維摩詰所說經 觀眾生品第七

Vimalakīrti first lets us look upon a moon reflected in water.

The moon's reflection is distinct, yet no real moon can be apprehended in the water. A face appears in a mirror, yet there is no second face inside it. A mirage appears in the heat, clouds appear in the sky, bubbles appear on water, and a flash of lightning does not remain for long. The scripture also speaks of bird tracks in the sky, the child of a sterile woman, a dream after awakening, and fire arising without a cause. A bodhisattva contemplating sentient beings likewise does not grasp what is seen as a fixed and unchanging self-nature.

The question immediately follows: if sentient beings cannot be grasped in this way, for whom should loving-kindness and compassion still be practised?

Vimalakīrti does not answer, “Since they are like illusions, there is no need to liberate them.” He says that after making this contemplation, the bodhisattva must still form the thought of expounding this Dharma to sentient beings; only this is true loving-kindness. The contemplation of emptiness therefore does not hollow out loving-kindness and compassion. Quiescent loving-kindness, non-burning loving-kindness, non-contentious loving-kindness, nondual loving-kindness, boundless loving-kindness, great compassion loving-kindness, Dharma-giving loving-kindness, precept-keeping loving-kindness, patient loving-kindness, diligent loving-kindness, meditative loving-kindness, wisdom loving-kindness, skillful means loving-kindness—all proceed through peace-and-happiness loving-kindness. The scripture gives the ground for each: bodhisattva loving-kindness brings sentient beings peace, Buddha loving-kindness awakens sentient beings, diligent loving-kindness bears sentient beings, and peace-and-happiness loving-kindness enables them to attain the Buddha's bliss.

Loving-kindness is not conditioned upon grasping sentient beings as truly existent. Precisely because it does not turn sentient beings into objects one possesses and controls, loving-kindness demands nothing in return. Compassion means that merit is shared with all sentient beings; sympathetic joy means benefiting sentient beings without regret; equanimity means performing blessed deeds without expectation.

When the heavenly flowers fall, this principle suddenly acquires a visible form. Flowers falling upon the bodhisattvas drop away, while those falling upon the great disciples cling and will not leave. Śāriputra says that the flowers fail to accord with Dharma, but the goddess says that the flowers themselves make no discrimination; people give rise to discriminating thoughts. The flowers do not discriminate. While the mind that distinguishes the flowers, dislikes them, and hastens to remove them remains, the flowers do not fall.

Śāriputra then remains silent because liberation is beyond speech, but the goddess says that speech and written words are also marks of liberation. She does not establish another liberation outside written words. Liberation is neither within, nor without, nor between the two, and written words likewise are neither within, nor without, nor between the two. If one fabricates a liberation outside written words, the “liberation” thus fabricated becomes a new place of abiding.

Śāriputra asks why she does not transform her female body. The goddess says that for twelve years she has sought the mark of woman and found it utterly unattainable—what, then, is there to transform? She first gives the example of an illusory woman conjured by an illusionist, then makes Śāriputra manifest the body of the goddess while she manifests Śāriputra's body. Śāriputra suddenly does not know how he came to possess a female body. After the spiritual power is withdrawn, the visible form of that female body is neither located nor not located. The scripture does not let an outwardly manifested form become a fixed self-nature.

Even awakening cannot become a final place of abiding. The goddess says that awakening has no place of abiding and therefore there is no person who can possess awakening as an attainment. Past, present, and future are only conventional words and numbers; awakening itself does not possess going, coming, or the present. Śāriputra says that he attains precisely because there is no attainment, and the goddess likewise speaks of the attainment of the buddhas and bodhisattvas through non-attainment.

Sentient beings are like the moon in water. For whom, then, should loving-kindness and compassion be practised? They are practised for sentient beings who are appearing, suffering, and hearing the Dharma, without grasping them as unchanging “ones whom I save.” Loving-kindness, teaching the Dharma, liberation, and manifestation have not been canceled. What is relinquished is only the mind that wants to find a fixed place of abiding in sentient beings, written words, bodily forms, or awakening.

The moon in the water still appears, heavenly flowers are still scattered, speech still occurs, and the goddess still manifests and teaches through the power of her past vows. Amid these present events, the bodhisattva practises loving-kindness: not abandoning sentient beings because they are like illusions, not grasping sentient beings as truly existent because of loving-kindness and compassion; abiding nowhere, yet never ceasing to see and benefit them.

Base text: Kumārajīva's Yao-Qin translation, The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, Middle Scroll, Chapter 07, “Contemplating Sentient Beings.” What follows renders the chapter's seventy-four segments in sequence; none of the thirty similes, thirty practices of loving-kindness, twelve questions and answers, three vehicles, eight unprecedented events, or six virtues at the chapter's end is omitted.

How Should a Bodhisattva Contemplate Sentient Beings?

At that time, Mañjuśrī asked Vimalakīrti, “How should a bodhisattva contemplate sentient beings?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “A bodhisattva should contemplate sentient beings as an illusionist regards the people he has conjured.” He then gave thirty similes in sequence:

1. Like an illusionist regarding a person he has conjured: a human form appears, yet no fixed and real person can be apprehended.
2. Like a wise person seeing the moon's reflection in water: the reflection can be seen, yet no real moon can be taken from the water.
3. Like a person seeing his own face in a mirror: the image appears distinctly, yet it is not another real face dwelling inside the mirror.
4. Like a mirage seen in the heat: from afar it seems that something is there, yet on approaching one finds no apprehensible substance.
5. Like an echo produced by a shout: the sound appears in response to the call, yet one cannot cling to a separate speaker within it.
6. Like clouds in the sky: they take shape when conditions gather, yet cannot remain fixed and unchanging.
7. Like foam gathered upon water: many bubbles of foam temporarily collect, yet no solid core lies within.
8. Like a bubble on the water's surface: it arises according to conditions and disperses in an instant.
9. Like searching inside a plantain trunk for solid, non-hollow heartwood: layer after layer is peeled away, but no graspable solid core can be found.
10. Like requiring lightning to remain for a long time: the flash appears, yet cannot endure.
11. Like looking for a fifth great element apart from earth, water, fire, and wind.
12. Like looking for a sixth aggregate apart from form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness.
13. Like establishing a seventh faculty beyond the fixed number already given.
14. Like establishing a thirteenth entrance beyond the twelve entrances.
15. Like establishing a nineteenth element beyond the eighteen elements.
16. Like seeking an apprehensible form within the formless realm.
17. Like scorched grain producing a new sprout.
18. Like a person who has entered the fruit of stream-entry still possessing the view of a body.
19. Like a non-returner entering a womb and taking birth again.
20. Like an arhat still possessing the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion.
21. Like a bodhisattva who has attained acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas still giving rise to greed and anger and violating the precepts.
22. Like the Buddha still possessing habitual residues of affliction.
23. Like a blind person able to see visible forms.
24. Like a person who has entered the absorption of cessation still breathing out and breathing in.
25. Like tracks left in the sky by a bird in flight.
26. Like a sterile woman able to bear a child.
27. Like a conjured person genuinely giving rise to afflictions.
28. Like the scenes of a dream remaining as present reality after one has awakened.
29. Like someone who has passed into cessation receiving another body.
30. Like a fire arising without any cause or basis.

After each group, Vimalakīrti returned to the same answer: a bodhisattva should contemplate sentient beings in just this way. This does not say that there are no sentient beings before us who can be taught and transformed; it says that sentient beings cannot be grasped as fixed, unchanging, independently real selves.

If Sentient Beings Are Contemplated as Illusory, How Can Loving-Kindness Still Be Practised?

Mañjuśrī then asked, “If a bodhisattva contemplates in this way, how should he practise loving-kindness?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “After contemplating in this way, the bodhisattva should still form the thought: I should expound this Dharma to sentient beings. This is true loving-kindness.” He then unfolded the practices of loving-kindness one by one:

1. True loving-kindness: although knowing that sentient beings cannot be grasped as real entities, one still explains this Dharma to them and does not stop at an empty idea.
2. Quiescent loving-kindness: one practises loving-kindness without separately producing a graspable mark of loving-kindness, because originally nothing arises.
3. Non-burning loving-kindness: one practises loving-kindness without the burning distress of afflictions.
4. Equal loving-kindness: one is equal toward the past, present, and future and does not discriminate in favor according to time.
5. Non-contentious loving-kindness: one does not give rise to a grasping that contends with the marks of dharmas, because nothing arises.
6. Nondual loving-kindness: one does not grasp the inner practitioner of loving-kindness and the outer object as two entities and then speak of joining them.
7. Indestructible loving-kindness: the mark of loving-kindness has reached ultimate exhaustion, and there is nothing that can destroy it.
8. Firm loving-kindness: the mind is not destroyed, and the loving-kindness practised remains firm and indestructible.
9. Pure loving-kindness: one knows that the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is pure.
10. Boundless loving-kindness: like space, it has no boundary and is not confined to any one place.
11. Arhat loving-kindness: it can destroy the bonds of affliction as one destroys harmful thieves.
12. Bodhisattva loving-kindness: its practice brings sentient beings peace and security.
13. Tathāgata loving-kindness: it accords with the mark of suchness.
14. Buddha loving-kindness: one awakens oneself and also awakens sentient beings.
15. Spontaneous loving-kindness: it is attained without dependence upon an external fabricated cause.
16. Awakening loving-kindness: it is practised within the equal, single flavor.
17. Unequaled loving-kindness: because all attachments of craving are cut off, it cannot be compared with a loving-kindness that possesses craving.
18. Great compassion loving-kindness: it guides sentient beings by means of the Great Vehicle.
19. Untiring loving-kindness: one contemplates emptiness and non-self and does not grow weary from facing saṃsāra for a long time.
20. Dharma-giving loving-kindness: one gives the Dharma without reservation or reluctance.
21. Precept-keeping loving-kindness: one keeps the precepts oneself and also teaches and transforms those who violate them.
22. Patient loving-kindness: one protects both the other and oneself, preventing angry harm from injuring either.
23. Diligent loving-kindness: one willingly bears the burden of sentient beings and does not retreat because it is heavy.
24. Meditative loving-kindness: one enters meditative concentration without craving its flavor.
25. Wisdom loving-kindness: one knows what should be done at what time and does not miss the appropriate occasion.
26. Skillful means loving-kindness: one makes various manifestations according to what is suitable for sentient beings.
27. Undisguised loving-kindness: the mind is upright and pure, without crooked concealment.
28. Profound-mind loving-kindness: one enters deeply into practice without mixing in other defiled conduct.
29. Non-deceptive loving-kindness: one does not deceive sentient beings, and one's practice is not false.
30. Peace-and-happiness loving-kindness: it enables sentient beings to attain the bliss of the Buddha.

Vimalakīrti said, “Such is the bodhisattva's loving-kindness.”

Mañjuśrī then asked, “What is called compassion?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “The bodhisattva wishes to share with all sentient beings every merit he cultivates and produces.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is called sympathetic joy?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Having benefited sentient beings, one rejoices inwardly and has no regret.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is called equanimity?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “For every blessing and wholesome protection one creates, one expects no repayment from sentient beings and anticipates no future result.”

From Fear of Saṃsāra, Tracing Back All the Way to Non-Abiding

Mañjuśrī then asked, “Saṃsāra inspires fear. On what should a bodhisattva rely?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “While within the fear of saṃsāra, a bodhisattva should rely on the power of the Tathāgata's merit.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “If a bodhisattva wishes to rely on the power of the Tathāgata's merit, in what should he abide?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “He should abide in liberating all sentient beings.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “To liberate sentient beings, what should he remove?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “He should remove the afflictions of sentient beings.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “To remove afflictions, what should he practise?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “He should practise right mindfulness.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “How should he practise right mindfulness?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “He should practise non-arising and non-ceasing.”

Mañjuśrī pressed further, “What dharma should not arise? What dharma should not cease?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “He should cause unwholesome dharmas not to arise and wholesome dharmas not to cease.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is the root of the wholesome and unwholesome?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “The body is their root.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is the root of the body?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Craving and desire are its root.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is the root of craving and desire?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “False discrimination is its root.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is the root of false discrimination?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Inverted perception is its root.”

Mañjuśrī asked, “What is the root of inverted perception?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Non-abiding is its root.”

Mañjuśrī finally asked, “What, in turn, is the root of non-abiding?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Non-abiding has no further root. Mañjuśrī! It is precisely from this root of non-abiding that all dharmas are established.”

Why Do Heavenly Flowers Fall from the Bodhisattvas but Cling to the Disciples?

At that time, there was a goddess in Vimalakīrti's room. Seeing the honored ones present listening to the Dharma being taught, she manifested her body and scattered heavenly flowers over the bodhisattvas and great disciples. The flowers that fell upon the bodhisattvas immediately dropped away; those that fell upon the great disciples clung and did not fall. All the disciples used spiritual powers to try to remove the flowers, but still could not make them leave their bodies.

The goddess asked Śāriputra, “Why are you trying to remove the flowers?”

Śāriputra replied, “These flowers do not accord with the Dharma for renunciants, so I am removing them.”

The goddess said, “Do not say that these flowers fail to accord with the Dharma. Why? The flowers themselves make no discrimination; good sir, it is you who have given rise to discriminating thought. If one has gone forth in the Buddha-Dharma yet still discriminates inwardly, that is what fails to accord with the Dharma; if there is no discrimination, that accords with the Dharma. Look at the bodhisattvas: the flowers do not cling to them precisely because they have cut off all discriminating thoughts.”

She continued, “It is like a person in fear, who gives nonhuman beings an opening through which to enter. Because the great disciples fear saṃsāra, the five objects of desire—visible form, sound, scent, taste, and touch—can take advantage of an opening and disturb them. For one who has left fear behind, visible form, sound, scent, taste, and touch can do nothing. While the residual habits of the bonds of affliction have not been exhausted, the flowers cling to the body; once those residual habits are exhausted, the flowers no longer cling.”

If Liberation Cannot Be Spoken, Why Does the Goddess Forbid Leaving Words Behind?

Śāriputra asked, “How long have you dwelt in this room?”

The goddess replied, “I have dwelt in this room for as long as the elder's liberation.”

Śāriputra asked, “Then have you dwelt here for a long time?”

The goddess asked in return, “What duration, long or short, can be spoken of concerning the elder's liberation?”

Śāriputra remained silent and did not answer. The goddess then asked, “You are an elder advanced in years and possessing great wisdom. Why do you remain silent?”

Śāriputra replied, “Liberation is originally beyond all speech, so here I do not know what to say.”

The goddess said, “Speech and written words are all marks of liberation. Why? Liberation is neither within, nor without, nor between within and without; written words are likewise neither within, nor without, nor between the two. Therefore, Śāriputra, one cannot leave written words behind and separately expound a liberation. Why? All dharmas are originally marks of liberation.”

Śāriputra asked, “Is liberation no longer understood as leaving behind sexual desire, anger, and delusion?”

The goddess replied, “For people with overweening pride, the Buddha says that leaving sexual desire, anger, and delusion behind is liberation. For those without overweening pride, the Buddha says that the very nature of sexual desire, anger, and delusion is liberation.” This statement preserves the condition concerning overweening pride; it does not tell people to follow sexual desire, anger, and delusion.

Śāriputra praised her: “Excellent! Excellent! Goddess, what have you attained? What have you realized? How do you possess such eloquence?”

The goddess replied, “I have no attainment and no realization, and therefore can speak with such eloquence. Why? If one believes oneself to have an attainment and a realization, one has overweening pride within the Buddha-Dharma.”

The Question of the Three Vehicles and Eight Rare Events in Vimalakīrti's Room

Śāriputra asked the goddess, “Among the three vehicles of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the Great Vehicle, which vehicle do you ultimately aspire to?”

The goddess replied, “In order to teach and transform sentient beings through the śrāvaka Dharma, I am a śrāvaka; in order to teach and transform sentient beings through the Dharma of conditions, I am a pratyekabuddha; in order to teach and transform sentient beings through the Dharma of great compassion, I am the Great Vehicle.”

She continued, “Suppose someone enters a grove of champak flowers. He smells only the fragrance of champak flowers and no longer smells any other fragrance. Those who enter this room likewise smell only the fragrance of the Buddha's merit and do not delight in smelling the fragrance of the merit of śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas. Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, gods, dragons, ghosts, and spirits enter this room and hear this honored one expound the true Dharma. They all delight in the fragrance of the Buddha's merit, arouse the aspiration to seek buddhahood, and then depart.”

The goddess further said, “I have dwelt in this room for twelve years and have never heard a teaching concerned only with the śrāvaka Dharma or the pratyekabuddha Dharma. I have heard only the great loving-kindness and great compassion of bodhisattvas and the inconceivable Dharma of the buddhas. Śāriputra, this room constantly manifests eight unprecedented and exceedingly rare events:”

1. Golden light constantly shines within the room, with no difference between day and night; its brightness depends neither on sunlight nor moonlight.
2. Those who enter this room are not disturbed or harmed by defilements and afflictions.
3. Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, and bodhisattvas from other regions constantly come to assemble without interruption.
4. The six perfections and the Dharma of nonretrogression are constantly taught within the room.
5. The finest music of gods and humans constantly plays within the room, and the strings of the instruments produce immeasurable Dharma sounds that teach and transform sentient beings.
6. The room contains four great treasuries filled with every kind of jewel, which support the poor and relieve those in want; whoever comes to seek may draw upon treasures that are never exhausted.
7. Buddha Śākyamuni, Buddha Amitābha, Akṣobhya Buddha, Jewel-Virtue, Jewel-Flame, Jewel-Moon, Jewel-Adornment, Hard-to-Conquer, Lion's Roar Accomplishing Every Benefit, and the immeasurable buddhas of the ten directions all come into the room whenever this honored one recollects them. They extensively expound the secret and essential treasury of the buddhas' Dharma and depart after teaching it.
8. All the adorned palaces of the gods and all the pure lands of the buddhas appear within this room.

The goddess asked, “This room constantly manifests eight events never before seen and exceedingly rare. Who could see these inconceivable events and still delight only in the śrāvaka Dharma?”

If the Mark of Woman Cannot Be Apprehended, What Is There to Transform?

Śāriputra asked, “Why do you not transform your female body?”

The goddess replied, “Throughout these twelve years, I have continually sought a fixed and real mark of woman but have never been able to apprehend it. Since the mark of woman cannot be apprehended, what would I transform? Suppose an illusionist conjured an illusory woman. If someone asked her why she did not transform her female body, would the question be correctly posed?”

Śāriputra replied, “No. A conjured appearance has no fixed intrinsic nature, so what could be transformed?”

The goddess said, “All dharmas are likewise without fixed and unchanging marks. Why, then, do you still ask why I do not transform my female body?”

At that moment, the goddess employed spiritual power, making Śāriputra appear like the goddess while she appeared like Śāriputra. She asked Śāriputra, “Why do you not transform your female body?”

Appearing in the form of the goddess, Śāriputra replied, “I now do not know how I was transformed and came to appear in a female body.”

The goddess said, “Śāriputra, if you can transform away this present female body, then all women should likewise be able to transform. Just as Śāriputra was originally not a woman yet now appears in a female body, so all women likewise appear in female bodies but are not fixed and real female selves. Therefore, the Buddha says that all dharmas are neither male nor female.”

The goddess immediately withdrew her spiritual power, and Śāriputra recovered his original bodily form. The goddess asked, “Where is the visible form of the female body you had just now?”

Śāriputra replied, “That visible form of the female body cannot be said to be located somewhere, nor can it be said to be utterly absent.”

The goddess said, “All dharmas are likewise neither located nor not located. Neither located nor not located—this is what the Buddha teaches.”

No Death or Birth, Awakening in the Three Times, and Non-Attainment

Śāriputra asked the goddess, “When your life here ends, where will you be born?”

The goddess replied, “I will be born in the same way and place as a person conjured by the Buddha.”

Śāriputra said, “A person manifested by the Buddha undergoes no real death or birth.”

The goddess replied, “Sentient beings are likewise: no fixed self truly dies, and no fixed self is truly born.”

Śāriputra then asked, “How much longer will it be before you attain unsurpassed perfect awakening?”

The goddess replied, “I will accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening when Śāriputra returns to being an ordinary person.”

Śāriputra said, “There is no possibility of my returning to being an ordinary person.”

The goddess said, “There is likewise no possibility of my obtaining an apprehensible unsurpassed perfect awakening. Why? Awakening has no fixed place of abiding, and therefore there is no person who can make awakening into an attainment.”

Śāriputra asked, “Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges have attained, now attain, and will attain unsurpassed perfect awakening in the present, past, and future. What do you say to this?”

The goddess replied, “It is only in dependence on the words and numbers commonly used in the world that past, present, and future are spoken of. It does not mean that awakening itself truly possesses a past, present, and future.”

The goddess asked Śāriputra in return, “Have you attained the path of an arhat?”

Śāriputra replied, “Precisely because there is no attainment, it is provisionally called attainment.”

The goddess said, “The buddhas and bodhisattvas are likewise: precisely because there is non-attainment, they are said to have realized attainment.”

Vimalakīrti Explains the Goddess's Virtues

At that time, Vimalakīrti said to Śāriputra, “This goddess has already made offerings to 9.2 billion buddhas. She can freely exercise the spiritual powers of bodhisattvas, and all the vows she has made are fulfilled. She has attained acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas and abides in nonretrogression. Through the power of her past vows, she can manifest different bodily forms according to her intent and teach and transform sentient beings.”

The chapter does not measure the goddess's virtues by her outward female appearance. Vimalakīrti explains them one by one through six items—offerings, spiritual powers, fulfillment of vows, acceptance of non-arising, nonretrogression, and manifestation through past vows—showing why she can debate with Śāriputra in the room, manifest bodily forms at will, and teach and transform sentient beings.

「菩薩云何觀於眾生？」—“How does a bodhisattva contemplate sentient beings?” Mañjuśrī's question does not stop at whether sentient beings exist or do not exist. Vimalakīrti first answers with thirty similes and then immediately says that, after contemplating in this way, the bodhisattva thinks, 「我當為眾生說如斯法」—“I should expound this Dharma to sentient beings”; this is true loving-kindness. The tension of the entire chapter lies here: if sentient beings cannot be grasped as fixed entities, does loving-kindness and compassion also lose its direction? The scripture's answer neither retreats to real existence nor stops teaching and transforming. Without abiding in the marks of sentient beings, it still carries out, one by one, the teaching of Dharma, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, liberation, and past vows.

From thirty similes to thirty practices of loving-kindness, from tracing the fear of saṃsāra backward to non-abiding, and from heavenly flowers clinging to bodies through the liberation of written words, the indeterminacy of female form, awakening without abiding, and non-attainment, this chapter repeatedly asks the same question: when the mind grasps sentient beings, what accords with Dharma, liberation, male and female, the three vehicles, or awakening, has what it grasps once again become a place of abiding? What follows reads only through this chapter itself, step by step, without first borrowing another tradition's answer to replace the scripture.

Why Can None of the Thirty Similes Be Omitted?

Vimalakīrti's first answer does not end with the single statement “sentient beings are like illusions.” He first speaks of an illusionist seeing a conjured person, then of a wise person seeing the moon in water, a face in a mirror, a mirage in the heat, the echo of a call, clouds in the sky, foam gathered on water, a bubble on water, solidity in a plantain, and lightning remaining for a long time. Some of these ten images are visible but cannot be grasped; some temporarily appear through conditions; some gather without solidity; some do not remain even for a moment. The scripture does not compress them into a single image, but lets the reader look from different directions: appearance does not mean that a fixed self-nature dwells within what appears.

The fifth great element, sixth aggregate, seventh faculty, thirteenth entrance, and nineteenth element then continue the sequence item by item. Form in the formless realm, sprouts from scorched grain, the body-view of a stream-enterer, a non-returner's entry into a womb, the three poisons in an arhat, greed, anger, and broken precepts in a bodhisattva who has attained acceptance, and habitual residues of affliction in a buddha are likewise enumerated one by one by the scripture and then returned to the statement that a bodhisattva contemplates sentient beings in this way. This passage only lists the names; it does not unfold here which afflictions have or have not been cut off at each named stage.

Finally, a blind person seeing visible form, breathing in and out within the absorption of cessation, bird tracks in the sky, the child of a sterile woman, a conjured person giving rise to afflictions, still seeing a dream after awakening, one who has passed into cessation receiving another body, and fire without a cause each press what is contemplated toward non-apprehension. A blind person cannot see visible form; the sky contains no bird tracks; a sterile woman has no child; after waking, the dream has passed; and fire does not arise without a cause. Vimalakīrti concludes three times: this is precisely how a bodhisattva should contemplate sentient beings.

If only the simile of the illusionist were retained, one could not see how the scripture proceeds layer by layer through images, gathering and dispersal, fixed enumerations, stages of attainment, and impossible things. The common function of the thirty similes is not to tell people to deny the sentient beings before them who are suffering and capable of hearing the Dharma, but to prevent the establishment upon sentient beings of an eternally unchanging entity that one can grasp. This point must be tested by the next question: if contemplating sentient beings led only to indifference, Mañjuśrī would not immediately ask about loving-kindness, and Vimalakīrti would not immediately answer with true loving-kindness.

Where Does Loving-Kindness Begin When One Does Not Abide in the Marks of Sentient Beings?

「菩薩作是觀已，自念：『我當為眾生說如斯法。』是即真實慈也。」—“After contemplating in this way, the bodhisattva thinks, ‘I should expound this Dharma to sentient beings.’ This is true loving-kindness.” This sentence joins contemplation to action. After completing the thirty contemplations, the bodhisattva does not say, “Since they are like illusions, there is no one to liberate.” The very thought he raises is to explain this same Dharma to sentient beings. True loving-kindness is not established by grasping sentient beings as entities, nor does it use the contemplation of emptiness as a reason to stop acting.

The thirty practices of loving-kindness then unfold one by one. Quiescent loving-kindness is grounded in nothing arising; non-burning loving-kindness in the absence of afflictions; equal loving-kindness is equal toward the three times; non-contentious loving-kindness gives rise to nothing; nondual loving-kindness does not establish an inner and an outer and then join them; indestructible loving-kindness reaches ultimate exhaustion; firm loving-kindness has a mind that is not destroyed; pure loving-kindness sees the purity of the nature of dharmas; boundless loving-kindness is like space; arhat loving-kindness destroys the thieves that are the bonds. The first ten already carry loving-kindness from quiescence, non-burning, equality, non-contention, and nonduality through to purity, boundlessness, and the destruction of bonds.

Bodhisattva loving-kindness brings sentient beings peace; Tathāgata loving-kindness attains the mark of suchness; Buddha loving-kindness awakens sentient beings; spontaneous loving-kindness is attained without a cause; awakening loving-kindness is equal and of one flavor; unequaled loving-kindness cuts off all craving; great compassion loving-kindness guides by means of the Great Vehicle; untiring loving-kindness contemplates emptiness and non-self; Dharma-giving loving-kindness keeps nothing back; precept-keeping loving-kindness teaches those who violate the precepts. These ten connect loving-kindness with bringing sentient beings peace, awakening sentient beings, cutting off craving, guiding through the Great Vehicle, contemplating emptiness and non-self, giving Dharma, and keeping precepts. Loving-kindness is not a vague goodwill; in each item it has a direction within practice.

Patient loving-kindness protects the other and oneself; diligent loving-kindness bears the burden of sentient beings; meditative loving-kindness does not receive the flavor of meditation; wisdom loving-kindness knows the right time; skillful-means loving-kindness lacks no manifestation; undisguised loving-kindness has an upright and pure mind; profound-mind loving-kindness has no mixed practice; non-deceptive loving-kindness is not false; peace-and-happiness loving-kindness enables attainment of the Buddha's bliss. Together with true loving-kindness at the beginning, all thirty are complete. Patience does not merely endure one's own pain but protects both sides; diligent effort does not merely seek one's own progress but bears sentient beings; meditation does not abide in its flavor, wisdom does not miss the right time, skillful means does not omit manifestations, and peace-and-happiness loving-kindness is directed toward the bliss of the Buddha.

Mañjuśrī next asks about compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Vimalakīrti's answers are all brief, yet leave no vague remainder. Compassion means that every merit produced by the bodhisattva is shared with all sentient beings. Sympathetic joy means rejoicing without regret after bringing benefit. Equanimity means performing blessed deeds without expectation. Compassion comes to rest in sharing merit with sentient beings, sympathetic joy in having no regret after benefiting them, and equanimity in performing blessings without expectation. Each of the three answers keeps to its own sentence; the scripture establishes no additional general theory here.

Why Does Fear of Saṃsāra Lead All the Way to Non-Abiding?

After the four immeasurables, Mañjuśrī turns the question toward the bodhisattva himself: while amid the fear of saṃsāra, upon what does he rely? Vimalakīrti answers that he relies upon the power of the Tathāgata's merit. If he is to rely upon this power, where should he abide? The answer is in liberating all sentient beings. These two answers directly join reliance to benefiting others: reliance is not for withdrawing from sentient beings, but for abiding in their liberation.

The questions and answers then trace backward layer by layer. To liberate sentient beings, remove afflictions; to remove afflictions, practise right mindfulness; right mindfulness practises non-arising and non-ceasing. Mañjuśrī does not let “non-arising and non-ceasing” remain an easily misunderstood phrase. He further asks what does not arise and what does not cease. Vimalakīrti answers clearly: unwholesome dharmas do not arise, and wholesome dharmas do not cease. Here non-arising and non-ceasing have a definite referent in practice: do not allow the unwholesome to arise, and do not allow wholesome dharmas to disappear.

The exchange then pursues the root still further. Wholesome and unwholesome have body as their root; body has craving and desire as its root; craving and desire have false discrimination as their root; false discrimination has inverted perception as its root; inverted perception has non-abiding as its root. Each answer takes what was seen at the preceding layer to a deeper one, until Mañjuśrī asks what, in turn, is the root of non-abiding. Vimalakīrti does not provide another dharma behind it, but answers that non-abiding has no root and that all dharmas are established from the root of non-abiding.

The two ends of this exchange cannot be separated. If one takes only the final sentence on non-abiding, one loses the sequence that begins with the fear of saṃsāra and proceeds through the Tathāgata's merit, the liberation of sentient beings, the removal of afflictions, and right mindfulness. If one takes only the first half on cultivating the wholesome and cutting off the unwholesome, one misses how the scripture traces back to body, craving and desire, false discrimination, and inverted perception as without abiding. A bodhisattva neither abandons sentient beings because of fear in saṃsāra nor reestablishes the wholesome dharmas he practises as a final root in which to abide.

The Flowers Make No Discrimination—Who Says They Fail to Accord with Dharma?

When the exchange on non-abiding ends, the scripture does not add another abstract explanation but has the goddess scatter flowers. Flowers that reach the bodhisattvas fall away, whereas those that reach the great disciples cling and do not fall; the disciples use spiritual powers to remove them but still cannot make them go. Śāriputra says that the flowers fail to accord with Dharma, but the goddess points out that the flowers themselves make no discrimination—it is Śāriputra who gives rise to discriminating thought. She moves the question of what accords and fails to accord with Dharma from the flowers back to the mind of the renunciant: to discriminate is to fail to accord with Dharma; to be without discrimination is to accord with Dharma.

The goddess then takes clinging and not clinging still deeper. The flowers do not cling to the bodhisattvas because they have cut off all discriminating thought. The scripture reads, 「譬如人畏時，非人得其便；如是弟子畏生死故，色、聲、香、味、觸得其便也」—“It is like a person in fear, when nonhuman beings gain an opening; likewise, because the disciples fear saṃsāra, visible form, sound, scent, taste, and touch gain an opening.” For those who have left fear behind, none of the five desires can do anything. When residual habits of the bonds are not exhausted, the flowers cling to the body; when those residual habits are exhausted, the flowers do not cling.

The scripture does not stop at the appearance of the flowers: Śāriputra's spiritual power cannot make them leave his body, while the goddess takes the dialogue toward discriminating thought, fear of saṃsāra, and residual habits of the bonds. Whether the flowers fall becomes, in this chapter, a visible exchange about whether inward grasping has fallen away.

If Liberation Cannot Be Spoken, Can One Still Leave Written Words Behind?

Śāriputra asks how long the goddess has dwelt in the room, and she answers: as long as the elder's liberation. When Śāriputra presses her on whether she has dwelt there long, the goddess asks how long liberation has lasted. Śāriputra remains silent, saying that liberation is beyond speech and therefore he does not know what to say. If the exchange ended here, silence might appear to be the final answer; the goddess immediately says instead that speech and written words are all marks of liberation.

Her explanation does not depart from the sentences of this chapter: liberation is neither within, nor without, nor between the two; written words are likewise neither within, nor without, nor between the two. The scripture then says that one cannot leave written words behind and separately speak of a liberation, because all dharmas are marks of liberation. She directly places written words and all dharmas together as marks of liberation.

Śāriputra again asks whether liberation does not consist in leaving sexual desire, anger, and delusion behind. The goddess's answer preserves the different audiences addressed by the two teachings: for people with overweening pride, the Buddha teaches that leaving sexual desire, anger, and delusion behind is liberation; for those without overweening pride, he teaches that the nature of sexual desire, anger, and delusion is itself liberation. The scripture attaches the two teachings respectively to those with and without overweening pride; it does not remove the condition concerning the listener.

Thus, when Śāriputra praises the goddess's eloquence and asks what she has attained and realized, the goddess answers that she has no attainment and no realization, and precisely for this reason speaks with such eloquence. If she saw an attainment and a realization, she would have overweening pride within the Buddha-Dharma. From liberation not being apart from written words to eloquence arising from no attainment and no realization, the chapter returns both language and realization to a contemplation in which there is no abiding and no self-elevation.

To Which Vehicle Does the Goddess Belong, and What Appears within This Room?

Śāriputra asks which of the three vehicles the goddess aspires to. She does not select a fixed identity: when she teaches sentient beings with the śrāvaka Dharma, she is a śrāvaka; when she teaches sentient beings with the Dharma of conditions, she is a pratyekabuddha; when she teaches sentient beings with the Dharma of great compassion, she is the Great Vehicle. Teaching sentient beings stands at the syntactic center of all three answers. The Dharma employed differs, but the work of teaching continues.

She then uses the champak grove to explain what is heard in the room: entering the grove, one smells only the fragrance of champak; entering this room, one smells only the fragrance of the Buddha's merit. Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, gods, dragons, ghosts, and spirits enter this room, hear Vimalakīrti teach the Dharma, delight in the fragrance of the Buddha's merit, arouse aspiration, and depart. The goddess has dwelt in the room for twelve years without hearing the Dharma of śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas; she has heard only the bodhisattvas' great loving-kindness and great compassion and the inconceivable Dharma of the buddhas.

The eight unprecedented and rare events likewise cannot be abbreviated into one marvel. First, golden light in the room makes no distinction between day and night and does not depend on the sun or moon. Second, those who enter are not affected by defilements or distress. Third, Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, and bodhisattvas from other regions come to assemble without interruption. Fourth, the six perfections and the Dharma of nonretrogression are constantly taught. Fifth, the finest music of gods and humans plays, and its strings produce immeasurable Dharma sounds of teaching and transformation. Sixth, four great treasuries are filled with jewels and support the poor and relieve the needy, while what is sought and taken is inexhaustible. Seventh, Buddha Śākyamuni, Buddha Amitābha, Akṣobhya Buddha, Jewel-Virtue, Jewel-Flame, Jewel-Moon, Jewel-Adornment, Hard-to-Conquer, Lion's Roar Accomplishing Every Benefit, and the immeasurable buddhas of the ten directions come when Vimalakīrti recollects them, extensively teach the secret and essential treasury of Dharma, and then return. Eighth, all the palaces of the gods and the pure lands of the buddhas appear within the room.

Only after stating all eight does the goddess ask: who, on seeing these inconceivable events, would still delight in the śrāvaka Dharma? The scripture does not merge the answer on the three vehicles with the eight events into one paragraph. The former explains how she manifests through the three vehicles in accordance with teaching; the latter explains what she has heard and what has appeared during the twelve years in this room. The two passages follow one another, and each bears responsibility for its own exchange.

After the Female Form Is Transformed, Can a Fixed Mark of Woman Still Be Found?

Śāriputra asks why the goddess does not transform her female body. She does not first answer when she will transform it, but says that throughout twelve years she has sought the mark of woman and found it utterly unattainable; she finds it signless, with no mark to attain, and therefore there is nothing to transform. Using an illusory woman conjured by an illusionist, she asks in return: if one asked the illusory woman why she did not transform her female body, would the question itself be correct? Śāriputra answers that an illusion has no fixed mark and no fixed self that could be transformed.

The goddess does not stop at the simile. Through spiritual power, she makes Śāriputra manifest the body of the goddess and herself manifest the body of Śāriputra; she then asks Śāriputra why he does not transform his female body. Appearing as the goddess, Śāriputra replies that he does not know how he has been transformed into a female body. From his immediate experience the goddess then says: if Śāriputra can transform away this female body himself, all women should also be able to transform. Śāriputra was originally not a woman yet manifests a female body; all women likewise manifest female bodies but are not fixed female entities. Therefore, the Buddha says that all dharmas are neither male nor female.

After withdrawing her spiritual power, the goddess asks where the visible form of the female body just displayed now is. Śāriputra replies that it is neither located nor not located, and the goddess says that all dharmas are likewise neither located nor not located. This passage moves from the non-apprehension of the mark of woman, through the absence of a fixed mark in an illusory woman and the exchange of appearances, to the visible form of the female body as neither located nor not located. Every step occurs within the scripture's narrative; there is no need to invent a slogan detached from the exchange.

How Are No Death or Birth, Attaining Awakening, and Non-Attainment Gathered Together?

Śāriputra asks where the goddess will be born after her life here ends. The goddess answers: where one conjured by the Buddha is born. Śāriputra says that a person conjured by the Buddha has no death or birth, and the goddess says that sentient beings likewise have no death or birth. This answer echoes the contemplation of a conjured person at the beginning: the chapter first contemplates sentient beings as conjured people, and later again answers a question about death and birth through one conjured by the Buddha.

Śāriputra then asks when she will attain awakening, and the goddess answers: when he returns to being an ordinary person. Śāriputra says that his returning to ordinary status has no possible place, and the goddess says that her obtaining an apprehensible awakening likewise has no possible place, because awakening has no place of abiding and there is no one who attains it. When Śāriputra asks further about the present, past, and future buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges who attain awakening, the goddess says that the three times are spoken of through conventional words and numbers; awakening itself does not possess a past, future, or present.

Finally, the goddess asks Śāriputra whether he has attained the path of an arhat. Śāriputra answers, 「無所得故而得。」—“Precisely because there is no attainment, it is attained.” The goddess then says that the buddhas and bodhisattvas likewise attain precisely because there is non-attainment. Attainment and non-attainment are not converted into two answers from which one can choose. The scripture first lets Śāriputra speak of non-attainment through his own realization and then carries the same sentence form to the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

At the end, Vimalakīrti lists six virtues of the goddess: having made offerings to 9.2 billion buddhas, freely exercising the spiritual powers of bodhisattvas, having fulfilled her vows, having attained acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, abiding in nonretrogression, and manifesting at will through past vows to teach and transform sentient beings. These six items invite the reader to look back over the whole passage: the goddess does not claim attainment and realization through her eloquence; Vimalakīrti explains her long history of offerings, spiritual powers, vows, acceptance, nonretrogression, and teaching and transformation.

The chapter has now traversed the opening question completely. Contemplating sentient beings as illusory does not delete them from loving-kindness and compassion; practising true loving-kindness does not once again grasp an existent sentient being. Flowers, written words, female form, death and birth, the three times, and awakening can all appear, be spoken, and be used before us without becoming fixed self-natures in which the mind abides. The bodhisattva's line of reception falls precisely along this path: not abiding in marks yet not abandoning action, and with non-attainment still manifesting at will through past vows to teach and transform sentient beings.

Two Mirrors Shining Side by Side

Everything above has followed only this chapter of Kumārajīva's recension. When the ancient masters read its contemplation of sentient beings, true loving-kindness, non-abiding, scattered flowers, written words, female form, and non-attainment, each mirror revealed different patterns. Here the three Kumārajīva-line commentators and the Ci'en tradition are each returned to their own recension and presented without adjudication. What is seen in the mirrors enters only this section and is not retrojected as something directly stated earlier by the scripture.

The Kumārajīva-Line Mirror: Illusory and without Reality, Yet the Contemplation of Emptiness Does Not Abandon the Practice of Loving-Kindness

Kumārajīva first establishes a warning between existence and emptiness: 「若常在有則累於想著，若常觀空則捨於善本。若空有迭用則不設二過，猶日月代用萬物以成。」—“If one constantly remains in existence, one becomes burdened by conceptual attachment; if one constantly contemplates emptiness, one abandons wholesome roots. If emptiness and existence are used by turns, neither fault is established, just as the sun and moon alternate and the myriad things come to completion.” This mirror neither lets contemplation of sentient beings abide only in existence nor lets contemplation of emptiness become the abandonment of the wholesome. Daosheng safeguards both sides of the illusion simile with one sentence: 「非不有幻人，但無實人耳。」—“It is not that the conjured person does not appear; there is simply no real person.” The conjured person appears, yet there is no real person. Sentient beings seen through this simile likewise do not fall into annihilation.

Sengzhao directly joins contemplation of emptiness to teaching the Dharma: 「眾生本空，不能自覺，故為說斯法令其自悟耳，豈我有彼哉？」—“Sentient beings are originally empty but cannot awaken to this themselves; therefore this Dharma is taught so that they may awaken for themselves. How could it be that I possess them?” He further gathers the thirty practices of loving-kindness within a single body of loving-kindness, saying, 「名行雖殊，而俱出慈體，故盡以慈為名焉。」—“Although their names and practices differ, they all issue from the body of loving-kindness; therefore all are named loving-kindness.” Kumārajīva, Sengzhao, and Daosheng each take a different stand on quiescent loving-kindness: one speaks of knowing quiescence and non-arising yet giving rise to loving-kindness; one of loving-kindness that is signless and without conditions; one of establishing illusory loving-kindness because sentient beings are illusory. All three remain without being compressed into one explanation.

In the exchange on non-abiding, Kumārajīva speaks of dharmas lacking self-nature and arising in response to conditions, hence having no place of dependence. Sengzhao lists non-abiding, inverted perception, discrimination, craving, body, wholesome and unwholesome, and the myriad dharmas in reverse. Daosheng says that non-abiding is precisely the principle of having no root. At the scattered flowers, Sengzhao condenses the hinge into 「如法不如法，在心不在華。」—“What accords or fails to accord with Dharma lies in the mind, not in the flowers.” At the liberation of written words he again asks, 「三處求文字解脫俱不可得，如之何欲離文字而別說解脫乎？」—“When written words and liberation are sought in the three places, neither can be apprehended; how could one wish to leave written words behind and speak of a separate liberation?” The Kumārajīva-line reception proceeds from illusion without reality and the practice of loving-kindness within emptiness to discrimination in the mind and liberation that cannot be separated from written words.

The Ci'en Mirror: What Is Taught Is Not Real, while Three Kinds of Loving-Kindness, Discrimination, and Dharma-Nature Each Have Their Levels

Following Xuanzang's recension, Kuiji titles the chapter “Contemplating Sentient Beings”; its system of personal names also differs from that of Kumārajīva's recension. The alternative names are detailed in the Apparatus; this layer continues to use Vimalakīrti and Mañjuśrī. He first preserves both sides of “capable of being taught yet not real,” and then divides the contemplation through illusion into an emptiness-principle interpretation and a Consciousness-Only interpretation, saying, 「依他起性猶如幻事，似非真故。」—“The other-dependent nature is like an illusory event, appearing yet not real.” This mirror does not let one judgment swallow both paths, but gives conventional provisional existence, ultimate original emptiness, the other-dependent, and the imagined their own places within its analysis.

The corresponding passage in Xuanzang's recension contains thirty-eight statements of loving-kindness. Kuiji first divides them into the first thirty and the last eight, then reorganizes them through loving-kindness without conditions, loving-kindness conditioned by dharmas, and loving-kindness conditioned by sentient beings. This is the Ci'en reading based on Xuanzang's recension; it does not rewrite the thirty practices of loving-kindness in Kumārajīva's recension. At non-abiding he says, 「無住即真如。由迷真如，倒境生故。」—“Non-abiding is suchness itself. Through delusion about suchness, inverted objects arise.” He further clarifies, 「故言無住立一切法，不言生也。」—“Therefore it says that non-abiding establishes all dharmas; it does not say that it produces them.” Establishing and producing cannot be confused within this mirror.

At the scattered flowers, Kuiji explains the flowers' absence of discrimination through general grasping and differentiated discrimination, further saying, 「菩薩無二分別，故花不著；聲聞有二分別，故花著身。」—“Bodhisattvas lack the two discriminations, and therefore the flowers do not cling; śrāvakas possess the two discriminations, and therefore the flowers cling to their bodies.” At written words he says, 「於音聲上假名安立，無實文字，何有內外？」—“Written words are provisionally established as names upon sounds; there are no real written words, so how could there be an inner or outer?” At the exchange of female forms he preserves, 「相有男女，實無男女。事有男女，理實無故。」—“In appearance there are male and female, but in reality there are no male and female. Conventionally there are male and female, but in principle they are truly absent.” At no attainment and no realization he further says, 「諸法本空，無得無證。」—“All dharmas are originally empty; there is no attainment and no realization.” This line of reception emphasizes levels of what is taught, the three kinds of loving-kindness, discrimination, Dharma-nature, and non-attainment.

Both mirrors begin from the same chapter's contemplation, loving-kindness, non-abiding, flowers, written words, female form, and attainment and realization, yet unfold them through different Chinese translations and different vocabularies. The Kumārajīva-line mirror preserves the reciprocal use of emptiness and existence, the conjured person as unreal while loving-kindness is not abandoned; the Ci'en mirror preserves what can be taught as not real, its classification into three kinds of loving-kindness, and levels of discrimination. Shining side by side is not harmonization, and reception is not choosing a side: each path keeps its own sentence and stands with equal authority. The scripture remains before both mirrors, leaving non-abiding in marks and non-abandonment of action open at the same time.