Servants Who Delight the Heart
Having given the ground itself, the bodhisattva now gives the people who serve upon it — hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of servants and attendants, given to buddhas, bodhisattvas, the saṃgha, parents, the sick, and the poor and destitute. Every one of them is described in unusual detail: wise, skillful, gentle, diligent, honest, benevolent, free of resentment and enmity, accomplished in every craft, able to serve in whatever way delights the heart of whoever receives them.
A Gift Shaped by Who Receives It
What distinguishes this passage from the objects given earlier is that its gift is itself capable of adapting: these servants are "able to accord with whatever is fitting to the customs of wherever they are received," serving the sick differently than they serve the saṃgha, differently again than they serve a grieving parent. The dedication that follows keeps this same responsiveness, wishing for a mind that listens, that accepts, that never lets a moment pass without turning toward the Buddha.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩布施僮僕，供養一切諸佛、菩薩、真善知識，或施僧寶，或奉父母尊勝福田；或復給施病苦眾生，令無闕乏，以存其命；或復施與貧窮、孤露，及餘一切無瞻侍者；或為守護如來塔廟，或為書持諸佛正法，以百千億那由他僕使，隨時給施。其諸僕使皆聰慧善巧，性自調順，常勤精進，無有懈惰，具質直心、安樂心、利益心、仁慈心、恭恪心、無怨恨心、無讎敵心，能隨受者方俗所宜，於彼彼中作諸利益；又皆從菩薩淨業所感，才能、技藝、工巧、算數靡不通達，善能供侍悅可其心。菩薩爾時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生得調順心，一切佛所修習善根；願一切眾生隨順供養一切諸佛，於佛所說悉能聽受；願一切眾生得佛攝受，常觀如來，更無餘念；願一切眾生不壞佛種，勤修一切順佛善根；願一切眾生常勤供養一切諸佛，無空過時；願一切眾生攝持一切諸佛妙義，言辭清淨，遊行無畏；願一切眾生常樂見佛，心無厭足，於諸佛所不惜身命；願一切眾生得見諸佛，心無染著，離世所依；願一切眾生但歸於佛，永離一切邪歸依處；願一切眾生隨順佛道，心常樂觀無上佛法。』是為菩薩摩訶薩施僕使時善根迴向；為令眾生遠離塵垢，淨治佛地，能現如來自在身故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva gives servants and attendants, offering them to make offerings to every buddha, bodhisattva, and true good spiritual friend; or gives them to the treasure of the saṃgha, or presents them to parents as an honored and supreme field of merit; or gives them to sick and suffering sentient beings, so that they lack nothing and their lives are preserved; or gives them to the poor and destitute, the solitary, and every other person with no one to attend upon them; or gives them to guard and protect a tathāgata's own stūpa and shrine, or to copy and uphold the true Dharma of every buddha, giving hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of servants according to the occasion. Every one of these servants is wise and skillful, their nature naturally gentle and compliant, forever diligent and never idle, endowed with a mind of honesty, a mind of peace and happiness, a mind that benefits others, a mind of benevolence and compassion, a mind of reverent respect, a mind free of resentment, and a mind free of enmity, able to accord with whatever is fitting to the customs of wherever they are received, performing every benefit in each and every place; and all of them, moved by the bodhisattva's own pure karma, are thoroughly accomplished in every skill, craft, art, and calculation, well able to serve and attend in a way that delights the heart. The bodhisattva then, with every wholesome root, dedicates it in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings obtain a gentle and compliant mind, cultivating wholesome roots in the presence of every buddha; may all sentient beings, in accordance, make offerings to every buddha, entirely able to listen to and accept whatever a buddha teaches; may all sentient beings be embraced by the Buddha, forever beholding the Tathāgata, with no other thought at all; may all sentient beings never destroy the seed of buddhahood, diligently cultivating every wholesome root that accords with the Buddha; may all sentient beings forever diligently make offerings to every buddha, letting no time pass in vain; may all sentient beings uphold the wondrous meaning of every buddha, their speech pure, traveling about without fear; may all sentient beings forever delight in beholding the buddha, their minds never wearied or sated, never begrudging their own body or life in the buddha's presence; may all sentient beings obtain the beholding of every buddha, their minds unstained by anything, leaving behind every worldly reliance; may all sentient beings take refuge only in the Buddha, forever leaving behind every wrong place of refuge; may all sentient beings accord with the buddha's own path, their minds forever delighting in contemplating the unsurpassed buddha-dharma.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when giving servants and attendants; it is so that sentient beings may leave behind all dust and defilement, purify and cultivate the buddha-ground, and be able to manifest the Tathāgata's own body of mastery.
The servants are said to be "moved by the bodhisattva's own pure karma" to become skilled in every craft — their excellence is presented not as their own achievement but as an effect radiating outward from the giver's own purity. What is given here carries something of the giver embedded within it, a pattern this dedication will keep returning to as the litany moves from objects toward relationships.
Part 311 Complete
This closes the section on giving servants and attendants (施僕使) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 312 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives his own body into servitude, approaching every task with a humble mind, a mind like the earth, and a mind that forgives even the cruelest mistreatment.