Why the First Resolve Outweighs Every Offering
Chapter sixteen closed on the claim that the very first arising of the awakening-mind already attains complete awakening. Chapter seventeen now takes up that claim directly: Śakra asks how great its merit truly is, and Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva answers with a chain of comparisons, each more vast than the last, each still found to fall short — and an explanation of exactly why.
A Question Too Deep to Answer Simply
Śakra asks directly how great the merit of the first bodhicitta is. Dharma Wisdom answers by first admitting the question's own difficulty, then offering the first of many comparisons: a person who gives every happiness to every being in asaṃkhyeya worlds across every direction for a whole kalpa, and then teaches them the five precepts.
爾時，天帝釋白法慧菩薩言：「佛子！菩薩初發菩提之心，所得功德，其量幾何？」法慧菩薩言：
「此義甚深，難說、難知、難分別、難信解、難證、難行、難通達、難思惟、難度量、難趣入。雖然，我當承佛威神之力而為汝說。
「佛子！假使有人以一切樂具，供養東方阿僧祇世界所有眾生，經於一劫，然後教令淨持五戒；南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。佛子！於汝意云何，此人功德寧為多不？」天帝言：「佛子！此人功德，唯佛能知，其餘一切無能量者。」法慧菩薩言：
「佛子！此人功德比菩薩初發心功德，百分不及一，千分不及一，百千分不及一；如是，億分、百億分、千億分、百千億分、那由他億分、百那由他億分、千那由他億分、百千那由他億分、數分、歌羅分、算分、諭分、優波尼沙陀分，亦不及一。
At that time, Śakra, Lord of the Gods, said to Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva: "Son of the Buddha! When a bodhisattva first gives rise to the mind of bodhi, what is the measure of the merit he attains?" Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva said:
"This meaning is exceedingly profound — hard to speak of, hard to know, hard to distinguish, hard to believe and understand, hard to realize, hard to practice, hard to penetrate, hard to reflect upon, hard to measure, and hard to enter into. Nevertheless, I shall, receiving the Buddha's own awesome spiritual power, speak of it for your sake.
"Son of the Buddha! Suppose there were a person who, with every implement of happiness, made offering to every living being throughout asaṃkhyeya worlds to the east, across an entire kalpa, and afterward taught them to purely uphold the five precepts; and it was likewise so to the south, the west, and the north, and in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. Son of the Buddha, what do you think — is this person's merit great or not?" Śakra said: "Son of the Buddha! This person's merit only a buddha is able to know; there is none among all the rest who could measure it." Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva said:
"Son of the Buddha! This person's own merit, compared to the merit of a bodhisattva's first giving rise of the resolve, does not amount to one part in a hundred, does not amount to one part in a thousand, does not amount to one part in a hundred thousand; and thus, not one part in a hundred million, a thousand million, a hundred thousand million, a nayuta of hundred millions, a hundred nayutas of hundred millions, a thousand nayutas of hundred millions, a hundred thousand nayutas of hundred millions — not a numerical fraction, not a kalā fraction, not a reckoned fraction, not an analogical fraction, not even an upaniṣad fraction does it amount to.
A Vaster Comparison Still
The comparison escalates: the same offering, now made to beings across ten sets of asaṃkhyeya worlds, and the teaching now leading them all the way through the ten wholesome deeds, the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, the four formless absorptions, and the four fruits of the path, to pratyekabuddhahood itself — and still, this falls short of the merit of the first resolve.
「佛子！且置此諭。假使有人以一切樂具，供養十方十阿僧祇世界所有眾生，經於百劫，然後教令修十善道；如是供養，經於千劫，教住四禪；經於百千劫，教住四無量心；經於億劫，教住四無色定；經於百億劫，教住須陀洹果；經於千億劫，教住斯陀含果；經於百千億劫，教住阿那含果；經於那由他億劫，教住阿羅漢果；經於百千那由他億劫，教住辟支佛道。佛子！於意云何，是人功德寧為多不？」天帝言：「佛子！此人功德，唯佛能知。」法慧菩薩言：
「佛子！此人功德比菩薩初發心功德，百分不及一，千分不及一，百千分不及一，乃至優波尼沙陀分亦不及一。
"Son of the Buddha! Let us set aside this analogy for now. Suppose there were a person who, with every implement of happiness, made offering to every living being throughout ten sets of asaṃkhyeya worlds in the ten directions, across a hundred kalpas, and afterward taught them to cultivate the ten wholesome courses of action; and, making offering in just this way, across a thousand kalpas, taught them to abide in the four dhyānas; across a hundred thousand kalpas, taught them to abide in the four immeasurable minds; across a hundred million kalpas, taught them to abide in the four formless absorptions; across a hundred hundred-millions of kalpas, taught them to abide in the fruit of stream-entry; across a thousand hundred-millions of kalpas, taught them to abide in the fruit of once-returning; across a hundred thousand hundred-millions of kalpas, taught them to abide in the fruit of non-returning; across a nayuta of hundred-millions of kalpas, taught them to abide in the fruit of arhatship; across a hundred thousand nayutas of hundred-millions of kalpas, taught them to abide in the path of the pratyekabuddha. Son of the Buddha, what do you think — is this person's merit great or not?" Śakra said: "Son of the Buddha! This person's merit only a buddha is able to know." Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva said:
"Son of the Buddha! This person's own merit, compared to the merit of a bodhisattva's first giving rise of the resolve, does not amount to one part in a hundred, does not amount to one part in a thousand, does not amount to one part in a hundred thousand — not even one part in an upaniṣad fraction does it amount to.
What the Resolve Actually Aims At
The chapter now explains why: the first resolve is not merely for the sake of teaching some fixed number of beings to reach some fixed attainment, however vast. It is for the sake of understanding, entirely and without exception, the forming and destruction of every world, the mind and karma of every living being, and the equality of every buddha's own domain.
何以故？佛子！一切諸佛初發心時，不但為以一切樂具，供養十方十阿僧祇世界所有眾生，經於百劫，乃至百千那由他億劫故，發菩提心；不但為教爾所眾生，令修五戒、十善業道，教住四禪、四無量心、四無色定，教得須陀洹果、斯陀含果、阿那含果、阿羅漢果、辟支佛道故，發菩提心；為令如來種性不斷故，為充遍一切世界故，為度脫一切世界眾生故，為悉知一切世界成壞故，為悉知一切世界中眾生垢淨故，為悉知一切世界自性清淨故，為悉知一切眾生心樂煩惱習氣故，為悉知一切眾生死此生彼故，為悉知一切眾生諸根方便故，為悉知一切眾生心行故，為悉知一切眾生三世智故，為悉知一切佛境界平等故，發於無上菩提之心。」
Why is this so? Son of the Buddha! When every buddha first gives rise to the resolve, it is not merely for the sake of making offering with every implement of happiness to every living being throughout ten sets of asaṃkhyeya worlds in the ten directions, across a hundred kalpas, even up to a hundred thousand nayutas of hundred-millions of kalpas, that he gives rise to the mind of bodhi; it is not merely for the sake of teaching that very number of living beings to cultivate the five precepts and the ten wholesome courses of action, teaching them to abide in the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, and the four formless absorptions, teaching them to attain the fruit of stream-entry, the fruit of once-returning, the fruit of non-returning, the fruit of arhatship, and the path of the pratyekabuddha, that he gives rise to the mind of bodhi. Rather, it is for the sake of causing the Tathāgata's own lineage never to be cut off; for the sake of filling and pervading every world entirely; for the sake of delivering every living being throughout every world to liberation; for the sake of understanding entirely the forming and the destruction of every world; for the sake of understanding entirely the defilement and purity of living beings within every world; for the sake of understanding entirely the intrinsically pure nature of every world; for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own mind, delight, affliction, and habitual tendency; for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own dying here and being born there; for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own faculties and skillful means; for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own mental conduct; for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own wisdom across the three periods of time; and for the sake of understanding entirely the equality of every buddha's own domain — it is for these reasons that he gives rise to the unsurpassed mind of bodhi.
This passage supplies the actual argument behind the escalating comparisons, and it is worth reading closely rather than skimming past as more of the same rhetorical excess. The point is not simply that bigger numbers of kalpas and beings produce bigger merit — the chapter could have said that with a single comparison. The point is a difference in kind: every act of generosity described so far, however vast, still aims at a bounded outcome, teaching some quantity of beings to reach some specific attainment. The first bodhicitta aims at something unbounded by its very nature — understanding entirely, without remainder, every world's own arising and passing, every living being's own mind, and the equality underlying every buddha's own domain. A goal that has no edge cannot be outweighed by any offering, however large, that still has one.
Part 88 Complete
This closes Part 88. Chapter 17 continues in Part 89 with further comparisons — this time not of offerings given, but of feats of knowledge: knowing the number of every world's own kalpas, understanding every living being's own manifold understanding, all within a single thought.