The Householder Bodhisattva
One of this sūtra's most memorable passages: a bodhisattva who dwells at home together with spouse and children, never once abandoning the mind of bodhi even for a moment, transforming their own household members through skillful means while clinging to nothing at all. Every ordinary act of daily life — dressing, eating, taking medicine, walking, sitting, sleeping, waking — becomes an occasion on which their mind never departs from all-knowing wisdom.
Dressing, Eating, Sleeping, Waking
The passage's list of ordinary activities — putting on clothing, tasting food, taking medicine, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, sleeping, waking — is deliberately unremarkable, drawn from the most mundane hours of a householder's day rather than from any special retreat or ritual. What makes each of these an occasion for practice is not the act itself but the mind brought to it: dedicated toward all-knowing wisdom continuously, with mindfulness that is never once abandoned.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩在家宅中與妻子俱，未曾暫捨菩提之心，正念思惟薩婆若境，自度度彼，令得究竟；以善方便化己眷屬，令入菩薩智，令成熟解脫；雖與同止，心無所著，以本大悲處於居家，以慈心故隨順妻子，於菩薩清淨道無所障礙。菩薩摩訶薩雖在居家作諸事業，未曾暫捨一切智心。所謂：若著衣裳、若噉滋味、若服湯藥、澡漱塗摩、迴旋顧視、行住坐臥、身語意業、若睡若寤。如是一切諸有所作，心常迴向薩婆若道，繫念思惟，無時捨離。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, dwelling in their household together with spouse and children, never once abandons the mind of bodhi even for a moment; with right mindfulness they contemplate the domain of all-knowing wisdom, liberating themselves and liberating others, causing both to reach the ultimate end; through skillful means they transform their own household members, causing them to enter the bodhisattva's own wisdom, and bringing them to maturity and liberation; although dwelling together with them, their mind clings to nothing at all; through their own original great compassion they dwell in the household, and through a mind of loving-kindness they accord with spouse and children, and yet this is no obstruction at all to the bodhisattva's own pure path. The bodhisattva mahāsattva, although dwelling at home and carrying out every kind of task, never once abandons the mind of all-knowing wisdom even for a moment. Namely: whether putting on clothing, or tasting food, or taking medicine, washing and anointing themselves, turning and looking about, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, in every bodily, verbal, and mental deed, whether asleep or awake — in every single one of these activities, their mind forever dedicates toward the path of all-knowing wisdom, their mindfulness and contemplation never abandoning it for even a moment.
為欲饒益一切眾生，安住菩提無量大願，攝取無數廣大善根；勤修諸善，普救一切，永離一切憍慢放逸，決定趣於一切智地，終不發意向於餘道；常觀一切諸佛菩提，永捨一切諸雜染法，修行一切菩薩所學，於一切智道無所障礙；住於智地愛樂誦習，以無量智集諸善根，心不戀樂一切世間，亦不染著所行之行，專心受持諸佛教法。菩薩如是處在居家，普攝善根，令其增長，迴向諸佛無上菩提。
Wishing to benefit every living being, they abide securely in the immeasurable great vow of bodhi, gathering in countless vast wholesome roots; diligently cultivating every wholesome deed, universally rescuing all, forever leaving behind every arrogance and negligence, resolutely advancing toward the ground of all-knowing wisdom, never once giving rise to an intention toward any other path; forever contemplating the bodhi of every buddha, forever abandoning every mixed and defiling dharma, cultivating and practicing everything every bodhisattva studies, unobstructed upon the path of all-knowing wisdom; abiding in the ground of wisdom, delighting in reciting and studying it, gathering every wholesome root through immeasurable wisdom, their mind never longing for or delighting in any worldly thing, and likewise never defiled or attached to whatever conduct they undertake, single-mindedly upholding the teaching and Dharma of every buddha. The bodhisattva, dwelling at home in just this way, universally gathers wholesome roots, causing them to increase, and dedicates them toward the unsurpassed bodhi of every buddha.
This passage is frequently cited in East Asian Buddhist commentary as textual support for lay practice — evidence that the sūtra itself does not treat household life as a compromise or a lesser path, but as fully compatible with the bodhisattva's own vow, provided the mind remains unattached even while dwelling with family "through great compassion." The list of ordinary activities matters precisely because it refuses to carve out any special category of "spiritual" time distinct from the rest of the day.
Part 238 Complete
This closes Part 238. Chapter 25 continues in Part 239 as the bodhisattva extends this same dedication to the smallest possible act of generosity — offering even a single morsel of food to an animal — vowing that this alone might free it from the animal realm entirely.