Purifying Himself First
Having vowed to cultivate twenty kinds of pure conduct in the previous Part, the bodhisattva mahāsattva now explains why this practice cannot remain private: whatever he accomplishes for himself he thereby accomplishes for every sentient being, since a bodhisattva who cannot purify his own pure conduct is simply unable to cause anyone else to attain purity either.
What Cultivating Pure Conduct for Oneself Accomplishes
The passage opens with a twelve-fold list of what every sentient being attains when the bodhisattva cultivates pure conduct for his own sake — security, awakening, purity, freedom from every kind of defilement and affliction — before turning to explain, item by item, exactly why the personal and the universal cannot be separated here.
』「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩若能為己修行如是清淨梵行，則能普為一切眾生，令一切眾生皆得安住；令一切眾生皆得開曉；令一切眾生皆得成就；令一切眾生皆得清淨；令一切眾生皆得無垢；令一切眾生皆得照明；令一切眾生離諸塵染；令一切眾生無諸障翳；令一切眾生離諸熱惱；令一切眾生離諸纏縛；令一切眾生永離諸惡；令一切眾生無諸惱害，畢竟清淨。何以故？菩薩摩訶薩自於梵行不能清淨，不能令他而得清淨；自於梵行而有退轉，不能令他無有退轉；自於梵行而有失壞，不能令他無有失壞；自於梵行而有遠離，不能令他常不遠離；自於梵行而有懈怠，不能令他不生懈怠；自於梵行不生信解，不能令他心生信解；自於梵行而不安住，不能令他而得安住；自於梵行而不證入，不能令他心得證入；自於梵行而有放捨，不能令他恒不放捨；自於梵行而有散動，不能令他心不散動。何以故？菩薩摩訶薩住無倒行，說無倒法，所言誠實，如說修行，淨身、口、意，離諸雜染，住無礙行，滅一切障。菩薩摩訶薩自得淨心，為他演說清淨心法；自修和忍，以諸善根調伏其心，令他和忍，以諸善根調伏其心；自離疑悔，亦令他人永離疑悔；自得淨信，亦令他得不壞淨信；自住正法，亦令眾生安住正法。
"Child of the Buddha! If a bodhisattva mahāsattva is able to cultivate pure conduct such as this for his own sake, he is thereby able to do so universally for every sentient being as well, causing every sentient being to attain security, causing every sentient being to attain awakening, causing every sentient being to attain accomplishment, causing every sentient being to attain purity, causing every sentient being to attain freedom from defilement, causing every sentient being to attain illumination, causing every sentient being to leave behind every kind of dust and defilement, causing every sentient being to be free of every obstruction, causing every sentient being to leave behind every heated affliction, causing every sentient being to leave behind every entanglement, causing every sentient being to forever leave behind every evil, and causing every sentient being to be free of every affliction and harm, ultimately pure. Why is this? If a bodhisattva mahāsattva is himself unable to purify his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to attain purity; if he himself regresses in his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to never regress; if he himself fails and destroys his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to never fail or destroy it; if he himself departs from his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to forever not depart from it; if he himself is indolent in his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another not to give rise to indolence; if he himself does not give rise to faith and understanding in his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another's mind to give rise to faith and understanding; if he himself does not abide securely in his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to attain security; if he himself does not realize and enter his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another's mind to attain realization and entry; if he himself abandons his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another to forever not abandon it; if he himself is scattered and disturbed in his own pure conduct, he is unable to cause another's mind not to be scattered and disturbed. Why is this? A bodhisattva mahāsattva abides in unerring practice, expounds unerring dharmas, whatever he speaks is truthful, and he cultivates and practices exactly as he speaks, purifying body, speech, and mind, leaving behind every kind of defilement, abiding in unobstructed practice, extinguishing every obstruction. A bodhisattva mahāsattva, having himself attained a pure mind, expounds the dharma of a pure mind for others; cultivating harmony and patience himself, taming his own mind with every wholesome root, he causes others to attain harmony and patience, taming their minds with every wholesome root as well; himself free of doubt and regret, he also causes others to forever be free of doubt and regret; himself attaining pure faith, he also causes others to attain unbreakable pure faith; himself abiding in the true Dharma, he also causes sentient beings to abide securely in the true Dharma."
The ten paired clauses of "why is this" work by strict logical necessity rather than exhortation — not "a bodhisattva should purify himself before teaching others" but "he is simply unable" to do otherwise. The passage makes purification of self a precondition of the logical, not merely the moral, kind: an impure teacher cannot transmit purity, in the same way an empty container cannot pour out water it does not hold.
Part 375 Complete
This continues the tenth dedication's prose section. Chapter 25 continues in Part 376 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva further dedicates the wholesome roots born from the giving of the Dharma, vowing to attain every buddha's own inexhaustible Dharma gates and to expound the Dharma-ocean of every buddha throughout the three times for the sake of every sentient being.