The First Dedication Is Complete
The exposition of the first dedication closes with a paradox held in balance one final time: the bodhisattva knows that no dharma truly has either karma or retribution, and yet is skillfully able to give rise to every karma and retribution without contradiction. Vajra Banner Bodhisattva then surveys the entire assembly throughout the Dharma-realm, enters the profound meaning of the teaching just given, and prepares to gather it into a single verse.
Without Rest, Without Contradiction
The closing lines of this dedication return to a familiar pattern in this sūtra: the bodhisattva ferries across living beings without rest while never abiding in the mark of any dharma, and knows that no dharma truly has karma or retribution while remaining skillfully able to produce both without contradiction. Only after this balance is stated does the formal closing arrive — this is the first of the ten dedications, praised by every buddha.
「菩薩如是迴向之時，度脫眾生，常無休息，不住法相；雖知諸法無業無報，善能出生一切業報而無違諍，如是方便善修迴向。菩薩摩訶薩如是迴向時，離一切過，諸佛所讚。佛子！是為菩薩摩訶薩第一救護一切眾生離眾生相迴向。」
"When the bodhisattva dedicates in just this way, they ferry across and liberate living beings, forever without rest, never abiding in the mark of any dharma; though they know that no dharma has either karma or retribution, they are skillfully able to give rise to every karma and retribution without any contradiction or dispute — cultivating dedication skillfully through such means as these. When the bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates in just this way, they leave behind every fault, and are praised by every buddha. Child of the Buddha! This is called the bodhisattva mahāsattva's first dedication — the dedication of rescuing and protecting every living being while leaving behind the mark of 'living being.'"
爾時，金剛幢菩薩，觀察十方一切眾會暨于法界，入深句義，以無量心修習勝行，大悲普覆一切眾生，不斷三世諸如來種，入一切佛功德法藏，出生一切諸佛法身，善能分別諸眾生心，知其所種善根成熟，住於法身而為示現清淨色身；承佛神力，即說頌言：
At that time, Vajra Banner Bodhisattva observed the entire assembly of the ten directions together with the Dharma-realm, entered the profound meaning of every phrase, cultivated supreme conduct through an immeasurable mind, universally covering every living being with great compassion, never severing the lineage of every Tathāgata across the three periods of time, entering the treasury of merit and Dharma of every buddha, giving rise to the Dharma-body of every buddha, skillfully able to discern the minds of every living being, knowing whose planted wholesome roots had ripened, and, abiding in the Dharma-body, manifesting a pure form-body for their sake; relying upon the Buddha's own spiritual power, he then spoke a verse, saying:
The first dedication's closing formula — "rescuing and protecting every living being while leaving behind the mark of living being" — is worth reading back against everything covered since its naming: the ten opening vows, the vow to endure hell itself, the definition of dedication by scope rather than magnitude, and the twenty-phrase catalog of what dedication clings to nothing at all. Every one of those elaborations turns out to be commentary on that single opening phrase.
Part 221 Complete
This closes Part 221. Chapter 25 continues in Part 222 with the opening lines of Vajra Banner Bodhisattva's verse, gathering the first dedication into gatha form for the assembly.