Merit Subtle, Vast, and Profound

"The merit that the bodhisattva creates is subtle and wondrous, vast and profound, reaching far and deep; even in the practice of a single thought, he is entirely able to dedicate it to the boundless and infinite. Every article for sustaining life that the bodhisattva possesses, abundant and overflowing in countless koṭis of every kind, fragrant elephants and jeweled horses yoked to chariots, clothing and precious wealth, all of it wondrous and rare — sometimes his head and eyes, together with his hands and feet, sometimes the flesh and marrow of his own body — entirely pervading immeasurable lands in the ten directions, he universally gives it all away, causing it to fill them completely. Throughout immeasurable kalpas of cultivation and practice, he dedicates every merit entirely, wishing to rescue and deliver every living being, his mind ultimately never regressing.

The bodhisattva, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, forever cultivates the most excellent karma of dedication, universally causing the three realms to attain peace and happiness, causing them all to accomplish the unsurpassed fruit. The bodhisattva universally arouses equal vows, and according to whatever pure karma he has gathered, gives and dedicates it all entirely to every living being; this great vow of his is never once abandoned. The power of the bodhisattva's vow is without limit or obstruction, gathering in every world entirely; dedicating in this way to every living being, he never once, even briefly, gives rise to a discriminating mind. He universally vows that sentient beings' wisdom become clear and bright, that their giving and upholding of precepts become entirely pure, that their diligent practice never slacken or be abandoned; this great vow of his is without any rest.

The bodhisattva's dedication reaches the farther shore, universally opening the pure and wondrous gate of the Dharma; his wisdom equal to the Two-Footed Honored One, he distinguishes the true meaning and attains its ultimate end. The bodhisattva's own speech has already become fully mastered, and every kind of wisdom is likewise so; he expounds the Dharma in accordance with the true principle, without any obstruction, and yet within it his mind holds no attachment. He forever neither treats any dharma as dual, nor does he treat it as non-dual either; leaving behind both duality and non-duality alike, he knows that both are entirely the path of language. He knows that every world is entirely equal, none of it apart from mind, speech, and every karmic act; sentient beings are illusory transformations without any true reality, and yet every fruit of karma arises from just this.

Everything that exists within any world, every kind of differing karmic fruit, is without exception accomplished entirely through the power of karma; if karma itself were extinguished, all of it would come entirely to an end. The bodhisattva contemplates every world, the karma of body, speech, and mind entirely equal, and likewise causes sentient beings to abide in equality, just like the great sage honored one who has no equal. The bodhisattva dedicates every wholesome karma entirely, universally causing sentient beings' form to become pure, their merit and skillful means both fully complete, equal to the unsurpassed Tamer. The bodhisattva benefits every living being, dedicating the great ocean of his merit entirely, vowing that his majestic light may especially surpass the world, attaining a heroic body of great power.

Whatever merit he cultivates and practices, he vows that the world may become universally pure; the purity of every buddha is without peer or equal, and the purity of sentient beings is likewise so. The bodhisattva attains skillfulness regarding meaning, able to know the most excellent Dharma of every buddha; with every wholesome karma he dedicates equally, vowing that every kind of being become equal to the Tathāgata. The bodhisattva clearly knows that every dharma is empty, that nothing at all exists within any world; there is no doing and no doer, and yet the karmic fruit of sentient beings is never lost. Every dharma is quiescent, and yet not quiescent; forever leaving behind this discriminating mind between the two, he knows that every discrimination is merely a worldly view, and entering the true position, all discrimination comes entirely to an end.