A Mind Firmly Abiding, Free of Confusion
Fascicle thirty opens the eighth of the sūtra's ten dedications: "the dedication of the aspect of true suchness" (真如相迴向). The bodhisattva is described first — mindfulness clear, mind firmly abiding, free of confusion, valiant and fearless in seeking the Great Vehicle — before twenty vows for himself: unobstructed body, speech, and mind, meditative absorption unstained by the world, and sovereign spiritual power to journey to every buddha-land.
Every Wholesome Root, Established by One Mind
Before naming a single vow, the passage insists that however varied the bodhisattva's wholesome roots may be — gathered through countless different gateways, objects, names, and practices — every one of them is "established by a mind proceeding toward the vehicle of the ten powers" and dedicated to a single, undivided wisdom. Variety of method converges on singularity of aim.
「佛子！何者是菩薩摩訶薩真如相迴向？「佛子！此菩薩摩訶薩正念明了，其心堅住，遠離迷惑；專意修行，深心不動；成不壞業，趣一切智，終不退轉；志求大乘，勇猛無畏；植諸德本，普安世間；生勝善根，修白淨法；大悲增長，心寶成就；常念諸佛，護持正法；於菩薩道信樂堅固，成就無量淨妙善根，勤修一切功德智慧；為調御師，生眾善法，以智方便而為迴向。菩薩爾時，慧眼普觀，所有善根無量無邊。其諸善根修集之時，若求緣、若辦具、若治淨、若趣入、若專勵、若起行、若明達、若精審、若開示，如是一切有種種門、種種境、種種相、種種事、種種分、種種行、種種名字、種種分別、種種出生、種種修習，其中所有一切善根，悉是趣向十力乘心之所建立，皆悉迴向一切種智，唯一無二。
"Child of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the aspect of true suchness? Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva mahāsattva's true mindfulness is clear and bright, his mind firmly abiding, forever leaving behind confusion; his intention single-mindedly fixed on practice, his profound mind unmoving; he accomplishes indestructible karma, proceeding toward all-wisdom, never once regressing; his resolve seeks the Great Vehicle, valiant and fearless; he plants every root of virtue, universally bringing peace to the world; he gives rise to supreme wholesome roots, cultivating pure and unblemished dharmas; his great compassion increases and grows, the jewel of his mind accomplished; he forever recollects every buddha, protecting and upholding the true Dharma; his faith and delight in the bodhisattva path firm and unwavering, he accomplishes immeasurable pure and wondrous wholesome roots, diligently cultivating every merit and wisdom; becoming a teacher who tames others, giving rise to every wholesome dharma, and with wisdom and skillful means, dedicates it. The bodhisattva then, with the eye of wisdom, universally surveys every wholesome root he possesses, immeasurable and boundless. When these wholesome roots were being cultivated and gathered — whether by seeking conditions, by preparing the requisites, by purifying them, by entering into them, by exerting single-minded effort, by giving rise to practice, by becoming clear and proficient, by careful examination, or by revealing and disclosing them — in all of this there are various gateways, various objects, various characteristics, various matters, various portions, various practices, various names, various discriminations, various arisings, and various cultivations, and within all of this, every wholesome root is entirely established by a mind proceeding toward the vehicle of the ten powers, and all of it is dedicated to the wisdom of all modes, single and without duality."
以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願得圓滿無礙身業，修菩薩行；願得清淨無礙口業，修菩薩行；願得成就無礙意業，安住大乘；願得圓滿無障礙心，淨修一切諸菩薩行；願起無量廣大施心，周給無邊一切眾生；願於諸法心得自在，演大法明，無能障蔽；願得明達一切智處，發菩提心，普照世間；願常正念三世諸佛，諦想如來常現在前；願住圓滿增上志樂，遠離一切諸魔怨敵；願得安住佛十力智，普攝眾生無有休息；願得三昧遊諸世界，而於世間無所染著；願住諸世界無有疲厭，教化眾生恒不休息；願起無量思慧方便，成就菩薩不思議道；願得諸方不迷惑智，悉能分別一切世間；願得自在神通智力，於一念中悉能嚴淨一切國土；願得普入諸法自性，見一切世間悉皆清淨；願得生起無差別智，於一剎中入一切剎；願以一切剎莊嚴之事顯示一切，教化無量無邊眾生；願於一佛剎中示無邊法界，一切佛剎悉亦如是；願得自在大神通智，普能往詣一切佛土。』
With these wholesome roots he dedicates them in this way, namely: 'May I attain a perfected, unobstructed action of body, cultivating the practice of a bodhisattva; may I attain a pure, unobstructed action of speech, cultivating the practice of a bodhisattva; may I attain and accomplish an unobstructed action of mind, abiding securely in the Great Vehicle; may I attain a perfected, unobstructed mind, purely cultivating every practice of a bodhisattva; may I give rise to an immeasurable, vast mind of giving, providing for boundless, all sentient beings; may my mind attain mastery over every dharma, expounding the great light of the Dharma, obstructed by none; may I attain clarity and proficiency in the domain of all-wisdom, giving rise to the mind of enlightenment, universally illuminating the world; may I forever hold true mindfulness of the buddhas of the three times, contemplating truly that the Tathāgata is forever present before me; may I abide in perfected, ever-increasing aspiration and joy, forever leaving behind every demonic foe and enemy; may I attain and abide securely in the buddha's own wisdom of the ten powers, universally gathering in sentient beings without any rest; may I attain meditative absorption and journey through every world, and yet within the world hold no defiling attachment; may I abide within every world without any weariness, teaching and transforming sentient beings forever without rest; may I give rise to immeasurable reflective wisdom and skillful means, accomplishing the bodhisattva's own inconceivable path; may I attain wisdom unconfused regarding every direction, entirely able to discern every world; may I attain sovereign spiritual power and wisdom, entirely able, within a single thought, to adorn and purify every land; may I attain universal entry into the intrinsic nature of every dharma, beholding every world as entirely pure; may I attain the arising of undifferentiated wisdom, entering every land within a single land; may I, with the adornments of every land, reveal them all, teaching and transforming immeasurable, boundless sentient beings; may I, within a single buddha-land, reveal the boundless Dharma-realm, and may every buddha-land be likewise so; may I attain sovereign, great spiritual power and wisdom, universally able to journey to every buddha-land.'
Unlike most vow-lists in this sūtra so far, these twenty are phrased in the first person — "may I attain," not "may all sentient beings" — a shift that fits a dedication named for suchness itself: before the bodhisattva can dedicate anything for others, the passage seems to say, his own body, speech, and mind must first become the unobstructed vessel through which suchness can act.
Part 343 Complete
This opens the eighth dedication and fascicle thirty. Chapter 25 continues in Part 344 as the bodhisattva takes these same twenty vows made for himself and extends them outward to every sentient being, wishing them freed forever from the hells, from rebirth as an animal, and from the realm of Yama, lord of death.