The Ten Abodes Continue, Practice and Noble Birth
The teaching of the Ten Abodes continues with the third and fourth stages. The Abode of Cultivating Practice contemplates every dharma through ten distinct marks — impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and more — while the realms of earth, water, fire, wind, and the three planes of existence deepen that contemplation further. The Abode of Noble Birth then describes a bodhisattva born, in effect, from the sagely teaching itself.
The Third Abode: Cultivating Practice
Ten marks of contemplation — impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, and more — are turned upon every single dharma, then deepened through a systematic survey of every realm of existence: the realms of living beings and worlds, the four elements, and the three spheres of desire, form, and formlessness.
「佛子！云何為菩薩修行住？此菩薩以十種行觀一切法。何等為十？所謂：觀一切法無常、一切法苦、一切法空、一切法無我、一切法無作、一切法無味、一切法不如名、一切法無處所、一切法離分別、一切法無堅實。是為十。佛子！此菩薩應勸學十法。何者為十？所謂：觀察眾生界、法界、世界，觀察地界、水界、火界、風界，觀察欲界、色界、無色界。何以故？欲令菩薩智慧明了；有所聞法，即自開解，不由他教故。」
"Son of the Buddha! What is meant by the bodhisattva's Abode of Cultivating Practice? This bodhisattva, by means of ten kinds of practice, contemplates every dharma. What are these ten? Namely: contemplating that every dharma is impermanent; that every dharma is suffering; that every dharma is empty; that every dharma is without self; that every dharma is without doing; that every dharma is without any relish; that every dharma does not match its own name; that every dharma has no fixed place; that every dharma is free of discrimination; and that every dharma has no firm substance at all. These are the ten. Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva should be urged to study ten further dharmas. What are these ten? Namely: contemplating the realm of living beings, the Dharma-realm, and the world-realm; contemplating the realm of earth, the realm of water, the realm of fire, and the realm of wind; and contemplating the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm of formlessness. Why is this? It is in order to cause the bodhisattva's own wisdom to become clear and bright; so that, whatever Dharma he hears, he opens and understands it entirely of himself, and not by means of another's teaching."
The Fourth Abode: Noble Birth
The bodhisattva at this abode is described as "born from within the sagely teaching" — never regressing at any buddha's own place, holding a profound and pure faith, and understanding living beings, worlds, karma, and even birth-and-death and nirvāṇa themselves, deepened further by understanding every buddha's teaching, across all three periods of time, as entirely equal.
「佛子！云何為菩薩生貴住？此菩薩從聖教中生，成就十法。何者為十？所謂：永不退轉於諸佛所，深生淨信，善觀察法，了知眾生、國土、世界、業行、果報、生死、涅槃。是為十。佛子！此菩薩應勸學十法。何者為十？所謂：了知過去、未來、現在一切佛法，修集過去、未來、現在一切佛法，圓滿過去、未來、現在一切佛法，了知一切諸佛平等。何以故？欲令增進於三世中，心得平等；有所聞法，即自開解，不由他教故。」
"Son of the Buddha! What is meant by the bodhisattva's Abode of Noble Birth? This bodhisattva, born from within the sagely teaching, accomplishes ten dharmas. What are these ten? Namely: forever never regressing at the place of any buddha; giving rise to a profound and pure faith; skillfully contemplating the Dharma; and understanding entirely living beings, lands, worlds, karmic conduct, karmic fruit, birth-and-death, and nirvāṇa. These are the ten. Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva should be urged to study ten further dharmas. What are these ten? Namely: understanding entirely every buddha-dharma of the past, the future, and the present; cultivating and gathering every buddha-dharma of the past, the future, and the present; perfecting every buddha-dharma of the past, the future, and the present; and understanding that every single buddha is entirely equal. Why is this? It is in order to cause one to advance further, attaining equality of mind across the three periods of time; so that, whatever Dharma he hears, he opens and understands it entirely of himself, and not by means of another's teaching."
The name "Noble Birth" (生貴住) is worth pausing on: this is not a birth in the ordinary sense but a description of lineage — the bodhisattva at this stage is understood to be born, spiritually, directly from the sagely teaching itself, the same way a prince is born into a royal house. The name anticipates two abodes still to come later in this same chapter, the Abode of the Dharma-Prince and the Abode of Consecration, both of which extend this same image of royal succession into the bodhisattva's own advancing relationship to the Dharma.
Part 75 Complete
This closes Part 75. Chapter 15's teaching of the Ten Abodes continues in Part 76 with the fifth and sixth abodes — Fully Endowed Skillful Means and the Rectified Mind.