A Single Handful, A Single Grain
Even the smallest possible act of generosity — giving an animal a single handful or a single grain of food — becomes an occasion for the bodhisattva's full vow: that this very being leave behind the animal destiny entirely, cross over the sea of suffering, and sever every root and cause of suffering down to its very foundation. From the moment they first gave rise to the mind of bodhi, the bodhisattva has gathered every wholesome root for exactly this purpose, planting the seed of the Tathāgata in place of the seed of the world.
The Same Full Vow, No Matter How Small the Gift
The proportion here is deliberately extreme: an offering as small as a single handful or grain of food to an animal receives the exact same weight of vow as any of the sūtra's grander dedications — release from the animal destiny, crossing the sea of suffering, severing suffering's every root and cause down to its foundation. The passage then generalizes from this single moment to the bodhisattva's entire practice since first giving rise to the mind of bodhi: gathering wholesome roots continuously, planting the Tathāgata's own seed in place of the world's.
「佛子！菩薩爾時，乃至施與畜生之食一摶、一粒，咸作是願：『當令此等捨畜生道，利益安樂，究竟解脫，永度苦海，永滅苦受，永除苦蘊，永斷苦覺、苦聚、苦行、苦因、苦本及諸苦處；願彼眾生皆得捨離。』菩薩如是專心繫念一切眾生，以彼善根而為上首，為其迴向一切種智。
"Child of the Buddha! At that time, the bodhisattva, even when giving food to an animal — a single handful, a single grain — always makes this vow: 'May this being leave behind the animal destiny, attain benefit and happiness, and ultimate liberation; may they forever cross over the sea of suffering, forever extinguish the feeling of suffering, forever remove the aggregate of suffering, forever sever the perception of suffering, the accumulation of suffering, the conditioned activity of suffering, the cause of suffering, the root of suffering, and every place of suffering; may that living being come to leave all of this behind entirely.' The bodhisattva, single-mindedly fixing their thought on every living being in just this way, takes that very wholesome root as foremost, and dedicates it on their behalf toward the wisdom of all modes.
菩薩初發菩提之心普攝眾生，修諸善根悉以迴向，欲令永離生死曠野，得諸如來無礙快樂，出煩惱海，修佛法道；慈心遍滿，悲力廣大，普使一切得清淨樂；守護善根，親近佛法；出魔境界，入佛境界；斷世間種，植如來種，住於三世平等法中。菩薩摩訶薩如是所有已集、當集、現集善根，悉以迴向。
From the very moment the bodhisattva first gives rise to the mind of bodhi, they universally gather in living beings, cultivating every wholesome root and dedicating it entirely, wishing to cause them to forever leave behind the vast wilderness of birth and death, attain the unobstructed joy of every Tathāgata, emerge from the sea of affliction, and cultivate the path of the Buddha's own Dharma; their mind of loving-kindness pervading everywhere, the power of their compassion vast and expansive, universally causing all to attain pure bliss; guarding and protecting wholesome roots, drawing near to the Buddha's own Dharma; emerging from the domain of Māra and entering the domain of the Buddha; severing the seed of the world and planting the seed of the Tathāgata, abiding within the equal Dharma of the three periods of time. Whatever wholesome root the bodhisattva mahāsattva has already gathered, will gather, or is presently gathering, in just this way, they dedicate all of it entirely.
The catalogue of what the animal is freed from — the feeling of suffering, its aggregate, its perception, its accumulation, its conditioned activity, its cause, its root, and every place where it occurs — reads almost like a diagnostic list, naming suffering from several different angles rather than as a single undifferentiated mass. Directed at a creature receiving a single grain of food, the specificity of the vow refuses to treat the recipient's smallness as license for a correspondingly small wish on its behalf.
Part 239 Complete
This closes Part 239. Chapter 25 continues in Part 240 as the bodhisattva vows to dedicate every wholesome root just as the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past have done, without attachment to form, feeling, perception, mental formations, or consciousness.