A King Who Bans Killing
Having relinquished one kingdom for a single word of Dharma, the bodhisattva now appears as a great king in his own right, sovereign over the Dharma itself, and uses that throne to forbid every act of slaughter throughout Jambudvīpa. Footless creatures, two-footed, four-footed, and many-footed — every kind of living being receives from him a mind free of fear, free of deceit, free of plunder. Establishing all beings in the five precepts, he dedicates it through ten vows, each asking for a life span that never ends.
Power Used to Give, Not to Take
Every prior appearance of a king in this dedication has been a king giving something of his own away — throne, treasure, family, kingdom. Here, for the first time, kingship itself becomes the gift: rather than relinquishing his rule, the bodhisattva uses it directly, issuing a decree that protects every creature in his realm from being killed. Sovereignty, in this passage, is not something to be given up but something to be exercised on behalf of beings who cannot protect themselves.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩作大國王，於法自在，普行教命，令除殺業；閻浮提內城邑聚落一切屠殺，皆令禁斷；無足、二足、四足、多足，種種生類，普施無畏無欺奪心，廣修一切菩薩諸行，仁慈莅物，不行侵惱，發妙寶心，安隱眾生；於諸佛所立深志樂，常自安住三種淨戒，亦令眾生如是安住。菩薩摩訶薩令諸眾生住於五戒，永斷殺業；以此善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生發菩薩心，具足智慧，永保壽命，無有終盡；願一切眾生住無量劫，供一切佛，恭敬勤修，更增壽命；願一切眾生具足修行，離老死法，一切災毒不害其命；願一切眾生具足成就無病惱身，壽命自在，能隨意住；願一切眾生得無盡命，窮未來劫住菩薩行，教化調伏一切眾生；願一切眾生為壽命門，十力善根於中增長；願一切眾生善根具足，得無盡命，成滿大願；願一切眾生悉見諸佛供養承事，住無盡壽，修集善根；願一切眾生於如來處善學所學，得聖法喜無盡壽命；願一切眾生得不老不病，常住命根，勇猛精進，入佛智慧。』是為菩薩摩訶薩住三聚淨戒永斷殺業善根迴向，為令眾生得佛十力圓滿智故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, having become a great king, sovereign over the Dharma, universally sets forth his decree, causing the karma of killing to be eliminated; every act of slaughter throughout every city, town, and village within Jambudvīpa is entirely forbidden and stopped; toward footless creatures, two-footed creatures, four-footed creatures, and many-footed creatures, every kind of living being, he universally bestows a mind free of fear, free of deceit, and free of plunder, widely cultivating every practice of a bodhisattva, governing all beings with benevolence and compassion, never inflicting harm or affliction, giving rise to a mind that is a wondrous jewel, bringing peace and security to sentient beings; before every buddha he establishes a profound aspiration and joy, forever abiding securely himself in the three kinds of pure precepts, and also causing sentient beings to abide securely in the same way. The bodhisattva mahāsattva causes sentient beings to abide in the five precepts, forever cutting off the karma of killing; with this wholesome root, he dedicates it in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings give rise to the bodhisattva's own mind, fully endowed with wisdom, forever preserving their life span without ever coming to an end; may all sentient beings abide for immeasurable kalpas, making offerings to every buddha, reverently and diligently cultivating, their life span further increasing; may all sentient beings be fully endowed in their practice, leaving behind the dharma of old age and death, harmed in their life by no calamity or poison at all; may all sentient beings fully accomplish a body free of sickness and affliction, their life span sovereign and free, able to abide according to their own wish; may all sentient beings obtain an inexhaustible life span, abiding in the bodhisattva's own practice to the very end of future kalpas, teaching and subduing every sentient being; may all sentient beings become a gateway to life itself, the wholesome roots of the ten powers increasing within it; may all sentient beings be fully endowed with wholesome roots, obtain an inexhaustible life span, and fulfill their great vow completely; may all sentient beings all behold every buddha, making offerings and attending upon them, abiding in inexhaustible life, cultivating and gathering wholesome roots; may all sentient beings, in the presence of the Tathāgata, skillfully learn what is to be learned, and obtain the joy of the noble Dharma with an inexhaustible life span; may all sentient beings obtain freedom from old age and sickness, their life-faculty forever abiding, courageously and diligently entering the Buddha's own wisdom.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when abiding in the three kinds of pure precepts and forever cutting off the karma of killing; it is so that sentient beings may obtain the Buddha's own perfect and complete wisdom of the ten powers.
The logic connecting the deed to the dedication is direct and almost literal: a king who saves lives by banning killing dedicates that act toward beings obtaining life spans that never end. Where earlier dedications often transposed a physical gift into something abstract, this one barely needs to — the wish for inexhaustible life follows straightforwardly from the gift of not being killed.
Part 307 Complete
This closes the section on abiding in the three kinds of pure precepts and forever cutting off the karma of killing (住三聚淨戒永斷殺業) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 308 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva, seeing beings whose manhood has been cruelly cut away, is moved to great compassion and acts to end the practice throughout Jambudvīpa.