A Hundred Similes, Complete
The true-suchness similes reach their end — a hundred comparisons in all, spanning Parts 348 through this one — closing with suchness holding no craving toward any dharma, knowing no beginning in the past nor end in the future, and finally, in the hundredth and last simile, being "ultimately pure, never joined together with any affliction at all." The dedication of wholesome roots, the passage insists one final time, shares that same purity.
No Beginning, No End, No Difference
The penultimate simile reaches for something even the other ninety-nine had not quite stated outright: "just as true suchness has no beginning in the past, no end in the future, and is no different in the present." Time itself, which so many earlier similes measured — night and day, month and kalpa — is here dissolved into a single claim of timelessness, immediately followed by the dedication's own promise to act "ever anew" for the sake of every sentient being.
譬如真如，於一切法無所希求；善根迴向亦復如是，令諸眾生乘普賢乘而得出離，於一切法無所貪求。譬如真如，住一切地；善根迴向亦復如是，令一切眾生捨世間地，住智慧地，以普賢行而自莊嚴。譬如真如，無有斷絕；善根迴向亦復如是，於一切法得無所畏，隨其類音，處處演說，無有斷絕。譬如真如，捨離諸漏；善根迴向亦復如是，令一切眾生成就法智，了達於法，圓滿菩提無漏功德。譬如真如，無有少法而能壞亂，令其少分非是覺悟；善根迴向亦復如是，普令開悟一切諸法，其心無量遍周法界。譬如真如，過去非始，未來非末，現在非異；善根迴向亦復如是，為一切眾生新新恒起菩提心願，普使清淨，永離生死。譬如真如，於三世中無所分別；善根迴向亦復如是，現在念念心常覺悟，過去、未來皆悉清淨。譬如真如，成就一切諸佛菩薩；善根迴向亦復如是，發起一切大願方便，成就諸佛廣大智慧。譬如真如，究竟清淨，不與一切諸煩惱俱；善根迴向亦復如是，能滅一切眾生煩惱，圓滿一切清淨智慧。』
Just as true suchness holds no wish or craving toward any dharma, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: causing sentient beings to attain liberation by riding the vehicle of Samantabhadra, it holds no craving or wish toward any dharma. Just as true suchness abides within every ground, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: it causes every sentient being to relinquish the ground of the world and abide in the ground of wisdom, adorning themselves with the practice of Samantabhadra. Just as true suchness knows no interruption, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: attaining fearlessness regarding every dharma, according with each kind of sound, it expounds the Dharma everywhere without any interruption. Just as true suchness relinquishes and leaves behind every defiling outflow, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: it causes every sentient being to accomplish the wisdom of the Dharma, fully comprehending it, perfecting the undefiled merit of enlightenment. Just as true suchness has not the slightest dharma able to disturb or confuse it, causing even the smallest part of it to fall short of awakening, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: it universally causes awakening to every dharma, its mind immeasurable, pervading the Dharma-realm entirely. Just as true suchness has no beginning in the past, no end in the future, and is no different in the present, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: for every sentient being, ever anew, it forever gives rise to the vow of the mind of enlightenment, universally causing purity, forever leaving behind birth and death. Just as true suchness holds no discrimination throughout the three times, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: in the present, thought after thought, its mind forever awakens, and the past and future are both entirely pure. Just as true suchness accomplishes every buddha and bodhisattva, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: giving rise to every great vow and skillful means, it accomplishes the vast wisdom of every buddha. Just as true suchness is ultimately pure, never joined together with any affliction at all, so too is this dedication of wholesome roots: it is able to extinguish every sentient being's affliction, perfecting every pure wisdom."
A hundred similes end where perhaps they had to end: not with a new claim, but with the oldest one in Buddhist thought — purity untouched by affliction. After ninety-nine comparisons ranging across time, space, speech, and spiritual power, the final simile brings the entire list back to the simplest possible statement of what suchness, and this dedication, ultimately are.
Part 353 Complete
This completes the eighth dedication's hundred-fold series of true-suchness similes, spanning Parts 348 through 353. Chapter 25 continues in Part 354 as the bodhisattva attains ten further kinds of equality — equal buddha-lands, equal sentient beings, equal dharmas — leading directly toward the formal close of the eighth dedication itself.