From His Head, Bodhisattvas Teach the Pāramitās
Where every other part of Sea-Banner's own body has given rise to a single class of being with a single mode of action, his head gives rise to bodhisattvas who move systematically through the entire path — six pāramitās first, then rebirth, vows, spiritual power, and four distinct universal wisdoms.
Six Pāramitās, Each Paired with Its Own Fruit
Every pāramitā here is taught alongside exactly what it removes and what it produces — giving removes stinginess and produces a jeweled world, precepts cut off evil, patience frees the mind, diligence ends heedlessness, meditation grants self-mastery, and wisdom pulls out the poison of wrong view.
從其頭上，出無量佛剎微塵數諸菩薩眾，悉以相好莊嚴其身，放無邊光，說種種行。所謂：讚歎布施，令捨慳貪，得眾妙寶莊嚴世界；稱揚讚歎持戒功德，令諸眾生永斷諸惡，住於菩薩大慈悲戒；說一切有悉皆如夢，說諸欲樂無有滋味，令諸眾生離煩惱縛；說忍辱力，令於諸法心得自在；讚金色身，令諸眾生離瞋恚垢，起對治行，絕畜生道；歎精進行，令其遠離世間放逸，皆悉勤修無量妙法；又為讚歎禪波羅蜜，令其一切心得自在；又為演說般若波羅蜜，開示正見，令諸眾生樂自在智拔諸見毒；
From his own head, there emerged bodhisattva assemblies as numerous as every mote of dust in measureless buddha-lands, every one of them adorning their own bodies with excellent marks, emitting boundless light, and speaking of every kind of practice. Namely: praising giving, causing sentient beings to abandon stinginess and greed, and to attain a world adorned with every wondrous treasure; extolling and praising the merit of upholding precepts, causing every sentient being to forever cut off every evil, and to abide in the bodhisattva's own precept of great loving-kindness and compassion; speaking of how every state of existence is entirely like a dream, speaking of how every pleasure of desire has no real flavor at all, causing every sentient being to depart from the bonds of affliction; speaking of the power of patience, causing the mind to attain self-mastery amid every dharma; praising the golden-colored body, causing every sentient being to depart from the defilement of anger and hatred, giving rise to the practice that counteracts it, and severing the path to the animal realm; praising the practice of diligence, causing beings to depart far from worldly heedlessness, every one of them diligently cultivating measureless wondrous dharmas; and further praising the pāramitā of meditative concentration, causing their every mind to attain self-mastery; and further proclaiming the pāramitā of wisdom, revealing right view, causing every sentient being to delight in self-mastered wisdom and pull out the poison of every wrong view.
說一切有悉皆如夢，說諸欲樂無有滋味 — speaking of how every state of existence is entirely like a dream, speaking of how every pleasure of desire has no real flavor at all. The pāramitā of patience is taught here through neither endurance nor forbearance directly, but through a reframing of what there even is to be patient about — existence itself, seen as dream, has less power to provoke a reaction in the first place.
Beyond the Six, Toward Rebirth and Wisdom
Having completed the six pāramitās, the bodhisattvas continue outward — toward self-mastered rebirth within every destiny despite being freed from birth and death, toward great vows and spiritual power, and finally toward four distinct kinds of wisdom that each know something universal.
又為演說隨順世間種種所作，令諸眾生雖離生死，而於諸趣自在受生；又為示現神通變化，說壽命自在，令諸眾生發大誓願；又為演說成就總持力、出生大願力、淨治三昧力、自在受生力；又為演說種種諸智，所謂：普知眾生諸根智、普知一切心行智、普知如來十力智、普知諸佛自在智。如是所作，周遍法界。
And further proclaiming every kind of deed that accords with the world, causing every sentient being, though departed from birth and death, to still be reborn with self-mastery within every destiny; and further manifesting spiritual power and transformation, speaking of self-mastery over one's own lifespan, causing every sentient being to give rise to great vows; and further proclaiming the accomplishment of the power of total retention, the giving rise of the power of great vows, the purification of the power of samādhi, and the power of self-mastered rebirth; and further proclaiming every kind of wisdom, namely: the wisdom that universally knows every sentient being's own faculties, the wisdom that universally knows the mental conduct of all, the wisdom that universally knows the tathāgata's own ten powers, and the wisdom that universally knows every buddha's own self-mastery. All such deeds as these pervade the entire dharma-realm.
雖離生死，而於諸趣自在受生 — though departed from birth and death, to still be reborn with self-mastery within every destiny. Freedom from birth and death, in this teaching, does not mean escaping rebirth entirely; it means being reborn by choice rather than compulsion, a distinction this sūtra returns to often for how a bodhisattva remains active in a world he is no longer bound to.
Part 937 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-three. Part 938 turns to what emerges from Sea-Banner's own crown — countless tathāgata bodies raining down a distinct dharma-rain for every single stage of the bodhisattva path, and for every class of being in every realm.