A Single Body Seen in Countless Number
The hymn's long refrain of "practices this path" continues through faith that never turns back and understanding every living being's own mind, before it quietly falls away — giving way to a flowing description of the bodhisattva drawing near countless buddhas to make offerings, entering samādhi with a single body and rising from it in countless number, and carrying out the buddha's own work throughout the ten directions.
When the Refrain Falls Away
After more than a hundred lines of the same closing refrain, the hymn's rhythm changes here — the last "practices this path" appears mid-way through this stretch, and what follows instead simply describes: a bodhisattva appearing before countless buddhas, entering samādhi in a single body and rising from it seen in countless bodies at once, before the refrain briefly returns and then gives way once more to description.
三世所有一切佛，悉與等心同智慧，
一性一相無有殊，此無礙種所行道。
已決一切愚癡膜，深入廣大智慧海，
普施眾生清淨眼，此有目者所行道。
已具一切諸導師，平等神通無二行，
獲於如來自在力，此善修者所行道。
遍遊一切諸世間，普雨無邊妙法雨，
悉令於義得決了，此法雲者所行道。
Every buddha there is across the three periods of time, all sharing an equal mind and the very same wisdom, one single nature, one single mark, without any difference at all — this is the path such an unobstructed lineage practices. Having already pierced through every film of ignorance, entering deeply into the vast and expansive ocean of wisdom, universally bestowing a pure eye upon living beings — this is the path such a one possessed of vision practices.
Already endowed with the qualities of every guide, their spiritual powers equal and without any duality of conduct, attaining the Tathāgata's own sovereign power — this is the path such a skillful cultivator practices. Roaming universally throughout every world there is, universally raining down a boundless rain of the wondrous Dharma, causing everyone to attain complete and resolute understanding of its meaning — this is the path such a cloud of the Dharma practices.
能於佛智及解脫，深生淨信永不退，
以信而生智慧根，此善學者所行道。
能於一念悉了知，一切眾生無有餘，
了彼眾生心自性，達無性者所行道。
法界一切諸國土，悉能化往無有數，
其身最妙絕等倫，此無比行所行道。
佛剎無邊無有數，無量諸佛在其中，
菩薩於彼悉現前，親近供養生尊重。
Able, toward the buddha's own wisdom and liberation, to give rise to deep and pure faith that never once turns back, and through that very faith give rise to the root of wisdom — this is the path such a skillful learner practices. Able, within a single thought, to understand entirely every living being without exception, comprehending those living beings' own mind and its own nature — this is the path such a one who penetrates the absence of fixed nature practices.
Every land there is throughout the Dharma-realm, able to go there through transformation countless times, their body most wondrous, beyond all equal or comparison — this is the path such incomparable practice practices. Buddha-lands boundless and beyond all counting, with immeasurable buddhas dwelling within them — the bodhisattva appears in the very presence of every one of them, drawing near to make offerings, and giving rise to reverence.
菩薩能以獨一身，入於三昧而寂定，
令見其身無有數，一一皆從三昧起。
菩薩所住最深妙，所行所作超戲論，
其心清淨常悅樂，能令眾生悉歡喜。
諸根方便各差別，能以智慧悉明見，
而了諸根無所依，調難調者所行道。
能以方便巧分別，於一切法得自在，
十方世界各不同，悉在其中作佛事。
The bodhisattva is able, with a single solitary body, to enter samādhi and become tranquil and still, and yet cause that body to be seen in countless number, each and every one of them rising from that very samādhi. What the bodhisattva abides in is most profound and subtle, whatever they do or practice transcending every idle discourse, their mind pure and forever joyful, able to cause living beings to rejoice entirely.
Every faculty and every skillful means, each one distinct, they are able through wisdom to behold them all with entire clarity, and yet understand that every faculty has no fixed basis at all — this is the path such a tamer of the untamable practices. Able through skillful means to discern them skillfully, attaining sovereign mastery over every dharma, and though the worlds of the ten directions each differ, carrying out the buddha's own work within every single one of them.
The hymn has repeated some version of "practices this path" for well over a hundred lines now, and here, quietly, it stops — the last instance falls in the middle of this very stretch, at the tamer of the untamable, and what follows simply describes rather than names a path. The image at the center of that shift is one of the sūtra's recurring signatures: a bodhisattva enters samādhi with a single body, and is seen rising from it in countless bodies at once — the same non-obstruction between the one and the many that ran through the boundless body and the single mote of dust just a few Parts ago.
Part 159 Complete
This closes Part 159. Merit Grove's closing hymn continues in Part 160.