Rescue From the Dark Cell
Every earlier gift in this dedication began with an object — a throne, a canopy, a crown. This one begins instead with what the bodhisattva sees: sentient beings in the darkness of prison, bound in shackles and chains, without any relative or refuge, naked, starving, and suffering unbearably. The bodhisattva relinquishes every possession, spouse and child, kin, and even his own body to rescue them, following the example of Great Compassion Bodhisattva and Wondrous Eye King Bodhisattva, before finally giving the rescued the Dharma itself.
What Is Given Only After Suffering Ends
The sequence of the rescue matters as much as the rescue itself: the bodhisattva first removes suffering and brings the prisoners to peace and comfort, and "only then" gives them the unsurpassed treasure of the Dharma. The dedication that follows takes fetters as its recurring image — of craving, of affliction, of the three realms themselves — turning a single scene of physical imprisonment into the pattern for every kind of bondage a being can be freed from.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩見有眾生處在牢獄黑暗之處，杻械、枷鎖檢繫其身，起坐不安，眾苦競集，無有親識，無歸無救，裸露、飢羸，酸劇難忍。菩薩見已，捨其所有一切財寶、妻子、眷屬及以自身，於牢獄中救彼眾生，如大悲菩薩、妙眼王菩薩；既救度已，隨其所須，普皆給施，除其苦患，令得安隱；然後施以無上法寶，令捨放逸，安住善根，於佛教中，心無退轉。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩於牢獄中救眾生時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生究竟解脫貪愛纏縛；願一切眾生斷生死流，昇智慧岸；願一切眾生除滅愚癡，生長智慧，解脫一切煩惱纏縛；願一切眾生滅三界縛，得一切智，究竟出離；願一切眾生永斷一切煩惱結縛，到無煩惱、無障礙地智慧彼岸；願一切眾生離諸動念、思惟、分別，入於平等不動智地；願一切眾生脫諸欲縛，永離世間一切貪欲，於三界中無所染著；願一切眾生得勝志樂，常蒙諸佛為說法門；願一切眾生得無著、無縛解脫，心廣大如法界，究竟如虛空；願一切眾生得菩薩神通，一切世界調伏眾生，令離世間，住於大乘。』是為菩薩摩訶薩救度牢獄苦眾生時善根迴向，為令眾生普入如來智慧地故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva sees sentient beings dwelling in the darkness of prison, their bodies bound in shackles and chains, unable to sit or rise in peace, every kind of suffering converging upon them at once, without any relative or friend, without refuge, without rescue, naked and starving and emaciated, their bitter suffering unbearable. Having seen this, the bodhisattva relinquishes everything they possess — every treasure, spouse and child, and every kin — and even their own body, to rescue those sentient beings from within the prison, just as Great Compassion Bodhisattva and Wondrous Eye King Bodhisattva once did. Having already rescued and delivered them, according to whatever they need, they give to them universally and entirely, removing their suffering and affliction and bringing them to peace and comfort; and only then do they give them the unsurpassed treasure of the Dharma, causing them to relinquish heedlessness, abide securely in wholesome roots, and within the Buddha's own teaching, their minds never regress. Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva rescues sentient beings from within a prison, with every wholesome root, they dedicate it in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings ultimately be liberated from the fetters of craving and attachment; may all sentient beings cut off the stream of birth and death and ascend to the shore of wisdom; may all sentient beings eliminate ignorance, give rise to and increase wisdom, and be liberated from the fetters of every affliction; may all sentient beings destroy the bonds of the three realms, obtain omniscience, and ultimately go forth and depart; may all sentient beings forever cut off every knot and bond of affliction, and reach the further shore of wisdom, free of affliction and free of obstruction; may all sentient beings depart from every stirring thought, every deliberation, and every discrimination, and enter the ground of wisdom that is equal and unmoving; may all sentient beings be freed from the bonds of desire, forever leave behind every worldly craving, and remain unstained within the three realms; may all sentient beings obtain a supreme resolve and joy, forever receiving the Dharma-gates expounded by every buddha; may all sentient beings obtain liberation free of attachment and free of bondage, their minds as vast as the Dharma-realm, ultimate as empty space itself; may all sentient beings obtain a bodhisattva's spiritual powers, subduing sentient beings throughout every world, causing them to leave the world behind and abide in the Great Vehicle.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when rescuing sentient beings suffering in prison, so that sentient beings may universally enter the Tathāgata's own ground of wisdom.
The bodhisattva is named here as following two earlier examples, Great Compassion Bodhisattva and Wondrous Eye King Bodhisattva, rather than acting from an unprecedented impulse of his own. Even an act this extreme — relinquishing wealth, family, and body to walk into a prison — is presented as something already modeled, already a lineage one can join rather than a singular heroism one must invent alone.
Part 286 Complete
This closes the section on rescuing prisoners from a dark cell (牢獄苦眾生) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 287 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva encounters a prisoner bound at five points of the body and condemned to execution, and gives his own life to save them.