Nine Kinds of Wholesome Root
Abiding in the ten kinds of unbreakable faith, the bodhisattva plants immeasurable wholesome roots and dedicates them toward all-knowing wisdom through an extended vow — forever beholding every buddha, drawing near to good spiritual friends, never once abandoning the recollection of all-knowing wisdom, and upholding the Buddha's own teaching without wavering. The passage closes by naming nine distinct ways of relating to these wholesome roots: accumulating, accomplishing, increasing, contemplating, and more.
A Vow of Never Abandoning
The bodhisattva's vow here is built almost entirely from negatives held at bay — a mind that never abandons the recollection of all-knowing wisdom even for a moment, a dedication that never wavers from the transcendent path. What faith made possible in the previous Part becomes, here, sustained practice: making offerings to Dharma teachers, understanding every dharma without forgetting, and bringing every living being to maturity.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是安住不壞信時，於佛、菩薩、聲聞、獨覺，若諸佛教，若諸眾生，如是等種種境界中，種諸善根無量無邊，令菩提心轉更增長；慈悲廣大，平等觀察，隨順修學諸佛所作，攝取一切清淨善根；入真實義，集福德行，行大惠施，修諸功德，等觀三世。
"Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva abides in unbreakable faith in just this way, toward buddhas, bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas, whether the teaching of every buddha or every living being — throughout every kind of domain such as these, they plant wholesome roots immeasurable and boundless, causing the mind of bodhi to grow ever more; their loving-kindness and compassion vast and expansive, observing all equally, according with and studying what every buddha has done, gathering in every pure wholesome root; entering the true and real meaning, gathering the conduct of merit, practicing great and generous giving, cultivating every merit, and observing the three periods of time equally.
菩薩摩訶薩以如是等善根功德，迴向一切智：『願常見諸佛，親近善友，與諸菩薩同共止住；念一切智，心無暫捨；受持佛教，勤加守護；教化成熟一切眾生，心常迴向出世之道，供養瞻侍一切法師；解了諸法，憶持不忘；修行大願，悉使滿足。』菩薩如是積集善根，成就善根，增長善根，思惟善根，繫念善根，分別善根，愛樂善根，修習善根，安住善根。
The bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates wholesome roots and merit such as these toward all-knowing wisdom: 'May I forever behold every buddha, draw near to good spiritual friends, and dwell together with every bodhisattva; recollecting all-knowing wisdom, my mind never abandoning it even for a moment; upholding the Buddha's own teaching, diligently guarding and protecting it; teaching, transforming, and bringing every living being to maturity, my mind forever dedicated toward the transcendent path, making offerings to and attending upon every Dharma teacher; understanding every dharma completely, remembering and upholding it without forgetting; cultivating and practicing my great vow, causing it to be entirely fulfilled.' The bodhisattva, in just this way, accumulates wholesome roots, accomplishes wholesome roots, increases wholesome roots, contemplates wholesome roots, fixes their mind upon wholesome roots, discerns wholesome roots, cherishes and delights in wholesome roots, cultivates and practices wholesome roots, and abides securely in wholesome roots.
The nine verbs applied to wholesome roots at this passage's close — accumulating, accomplishing, increasing, contemplating, fixing the mind upon, discerning, cherishing, cultivating, abiding — read almost like a grammar of what it means to actually hold onto merit rather than let it dissipate unnoticed. Each verb names a different way a wholesome root could otherwise be lost: forgotten, scattered, left unexamined, or simply never returned to.
Part 226 Complete
This closes Part 226. Chapter 25 continues in Part 227 as the bodhisattva, having accumulated these wholesome roots, begins a vast litany of asaṃkhyeya offerings — jewels, flowers, garlands, robes, and canopies without number — made to every buddha in every land.