Jeweled canopies and adornments,
They present to all the Buddhas.
Thus do they make offerings to Buddhas
For countless, unthinkable eons;
Reverent, respectful, always rejoicing,
They never have a thought of weariness.
They concentrate their thought on the Buddhas,
The Great Bright Lamps of all worlds:
All the Enlightened Ones of the ten directions
Appear before them, as though face to face.
For inconceivably infinite eons
They give in all ways, their minds never weary:
For hundreds of millions of eons
They practice good principles in the same way.
After the Buddhas become extinct,
They make offerings to their relics, tirelessly:
With various fine adornments for each
They set up inconceivably many shrines.
Built in incomparably excellent forms,
Adorned with jewels and gold,
The shrines are magnificent, big as mountains,
Their number countless billions.
Having made offerings with pure minds, with respect,
They also conceive the will to gladden and benefit others;
For inconceivable eons they stay in the world,
Rescuing sentient beings and liberating them.
They know that sentient beings are illusory
And do not discriminate among them,
Yet can differentiate the faculties of beings
And act for the benefit of all the living.
Enlightening beings cultivate and build up virtues
Vast, extensive, incomparably supreme;
Understanding they’re essentially not existent,
In this way they dedicate them all with certainty.
Observing all things with supreme knowledge,
There’s not a single thing that’s born;
Thus do they provisionally cultivate dedication,
Virtue infinite, inexhaustible.
By this means they purify the mind,
Equal to all the Buddhas—
This power of skill in means is inexhaustible;
Therefore felicitous results have no limit.
Initiating the will for unsurpassed enlightenment,
Without depending on anything in the world,
They go to all worlds in the ten directions
And are not hindered by anything at all.
All Buddhas appear in the world
Because they want to guide beings’ minds;
They examine the true natures of their minds
And discover they ultimately cannot be found.
All phenomena, without exception,
Are included in thusness, with no essential nature;
Dedicating with this pure eye
They open the prison of birth and death in the world.
Though they purify all existences,
Yet they do not have a notion of existences;
They know the nature of existents has no existence
And purify the joyful mind.
They depend on nothing in one buddha-land,
Or in any buddha-lands,
And they are not attached to conditioned things,
Knowing their phenomenality has no basis.
Hereby they cultivate omniscience;
Hereby highest knowledge adorns them;
Hereby the Buddhas all rejoice;
This is enlightening beings’ work of dedication.
Enlightening beings focus their minds on the Buddhas,
Their supreme knowledge, wisdom, and means.
Like Buddhas, they depend on nothing at all:
May we accomplish these virtues.
Concentrating on saving all,
They cause them to abandon evil deeds;
Thus benefiting sentient beings,
They contemplate attentively without abandoning them.
Abiding in the state of knowledge and guarding the teaching,
They do not take nirvana by other vehicles—
They only vow to attain the Buddhas’ unexcelled Way;
This is the dedication of enlightening beings.
They do not grasp the fabricated unrealities
Spoken of by sentient beings,
But though they do not rely on speech
Still they don’t cling to wordlessness.
All the enlightened ones in the ten directions
Comprehend all things without exception;
But though they know all things are empty, void,
They don’t produce a notion of voidness.
With one adornment they adorn all
Yet don’t discriminate phenomena—
They enlighten all living beings:
All is without inherent nature, without objectivity.
“What is great enlightening beings’ dedication equal to all Buddhas? Here the enlightening beings follow and cultivate the path of dedication of the Buddhas of the past, future, and present. When they practice and learn the path of dedication in this way, when they perceive any objects of sense, whether pleasant or unpleasant, they do not conceive like or dislike—their minds are free, without faults, broad, pure, joyful, blissful, free from all sorrows and troubles. Their minds are flexible, their senses are pure and cool.
“When great enlightening beings gain such peace and bliss, they become even more determined, dedicating their determination to the Buddhas, with these thoughts: ‘With the roots of goodness I am now planting I vow to cause the bliss of the Buddhas to increase more and more—that is, the bliss of the inconceivable abode of Buddhas, the bliss of the peerless concentration of Buddhas, the bliss of unlimited compassion, the bliss of liberation of all Buddhas, the bliss of vast, ultimate, immeasurable power, the bliss of tranquility detached from all cognition, the bliss of abiding in the state of nonobstruction, always rightly concentrated, the bliss of carrying out the practice of nondualism without change.’
“Once the great enlightening beings have dedicated their roots of goodness to the Buddhas, they also dedicate these virtues to the enlightening beings: that is, to cause those who have not fulfilled their vows to fulfill them, to cause those whose minds are not yet pure to attain purity, to cause those who have not fulfilled the ways of transcendence to fulfill them, to settle them in the indestructible will for enlightenment, that they not regress on the way to omniscience, not give up great effort, preserve all the foundations of goodness of the gates of enlightenment, and be able to cause sentient beings to give up conceit, set their minds on enlightenment, fulfill their aspirations, abide in the abode of all enlightening beings, attain the clear, sharp senses of enlightening beings, cultivate roots of goodness, and realize omniscience.
“Having thus dedicated their roots of goodness to enlightening beings, the great enlightening beings then dedicate them to all sentient beings, wishing that the roots of goodness of all sentient beings, even the slightest—even seeing a Buddha, hearing teaching, or respecting holy mendicants, for but the time of a fingersnap—all be free from obstruction, that they reflect on the completeness of Buddhas, on the techniques of the teaching, and on the nobility and importance of the community, that they not be separated from vision of the Buddha, that their minds become pure, that they attain the qualities of buddhahood, build up immeasurable virtue, purify spiritual powers, give up doubts about the truth and live according to the teaching. As they make such dedication to sentient beings, they also make such dedication for the Buddhist disciples and the individual illuminates.
“Also they pray that all sentient beings forever leave all miserable places like hells, ghosthood, and animality, the nether world, and so on, that they further develop the supreme will for enlightenment, concentrate their minds on the earnest search for knowledge of all means of liberation, never repudiate the true teaching of the Buddhas, attain the peace of the Buddhas, be pure in body and mind, and realize
omniscience.
“The foundations of goodness of great enlightening beings are all correctly initiated, built up, and developed by great vows, causing them all to expand and to be completely fulfilled.
“When great enlightening beings live at home with spouses and children, they never for a moment give up the determination for enlightenment; with correct mindfulness they meditate on the realm of all knowledge, liberating themselves and others, enabling them to reach the ultimate. Using appropriate means they transform the members of their own households, causing them to enter the knowledge of enlightening beings and causing them to develop to maturity and attain liberation. Though they live together, their minds have no attachments. By their basic great great compassion they remain in home life, and because of their kindness they harmonize with their spouses and children, with no hindrance to the pure Way of enlightening beings.
“Though great enlightening beings be in home life and work at various occupations, they never for a moment give up the will for omniscience; that is, whether they are dressing, eating, taking medicine, washing, looking around, walking, standing still, sitting, reclining, speaking, thinking, asleep or awake, whatever they are doing their minds always dedicate it to the path of omniscience. They concentrate and contemplate unremittingly, because they want to aid all sentient beings and settle them in enlightenment; with immeasurable great vows they embody countless great roots of goodness, diligently cultivating virtues to save everyone. They forever divorce arrogance and indulgence and proceed surely toward the state of omniscience, never conceiving any intention of turning to another path. Always contemplating the enlightenment of all Buddhas, they forever abandon all impure ways. Cultivating practice of what all enlightening beings learn, they encounter no obstruction on the path of omniscience and stand on the ground of knowledge. They are devoted to recitation and learning, and collect roots of goodness by means of immeasurable knowledge. Their minds have no affection for any mundane realm, nor are they obsessed with what they practice. They wholeheartedly accept and hold the principles of the Buddhas’ teachings. Thus enlightening beings living at home cultivate and internalize roots of goodness in every way, cause them to grow, and dedicate them to the unsurpassed enlightenment, which is the essence of the Buddhas.
“At such a time, enlightening beings, even when they are feeding domestic animals, all make this vow: ‘I should cause these creatures to leave the realm of animality, to be helped and comforted and ultimately be liberated, having forever crossed over the ocean of suffering, eternally annihilating painful sensations, forever removing suffering physical and mental elements, eternally cutting off painful feeling, accumulation of pain, painful actions, the causes of pain, the root of suffering, and painful situations. May these sentient beings all be able to leave these behind.’ Thus do enlightening beings focus their thoughts on all sentient beings; with their roots of goodness in the forefront, they dedicate them to knowledge of ways of liberation for all beings.
“When enlightening beings first engender the determination for enlightenment, they include all sentient beings, cultivating the foundations of goodness and dedicating them to causing all sentient beings to leave the plain of birth and death forever, to attain the unhindered bliss of the enlightened, emerge from the ocean of afflictions, practice the path of the Buddha teachings, to fill everywhere with kindness, to have vast powers of compassion, cause all to attain pure bliss, preserve foundations of goodness, draw near to the qualities of Buddhahood, leave the realms of demons and enter the realm of Buddhas, to cut off the seeds of mundanity and plant the seeds of enlightenment, to abide in the truth which is equal in all times.
“Enlightening beings dedicate all the roots of goodness they have collected, will collect, and are collecting in this way, and form this thought: ‘As the Buddhas and enlightening beings of the past have practiced—respectfully serving all enlightened ones, liberating sentient beings so that they be forever emancipated, diligently cultivating and practicing all roots of goodness and dedicating them all without attachment, without depending on form, without attachment to sensation, without erroneous conceptions, without creating fixed patterns, without grasping consciousness, detached from the senses, not dwelling on things of the world, delighting in transcendence, knowing that all things are empty as space, come from nowhere, are unborn and not perishing, and have no true reality; having no attachments, they avoided all discriminatory views, were imperturbable and unaffected by anything, never lost awareness or calm, abiding in reality without form, detached from all appearances, all being one; thus they entered deeply into the nature of all things, always happily practiced all-sided virtues, and saw the congregation of all Buddhas—just as all those enlightened ones of the past dedicated roots of goodness in this way, I, too, should practice dedication in this way, understand these principles, actualize these principles, and, based on these principles determine to learn and act, not violating the specifics of the teachings, knowing that what is practiced is like illusions, like shadows, like the moon’s image in the water, like reflections in a mirror, manifested by the combination of causes and conditions, proceeding thus up to the ultimate stage of enlightenment.’
“Great enlightening beings also form this thought: ‘Just as the Buddhas of the past, when cultivating enlightening practice, dedicated roots of goodness in this way, and so do and will the Buddhas of the present and future, so too should I arouse my will and dedicate roots of goodness like those Buddhas—with foremost dedication, excellent dedication, supreme dedication, superior dedication, unexcelled dedication, peerless dedication, unequalled dedication, incomparable dedication, honorable dedication, sublime dedication, impartial dedication, straightforward dedication, virtuous dedication, far-reaching dedication, good dedication, pure dedication, dedication free from evil, dedication not going wrong.’
“Once enlightening beings have dedicated roots of goodness in this way, they accomplish pure action of body, speech, and mind, and abide in the abode of enlightening beings without any faults. Practicing good works, they get rid of evils of action and speech. Their minds are without flaw or defilement; they cultivate omniscience, abide in an immeasurably broad mind, and know all phenomena create nothing. They abide in transmundane states and are not influenced by things of the world. They analyze and comprehend innumerable actions and fully develop skill in means of dedication, extirpating the root of grasping and attachment forever. This is the great enlightening beings’ third dedication, dedication equal to all Buddhas.
“When great enlightening beings abide in this dedication, they enter deeply into the acts of all the enlightened ones, proceed toward the supremely wonderful qualities of the enlightened, enter into the profound realm of pure knowledge, do not depart from the works of enlightening beings, are able to distinguish skillful, subtle means of liberation, enter the profound realm of truth, know well the process of practice of enlightening beings, enter the family of the Buddhas, and with skill in means analyze and comprehend all things. Though they appear physically, born in the world, yet their minds have no attachment to things of the world.”
Then the enlightening being Diamond Banner, spiritually empowered by the Buddha, looked over the ten directions and said in verse,
Those great enlightening beings
Practice the ways of dedication of past Buddhas,
And also cultivate the practices
Of all the Guides of future and present.
They attain peace and ease in all realms,
Praised by all the enlightened ones;
Their expansive light and pure eyes
They dedicate all to the great Brilliant Sages.
Blissful are the bodies of enlightening beings,
And so are all their senses;
Such immeasurable, supremely wonderful bliss
They all dedicate to the Supreme.
All the good ways in the world
And those the Buddhas have accomplished,
All they foster, exce
pting none,
Whereby they joyfully benefit the living.
Their joys in the world are infinite:
These they dedicate to sentient beings,
Vowing to cause them all to be filled
With the bliss of the Human Lion.
The various raptures known and perceived
By the Buddhas of all lands
They vow to foster in sentient beings
And become great lamps lighting the world.
The supremely refined pleasure of enlightening beings
They dedicate to all sentient beings:
Though they are dedicated to the benefit of the living,
Yet they have no attachment to dedication.
Enlightening beings, practicing this dedication,
Produce a mind of infinite compassion;
The virtues of dedication practiced by the Buddhas
They vow to cultivate and fulfill the same way.
The subtle bliss of the vehicle of omniscience
Such as attained by the Supreme,
As well as the infinite bliss of enlightening practice
Carried out while they’re in the world,
The bliss of peace while appearing to be in the world,
The bliss of tranquility, always guarding the senses,
All they dedicate to sentient beings
To cause all to develop unexcelled knowledge.
Their work is not physical, verbal, or mental,
Yet doesn’t exist apart from this;
They just destroy ignorance by expedient means
And thus develop supreme knowledge.
The deeds practiced by enlightening beings
Build up immeasurable excellent virtues;
Following the Enlightened, born in the family of Buddhas,
Dispassionate and calm, they dedicate aright.
They take care of all beings there are
In all worlds of the ten directions,
Dedicating all roots of goodness to them,
Vowing to fill them with the bliss of peace.
They do not seek benefit for themselves;
They want to cause all to be at ease.
They have never entertained arbitrary conceptions:
They only observe all things to be empty and selfless.
To all the true children of Buddhas
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 68