From the Māras' Defeat to the Buddhas' Own Consecration
The chain of causation reaches its final stretch: the unsurpassed path leads through destroying the power of every māra, receiving prophecy from the buddhas, and the body's own transformation into the marks and radiance of a buddha, until it arrives at the tenth ground's culmination — consecration poured, by the hand of every buddha throughout the ten directions, upon the bodhisattva's own crown.
The Chain's Final Stretch
The same chain-linked structure continues from Part 49 without interruption, carrying the bodhisattva from victory over the māras through the transformation of the body itself into the marks of a buddha, and on to the culminating consecration.
「若住勇猛無上道,則能摧殄諸魔力;
若能摧殄諸魔力,則能超出四魔境。
若能超出四魔境,則得至於不退地;
若得至於不退地,則得無生深法忍。
若得無生深法忍,則為諸佛所授記;
若為諸佛所授記,則一切佛現其前。
若一切佛現其前,則了神通深密用;
若了神通深密用,則為諸佛所憶念。
若為諸佛所憶念,則以佛德自莊嚴;
若以佛德自莊嚴,則獲妙福端嚴身。
若獲妙福端嚴身,則身晃耀如金山;
若身晃耀如金山,則相莊嚴三十二。
若相莊嚴三十二,則具隨好為嚴飾;
若具隨好為嚴飾,則身光明無限量。
若身光明無限量,則不思議光莊嚴;
若不思議光莊嚴,其光則出諸蓮華。
其光若出諸蓮華,則無量佛坐華上;
示現十方靡不遍,悉能調伏諸眾生。
若能如是調眾生,則現無量神通力。
若現無量神通力,則住不可思議土,
演說不可思議法,令不思議眾歡喜。
若說不可思議法,令不思議眾歡喜,
則以智慧辯才力,隨眾生心而化誘。
若以智慧辯才力,隨眾生心而化誘,
則以智慧為先導,身語意業恒無失。
若以智慧為先導,身語意業恒無失,
則其願力得自在,普隨諸趣而現身。
若其願力得自在,普隨諸趣而現身,
則能為眾說法時,音聲隨類難思議。
若能為眾說法時,音聲隨類難思議,
則於一切眾生心,一念悉知無有餘。
若於一切眾生心,一念悉知無有餘,
則知煩惱無所起,永不沒溺於生死。
若知煩惱無所起,永不沒溺於生死,
則獲功德法性身,以法威力現世間。
若獲功德法性身,以法威力現世間,
則獲十地十自在,修行諸度勝解脫。
若獲十地十自在,修行諸度勝解脫,
則獲灌頂大神通,住於最勝諸三昧。
若獲灌頂大神通,住於最勝諸三昧,
則於十方諸佛所,應受灌頂而昇位。
若於十方諸佛所,應受灌頂而昇位,
則蒙十方一切佛,手以甘露灌其頂。
若蒙十方一切佛,手以甘露灌其頂,
則身充遍如虛空,安住不動滿十方。
若身充遍如虛空,安住不動滿十方,
則彼所行無與等,諸天世人莫能知。」
"If one abides upon the valiant, unsurpassed path, one is thereby able to destroy and eliminate the power of every māra; if one is able to destroy and eliminate the power of every māra, one is thereby able to transcend and escape the domain of the four māras.
If one is able to transcend and escape the domain of the four māras, one thereby attains the ground of non-regression; if one attains the ground of non-regression, one thereby attains the profound acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas.
If one attains the profound acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, one is thereby given prophecy by every buddha; if one is given prophecy by every buddha, every buddha manifests before that person.
If every buddha manifests before that person, one thereby understands the profound and secret function of spiritual power; if one understands the profound and secret function of spiritual power, one is thereby held in mind by every buddha.
If one is held in mind by every buddha, one thereby adorns oneself with the Buddha's own virtues; if one adorns oneself with the Buddha's own virtues, one thereby obtains a wondrously blessed, upright, and dignified body.
If one obtains a wondrously blessed, upright, and dignified body, that body then shines and blazes like a mountain of gold; if that body shines and blazes like a mountain of gold, it is then adorned with the thirty-two marks.
If it is adorned with the thirty-two marks, it thereby becomes fully endowed with the minor marks as its own further adornment; if it becomes fully endowed with the minor marks as its own further adornment, that body's own radiance becomes without any limit at all.
If that body's own radiance becomes without any limit at all, it is then adorned with an inconceivable light; if it is adorned with an inconceivable light, that light then gives forth lotus flowers.
If that light gives forth lotus flowers, immeasurable buddhas then sit upon those very flowers, manifesting throughout the ten directions with nothing left unreached, entirely able to tame and subdue every living being.
If one is able to tame living beings thus, one then manifests immeasurable spiritual powers; if one manifests immeasurable spiritual powers, one then dwells within inconceivable lands, proclaiming the inconceivable Dharma, causing the inconceivable multitude to rejoice.
If one proclaims the inconceivable Dharma, causing the inconceivable multitude to rejoice, one then, by the power of wisdom and eloquence, guides and draws each being onward according to their own mind.
If, by the power of wisdom and eloquence, one guides and draws each being onward according to their own mind, one then takes wisdom itself as the guide, so that the deeds of body, speech, and mind are forever without fault.
If one takes wisdom itself as the guide, so that the deeds of body, speech, and mind are forever without fault, the power of one's own vows then becomes sovereign and unhindered, manifesting a body universally throughout every destiny.
If the power of one's own vows becomes sovereign and unhindered, manifesting a body universally throughout every destiny, then, whenever teaching the Dharma to the multitude, the voice adapts to each kind in ways inconceivable.
If, whenever teaching the Dharma to the multitude, the voice adapts to each kind in ways inconceivable, then, within a single thought, one knows every living being's own mind entirely, with nothing left unknown.
If, within a single thought, one knows every living being's own mind entirely, with nothing left unknown, one then knows that affliction has nowhere at all that it arises from, and is forever no longer submerged and drowned within birth-and-death.
If one knows that affliction has nowhere at all that it arises from, and is forever no longer submerged and drowned within birth-and-death, one then obtains a body of merit and Dharma-nature, manifesting throughout the world by the Dharma's own awesome power.
If one obtains a body of merit and Dharma-nature, manifesting throughout the world by the Dharma's own awesome power, one then obtains the ten grounds and their ten sovereignties, cultivating and practicing every perfection's own supreme liberation.
If one obtains the ten grounds and their ten sovereignties, cultivating and practicing every perfection's own supreme liberation, one then obtains the great spiritual power of consecration, abiding within every most supreme samādhi.
If one obtains the great spiritual power of consecration, abiding within every most supreme samādhi, one then, at the place of every buddha throughout the ten directions, is fit to receive consecration and ascend to that very rank.
If, at the place of every buddha throughout the ten directions, one is fit to receive consecration and ascend to that very rank, one then receives, from the hands of every buddha throughout the ten directions, the pouring of ambrosia upon one's own crown.
If one receives, from the hands of every buddha throughout the ten directions, the pouring of ambrosia upon one's own crown, that body then fills and pervades like empty space itself, abiding unmoving and filling the ten directions entirely.
If that body fills and pervades like empty space itself, abiding unmoving and filling the ten directions entirely, then that one's own conduct has nothing at all to compare with it, and neither the gods nor the people of the world are able to know it."
The chain that began, two Parts ago, with faith in the Three Jewels here arrives at its destination: consecration (灌頂, abhiṣeka), the ritual and doctrinal marker of the tenth-ground bodhisattva's own ascent to a rank equal to a buddha's, poured by every buddha's own hand as if crowning a prince. Traditional commentary reads the whole chain as deliberately spanning the entire path in a single unbroken breath — from the very first stirring of trust to the very threshold of buddhahood — precisely so that no gap opens anywhere within it for the practitioner to imagine that some later stage requires a different kind of cause than faith, precepts, and diligence already supply. What changes from Part 49 to here is only scale, never kind: the same linking logic that carried faith into upholding the precepts now carries the ten grounds into the buddhas' own consecration.
Part 50 Complete
This closes Part 50 and the great chain of causation. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 51 with a shift in register — from linked reasoning to a series of images describing how the consecrated bodhisattva now manifests spontaneously and without limit, appearing wherever needed across every world at once.