Ten Kinds of Liberation, Ten Garden Groves
Ten kinds of liberation move from freedom from affliction and wrong views toward a single thought that comprehends all three times, before the next question reimagines a bodhisattva's whole life as a series of garden groves — including, most strikingly, birth-and-death itself and the palaces of the māras, places most teachings would call obstacles rather than places of rest.
A Garden Grove Made of Birth and Death
Ten kinds of liberation give way to a metaphor that inverts what a garden grove usually means: not a retreat from the world's difficulties but the difficulties themselves — birth-and-death, the palaces of the māras — claimed as places a bodhisattva dwells in without ever wearying, right alongside the pāramitās and the Buddha's own exclusive qualities.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種解脫。何等為十？所謂：煩惱解脫；邪見解脫；諸取解脫；蘊、界、處解脫；超二乘解脫；無生法忍解脫；於一切世間、一切剎、一切眾生、一切法離著解脫；無邊住解脫；發起一切菩薩行入如來無分別地解脫；於一念中悉能了知一切三世解脫。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則能施作無上佛事，教化成熟一切眾生。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of liberation. What are these ten? Namely: liberation from affliction; liberation from wrong views; liberation from every kind of grasping; liberation from the aggregates, elements, and sense-bases; liberation that transcends the two vehicles; liberation through the acceptance of the non-arising of phenomena; liberation through detachment from every world, every land, every sentient being, and every dharma; liberation through boundless abiding; liberation through giving rise to every bodhisattva practice and entering the tathāgata's own non-discriminating ground; and liberation through being entirely able, within a single thought, to fully comprehend the three times. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they are able to carry out unsurpassed buddha-work, teaching and bringing every sentient being to ripeness.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種園林。何等為十？所謂：生死是菩薩園林，無厭捨故；教化眾生是菩薩園林，不疲倦故；住一切劫是菩薩園林，攝諸大行故；清淨世界是菩薩園林，自所止住故；一切魔宮殿是菩薩園林，降伏彼眾故；思惟所聞法是菩薩園林，如理觀察故；六波羅蜜、四攝事、三十七菩提分法是菩薩園林，紹繼慈父境界故；十力、四無所畏、十八不共乃至一切佛法是菩薩園林，不念餘法故；示現一切菩薩威力自在神通是菩薩園林，以大神力轉正法輪調伏眾生無休息故；一念於一切處為一切眾生示成正覺是菩薩園林，法身周遍盡虛空一切世界故。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得如來無上離憂惱、大安樂行。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of garden grove. What are these ten? Namely: birth-and-death is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they never grow weary of it or abandon it; teaching and transforming sentient beings is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they never grow weary; abiding throughout every kalpa is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because it gathers in every great practice; a pure world is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because it is where they themselves dwell; every palace of the māras is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they subdue that host there; reflecting on the dharma they have heard is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they observe it exactly as it truly is; the six pāramitās, the four means of gathering beings, and the thirty-seven factors of awakening are a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they carry on the domain of their own loving father; the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the eighteen exclusive qualities, and every other dharma of the Buddha are a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they give thought to no other dharma at all; manifesting every bodhisattva's majestic power and sovereign spiritual power is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because through great spiritual power they turn the true dharma-wheel and tame sentient beings without ever resting; and manifesting, within a single thought and in every place, the attainment of perfect awakening for every sentient being is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because their dharma-body pervades every world throughout the whole of empty space. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in this dharma, they attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed practice of great happiness, free from sorrow and affliction.
一切魔宮殿是菩薩園林，降伏彼眾故 — every palace of the māras is a bodhisattva's garden grove, because they subdue that host there. Calling a demon's own palace a "garden grove" only makes sense once the word has already been redefined by the entry that opens the list: birth-and-death itself is a garden grove because a bodhisattva never tires of it or leaves it — once that redefinition holds, any place where a bodhisattva remains without weariness or aversion, however hostile it looks from outside, counts as the same kind of place.
Part 706 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-four. Part 707 answers the next question with ten kinds of palace, including a bodhisattva's own wife and household named as a palace for the sake of beings once practiced alongside in ages past.