Keeping the Three Jewels Unbroken
Four times over, in four different ways, the chapter names how a bodhisattva keeps the seed of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha from ever being cut off — and shows how that unbroken lineage keeps all three of their own actions, of body, speech, and mind, entirely free of blemish.
Four Ways the Three Jewels Are Kept Unbroken
「佛子！菩薩具足如是智慧，令三寶種永不斷絕。所以者何？菩薩摩訶薩教諸眾生發菩提心，是故能令佛種不斷；常為眾生開闡法藏，是故能令法種不斷；善持教法，無所乖違，是故能令僧種不斷。復次，悉能稱讚一切大願，是故能令佛種不斷；分別演說因緣之門，是故能令法種不斷；常勤修習六和敬法，是故能令僧種不斷。復次，於眾生田中下佛種子，是故能令佛種不斷；護持正法，不惜身命，是故能令法種不斷；統理大眾，無有疲倦，是故能令僧種不斷。復次，於去、來、今佛，所說之法、所制之戒，皆悉奉持，心不捨離，是故能令佛、法、僧種永不斷絕。菩薩如是紹隆三寶，一切所行無有過失，隨有所作，皆以迴向一切智門，是故三業皆無瑕玷。無瑕玷故，所作眾善，所行諸行，教化眾生，隨應說法，乃至一念，無有錯謬，皆與方便智慧相應，悉以向於一切智智，無空過者。」
"Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva fully endowed with such wisdom as this causes the seed of the Three Jewels to be forever unbroken. Why is this? A bodhisattva-mahāsattva teaches living beings to give rise to the mind of bodhi, and for this reason is able to keep the buddha-seed unbroken; forever opens up and expounds the Dharma-treasury for living beings, and for this reason is able to keep the dharma-seed unbroken; skillfully upholds the teaching without any contradiction of it, and for this reason is able to keep the saṅgha-seed unbroken. Furthermore, being entirely able to praise every great vow, they are for this reason able to keep the buddha-seed unbroken; discriminating and expounding the gateway of causes and conditions, they are for this reason able to keep the dharma-seed unbroken; forever diligently cultivating the dharma of the six points of harmony and reverence, they are for this reason able to keep the saṅgha-seed unbroken. Furthermore, planting the buddha-seed within the very field of living beings, they are for this reason able to keep the buddha-seed unbroken; guarding and upholding the true Dharma without begrudging their own body or life, they are for this reason able to keep the dharma-seed unbroken; presiding over and governing the great assembly without ever growing weary, they are for this reason able to keep the saṅgha-seed unbroken. Furthermore, toward the Dharma spoken and the precepts established by the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present, they entirely uphold and follow all of it, their mind never once letting go of it — and for this reason they are able to keep the seed of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha forever unbroken. The bodhisattva, carrying forward the Three Jewels in this way, has not a single fault in anything they do; whatever they undertake, they entirely dedicate toward the gateway of all-knowing wisdom, and for this reason all three of their actions — of body, speech, and mind — are without any blemish at all. Because they are without blemish, whatever wholesome deeds they perform, whatever practices they carry out, whenever they teach and transform living beings, teaching the Dharma in accordance with what fits — down to a single thought, there is no error or mistake in any of it; all of it accords with skillful means and wisdom, and all of it is turned toward the very wisdom of all-knowing wisdom, with nothing at all passing by in vain."
The passage names four distinct routes to the same result, repeating the buddha-seed/dharma-seed/saṅgha-seed triad each time with a different action attached: teaching resolve, praising vows, planting the seed in living beings themselves, and upholding what every buddha of the three periods of time has taught. The "six points of harmony and reverence" (六和敬) named for the saṅgha-seed is the classical formula for monastic community — shared views, shared precepts, shared practice, and shared material life — showing that even this most abstract teaching on lineage rests on concrete communal practice.
Part 111 Complete
This closes Part 111. Chapter 18 continues in Part 112 with the ten kinds of adornment a bodhisattva accomplishes moment by moment.