A House for Every Living Being
Vajra Banner Bodhisattva begins explaining the first dedication in detail: a bodhisattva who cultivates the six pāramitās together with great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity, wishing that these wholesome roots might free every living being from the sufferings of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and King Yama's realm. The dedication then takes the shape of ten vows, each beginning "I shall become" — a house, a protection, a refuge, a light, a torch, a lamp, and finally a great guiding teacher for every living being.
Ten Vows, Beginning "I Shall Become"
After posing the question directly — what is the dedication of rescuing every living being while leaving behind the mark of "living being"? — the answer builds from the six pāramitās and the four immeasurable states of mind toward a single wish: that these wholesome roots might free every being from suffering entirely. That wish then crystallizes into ten parallel vows, each one naming what the bodhisattva will become for every living being — a house, a protection, a refuge, a destination, a comfort, a light, a torch, a lamp, a guiding teacher, and finally a great guiding teacher who gives unhindered wisdom.
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩救護一切眾生離眾生相迴向？佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩行檀波羅蜜，淨尸波羅蜜，修羼提波羅蜜，起精進波羅蜜，入禪波羅蜜，住般若波羅蜜，大慈、大悲、大喜、大捨，修如是等無量善根。修善根時，作是念言：『願此善根普能饒益一切眾生，皆使清淨，至於究竟，永離地獄、餓鬼、畜生、閻羅王等無量苦惱。』
"Child of the Buddha! What is called the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of rescuing and protecting every living being while leaving behind the mark of 'living being'? Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva mahāsattva practices the pāramitā of giving, purifies the pāramitā of moral discipline, cultivates the pāramitā of patience, arouses the pāramitā of diligence, enters the pāramitā of meditative absorption, abides in the pāramitā of wisdom, and cultivates great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity, cultivating immeasurable wholesome roots such as these. While cultivating these wholesome roots, they give rise to this thought, saying: 'May these wholesome roots universally be able to benefit every living being, causing them all to become pure, reaching the very end, forever leaving behind the immeasurable suffering and affliction of hell, of hungry ghosts, of animals, of King Yama's realm, and the like.'
菩薩摩訶薩種善根時，以己善根如是迴向：『我當為一切眾生作舍，令免一切諸苦事故；為一切眾生作護，悉令解脫諸煩惱故；為一切眾生作歸，皆令得離諸怖畏故；為一切眾生作趣，令得至於一切智故；為一切眾生作安，令得究竟安隱處故；為一切眾生作明，令得智光滅癡暗故；為一切眾生作炬，破彼一切無明闇故；為一切眾生作燈，令住究竟清淨處故；為一切眾生作導師，引其令入真實法故；為一切眾生作大導師，與其無礙大智慧故。』佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以諸善根如是迴向，平等饒益一切眾生，究竟皆令得一切智。
When the bodhisattva mahāsattva plants wholesome roots, they dedicate their own wholesome roots in just this way: 'I shall become a house for every living being, so that they may be freed from every painful matter; I shall become a protection for every living being, so that they may all be liberated from every affliction; I shall become a refuge for every living being, so that they may all come to leave behind every fear; I shall become a destination for every living being, so that they may come to reach all-knowing wisdom; I shall become a place of comfort for every living being, so that they may reach the ultimate place of peace and security; I shall become a light for every living being, so that they may obtain the light of wisdom that extinguishes the darkness of delusion; I shall become a torch for every living being, so as to break through every darkness of ignorance; I shall become a lamp for every living being, so that they may abide in the ultimate place of purity; I shall become a guiding teacher for every living being, leading them to enter the true and real Dharma; I shall become a great guiding teacher for every living being, giving them unhindered great wisdom.' Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates every wholesome root in just this way, equally benefiting every living being, ultimately causing them all to attain all-knowing wisdom.
The ten vows move through a deliberate progression: a house and a protection address immediate danger, a refuge and a destination address direction, comfort addresses the wish for rest, and light, torch, and lamp address ignorance with escalating intensity, before the final two name the bodhisattva as a teacher rather than a shelter. The dedication itself — the technical heart of this whole teaching — is simple beneath the vow's ten images: whatever wholesome root is cultivated is turned outward toward every being's benefit before it is ever kept as the bodhisattva's own.
Part 211 Complete
This closes Part 211. Chapter 25 continues in Part 212 as the bodhisattva's dedication is shown extending even to those who are not friends, treating them with no difference at all from those who are.