Free of Every Perception, Bound by Nothing
Having finished the long catalogue of gifts — wife, children, house, gardens, giving-assemblies, articles of daily life, beggars answered without end — the sūtra now turns from what was given to the mind that gave it. In one of the most philosophically dense passages of the dedication so far, every possible perception a giver might hold is stripped away one by one, until what remains is a dedication that is neither bound nor unbound, neither made by a self nor made by no self at all.
Neither Bound Nor Unbound
This passage systematically empties the act of dedication of any ground to stand on — no giver, no gift, no receiver, no permanence, no impermanence, not even a self that could be said to exist or not exist — while insisting, in its final lines, that none of this undermines the bodhisattva's continued practice: he still does not sever the paths of karma, still does not abandon the bodhisattva path, still seeks all-wisdom without ever regressing.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以諸善根如是迴向時，身、口、意業皆悉解脫，無著無繫，無眾生想，無命者想，無補伽羅想，無人想，無童子想，無生者想，無作者想，無受者想，無有想，無無想，無今世、後世想，無死此生彼想，無常想，無無常想，無三有想，無無三有想，非想非非想。如是，非縛迴向，非縛解迴向；非業迴向，非業報迴向；非分別迴向，非無分別迴向；非思迴向，非思已迴向；非心迴向，非無心迴向。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是迴向時，不著內，不著外；不著能緣，不著所緣；不著因，不著果；不著法，不著非法；不著思，不著非思；不著色，不著色生，不著色滅；不著受、想、行、識，不著受、想、行、識生，不著受、想、行、識滅。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩若能於此諸法不著，則不縛色，不縛色生，不縛色滅；不縛受、想、行、識，不縛受、想、行、識生，不縛受、想、行、識滅。若能於此諸法不縛，則亦於諸法不解。何以故？無有少法，若現生、若已生、若當生；無法可取，無法可著。一切諸法自相如是，無有自性，自性相離，非一、非二，非多、非無量，非小、非大，非狹、非廣，非深、非淺，非寂靜、非戲論，非處、非非處，非法、非非法，非體、非非體，非有、非非有。菩薩如是觀察諸法，則為非法；於言語中隨世建立，非法為法；不斷諸業道，不捨菩薩行，求一切智終無退轉；了知一切業緣如夢，音聲如響，眾生如影，諸法如幻，而亦不壞因緣業力；了知諸業其用廣大，解一切法皆無所作，行無作道未甞暫廢。
"Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates these wholesome roots in this way, the actions of his body, speech, and mind are all entirely liberated, free of attachment and free of bondage, free of the perception of a sentient being, free of the perception of a life, free of the perception of a person, free of the perception of a human, free of the perception of a youth, free of the perception of one who is born, free of the perception of a doer, free of the perception of a receiver, free of the perception of existence, free of the perception of non-existence, free of the perception of this life or a future life, free of the perception of dying here and being born there, free of the perception of permanence, free of the perception of impermanence, free of the perception of the three realms of existence, free of the perception of the absence of the three realms of existence — neither a perception nor a non-perception. In this way, it is a dedication that is neither bondage nor freedom from bondage; neither karma nor the ripening of karma; neither discrimination nor freedom from discrimination; neither deliberation nor a dedication already deliberated upon; neither of the mind nor apart from the mind. Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates in this way, he is attached neither to what is internal nor to what is external; neither to the perceiving subject nor to the perceived object; neither to cause nor to effect; neither to dharma nor to non-dharma; neither to thought nor to non-thought; neither to form, nor to form's arising, nor to form's cessation; neither to feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, nor to their arising, nor to their cessation. Child of the Buddha! If the bodhisattva mahāsattva is able to remain unattached to these dharmas, then he is not bound by form, nor by form's arising, nor by form's cessation; he is not bound by feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, nor by their arising, nor by their cessation. If he is able to remain unbound by these dharmas, then he is likewise not liberated from them either. Why is this? Because there is not the slightest dharma that is presently arising, has already arisen, or will arise; there is no dharma that can be grasped, and no dharma that can be attached to. The own-characteristic of every dharma is just so — without any intrinsic nature, its very nature apart from all such characteristics: neither one nor two, neither many nor immeasurable, neither small nor great, neither narrow nor broad, neither deep nor shallow, neither tranquil nor discursive, neither a place nor not a place, neither a dharma nor not a dharma, neither an essence nor not an essence, neither existent nor not existent. The bodhisattva, contemplating the dharmas in this way, understands them as not truly dharmas at all; it is only within language, established in accordance with worldly convention, that what is not truly a dharma is spoken of as a dharma; yet he does not sever the paths of karma, does not abandon the practice of a bodhisattva, and in seeking all-wisdom he never once regresses; he clearly knows that every karmic condition is like a dream, that sound is like an echo, that sentient beings are like a reflection, and that every dharma is like an illusion — and yet he does not destroy the power of causes, conditions, and karma; he clearly knows that the function of every karmic act is vast and great, understands that every dharma is without any doer at all, and practices the path of non-doing without ever once, even for a moment, abandoning it."
The passage's final turn is its sharpest: having emptied every dharma of a doer, it does not conclude that action becomes pointless, but the reverse — the bodhisattva "does not sever the paths of karma," "does not abandon the practice of a bodhisattva," precisely because he sees karma, sound, sentient beings, and every dharma as dream, echo, reflection, and illusion, "and yet does not destroy the power of causes, conditions, and karma." Emptiness here is not a reason to stop; it is what makes tireless practice possible.
Part 326 Complete
This continues the closing reflection of the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 327 as the sūtra defines what "dedication" itself means — ten ways of reaching the far shore — and formally concludes the sixth dedication, "the dedication of accordance with all wholesome roots, firm and indestructible."