Not for a Single Being Alone
The sun simile is extended directly to the bodhisattva: a mind deep and expansive, never regressing or shrinking back, never abandoning living beings no matter how corrupt, hostile, or difficult to tame they prove to be, and never growing weary no matter how often they commit faults difficult to endure. The reason given is scale itself — just as the sun does not appear in the world for a single matter alone, the bodhisattva cultivates every wholesome root not for one being, one buddha-land, or one buddha, but for every living being, every land, and every buddha at once.
A Mind That Never Abandons, Never Tires
The passage lists, one after another, the specific circumstances under which an ordinary mind might reasonably give up — a being's corrupt nature, their failure to show gratitude, the sheer difficulty of dwelling among the foolish, the accumulation of faults hard to endure — and denies that any of them moves the bodhisattva. The explanation offered is not fortitude for its own sake but scope: the sun does not rise for a single matter, and the bodhisattva's own dedication was never aimed at a single being, land, or buddha to begin with.
菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，有大福德，其心深廣，正念觀察，無有退屈；為欲究竟功德智慧，於上勝法心生志欲；法光普照，見一切義；於諸法門，智慧自在；常為利益一切眾生而修善法，曾不誤起捨眾生心；不以眾生其性弊惡、邪見、瞋濁、難可調伏，便即棄捨，不修迴向；但以菩薩大願甲冑而自莊嚴，救護眾生，恒無退轉；不以眾生不知報恩，退菩薩行，捨菩提道；不以凡愚共同一處，捨離一切如實善根；不以眾生數起過惡，難可忍受，而於彼所生疲厭心。
The bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise just the same — possessed of great merit, their mind deep and expansive, observing with right mindfulness, never regressing or shrinking back; wishing to reach the ultimate end of merit and wisdom, their mind gives rise to aspiration toward the supreme and superior Dharma; the light of the Dharma universally illuminates, beholding the meaning of everything; throughout every Dharma-gateway, their wisdom is sovereign and unhindered; they forever cultivate wholesome dharmas for the benefit of every living being, and never once mistakenly give rise to a mind that abandons living beings; they never, simply because a living being's nature is corrupt and evil, holds wrong views, is angry and turbid, or difficult to tame, thereupon abandon them and cease cultivating this dedication; but rather, adorning themselves with the armor of the bodhisattva's own great vow, they rescue and protect living beings, forever without regressing; they never, because a living being fails to know how to repay kindness, regress in the bodhisattva's own practice or abandon the path of bodhi; they never, because they dwell together in one place with the ordinary and the foolish, cast aside every true and real wholesome root; they never, because living beings repeatedly commit faults and evils that are difficult to endure, give rise to a weary or disheartened mind toward them.
何以故？譬如日天子，不但為一事故出現世間。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，不但為一眾生故，修諸善根，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；普為救護一切眾生故而修善根，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。如是，不但為淨一佛剎故，不但為信一佛故，不但為見一佛故，不但為了一法故，起大智願，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；為普淨一切佛剎故，普信一切諸佛故，普承事供養一切諸佛故，普解一切佛法故，發起大願，修諸善根，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
For what reason? Just as the sun does not appear in the world for the sake of a single matter alone. The bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise just the same — they do not cultivate every wholesome root and dedicate it toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening for the sake of a single living being alone; they universally cultivate wholesome roots for the sake of rescuing and protecting every living being, dedicating it toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Just so, it is not for the sake of purifying a single buddha-land alone, not for the sake of believing in a single buddha alone, not for the sake of beholding a single buddha alone, and not for the sake of understanding a single dharma alone, that they arouse this great wise vow and dedicate it toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; it is for the sake of universally purifying every buddha-land, universally believing in every buddha, universally serving and making offerings to every buddha, and universally understanding every buddha's own Dharma, that they arouse this great vow, cultivate every wholesome root, and dedicate it toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.
The passage's logic is worth noting: it does not argue that the bodhisattva should persevere despite the scale of the task, but that persevering through any single difficult being was never really the point. Because the dedication was aimed at every living being from the start, no single being's failure to respond — ingratitude, hostility, or difficulty — can touch its foundation, any more than one cloudy day could mean the sun had stopped rising for the world.
Part 213 Complete
This closes Part 213. Chapter 25 continues in Part 214 as the bodhisattva's dedication is shown arising from ten distinct qualities of heart — profound, joyful, pure, supreme, gentle, compassionate — and is declared to be real dedication for living beings, not mere words.