"Belonging Entirely to Others"
Following Prince Sudāna and King Wondrously Adorned Bodhisattva, the bodhisattva gives away his own beloved wife and children — and in the reflection that follows, he comes to see his own body the same way: "belonging entirely to others, never his own to command freely," like a jeweled isle that simply provides for whoever comes. Ten dedication-vows follow, moving from a transformation-body pervading the entire Dharma-realm to sitting beneath the bodhi tree at the moment of awakening.
The Gift That Reveals the Giver's Own Body
Giving away his family does not conclude the bodhisattva's act of giving — it opens onto a further realization about his own body. Having relinquished what was closest to him, he finds that his own body was never simply his to begin with, but "belongs entirely to others" in the same way his wife and children did. The wish list that follows — a cool pool, a great giver, a foremost stūpa — describes not what he hopes to receive but what he now understands his own body has always been for.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩能以所愛妻子布施，猶如往昔須達拏太子、現莊嚴王菩薩，及餘無量諸菩薩等。菩薩爾時，乘薩婆若心，行一切施，淨修菩薩布施之道。其心清淨，無有中悔，罄捨所珍，求一切智；令諸眾生淨深志樂，成菩提行，觀菩薩道，念佛菩提，住佛種性。菩薩摩訶薩成辦如是布施心已，決定志求如來之身；自觀己身，繼屬一切，不得自在；又以其身普攝眾生，猶如寶洲給施一切，未滿足者令其滿足。菩薩如是護念眾生，欲令自身作第一塔，普使一切皆生歡喜；欲於世間生平等心；欲為眾生作清涼池；欲與眾生一切安樂；欲為眾生作大施主；智慧自在，了知菩薩所行之行，而能如是大誓莊嚴；趣一切智，願成無上智慧福田；普念眾生，常隨守護，而能成辦自身利益；智慧光明普照於世，常勤憶念菩薩施心，恒樂觀察如來境界。佛子！菩薩摩訶薩以無縛無著解脫心布施妻子所集善根，如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生住佛菩提，起變化身，周遍法界轉不退輪；願一切眾生得無著身，願力周行一切佛剎；願一切眾生捨愛憎心，斷貪恚結；願一切眾生為諸佛子，隨佛所行；願一切眾生於諸佛所，生自己心，不可沮壞；願一切眾生常為佛子，從法化生；願一切眾生得究竟處，成就如來自在智慧；願一切眾生證佛菩提，永離煩惱；願一切眾生能具演說佛菩提道，常樂修行無上法施；願一切眾生得正定心，不為一切諸緣所壞；願一切眾生坐菩提樹，成最正覺，開示無量從法化生諸善男女。』是為菩薩摩訶薩布施妻子善根迴向，為令眾生皆悉證得無礙解脫無著智故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva is able to give away his own beloved wife and children, just as Prince Sudāna, King Wondrously Adorned Bodhisattva, and countless other bodhisattvas in ages past have done. The bodhisattva then, riding upon the mind of omniscience, practices every form of giving, purely cultivating a bodhisattva's own path of giving. His mind is pure, never regretting midway, relinquishing entirely whatever he treasures, seeking omniscience; causing sentient beings to purify their profound aspiration and joy, accomplishing the practice of bodhi, contemplating the bodhisattva path, being mindful of the Buddha's own bodhi, and abiding in the buddha-nature. Once the bodhisattva mahāsattva has accomplished this mind of giving, he resolves with determination to seek the Tathāgata's own body; contemplating his own body, he sees it as belonging entirely to others, never his own to command freely; and with that body he universally embraces sentient beings, like a jeweled isle providing for everyone, causing whoever is not yet satisfied to become satisfied. The bodhisattva, thus watching over and being mindful of sentient beings, wishes his own body to become the foremost stūpa, universally causing everyone to give rise to joy; wishes to give rise, within the world, to a mind of equality; wishes to become, for sentient beings, a cool and refreshing pool; wishes to give sentient beings every peace and happiness; wishes to become, for sentient beings, a great giver; his wisdom sovereign and free, thoroughly understanding the practice a bodhisattva practices, and able in this way to adorn himself with a great vow; advancing toward omniscience, he vows to become the field of merit of unsurpassed wisdom; universally mindful of sentient beings, forever following and protecting them, and yet able to accomplish his own benefit as well; his wisdom-light universally illuminating the world, forever diligently recollecting a bodhisattva's own mind of giving, forever delighting in contemplating the Tathāgata's own domain. Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva, with a mind of liberation free of bondage and free of attachment, dedicates the wholesome root gathered from giving away his wife and children in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings abide in the Buddha's own bodhi, giving rise to a transformation-body, pervading the entire Dharma-realm and turning the never-regressing wheel; may all sentient beings obtain the body free of attachment, their power of vow traveling universally throughout every buddha-land; may all sentient beings relinquish every mind of love and hatred, severing the knot of craving and aversion; may all sentient beings become children of every buddha, following what every buddha practices; may all sentient beings, in the presence of every buddha, give rise to the mind that regards it as their very own, unable to be discouraged or destroyed; may all sentient beings forever become children of the Buddha, born through transformation from the Dharma; may all sentient beings obtain the ultimate place, accomplishing the Tathāgata's own sovereign wisdom; may all sentient beings realize the Buddha's own bodhi, forever leaving behind every affliction; may all sentient beings be able to fully expound the path of the Buddha's own bodhi, forever delighting in practicing the unsurpassed giving of the Dharma; may all sentient beings obtain a mind of right concentration, destroyed by no condition at all; may all sentient beings sit beneath the bodhi tree, accomplishing the most correct awakening, and reveal immeasurable good sons and daughters born through transformation from the Dharma.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when giving away his wife and children; it is so that sentient beings may all realize the unobstructed, liberated wisdom that is free of attachment.
"Universally mindful of sentient beings, forever following and protecting them, and yet able to accomplish his own benefit as well" is a rare moment in this dedication where the bodhisattva's own good is named directly, not as an afterthought but as something achieved in the same motion as benefiting others. Even in a passage built around giving away everything closest to him, the text does not pretend the bodhisattva gains nothing from it.
Part 320 Complete
This closes the section on giving away one's wife and children (施妻子) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 321 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives away his own house and household goods, having grown weary of household life and turned entirely toward renunciation.