A Boundless Body Within a Single Mote of Dust
The hymn moves through the lion's roar that teaches every category of the Dharma-realm depends on language, entering countless samādhis from within a single one, an unmoving body manifesting everywhere at once, and countless lands gathered without obstruction into a single mote of dust — before turning to mastery of karmic retribution across the three periods of time and the dhāraṇī-gates brought to full perfection.
One Body Everywhere, Every Land Within a Mote of Dust
The hymn's paradoxes intensify here — a body that never moves from a single seat and yet appears throughout everything there is, and immeasurable lands gathered together without obstruction into a single mote of dust — before turning toward mastery: of what is possible and impossible, of karmic retribution across all three periods of time, and finally of the dhāraṇī-gates themselves, brought to full and complete perfection.
修習無邊福智藏，普作清涼功德池，
利益一切諸群生，彼第一人行此道。
法界所有諸品類，普遍虛空無數量，
了彼皆依言說住，此師子吼所行道。
能於一一三昧中，普入無數諸三昧，
悉至法門幽奧處，此論月者行斯道。
忍力勤修到彼岸，能忍最勝寂滅法，
其心平等不動搖，此無邊智所行道。
Cultivating and practicing the boundless treasury of merit and wisdom, universally becoming a cooling pool of merit, benefiting every multitude of living beings — that foremost person practices this path. Every kind and category there is throughout the Dharma-realm, pervading empty space without limit or number, understanding that they all abide dependent upon speech and language — this is the path such a lion's roar practices.
Able, within each and every samādhi, to universally enter countless other samādhis, reaching entirely into the most hidden and profound places of every Dharma-gate — this one of the moon of exposition practices this path. Diligently cultivating the power of patience, reaching all the way to the other shore, able to bear the most supreme Dharma of tranquil cessation, their mind entirely equal, never wavering or moving — this is the path such boundless wisdom practices.
於一世界一坐處，其身不動恒寂然，
而於一切普現身，彼無邊身行此道。
無量無邊諸國土，悉令共入一塵中，
普得包容無障礙，彼無邊思行此道。
了達是處及非處，於諸力處普能入，
成就如來最上力，彼第一力所行道。
過去未來現在世，無量無邊諸業報，
恒以智慧悉了知，此達解者所行道。
Within a single world, in a single seat, their body unmoving, forever still, and yet universally manifesting their body throughout everything there is — that one of a boundless body practices this path. Every land there is, immeasurable and boundless, causing them all together to enter within a single mote of dust, universally able to be encompassed there without any obstruction — that one of boundless contemplation practices this path.
Fully comprehending what is possible and what is not possible, universally able to enter every place of power, accomplishing the Tathāgata's own supreme power — this is the path such foremost power practices. The past, the future, and the present world, and every immeasurable and boundless karmic retribution within them, forever understood entirely through wisdom — this is the path such a one of thorough understanding practices.
了達世間時非時，如應調伏諸眾生，
悉順其宜而不失，此善了者所行道。
善守身語及意業，恒令依法而修行，
離諸取著降眾魔，此智心者所行道。
於諸法中得善巧，能入真如平等處，
辯才宣說無有窮，此佛行者所行道。
陀羅尼門已圓滿，善能安住無礙藏，
於諸法界悉通達，此深入者所行道。
Fully comprehending the world's own proper time and improper time, taming and subduing living beings exactly as is fitting, entirely according with what is appropriate, never once losing it — this is the path such a one of skillful understanding practices. Skillfully guarding bodily, verbal, and mental karma, forever causing their own cultivation to rely upon the Dharma, free of every grasping attachment, subduing every host of Māra — this is the path such a one of wise mind practices.
Attaining skillful means within every dharma, able to enter the equal place of true suchness, their eloquence proclaiming it inexhaustibly — this is the path such a practitioner of the buddha's own conduct practices. The dhāraṇī-gates already brought to full perfection, skillfully able to abide securely in the unobstructed treasury, penetrating entirely through every Dharma-realm there is — this is the path such a one of deep entry practices.
Two images here work as a matched pair: a single body, unmoving in one seat, that appears everywhere at once, and countless lands, unmoved in their own vastness, gathered without obstruction into a single mote of dust. Neither the largest nor the smallest scale confines it — the same non-obstruction that let the sūtra's opening chapters describe Indra's net of mutually reflecting jewels here becomes something Merit Grove says a bodhisattva actually practices, one virtue at a time.
Part 158 Complete
This closes Part 158. Merit Grove's closing hymn continues in Part 159.