Ten Lights, Ten Ways of Reaching Living Beings
Ten kinds of lamp — butter, oil, jeweled, sandalwood, and more — are dedicated toward ten named lights, from immeasurable light illuminating every buddha's true Dharma to unceasing light that never once darkens any buddha-land. The passage then closes not with a further wish but with ten verbs describing the wholesome root itself: following, gathering, distributing, showing compassion toward, sheltering, saving, filling, keeping in mind, benefiting, and contemplating every living being.
A Wholesome Root That Acts
Where earlier gift-passages closed by naming the wish itself, this one closes by naming what the wholesome root does — ten verbs in a row, each governing "living beings" as its object: following, gathering in, distributing to, showing compassion toward, sheltering, saving, filling, keeping in mind, benefiting equally, and contemplating. A wholesome root dedicated toward light, it turns out, is not a static merit sitting in reserve; it is something that actively follows a living being the way light follows wherever a lamp is carried.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩施諸燈明，所謂：酥燈、油燈、寶燈、摩尼燈、漆燈、火燈、沈水燈、栴檀燈、一切香燈、無量色光燈。施如是等無量燈時，為欲利益一切眾生，為欲攝受一切眾生，以此善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生得無量光，普照一切諸佛正法；願一切眾生得清淨光，照見世間極微細色；願一切眾生得離翳光，了眾生界空無所有；願一切眾生得無邊光，身出妙光普照一切；願一切眾生得普照光，於諸佛法心無退轉；願一切眾生得佛淨光，一切剎中悉皆顯現；願一切眾生得無礙光，一光遍照一切法界；願一切眾生得無斷光，照諸佛剎光明不斷；願一切眾生得智幢光，普照世間；願一切眾生得無量色光，照一切剎示現神力。』
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva gives every kind of lamplight. Namely: butter lamps, oil lamps, jeweled lamps, maṇi-jewel lamps, lacquer lamps, fire lamps, agarwood lamps, sandalwood lamps, lamps of every fragrance, and lamps of immeasurable colored light. When giving immeasurable lamps such as these, wishing to benefit every living being, wishing to gather in every living being, they dedicate this very wholesome root in just this way, namely: 'May every living being attain immeasurable light, universally illuminating the true Dharma of every buddha; may every living being attain pure light, seeing clearly the most subtle forms of the world; may every living being attain light free of any obscuration, understanding that the realm of living beings is empty and possesses nothing at all; may every living being attain boundless light, their body emitting wondrous light that universally illuminates everything; may every living being attain universally illuminating light, their mind never regressing from the buddha-dharma; may every living being attain a buddha's own pure light, manifesting entirely within every land; may every living being attain unobstructed light, a single light universally illuminating the entire Dharma-realm; may every living being attain unceasing light, illuminating every buddha-land with light that never ceases; may every living being attain the light of the banner of wisdom, universally illuminating the world; may every living being attain immeasurable colored light, illuminating every land and manifesting spiritual power.'
菩薩如是施燈明時，為欲利益一切眾生，安樂一切眾生故，以此善根隨逐眾生，以此善根攝受眾生，以此善根分布眾生，以此善根慈愍眾生，以此善根覆育眾生，以此善根救護眾生，以此善根充滿眾生，以此善根緣念眾生，以此善根等益眾生，以此善根觀察眾生。是為菩薩摩訶薩施燈明時善根迴向，如是迴向無有障礙，普令眾生住善根中。
When the bodhisattva gives lamplight in just this way, wishing to benefit every living being and bring peace and bliss to every living being, they follow after living beings with this very wholesome root, gather in living beings with this very wholesome root, distribute to living beings with this very wholesome root, show loving compassion to living beings with this very wholesome root, shelter and nurture living beings with this very wholesome root, save and protect living beings with this very wholesome root, fill living beings with this very wholesome root, keep living beings in mind with this very wholesome root, benefit living beings equally with this very wholesome root, and contemplate living beings with this very wholesome root. This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the wholesome root when giving lamplight; this dedication is without any hindrance at all, universally causing living beings to abide within wholesome roots.
Only three of the ten lights describe seeing something external — the world's subtle forms, every land — while the rest describe a quality of the light itself: unobstructed, unceasing, boundless, universally illuminating. The dedication is less interested in what a lamp lets a living being see than in what kind of light a living being is asked to become.
Part 267 Complete
This closes Part 267. Chapter 25 continues in Part 268 as the litany of specific gifts continues with medicine given to the sick, each again paired with its own distinct dedication.