Four Kinds of Faith, Five Practices, and the Benefits of This Treatise
The treatise's final page turns from explanation to instruction. The "part on cultivating the practice of faith" names four kinds of faith and five practices — giving, moral discipline, patience, vigor, and calming-and-contemplation — with detailed warnings against counterfeit meditative experience and a concession for readers too fainthearted to trust their own progress unaided. The closing "part exhorting practice and its benefits" states, in the treatise's own most extravagant terms, what is at stake in taking any of the preceding nine pages seriously.
Four Kinds of Faith, Five Gates of Practice
次說修行信心分。
是中依未入正定眾生故，說修行信心。何等信心？云何修行？略說信心有四種。云何為四？一者、信根本，所謂樂念真如法故。二者、信佛有無量功德，常念親近供養恭敬，發起善根，願求一切智故。三者、信法有大利益，常念修行諸波羅蜜故。四者、信僧能正修行自利利他，常樂親近諸菩薩眾，求學如實行故。
修行有五門，能成此信。云何為五？一者、施門，二者、戒門，三者、忍門，四者、進門，五者、止觀門。
云何修行施門？若見一切來求索者，所有財物隨力施與，以自捨慳貪令彼歡喜。若見厄難恐怖危逼，隨己堪任施與無畏。若有眾生來求法者，隨己能解方便為說。不應貪求名利恭敬，唯念自利利他迴向菩提故。云何修行戒門？所謂不殺、不盜、不婬、不兩舌、不惡口、不妄言、不綺語，遠離貪嫉、欺詐、諂曲、瞋恚、邪見。若出家者為折伏煩惱故，亦應遠離憒閙、常處寂靜，修習少欲知足頭陀等行。乃至小罪心生怖畏，慚愧改悔，不得輕於如來所制禁戒。當護譏嫌，不令眾生妄起過罪故。云何修行忍門？所謂應忍他人之惱，心不懷報；亦當忍於利、衰、毀、譽、稱、譏、苦、樂等法故。云何修行進門？所謂於諸善事心不懈退，立志堅強遠離怯弱。當念過去久遠已來，虛受一切身心大苦無有利益，是故應勤修諸功德，自利利他速離眾苦。
Next, the part on cultivating the practice of faith.
Herein, for the sake of sentient beings who have not yet entered the rightly settled group, cultivating the practice of faith is taught. What is this faith? How is it practiced? Stated briefly, faith is of four kinds. What are the four? First, faith in the root, that is, delighting in contemplating the dharma of suchness. Second, faith that the Buddha possesses immeasurable qualities, constantly thinking of drawing near to him, making offerings, and paying him reverence, arousing roots of goodness, and vowing to seek omniscience. Third, faith that the Dharma has great benefit, constantly thinking of practicing the pāramitās. Fourth, faith that the Saṅgha is able to practice rightly, benefiting both itself and others, constantly delighting in drawing near to the assembly of bodhisattvas, and seeking to learn practice in accordance with reality.
Practice has five gates, able to bring this faith to completion. What are the five? First, the gate of giving. Second, the gate of moral discipline. Third, the gate of patience. Fourth, the gate of vigor. Fifth, the gate of calming and contemplation.
How does one practice the gate of giving? If one sees anyone at all coming to ask for something, one gives whatever wealth one has according to one's ability, thereby renouncing one's own stinginess and greed and bringing that person joy. If one sees someone in danger, terror, or dire distress, one gives fearlessness according to one's own capacity. If sentient beings come seeking the dharma, one explains it for them, using skillful means, according to one's own understanding. One should not seek fame, gain, or honor, but think only of benefiting oneself and others, dedicating the merit toward bodhi. How does one practice the gate of moral discipline? That is: not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, not speaking divisively, not speaking harshly, not lying, not speaking idly — and keeping far from craving, envy, deceit, flattery, anger, and wrong view. And if one has gone forth from home, then, in order to subdue the afflictions, one should also keep far from noisy crowds, dwell constantly in solitude, and cultivate few desires, contentment, and ascetic practices such as these. Even at the smallest fault, one's mind should feel fear, shame, and remorse, and one must never treat lightly the precepts the Tathāgata has established. One should guard against giving rise to criticism or suspicion, so as not to let sentient beings falsely conceive a fault where none exists. How does one practice the gate of patience? That is: one should bear with others' vexation, without harboring any thought of revenge; and one should likewise bear with such things as gain and loss, disgrace and honor, praise and blame, suffering and pleasure. How does one practice the gate of vigor? That is: with respect to every wholesome undertaking, one's mind does not grow lax or retreat; one's resolve is firm and strong, far from cowardice. One should reflect that, throughout the long ages of the past, one has vainly undergone every kind of great suffering of body and mind, to no benefit at all — and, for this reason, one should diligently cultivate every virtue, benefiting oneself and others, and swiftly leave every suffering behind.
Fazang states plainly why faith, having already been described across the previous nine pages as the very point of this whole treatise, still needs a further section on cultivating it: 有信無行，則信不堅，不堅之信遇緣便退 — faith without practice is not firm, and faith that is not firm retreats the moment it meets an obstacle. The five practices exist to keep the four kinds of faith from being merely an idea a reader has agreed with. On why calming and contemplation, evidently two distinct techniques, are counted together as a single, fifth gate rather than two separate ones, Fazang's answer ties directly back to the "not one, not different" logic Part 3 already established for the two gates of the One Mind itself: 以止觀合修雙運不二故，唯有五也 — because calming and contemplation must be cultivated jointly, operating in tandem as a single non-dual practice, they count as one gate, not two. A meditator who can only calm the mind or only observe it, but never do both at once, has not yet actually entered this fifth gate at all.
Real Signs and Counterfeit Ones
復次，若人雖修行信心，以從先世來多有重罪惡業障故，為魔邪諸鬼之所惱亂，或為世間事務種種牽纏，或為病苦所惱。有如是等眾多障礙，是故應當勇猛精勤，晝夜六時禮拜諸佛，誠心懺悔、勸請、隨喜、迴向菩提，常不休廢，得免諸障、善根增長故。
云何修行止觀門？所言止者，謂止一切境界相，隨順奢摩他觀義故。所言觀者，謂分別因緣生滅相，隨順毘鉢舍那觀義故。云何隨順？以此二義，漸漸修習不相捨離，雙現前故。若修止者，住於靜處端坐正意，不依氣息、不依形色、不依於空、不依地水火風，乃至不依見聞覺知。一切諸想隨念皆除，亦遣除想，以一切法本來無相，念念不生、念念不滅，亦不得隨心外念境界，後以心除心。心若馳散，即當攝來住於正念。是正念者，當知唯心，無外境界。即復此心亦無自相，念念不可得，若從坐起去來進止有所施作，於一切時常念方便隨順觀察，久習淳熟其心得住。以心住故漸漸猛利，隨順得入真如三昧，深伏煩惱信心增長，速成不退。唯除疑惑、不信、誹謗、重罪、業障、我慢、懈怠，如是等人所不能入。
復次，依如是三昧故，則知法界一相。謂一切諸佛法身與眾生身平等無二，即名一行三昧。當知真如是三昧根本，若人修行，漸漸能生無量三昧。或有眾生無善根力，則為諸魔外道鬼神之所惑亂，若於坐中現形恐怖，或現端正男女等相，當念唯心，境界則滅，終不為惱。或現天像、菩薩像，亦作如來像相好具足，若說陀羅尼，若說布施、持戒、忍辱、精進、禪定、智慧，或說平等、空、無相、無願、無怨無親、無因無果、畢竟空寂是真涅槃。或令人知宿命過去之事，亦知未來之事，得他心智辯才無礙，能令眾生貪著世間名利之事。又令使人數瞋數喜，性無常准。或多慈愛多睡多病，其心懈怠。或卒起精進後便休廢，生於不信多疑多慮。或捨本勝行更修雜業。若著世事種種牽纏，亦能使人得諸三昧少分相似，皆是外道所得，非真三昧。或復令人若一日若二日若三日，乃至七日住於定中，得自然香美飲食，身心適悅不飢不渴，使人愛著。或亦令人食無分齊，乍多乍少顏色變異。以是義故，行者常應智慧觀察，勿令此心墮於邪網。當勤正念不取不著，則能遠離是諸業障。應知外道所有三昧，皆不離見愛我慢之心，貪著世間名利恭敬故。真如三昧者，不住見相、不住得相，乃至出定亦無懈慢，所有煩惱漸漸微薄。若諸凡夫不習此三昧法，得入如來種性，無有是處。以修世間諸禪三昧多起味著，依於我見繫屬三界，與外道共。若離善知識所護，則起外道見故。
Furthermore, though a person may be cultivating the practice of faith, if he still carries much heavy, unwholesome karmic hindrance from former lives, he may be troubled and disturbed by māras and evil spirits, or entangled in all manner of worldly affairs, or afflicted by the suffering of illness. Faced with such numerous hindrances as these, one should be courageous and diligent, paying homage to the buddhas six times, day and night, sincerely repenting, entreating the buddhas to remain and teach, rejoicing in the merit of others, and dedicating the merit toward bodhi, never ceasing — so as to be freed from these hindrances, and to increase one's roots of goodness.
How does one practice the gate of calming and contemplation? By "calming" is meant halting every mark of the object-realm, according with the meaning of śamatha contemplation. By "contemplation" is meant discerning the marks of arising-and-ceasing due to causes and conditions, according with the meaning of vipaśyanā contemplation. How does one accord with them? By cultivating these two step by step, never letting go of either, so that both are manifest together at once. If one cultivates calming, one dwells in a quiet place, sits upright, and rightly settles the mind — not relying on the breath, not relying on physical form, not relying on space, not relying on earth, water, fire, or wind, and not even relying on seeing, hearing, sensing, or knowing. Every thought, following whatever arises, is removed, and even the thought that removes is itself dispelled — because all dharmas are, from the very outset, without mark, neither arising thought after thought, nor ceasing thought after thought. Nor should one, in dependence on mind, go on thinking of an object-realm outside; and afterward, mind itself is used to remove mind. If mind should scatter and wander, one should draw it back and settle it in right mindfulness. This right mindfulness, one should understand, is mind alone, with no object-realm outside it. And this very mind, too, has no mark of its own — thought after thought, it cannot be apprehended. Whether rising from sitting, going, coming, advancing, stopping, or undertaking any activity, one should, at all times, constantly bear skillful means in mind and observe in accordance with them; and, practiced long enough until it becomes second nature, the mind comes to abide. Because mind abides, it grows gradually keen and forceful, and, according with this, one enters the samādhi of suchness — the afflictions deeply subdued, faith increased, swiftly attaining non-retrogression. Only those with doubt, disbelief, slander, heavy transgressions, karmic hindrance, arrogance, or laziness are unable to enter it.
Furthermore, in dependence on this samādhi, one comes to know that the dharma-realm has a single mark — that the dharma-body of all buddhas and the bodies of sentient beings are equal, not two — and this is called the samādhi of one practice. One should understand that suchness is the root of this samādhi; if a person practices it, he is gradually able to give rise to immeasurable samādhis. There may be sentient beings without the power of roots of goodness, who are thereby deluded and disturbed by māras, non-Buddhist spirits, and demons — who may, while seated, manifest terrifying forms, or manifest handsome or beautiful male or female forms. One should simply reflect that this is mind alone, and the object-realm will thereupon vanish, never causing further vexation. They may manifest the image of a deva, or the image of a bodhisattva, or even the image of a tathāgata complete with all the excellent marks, and may recite dhāraṇīs, or speak of giving, moral discipline, patience, vigor, meditative concentration, and wisdom, or speak of equality, emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, being without enmity and without affection, without cause and without effect, ultimately empty and still, calling this true nirvāṇa. They may cause a person to know past lives, or to know things yet to come, or to gain the knowledge of others' minds and unobstructed eloquence — able thereby to make sentient beings become attached to worldly fame and gain. They may also cause a person to become repeatedly angry and repeatedly joyful, his temperament without any constancy at all; or to become excessively affectionate, excessively sleepy, or sickly, his mind grown lax; or to suddenly take up diligence only to abandon it soon after, giving rise to disbelief, much doubt, and much worry; or to abandon his original excellent practice and take up a mixture of unrelated pursuits instead. If one becomes attached to worldly affairs, entangled in all manner of ways, one may still attain something resembling samādhi in a small part — but this is entirely what non-Buddhists attain, not true samādhi. They may further cause a person to remain in a state of concentration for one day, or two, or three, up to seven days, obtaining naturally fragrant, delicious food and drink, body and mind pleasantly at ease, without hunger or thirst, causing the person to become attached. Or they may cause a person to eat without any regular measure, now much, now little, his complexion changing. For this reason, a practitioner should constantly observe with wisdom, and not let his mind fall into this net of wrong views. One should diligently keep right mindfulness, neither grasping nor becoming attached — and one will thereby be able to keep far from all these karmic hindrances. One should understand that whatever samādhi non-Buddhists attain is never apart from a mind of views, craving, and arrogance, being attached to worldly fame, gain, and honor. The samādhi of suchness, however, does not abide in any mark of seeing, does not abide in any mark of attainment, and, even upon emerging from concentration, has no arrogance or laziness either, its remaining afflictions growing gradually thin. If ordinary people, without practicing this samādhi, were able to enter the lineage of the Tathāgata, there would be no such possibility. For the cultivation of ordinary worldly meditative absorptions mostly gives rise to attachment and relish, bound to the three realms through the view of self, shared in common with non-Buddhists — and, apart from the protection of a good spiritual friend, one will give rise to non-Buddhist views instead.
Faced with the practical problem this passage raises — how does a meditator actually tell a genuine sign from a demonic counterfeit, when both can look identical in the moment? — Fazang, citing the tradition of earlier teachers, supplies three concrete tests rather than leaving the reader with only "be wise about it": 一以定研磨，二依本修治，三智慧觀察 — first, grind it with concentration itself; second, treat it according to one's original practice; third, investigate it with wisdom. He glosses each in turn. The first: hold the arising phenomenon in deep, settled concentration, neither grasping nor rejecting it — if it is a genuine sign of progress, sustained calm only deepens and clarifies it further; if it is demonic, it will not survive being held that steadily and will collapse on its own before long. The second: return to whatever base practice one was originally cultivating — impurity-contemplation, say — and continue it exactly as before; if the phenomenon strengthens under continued correct practice, it is not a deception, but if it degrades the practice was already succeeding, it was false. The third: trace the phenomenon back to where it actually arose from, and see that no real point of origin can be found at all — a false phenomenon typically cannot survive this kind of direct inquiry into its own source. He closes with the image the whole method is built on: 如經言，欲知真金，三法試之，謂燒打磨 — as the sūtras say, to know true gold, test it three ways: burn it, strike it, and grind it. Concentration corresponds to grinding, returning to one's base practice corresponds to striking, and wisdom's investigation corresponds to burning — three independent tests, because any one of them alone can be fooled, but a counterfeit rarely survives all three.
Ten Benefits, and the Gate of Contemplation
復次，精勤專心修學此三昧者，現世當得十種利益。云何為十？一者、常為十方諸佛菩薩之所護念。二者、不為諸魔惡鬼所能恐怖。三者、不為九十五種外道鬼神之所惑亂。四者、遠離誹謗甚深之法，重罪業障漸漸微薄。五者、滅一切疑諸惡覺觀。六者、於如來境界信得增長。七者、遠離憂悔，於生死中勇猛不怯。八者、其心柔和，捨於憍慢，不為他人所惱。九者、雖未得定，於一切時一切境界處，則能減損煩惱、不樂世間。十者、若得三昧，不為外緣一切音聲之所驚動。
復次，若人唯修於止，則心沈沒或起懈怠，不樂眾善、遠離大悲，是故修觀。修習觀者，當觀一切世間有為之法，無得久停須臾變壞，一切心行念念生滅，以是故苦。應觀過去所念諸法恍惚如夢，應觀現在所念諸法猶如電光，應觀未來所念諸法猶如於雲忽爾而起，應觀世間一切有身悉皆不淨，種種穢污無一可樂。如是當念：「一切眾生從無始世來，皆因無明所熏習故令心生滅，已受一切身心大苦。現在即有無量逼迫，未來所苦亦無分齊，難捨難離而不覺知。眾生如是，甚為可愍。」作此思惟，即應勇猛立大誓願：「願令我心離分別故，遍於十方修行一切諸善功德，盡其未來，以無量方便救拔一切苦惱眾生，令得涅槃第一義樂。」以起如是願故，於一切時、一切處，所有眾善，隨己堪能不捨修學，心無懈怠，唯除坐時專念於止。若餘一切，悉當觀察應作不應作。若行若住、若臥若起，皆應止觀俱行。所謂雖念諸法自性不生，而復即念因緣和合善惡之業，苦樂等報不失不壞。雖念因緣善惡業報，而亦即念性不可得。若修止者，對治凡夫住著世間，能捨二乘怯弱之見。若修觀者，對治二乘不起大悲狹劣心過，遠離凡夫不修善根。以此義故，是止觀二門，共相助成，不相捨離。若止觀不具，則無能入菩提之道。
Furthermore, one who diligently and single-mindedly cultivates and learns this samādhi will attain, in the present life, ten kinds of benefit. What are the ten? First, he is constantly guarded and remembered by all buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions. Second, he is not made afraid by any māra or evil spirit. Third, he is not deluded or disturbed by any of the ninety-five kinds of non-Buddhist spirits. Fourth, he keeps far from slandering this most profound dharma, and his heavy karmic hindrance grows gradually thin. Fifth, he extinguishes all doubt and every unwholesome discursive thought. Sixth, his faith in the Tathāgata's own realm grows and increases. Seventh, he keeps far from anxious regret, courageous and unafraid amid birth-and-death. Eighth, his mind grows gentle and yielding, giving up arrogance, and is not vexed by others. Ninth, though he has not yet attained concentration, at all times, in every circumstance, he is able to lessen his afflictions and take no delight in worldly things. Tenth, once he attains this samādhi, he is not startled by any external sound whatsoever.
Furthermore, if a person cultivates only calming, his mind may sink and become dull, or laziness may arise, taking no delight in the many forms of goodness and keeping far from great compassion — and it is for this reason that contemplation is also cultivated. As for cultivating contemplation: one should contemplate that every conditioned dharma in the world cannot remain for long, changing and decaying in an instant, and that all mental activity arises and ceases thought after thought — and it is for this reason that it is suffering. One should contemplate that the dharmas thought of in the past are hazy and indistinct, like a dream; one should contemplate that the dharmas thought of in the present are like a flash of lightning; one should contemplate that the dharmas to be thought of in the future are like clouds that suddenly arise; and one should contemplate that every embodied thing in the world is, without exception, impure, in all its various forms of defilement, with nothing in it worth delighting in at all. One should reflect in this way: "All sentient beings, from beginningless time, have, entirely because of habituation by ignorance, had mind arise and cease, and have already undergone every kind of great suffering of body and mind. In the present they already suffer immeasurable oppression, and the suffering yet to come is likewise without limit — hard to relinquish, hard to leave behind, and yet they remain unaware of it. Sentient beings, being such, are truly to be pitied." Having reflected in this way, one should courageously establish a great vow: "May my mind, apart from all discrimination, practice every wholesome virtue throughout the ten directions, to the very end of future time, and, through immeasurable skillful means, rescue every suffering, afflicted sentient being, causing them to attain nirvāṇa, the bliss of the ultimate truth." Having given rise to such a vow, at all times and in all places, whatever goodness there is to be found, one cultivates and studies it to the best of one's own ability, without any laziness of mind — except during sitting itself, when one gives single-minded attention to calming alone. In every other circumstance, one should always discern what should and should not be done. Whether walking, standing, lying down, or rising, calming and contemplation should always be practiced together. That is: although one contemplates that all dharmas, in their own nature, never arise, one likewise, at the very same time, contemplates that the coming together of causes and conditions, the wholesome and unwholesome karma they produce, and the pain and pleasure of their retribution, are never lost, never destroyed. And although one contemplates the causes, conditions, and karmic retribution of wholesome and unwholesome deeds, one likewise, at the very same time, contemplates that their nature can never be apprehended at all. Cultivating calming counters an ordinary person's attachment to the world, and is able to remove the two vehicles' faint-hearted view as well. Cultivating contemplation counters the fault of the two vehicles' failing to give rise to great compassion, their mind narrow and inferior, and keeps far from an ordinary person's failure to cultivate roots of goodness. It is for this reason that these two gates, calming and contemplation, mutually assist and complete one another, never abandoning each other. Were calming and contemplation not both present together, there would be no way to enter the path to bodhi.
Fazang reads calming and contemplation's respective faults corrected here as the treatise's final application of a distinction it has been drawing since Part 8: calming corrects the ordinary person's attachment to the world and, at the same time, the two vehicles' fainthearted fear of birth-and-death, while contemplation corrects the two vehicles' narrow failure to give rise to great compassion and, at the same time, the ordinary person's neglect of wholesome cultivation. Each practice, on this account, is doing double duty, correcting one fault typical of beginners and one typical of those already advanced beyond the ordinary but not yet beyond narrowness — which is exactly why, as the passage insists, neither practice alone suffices: 止觀不具，則無能入菩提之道 (were calming and contemplation not both present together, there would be no way to enter the path to bodhi). Fazang's own image for the pair, reaching for the treatise's opening chapters one final time, is architectural rather than medicinal: 如鳥兩翼，車之二輪 — like a bird's two wings, or a cart's two wheels. A single wing does not fly slower; it does not fly at all.
For the Fainthearted: A Pure Land
復次，眾生初學是法欲求正信，其心怯弱。以住於此娑婆世界，自畏不能常值諸佛、親承供養。懼謂信心難可成就，意欲退者，當知如來有勝方便攝護信心。謂以專意念佛因緣，隨願得生他方佛土，常見於佛永離惡道。如修多羅說，若人專念西方極樂世界阿彌陀佛，所修善根，迴向願求生彼世界，即得往生，常見佛故，終無有退。若觀彼佛真如法身，常勤修習畢竟得生，住正定故。
已說修行信心分。
Furthermore, when sentient beings first learn this teaching and wish to seek true faith, their minds may be fainthearted. Dwelling in this sahā world, they fear that they will not always be able to encounter buddhas and personally serve and make offerings to them, and, worrying that faith is difficult to bring to completion, their intention may waver toward retreat. One should understand that the Tathāgata has a superior skillful means for sustaining and protecting such faith. That is: through the causes and conditions of single-mindedly contemplating a buddha, one may, in accordance with one's own vow, be reborn in another buddha's land, forever seeing that buddha and forever leaving evil destinies behind. As the sūtras say, if a person single-mindedly contemplates Amitābha Buddha of the Western Land of Utmost Bliss, and dedicates whatever roots of goodness he has cultivated, vowing and seeking rebirth in that world, he will thereupon attain rebirth there; because he constantly sees that buddha, he will, in the end, never retreat. And if he contemplates that buddha's dharma-body of suchness, and constantly, diligently cultivates this practice, he will, in the end, attain rebirth there, abiding in the rightly settled group.
This concludes the part on cultivating the practice of faith.
Fazang folds this closing recommendation of rebirth in Amitābha's land back into the same staged framework of faith Part 9 already built, rather than treating it as a separate teaching bolted onto the end. He distinguishes three positions among those reborn there: one whose lotus has not yet opened, faith not yet complete, not yet non-retreating except in the sense that the pure land itself offers no occasion to retreat; one whose faith is already complete, the lotus opened, having attained a partial seeing of the dharma-body and entered the rightly settled group; and one further along still, the three grades of worldly-level practice complete, having entered the first ground and attained a fully pervasive dharma-body, being reborn in boundless further buddha-lands, as tradition records of Nāgārjuna. The passage's final line, "abiding in the rightly settled group," corresponds to the latter two positions, not the first. Pure-land rebirth, on Fazang's reading, is not an alternative path running parallel to everything the preceding nine pages have established — it is a skillful means for reaching the very same non-retreating stage this treatise has been describing all along, offered specifically to readers who doubt they can reach it by their own unaided effort within this world.
The Benefits of This Treatise
次說勸修利益分。
如是摩訶衍諸佛祕藏，我已總說。若有眾生，欲於如來甚深境界得生正信，遠離誹謗入大乘道，當持此論思量修習，究竟能至無上之道。若人聞是法已不生怯弱，當知此人定紹佛種，必為諸佛之所授記。假使有人能化三千大千世界滿中眾生令行十善，不如有人於一食頃正思此法，過前功德不可為喻。復次，若人受持此論觀察修行，若一日一夜，所有功德無量無邊不可得說。假令十方一切諸佛，各於無量無邊阿僧祇劫，歎其功德，亦不能盡。何以故？謂法性功德無有盡故。此人功德亦復如是，無有邊際。其有眾生，於此論中毀謗不信，所獲罪報，經無量劫受大苦惱。是故眾生但應仰信，不應誹謗，以深自害亦害他人，斷絕一切三寶之種，以一切如來皆依此法得涅槃故，一切菩薩因之修行入佛智故。當知過去菩薩已依此法得成淨信，現在菩薩今依此法得成淨信，未來菩薩當依此法得成淨信，是故眾生應勤修學。
諸佛甚深廣大義， 我今隨分總持說，
迴此功德如法性， 普利一切眾生界。
Next, the part exhorting practice and its benefits.
Such is the secret treasury of all buddhas' Mahāyāna teaching, which I have now stated in full. If there are sentient beings who wish to give rise to true faith in the Tathāgata's most profound realm, keeping far from slander and entering the path of the Mahāyāna, they should uphold this treatise, reflecting on it and cultivating it, and will, in the end, be able to reach the unsurpassed path. If a person, having heard this teaching, does not become fainthearted, one should understand that this person will surely carry on the seed of buddhahood, and will certainly be given prophecy by the buddhas. Suppose there were a person able to convert all the sentient beings filling an entire billion-world universe, causing them to practice the ten wholesome actions — this would still not equal a person who, for the mere space of a single meal, rightly reflects on this teaching. The merit of the latter surpasses the former beyond any comparison. Furthermore, if a person upholds this treatise and, observing it, practices it — even for a single day and night — the merit thereby gained is immeasurable, boundless, beyond all telling. Even if all the buddhas of the ten directions, each for immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, were to praise that merit, they would still be unable to exhaust it. Why is this? Because the merit of the dharma-nature itself is inexhaustible — and this person's merit, being of that same nature, is likewise without limit. As for any sentient being who slanders and disbelieves this treatise, the karmic retribution he incurs will cause him to undergo great suffering and torment for immeasurable kalpas. For this reason, sentient beings should only look up to it with faith, and should never slander it — for to do so deeply harms oneself and harms others as well, cutting off the seed of all Three Jewels; since it is entirely in dependence on this dharma that all tathāgatas attain nirvāṇa, and entirely because of it that all bodhisattvas practice and enter buddha-wisdom. One should understand that past bodhisattvas have already, in dependence on this dharma, attained pure faith; that present bodhisattvas now, in dependence on this dharma, attain pure faith; and that future bodhisattvas will, in dependence on this dharma, attain pure faith. For this reason, sentient beings should diligently practice and study it.
The buddhas' most profound and vast meaning —
I have now, according to my own small portion, gathered up and stated it in full.
May I turn this merit, in accordance with the dharma-nature,
to broadly benefit the entire realm of sentient beings.
Fazang's structural note on this closing section is brief but useful for seeing why it is not simply rhetorical excess: he divides it into stating the treasury just given, weighing the benefit of faith against the harm of slander, and a final exhortation grounded in the practice of past, present, and future bodhisattvas alike — three moves, not one continuous burst of praise. The logical foundation beneath the treatise's most extravagant claim — that reflecting on this teaching for the time of a single meal outweighs converting an entire billion-world universe to the ten wholesome actions — is stated plainly in the text's own reasoning, and Fazang does not embellish it further because it needs none: 謂法性功德無有盡故 — because the merit belongs to the nature of reality itself, which is inexhaustible. Converting beings to ethical conduct produces a bounded good, however large; reflecting correctly, even briefly, on the doctrine this treatise has spent ten pages establishing touches something the treatise has insisted, from Part 1 onward, has no boundary at all. Closing the whole collection this way returns, one final time, to the single claim on which everything else was built: that the mind of every sentient being already is the essence, attributes, and function of the Mahāyāna — and that even a moment's real contact with that fact outweighs any amount of merit that remains, however impressively, still bounded.
The Awakening of Faith Collection Complete
This closes Part 10 and the entire collection: ten pages carrying the complete text of Aśvaghoṣa's Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna — homage, the eight reasons it was written, the doctrine of the One Mind and its two gates, the ālayavijñāna and the doctrine of original and actualized enlightenment, non-enlightenment and the three subtle and six coarse marks, the mechanics of will and consciousness, the four kinds of habituation, the tathāgatagarbha's own qualities and the buddha-bodies, five corrected misreadings, the three stages of a bodhisattva's resolve, and the four kinds of faith with the five practices that bring them to completion — with reading notes drawn throughout from Fazang's Commentary on the Meaning of the Awakening of Faith (大乘起信論義記, T1846). See the collection index for all ten parts, and the translation notes for this collection's terminology decisions.