Vajra Banner Speaks the Tenth Dedication's Verse
Having surveyed every assembly throughout the dharma-realm and received the Buddha's own spiritual power, Vajra Banner Bodhisattva rises to recite the tenth dedication's verse — opening with the bodhisattva as a great teacher of the Dharma who has drunk from its ocean, become its lamp, and now dedicates every wholesome root with wisdom, wishing every sentient being to become adorned like Samantabhadra himself.
Vajra Banner Bodhisattva Rises
Before a single verse is spoken, the sūtra describes the bodhisattva who will speak it — his mind expanded vast and great, his compassion covering every sentient being, his own mind fixed in the lineage of every buddha throughout the three times, manifesting a body pure and wondrous in accordance with the Dharma body itself.
爾時，金剛幢菩薩承佛神力，觀察十方一切眾會暨于法界已，善知文義，增廣大心，大悲普覆一切眾生，繫心安住三世佛種，善入一切佛功德法，成就諸佛自在之身，觀諸眾生心之所樂，及其所種一切善根悉分別知，隨順法身，為現清淨妙色之身，即於是時而說頌曰：
Then Vajra Banner Bodhisattva, receiving the Buddha's own spiritual power, having surveyed every assembly throughout the ten directions and the whole dharma-realm, well knowing the words and the meaning, his mind expanding vast and great, his great compassion universally covering every sentient being, his mind fixed and abiding securely in the lineage of every buddha throughout the three times, well entering every buddha's own meritorious Dharma, accomplishing every buddha's own sovereign body, beholding what every sentient being's own mind delights in, and entirely discriminating and knowing whatever wholesome roots they have planted, according with the Dharma body, manifesting for them a pure, wondrous, radiant body — at that very moment spoke in verse, saying:
Before Vajra Banner Bodhisattva speaks a single word, the passage lists what makes the speech possible at all — surveying the whole dharma-realm, knowing every sentient being's own wholesome roots, manifesting a body suited to what each listener needs. The verse that follows is not spontaneous eloquence but the visible result of this prior, unseen preparation.
A Great Teacher, Drinking from the Ocean of the Dharma
The verse opens by praising the bodhisattva as a teacher of the Dharma in image after image — a light that tames, a cloud that rains, a sun that dawns, a drum that is struck — before turning to dedication itself: every merit, wished for every sentient being, that they become adorned like Samantabhadra, the true child of the Buddha.
「菩薩成就法智慧，悟解無邊正法門，為法光明調御師，了知無礙真實法。
菩薩為法大導師，開示甚深難得法，引導十方無量眾，悉令安住正法中。
菩薩已飲佛法海，法雲普雨十方界，法日出現於世間，闡揚妙法利群生。
常為難遇法施主，了知入法巧方便，法光清淨照其心，於世說法恒無畏。
善修於法自在心，悉能悟入諸法門，成就甚深妙法海，普為眾生擊法鼓。
宣說甚深希有法，以法長養諸功德，具足清淨法喜心，示現世間佛法藏。
諸佛法王所灌頂，成就法性智藏身，悉能解了法實相，安住一切眾善法。
菩薩修行第一施，一切如來所讚喜，所作皆蒙佛忍可，以此成就人中尊。
菩薩成就妙法身，親從諸佛法化生，為利眾生作法燈，演說無量最勝法。
隨所修行妙法施，則亦觀察彼善根，所作眾善為眾生，悉以智慧而迴向。
所有成佛功德法，悉以迴施諸群生，願令一切皆清淨，到佛莊嚴之彼岸。
十方佛剎無有量，悉具無量大莊嚴，如是莊嚴不可思，盡以莊嚴一國土。
如來所有清淨智，願令眾生皆具足，猶如普賢真佛子，一切功德自莊嚴。
成就廣大神通力，往詣世界悉周遍，一切眾生無有餘，皆使修行菩薩道。
諸佛如來所開悟，十方無量諸眾生，一切皆令如普賢，具足修行最上行。」
"The bodhisattva accomplishes the wisdom of the Dharma, awakening to and comprehending the boundless gate of the true Dharma; becoming a tamer who is the very light of the Dharma, fully knowing the unobstructed, true reality of the Dharma. The bodhisattva becomes the great guide of the Dharma, opening up and revealing the profound, rarely attained Dharma; guiding the immeasurable multitudes throughout the ten directions, causing them all to abide securely within the true Dharma. The bodhisattva has already drunk from the ocean of the Buddha's own Dharma; the cloud of the Dharma universally rains throughout the worlds of the ten directions; the sun of the Dharma appears within the world, proclaiming the wondrous Dharma to benefit every living being. Forever a rarely encountered donor of the Dharma, fully knowing the skillful means for entering the Dharma; the light of the Dharma, pure, illuminates his own mind, expounding the Dharma throughout the world, forever without fear. Skillfully cultivating a mind sovereign over the Dharma, entirely able to awaken to and enter every gate of the Dharma; accomplishing the profound, wondrous ocean of the Dharma, universally striking the drum of the Dharma for the sake of sentient beings. Proclaiming the profound and rare Dharma, nurturing every merit through the Dharma; fully possessing a pure mind of joy in the Dharma, manifesting the treasury of the buddha's own Dharma throughout the world. Consecrated by every buddha, the king of the Dharma, accomplishing a body that is the treasury of wisdom of the Dharma's own nature; entirely able to comprehend the true reality of the Dharma, abiding securely in every kind of wholesome dharma. The bodhisattva cultivates and practices the foremost giving, praised and delighted in by every Tathāgata; whatever he does is entirely sanctioned by the Buddha, and through this he accomplishes the honored one among humankind. The bodhisattva accomplishes a wondrous Dharma body, born directly through transformation from every buddha's own Dharma; becoming a lamp of the Dharma for the benefit of sentient beings, expounding the immeasurable, most supreme Dharma. According with whatever wondrous Dharma-giving he cultivates and practices, he also contemplates those very wholesome roots; every wholesome deed done is for the sake of sentient beings, and all of it is dedicated with wisdom. Every meritorious dharma of accomplishing buddhahood, he entirely dedicates and gives to every living being, wishing that all of them become entirely pure, reaching the farther shore adorned by every buddha. The buddha-lands of the ten directions are without measure, each one entirely endowed with immeasurable, great adornment; adornment such as this is inconceivable, and all of it adorns a single land. Every pure wisdom the Tathāgata possesses, he wishes every sentient being to fully possess, just like Samantabhadra, the true child of the Buddha, adorned by every merit of their own. Accomplishing vast spiritual powers, going forth to every world entirely and universally, leaving not a single sentient being behind, causing every one of them to cultivate a bodhisattva's own path. Whatever every buddha and Tathāgata has awakened to, the immeasurable sentient beings throughout the ten directions, he causes every one of them to become like Samantabhadra, fully cultivating and practicing the most supreme practice."
Nearly every line in this opening stretch names a role for the bodhisattva as teacher — light, guide, cloud, sun, donor, lamp, drum — before the verse pivots, in its final lines, from what the bodhisattva does to what he wishes for others: that every sentient being become, not merely taught by, but equal to Samantabhadra himself. Teaching, in this hymn, aims at its own obsolescence.
Part 394 Complete
This continues the tenth dedication's verse recapitulation. Chapter 25 continues in Part 395 as the hymn turns to the bodhisattva's own sovereign power — beholding countless buddhas within a single thought, gathering every dharma within a single hair's tip, and making offerings of every kind of incense and flower to every buddha throughout the ten directions.