Fingers Marked With a Wheel
Following Firm Diligence Bodhisattva and Jambudvīpa's Sovereign King Bodhisattva, the bodhisattva gives away the fingers and toes of his own hands and feet, his countenance remaining gentle and pleased throughout — seeking no beauty, no fame, only "the bodhisattva's own vast and expansive intent." Ten dedication-vows follow, moving from ordinary shapeliness to fingers marked with coppery-red nails, a turning wheel, and the svastika spiraling like a lotus.
A Gift Given Without Wanting Anything Back
The opening description names, almost in passing, what this giving is not for: not beauty, not desire, not fame or renown. Fingers and toes are, among body parts, unusually visible and often admired — and the passage seems aware of that, taking care to specify that none of the ordinary reasons someone might care about their hands are at work here.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以手足指施諸乞者，如堅精進菩薩、閻浮提自在王菩薩，及餘無量諸大菩薩。菩薩爾時，顏貌和悅，其心安善，無有顛倒，乘於大乘，不求美欲，不尚名聞，但發菩薩廣大之意，遠離慳嫉一切諸垢，專向如來無上妙法。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩如是施時，攝諸善根，悉以迴向：『願一切眾生得纖長指，與佛無異；願一切眾生得𦟛圓指，上下相稱；願一切眾生得赤銅甲指，其甲隆起，清淨鑒徹；願一切眾生得一切智勝丈夫指，悉能攝持一切諸法；願一切眾生得隨好指，具足十力；願一切眾生得大人指，纖𦟛齊等；願一切眾生得輪相指，指節圓滿，文相右旋；願一切眾生得如蓮華卐字旋指，十力業報相好莊嚴；願一切眾生得光藏指，放大光明照不可說諸佛世界；願一切眾生得善安布指，善巧分布網縵具足。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施指時善根迴向，為令眾生一切皆得心清淨故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva gives the very fingers and toes of his hands and feet to whoever comes begging for them, just as Firm Diligence Bodhisattva, Jambudvīpa's Sovereign King Bodhisattva, and countless other great bodhisattvas have done. At that time, the bodhisattva's countenance remains gentle and pleased, his mind settled and wholesome, without any confusion, riding upon the Great Vehicle; he seeks no beauty or desire, values no fame or renown, but gives rise only to the bodhisattva's own vast and expansive intent, forever leaving behind stinginess, envy, and every defilement, single-mindedly turning toward the Tathāgata's own unsurpassed and wondrous Dharma. Child of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives in this way, he gathers every wholesome root and dedicates it entirely: 'May all sentient beings obtain slender, long fingers, no different from the Buddha's own; may all sentient beings obtain full, rounded fingers, evenly matched from base to tip; may all sentient beings obtain fingers with coppery-red nails, their nails raised and prominent, pure and clear; may all sentient beings obtain fingers of the supreme great being of omniscience, able to grasp and hold every dharma entirely; may all sentient beings obtain fingers adorned with excellent marks, fully endowed with the ten powers; may all sentient beings obtain the fingers of a great being, slender and full in equal measure; may all sentient beings obtain fingers marked with a wheel, their joints perfect and complete, their pattern turning to the right; may all sentient beings obtain fingers spiraling like a lotus flower and the svastika mark, adorned by the excellent marks that are the fruit of the ten powers' own karma; may all sentient beings obtain fingers that are a treasury of light, emitting great light that illumines unspeakably many buddha-worlds; may all sentient beings obtain fingers well arranged, their webbing skillfully spread and fully complete.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when giving away his fingers and toes; it is so that sentient beings may all entirely obtain a pure mind.
The closing purpose clause is quietly disproportionate to the gift: ten vows describing marks on fingers and toes conclude by asking only that "sentient beings may all entirely obtain a pure mind." The most minutely detailed physical description in this dedication resolves into the single least physical thing a being can obtain.
Part 302 Complete
This closes the section on giving the fingers and toes (施指) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 303 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva, seeking the Dharma, agrees to give away his own nails with the flesh still attached in exchange for a single teaching.