Ten Reasons for the Bodhisattva's Smile
Each of these ten reflections ends in the same private gesture — a warm smile and a silent vow made to no one but himself. The reasons move from a stark claim to being the world's sole rescue from the mire of desire, through observations of seeds and harvests and old companions, to a final smile drawn out simply by being touched by the light of every tathāgata.
Old Companions, Still Where They Were
The ninth reflection carries an unusual mixture of feeling: the devas and humans who once gathered alongside the bodhisattva in ages past remain, even now, at the stage of an ordinary being, unable to leave it behind — and yet, the text adds, not weary of it either. The smile this draws is not pity exactly, nor approval, but something that holds both at once.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以十事故，示現微笑心自誓。何等為十？所謂：菩薩摩訶薩念言：『一切世間沒在欲泥，除我一人無能免濟。』如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。復念言：『一切世間煩惱所盲，唯我今者具足智慧。』如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。又念言：『我今因此假名身故，當得如來充滿三世無上法身。』如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩爾時，以無障礙眼，遍觀十方所有梵天，乃至一切大自在天，作是念言：『此等眾生，皆自謂為有大智力。』如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩爾時觀諸眾生，久種善根，今皆退沒；如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, for ten reasons, manifests a smile and makes a private vow to himself. What are these ten? Namely: a bodhisattva-mahāsattva thinks: 'The whole world is sunk in the mire of desire, and apart from me alone, there is no one able to offer rescue.' Knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. He thinks further: 'The whole world is blinded by affliction, and I alone, now, am complete in wisdom.' Knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. He thinks again: 'Because of this body of borrowed name that I now have, I shall attain the tathāgata's own unsurpassed dharma-body, filling the three times.' Knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. At that time, the bodhisattva, with an unobstructed eye, universally observes every Brahmā deva throughout the ten directions, and even every Maheśvara deva, and thinks: 'All these beings regard themselves as possessing great wisdom and power.' Knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. At that time, the bodhisattva observes that sentient beings, having long planted roots of goodness, now all fall away and are lost; knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself.
菩薩觀見世間種子，所種雖少，獲果甚多；如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩觀見一切眾生，蒙佛所教，必得利益；如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩觀見過去世中同行菩薩，染著餘事，不得佛法廣大功德；如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩觀見過去世中同共集會諸天人等，至今猶在凡夫之地，不能捨離，亦不疲厭；如是知已，熙怡微笑心自誓。菩薩爾時，為一切如來光明所觸，倍加欣慰，熙怡微笑心自誓。是為十。佛子！菩薩為調伏眾生故，如是示現。
The bodhisattva observes that, among worldly seeds, though what is planted is little, what is harvested is very great; knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. The bodhisattva observes that every sentient being, upon receiving the buddha's own teaching, will certainly obtain benefit; knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. The bodhisattva observes that bodhisattvas who once practiced alongside him in ages past, having become attached to other affairs, fail to attain the buddha-dharma's own vast merit; knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. The bodhisattva observes that the devas and humans who once gathered together with him in ages past remain, even now, at the stage of an ordinary being, unable to relinquish it, and yet not weary of it either; knowing this, he smiles warmly and makes a private vow to himself. At that time, the bodhisattva, touched by the light of every tathāgata, is doubly comforted and gladdened, and smiles warmly, making a private vow to himself. These are the ten. Son of the Buddha! It is in order to tame sentient beings that the bodhisattva manifests in this way.
至今猶在凡夫之地，不能捨離，亦不疲厭 — remaining, even now, at the stage of an ordinary being, unable to relinquish it, and yet not weary of it either. Placed beside the observation just before it — that bodhisattvas who strayed into other pursuits lost access to the buddha-dharma's vast merit — this ninth reflection withholds any similar judgment: it simply notes the stuckness and the absence of complaint about it, side by side, without resolving the tension between them.
Part 795 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-nine. Part 796 opens ten reasons a bodhisattva takes seven steps at birth.