The mark of the bodhisattva adorning the Buddha-land is also empty

Original text: 须菩提。于意云何。菩萨庄严佛土不。不也。世尊。何以故。庄严佛土者。即非庄严。是名庄严。

The Buddha said: Subhūti, what do you think about this? Do bodhisattvas adorn the Buddha-land? Subhūti replied: Bodhisattvas do not adorn the Buddha-land. Why is this said? Because the one who adorns the Buddha-land is, in fact, not adorning the Buddha-land—there is no mark of adorning the Buddha-land; it is merely an adornment in name and appearance.

In terms of worldly dharmas and marks, all of a bodhisattva's cultivation—the practice of the six pāramitās and the ten pāramitās—is the adornment of the Buddha-land, and all of a bodhisattva's endeavors to deliver sentient beings are the adornment of the Buddha-land. The seeds of cultivation and the seeds of delivering sentient beings are retained within one's own mind, the tathāgatagarbha. When the seeds have accumulated to their maximum, the causes and conditions for attaining buddhahood ripen, and then these seeds are used to manifest an adorned Buddha-land. Therefore, all bodhisattva conduct is conduct that adorns the Buddha-land. So, do bodhisattvas adorn the Buddha-land? Of course they adorn the Buddha-land.

However, applying the World-Honored One's universal formula, it is: what is called adornment is not adornment; it is merely named adornment. This means that when bodhisattvas adorn the Buddha-land, there is no true mark of adornment. All of the bodhisattva's conduct is empty and illusory—existence of appearance, emptiness of nature; the existence is false existence, and the appearance is also empty. There is no substantial, true matter of adornment; in substance, everything is true suchness, the one true dharmadhātu, the vajra prajñā mind of true suchness, and everything else is empty and unreal. All dharmas, apart from the never-perishing vajra mind (Vajracitta), are name-marks and false appearances, and must not be grasped as truly existent. Bodhisattvas perform the Buddha's work within a dream, all with an empty mind and a mind of non-attainment—acting yet not acting, never attaching, never craving fame and offerings, and seeking no reward. Ordinary beings are just the opposite: their minds always have attainment, seeking, and expectation; their minds are not empty, and they cling to marks.