Twenty Reasons to Never Stop
The fourth practice, never yielding, is diligence — but the chapter is careful to specify what kind. Ten distinct grades of it are named, then twenty separate purposes it serves, each introduced by the same formula: they practice diligence only for this reason, and no other.
The Fourth Practice: Never Yielding
「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩無屈橈行？此菩薩修諸精進，所謂：第一精進、大精進、勝精進、殊勝精進、最勝精進、最妙精進、上精進、無上精進、無等精進、普遍精進。性無三毒、性無憍慢、性不覆藏、性不慳嫉、性無諂誑、性自慚愧，終不為惱一眾生故而行精進，但為斷一切煩惱故而行精進，但為拔一切惑本故而行精進，但為除一切習氣故而行精進，但為知一切眾生界故而行精進，但為知一切眾生死此生彼故而行精進，但為知一切眾生煩惱故而行精進，但為知一切眾生心樂故而行精進，但為知一切眾生境界故而行精進，但為知一切眾生諸根勝劣故而行精進，但為知一切眾生心行故而行精進，但為知一切法界故而行精進，但為知一切佛法根本性故而行精進，但為知一切佛法平等性故而行精進，但為知三世平等性故而行精進，但為得一切佛法智光明故而行精進，但為證一切佛法智故而行精進，但為知一切佛法一實相故而行精進，但為知一切佛法無邊際故而行精進，但為得一切佛法廣大決定善巧智故而行精進，但為得分別演說一切佛法句義智故而行精進。
"Son of the Buddha! What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's own practice of never yielding? This bodhisattva cultivates every kind of diligence, namely: first diligence, great diligence, supreme diligence, exceptional diligence, most supreme diligence, most wondrous diligence, superior diligence, unsurpassed diligence, unequaled diligence, and universal diligence. Their own nature is free of the three poisons; their own nature is free of pride and conceit; their own nature never conceals anything; their own nature never harbors stinginess or envy; their own nature is free of flattery and deceit; their own nature has its own sense of conscience. They never, in the end, practice diligence in order to trouble even a single living being, but practice diligence only to cut off every affliction; practice diligence only to uproot the very root of every confusion; practice diligence only to remove every habitual tendency; practice diligence only to know the realm of every living being; practice diligence only to know every living being's dying here and being born there; practice diligence only to know every living being's own afflictions; practice diligence only to know every living being's own delights of mind; practice diligence only to know every living being's own realm; practice diligence only to know the superior and inferior faculties of every living being; practice diligence only to know every living being's own mental conduct; practice diligence only to know the whole Dharma-realm; practice diligence only to know the very root-nature of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to know the equal nature of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to know the equal nature of the three periods of time; practice diligence only to attain the light of wisdom of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to realize the wisdom of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to know the single true reality of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to know the boundlessness of every buddha-dharma; practice diligence only to attain the vast, decisive, and skillful wisdom of every buddha-dharma; and practice diligence only to attain the wisdom that discriminates and expounds the meaning of every phrase of every buddha-dharma.
The repeated formula "practice diligence only" (但為...故而行精進), used twenty times running, is a deliberate stylistic device: each clause forecloses every other possible motive, so that by the end of the list nothing remains but these twenty specific purposes — none of them self-serving, all of them either understanding living beings more fully or understanding the Dharma more fully. What comes next, in the following Part, tests just how far this diligence actually extends.
Part 135 Complete
This closes Part 135. Chapter 21 continues in Part 136 with a stark hypothetical question testing the limits of this diligence.