The Chain from Faith to the Unsurpassed Path
Having declared faith the root and mother of the entire path, Foremost in Virtue now traces exactly how — link by link, each new attainment becoming the condition for the next, from honoring the Three Jewels and upholding the precepts, through nearness to good friends and the four means of attraction, to a mind that abides, at last, upon the valiant and unsurpassed path.
Each Link Becoming the Next
The hymn now shifts into an extended chain of causal reasoning, each pair of lines linked to the one before it by the sūtra's own device of anadiplosis: what closes one link opens the next, so that the entire chain can be read continuously, one attainment leading of necessity into the following one.
「若常信奉於諸佛，則能持戒修學處；
若常持戒修學處，則能具足諸功德。
戒能開發菩提本，學是勤修功德地；
於戒及學常順行，一切如來所稱美。
若常信奉於諸佛，則能興集大供養；
若能興集大供養，彼人信佛不思議。
若常信奉於尊法，則聞佛法無厭足；
若聞佛法無厭足，彼人信法不思議。
若常信奉清淨僧，則得信心不退轉；
若得信心不退轉，彼人信力無能動。
若得信力無能動，則得諸根淨明利；
若得諸根淨明利，則能遠離惡知識。
若能遠離惡知識，則得親近善知識；
若得親近善知識，則能修集廣大善。
若能修集廣大善，彼人成就大因力；
若人成就大因力，則得殊勝決定解。
若得殊勝決定解，則為諸佛所護念；
若為諸佛所護念，則能發起菩提心。
若能發起菩提心，則能勤修佛功德；
若能勤修佛功德，則得生在如來家。
若得生在如來家，則善修行巧方便；
若善修行巧方便，則得信樂心清淨。
若得信樂心清淨，則得增上最勝心；
若得增上最勝心，則常修習波羅蜜。
若常修習波羅蜜，則能具足摩訶衍；
若能具足摩訶衍，則能如法供養佛。
若能如法供養佛，則能念佛心不動；
若能念佛心不動，則常覩見無量佛。
若常覩見無量佛，則見如來體常住；
若見如來體常住，則能知法永不滅。
若能知法永不滅，則得辯才無障礙；
若得辯才無障礙，則能開演無邊法。
若能開演無邊法，則能慈愍度眾生；
若能慈愍度眾生，則得堅固大悲心。
若得堅固大悲心，則能愛樂甚深法；
若能愛樂甚深法，則能捨離有為過。
若能捨離有為過，則離憍慢及放逸；
若離憍慢及放逸，則能兼利一切眾。
若能兼利一切眾，則處生死無疲厭；
若處生死無疲厭，則能勇健無能勝。
若能勇健無能勝，則能發起大神通；
若能發起大神通，則知一切眾生行。
若知一切眾生行，則能成就諸群生；
若能成就諸群生，則得善攝眾生智。
若得善攝眾生智，則能成就四攝法；
若能成就四攝法，則與眾生無限利。
若與眾生無限利，則具最勝智方便；
若具最勝智方便，則住勇猛無上道。」
"If one forever honors and serves the buddhas, one is thereby able to uphold the precepts and the trainings; if one forever upholds the precepts and the trainings, one is thereby able to become fully endowed with every merit.
The precepts are able to open up and develop the very root of bodhi; the trainings are the ground of diligently cultivated merit. One who forever practices in accord with both the precepts and the trainings is praised by every single Tathāgata.
If one forever honors and serves the buddhas, one is thereby able to arouse and gather great offerings; if one is able to arouse and gather great offerings, that person's faith in the Buddha is itself inconceivable.
If one forever honors and serves the venerable Dharma, one thereby hears the Buddha's own Dharma without ever growing weary or satiated; if one hears the Buddha's own Dharma without ever growing weary or satiated, that person's faith in the Dharma is itself inconceivable.
If one forever honors and serves the pure Sangha, one thereby attains a mind of faith that never regresses; if one attains a mind of faith that never regresses, that person's power of faith cannot be shaken by anything.
If one attains a power of faith that cannot be shaken by anything, one thereby attains every faculty made pure, bright, and keen; if one attains every faculty made pure, bright, and keen, one is thereby able to stay far removed from evil companions.
If one is able to stay far removed from evil companions, one thereby attains closeness to good and wise friends; if one attains closeness to good and wise friends, one is thereby able to cultivate and gather vast and expansive goodness.
If one is able to cultivate and gather vast and expansive goodness, that person accomplishes a great power of causation; if a person accomplishes a great power of causation, one thereby attains a supremely excellent, decisive understanding.
If one attains a supremely excellent, decisive understanding, one is thereby held in mindful protection by every buddha; if one is held in mindful protection by every buddha, one is thereby able to give rise to the awakening-mind.
If one is able to give rise to the awakening-mind, one is thereby able to diligently cultivate the Buddha's own merit; if one is able to diligently cultivate the Buddha's own merit, one thereby comes to be born within the Tathāgata's own family.
If one comes to be born within the Tathāgata's own family, one thereby skillfully cultivates and practices with clever, skillful means; if one skillfully cultivates and practices with clever, skillful means, one thereby attains a mind of joyful faith made pure.
If one attains a mind of joyful faith made pure, one thereby attains an ever more supreme and excellent mind; if one attains an ever more supreme and excellent mind, one forever cultivates and practices the pāramitās.
If one forever cultivates and practices the pāramitās, one is thereby able to become fully endowed with the Mahāyāna; if one is able to become fully endowed with the Mahāyāna, one is thereby able to make offering to the Buddha in accordance with the Dharma.
If one is able to make offering to the Buddha in accordance with the Dharma, one is thereby able to hold the Buddha in mind with an unmoving mind; if one is able to hold the Buddha in mind with an unmoving mind, one forever beholds immeasurable buddhas.
If one forever beholds immeasurable buddhas, one thereby beholds the Tathāgata's own body as forever abiding; if one beholds the Tathāgata's own body as forever abiding, one is thereby able to know that the Dharma is never extinguished.
If one is able to know that the Dharma is never extinguished, one thereby attains an eloquence free of every obstruction; if one attains an eloquence free of every obstruction, one is thereby able to open and expound the boundless Dharma.
If one is able to open and expound the boundless Dharma, one is thereby able, with loving compassion, to ferry living beings across; if one is able, with loving compassion, to ferry living beings across, one thereby attains a firm and solid mind of great compassion.
If one attains a firm and solid mind of great compassion, one is thereby able to love and delight in the exceedingly profound Dharma; if one is able to love and delight in the exceedingly profound Dharma, one is thereby able to cast off and leave behind the faults of the conditioned.
If one is able to cast off and leave behind the faults of the conditioned, one thereby leaves behind arrogance, conceit, and heedlessness; if one leaves behind arrogance, conceit, and heedlessness, one is thereby able to benefit every multitude of beings equally.
If one is able to benefit every multitude of beings equally, one thereby dwells within birth-and-death without any weariness or discontent; if one dwells within birth-and-death without any weariness or discontent, one is thereby able to become valiant and vigorous, unsurpassed by anything.
If one is able to become valiant and vigorous, unsurpassed by anything, one is thereby able to give rise to great spiritual powers; if one is able to give rise to great spiritual powers, one thereby knows the conduct of every living being.
If one knows the conduct of every living being, one is thereby able to bring every multitude of beings to accomplishment; if one is able to bring every multitude of beings to accomplishment, one thereby attains the wisdom of skillfully gathering living beings in.
If one attains the wisdom of skillfully gathering living beings in, one is thereby able to accomplish the four means of attraction; if one is able to accomplish the four means of attraction, one grants living beings benefit without any limit.
If one grants living beings benefit without any limit, one thereby becomes endowed with the most supreme wisdom and skillful means; if one becomes endowed with the most supreme wisdom and skillful means, one thereby abides upon the valiant, unsurpassed path."
This chain runs unbroken for dozens of links, and its rhetorical device — each new line's opening restating the previous line's conclusion — is preserved exactly as the source gives it, rather than compressed or paraphrased into a plainer list. The repetition is not incidental; it is the argument. By forcing the reader through every intermediate step rather than skipping to the destination, the verse enacts the very point it is making: that no attainment here is a leap, each one is simply what the last one, followed through, turns out to already contain. Fazang reads this passage as answering a question the sūtra itself does not ask outright — how does someone who has only just begun to trust the Three Jewels ever arrive at spiritual powers and the four means of attracting beings? The chain's answer is that the distance is not crossed by a single great effort, but by an uninterrupted sequence in which each step is already latent in the one before it.
Part 49 Complete
This closes Part 49. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 50 with the chain's final stretch, carrying the bodhisattva from the unsurpassed path through the destruction of the māras' power to the receiving of the buddhas' own empowerment.