata's own wisdom is shown supporting every other kind of wisdom in exactly the same way; the medicine-king tree that follows names every part of itself for a specific quality of the tathāgata, its root and stem generating each other so that the root is never finally exhausted.
「復次，佛子！如從水際，上至非想非非想天，其中所有大千國土，欲、色、無色眾生之處，莫不皆依虛空而起、虛空而住。何以故？虛空普遍故；雖彼虛空，普容三界而無分別。佛子！如來智慧亦復如是，若聲聞智，若獨覺智，若菩薩智，若有為行智，若無為行智，一切皆依如來智起、如來智住。何以故？如來智慧遍一切故；雖復普容無量智慧而無分別。佛子！是為如來心第六相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! From the very edge of the water, up to the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception, throughout every great trichiliocosm there, the places of every sentient being of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm all rest upon empty space to arise, and rest upon empty space to abide. Why is this? Because empty space is universally present everywhere; and although that empty space universally holds the three realms within it, it makes no discrimination toward any of them. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata's own wisdom is likewise just the same: whether the wisdom of the śrāvaka, the wisdom of the pratyekabuddha, the wisdom of the bodhisattva, the wisdom of conditioned practice, or the wisdom of unconditioned practice, all of them rest upon the tathāgata's own wisdom to arise, and rest upon the tathāgata's own wisdom to abide. Why is this? Because the tathāgata's wisdom is universally present everywhere; and although it universally holds measureless wisdom within it, it makes no discrimination toward any of it. Sons of the Buddha! This is the sixth mark of the tathāgata's mind — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it thus.
「復次，佛子！如雪山頂有藥王樹，名：無盡根。彼藥樹根從十六萬八千由旬下盡金剛地水輪際生。彼藥王樹若生根時，令閻浮提一切樹根生；若生莖時，令閻浮提一切樹莖生；枝、葉、華、果悉皆如是。此藥王樹，根能生莖，莖能生根，根無有盡，名：無盡根。佛子！彼藥王樹於一切處皆令生長，唯於二處不能為作生長利益，所謂：地獄深坑及水輪中；然亦於彼初無厭捨。佛子！如來智慧大藥王樹亦復如是，以過去所發成就一切智慧善法、普覆一切諸眾生界、除滅一切諸惡道苦廣大悲願而為其根，於一切如來真實智慧種性中生堅固不動善巧方便以為其莖，遍法界智、諸波羅蜜以為其枝，禪定、解脫、諸大三昧以為其葉，總持、辯才、菩提分法以為其華，究竟無變諸佛解脫以為其果。佛子！如來智慧大藥王樹，何故得名為：無盡根？以究竟無休息故，不斷菩薩行故；菩薩行即如來性，如來性即菩薩行，是故得名為：無盡根。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like how, at the peak of the snow mountains, there is a medicine-king tree named Inexhaustible Root. That medicine tree's roots grow downward from a hundred sixty-eight thousand yojanas above, all the way to the very limit of the vajra ground and the water-wheel. Whenever that medicine-king tree gives rise to a root, it causes every tree-root in Jambudvīpa to grow; whenever it gives rise to a stem, it causes every tree-stem in Jambudvīpa to grow, and it is likewise just the same for its branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. This medicine-king tree's root is able to give rise to its stem, and its stem is able to give rise back to its root, so that the root is never exhausted — hence it is named Inexhaustible Root. Sons of the Buddha! That medicine-king tree causes growth everywhere, except only in two places where it is unable to bring about the benefit of growth — namely, the deep pits of the hells and within the water-wheel — and yet, even toward those places, it never once feels weariness or gives up. Sons of the Buddha! The tathāgata's own great medicine-king tree of wisdom is likewise just the same: its root is the vast and great vow of compassion, given rise to in ages past, that accomplishes every wholesome dharma of wisdom, universally covers every realm of sentient beings, and extinguishes the suffering of every evil destiny; its stem is the firm and unshakable skillful means born within the true nature of wisdom of every tathāgata; its branches are the wisdom that pervades the dharma-realm and every perfection; its leaves are dhyāna concentration, liberation, and every great samādhi; its flowers are dhāraṇī, eloquence, and the dharmas of the factors of awakening; and its fruit is the ultimate, unchanging liberation of every buddha. Sons of the Buddha! Why is the tathāgata's own great medicine-king tree of wisdom named Inexhaustible Root? Because it is ultimately without any rest, and never severs bodhisattva practice; bodhisattva practice is itself the tathāgata's own nature, and the tathāgata's own nature is itself bodhisattva practice — for this reason it is named Inexhaustible Root.
根能生莖，莖能生根，根無有盡 — the root is able to give rise to its stem, and its stem is able to give rise back to its root, so that the root is never exhausted. The tree's name is explained twice, once through this mutual generation of root and stem, and once at the end through the identity of bodhisattva practice and the tathāgata's own nature — the two explanations turn out to be the same claim in different registers, since it is precisely because practice and awakening endlessly regenerate one another, exactly as root and stem do, that neither can ever be said to run its course and stop.
Part 664 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty-one. Part 665 continues with the two places the medicine-king tree's benefit cannot reach, and an eighth mark comparing the tathāgata's wisdom to a fire that consumes even a single blade of grass thrown into it.