What All Ten Bodhisattvas Share
Having named ten distinct bodhisattvas from ten distinct directions, each with a different offering, the sūtra now steps back to say what they all have in common — a single origin, a shared way of knowing reality through six likenesses, and the same tathāgata-given power that filled the entire Jeta Grove with their presence.
A Single Origin in Samantabhadra's Own Vow
Ten different worlds, ten different buddhas, ten different bodhisattvas, ten different offerings — and yet the sūtra now traces every one of them back to a single source: Samantabhadra's own practice and vow, from which all of them were born.
如是十方一切菩薩并其眷屬，皆從普賢菩薩行願中生，以淨智眼見三世佛，普聞一切諸佛如來所轉法輪、修多羅海，已得至於一切菩薩自在彼岸；於念念中現大神變，親近一切諸佛如來，一身充滿一切世界一切如來眾會道場，於一塵中普現一切世間境界，教化成熟一切眾生未曾失時，一毛孔中出一切如來說法音聲。
All these bodhisattvas from the ten directions, together with their own retinues, were born entirely from Samantabhadra's own practice and vow. With the pure eye of wisdom they saw the buddhas of the three times; they universally heard the wheel of dharma turned by every buddha and tathāgata, and the ocean of every sūtra; they had already arrived at the far shore of every bodhisattva's own sovereign freedom. In thought after thought they manifested great spiritual transformations, drew close to every buddha and tathāgata, filled every site of awakening in every assembly of every tathāgata throughout every world with a single body, universally manifested the domain of every world within a single mote of dust, taught and matured every sentient being without ever once missing the right moment, and sent forth, from within a single pore, the sound of every tathāgata's own teaching of the dharma.
知一切眾生悉皆如幻，知一切佛悉皆如影，知一切諸趣受生悉皆如夢，知一切業報如鏡中像，知一切諸有生起如熱時焰，知一切世界皆如變化；成就如來十力、無畏，勇猛自在，能師子吼，深入無盡辯才大海，得一切眾生言辭海諸法智；於虛空法界所行無礙，知一切法無有障礙；一切菩薩神通境界悉已清淨，勇猛精進，摧伏魔軍；恒以智慧了達三世，知一切法猶如虛空，無有違諍，亦無取著；雖勤精進而知一切智終無所來，雖觀境界而知一切有悉不可得；以方便智入一切法界，以平等智入一切國土，以自在力令一切世界展轉相入，於一切世界處處受生，見一切世界種種形相；於微細境現廣大剎，於廣大境現微細剎；於一佛所一念之頃，得一切佛威神所加，普見十方無所迷惑，於剎那頃悉能往詣。如是等一切菩薩滿逝多林，皆是如來威神之力。
They knew that every sentient being is entirely like an illusion; they knew that every buddha is entirely like a reflection; they knew that every rebirth throughout every realm of existence is entirely like a dream; they knew that every karmic retribution is like an image in a mirror; they knew that the arising of every state of existence is like a mirage in the heat; and they knew that every world is entirely like a magical transformation. They had accomplished the tathāgata's own ten powers and fearlessnesses; with valiant courage and sovereign freedom, they were able to roar the lion's roar; they had entered deeply into the great ocean of inexhaustible eloquence; and they had attained the wisdom of every dharma within the ocean of every sentient being's own speech. Their own conduct throughout empty space and the dharma-realm was unobstructed; they knew that no dharma whatsoever presents any obstruction. The domain of every bodhisattva's own spiritual superknowledge was already entirely pure; with valiant diligence, they had subdued the armies of Māra. They constantly used wisdom to fully penetrate the three times; they knew that every dharma is just like empty space, free of any contention and free of any grasping. Though diligent and untiring, they knew that all-knowing wisdom in the end comes from nowhere at all; though they observed every domain, they knew that no state of existence whatsoever can ever be found. Through skillful wisdom they entered the entire dharma-realm; through equal wisdom they entered every land; through sovereign power they caused every world to interpenetrate, one after another; they took birth in every place throughout every world, and saw every kind of form and appearance throughout every world. Within the most minute domain they manifested vast buddha-lands; within the vastest domain they manifested minute buddha-lands. In a single instant of thought at the place of a single buddha, they received the empowering, awesome spiritual might of every buddha; they universally beheld the ten directions without the slightest confusion; and in the space of a single instant they were able to travel to every one of them. All such bodhisattvas as these filled the Jeta Grove entirely, and all of it was through the tathāgata's own awesome spiritual power.
知一切眾生悉皆如幻……知一切世界皆如變化 — six likenesses in a row: illusion, reflection, dream, mirror-image, heat-mirage, and magical transformation. Applied respectively to sentient beings, buddhas, rebirth, karmic retribution, arising existence, and worlds themselves, these six similes teach a single point from six different angles — that none of these things is any less real for appearing, nor any more solid than the likeness used to describe it.
Part 848 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty. Part 849 turns to the great śrāvakas present in this very assembly — Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Mahākāśyapa, and others — who, despite sitting in the Jeta Grove itself, are altogether unable to perceive any part of what has just been described.