Every Living Being's Own Desires, Means, and Minds
Three more comparisons follow, now stated more briefly than before: knowing every living being's own desires and delights, their manifold skillful means, and the entire net of their own differing minds, extending to the very edge of the Dharma-realm and the realm of empty space itself.
Desires, Skillful Means, and the Whole Net of Every Mind
Following the same pattern as the comparisons before it, each of these three is stated more concisely — but the resolve's own aim remains as total as ever: understanding entirely, without exception, every living being's own delight, their own skillful means, and, at the last, the whole net of every mind throughout the Dharma-realm and the realm of empty space.
「佛子！復置此諭。假使有人，於一念頃，能知東方無數世界所有眾生種種欲樂；念念如是，盡阿僧祇劫。次第廣說，乃至第十。南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。此十方眾生所有欲樂，可知邊際；菩薩初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心功德善根，無有能得知其際者。何以故？佛子！菩薩不齊限，但為知爾所眾生欲樂故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心；為盡知一切世界所有眾生種種欲樂，廣說乃至，欲盡知一切欲樂網故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。
「佛子！復置此諭。假使有人，於一念頃，能知東方無數世界所有眾生種種方便。如是廣說，乃至第十。南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。此十方眾生種種方便，可知邊際；菩薩初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心功德善根，無有能得知其際者。何以故？佛子！菩薩不齊限，但為知爾所世界眾生種種方便故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心；為盡知一切世界所有眾生種種方便，廣說乃至，欲盡知一切方便網故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。
「佛子！復置此諭。假使有人，於一念頃，能知東方無數世界所有眾生種種差別心。廣說乃至，此十方世界所有眾生種種差別心，可知邊際；菩薩初發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心功德善根，無有能得知其際者。何以故？佛子！菩薩不齊限，但為知爾所眾生心故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心；為悉知盡法界、虛空界無邊眾生種種心，乃至欲盡知一切心網故，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」
"Son of the Buddha! Let us set aside this analogy once more. Suppose there were a person who, within the space of a single thought, is able to know the manifold desires and delights of every living being throughout countless worlds to the east; and, thought after thought in just this way, across an entire asaṃkhyeya kalpa. Continuing on to be told at length, up to a tenth person. And it is likewise so to the south, the west, and the north, and in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. The very limit of the desires and delights of the living beings of these ten directions could still be known; whereas the merit and wholesome root that is the bodhisattva's first giving rise of the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening has no one at all able to know its own limit. Why is this so? Son of the Buddha, the bodhisattva does not set himself a fixed measure, giving rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening merely for the sake of knowing that very number of living beings' own desires and delights; he gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening for the sake of understanding entirely the manifold desires and delights of every living being throughout every world, and, to speak at length, all the way to wishing to understand entirely the whole net of every desire and delight there is.
"Son of the Buddha! Let us set aside this analogy once more. Suppose there were a person who, within the space of a single thought, is able to know the manifold skillful means of every living being throughout countless worlds to the east. Continuing on to be told at length, up to a tenth person. And it is likewise so to the south, the west, and the north, and in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. The very limit of the manifold skillful means of the living beings of these ten directions could still be known; whereas the merit and wholesome root that is the bodhisattva's first giving rise of the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening has no one at all able to know its own limit. Why is this so? Son of the Buddha, the bodhisattva does not set himself a fixed measure, giving rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening merely for the sake of knowing that very number of worlds' own living beings' manifold skillful means; he gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening for the sake of understanding entirely the manifold skillful means of every living being throughout every world, and, to speak at length, all the way to wishing to understand entirely the whole net of every skillful means there is.
"Son of the Buddha! Let us set aside this analogy once more. Suppose there were a person who, within the space of a single thought, is able to know the manifold, distinct minds of every living being throughout countless worlds to the east. Speaking at length, all the way to: the very limit of the manifold, distinct minds of the living beings of these ten worlds could still be known; whereas the merit and wholesome root that is the bodhisattva's first giving rise of the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening has no one at all able to know its own limit. Why is this so? Son of the Buddha, the bodhisattva does not set himself a fixed measure, giving rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening merely for the sake of knowing that very number of living beings' own minds; he gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening for the sake of understanding entirely the manifold minds of the boundless living beings throughout the whole Dharma-realm and the realm of empty space, all the way to wishing to understand entirely the whole net of every mind there is."
The chapter's own pacing accelerates through these three comparisons, each stated more tersely than the ones before, and this is itself a kind of rhetorical instruction: having established the pattern at length across the first several comparisons, the sūtra trusts its reader to supply the missing detail, letting the sheer repetition of the same underlying structure — desire, skillful means, mind, each escalating from a single knower to a hundred, each still falling short — carry its own weight. What began as an argument requiring careful unpacking has, by this point, become something closer to a chant, the repeated form itself doing part of the teaching's own work.
Part 91 Complete
This closes Part 91. Chapter 17 continues in Part 92 with comparisons of knowing every living being's own karma and afflictions, and a final comparison of offerings surpassing every one that came before it.