The Pleasures of the World Are Suffering
The bodhisattva's vow reaches its most explicit statement of purpose: they seek nothing for themselves, neither the unsurpassed path nor the pleasures of the five desires, because those very pleasures are the domain of every demon, condemned by every buddha, and the root cause of every evil found in hell, among hungry ghosts, animals, and King Yama's realm. Observing how the world craves a trifling taste of desire while enduring immeasurable suffering, the bodhisattva cultivates the bodhisattva's own practice solely for the peace and happiness of every living being.
Not Even Rebirth in the Heavens
Having vowed to bear suffering itself, the bodhisattva now explains what they do not seek in return: not the unsurpassed path for their own sake, and not the pleasures of the five desires, which the passage argues are never truly pleasures at all — they are craved by the foolish, condemned by every buddha, and the direct cause of every torment found across the lower destinies. The argument's final turn is its sharpest: indulging the five desires obstructs even rebirth in the heavens, let alone unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.
復作是念：『我願保護一切眾生終不棄捨，所言誠實，無有虛妄。何以故？我為救度一切眾生發菩提心，不為自身求無上道，亦不為求五欲境界及三有中種種樂故修菩提行。何以故？世間之樂無非是苦。眾魔境界，愚人所貪，諸佛所訶，一切苦患因之而起；地獄、餓鬼及以畜生、閻羅王處，忿恚鬪訟，更相毀辱。如是諸惡，皆因貪著五欲所致。耽著五欲，遠離諸佛，障礙生天，何況得於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提！』
Again they give rise to this thought: "I vow to protect every living being and never abandon them at all; what I speak is true and sincere, without any falsehood whatsoever. For what reason? I give rise to the mind of bodhi for the sake of rescuing and liberating every living being; I do not cultivate the conduct of bodhi in order to seek the unsurpassed path for my own self, nor in order to seek the domain of the five desires or the various pleasures within the three realms of existence. For what reason? The pleasures of the world are nothing other than suffering itself. They are the domain of every demon, craved by the foolish, condemned by every buddha; every suffering and affliction arises because of them. Hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and King Yama's realm, wrath and contention, mutual slander and disgrace — every evil such as this arises entirely because of craving and attachment to the five desires. Indulging and clinging to the five desires distances one from every buddha, and obstructs even rebirth in the heavens — how much more so unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening!"
菩薩如是觀諸世間貪少欲味受無量苦，終不為彼五欲樂故，求無上菩提，修菩薩行；但為安樂一切眾生，發心修習，成滿大願，斷截眾生諸苦羂索，令得解脫。
The bodhisattva, observing in just this way how the world craves a trifling taste of desire while undergoing immeasurable suffering, never seeks unsurpassed bodhi or cultivates the bodhisattva's own practice for the sake of the pleasure of those five desires; but rather, for the sake of the peace and happiness of every living being, gives rise to the resolve to cultivate and practice, perfectly accomplishing this great vow, severing the snare of every suffering that binds living beings, and causing them to attain liberation.
"A trifling taste of desire" against "immeasurable suffering" names the exact imbalance this passage is built around — not that pleasure is forbidden, but that what passes for pleasure in ordinary experience is vastly disproportionate to the suffering it generates. The declaration that this pledge is "true and sincere, without any falsehood whatsoever" answers a question a reader might reasonably ask of the previous Part's vow to enter hell voluntarily — whether such a vow could really be meant. The text's answer is a flat, unqualified yes.
Part 216 Complete
This closes Part 216. Chapter 25 continues in Part 217 as the bodhisattva vows ten kinds of ultimate bliss for every living being, and becomes their tamer, their general, and a skillful ferryman crossing the sea of birth and death.