Accomplishing the Buddha-Dharma, Retrogression From It
Two lists face each other directly here: ten ways of accomplishing the buddha-dharma, and ten ways of falling away from it, meant to be avoided. Where the first list moves toward the tathāgata's domain, the second names the exact opposite failures — treating a good spiritual friend with contempt, fearing birth and death, resenting fellow bodhisattvas.
Two Lists Facing Each Other
The pairing here is unusually direct for this chapter: the accomplishments name what to pursue — deep faith, dedicated roots of goodness, delight in the tathāgata's own ten powers — and the retrogressions that immediately follow name what to shun, closing on resentment toward fellow bodhisattvas as the final failure severe enough to earn a place on the list.
佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種成就佛法。何等為十？所謂：不離善知識成就佛法；深信佛語成就佛法；不謗正法成就佛法；以無量無盡善根迴向成就佛法；信解如來境界無邊際成就佛法；知一切世界境界成就佛法；不捨法界境界成就佛法；遠離諸魔境界成就佛法；正念一切諸佛境界成就佛法；樂求如來十力境界成就佛法。是為十。若諸菩薩安住此法，則得成就如來無上大智慧。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of accomplishing the buddha-dharma. What are these ten? Namely: accomplishing the buddha-dharma by never departing from a good spiritual friend; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by profoundly believing the buddha's own words; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by never slandering the true dharma; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by dedicating measureless, inexhaustible roots of goodness; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by believing and understanding that the tathāgata's own domain has no boundary; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by knowing the domain of every world; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by never abandoning the domain of the dharma-realm; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by staying far from the domain of every māra; accomplishing the buddha-dharma by rightly recollecting the domain of every buddha; and accomplishing the buddha-dharma by delighting in seeking the domain of the tathāgata's own ten powers. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide within this dharma, they attain the accomplishment of the tathāgata's own unsurpassed, great wisdom.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩有十種退失佛法，應當遠離。何等為十？所謂：輕慢善知識退失佛法；畏生死苦退失佛法；厭修菩薩行退失佛法；不樂住世間退失佛法；耽著三昧退失佛法；執取善根退失佛法；誹謗正法退失佛法；斷菩薩行退失佛法；樂二乘道退失佛法；嫌恨諸菩薩退失佛法。是為十。若諸菩薩遠離此法，則入菩薩離生道。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of retrogression from the buddha-dharma, which should be avoided. What are these ten? Namely: retrogression from the buddha-dharma through treating a good spiritual friend with contempt; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through fearing the suffering of birth and death; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through growing weary of cultivating bodhisattva practice; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through not delighting in remaining in the world; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through indulging in and clinging to samādhi; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through grasping at one's own roots of goodness; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through slandering the true dharma; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through cutting off bodhisattva practice; retrogression from the buddha-dharma through delighting in the path of the two lesser vehicles; and retrogression from the buddha-dharma through resenting and hating bodhisattvas. These are the ten. If bodhisattvas stay far from these, they enter a bodhisattva's own path free of birth.
耽著三昧退失佛法 — retrogression from the buddha-dharma through indulging in and clinging to samādhi. Among nine failures that read as obviously negative — contempt, fear, slander, resentment — this one names something that looks, on its surface, like genuine spiritual attainment; the list treats clinging even to meditative absorption itself as a way of falling away from the buddha-dharma.
Part 748 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-seven. Part 749 opens ten kinds of path free of birth, beginning with a bodhisattva who brings forth the perfection of wisdom while forever observing every sentient being.