Lord Shakra wishes to know about the merit and virtue of someone who first brings forth the Bodhi mind. Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva brings up many analogies to illustrate its immeasurability. He reveals the Bodhisattva’s infinite reasons for resolving his mind on Bodhi.
The world systems in the ten directions quaked in six ways. The countless Dharma Wisdom Buddhas from the ten directions manifest before Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva. Innumerable Bodhisattvas arouse the aspiration for Bodhi.

Annotation
We have reached a supremely important topic. Without bringing forth the great Bodhi Resolve, one cannot realize ultimate enlightenment. After elaborating a great deal about ‘Pure Conduct’ and ‘Brahma Conduct,’ the Sutra begins to emphasize the boundless and incalculably supreme merit and virtue of bringing forth the Bodhi Resolve. The Bodhi mind is a mind that wishes to universally benefit all living beings. The Great Vehicle Sutras frequently intensify the importance of bringing forth the Bodhi Mind so that practitioners of the Way will not become a self-ending Arhat.
The Buddha refers to the Fixed-Nature Sound Hearers and Fixed-Nature Conditionally Enlightened Ones as ‘sterile seeds and withered sprouts.’

The Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua says it is because,
‘They neither seek the Buddha way above,
Nor do they transform living beings below.’

National Master Ch’ing Liang says that,
‘Neither category of those whose natures are fixed in either one of the Two Vehicles accomplishes Buddhahood.’
Bringing forth a Great Bodhi Resolve is absolutely imperative for the realization of Buddhahood.
Yen Hui was Confucius’ most promising and outstanding disciple. When the Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua was lecturing on the Avatamsaka Sutra, a disciple asked him why Yen Hui died young.
The Tripitaka Master answered,
“Yen Hui was extremely intelligent. He could hear one thing and understand ten things. So, Confucius said, ‘I can talk to Yen Hui all day long and he doesn’t oppose me, and just says yes and never says no. When he goes back I see he truly practices and his mind can make new connections. He’s very inventive and creative.’ Yen Hui can go for three months without any opposition to humaneness. Humaneness means having samadhi.

“Yen Hui was very intelligent but he had a small measure. He did not carry things out, he did not want to do things, he did not bring forth the great resolve.
“He had cut off desire and then did not even pay any attention to his teacher. He just wanted to leave and he died. Confucius cried and was very pained at heart because he no longer had a helper. Confucius cared most about Yen Hui but Yen Hui did not care about his teacher. So when he had done what he had done, he left. You should realize that when people certify to the fruit, they would want to go to purer places. People are like in a latrine and people born in the heavens are like being out of the latrine. Probably Yen Hui didn’t like to live in a latrine so he died. If you don’t bring forth a great resolve, without a mind of Great Kindness and Compassion, it’s very dangerous.”
In the Sutra on the Eight Awakenings of Great People, it says,
‘Great people make the resolve to cultivate the Great Vehicle: to rescue all beings, to endure endless hardship while standing in for others, and to lead everyone to ultimate happiness.’
In the Avatamsaka Sutra it says that to bring forth the Bodhi Mind is the most supreme among all merit and virtue because by bringing forth the Bodhi mind one can become a Buddha. Also, the Avatamsaka Sutra says,

‘By forgetting the Bodhi Resolve, the cultivation of even wholesome dharmas becomes the karma of demons.’

In ‘An Essay of Exhortation to Bring Forth the Bodhi Resolve,’ the Great Master Sying An says that there are eight kinds of resolves:

1. A deviant resolve: A cultivator does not investigate his mind and focus instead on external matters like seeking benefit and fame, and is greedy for future rewards.
2. A proper resolve: A cultivator does not seek gain or fame, but concentrates on the matters of birth and death, to attain enlightenment.
3. A true resolve: In every moment, a cultivator seeks the path of the Buddhas.
4. A false resolve: A cultivator does not repent of his offenses or change his faults. The good intentions he has are mixed and defiled by impure motives.
5. A great resolve: A cultivator vows to save the realms of countless living beings.
6. A small resolve: A cultivator wants to save only himself and has no wish to rescue other living beings.
7. A partial resolve: A cultivator wishes to save others but sees living beings as existing outside his mind. He is attached to having saved living beings, and attached to his own merit and virtue.
8. A complete resolve: A cultivator knows the self-nature is the same as living beings and so vows to save them. He knows his own nature is the Buddha and so vows to realize it. His mind is like empty space that is boundless and endless. He is not attached to anything.

A Bodhisattva cannot have a resolve which is deviant, false or small. Even a partial resolve is inadequate because one is attached to doing good, attached to one’s own merits. A Bodhisattva must at least have a proper resolve and then proceed to cultivate and develop a true and great resolve in order to realize a complete resolve.

Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua’s explanation of bringing forth the Bodhi mind is very refreshing and inspiring. He says, ‘To want to cultivate is called bringing forth the Bodhi Mind. If you wish not to kill, that’s bringing forth the Bodhi mind. If you
 wish not to steal that’s bringing forth the Bodhi mind. If you wish not to practice sexual misconduct, that’s bringing forth the Bodhi mind. If you wish not to lie, that’s bringing forth the Bodhi mind. If you wish not to drink alcohol, that’s bringing forth the Bodhi mind… All of your good thoughts are bringing forth the Bodhi mind. To bring forth the mind is to diligently cultivate morality, samadhi(concentration), and wisdom, and to eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion. These are all part of bringing forth the Bodhi mind… Bringing forth the Bodhi mind is simply benefiting other people. Just not having a selfish mind of benefiting oneself is bringing forth the Bodhi mind.’

The Chan Master Yuanwu Keqin says,

Even if you clean everything up
 and make yourself trackless and silent,
 yet in the Chan school
 this is still the view of novices and children.
You must still turn your heads around
 to the troubles of the world
 and fully arouse your great function.‘