Chapter Seventeen and Fascicle Seventeen Complete
The closing hymn's final lines return to where it began: every buddha of the three periods of time born from nothing but the first resolve, and a final call — spoken to close both the hymn and the chapter itself — to swiftly give rise to the mind of bodhi.
Every Merit Traced Back to the First Resolve
The ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the eighteen unshared qualities, every buddha's own body — all of it traced back to a single root, and the hymn closes with a final call to give rise to that very mind.
一切能捨恒相續，淨諸戒品無所著，
具足無上大功德，常勤精進不退轉。
入深禪定恒思惟，廣大智慧共相應，
此是菩薩最勝地，出生一切普賢道。
三世一切諸如來，靡不護念初發心，
悉以三昧陀羅尼，神通變化共莊嚴。
十方眾生無有量，世界虛空亦如是，
發心無量過於彼，是故能生一切佛。
菩提心是十力本，亦為四辯無畏本，
十八不共亦復然，莫不皆從發心得。
諸佛色相莊嚴身，及以平等妙法身，
智慧無著所應供，悉以發心而得有。
一切獨覺聲聞乘，色界諸禪三昧樂，
及無色界諸三昧，悉以發心作其本。
一切人天自在樂，及以諸趣種種樂，
進定根力等眾樂，靡不皆由初發心。
以因發起廣大心，則能修行六種度，
勸諸眾生行正行，於三界中受安樂。
住佛無礙實義智，所有妙業咸開闡，
能令無量諸眾生，悉斷惑業向涅槃。
智慧光明如淨日，眾行具足猶滿月，
功德常盈譬巨海，無垢無礙同虛空。
普發無邊功德願，悉與一切眾生樂，
盡未來際依願行，常勤修習度眾生。
無量大願難思議，願令眾生悉清淨，
空無相願無依處，以願力故皆明顯。
了法自性如虛空，一切寂滅悉平等，
法門無數不可說，為眾生說無所著。
十方世界諸如來，悉共讚歎初發心，
此心無量德所嚴，能到彼岸同於佛。
如眾生數爾許劫，說其功德不可盡，
以住如來廣大家，三界諸法無能諭。
欲知一切諸佛法，宜應速發菩提心，
此心功德中最勝，必得如來無礙智。
眾生心行可數知，國土微塵亦復然，
虛空邊際乍可量，發心功德無能測。
出生三世一切佛，成就世間一切樂，
增長一切勝功德，永斷一切諸疑惑。
開示一切妙境界，盡除一切諸障礙，
成就一切清淨剎，出生一切如來智。
欲見十方一切佛，欲施無盡功德藏，
欲滅眾生諸苦惱，宜應速發菩提心。」
Able to give up everything, forever without interruption, they purify every precept, clinging to nothing at all; fully endowed with unsurpassed great merit, they are forever diligent and vigorous, never turning back. Entering profound meditative absorption, forever reflecting, their vast and expansive wisdom accords with it entirely; this is the bodhisattva's own most supreme ground, from which every path of Samantabhadra is born.
Every Tathāgata across the three periods of time, without exception, holds the first resolve in mind and guards it; entirely with samādhi and dhāraṇī, and spiritual powers and transformation, do they adorn it together. Living beings of the ten directions are without measure, and the worlds and empty space are likewise so; giving rise to the mind is immeasurable, surpassing even these — and it is for this reason that it is able to give birth to every buddha.
The mind of bodhi is the very root of the ten powers, and it is likewise the root of the four unhindered eloquences and the four fearlessnesses; the eighteen unshared qualities, too, are just the same — there is not one that is not obtained from giving rise to the mind. Every buddha's own form-adorned body, and their equal, wondrous Dharma-body, their unattached wisdom, worthy of every offering — all of it comes to exist entirely through the giving rise of the mind.
Every vehicle of the solitary realizer and the śrāvaka, every meditative-absorption and samādhi-happiness of the realm of form, and every samādhi of the formless realm — all of them take giving rise to the mind as their very root. Every sovereign happiness of humans and gods, and the various kinds of happiness throughout the destinies, and every happiness of diligence, concentration, faculty, and power — there is not one of them that does not come from the first resolve.
Because of the cause of giving rise to the vast and expansive mind, one is then able to cultivate and practice the six perfections, urging living beings to practice right conduct, and to receive peace and happiness within the three realms. Abiding in the Buddha's own unobstructed wisdom of true meaning, every wondrous karmic action is entirely opened up and expounded, able to cause immeasurable living beings to entirely cut off affliction and karma and turn toward nirvāṇa.
The light of wisdom is like the pure sun; every practice fully endowed is like the full moon; merit forever brimming is like the great ocean; and, free of stain, free of obstruction, they are equal to empty space itself. Universally giving rise to boundless vows of merit, they entirely give happiness to every living being; to the very furthest limit of time to come, in accordance with that vow, they practice, forever diligently cultivating in order to cross living beings over.
Their immeasurable great vows are inconceivable, vowing that every living being become entirely pure; emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness have no place of reliance, and yet, through the power of that vow, all of it becomes entirely manifest. Understanding that the very nature of dharmas is like empty space, that everything is tranquil and extinguished and entirely equal, the Dharma-gates are countless, beyond all telling, and for the sake of living beings they teach them, clinging to nothing at all.
Every Tathāgata in the worlds of the ten directions entirely joins together in praising the first resolve; this mind is adorned by immeasurable merit, able to reach the further shore, equal to the Buddha himself. Were one to speak of its merit for as many kalpas as there are living beings, it could never be exhausted, because it abides within the Tathāgata's own vast and expansive household, and nothing within the three realms can offer any simile for it.
Whoever wishes to know every single buddha-dharma should swiftly give rise to the mind of bodhi; this mind is the most supreme among every merit, and will surely attain the Tathāgata's own unobstructed wisdom. Living beings' own minds and conduct could still be counted and known, and the motes of dust in every land are likewise so; even the very limit of empty space could for a moment be measured — yet the merit of giving rise to the mind cannot be fathomed.
It gives birth to every buddha across the three periods of time, and brings to accomplishment every happiness in the world; it increases every supreme merit, and forever cuts off every doubt and confusion. It opens up and reveals every wondrous realm, and entirely removes every obstruction; it brings to accomplishment every pure land, and gives birth to every one of the Tathāgata's own wisdoms.
Whoever wishes to see every buddha of the ten directions, whoever wishes to bestow an inexhaustible treasury of merit, whoever wishes to extinguish every suffering and affliction of living beings — should swiftly give rise to the mind of bodhi."
The hymn's very last line — "宜應速發菩提心," "should swiftly give rise to the mind of bodhi" — echoes the same line nine couplets earlier (line 232 of this hymn), closing the whole two-hundred-and-forty-two-line verse exactly where it points: not toward a conclusion to be admired, but toward an action to be taken. Every comparison in this long chapter, arhatship, pratyekabuddhahood, oceans of kalpas, worlds beyond counting, has led here.
Chapter 17 and Fascicle 17 Complete
This closes chapter seventeen, "The Merit of the Initial Resolve" (初發心功德品第十七), and with it fascicle seventeen of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The fascicle ends here in the Taishō text, with no further chapter beginning before its close; fascicle eighteen opens the sūtra's eighteenth chapter, "Bright Dharma" (明法品第十八), in Part 101.