How Bodhisattvas Roam Freely in the Human World

Bodhisattvas sometimes also act in plays to accommodate sentient beings, while the actual mental actions of the manas are inconsistent with the play—the manas is absolutely pure, yet the side shown to sentient beings may appear impure. Why is this done? In order to gather in sentient beings and to deliver sentient beings, bodhisattvas must employ certain means to subdue sentient beings. When the purpose is pure and the result is wholesome, the means are beyond reproach. However, if a bodhisattva's manas is not yet purified and still has afflictions, then extraordinary means cannot be employed, because they would accord with the afflictions of the manas and store karmic seeds. For bhūmi bodhisattvas of the third fruit and above, the manas has already severed the manifest activity of afflictions, and the mind-ground no longer accords with afflictions; such bodhisattvas may then employ certain means—such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking alcohol—outwardly appearing to act alongside ordinary beings, but in reality in order to subdue ordinary beings and bring them back to the right path.

If a bodhisattva wishes to roam freely through the world, he must possess the ability to do so; his mental actions must transcend the human world in order not to be shackled by it. Otherwise, he will inevitably sink deep into the mire of the human world, unable to extricate himself. If one cannot even pull oneself out, how can one talk about rescuing sentient beings?

Roaming freely through the world does not mean indulging in the world. Those who indulge in the world certainly cannot roam freely through it. Only by neither accepting nor enjoying can one have the qualification and the ability to roam freely through the human world. Otherwise, it cannot be called roaming freely—it should be called being imprisoned in a dungeon.