The Far Shore of Every Buddha's Own Merit
Maitreya closes this entire stretch of teaching: whoever hears this practice attains pure liberation, extinguishing every evil, and accumulates a mass of merit; with a pure Dharma-body, they travel the ten directions, nurturing their own roots of goodness like a lotus upon the water, until they consummate the far shore of every buddha's own merit.
Nurturing Roots of Goodness Like a Lotus Upon the Water
「……必成佛道；清淨解脫，除滅諸惡，遠離眾苦，積功德聚；清淨法身，遊行十方，見諸如來菩薩大眾，長養善根，如水蓮華；值遇諸佛，聞持正法，安住佛道，具諸佛願，究竟諸佛功德彼岸。」」
"… they shall certainly attain the path of buddhahood; attaining pure liberation, extinguishing every evil, becoming far removed from every suffering, and accumulating a mass of merit; with a pure Dharma-body, they shall travel throughout the ten directions, beholding the great assemblies of every tathāgata and bodhisattva, nurturing their own roots of goodness like a lotus upon the water; encountering every buddha, hearing and upholding the true Dharma, abiding firmly in the path of buddhahood, endowed with every buddha's own vow, they shall consummate the far shore of every buddha's own merit."
"Like a lotus upon the water" returns, at this stretch's own close, to the same image this collection has used before for growth that remains unstained by its own surroundings — roots of goodness nurtured amid the water of ordinary life without ever being submerged by it. Fazang reads this closing benediction as extending everything just promised to Sudhana specifically out to any future hearer of this teaching, the same universalizing move made explicit two parts earlier when Maitreya said "whoever wishes to attain a Dharma such as this should study exactly as Sudhana has done."
Part 317 Complete — This Entire Stretch of Teaching Concludes
Maitreya's entire address — his arrival, his praise of Sudhana before the crowd, and his direct confirmation to Sudhana himself — is now complete in full. Part 318 turns to a major structural pivot: rather than teaching Sudhana further himself, Maitreya redirects him back to Mañjuśrī, his very first teacher.
Continue to Part 318 →