Ten Reasons for a Single Head
The litany of body-giving reaches its most famous image: the bodhisattva gives away his own head, following Supreme Wisdom Bodhisattva and the great hero, the King of Kāśī, whose head-giving story circulates widely in Buddhist literature. Before the act itself, ten wishes are named as its motive — the head of wisdom that enters every dharma, the head that realizes great bodhi, the head of mastery nothing can destroy — as though a single act needed ten distinct reasons stated in advance.
A Head Reasoned Into Giving, Twice Over
The passage names its motives before the act and its results after it in almost mirrored language — "wishing to accomplish the head of supreme wisdom" precedes the giving; "the head of perfect and complete wisdom seated at the awakening-site" concludes the dedication. What is given away and what is finally attained keep circling back to the same word, "head" (首), used first as intention and then as fruit.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以頭布施諸來乞者，如最勝智菩薩，及大丈夫迦尸國王等諸大菩薩所行布施；為欲成就入一切法最勝智首，為欲成就證大菩提救眾生首，為欲具足見一切法最第一首，為得正見清淨智首，為欲成就無障礙首，為欲證得第一地首，為求世間最勝智首，欲成三界無能見頂淨智慧首，為得示現普到十方智慧王首，為欲滿足一切諸法無能破壞自在之首。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩安住是法，精勤修習，則為已入諸佛種性，學佛行施；於諸佛所，生清淨信，增長善根；令諸乞者，皆得喜足；其心清淨，慶悅無量；心淨信解，照明佛法；發菩提意，安住捨心；諸根悅豫，功德增長；生善樂欲，常好修行廣大施行。菩薩爾時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生得如來頭，得無見頂；於一切處無能映蔽，於諸佛剎最為上首；其髮右旋，光淨潤澤，卐字嚴飾，世所希有；具足佛首，成就智首，一切世間最第一首，為具足首，為清淨首，為坐道場圓滿智首。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施頭時善根迴向；為令眾生得最勝法，成於無上大智慧故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva gives his own head to whoever comes begging for it, just as Supreme Wisdom Bodhisattva, the great hero the King of Kāśī, and other great bodhisattvas have practiced giving; wishing to accomplish the head of supreme wisdom that enters every dharma, wishing to accomplish the head that realizes great bodhi and rescues sentient beings, wishing to be fully endowed with the head that is foremost in beholding every dharma, wishing to attain the head of right view and pure wisdom, wishing to accomplish the unobstructed head, wishing to realize the head of the first ground, seeking the head of supreme worldly wisdom, wishing to accomplish the head of pure wisdom whose crown no one in the three realms can see, wishing to attain the head of the wisdom-king that manifests reaching universally to the ten directions, wishing to fully satisfy the head of mastery that nothing among all dharmas can destroy. Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, abiding within this dharma, diligently cultivating it, has thereby already entered the buddha-nature, learning to practice giving as a buddha does; toward every buddha, he gives rise to pure faith, increasing his wholesome roots; he causes every beggar to become entirely joyful and satisfied; his own mind is pure, rejoicing immeasurably; his mind, pure with faith and understanding, illuminates the Buddha-dharma; he gives rise to the intention of bodhi, abiding securely in the mind of relinquishment; every faculty of his rejoices and delights, his merit increasing; he gives rise to a wholesome wish and desire, forever delighting in the practice of vast and expansive giving. The bodhisattva then, with every wholesome root, dedicates it in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings obtain the Tathāgata's own head, obtain the uṣṇīṣa; in every place, obscured by nothing, becoming the foremost head throughout every buddha-land; their hair curling to the right, bright, pure, and lustrous, adorned with the svastika mark, rare in all the world; fully endowed with the Buddha's own head, accomplishing the head of wisdom, the very foremost head throughout the entire world, the fully endowed head, the pure head, the head of perfect and complete wisdom seated at the awakening-site.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when giving away his head; it is so that sentient beings may obtain the most supreme Dharma, accomplishing unsurpassed great wisdom.
"He causes every beggar to become entirely joyful and satisfied" sits inside a sentence otherwise describing the bodhisattva's own inward state — his faith, his joy, his merit. The beggar's satisfaction is named in the same breath as the giver's, not as an afterthought but as inseparable from what the giving actually accomplishes.
Part 294 Complete
This closes the section on giving the head (施頭) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 295 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva, following Constant Diligence Bodhisattva and Sorrowless King Bodhisattva, gives away his own hands and feet.