Entering the Wisdom-Light Samādhi
Immediately after the Tuṣita hymns conclude, a new and vast chapter opens: Vajra Banner Bodhisattva, relying on the Buddha's own spiritual power, enters the Bodhisattva Wisdom-Light Samādhi. A hundred thousand buddhas beyond a hundred thousand buddha-lands' worth of worlds in every direction — all sharing his own name, Vajra Banner — appear before him and explain why he alone has been empowered to expound the bodhisattvas' own Ten Dedications.
A Hundred Thousand Buddhas, One Shared Name
The sūtra's twenty-fifth chapter, "The Ten Dedications," opens with a now-familiar device given fresh scale: rather than ten bodhisattvas bearing a shared name, here a hundred thousand buddhas beyond a hundred thousand buddha-lands' worth of worlds in every direction all share the name of the bodhisattva they come to praise — Vajra Banner. Their explanation for why he has been chosen names an extensive list of purposes, from unhindered eloquence to entering the Dharma-realm's own universal gateway, before naming the teaching itself: the bodhisattvas' own Ten Dedications.
爾時，金剛幢菩薩承佛神力，入菩薩智光三昧。入是三昧已，十方各過十萬佛剎微塵數世界外，有十萬佛剎微塵數諸佛，皆同一號，號：金剛幢，而現其前，咸稱讚言：「善哉！善哉！善男子！乃能入此菩薩智光三昧。善男子！此是十方各十萬佛剎微塵數諸佛神力共加於汝，亦是毘盧遮那如來往昔願力、威神之力，及由汝智慧清淨故，諸菩薩善根增勝故，令汝入是三昧而演說法；
At that time, Vajra Banner Bodhisattva, relying upon the Buddha's own spiritual power, entered the Bodhisattva Wisdom-Light Samādhi. Having entered this samādhi, in each of the ten directions, beyond worlds as numerous as the fine motes of dust in a hundred thousand buddha-lands, there were buddhas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in a hundred thousand buddha-lands, all sharing the very same name — Vajra Banner — who appeared before him, and together praised him, saying: "Excellent! Excellent! Good son! You have been able to enter this Bodhisattva Wisdom-Light Samādhi. Good son! This is because the spiritual power of buddhas as numerous as the fine motes of dust in a hundred thousand buddha-lands throughout each of the ten directions has together been added upon you, and it is likewise the power of Tathāgata Vairocana's own former vow and his own awesome spiritual power, and because your wisdom is pure, and because the bodhisattvas' own wholesome roots have grown supreme, that has caused you to enter this samādhi and expound the Dharma;
為令諸菩薩得清淨無畏故，具無礙辯才故，入無礙智地故，住一切智大心故，成就無盡善根故，滿足無礙白法故，入於普門法界故，現一切佛神力故，前際念智不斷故，得一切佛護持諸根故，以無量門廣說眾法故，聞悉解了受持不忘故，攝諸菩薩一切善根故，成辦出世助道故，不斷一切智智故，開發大願故，解釋實義故，了知法界故，令諸菩薩皆悉歡喜故，修一切佛平等善根故，護持一切如來種性故，所謂：演說諸菩薩十迴向。佛子！汝當承佛威神之力而演此法，得佛護念故，安住佛家故，增益出世功德故，得陀羅尼光明故，入無障礙佛法故，大光普照法界故，集無過失淨法故，住廣大智境界故，得無障礙法光故。」
so that every bodhisattva may attain purity and fearlessness, so that they may possess unhindered eloquence, so that they may enter the ground of unhindered wisdom, so that they may abide in the great mind of all-knowing wisdom, so that they may accomplish inexhaustible wholesome roots, so that they may fulfill the unhindered pure Dharma, so that they may enter the Dharma-realm's own universal gateway, so that they may manifest the spiritual power of every buddha, so that their mindful wisdom of the past may never be severed, so that they may obtain the protection of every buddha over their own faculties, so that they may expound every teaching extensively through immeasurable gateways, so that whatever they hear they may entirely understand, uphold, and never forget, so that they may gather in every wholesome root of every bodhisattva, so that they may accomplish the aids to transcending the world, so that all-knowing wisdom may never be severed, so that they may open up and develop their own great vow, so that they may explain the true meaning, so that they may understand the Dharma-realm entirely, so that every bodhisattva may entirely rejoice, so that they may cultivate the equal wholesome roots of every buddha, so that they may protect and uphold the lineage of every Tathāgata — namely: to expound the bodhisattvas' own Ten Dedications. Child of the Buddha! You should, relying upon the Buddha's own awesome spiritual power, expound this very Dharma, so that you may obtain the Buddha's own mindful protection, so that you may abide securely within the Buddha's own household, so that you may increase your transcendent merit, so that you may obtain the light of dhāraṇī, so that you may enter the unobstructed Dharma of the Buddha, so that great light may universally illuminate the Dharma-realm, so that you may gather the faultless and pure Dharma, so that you may abide in the domain of vast and expansive wisdom, so that you may obtain the unobstructed light of the Dharma."
The "Ten Dedications" (daśa-pariṇāmanā) is one of the sūtra's central teaching sequences — the third of the great stages after the Ten Abodes and Ten Practices, describing how a bodhisattva turns every merit generated by their own practice toward the awakening of all beings rather than keeping it for themselves. This opening scene, a bodhisattva empowered by an assembly of buddhas who bear his own name, is the sūtra's established way of marking a teaching of this scale — the same device used to open the "Ten Practices" chapter many fascicles earlier.
Part 208 Complete
This closes Part 208. Chapter 25 continues in Part 209 as the assembled buddhas bestow further gifts of wisdom and eloquence upon Vajra Banner Bodhisattva and touch his crown with their own right hands, after which he rises from samādhi to address the bodhisattvas.