Vessels Filled With Every Treasure
Nine kinds of jeweled vessel — gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, and more — filled with every treasure are given across the full range of possible recipients: buddhas, bodhisattvas, the noble saṃgha, teachers, parents, and the lowly, poor, and destitute, all regarded with the same loving eye. The dedication that follows asks that every living being become a vessel in turn — a treasury equal to empty space, a vessel able to hold the assembly of every Tathāgata throughout the entire Dharma-realm. This passage also closes fascicle twenty-five of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.
The Vessel Itself, Not Only What It Holds
The giving described here spans an unusually wide social range — buddhas and bodhisattvas at one end, "the lowly, the poor, and the destitute" at the other, offered to with the same great loving-kindness and compassion "with an equal, loving eye." The dedication then shifts the metaphor from what is given to what receives: not the treasure inside the vessel, but the vessel itself, asking that living beings become containers vast enough to hold scripture, Dharma, and finally the entire assembly of every buddha throughout the Dharma-realm.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩悉能惠施一切器物。所謂：黃金器盛滿雜寶，白銀器盛眾妙寶，瑠璃器盛種種寶，玻瓈器盛滿無量寶莊嚴具，硨磲器盛赤真珠，碼碯器盛滿珊瑚摩尼珠寶，白玉器盛眾美食，栴檀器盛天衣服，金剛器盛眾妙香。無量無數種種寶器，盛無量無數種種眾寶，或施諸佛，信佛福田不思議故；或施菩薩，知善知識難值遇故；或施聖僧，為令佛法久住世故；或施聲聞及辟支佛，於諸聖人生淨信故；或施父母，為尊重故；或施師長，為恒誘誨，令依聖教修功德故；或施下劣、貧窮、孤露，大慈、大悲愛眼等視諸眾生故；專意滿足去、來、今世一切菩薩檀波羅蜜故；以一切物普施一切，終不厭捨諸眾生故。如是施時，於其施物及以受者，皆無所著。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva is able to generously give every kind of vessel. Namely: golden vessels filled entirely with every kind of jewel, silver vessels filled with every kind of wondrous treasure, lapis lazuli vessels filled with every kind of jewel, crystal vessels filled entirely with immeasurable jeweled ornaments, giant-clam-shell vessels filled with crimson pearls, agate vessels filled entirely with coral and maṇi pearls and jewels, white jade vessels filled with every kind of delicious food, sandalwood vessels filled with heavenly robes, vajra vessels filled with every kind of wondrous fragrance. Immeasurable, countless jeweled vessels of every kind, filled with immeasurable, countless treasures of every kind — they give some to every buddha, because they believe the Buddha's own field of merit is inconceivable; they give some to bodhisattvas, because they know a good spiritual friend is difficult to encounter; they give some to the noble saṃgha, because they wish to cause the Buddha's own Dharma to abide long in the world; they give some to śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, because they give rise to pure faith in every noble one; they give some to their parents, out of reverence; they give some to their own teachers and elders, because they forever guide and instruct, causing them to cultivate merit in accordance with the noble teaching; they give some to the lowly, the poor, and the destitute, because with great loving-kindness and great compassion they regard every living being with an equal, loving eye; single-mindedly wishing to fulfill entirely the bodhisattva's own perfection of giving throughout the past, future, and present; giving everything universally to everyone, never once wearied of or abandoning any living being. When giving in this way, toward the very object given and toward the recipient, they cling to nothing at all.
菩薩摩訶薩以如是等種種寶器盛無量寶而布施時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生成等虛空無邊藏器，念力廣大，悉能受持世、出世間一切經書，無有忘失；願一切眾生成清淨器，能悟諸佛甚深正法；願一切眾生成無上寶器，悉能受持三世佛法；願一切眾生成就如來廣大法器，以不壞信攝受三世佛菩提法；願一切眾生成就最勝寶莊嚴器，住大威德菩提之心；願一切眾生成就功德所依處器，於諸如來無量智慧生淨信解；願一切眾生成就趣入一切智器，究竟如來無礙解脫；願一切眾生得盡未來劫菩薩行器，能令眾生普皆安住一切智力；願一切眾生成就三世諸佛種性勝功德器，一切諸佛妙音所說悉能受持；願一切眾生成就容納盡法界、虛空界、一切世界一切如來眾會道場器，為大丈夫讚說之首，勸請諸佛轉正法輪。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施器時善根迴向，為欲普令一切眾生皆得圓滿普賢菩薩行願器故。
When the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives generously with jeweled vessels of every such kind filled with immeasurable treasures, they dedicate every wholesome root in just this way, namely: "May every living being become a treasury-vessel equal to empty space and boundless, their power of memory vast and expansive, able to uphold every scripture of the worldly and the world-transcending entirely, without ever forgetting any of it; may every living being become a pure vessel, able to awaken to the most profound true Dharma of every buddha; may every living being become the unsurpassed jeweled vessel, able to uphold the Dharma of every buddha of the three periods of time entirely; may every living being accomplish the Tathāgata's own vast vessel of Dharma, gathering in the bodhi-dharma of every buddha of the three periods of time through unbreakable faith; may every living being accomplish the most supreme jeweled and adorned vessel, abiding in the mind of bodhi endowed with great and awesome virtue; may every living being accomplish the vessel that is the very support of merit, giving rise to pure faith and understanding in the immeasurable wisdom of every Tathāgata; may every living being accomplish the vessel that advances into all-knowing wisdom, reaching the Tathāgata's own ultimate, unobstructed liberation; may every living being attain the vessel of bodhisattva practice throughout every kalpa to the very end of the future, able to cause living beings to universally abide in the power of all-knowing wisdom entirely; may every living being accomplish the vessel of supreme merit that is the lineage of every buddha of the three periods of time, able to uphold entirely whatever every buddha's own wondrous voice expounds; may every living being accomplish the vessel able to hold the assembly-hall of every Tathāgata throughout the entire Dharma-realm, the realm of empty space, and every world, becoming foremost among those praised as a great being, entreating every buddha to turn the wheel of the true Dharma." This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of the wholesome root when giving vessels; it is done so as to universally cause every living being to attain the fully complete vessel of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's own practice and vow.
"Toward the very object given and toward the recipient, they cling to nothing at all" is the hinge on which the whole passage turns: the elaborate catalogue of golden and jeweled vessels, and the careful attention to who receives which treasure and why, could easily read as an accounting of status and worth. This one line insists otherwise — the giving described in such loving detail is, in the same breath, given up entirely, held onto by no one, not even in memory.
Part 269 Complete — Fascicle 25 of 80
This closes Part 269 and, with it, fascicle twenty-five of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The sixth dedication — the dedication of according with and firming every wholesome root — is not yet complete; its litany of specific gifts continues in Part 270, which opens fascicle twenty-six.