Never Seeking Repayment
The bodhisattva continues the sun simile with its practical consequence: to shine like the sun means tolerating every evil in living beings without ever seeking repayment, and never abandoning the whole of one's vow because of a single being's fault. The passage then arrives at a direct definition of dedication itself — a wholesome root that does not wish to benefit every living being is not dedication at all, however small the root, so long as it takes every living being as its object it qualifies.
What Makes a Dedication a Dedication
Never seeking repayment and never abandoning the vow for one being's fault together describe what it means to shine like the sun rather than merely resemble it. The passage then closes with a definition precise enough to function as a test: it is not the size of the wholesome root that determines whether it counts as dedication, but whether it takes every living being, without exception, as its object.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩復作是念：『我應如日，普照一切，不求恩報。眾生有惡，悉能容受，終不以此而捨誓願；不以一眾生惡故，捨一切眾生。但勤修習善根迴向，普令眾生皆得安樂；善根雖少，普攝眾生，以歡喜心廣大迴向。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva again gives rise to this thought: 'I should be like the sun, universally illuminating all, never seeking repayment for this kindness. Whatever evil living beings may have, I am entirely able to tolerate and accept it, and will never, because of this, abandon my vow; nor will I, because of a single living being's evil, abandon every living being. Rather, I diligently cultivate and practice the dedication of wholesome roots, universally causing living beings to all attain peace and happiness; even if the wholesome root is small, I universally gather in living beings, dedicating it broadly with a joyful mind.
若有善根，不欲饒益一切眾生，不名迴向；隨一善根，普以眾生而為所緣，乃名迴向。
If there is a wholesome root that does not wish to benefit every living being, it is not called dedication; whatever single wholesome root there may be, if it universally takes living beings as its object, then it is called dedication.'
This definition quietly resolves a worry that might follow from everything said so far — that dedication demands vast, exhausting resources to be genuine. Instead, the text locates dedication entirely in scope of intention rather than magnitude of merit: a small wholesome root aimed at every living being is a true dedication, while an enormous one aimed only at oneself is not a dedication at all.
Part 219 Complete
This closes Part 219. Chapter 25 continues in Part 220 with an extended catalog of subtle qualifications on true dedication — placing living beings in the Dharma-nature that clings to nothing, not grasping at the mark of a wholesome root, and not discriminating the very nature of karmic retribution.