Ten Reasons for the Seven Steps, Ten Reasons for Youth
The familiar image of the newborn bodhisattva's seven steps is unpacked into ten distinct meanings, each step carrying its own significance — from giving the seven kinds of wealth to fulfilling the vow of the earth-deities. Ten reasons for manifesting the stage of youth follow, in which mastery of every worldly art arrives already complete, never through instruction.
Every Art, Already Known
Each reason for the stage of youth names a worldly art — writing and calculation, horsemanship and weaponry, composition and games — and each is manifested rather than learned. The tenth entry in the following list of reasons for going forth will make explicit what this pattern already implies: nothing here comes from being taught by another.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以十事故，示行七步。何等為十？所謂：現菩薩力故，示行七步；現施七財故，示行七步；滿地神願故，示行七步；現超三界相故，示行七步；現菩薩最勝行超過象王、牛王、師子王行故，示行七步；現金剛地相故，示行七步；現欲與眾生勇猛力故，示行七步；現修行七覺寶故，示行七步；現所得法不由他教故，示行七步；現於世間最勝無比故，示行七步。是為十。佛子！菩薩為調伏眾生故，如是示現。
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, for ten reasons, manifests taking seven steps. What are these ten? Namely: manifesting a bodhisattva's own power, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the giving of the seven kinds of wealth, he manifests taking seven steps; fulfilling the vow of the earth-deities, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the mark of transcending the three realms, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the bodhisattva's own most excellent conduct, surpassing the conduct of the elephant king, the ox king, and the lion king, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the mark of a diamond ground, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the wish to give sentient beings courageous power, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting the cultivation of the seven jewel-like factors of awakening, he manifests taking seven steps; manifesting that the dharma he attains comes not from another's teaching, he manifests taking seven steps; and manifesting that he is the most excellent in the world, without equal, he manifests taking seven steps. These are the ten. Son of the Buddha! It is in order to tame sentient beings that the bodhisattva manifests in this way.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以十事故，現處童子地。何等為十？所謂：為現通達一切世間文字、算計、圖書、印璽種種業故，處童子地；為現通達一切世間象馬、車乘、弧矢、劍戟種種業故，處童子地；為現通達一切世間文筆、談論、博弈、嬉戲種種事故，處童子地；為現遠離身、語、意業諸過失故，處童子地；為現入定住涅槃門，周遍十方無量世界故，處童子地；為現其力超過一切天、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿脩羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、釋、梵、護世、人、非人等故，處童子地；為現菩薩色相威光超過一切釋、梵、護世故，處童子地；為令耽著欲樂眾生歡喜樂法故，處童子地；為尊重正法，勤供養佛，周遍十方一切世界故，處童子地；為現得佛加被蒙法光明故，處童子地。是為十。
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, for ten reasons, manifests dwelling at the stage of youth. What are these ten? Namely: in order to manifest mastery of every worldly art of writing, calculation, diagrams and documents, and seals, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest mastery of every worldly art of elephants and horses, chariots, bow and arrow, sword and halberd, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest mastery of every worldly matter of composition, discourse, games of skill, and amusement, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest being far removed from every fault of body, speech, and mind, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest entering concentration and abiding in the gate of nirvāṇa, pervading measureless worlds throughout the ten directions, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest a power surpassing every deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kiṃnara, mahoraga, Śakra, Brahmā, guardian of the world, human, and non-human, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to manifest the bodhisattva's own form and awesome light surpassing every Śakra, Brahmā, and guardian of the world, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to cause sentient beings indulging in the pleasures of desire to rejoice and delight in the dharma, he dwells at the stage of youth; in order to revere the true dharma and diligently make offerings to buddhas throughout every world of the ten directions, he dwells at the stage of youth; and in order to manifest receiving the buddhas' own empowerment and being touched by the light of the dharma, he dwells at the stage of youth. These are the ten.
現所得法不由他教故，示行七步 — manifesting that the dharma he attains comes not from another's teaching, he manifests taking seven steps. This single reason among the ten quietly reframes everything else in the list: the elephant king's gait surpassed, the diamond ground manifested, the seven kinds of wealth given — none of it arrives as something learned, and the seven steps themselves are offered as proof of that fact before a single word has yet been spoken.
Part 796 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-eight, 離世間品, in fascicle fifty-nine. Part 797 opens ten reasons a bodhisattva manifests dwelling in the royal palace after the stage of youth, beginning with bringing to maturity the roots of goodness of those who practiced alongside him in ages past.