No Dharma Named Tending Toward Anything

The bodhisattva, having accomplished such a mind difficult to attain as this, when cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice, does not speak of the dharma of the two vehicles, and does not speak of the buddha-dharma; does not speak of the world, and does not speak of worldly dharmas; does not speak of living beings, and does not speak of the absence of living beings; does not speak of defilement, and does not speak of purity. Why is this? Because the bodhisattva knows that every dharma is without stain, without grasping, without turning, and without retreat. The bodhisattva, when cultivating within such a tranquil, extinguished, subtle, most profound, and most supreme dharma as this, gives rise to no thought at all that says: "I am now cultivating this practice, have already cultivated this practice, or shall cultivate this practice." They cling to no aggregate, no element, no sense-field, no inner world, no outer world, no inner-and-outer world; the great vows they have given rise to, every perfection, and every dharma — to none of it do they cling at all. Why is this? Because within the Dharma-realm there is no dharma at all named "tending toward the śrāvaka vehicle" or "tending toward the pratyekabuddha vehicle," no dharma at all named "tending toward the bodhisattva vehicle" or "tending toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening," and no dharma at all named "tending toward the realm of ordinary beings," no dharma at all named "tending toward defilement," "tending toward purity," "tending toward birth-and-death," or "tending toward nirvāṇa." Why is this? Because every dharma is neither dual nor non-dual.

Just as empty space, throughout the ten directions, whether sought in the past, the future, or the present, cannot be found — and yet this does not mean there is no empty space — so too does the bodhisattva contemplate that every dharma cannot be found at all, and yet this does not mean there are no dharmas at all; being truly without any distinction from reality, and yet never losing what they themselves have done, they universally demonstrate the cultivation of every bodhisattva conduct; never letting go of their own great vow, they tame living beings and turn the wheel of the true Dharma; never destroying cause and effect, and never violating the equal, wondrous Dharma, they are universally equal to every Tathāgata across the three periods of time; never cutting off the buddha-seed, and never destroying true reality, they enter deeply into the Dharma, their eloquence inexhaustible; hearing the Dharma, they cling to nothing, reaching the very depths of the Dharma; skillfully able to open it up and expound it, their mind knows no fear at all; never letting go of the Buddha's own abode, and never violating worldly dharmas, they universally manifest within the world, and yet cling to nothing within the world. The bodhisattva, having accomplished such a mind difficult to attain and such wisdom as this, cultivates and practices every conduct, pulling living beings out from the three evil destinies, teaching and taming them, settling them within the path of the buddhas of the three periods of time, causing them never to waver.