Pure Like Light and Shadow
Having defined dedication by its scope, the sūtra now qualifies it by its manner — twenty distinct phrases, each ending in "this is dedication," describing a dedication that clings to nothing: not to the mark of a wholesome root, not to the five aggregates, not to karma or its retribution, not even to the path of language itself. The catalog closes with a striking claim: because karma is pure like light and shadow, its retribution is likewise pure, and all-knowing wisdom itself shares that same purity.
Twenty Ways of Clinging to Nothing
Each phrase in this catalog denies attachment to a different possible object — a mark, a name, a place, a view, even language — building toward a single governing principle: true dedication clings to nothing at all, not even to the wholesome roots being dedicated. The catalog's final move is its most striking: karma, its retribution, and all-knowing wisdom itself are declared pure "like light and shadow," an image suggesting something entirely real in its effect yet without any substance to grasp.
安置眾生於無所著法性迴向，見眾生自性不動不轉迴向，於迴向無所依、無所取迴向，不取善根相迴向，不分別業報體性迴向，不著五蘊相迴向，不壞五蘊相迴向，不取業迴向，不求報迴向，不染著因緣迴向，不分別因緣所起迴向，不著名稱迴向，不著處所迴向，不著虛妄法迴向，不著眾生相、世界相、心意相迴向，不起心顛倒、想顛倒、見顛倒迴向，不著語言道迴向，觀一切法真實性迴向，觀一切眾生平等相迴向，以法界印印諸善根迴向，觀諸法離貪欲迴向。
Placing living beings within the Dharma-nature that clings to nothing — this is dedication. Beholding the intrinsic nature of living beings as unmoving and unchanging — this is dedication. Within the dedication itself, having nothing to rely upon and nothing to grasp — this is dedication. Not grasping at the mark of a wholesome root — this is dedication. Not discriminating the very essential nature of karmic retribution — this is dedication. Not clinging to the mark of the five aggregates — this is dedication. Not destroying the mark of the five aggregates — this is dedication. Not grasping at karma — this is dedication. Not seeking retribution — this is dedication. Not being defiled by or attached to causes and conditions — this is dedication. Not discriminating what arises from causes and conditions — this is dedication. Not clinging to names and designations — this is dedication. Not clinging to places — this is dedication. Not clinging to false and unreal dharmas — this is dedication. Not clinging to the mark of a living being, the mark of a world, or the mark of mind and intention — this is dedication. Not giving rise to inverted mind, inverted perception, or inverted view — this is dedication. Not clinging to the path of language — this is dedication. Contemplating the true and real nature of every dharma — this is dedication. Contemplating the equal mark of every living being — this is dedication. Sealing every wholesome root with the seal of the Dharma-realm — this is dedication. Contemplating every dharma as free from craving and desire — this is dedication.
解一切法無，種植善根亦如是；觀諸法無二、無生、無滅，迴向亦如是。以如是等善根迴向，修行清淨對治之法，所有善根皆悉隨順出世間法。不作二相，非即業修習一切智，非離業迴向一切智，一切智非即是業，然不離業得一切智。以業如光影清淨故，報亦如光影清淨；報如光影清淨故，一切智智亦如光影清淨。離我、我所一切動亂思惟分別，如是了知，以諸善根方便迴向。』
Understanding that every dharma is without inherent existence, and planting wholesome roots in just this way; contemplating every dharma as without duality, without arising, and without ceasing, and dedicating them in just this way. Through wholesome roots such as these, dedicated in this way, cultivating and practicing the pure counteracting Dharma, every wholesome root entirely accords with the transcendent Dharma. Not producing a mark of duality, all-knowing wisdom is neither cultivated as identical with karma, nor dedicated toward all-knowing wisdom apart from karma; all-knowing wisdom is not identical with karma, and yet all-knowing wisdom is attained without being apart from karma. Because karma is pure like light and shadow, its retribution is likewise pure like light and shadow; because retribution is pure like light and shadow, all-knowing wisdom itself is likewise pure like light and shadow. Leaving behind every disturbed thought and discrimination of self and what belongs to self, understanding in just this way, dedicating every wholesome root through skillful means.'
"All-knowing wisdom is not identical with karma, and yet all-knowing wisdom is attained without being apart from karma" is a formula that recurs throughout this sūtra whenever two things seem to demand either strict identity or total separation — here applied to the relationship between ordinary karmic action and the wisdom that transcends it. The light-and-shadow simile that follows makes the same point visually: a shadow is entirely dependent on what casts it and utterly without independent substance, yet no one would call it unreal.
Part 220 Complete
This closes Part 220. Chapter 25 continues in Part 221 with the sūtra's closing formula for this teaching: "This is called the bodhisattva mahāsattva's first dedication of rescuing and protecting every living being while leaving behind the mark of living being" — completing the first of the ten dedications named at this chapter's opening.