Ten Wholesome Roots, Free of Greed and Hatred
A long vow, moving from pure mindfulness and resolute wisdom through the four immeasurables — loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity — to raising a banner of great courage against every host of Māra. It is followed by a direct warning: this dedication must never crave the three states of existence or the domain of the five desires, and the passage names the ten wholesome roots, free of greed, hatred, delusion, and harming, that keep it from doing so.
The Four Immeasurables and a Banner of Courage
The dedication moves through the four immeasurable states — great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, great equanimity — before turning to the raising of a banner of great courage against Māra's every host, and closing with a wish that every sentient being, across every asaṃkhyeya kalpa, cultivates the practice of omniscience without regression.
』「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩又以此善根，正念清淨迴向；智慧決定迴向；盡知一切佛法方便迴向；為成就無量無礙智故迴向；欲滿足清淨殊勝心故迴向；為一切眾生住大慈故迴向；為一切眾生住大悲故迴向；為一切眾生住大喜故迴向；為一切眾生住大捨故迴向；為永離二著住勝善根故迴向；為思惟觀察分別演說一切緣起法故迴向；為立大勇猛幢心故迴向；為立無能勝幢藏故迴向；為破諸魔眾故迴向；為得一切法清淨無礙心故迴向；為修一切菩薩行不退轉故迴向；為得樂求第一勝法心故迴向；為得樂求諸功德法自在清淨一切智智心故迴向；為滿一切願，除一切諍，得佛自在無礙清淨法，為一切眾生轉不退法輪故迴向；為得如來最上殊勝法智慧日，百千光明之所莊嚴，普照一切法界眾生故迴向；為欲調伏一切眾生，隨其所樂常令滿足，不捨本願，盡未來際，聽聞正法，修習大行，得淨智慧離垢光明，斷除一切憍慢，消滅一切煩惱，裂愛欲網，破愚癡闇，具足無垢無障礙法故迴向；為一切眾生，於阿僧祇劫常勤修習一切智行無有退轉，一一令得無礙妙慧，示現諸佛自在神通無有休息故迴向。
"Child of the Buddha! This bodhisattva mahāsattva further dedicates these wholesome roots with pure, settled mindfulness; he dedicates with resolute wisdom; he dedicates for the sake of fully knowing every skillful means of every buddha's own Dharma; he dedicates for the sake of accomplishing immeasurable, unobstructed wisdom; he dedicates wishing to fulfill a pure, supreme mind; he dedicates for the sake of every sentient being abiding in great loving-kindness; he dedicates for the sake of every sentient being abiding in great compassion; he dedicates for the sake of every sentient being abiding in great joy; he dedicates for the sake of every sentient being abiding in great equanimity; he dedicates for the sake of forever leaving behind the two kinds of attachment and abiding in supreme wholesome roots; he dedicates for the sake of reflecting upon, contemplating, discriminating, and expounding every dharma of dependent origination; he dedicates for the sake of raising a mind like the banner of great courage; he dedicates for the sake of raising the treasury of an unsurpassable banner; he dedicates for the sake of defeating every host of Māra; he dedicates for the sake of attaining a mind pure and unobstructed regarding every dharma; he dedicates for the sake of cultivating every bodhisattva's own practice without regression; he dedicates for the sake of attaining a mind that delights in seeking the foremost, supreme Dharma; he dedicates for the sake of attaining a mind that delights in seeking every dharma of merit, sovereign, pure, and the very wisdom of omniscience; he dedicates for the sake of fulfilling every vow, removing every contention, attaining a buddha's own sovereign, unobstructed, pure Dharma, turning the wheel of the never-regressing Dharma for the sake of every sentient being; he dedicates for the sake of attaining the Tathāgata's own most supreme sun of the wisdom of the Dharma, adorned by hundreds of thousands of lights, universally illuminating every sentient being throughout the dharma-realm; he dedicates wishing to tame every sentient being, forever satisfying whatever they delight in, never abandoning his original vow, to the very end of future time, hearing the true Dharma, cultivating great practice, attaining pure wisdom and the light free of defilement, severing every arrogance, extinguishing every affliction, tearing apart the net of craving and desire, breaking through the darkness of ignorance, fully possessing the dharma that is stainless and unobstructed; he dedicates for the sake of every sentient being, throughout every asaṃkhyeya kalpa, forever diligently cultivating the practice of omniscience without regression, causing each and every one to attain unobstructed, wondrous wisdom, manifesting every buddha's own sovereign spiritual power without any rest.
"Tearing apart the net of craving and desire" and "breaking through the darkness of ignorance" sit among clauses about wisdom, adornment, and sovereignty — violent images placed without comment beside serene ones. The dedication does not treat liberation as uniformly gentle; some of what stands in its way, the language suggests, has to be torn rather than simply released.
Never Craving the Three States of Existence
A direct warning follows the long vow: this dedication must never become an occasion for craving. The passage names why — ten wholesome roots, free of greed, hatred, delusion, and harming — that keep the dedication from collapsing back into the very desires it seeks to overcome, before naming the benefits a bodhisattva who dedicates in this way actually attains.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以諸善根如是迴向時，不應貪著三有、五欲境界。何以故？菩薩摩訶薩應以無貪善根迴向，應以無瞋善根迴向，應以無癡善根迴向，應以不害善根迴向，應以離慢善根迴向，應以不諂善根迴向，應以質直善根迴向，應以精勤善根迴向，應以修習善根迴向。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是迴向時得淨信心，於菩薩行歡喜忍受，修習清淨大菩薩道；具佛種性，得佛智慧；捨一切惡，離眾魔業；親近善友，成己大願；請諸眾生，設大施會。
"Child of the Buddha! When this bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates every wholesome root in this way, he should not crave or become attached to the three states of existence or the domain of the five desires. Why is this? A bodhisattva mahāsattva should dedicate with a wholesome root free of greed, should dedicate with a wholesome root free of hatred, should dedicate with a wholesome root free of delusion, should dedicate with a wholesome root free of harming, should dedicate with a wholesome root free of arrogance, should dedicate with a wholesome root free of flattery, should dedicate with a wholesome root of uprightness, should dedicate with a wholesome root of diligence, and should dedicate with a wholesome root of cultivation. Child of the Buddha! When a bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates in this way, he attains a pure, faithful mind; he joyfully accepts and endures a bodhisattva's own practice, cultivating the pure, great path of a bodhisattva; he possesses the buddha lineage, attaining a buddha's own wisdom; he abandons every evil, leaving behind every deed of Māra; he draws near to good friends, accomplishing his own great vow; he invites every sentient being, establishing a great assembly of giving.
The warning arrives right after the most expansive vow yet in this dedication — as though the sūtra recognizes that a practice this vast, involving hundreds of thousands of lights and sovereign spiritual power, carries its own risk of becoming an object of subtle craving in its own right. The antidote offered is not withdrawal from the vow but nine ordinary wholesome roots, the same qualities asked of any beginning practitioner.
Part 381 Complete
This continues the tenth dedication's prose section. Chapter 25 continues in Part 382 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva dedicates the wholesome roots born from giving the Dharma, vowing that every sentient being attains a pure, wondrous voice — soft, heavenly, boundless, and able to awaken every being asleep through the long night of ignorance.