Mountain-Like Minds Conclude, Ocean-Like Wisdom Begins
The final mountain-like minds close on a bodhisattva who observes that not a single dharma can be found to cultivate, fulfill, teach, or attain — and yet never abandons the vow for awakening, refusing to conclude that this emptiness removes any reason to seek the path; the ocean-like wisdom that follows opens with entering the whole realm of sentient beings and every world without discrimination.
Finding Nothing, Abandoning Nothing
The tenth mountain-like mind stages a question it then refuses to draw the obvious conclusion from: if every dharma is entirely still and extinguished, why seek awakening at all? The text insists this emptiness never becomes a reason to stop seeking it — a refusal that sets up the ocean-like wisdom that follows, entry after entry into realms the text calls measureless without treating that measurelessness as an obstacle.
菩薩摩訶薩復作是念：『非他令我發菩提心，亦不待人助我修行。我自發心，集諸佛法，誓期自勉，盡未來劫行菩薩道，成阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。是故我今修菩薩行，當淨自心亦淨他心，當知自境界亦知他境界，我當悉與三世諸佛境界平等。』是為第九如山增上心。菩薩摩訶薩作如是觀：『無有一法修菩薩行，無有一法滿菩薩行，無有一法教化調伏一切眾生，無有一法供養恭敬一切諸佛，無有一法於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提已成、今成、當成，無有一法已說、今說、當說，說者及法俱不可得，而亦不捨阿耨多羅三藐三菩提願。』何以故？菩薩求一切法皆無所得，如是出生阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。是故，於法雖無所得，而勤修習增上善業，清淨對治，智慧圓滿，念念增長，一切具足。
"A bodhisattva-mahāsattva further thinks: 'It was not another who caused me to give rise to the mind of awakening, nor do I wait for another's help to carry out my practice. I myself gave rise to this mind, gathering every dharma of the buddhas, vowing to exert myself, carrying out the bodhisattva path throughout every future kalpa, attaining unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Therefore, as I now cultivate bodhisattva practice, I shall purify my own mind and also purify the minds of others; I shall know my own domain and also know the domain of others; I shall become entirely equal to the domain of every buddha of the three times.' This is the ninth mind exalted like a mountain. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva makes an observation such as this: 'There is not a single dharma that cultivates bodhisattva practice; there is not a single dharma that fulfills bodhisattva practice; there is not a single dharma that teaches and tames any sentient being; there is not a single dharma that makes offerings to and reveres any buddha; there is not a single dharma that has already attained, is now attaining, or will attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; there is not a single dharma that has already been spoken, is now being spoken, or will be spoken — the speaker and the dharma spoken can both never be found — and yet I still never abandon the vow for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.' Why is this? A bodhisattva seeks every dharma and finds nothing at all to attain, and it is precisely in this way that unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening arises. Therefore, though there is nothing at all to attain in any dharma, they still diligently cultivate exalted wholesome deeds, purifying antidotes, and complete wisdom, growing thought after thought, entirely and fully complete.
其心於此不驚不怖，不作是念：『若一切法皆悉寂滅，我有何義求於無上菩提之道？』是為第十如山增上心。佛子！是為菩薩摩訶薩於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提十種如山增上心。若諸菩薩安住其中，則得如來無上大智山王增上心。「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種入阿耨多羅三藐三菩提如海智。何等為十？所謂：入一切無量眾生界，是為第一如海智。入一切世界而不起分別，是為第二如海智。知一切虛空界無量無礙，普入十方一切差別世界網，是為第三如海智。菩薩摩訶薩善入法界，所謂：無礙入、不斷入、不常入、無量入、不生入、不滅入、一切入，悉了知故，是為第四如海智。
Their mind, regarding all of this, is neither startled nor afraid, and they never think: 'If every dharma is entirely still and extinguished, then what meaning is there in my seeking the path of unsurpassed awakening?' This is the tenth mind exalted like a mountain. Son of the Buddha! These are the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's ten minds exalted like a mountain toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. If bodhisattvas abide within these, they attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed, great wisdom, exalted like the king of mountains. Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of ocean-like wisdom for entering unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. What are these ten? Namely: entering the whole measureless realm of sentient beings — this is the first ocean-like wisdom. Entering every world without giving rise to any discrimination — this is the second ocean-like wisdom. Knowing that the whole realm of empty space is measureless and unobstructed, universally entering the net of every distinct world in the ten directions — this is the third ocean-like wisdom. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva skillfully enters the dharma-realm, namely: unobstructed entry, uninterrupted entry, non-permanent entry, measureless entry, unborn entry, unceasing entry, and entry into everything — because they fully understand every one of these — this is the fourth ocean-like wisdom.
若一切法皆悉寂滅，我有何義求於無上菩提之道 — if every dharma is entirely still and extinguished, then what meaning is there in my seeking the path of unsurpassed awakening? The tenth mountain-like mind names this exact objection only to refuse it, without offering a counter-argument — the text simply states that a bodhisattva's mind does not go there, treating the refusal itself, rather than any rebuttal, as the substance of the mind being described.
Part 716 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-five. Part 717 continues the ocean-like wisdoms with a bodhisattva who fully understands the roots of goodness planted by every being of the three times, delighting in them without ever growing weary.