An Aspiration Forever Secure

"The bodhisattva's aspiration and joy forever remain secure, his true mindfulness firm, leaving behind delusion and confusion; his mind is gentle and soft, forever cool and tranquil, gathering boundless deeds of merit. The bodhisattva is humble and accommodating, never contrary or resistant, every aspiration and vow of his entirely pure; he has already attained the great light of wisdom, skillfully able to illuminate and comprehend every karmic act. The bodhisattva reflects that karma is vast and great, its various distinctions exceedingly rare and wondrous; his resolve to cultivate and practice never regresses, and with this he benefits every living being. The distinctions among karmic acts are of immeasurable kinds, and the bodhisattva diligently cultivates and practices every one of them; according with sentient beings, never contrary to their wishes, he universally causes their minds to become pure and give rise to joy.

He has already ascended to the ground of the Tamer, the most honored among people, leaving behind every feverish distress, his mind unobstructed; regarding both the Dharma and its meaning, he skillfully knows them all, and for the benefit of every living being, he turns ever more diligently to their cultivation. Every wholesome practice the bodhisattva cultivates is immeasurable, innumerable, and of every kind of distinction; regarding all of them, he discerningly knows each one, and for the benefit of every living being, he dedicates them. With wondrous wisdom he forever contemplates the ultimate, vast, true and real principle, severing every place of existence entirely without remainder, dedicating skillfully just as true suchness itself does. Just as true suchness pervades everything, so too does he universally gather in every world; with this mind the bodhisattva dedicates, causing every sentient being to be attached to nothing at all.

The power of the bodhisattva's vow pervades everything, just as true suchness is present everywhere without exception; whether seen or unseen, his thought pervades entirely, and he dedicates all of it as merit. Abiding throughout the night, and abiding throughout the day as well, abiding likewise throughout the half-month and the month, abiding entirely within the year and the kalpa alike — just as true suchness is so, this practice is likewise so. Throughout the three times and every land, throughout every sentient being and every dharma, he abides entirely within them all while abiding nowhere at all, dedicating with this very practice. Just as true suchness is originally its own nature, so too does the bodhisattva give rise to this great mind; wherever true suchness is present, he too is present without exception, dedicating with this very practice.

Just as true suchness is originally its own nature, and within it there has never once been a single dharma, so the absence of any fixed nature is itself the true nature, and it is with this very karma that he dedicates. Just as true suchness has its own mark, so too does karma; just as true suchness has its own nature, so too does karma; just as true suchness's own nature is originally true and real, karma is likewise so, the same as true suchness. Just as true suchness is without any boundary or limit, so too is karma without any boundary; and yet within it there is no bondage or attachment at all, and it is for this reason that this karma attains purity. Such a wise and intelligent true child of the Buddha, his aspiration and vow firm and unshaken, with the power of his wisdom skillfully comprehends and enters into the treasury of skillful means of every buddha.

He awakens to the true and real Dharma of the King of Dharma, within it neither attached nor bound; his mind, sovereign and free in this way, unobstructed, has never once seen a single dharma arise. The karma performed by the Tathāgata's own Dharma-body is, throughout every world, just as that same mark; expounding that every mark of every dharma is itself markless, to know this mark in this way is to know the Dharma. The bodhisattva abides within this inconceivable state, and within it, contemplation itself can never be exhausted; entering this inconceivable place, both thought and non-thought alike become quiescent. Reflecting in this way on the nature of every dharma, he fully comprehends every distinction of karma; every grasping at a self is entirely extinguished, and he abides in merit, moved by nothing at all.