The Teaching of Vimalakīrti 2.57

2.57

維摩詰言：「譬如幻師，見所幻人，菩薩觀眾生為若此。如智者見水中月，如鏡中見其面像，如熱時焰，如呼聲響，如空中雲，如水聚沫，如水上泡，如芭蕉堅，如電久住，如第五大，如第六陰，如第七情，如十三入，如十九界，菩薩觀眾生為若此。如無色界色，如焦穀牙，如須陀洹身見，如阿那含入胎，如阿羅漢三毒，如得忍菩薩貪恚毀禁，如佛煩惱習，如盲者見色，如入滅盡定出入息，如空中鳥跡，如石女兒，如化人起煩惱，如夢所見已寤，如滅度者受身，如無因之火，菩薩觀眾生為若此。」

view sentient beings?”

Vimalakīrti said,

i) “As if he were a magician seeing a conjured person, so should a bodhisattva view sentient beings.

ii) “Like a wise person seeing the moon in water,

iii) like seeing the image of a face in a mirror,

iv) like a mirage when it is hot,

v) like the echo of a shout,

vi) like clouds in the sky,

vii) like water collecting into foam,

viii) like bubbles upon water,

ix) like the firmness of the banana tree,

x) like the prolonged abiding of lightning,

xi) like a fifth element,

xii) like a sixth skandha,

xiii) like a seventh sense,

xiv) like a thirteenth entrance (āyatana),

xv) like a nineteenth realm (dhātu)—so should a bodhisattva view sentient beings.

xvi) “Like form in the formless realm,

xvii) like a seedling emerging from burned grain,

xviii) like a stream-enterer’s mistaken view of the body,

xix) like a non-returner’s (anāgāmin) entrance into a womb,

xx) like an arhat’s three poisons,

xxi) like a bodhisattva who has achieved forbearance breaking the prohibition against anger,

xxii) like a buddha’s latent influences of the afflictions,

xxiii) like a blind man seeing forms,

xxiv) like the inhalation and exhalation of someone who has entered the concentration of extinction,

xxv) like the tracks of birds in the sky, like the child of a barren woman,

xxvi) like a conjured person generating the afflictions, like waking up in a dream,

xxvii) like one who has entered nirvana being reborn, like fire without smoke—so should a bodhisattva view sentient beings.”

2. Mañjuśrī said, “If a bodhisattva views sentient beings in this fashion, how should he practice sympathy?”

Vimalakīrti said, “The bodhisattva who views [sentient beings] in this fashion should think to himself, ‘I should explain the Dharma for sentient beings in this fashion, and this will constitute true sympathy.

“‘I should practice the sympathy of extinction, because of the absence of anything generated;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of no-heat, because of the absence of the afflictions;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of sameness, because of the sameness of the three periods of time;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of nondisputation, because of the absence of generation;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of nonduality, because of the nonconjunction of interior and exterior;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of nondestruction, because of the ultimate exhaustion [of the characteristics of sympathy];

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of resoluteness, because of indestructibility; practice the sympathy of purity, because of the essential purity of the dharmas;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of no extremes, because of its being like space; practice the sympathy of an arhat, because of the destruction of the “bandits” of the fetters;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of a bodhisattva, because of the pacification of sentient beings; practice the sympathy of a Tathāgata, because of attainment of the characteristic of “thusness”;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of a buddha, because of the enlightenment of sentient beings; practice the sympathy of the naturally [accomplished sage], because of the imperceptibility of causes;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of bodhi, because of the sameness of the single taste;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of inequivalence, because of the eradication of the affections;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of great compassion, because of guiding [sentient beings] by means of the Mahayana;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of nonrevulsion, because of the contemplation of emptiness and no-self;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of the charity of Dharma, because of the absence of regrets;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of morality, because of converting the transgressors; practice the sympathy of forbearance, because of protecting others and self;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of exertion, because of carrying the burden for sentient beings;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of concentration, because of not experiencing the flavors [of desire];

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of wisdom, because of the absence of any time of non-understanding;

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of skillful means, because of the manifestation of all [teaching methods];

“‘[I should] practice the sympathy of non-hiding, because of the purity of sincerity;