Ten Kinds of Power, Equality, and True Meaning
Five ten-fold lists arrive in quick succession — power that ranges from entering a dharma's own nature to never betraying trust in a good friend, ten declarations of equality across beings and buddhas alike, ten terse phrases naming every dharma's true meaning, ten ways of teaching, and ten kinds of retention that hold everything from a single simile to every buddha's own playful ease.
Ten Phrases for Every Dharma's Meaning
The list of ten phrases at the center of this stretch is unusually compressed even by this chapter's standards — every dharma is only a name, an illusion, a reflection, made only of written words — ten different one-line verdicts on what any dharma ultimately is, framed by lists on power, equality, teaching, and the many things a bodhisattva must retain.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種力。何等為十？所謂：入一切法自性力；入一切法如化力；入一切法如幻力；入一切法皆是佛法力；於一切法無染著力；於一切法甚明解力；於一切善知識恒不捨離尊重心力；令一切善根順至無上智王力；於一切佛法深信不謗力；令一切智心不退善巧力。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則具如來無上諸力。「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種平等。何等為十？所謂：於一切眾生平等、一切法平等、一切剎平等、一切深心平等、一切善根平等、一切菩薩平等、一切願平等、一切波羅蜜平等、一切行平等、一切佛平等。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得一切諸佛無上平等法。「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種佛法實義句。何等為十？所謂：一切法但有名；一切法猶如幻；一切法猶如影；一切法但緣起；一切法業清淨；一切法但文字所作；一切法實際；一切法無相；一切法第一義；一切法法界。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則善入一切智智無上真實義。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of power. What are these ten? Namely: the power of entering the intrinsic nature of every dharma; the power of entering every dharma as though it were a transformation; the power of entering every dharma as though it were an illusion; the power of entering how every dharma is entirely the Buddha's own dharma; the power of being free of any defiled attachment toward every dharma; the power of profound, clear understanding toward every dharma; the power of never abandoning a reverent mind toward every good spiritual friend; the power of causing every root of goodness to lead directly to the unsurpassed king of wisdom; the power of profound faith and never slandering any dharma of the buddhas; and the power of skillfully causing the mind of all-knowing wisdom never to regress. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they become complete in the tathāgata's own unsurpassed powers. Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of equality. What are these ten? Namely: equality toward every sentient being, equality of every dharma, equality of every land, equality of every profound mind, equality of every root of goodness, equality of every bodhisattva, equality of every vow, equality of every pāramitā, equality of every practice, and equality of every buddha. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they attain the unsurpassed dharma of equality shared by every buddha. Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten phrases of the true meaning of the Buddha's dharma. What are these ten? Namely: every dharma has only a name; every dharma is like an illusion; every dharma is like a reflection; every dharma arises only through conditions; every dharma's own karma is pure; every dharma is made only of written words; every dharma is ultimate reality; every dharma is without any mark; every dharma is the ultimate truth; and every dharma is the dharma-realm. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they skillfully enter the unsurpassed, true meaning of all-knowing wisdom itself.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩說十種法。何等為十？所謂：說甚深法；說廣大法；說種種法；說一切智法；說隨順波羅蜜法；說出生如來力法；說三世相應法；說令菩薩不退法；說讚歎佛功德法；說一切菩薩學一切佛平等、一切如來境界相應法。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得如來無上巧說法。「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種持。何等為十？所謂：持所集一切福德善根；持一切如來所說法；持一切譬諭；持一切法理趣門；持一切出生陀羅尼門；持一切除疑惑法；持成就一切菩薩法；持一切如來所說平等三昧門；持一切法照明門；持一切諸佛神通遊戲力。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得如來無上大智住持力。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva speaks ten kinds of dharma. What are these ten? Namely: speaking a profound dharma; speaking a vast dharma; speaking every kind of dharma; speaking the dharma of all-knowing wisdom; speaking a dharma that accords with the pāramitās; speaking a dharma that gives rise to the tathāgata's own powers; speaking a dharma that corresponds to the three times; speaking a dharma that causes bodhisattvas never to regress; speaking a dharma that praises the Buddha's own merit; and speaking a dharma by which every bodhisattva learns the equality of every buddha and corresponds to the domain of every tathāgata. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed, skillful teaching of the dharma. Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of retention. What are these ten? Namely: retaining every accumulated merit and root of goodness; retaining every dharma spoken by every tathāgata; retaining every simile; retaining every gateway of principle within every dharma; retaining every gateway that gives rise to dhāraṇī; retaining every dharma that removes doubt; retaining every dharma that accomplishes bodhisattvahood; retaining every gateway of equanimous samādhi spoken by every tathāgata; retaining every gateway of illumination within every dharma; and retaining the power of playful ease within every buddha's spiritual powers. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed power of great wisdom's sustaining retention.
一切法但有名；一切法猶如幻；一切法猶如影；一切法但緣起 — every dharma has only a name; every dharma is like an illusion; every dharma is like a reflection; every dharma arises only through conditions. Four of the ten phrases in a row describe dharmas by what they lack rather than what they are — no more than a label, no more solid than an illusion or a reflection — before the list pivots, in its remaining six phrases, to naming what each dharma nonetheless still is: pure karma, ultimate reality, the dharma-realm itself. The list holds both halves without contradiction.
Part 694 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-three. Part 695 answers the next question with ten kinds of eloquence, each one a distinct way of speaking that leaves no dharma unaddressed and no listener without joy.