A Delightful Sight Becomes an Occasion for Merit
A short, vivid passage: the bodhisattva sees a delightful land, a garden, grass and trees, fine incense and garments, a king's own majesty, or simply a dwelling free of noise and clamor — ordinary occasions for pleasure or admiration — and transforms every one of them, with skillful wisdom, into an occasion for cultivating merit as boundless as the great ocean.
Like the Great Ocean, Covering Everything
What the bodhisattva sees in this passage is entirely ordinary — a pleasant town, a fragrant garden, a king's splendor, a quiet house — the sort of thing anyone might simply enjoy and move past. The dedication of true suchness reframes that ordinary noticing itself as the occasion for gathering merit "like the great ocean," covering everything without discrimination.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩見可愛樂國土、園林、草木、華果、名香、上服、珍寶、財物、諸莊嚴具，或見可樂村邑、聚落，或見帝王威德自在，或見住處離諸諠雜。見是事已，以方便智精勤修習，出生無量勝妙功德，為諸眾生勤求善法，心無放逸，廣集眾善；猶如大海，以無盡善普覆一切，為眾善法所依之處，以諸善根方便迴向而無分別；開示無量種種善根，智常觀察一切眾生，心恒憶念善根境界，以等真如平等善根迴向眾生，無有休息。
"Child of the Buddha! Whenever the bodhisattva mahāsattva sees a delightful land, garden, or grove, grass and trees, flowers and fruit, fine incense, fine garments, precious jewels, wealth and goods, or any manner of adornment, or sees a delightful village, town, or settlement, or sees a king's own majestic, sovereign virtue, or sees a dwelling place free of every clamor and disturbance — having seen such things, with skillful wisdom he diligently cultivates and practices, giving rise to immeasurable, excellent, wondrous merit, diligently seeking wholesome dharmas for the sake of every sentient being, his mind free of heedlessness, broadly gathering every wholesome thing; just like the great ocean, with inexhaustible goodness he universally covers everything, becoming the very ground on which every wholesome dharma relies, dedicating these wholesome roots with skillful means and without any discrimination; revealing immeasurable, various kinds of wholesome roots, his wisdom forever contemplating every sentient being, his mind forever recollecting the domain of wholesome roots, he dedicates wholesome roots equal to true suchness itself to sentient beings, without ever resting."
"He dedicates wholesome roots equal to true suchness itself to sentient beings" closes the passage by naming, at last, what makes this the eighth dedication specifically — not merely that merit is dedicated, as every dedication in this chapter has done, but that the merit dedicated here is held to be "equal to true suchness," matching this dedication's own name.
Part 345 Complete
This continues the eighth dedication's account of the bodhisattva's practice. Chapter 25 continues in Part 346 as the bodhisattva dedicates these wholesome roots through a long series of vows, each one wishing sentient beings something "delightful" (可愛樂) — from beholding the Tathāgata's own true nature to entering the household of every buddha, to attaining, at last, true and complete enlightenment throughout the world.