“When great enlightening beings cultivate roots of goodness like this, they do not detest evil sentient beings and do not make the mistake of thinking to reject them; even if all the beings in the world are ingrates, they never have any hatred or resentment, and never give a thought to revenge—they only want to annihilate their innumerable sufferings and afflictions. In all worlds their minds are like space, unaffected and unattached; everywhere they observe the true character of all things. They take the great vow to extinguish the suffering of sentient beings, never wearying of or abandoning the determination of the Great Vehicle. Annihilating all views, they cultivate the impartial practice and vows of enlightening beings.
“Great enlightening beings, having contemplated in this way, unify all their roots of goodness and dedicate them all in this way: ‘May all sentient beings richly produce innumerable good qualities moment to moment, and develop minds like supreme gardens and groves; may all sentient beings attain imperturbability, see all Buddhas, and make them happy; may all sentient beings enjoy the garden of truth and attain to sublime enjoyment of the gardens of the buddha-lands; may all sentient beings attain pure minds and always see the garden of psychic powers of the enlightened ones; may all sentient beings attain the playful enjoyment of buddhahood, always sporting in the realm of wisdom; may all sentient beings attain the pleasure of carefree roaming, traveling to the assemblies at enlightenment sites in buddha-fields everywhere; may all sentient beings accomplish the liberated roaming of enlightening beings and carry out the practices of enlightening beings throughout the future without ever tiring of it; may all sentient beings see all Buddhas filling the cosmos, develop vastly broad minds, and abide in the groves of buddhahood; may all sentient beings be able to go to all buddha-fields and give offerings to the buddhas in each and every field; may all sentient beings attain hearts of good desires, purifying and adorning all buddha-fields.’ This is great enlightening beings’ dedication of roots of goodness when giving away all gardens, groves, and terraces.
“Great enlightening beings perform countless great charitable works, all pure, approved by the Buddhas, never injuring a single sentient being, causing all sentient beings to avoid all evils, to purify their action, speech, and thought, and to achieve wisdom. They clear countless spheres of purity and pile up therein countless fine things to support life; activating the most rarely attained spirit of enlightenment, they practice unlimited giving, causing sentient beings to abide in the path of purity, good in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and to engender pure faith. They gladden countless sentient beings according to their hearts’ desires; with great benevolence and compassion they bring all to safety. They serve and provide for the Buddhas of the past, present, and future. Because they want to develop the seed of Buddhahood, they practice giving without regret in their hearts, increasing the development of the faculty of faith, fulfilling superlative conduct, moment to moment progressing to transcendence.
“At such times the enlightening beings dedicate the roots of goodness in this way: ‘May all sentient beings develop the mind of the Great Vehicle and be able to accomplish the giving of the Great Vehicle; may all sentient beings be able to carry out giving to the masses, total giving, good giving, supreme giving, unexcelled giving, most unsurpassable giving, incomparable giving, giving transcending all worlds, giving praised by all the Buddhas; may all sentient beings become the best of donors, rescuing sentient beings from the various conditions of misery and enabling them to enter the path of unobstructed knowledge, cultivating impartial vows, roots of goodness in accord with truth, attaining nondiscrimination, realizing inherent knowledge; may all sentient beings abide securely in the dispassionate, serene knowledge of meditation concentrations, enter the undying path, consummate knowledge of all spiritual powers, persevere bravely to fulfill the enlightened qualities adorning all the stages and reach the other shore, never turning back; may all sentient beings set up great charities without ever wearying, providing for and helping sentient beings unceasingly, consummating the unexcelled knowledge of all means of liberation; may all sentient beings always diligently plant all roots of goodness, and reach the other shore of myriad virtues; may all sentient beings always be praised by the Buddhas and be great donors in the world, replete with virtues, filling the cosmos, illumining the ten directions, giving unexcelled happiness; may all sentient beings establish great charities, widely gathering roots of goodness, equally including all sentient beings, and arrive at the other shore; may all sentient beings accomplish supreme giving, causing sentient beings everywhere to abide in the foremost vehicle; may all sentient beings give at appropriate times, forever avoid improper timing, and consummate great giving; may all sentient beings accomplish good giving and reach the other shore of great giving of the Buddhas; may all sentient beings ultimately always carry on magnificent giving, considering all Buddhas their teachers, able to approach them all and make great offerings; may all sentient beings abide in pure giving, gathering infinite virtues, equal to the cosmos, and reach the other shore; may all sentient beings be great donors in all worlds, vowing to liberate all creatures and live in the realm of the enlightened.’ This is great enlightening beings’ dedication of roots of goodness when establishing great charities, to cause sentient beings to practice supreme giving, giving to consummate buddhahood, giving to perfect goodness, incorruptible giving, giving of offerings to Buddhas, giving without resentment, giving to save sentient beings, giving to attain omniscience, giving to always see the Buddhas, giving with great perseverence, great giving to perfect the virtues of all enlightening beings and the knowledge and wisdom of buddhahood.
“Great enlightening beings give all necessities of life unbegrudgingly, without seeking reward, without hoping for worldly prosperity or happiness. They rid the mind of errant thought, and meditate well on the truth, because they want to benefit all sentient beings and clearly perceive the true nature of all things. According to the various different needs of sentient beings, they prepare innumerable things to support life, the embellishments of which are all fine and beautiful. They carry out unbounded giving, total giving, and giving of everything internal and external. When they carry out this giving, they increase their power of determination, gain great virtue, perfect the jewel of mind, and are ever able to safeguard all sentient beings, causing them all to develop the most excellent aspirations, yet with never a thought of seeking reward. Their roots of goodness are equal to those of the Buddhas of past, present, and future, and by them they all fulfill the knowledge of all means of liberation.
“Great enlightening beings dedicate all the roots of goodness in this giving to sentient beings, that all sentient beings may be purified and master themselves; that all sentient beings may extinguish afflictions and purify all buddha-fields; that all sentient beings, with a pure mind, may pervade the cosmos in a single moment of thought; that all sentient beings may fill the cosmos of space with knowledge; that all sentient beings attain universal knowledge, enter everywhere in the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness, and tame sentient beings, at all times turning the irreversible wheel of the pure teaching; that all sentient beings may be endowed with omniscience and be able to manifest the techniques of spiritual powers to benefit sentient beings; that all sentient beings be able to awaken to complete enlightenment and forever ceaselessly expound the true teaching in all regions, causing all beings to get to hear and know of it; that all sentient beings may cultivate the practices of enlightening beings for countless eons and manage to fulfill them all; that all sentient beings may cultivate the practices of enlightening beings in all worlds that may be accounted or spoken of, be they defiled or pure worlds, small or large, gross or subtle, inverted or upright, uniformly or variously adorned, extending throughout them all; that all sentient beings may in every passing moment perform the work of Buddhas of past, present, and future, teaching and transforming sentient beings and turning them toward universal knowledge.
“Great enlightening
beings provide sentient beings with everything they need, in order to cause the Buddha-teaching to continue unbroken. With great compassion they save all sentient beings. Abiding stably in great benevolence, they cultivate the practices of enlightening beings. They never violate the teachings of the Buddha; with skill in means, they practice whatever is good, not letting the lineage of Buddhas die out. They give whatever is required, without being troubled; they give all with never a regret, being always earnestly dedicated to the path of universal knowledge.
“At such times, the various forms and species of living creatures from the lands of the ten directions, various fields of blessings, all come and gather around the enlightening beings, making various requests of them: the enlightening beings, seeing them, receive them all, their hearts becoming joyful, like seeing good friends; with great compassion and mercy they want to satisfy their wishes. Their generosity increases unceasingly, and without weariness; they fulfill their requests, satisfying them according to their needs, freeing them from the miseries of destitution. Then the seekers are very happy and spread the voice of praise of the virtue of the enlightening beings, so that their good repute becomes widespread and everyone comes to them. The joy of the enlightening beings upon seeing them has no measure—even if one experienced the pleasures of Indra, king of gods, for a trillion quadrillion eons, experienced the pleasures of the Suyama heaven for countless eons, experienced the pleasures of the Tushita heaven for immeasurable eons, experienced the pleasures of the heaven of good emanations for boundless eons, experienced the pleasures of the heaven of free enjoyment of others’ emanations for incomparable eons, experienced the pleasures of the Brahma kings for uncountable eons, experienced the three thousand royal pleasures of world monarchs for unaccountable eons, experienced the pleasures of the heaven of universal purity for unthinkable eons, and experienced the pleasures of the heaven of pure abodes for unspeakably many eons, none of it could equal the joy and delight of great enlightening beings upon seeing the needy come to them. They are happy and ebullient, their faith grows, their aspiration is pure, their faculties are harmoniously tuned, their resolution is fully developed, and they progress toward complete enlightenment.
“The great enlightening beings dedicate these roots of goodness to the welfare of all sentient beings, to the peace and happiness of all sentient beings, to the true benefit of all sentient beings, to the purification of all sentient beings, to induce all sentient beings to seek enlightenment, to cause all sentient beings to attain equality, to cause all sentient beings to attain intelligent, benevolent minds, to cause all sentient beings to enter the Great Vehicle, to cause all sentient beings to attain wisdom, and to cause all sentient beings to fulfill the practical undertakings of the Universally Good enlightening being, fulfill the vehicle of the ten powers, and actually realize true awakening.
“When great enlightening beings dedicate roots of goodness this way, they are liberated in word, thought, and deed; they have no attachments or bonds, no concept of sentient beings, no concept of a life, no concept of a personality, no concept of a person, no concept of a youth, no concept of one born, no concept of an agent, no concept of a receiver, no concept of existence, no concept of nonexistence, no concept of present life or afterlife, no concept of dying here and being born there, no concept of permanence, no concept of impermanence, no concept of the three realms of existence, no concept of the nonexistence of the three realms; they are not perceiving, nor are they not perceiving. Thus, they are not practicing dedication bound, not practicing dedication liberated from bonds, not practicing dedication by action, not practicing dedication by the results of action, not practicing dedication with discrimination, not practicing dedication indiscriminately, not practicing dedication thinking, not practicing dedication after thought, not practicing dedication with mind, not practicing dedication mindlessly.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, they do not cling to inside or outside, subject or object, cause or effect, right or wrong, thought or nonthought, from the birth of form, the passing away of form, or to sensation, perception, patterning, or consciousness, or to the birth or passing away of sensation, perception, patterning, or consciousness. If great enlightening beings are able to not be bound by these things, then they are not bound by form or by the birth or passing away of form; they are not bound by sensation, perception, patterning, or consciousness, or by the birth or passing away of sensation, perception, patterning, or consciousness. If they are able to not be bound by these things, then they also are not released from these things. Why? Because there does not exist the slightest thing being born, already born, or to be born—there is nothing that can be apprehended, nothing that can be clung to. All things are inherently like this—they have no intrinsic nature of their own: they are intrinsically incompatible with any characterization, neither one nor two, not many and not infinite, not small or large, not narrow or broad, not deep or shallow, not nullity and not concepts, not so and not not so, not truth and not not truth, not substantial and not insubstantial, not existent and not nonexistent. Enlightening beings thus see things as not things, while in terms of speech they follow convention in defining what are not things as things: they do not cut off the paths of action and do not give up enlightening practices; they seek omniscience without ever turning back. They know that all conditions of action are like dreams, that sounds and voices are like echoes, that sentient beings are like shadows, that all things are like phantoms—yet they do not deny the power of the action of causes and conditions; they know that the function of actions is far-reaching. They understand that all things do nothing, and traverse the path of nondoing without ever giving it up.
“These great enlightening beings abide in universal knowledge, dedicating all, whether positive or negative, to omniscience—they practice dedication in all places without ever retreating. In what senses, by what meanings, is it called dedication? It is called dedication because of having crossed over the world forever and arrived at the other shore. It is called dedication because of crossing over the path of speech and arriving at the other shore. It is called dedication because of leaving behind all sorts of concepts and reaching the other shore. It is called dedication because of having forever ended the idea of corporeality and arrived at the other shore. It is called dedication because of having left dependency behind forever and reached the other shore. It is called dedication because of having ended contrivance forever and reached the other shore. It is called dedication because of having left all states of existence forever and arrived at the other shore. It is called dedication because of having abandoned all grasping forever and arrived at the other shore. It is called dedication because of having left all worldly things forever and arrived at the other shore.
“When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, then they are living in accord with the Buddha, in accord with the Truth, in accord with knowledge, in accord with enlightenment, in accord with its meaning, in accord with its sphere, in accord with its practice, in accord with reality, and in accord with purity. When great enlightening beings practice dedication in this way, then they comprehend all things; then they serve all Buddhas; there is not a single Buddha they do not attend, not a single thing they do not offer; there is not a single thing that can be destroyed, not a single thing that can be turned away from, not a single thing that can be clung to, not a single thing that can be avoided. They do not see anything at all, internal or external, that has any disintegration or violates causality. They are replete with the power of the teaching, and never cease.
“This is the sixth of the great enlightening beings’ dedications, following up and making permanent all roots of goodness, causing them to endure. When great enlightening beings abide in this dedication, they are always in the care of the Buddhas; they firmly endure, unregressing, and enter the profound essence of things, cultivating universal knowledge. They accord with the meaning of the Teaching, accord with the nature of things, accord
with all enduring roots of goodness, accord with all completely fulfilled great vows, and fully embody the truth which accords with perdurance, which cannot be broken by even the adamant. In the midst of all things they attain independence.”
Then the enlightening being Diamond Banner, surveying the ten directions, looking over the assembled masses, and viewing the cosmos, entered into the most profound meaning of verbal expression, cultivated an immeasurably broad mind, covered the whole world with the mind of great compassion, developed the mind of the family of Buddhas of past, future, and present, entered into the virtues of all Buddhas, perfected the body of independent powers of the Buddhas, observed the mental inclinations of sentient beings, and, according to their roots of goodness that could be developed and matured, manifested physical bodies to them based on the body of the essence of things. Imbued with spiritual power from the Buddha, he said in verse,
Enlightening beings appear physically as monarchs
In the highest worldly ranks,
Their virtues and glory surpassing all,
Providing benefit for all living creatures.
Their minds are pure, without attachment;
They are masters of the world, respected by all.
They promulgate true teaching to educate people,
And cause sentient beings everywhere to attain peace.
Manifesting birth among the noble, rising to monarchy,
They always carry on the teaching according to the truth.
Benevolent by nature, free from cruelty,
All in the ten directions look up to them and obey them.
Their knowledge and discernment always clear,
Their capacities are fully complete.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 79