No Simile Reaches the Mind of Bodhi
The hymn restates the chapter's own governing comparison: leading beings to become arhats, then pratyekabuddhas, then measuring kalpas and lands beyond counting — every one of these could still be reckoned, yet the merit of the first resolve cannot, because every buddha is born from nothing else.
Every Buddha Born from the First Resolve
Even the number of kalpas past, present, and future could be known — but not the merit of giving rise to the mind, because it is the very source from which every honored one across the three periods of time is born.
哀愍眾生廣大智，普攝一切同於己，
知空無相無真實，而行其心不懈退。
菩薩發心功德量，億劫稱揚不可盡，
以出一切諸如來，獨覺聲聞安樂故。
十方國土諸眾生，皆悉施安無量劫，
勸持五戒及十善，四禪四等諸定處，
復於多劫施安樂，令斷諸惑成羅漢；
彼諸福聚雖無量，不與發心功德比。
又教億眾成緣覺，獲無諍行微妙道，
以彼而校菩提心，算數譬諭無能及。
一念能過塵數剎，如是經於無量劫，
此諸剎數尚可量，發心功德不可知。
過去未來及現在，所有劫數無邊量，
此諸劫數猶可知，發心功德無能測。
以菩提心遍十方，所有分別靡不知，
一念三世悉明達，利益無量眾生故。
十方世界諸眾生，欲解方便意所行，
及以虛空際可測，發心功德難知量。
菩薩志願等十方，慈心普洽諸群生，
悉使修成佛功德，是故其力無邊際。
眾生欲解心所樂，諸根方便行各別，
於一念中悉了知，一切智智心同等。
一切眾生諸惑業，三有相續無暫斷，
此諸邊際尚可知，發心功德難思議。
發心能離業煩惱，供養一切諸如來，
業惑既離相續斷，普於三世得解脫。
一念供養無邊佛，亦供無數諸眾生，
悉以香華及妙鬘，寶幢幡蓋上衣服，
美食珍座經行處，種種宮殿悉嚴好，
毘盧遮那妙寶珠，如意摩尼發光耀。
念念如是持供養，經無量劫不可說；
其人福聚雖復多，不及發心功德大。
所說種種眾譬諭，無有能及菩提心，
以諸三世人中尊，皆從發心而得生。
發心無礙無齊限，欲求其量不可得，
一切智智誓必成，所有眾生皆永度。
發心廣大等虛空，生諸功德同法界，
所行普遍如無異，永離眾著佛平等。
一切法門無不入，一切國土悉能往，
一切智境咸通達，一切功德皆成就。
Out of compassion for living beings, with vast and expansive wisdom, they universally embrace every one of them as though they were themselves; knowing emptiness, signlessness, and the absence of any true reality, and yet their mind's own practice never slackens or retreats. The very measure of merit in the bodhisattva's giving rise to the mind — through a hundred million kalpas of extolling it, it could never be exhausted, for it is the very source from which every Tathāgata, every solitary realizer, and every śrāvaka's own happiness comes forth.
Every living being in the lands of the ten directions, were one to give them peace and ease through immeasurable kalpas, urging them to hold the five precepts and the ten wholesome deeds, and the four meditative absorptions and four immeasurable minds, the very abodes of concentration — and were one, through many further kalpas, to give them still more peace and happiness, causing them to cut off every affliction and become arhats — though that accumulated merit would be immeasurable, it still would not compare to the merit of giving rise to the mind.
And were one further to teach a hundred million multitudes to become solitary realizers, attaining the contentionless practice of the subtle and wondrous path — were this then set beside the mind of bodhi, no calculation, no simile at all could ever reach it. In a single thought to pass beyond lands as numerous as motes of dust, and to continue so through immeasurable kalpas — the very number of those lands could still be reckoned, yet the merit of giving rise to the mind cannot be known.
The past, the future, and the present, and every boundless measure of kalpas within them — the very number of those kalpas could still be known, yet the merit of giving rise to the mind cannot be fathomed. Because the mind of bodhi extends throughout the ten directions, there is no discrimination there that it fails to know; in a single thought it comprehends the three periods of time entirely, for the sake of benefiting immeasurable living beings.
The desires, understanding, skillful means, and mental activity of every living being in the worlds of the ten directions, and even the very limit of empty space — all of these could still be fathomed, yet the merit of giving rise to the mind is difficult to know or measure. The bodhisattva's own resolve and vow equal the ten directions; their mind of loving-kindness universally moistens the multitudes of beings, causing every one of them to cultivate and accomplish the Buddha's own merit — and it is for this reason that their power has no boundary or limit at all.
Living beings' own desires and understanding, what their heart delights in, their every faculty, skillful means, and practice, each one distinct — in a single thought they understand all of it entirely, their mind equal to the very wisdom of all-knowing wisdom. Every living being's own afflictions and karma continue on through the three realms of existence without a moment's interruption — the very limit of all of this could still be known, yet the merit of giving rise to the mind is inconceivable.
Giving rise to the mind is able to leave behind karma and affliction, and to make offerings to every single Tathāgata; once karma and affliction are left behind and their continuity is severed, one attains liberation universally throughout the three periods of time. In a single thought to make offerings to boundless buddhas, and likewise to offer to countless living beings, entirely with fragrance and flowers and wondrous garlands, jeweled banners, streamers, canopies, and the finest garments,
fine food, jeweled seats, and walking-paths, and every kind of palace entirely adorned and made splendid, and Vairocana's own wondrous jeweled pearls, wish-fulfilling maṇi gems radiating light — moment after moment maintaining offerings such as these, continuing through immeasurable kalpas beyond all telling; though that person's accumulated merit would be very great indeed, it still would not reach the greatness of the merit of giving rise to the mind.
Of all the many similes that have been spoken, there is not one able to reach the mind of bodhi, for every honored one among humankind across the three periods of time is born forth from nothing other than the giving rise of the mind. Giving rise to the mind meets no obstruction and knows no equal limit; wishing to seek its measure, none can ever be found; it vows without fail to accomplish the very wisdom of all-knowing wisdom, so that every living being there is may be forever crossed over.
Giving rise to the mind is vast and expansive, equal to empty space itself, and brings forth every merit equal to the Dharma-realm; its practice extends universally, as though without any distinction at all, forever free of every attachment, equal to the Buddha himself. There is not a single Dharma-gate it fails to enter, not a single land it cannot go to; the realm of all-knowing wisdom it penetrates entirely, and every merit it brings entirely to accomplishment.
This stretch of the hymn compresses into verse the exact comparison-structure that ran through the chapter's long prose passages many Parts ago — first arhatship, then pratyekabuddhahood, then measuring worlds and kalpas beyond all counting — each one still countable, and none of them equal to the merit of the first resolve. The reason given here is the same one given throughout the chapter: this merit is not compared to buddhahood because it resembles it, but because every buddha across all three periods of time is born from nothing else.
Part 99 Complete
This closes Part 99. The closing hymn continues in Part 100.