Thirty Wholesome Roots, One Dedication
Fascicle twenty-nine opens the seventh of the sūtra's ten dedications: "the dedication of according equally with all sentient beings" (等隨順一切眾生迴向). Where the sixth dedication catalogued gifts one by one, the seventh opens instead with a catalogue of wholesome roots themselves — thirty distinct kinds, from the merely small to the truly immeasurable, from roots planted in the presence of the Buddha to roots planted through a good spiritual friend — before describing the qualities such a bodhisattva comes to possess.
A New Dedication, A New Fascicle
The seventh dedication opens by asking its own defining question, exactly as the sixth had closed by answering one — and its answer is an inventory of wholesome roots so exhaustive it reads almost like a taxonomy: roots classified by size, by number, by their source in the Three Jewels, and by the specific quality of mind that cultivated them.
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩等隨順一切眾生迴向？「佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩隨所積集一切善根，所謂：小善根、大善根、廣善根、多善根、無量善根、種種善根、微塵數善根、阿僧祇善根、無邊際善根、不可思善根、不可量善根、佛境界善根、法境界善根、僧境界善根、善知識境界善根、一切眾生境界善根、方便善巧境界善根、修諸善心境界善根、內境界善根、外境界善根、無邊助道法境界善根、勤修一切捨善根、立勝志究竟持淨戒善根、一切捨無不受堪忍善根、常精進心無退善根、以大方便入無量三昧善根、以智慧善觀察善根、知一切眾生心行差別善根、集無邊功德善根、勤修習菩薩業行善根、普覆育一切世間善根。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩於此善根修行安住，趣入攝受，積集辦具，悟解心淨；開示發起時，得堪忍心，閉惡趣門；善攝諸根，威儀具足，遠離顛倒，正行圓滿；堪為一切諸佛法器，能作眾生福德良田；為佛所念，長佛善根，住諸佛願，行諸佛業，心得自在，等三世佛；趣佛道場，入如來力，具佛色相，超諸世間；不樂生天，不貪富樂，不著諸行；一切善根悉以迴向，為諸眾生功德之藏；住究竟道，普覆一切，於虛妄道中拔出眾生，令其安住一切善法，遍諸境界無斷無盡；開一切智菩提之門，建立智幢，嚴淨大道；普能示現一切世間，令除垢染，心善調伏，生如來家，淨佛種性；功德具足，作大福田，為世所依；安立眾生咸令清淨，常勤修習一切善根。
"Child of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of according equally with all sentient beings? Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva mahāsattva, with whatever wholesome roots he has gathered and accumulated, namely: small wholesome roots, great wholesome roots, extensive wholesome roots, many wholesome roots, immeasurable wholesome roots, wholesome roots of every kind, wholesome roots as numerous as motes of dust, asaṃkhyeya wholesome roots, boundless wholesome roots, inconceivable wholesome roots, unmeasurable wholesome roots, wholesome roots within the domain of the Buddha, wholesome roots within the domain of the Dharma, wholesome roots within the domain of the Saṅgha, wholesome roots within the domain of a good spiritual friend, wholesome roots within the domain of all sentient beings, wholesome roots within the domain of skillful means, wholesome roots within the domain of cultivating every wholesome mind, wholesome roots within the internal domain, wholesome roots within the external domain, wholesome roots within the domain of boundless practices that assist the path, wholesome roots of diligently cultivating giving in every form, wholesome roots of establishing a supreme resolve and ultimately upholding pure precepts, wholesome roots of forbearance that relinquishes everything and accepts nothing amiss, wholesome roots of a mind of constant diligence that never regresses, wholesome roots of entering immeasurable meditative absorptions through great skillful means, wholesome roots of skillfully observing through wisdom, wholesome roots of knowing the distinct mental conduct of every sentient being, wholesome roots of gathering boundless merit, wholesome roots of diligently cultivating the practice and deeds of a bodhisattva, and wholesome roots of universally sheltering and nurturing every world. Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, abiding securely in the cultivation of these wholesome roots, enters into and gathers them in, accumulates and brings them to completion, his mind awakened to understanding and made pure; as he reveals and gives rise to them, he attains a mind of forbearance, and closes the gate to every evil destiny; he skillfully restrains every faculty, his deportment entirely complete, forever leaving behind every inverted view, his true practice brought to fulfillment; he becomes a worthy vessel for the Dharma of every buddha, able to become a fine field of merit for sentient beings; he is held in the mindfulness of every buddha, growing every buddha's own wholesome roots, abiding in the vows of every buddha, practicing the deeds of every buddha, his mind attaining mastery, equal to the buddhas of the three times; he proceeds toward the buddha's own bodhimaṇḍa, enters the power of the Tathāgata, possesses the buddha's own form and marks, and transcends every world; he takes no delight in being born in heaven, does not covet wealth and pleasure, and is not attached to any conditioned activity; he dedicates every wholesome root entirely, becoming a treasury of merit for every sentient being; he abides in the ultimate path, universally sheltering all, pulling sentient beings out from the path of falsehood, causing them to abide securely in every wholesome dharma, pervading every domain without interruption and without exhaustion; he opens the gate to the enlightenment of all-wisdom, establishes the banner of wisdom, and adorns and purifies the great path; he is universally able to manifest himself within every world, causing defilement to be removed, minds to be well tamed, causing them to be born into the household of the Tathāgata, and purifying the buddha-seed-nature within them; his merit entirely complete, he becomes a great field of merit, a refuge relied upon by the world; he establishes sentient beings securely, causing them all to become pure, and forever diligently cultivates every wholesome root."
The thirty kinds of wholesome root fall into three loose clusters: first, roots described purely by scale — small, great, immeasurable, as numerous as motes of dust; then roots named by their source — the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, a good spiritual friend, all sentient beings; and finally roots named by the specific virtue that cultivated them — giving, precepts, forbearance, diligence, meditation, wisdom. The seventh dedication, unlike the sixth, begins not with an object given but with the very roots that make giving, or anything else, wholesome in the first place.
Part 330 Complete
This opens the seventh dedication and fascicle twenty-nine. Chapter 25 continues in Part 331 as the bodhisattva reflects that every one of these wholesome roots is gathered by the power of the mind of enlightenment itself — accumulated by it, considered by it, given rise to by it, aspired to by it — all out of compassion for every sentient being and in pursuit of all-wisdom.