Not the Slightest Attainment of Anything at All

"Son of the Buddha! Let us set aside this analogy once more. Suppose there is, further, a second person who, within a single thought, is able to perform the very deed of offering that the first person performed toward countless living beings throughout countless worlds across countless kalpas; and, thought after thought in just this way, with immeasurable kinds of offerings, makes offering to immeasurable Tathāgatas, and to the living beings of immeasurable worlds, across immeasurable kalpas. And a third person, all the way to a tenth person, is likewise each able, within a single thought, to perform the offering that the person before them performed; and, thought after thought in just this way, with offerings that are boundless, unequaled, uncountable, inexpressible, inconceivable, immeasurable, ineffable, and beyond even the ineffable and inexpressible, makes offering to buddhas that are boundless, all the way to being beyond the ineffable and inexpressible, and to the living beings of just as many worlds, across kalpas that are boundless, all the way to being beyond the ineffable and inexpressible. When each buddha had passed into extinction, they each raised a stūpa for him, those stūpas tall and vast, and this continued for as long as the kalpa itself endured. Son of the Buddha, this merit described just now, 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. Why is this so? Son of the Buddha, the bodhisattva mahāsattva does not set himself a fixed measure, giving rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening merely for the sake of making offering to that very number of buddhas; he gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening for the sake of making offering to every single buddha of the past, the future, and the present, throughout the ten directions, filling the entire Dharma-realm and the realm of empty space, beyond even the ineffable and inexpressible in number.

"Having given rise to this resolve, he is able to know that every buddha of the past first accomplished true awakening and entered parinirvāṇa, he is able to believe in the wholesome root of every buddha of the future, and he is able to know the wisdom of every buddha of the present. Every merit that those buddhas possess, this bodhisattva is able to believe, able to receive, able to cultivate, able to attain, able to know, able to realize, and able to accomplish, becoming equal in a single nature with every buddha. Why is this so? This bodhisattva gives rise to the resolve for the sake of never cutting off the lineage of every Tathāgata; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of filling and pervading every world entirely; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of delivering the living beings of every world to liberation; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely the forming and destruction of every world; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely the defilement and purity of every living being; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely the purity of the three states of existence throughout every world; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own mind, delight, affliction, and habitual tendency; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own dying here and being born there; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own faculties and skillful means; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own mental conduct; he gives rise to the resolve for the sake of understanding entirely every living being's own wisdom across the three periods of time.

Because he has given rise to this resolve, he is forever held in mind by every buddha of the past, the future, and the present, and shall attain the unsurpassed bodhi of every buddha of the three periods of time; it is as though every buddha of the three periods of time had already granted him their own wondrous Dharma, as though he were already equal in very substance and nature with every buddha of the three periods of time; he has already cultivated the very practices that assist the path of every buddha of the three periods of time, and accomplished the powers and fearlessnesses of every buddha of the three periods of time; he adorns himself with the unshared qualities of every buddha of the three periods of time, and attains entirely the wisdom of teaching the Dharma possessed by every buddha throughout the Dharma-realm. Why is this so? It is because, by giving rise to this very resolve, he shall attain buddhahood. One should know that this person is already equal to every buddha of the three periods of time, already equal to the domain of every Tathāgata of the three periods of time, already equal to the merit of every Tathāgata of the three periods of time, and attains the Tathāgata's own single body, and his immeasurable bodies, in ultimately equal and true wisdom.

At the very moment the resolve is given rise to, he is at once praised together by every buddha of the ten directions; he is at once able to teach the Dharma, transforming and taming every living being throughout every world; he is at once able to shake every world; he is at once able to illumine every world with light; he is at once able to extinguish every suffering of the evil destinies throughout every world; he is at once able to adorn and purify every land; he is at once able to manifest the accomplishment of buddhahood within every world; he is at once able to cause every living being to attain joy; he is at once able to enter the very nature of the entire Dharma-realm; he is at once able to uphold the lineage of every buddha; he is at once able to attain the light of every buddha's own wisdom. This bodhisattva of the first resolve has not, across the three periods of time, the slightest attainment of anything at all — namely, not of any buddha, and not of any buddha's own dharma; not of any bodhisattva, and not of any bodhisattva's own dharma; not of any pratyekabuddha, and not of any pratyekabuddha's own dharma; not of any śrāvaka, and not of any śrāvaka's own dharma; not of the worldly, and not of any worldly dharma; not of the world-transcending, and not of any world-transcending dharma; not of any living being, and not of any living being's own dharma. He seeks only omniscience itself; toward every dharma throughout the Dharma-realm, his mind clings to nothing at all."