Diamond-Like Vow-Minds Conclude
The ninth vow-mind describes a bodhisattva who could realize unsurpassed awakening at once but chooses not to, in order to keep teaching every world; the tenth, the longest and most sustained of the ten, lists twelve kinds of dharma that can never be found and twelve kinds of stillness a bodhisattva abides in, then asks, twice, how great compassion could ever be abandoned when a buddha's own cessation never once interrupted it.
Finding Nothing, Abandoning Nothing
The tenth and final diamond-like vow-mind is the longest of the set: twelve things that can never be found, twelve kinds of stillness a bodhisattva abides in regardless, nine things never abandoned despite all of it, and finally a direct question asked twice — how could great compassion ever be set aside, when every buddha's own cessation never once brought their teaching to a stop?
佛子！菩薩摩訶薩又作是念：『阿耨多羅三藐三菩提以心為本，心若清淨，則能圓滿一切善根，於佛菩提必得自在，欲成阿耨多羅三藐三菩提隨意即成。若欲除斷一切取緣，住一向道，我亦能得，而我不斷，為欲究竟佛菩提故，亦不即證無上菩提。何以故？為滿本願，盡一切世界行菩薩行化眾生故。』是為第九如金剛大乘誓願心。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva further thinks: 'Unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening has the mind as its root; if the mind is pure, it is then able to bring every root of goodness to fulfillment, and one necessarily attains sovereign freedom regarding the buddha's awakening, so that wishing to attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, one attains it exactly as one wishes. Were I to wish to remove and cut off every object of clinging and abide in the single, direct path, I too would be able to attain this; and yet I do not cut it off, because, wishing to bring the buddha's awakening to its ultimate completion, I also do not realize unsurpassed awakening right away. Why is this? Because, in order to fulfill my original vow, I carry out bodhisattva practice throughout every world, transforming sentient beings.' This is the ninth diamond-like Mahāyāna vow-mind.
佛子！菩薩摩訶薩知佛不可得、菩提不可得、菩薩不可得、一切法不可得、眾生不可得、心不可得、行不可得、過去不可得、未來不可得、現在不可得、一切世間不可得、有為無為不可得。菩薩如是寂靜住、甚深住、寂滅住、無諍住、無言住、無二住、無等住、自性住、如理住、解脫住、涅槃住、實際住，而亦不捨一切大願，不捨薩婆若心，不捨菩薩行，不捨教化眾生，不捨諸波羅蜜，不捨調伏眾生，不捨承事諸佛，不捨演說諸法，不捨莊嚴世界。何以故？菩薩摩訶薩發大願故，雖復了達一切法相，大慈悲心轉更增長，無量功德皆具修行，於諸眾生心不捨離。何以故？『一切諸法皆無所有，凡夫愚迷不知不覺，我當令彼悉得開悟，於諸法性分明照了。』何以故？『一切諸佛安住寂滅，而以大悲心，於諸世間說法教化曾無休息。我今云何而捨大悲？又我先發廣大誓願心，發決定利益一切眾生心，發積集一切善根心，發安住善巧迴向心，發出生甚深智慧心，發含受一切眾生心，發於一切眾生平等心；作真實語、不虛誑語，願與一切眾生無上大法，願不斷一切諸佛種性。今一切眾生未得解脫、未成正覺、未具佛法，大願未滿，云何而欲捨離大悲？』是為第十如金剛大乘誓願心。佛子！是為菩薩摩訶薩發十種如金剛大乘誓願心。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得如來金剛性無上大神通智。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows that a buddha can never be found, that awakening can never be found, that a bodhisattva can never be found, that no dharma can ever be found, that a sentient being can never be found, that the mind can never be found, that practice can never be found, that the past can never be found, that the future can never be found, that the present can never be found, that no world can ever be found, and that neither the conditioned nor the unconditioned can ever be found. A bodhisattva, abiding in this way in stillness, in profundity, in cessation, in non-contention, in silence, in non-duality, in the unequaled, in their own nature, in what accords with principle, in liberation, in nirvāṇa, and in ultimate reality — and yet still never abandons any great vow, never abandons the mind of all-knowing wisdom, never abandons bodhisattva practice, never abandons teaching and transforming sentient beings, never abandons any pāramitā, never abandons taming sentient beings, never abandons attending upon buddhas, never abandons expounding every dharma, and never abandons adorning every world. Why is this? Because the bodhisattva-mahāsattva has given rise to a great vow, so that even having fully understood every mark of every dharma, their mind of great compassion only grows further, cultivating every measureless merit in full, their mind never once departing from any sentient being. Why is this? 'Every dharma has nothing at all to it, and ordinary beings, confused and deluded, neither know nor perceive this; I shall cause every one of them to attain awakening, clearly illuminating the nature of every dharma.' Why is this? 'Every buddha abides in cessation, and yet, with a mind of great compassion, teaches and transforms beings throughout every world without ever once resting. How, then, could I now abandon great compassion? Moreover, I have already given rise to a vast, great vow-mind, a mind resolved to benefit every sentient being, a mind that accumulates every root of goodness, a mind that abides in skillful dedication, a mind that brings forth profound wisdom, a mind that embraces every sentient being, and a mind of equality toward every sentient being; speaking truthful words, never words of deception, vowing to give the unsurpassed, great dharma to every sentient being, and vowing never to let the lineage of any buddha be cut off. Since every sentient being has not yet attained liberation, has not yet attained right awakening, and has not yet perfected the buddha-dharma, and since my great vow is not yet fulfilled, how could I wish to abandon great compassion?' This is the tenth diamond-like Mahāyāna vow-mind. Son of the Buddha! These are the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's ten kinds of diamond-like Mahāyāna vow-mind. If bodhisattvas abide within this dharma, they attain the tathāgata's own diamond nature, the unsurpassed, great wisdom of spiritual penetration.
一切諸佛安住寂滅，而以大悲心，於諸世間說法教化曾無休息。我今云何而捨大悲 — every buddha abides in cessation, and yet, with a mind of great compassion, teaches and transforms beings throughout every world without ever once resting. How, then, could I now abandon great compassion? The tenth vow-mind answers its own question about abandoning compassion by pointing to the buddhas themselves: if their abiding in cessation was never once an excuse to stop teaching, a bodhisattva's own realization that nothing can be found offers no excuse either.
Part 722 Complete
This completes the ten diamond-like vow-minds and continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-five. Part 723 opens ten great initiatives with a bodhisattva who resolves to revere and make offerings to every buddha.