The Banner of Great Loving-Kindness
After three full Parts of description, Good-Wealth finally asks his question — and King Great Light answers by naming the single practice underlying everything Good-Wealth has already seen: a banner of loving-kindness by which he governs, teaches, and transforms his entire kingdom.
Ten Ways of Ruling by a Single Dharma
King Great Light's own answer opens by naming his practice, then lists ten distinct functions this single dharma performs for him — kingship, edict, embrace, guidance, and more — before turning to what it does for the beings themselves.
時，善財童子五體投地，頂禮其足，恭敬右遶，經無量匝，合掌而住，白言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩行？云何修菩薩道？我聞聖者善能誘誨，願為我說！」時，王告言：「善男子！我淨修菩薩大慈幢行，我滿足菩薩大慈幢行。善男子！我於無量百千萬億乃至不可說不可說佛所，問難此法，思惟觀察，修習莊嚴。「善男子！我以此法為王，以此法教敕，以此法攝受，以此法隨逐世間，以此法引導眾生，以此法令眾生修行，以此法令眾生趣入，以此法與眾生方便，以此法令眾生熏習，以此法令眾生起行，以此法令眾生安住思惟諸法自性，以此法令眾生安住慈心，以慈為主，具足慈力；
At that time, Good-Wealth prostrated with his five limbs to the ground, bowed his head at his feet, reverently circumambulated him to the right countless times, and stood with palms joined, saying: "Noble one, I have already given rise to the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, but I do not yet know how a bodhisattva learns the bodhisattva practices, or cultivates the bodhisattva path. I have heard that the noble one is skillfully able to guide and instruct — please, explain it to me!" At that time, the king said to him: "Good son, I have purely cultivated the bodhisattva's own practice of the Banner of Great Loving-Kindness, and I have fully perfected the bodhisattva's own practice of the Banner of Great Loving-Kindness. Good son, before measureless hundreds of thousands of millions, even unspeakable unspeakable numbers of buddhas, I have questioned and examined this dharma, reflected upon and contemplated it, and cultivated and adorned it. Good son, through this dharma I am king, through this dharma I issue every edict, through this dharma I embrace beings, through this dharma I follow after the world, through this dharma I guide beings, through this dharma I cause beings to practice, through this dharma I cause beings to enter, through this dharma I give beings skillful means, through this dharma I cause beings to be permeated by it, through this dharma I cause beings to give rise to practice, through this dharma I cause beings to abide reflecting on the own-nature of every dharma, and through this dharma I cause beings to abide in a mind of loving-kindness, taking loving-kindness as their master, fully endowed with the power of loving-kindness;
Ultimate Happiness, and Unbreakable Faith
The king's own practice closes on what it achieves in beings themselves — a chain of named minds and states leading, without a single break, from ordinary kindness all the way to unbreakable faith.
如是，令住利益心、安樂心、哀愍心、攝受心、守護眾生不捨離心、拔眾生苦無休息心。我以此法令一切眾生畢竟快樂，恒自悅豫，身無諸苦，心得清涼，斷生死愛，樂正法樂，滌煩惱垢，破惡業障，絕生死流，入真法海，斷諸有趣，求一切智，淨諸心海，生不壞信。善男子！我已住此大慈幢行，能以正法教化世間。
In this way, causing them to abide in a mind that benefits, a mind of peace and happiness, a mind of compassion, a mind of embracing, a mind that guards and protects beings without ever abandoning them, and a mind that draws out beings' own suffering without ever resting. Through this dharma I cause every being to attain ultimate happiness, forever joyful and at ease of themselves, their bodies free of every suffering, their minds attaining coolness, cutting off love and attachment to birth and death, delighting in the joy of the true dharma, washing away the defilement of every affliction, breaking through the obstruction of evil karma, severing the stream of birth and death, entering the ocean of the true dharma, cutting off every destiny of existence, seeking all-knowing wisdom, purifying the ocean of every mind, and giving rise to unbreakable faith. Good son, I have already abided in this practice of the Banner of Great Loving-Kindness, and am able to teach and transform the world through the true dharma."
我以此法為王 — through this dharma I am king. Where King Never Satisfied ruled through an illusion of terror aimed at hardened evildoers, King Great Light names loving-kindness itself as the single source of his own kingship — the same office, governed by the opposite instrument.
Part 1023 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-six. Part 1024 turns to the king's own open treasury — anyone in need may take freely from it, on the sole condition that they commit no further evil.