འཕགས་པ་བ་མ་རྣམ་དག་དད་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5

5

Maintains genuine diligence.

“One who is endowed with application
Is always excellently stable,³³
And, having steadfast perseverance,
Brings happiness to sentient beings.

“Through the power of real trust,
If one is aware of the full maturation of karma,
One has confidence in the Buddha’s wisdom
And brings the entire universe under one’s care.

“One who has the strength of the mind set on awakening
Abandons the inferior vehicles,
And, not interrupting the lineage of the buddhas,
Abides in the true nature of things.

“Through the power of great loving-kindness,
One looks with equality at all sentient beings
And, being beyond love and hate,
Does not give rise to anger or ill will.

“Through the strength of great compassion,
One takes responsibility for sentient beings
And, not clinging to saṃsāra,³⁴
Does not feel disenchanted or weary.

“Through the strength of the spiritual friend,
There is continuous examination of each other.³⁵
One will not lose heart,
And so will abide in awakening.

“When those who are heroes
Have obtained these eight strengths,
They will reside in the heart of awakening
And defeat the many armies of Māra.

“Furthermore, girl, when bodhisattvas are endowed with eight qualities,³⁶ they abide in sameness. What are these eight qualities? The first is the sameness of all sentient beings, because they are intrinsically without a self. The second is the sameness of all phenomena, because they are utterly void. The third is the sameness of all buddhafields, because they all occur within the sphere of emptiness. The fourth is the sameness of all thus-gone ones, because they all teach in equanimity. The fifth is the sameness of all actions, because causes and conditions are without intrinsic nature. The sixth is the sameness of all vehicles, because they are all similar in being noncomposite.