The Ninth Dedication's Prose Closes
After nearly forty Parts, the ninth dedication's prose section reaches its close. A bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates just as every buddha throughout the three times once dedicated when they themselves were still bodhisattvas — and the sūtra names the teaching directly: this is called a bodhisattva mahāsattva's ninth dedication, the mind of non-attachment, non-bondage, and liberation. A final passage describes what abiding in it accomplishes, before the verse recapitulation begins.
Dedicating as Every Buddha Once Dedicated
The closing passage turns from listing what is known and what is not discriminated to a single claim repeated across three tenses: a bodhisattva mahāsattva's own dedication is exactly the dedication every buddha of the past, present, and future has practiced, is practicing, or will practice — studied from the past, accomplished toward the future, abided in through the present.
』菩薩摩訶薩如是迴向時，如三世諸佛為菩薩時所修迴向而行迴向；學過去諸佛迴向，成未來諸佛迴向，住現在諸佛迴向；安住過去諸佛迴向道，不捨未來諸佛迴向道，隨順現在諸佛迴向道；勤修過去諸佛教，成就未來諸佛教，了知現在諸佛教；滿足過去諸佛平等，成就未來諸佛平等，安住現在諸佛平等；行過去諸佛境界，住未來諸佛境界，等現在諸佛境界；得三世一切諸佛善根，具三世一切諸佛種性，住三世一切諸佛所行，順三世一切諸佛境界。
When a bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates in this way, he performs this dedication exactly as every buddha throughout the three times performed dedication when they themselves were bodhisattvas — studying the dedication of every buddha of the past, accomplishing the dedication of every buddha of the future, abiding in the dedication of every buddha of the present; abiding securely in the path of dedication of every buddha of the past, never abandoning the path of dedication of every buddha of the future, according with the path of dedication of every buddha of the present; diligently cultivating the teaching of every buddha of the past, accomplishing the teaching of every buddha of the future, clearly comprehending the teaching of every buddha of the present; fully satisfying the equality of every buddha of the past, accomplishing the equality of every buddha of the future, abiding securely in the equality of every buddha of the present; practicing the domain of every buddha of the past, abiding in the domain of every buddha of the future, equal to the domain of every buddha of the present; attaining the wholesome roots of every buddha throughout the three times, fully possessing the lineage of every buddha throughout the three times, abiding in the practice of every buddha throughout the three times, according with the domain of every buddha throughout the three times.
Every clause in this passage repeats the same triad — past, future, present — six times over, with the verb changing but the structure fixed: study, accomplish, abide; abide securely, never abandon, accord with; cultivate, accomplish, comprehend. The repetition itself performs what it describes: a single dedication practiced identically across every buddha who has ever dedicated anything, in any tense.
Named Directly: The Ninth Dedication
After nearly forty Parts without once naming itself, the teaching states plainly what it has been all along — and then, in one final passage, describes what a bodhisattva who abides in it actually gains: a body no vajra mountain range can destroy, an unbreakable retinue in every future birth, and Samantabhadra's own practice and vow brought to full completion.
「佛子！是為菩薩摩訶薩第九無著無縛解脫心迴向。菩薩摩訶薩住此迴向時，一切金剛輪圍山所不能壞，於一切眾生中色相第一無能及者，悉能摧破諸魔邪業，普現十方一切世界；修菩薩行，為欲開悟一切眾生，以善方便說諸佛法；得大智慧，於諸佛法心無迷惑，在在生處若行若住，常得值遇不壞眷屬；三世諸佛所說正法，以清淨念悉能受持，盡未來劫修菩薩行，常不休息，無所依著；普賢行願增長具足，得一切智施作佛事，成就菩薩自在神通。
"Child of the Buddha! This is called a bodhisattva mahāsattva's ninth dedication — the mind of non-attachment, non-bondage, and liberation. When a bodhisattva mahāsattva abides in this dedication, not even every vajra encircling mountain range is able to destroy him; among all sentient beings, his own bodily form is foremost, none able to equal it; he is entirely able to crush and destroy every deviant work of Māra, universally manifesting throughout every world in the ten directions; cultivating a bodhisattva's own practice, wishing to awaken every sentient being, expounding every buddha's own Dharma with skillful means; attaining great wisdom, his mind never confused regarding any buddha's own Dharma, in whatever place he is born, whether walking or abiding, he always encounters an unbreakable retinue; the true Dharma expounded by every buddha throughout the three times, he is entirely able to uphold with a pure mind, cultivating a bodhisattva's own practice to the very end of future kalpas, forever without rest, relying on and attached to nothing; Samantabhadra's own practice and vow growing and becoming fully complete, attaining omniscience, performing a buddha's own work, accomplishing a bodhisattva's own sovereign spiritual powers.
The naming comes almost as an afterthought — one short sentence buried between a vast dedication-comparison and an equally vast description of its fruits — as though the label matters far less than the practice itself. Only once the whole teaching has been fully performed does the sūtra pause to say, briefly, what it was called.
Part 370 Complete
This completes the prose section of the ninth dedication — the mind of non-attachment, non-bondage, and liberation — begun many Parts ago. Chapter 25 continues in Part 371 as Vajra Banner Bodhisattva, receiving the Buddha's own spiritual power, universally beholds the ten directions and rises to recite the dedication's verse, beginning with a hymn on reverence shown equally to every honored being throughout the ten directions.