The Ocean Simile Closes, Restated in Verse
The great ocean's own measurelessness is declared not even an upaniṣad fraction of the tathāgata's ocean of wisdom, and the four reasons for that wisdom-ocean's measurelessness are named in prose — before Samantabhadra restates the entire teaching in verse, returning once more to the nāga's rain and now adding the ocean's single, undifferentiated flavor as a final image of the tathāgata's domain.
Beyond Any Simile, Restated in Verse
Four reasons make the tathāgata's wisdom-ocean measureless — unceasing practice, unceasing merit, uncountable beings served, and grounds without end — before Samantabhadra returns to the nāga's rain once more and adds a new image: an ocean's single flavor, shared without distinction by everyone who draws from it.
「佛子！此大海無量於如來智海無量，百分不及一，千分不及一，乃至優波尼沙陀分不及其一；但隨眾生心為作譬諭，而佛境界非譬所及。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩應知如來智海無量，從初發心修一切菩薩行不斷故；應知寶聚無量，一切菩提分法、三寶種不斷故；應知所住眾生無量，一切學、無學、聲聞、獨覺所受用故；應知住地無量，從初歡喜地乃至究竟無障礙地諸菩薩所居故。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩為入無量智慧利益一切眾生故，於如來、應、正等覺境界應如是知。」爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩欲重明此義而說頌言：
"Sons of the Buddha! This great ocean's own measurelessness, set against the measurelessness of the tathāgata's ocean of wisdom, does not amount to one part in a hundred, one part in a thousand, nor even one part in an upaniṣad fraction of it; it is only in order to accord with the minds of sentient beings that a simile is made at all — the Buddha's own domain is not something any simile can reach. Sons of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva should know that the tathāgata's ocean of wisdom is measureless because, from the first arousing of the resolve onward, the cultivation of every bodhisattva practice never ceases; should know that its heap of jewels is measureless because every factor of awakening and every seed of the three jewels never ceases; should know that the sentient beings who dwell within it are measureless because every learner and every one beyond learning, every śrāvaka and every solitary awakened one, makes use of it; and should know that the grounds it holds are measureless because bodhisattvas dwell there from the very first ground of joy up through the ultimate, unobstructed ground. Sons of the Buddha! In order to enter measureless wisdom and benefit every sentient being, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva should come to know the domain of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one, in just this way." At that time, wishing to restate this meaning once more, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Samantabhadra spoke these verses:
「如心境界無有量，諸佛境界亦復然；如心境界從意生，佛境如是應觀察。
如龍不離於本處，以心威力霔大雨，雨水雖無來去處，隨龍心故悉充洽。
十力牟尼亦如是，無所從來無所去，若有淨心則現身，量等法界入毛孔。
如海珍奇無有量，眾生大地亦復然，水性一味等無別，於中生者各蒙利。
如來智海亦如是，一切所有皆無量，有學無學住地人，悉在其中得饒益。
"Just as the domain of mind has no measure, the domain of every buddha is likewise so; just as the domain of mind arises out of intention, the buddhas' domain should be observed in just this way.
Just as a nāga never leaves its own abode, yet through its mind's own power sends down a great rain, and that rainwater, though it has no place from which it comes or to which it goes, entirely fills and soaks the earth according to the nāga's own mind —
The sage of ten powers is likewise so: he comes from nowhere and goes nowhere, and yet, wherever a pure mind is found, his body appears, its measure equal to the whole dharma-realm, entering even into a single pore.
Just as the ocean's rare treasures have no measure, and the beings and the great earth it holds are likewise so, while the water's own nature is one single flavor, undifferentiated throughout, so that every being born within it receives its own benefit —
The tathāgata's ocean of wisdom is likewise so: everything it holds is entirely measureless, and every learner, every one beyond learning, and every person dwelling upon a ground alike receives its benefit from within it."
水性一味等無別，於中生者各蒙利 — the water's own nature is one single flavor, undifferentiated throughout, so that every being born within it receives its own benefit. The verse closes the whole ocean simile on a single point: the wisdom given is one and the same for everyone, and what differs is only what each recipient is able to draw from it — an image that folds this section's opening claim, that the tathāgata's domain is identical to the domain of every sentient being's own mind, into something a nāga king's rain and an ocean's taste can make vivid rather than abstract.
Part 670 Complete
This closes the tathāgata's domain (境界) section of chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty-two. Part 671 opens a new section on the tathāgata's own conduct (行), beginning with unobstructed conduct compared to a bird's flight through boundless open sky.