Ten Seats, Dedicated
Having given away his own lion-throne, the bodhisattva mahāsattva now dedicates that wholesome root through ten linked vows, each naming a different seat: the throne of bodhi, a seat of mastery unbreakable by any vajra mountain, the Buddha's own lion-throne, a seat pervading unspeakably many worlds, a seat filling the entire Dharma-realm, and finally an entire catalogue of seats — jeweled, fragrant, flowered, robed, garlanded — culminating in the vajra seat upon which every buddha manifests awesome virtue and mastery and accomplishes the most correct awakening.
Ten Vows, Ten Seats
Where the lion-throne itself was rendered in physical, ornamented detail, this dedication moves entirely into the register of aspiration. Each of the ten vows takes "seat" (座) as its organizing image but empties it of any single fixed form — a seat of mastery, a seat spanning inconceivable worlds, a seat that is simultaneously every kind of seat at once. The closing seat, the vajra seat, is the one every buddha of the past has sat upon at the moment of awakening; the entire litany of the king's earthly throne turns out to have been building toward it.
以此善根如是迴向，所謂：「願一切眾生坐菩提座，悉能覺悟諸佛正法；願一切眾生處自在座，得法自在，諸金剛山所不能壞，能悉摧伏一切魔軍；願一切眾生得佛自在師子之座，一切眾生之所瞻仰；願一切眾生得不可說不可說種種殊妙寶莊嚴座，於法自在，化導眾生；願一切眾生得三種世間最殊勝座，廣大善根之所嚴飾；願一切眾生得周遍不可說不可說世界座，阿僧祇劫歎之無盡；願一切眾生得大深密福德之座，其身充滿一切法界；願一切眾生得不思議種種寶座，隨其本願所念眾生，廣開法施；願一切眾生得善妙座，現不可說諸佛神通；願一切眾生得一切寶座、一切香座、一切華座、一切衣座、一切鬘座、一切摩尼座、一切瑠璃等不思議種種寶座、無量不可說世界座、一切世間莊嚴清淨座、一切金剛座，示現如來威德自在，成最正覺。」是為菩薩摩訶薩施寶座時善根迴向；為令眾生獲離世間大菩提座，自然覺悟一切佛法故。
With this wholesome root, they dedicate it in this way, namely: "May all sentient beings sit upon the throne of bodhi, and be able to fully awaken to the true Dharma of all buddhas; may all sentient beings dwell upon the seat of mastery, attain mastery over the Dharma, be unbreakable by any vajra mountain, and be able to entirely subdue every army of Māra; may all sentient beings obtain the Buddha's own lion-throne of mastery, gazed upon by all sentient beings; may all sentient beings obtain unspeakably, unspeakably many kinds of wondrous jewel-adorned seats, attain mastery over the Dharma, and teach and transform sentient beings; may all sentient beings obtain the most supreme seat among the three kinds of world, adorned by vast and great wholesome roots; may all sentient beings obtain a seat that pervades unspeakably, unspeakably many worlds, praised without end through asaṃkhyeya kalpas; may all sentient beings obtain the great, profound, and secret seat of merit, their bodies filling the entire Dharma-realm; may all sentient beings obtain inconceivable and various jeweled seats, and according to their original vows and the sentient beings they hold in mind, widely open the giving of the Dharma; may all sentient beings obtain the good and wondrous seat, manifesting the spiritual powers of unspeakably many buddhas; may all sentient beings obtain every jeweled seat, every fragrant seat, every flower seat, every robe seat, every garland seat, every maṇi seat, every inconceivable and various seat of lapis lazuli and the like, seats of immeasurable and unspeakable worlds, every pure and adorned seat of the world, and every vajra seat, manifesting the Tathāgata's awesome virtue and mastery, and accomplishing the most correct awakening." This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when giving jeweled seats; it is so that sentient beings may obtain the great throne of bodhi that transcends the world, and naturally awaken to the Dharma of all buddhas.
The ninth and tenth vows dissolve the whole series into abundance: after nine seats each carefully distinguished by function — mastery, visibility, world-pervading scope, secrecy, generosity — the tenth simply names every material a seat could be made of, jewel, incense, flower, robe, garland, maṇi, lapis lazuli, and lets the vajra seat of awakening stand as their shared destination. A seat, in this dedication, is never just furniture; it is wherever a being comes to rest with the Dharma.
Part 279 Complete
This closes the section on giving seats (施座) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 280 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva turns to the giving of jeweled canopies (寶蓋).