Part 730 of the collection · Fascicle 56 of 80 · 離世間品第三十八之四 · T279

Unobstructed Function Toward Dharma and Body

The unobstructed function toward the dharma insists, again and again, that the dharma is free of words and free of any single mark — and precisely because of that freedom, it can be expounded without limit; the unobstructed function toward the body that follows applies the same logic to physical form, letting every sentient being's body pass into one's own and a single body fill every dharma of past, present, and future.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 730 — unobstructed function toward dharma and body Source: Taishō T279 (Śikṣānanda, Tang, 695–699 CE)

Free of Words, Endlessly Spoken

Three times over, the unobstructed function toward the dharma names something the dharma lacks — a single mark, a written word, speech itself — and each time pairs that lack directly with an unlimited capacity to teach it; the unobstructed function toward the body then takes this same pattern into physical space, where a body can hold every land and a single body can appear equal in number to every sentient being.

Chinese Source

佛子!菩薩摩訶薩有十種法無礙用。何等為十?所謂:知一切法入一法、一法入一切法,而亦不違眾生心解無礙用;從般若波羅蜜出生一切法,為他解說悉令開悟無礙用;知一切法離文字,而令眾生皆得悟入無礙用;知一切法入一相,而能演說無量法相無礙用;知一切法離言說,能為他說無邊法門無礙用;於一切法善轉普門字輪無礙用;以一切法入一法門而不相違,於不可說劫說不窮盡無礙用;以一切法悉入佛法,令諸眾生皆得悟解無礙用;知一切法無有邊際無礙用;知一切法無障礙際,猶如幻網無量差別,於無量劫為眾生說不可窮盡無礙用。是為十。

Ru-Yi Translation

"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of unobstructed function toward the dharma. What are these ten? Namely: the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma enters a single dharma and a single dharma enters every dharma, without ever contradicting what sentient beings understand in their own minds; the unobstructed function of bringing forth every dharma from the perfection of wisdom, explaining it for others so that every one of them attains awakening; the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma is free of any written word, and yet causing every sentient being to awaken and enter it; the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma enters a single mark, and yet being able to expound measureless marks of dharma; the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma is free of speech, and yet being able to expound boundless dharma-gates for others; the unobstructed function of skillfully turning the universal wheel of letters throughout every dharma; the unobstructed function of causing every dharma to enter a single dharma-gate without any contradiction, and expounding it inexhaustibly for unspeakably many kalpas; the unobstructed function of causing every dharma to enter entirely into the buddha-dharma, so that every sentient being attains understanding; the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma is without any boundary; and the unobstructed function of knowing that every dharma has no obstructed limit, exactly like an illusory net of measureless variety, and expounding it for sentient beings inexhaustibly throughout measureless kalpas. These are the ten.

Chinese Source

「佛子!菩薩摩訶薩有十種身無礙用。何等為十?所謂:以一切眾生身入己身無礙用;以己身入一切眾生身無礙用;一切佛身入一佛身無礙用;一佛身入一切佛身無礙用;一切剎入己身無礙用;以一身充遍一切三世法示現眾生無礙用;於一身示現無邊身入三昧無礙用;於一身示現眾生數等身成正覺無礙用;於一切眾生身現一眾生身、於一眾生身現一切眾生身無礙用;於一切眾生身示現法身、於法身示現一切眾生身無礙用。是為十。

Ru-Yi Translation

Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of unobstructed function toward the body. What are these ten? Namely: the unobstructed function of causing every sentient being's body to enter one's own body; the unobstructed function of causing one's own body to enter every sentient being's body; the unobstructed function of causing every buddha's body to enter a single buddha's body; the unobstructed function of causing a single buddha's body to enter every buddha's body; the unobstructed function of causing every land to enter one's own body; the unobstructed function of filling every dharma of the three times with a single body and manifesting it for sentient beings; the unobstructed function of manifesting boundless bodies within a single body and entering samādhi; the unobstructed function of manifesting, within a single body, bodies equal in number to every sentient being, and attaining right awakening; the unobstructed function of manifesting a single sentient being's body within every sentient being's body, and manifesting every sentient being's body within a single sentient being's body; and the unobstructed function of manifesting the dharma-body within every sentient being's body, and manifesting every sentient being's body within the dharma-body. These are the ten.

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

知一切法離文字,而令眾生皆得悟入 — knowing that every dharma is free of any written word, and yet causing every sentient being to awaken and enter it. This entry does not treat the absence of words as a limit on teaching; the very fact that the dharma has no fixed word to convey it is what the second half of the sentence turns directly into a cause of every being's awakening.

Part 730 Complete

This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-six. Part 731 continues the ten kinds of unobstructed function with unobstructed function toward vows, opening with taking every bodhisattva's own vow as one's own.