Eighty Thousand Households of Tiny Creatures
The sixth treasury, giving, names ten kinds and opens with three of the gentlest and starkest in turn: sharing food first with the eighty thousand households of tiny creatures said to dwell within one's own body, giving away everything even at the cost of one's own life, and a young wheel-turning king who gives his own flesh, blood, and marrow to a stranger dying at his gate.
Ten Kinds of Giving Begin
Where the treasuries before it were largely inward — faith, discipline, shame, remorse, and learning — the treasury of giving turns outward into narrative, and stays there for the rest of the chapter. Each of its ten kinds gets its own short story, escalating from something as ordinary as sharing a meal to a wheel-turning king surrendering his own body to whoever asks.
「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩施藏？此菩薩行十種施，所謂：分減施、竭盡施、內施、外施、內外施、一切施、過去施、未來施、現在施、究竟施。佛子！云何為菩薩分減施？此菩薩稟性仁慈，好行惠施。若得美味，不專自受，要與眾生，然後方食；凡所受物，悉亦如是。若自食時，作是念言：『我身中有八萬戶蟲依於我住，我身充樂，彼亦充樂；我身飢苦，彼亦飢苦。我今受此所有飲食，願令眾生普得充飽。』為施彼故而自食之，不貪其味。復作是念：『我於長夜愛著其身，欲令充飽而受飲食。今以此食惠施眾生，願我於身永斷貪著。』是名：分減施。
"Son of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's treasury of giving? This bodhisattva practices ten kinds of giving, namely: giving by sharing what is divided, giving to the point of exhaustion, inner giving, outer giving, both inner and outer giving, giving of everything, giving with regard to the past, giving with regard to the future, giving with regard to the present, and ultimate giving. Son of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva's giving by sharing what is divided? This bodhisattva is by nature humane and compassionate, and delights in the practice of generous giving. If they obtain some delicious food, they do not keep it exclusively for themselves, but share it with living beings before eating it themselves; and it is exactly the same with whatever else they receive. When they eat, they reflect in this way: 'Within my own body dwell eighty thousand households of tiny creatures, relying upon me for their home. When my body is full and at ease, they too are full and at ease; when my body is hungry and suffering, they too are hungry and suffering. As I now receive this food and drink, I wish that living beings everywhere might all become full and satisfied.' It is for the sake of giving to them that this bodhisattva eats, without any craving for its flavor. They further reflect: 'Throughout the long night of saṃsāra I have clung to this body, wishing to become full and satisfied by receiving food and drink. Now, by generously giving this very food to living beings, may I forever cut off my own attachment and craving toward this body.' This is called giving by sharing what is divided.
云何為菩薩竭盡施？佛子！此菩薩得種種上味飲食、香華、衣服、資生之具，若自以受用則安樂延年，若輟己施人則窮苦夭命。時，或有人來作是言：『汝今所有，悉當與我。』菩薩自念：『我無始已來，以飢餓故喪身無數，未曾得有如毫末許饒益眾生而獲善利。今我亦當同於往昔而捨其命，是故應為饒益眾生，隨其所有，一切皆捨；乃至盡命，亦無所吝。』是名：竭盡施。
What is the bodhisattva's giving to the point of exhaustion? Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva has obtained every kind of finest food and drink, fragrant flowers, garments, and the very implements of life, such that if they were to keep and use them for themselves, they would live at ease and prolong their own life, but if they were to set them aside and give them to others instead, they would fall into poverty and suffering and their life would be cut short. At that time, someone might come and say to them: "Everything you now possess, you should give entirely to me." The bodhisattva reflects within themselves: "Since beginningless time, because of hunger, I have already lost this body countless times, and yet never once gained even so much as the tip of a single hair's worth of true benefit for living beings. Now I too should, just as in ages past, give up my own life; and for this reason I should, for the sake of benefiting living beings, give up everything I possess, entirely, even to the very end of my life, without the slightest reluctance." This is called giving to the point of exhaustion.
云何為菩薩內施？佛子！此菩薩年方少盛，端正美好，香華、衣服以嚴其身；始受灌頂，轉輪王位，七寶具足，王四天下。時，或有人來白王言：『大王當知！我今衰老，身嬰重疾，煢獨羸頓，死將不久；若得王身手足、血肉、頭目、骨髓，我之身命必冀存活。唯願大王莫更籌量，有所顧惜；但見慈念，以施於我！』爾時，菩薩作是念言：『今我此身，後必當死，無一利益；宜時疾捨，以濟眾生。』念已施之，心無所悔。是名：內施。
What is the bodhisattva's inner giving? Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva, still in the full flush of youth, upright and handsome in form, adorns their own body with fragrant flowers and fine garments; having just received the consecration and ascended to the throne of a wheel-turning king, fully endowed with the seven treasures, ruling as sovereign over the four continents. At that time, someone might come before the king and say: "Great King, you should know: I am now aged and infirm, my body afflicted with a grave illness, solitary and utterly wasted, with death soon to come; if I could obtain the king's own hands and feet, flesh and blood, head, eyes, and marrow, my own life might yet be preserved. I beg only that the great king weigh this no further, and hold nothing back out of concern for himself, but simply look upon me with compassionate thought, and give these to me!" At that time, the bodhisattva reflects, saying: "This body of mine now will, in the end, certainly die, and brings no true benefit at all; I should swiftly give it up at once, in order to rescue this living being." Having so reflected, they give it, their mind free of any regret at all. This is called inner giving.
The image of eighty thousand households of tiny creatures dwelling within one's own body sets the register for everything that follows: giving here begins not with grand renunciation but with the plain fact that a body is already shared, already inhabited by others, before any decision to give is even made. What escalates across these three kinds of giving is not the compassion itself but its cost — from food that would have been eaten anyway, to everything one owns, to the body itself, offered to a dying stranger who asks for it directly.
Part 167 Complete
This closes Part 167. Chapter 22 continues in Part 168 with outer giving and giving of everything.