Food, Drink, and Every Flavor
The sixth dedication now shifts register, from the king's own extraordinary sacrifice to a long, itemized sequence of ordinary gifts, each paired with its own specific dedication. Food given with a pure and ungrasping mind is dedicated toward the food of wisdom; drink is dedicated toward the water of the Dharma's own flavor; and ten distinct wishes accompany every kind of taste, from the most supreme flavor filled with ambrosia to a single, undifferentiated flavor of Dharma running through every buddha's own teaching.
Ordinary Gifts, Extraordinary Dedication
Where the previous parts described a king giving away his very body, this passage returns to the most ordinary acts of generosity — feeding and giving drink to the hungry and thirsty — and shows that the same dedication applies at every scale. Each gift is paired with a corresponding wish that runs on the physical gift as a kind of extended metaphor: food becomes the food of wisdom, drink becomes the water of the Dharma's own flavor, and the body's actual experience of taste becomes an occasion to wish for every living being's experience of the Dharma itself.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩隨所施物無量無邊，以彼善根如是迴向，所謂：『以上妙食施眾生時，其心清淨，於所施物無貪、無著、無所顧吝，具足行施；願一切眾生得智慧食，心無障礙，了知食性，無所貪著，但樂法喜出離之食；智慧充滿，以法堅住，攝取善根，法身、智身清淨遊行；哀愍眾生，為作福田，現受摶食。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施食時善根迴向。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, whatever they give being immeasurable and boundless, dedicates that very wholesome root in just this way: 'When giving living beings food of the finest quality, their mind is pure, without greed, without attachment, and without any regard for their own loss regarding what is given, fully carrying out the giving; may every living being attain the food of wisdom, their mind free of any hindrance, thoroughly knowing the nature of food, without any greed or attachment, delighting only in the food of Dharma-joy and renunciation; wisdom filling them entirely, firmly abiding through the Dharma, gathering in wholesome roots, their Dharma-body and wisdom-body wandering in purity; taking pity on living beings, becoming a field of merit for them, they manifest receiving a mouthful of food.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the wholesome root when giving food.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩若施飲時，以此善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生飲法味水，精勤修習，具菩薩道；斷世渴愛，常求佛智；離欲境界，得法喜樂；從清淨法而生其身，常以三昧調攝其心；入智慧海，興大法雲，霔大法雨。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施飲時善根迴向。
Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives drink, they dedicate this very wholesome root in just this way: "May every living being drink the water of the Dharma's own flavor, diligently cultivating and practicing, fully endowed with the bodhisattva path; severing the world's own thirsting craving, forever seeking the Buddha's own wisdom; leaving behind the realm of desire, attaining the bliss of Dharma-joy; born from the pure Dharma itself, forever regulating and gathering their mind through samādhi; entering the ocean of wisdom, raising the great cloud of Dharma, pouring down the great rain of Dharma." This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the wholesome root when giving drink.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩布施種種清淨上味。所謂：辛、酸、鹹、淡，及以甘、苦。種種諸味潤澤具足，能令四大安隱調和，肌體盈滿，氣力強壯，其心清淨常得歡喜；嚥咀之時，不欬不逆；諸根明利，內藏充實；毒不能侵，病不能傷；始終無患，永得安樂。以此善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生得最上味，甘露充滿；願一切眾生得法智味，了知一切諸味業用；願一切眾生得無量法味，了達法界，安住實際大法城中；願一切眾生作大法雲，周遍法界普雨法雨，教化調伏一切眾生；願一切眾生得勝智味，無上法喜充滿身心；願一切眾生得無貪著一切上味，不染世間一切諸味，常勤修習一切佛法；願一切眾生得一法味，了諸佛法悉無差別；願一切眾生得最勝味，乘一切智終無退轉；願一切眾生得入諸佛無異法味，悉能分別一切諸根；願一切眾生法味增益，常得滿足無礙佛法。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施味時善根迴向；為令一切眾生勤修福德，皆悉具足無礙智身故。
Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva gives every kind of pure, superior flavor. Namely: pungent, sour, salty, bland, as well as sweet and bitter. Every such flavor, rich and fully endowed, is able to bring the four great elements into peaceful harmony, filling the body and limbs, strengthening one's vigor, their mind pure and forever joyful; when swallowing and chewing, they neither cough nor choke; every faculty bright and sharp, their inner organs full and substantial; poison cannot invade them, illness cannot harm them; from beginning to end free of affliction, they forever attain peace and bliss. They dedicate this very wholesome root in just this way, namely: "May every living being attain the most supreme flavor, filled entirely with ambrosia; may every living being attain the flavor of Dharma-wisdom, thoroughly knowing the function of every flavor's own karma; may every living being attain the immeasurable flavor of Dharma, penetrating and understanding the Dharma-realm, abiding within the great city of the Dharma that is true reality; may every living being become a great cloud of Dharma, pervading the entire Dharma-realm and universally raining down the rain of Dharma, teaching and taming every living being; may every living being attain the flavor of supreme wisdom, unsurpassed Dharma-joy filling their body and mind entirely; may every living being attain freedom from greed and attachment toward every superior flavor, undefiled by any flavor of the world, forever diligently cultivating and practicing every buddha-dharma; may every living being attain the single flavor of Dharma, understanding that every buddha-dharma is entirely without any distinction; may every living being attain the most supreme flavor, riding upon all-knowing wisdom, forever without regression; may every living being attain entry into the undifferentiated flavor of Dharma of every buddha, able to discern every faculty entirely; may every living being's flavor of Dharma increase further, forever attaining fulfillment in the unobstructed buddha-dharma." This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the wholesome root when giving flavor; it is done so that every living being diligently cultivates merit, entirely and fully endowed with the unobstructed body of wisdom.
The taste-dedication's opening description — food that harmonizes the four great elements, strengthens the body, and wards off poison and illness — reads almost like a physician's account before it turns metaphorical. The sūtra does not treat the body's actual nourishment as a lesser concern to be transcended; it takes the plain fact that good food heals and sustains as the very ground on which the dedication toward the food and flavor of Dharma is built.
Part 263 Complete
This closes Part 263. Chapter 25 continues in Part 264 as the litany of specific gifts continues with vehicles and clothing, each again paired with its own distinct dedication.