Vast Assemblies of Giving, Never Harming a Being
Having given away his gardens and groves, the bodhisattva now holds vast, formal assemblies of giving — hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of them, each one entirely pure and sanctioned by every buddha, and never once causing harm to a single sentient being. The ten vows that follow gather up nearly every honorific term the sūtra has for giving — great, complete, excellent, unsurpassed, unequaled — into a single wish that every sentient being become a foremost donor abiding in the very ground of the Tathāgata.
Every Manner of Giving, Named in Full
Where earlier dedications gave away a single kind of possession — a house, a garden, a wife or child — this one gives away an occasion itself: the great, formal assembly of giving, staged again and again beyond counting. The dedication-vows respond in kind, cataloguing giving under name after name, as though naming every facet of the act were itself a form of generosity.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩作百千億那由他無量無數廣大施會，一切清淨，諸佛印可，終不損惱於一眾生；普令眾生遠離眾惡，淨三業道，成就智慧；開置無量百千億那由他阿僧祇清淨境界，積集無量百千億那由他阿僧祇資生妙物，發甚難得菩提之心，行無限施，令諸眾生住清淨道，初、中、後善，生淨信解；隨百千億無量眾生心之所樂，悉令歡喜，以大慈悲救護一切，承事供養三世諸佛；為欲成就一切佛種，修行布施，心無中悔，增長信根，成滿勝行，念念增進檀波羅蜜。菩薩爾時，以諸善根如是迴向，所謂：『願一切眾生發大乘心，悉得成就摩訶衍施；願一切眾生皆悉能行大會施、盡施、善施、最勝施、無上施、最無上施、無等等施、超諸世間施、一切諸佛所稱歎施；願一切眾生作第一施主，於諸惡趣免濟眾生，皆令得入無礙智道，修平等願如實善根，得無差別證自境智；願一切眾生安住寂靜諸禪定智，入不死道，究竟一切神通智慧，勇猛精進，具足諸地，莊嚴佛法，到於彼岸，永不退轉；願一切眾生設大施會，終不疲厭，給濟眾生，無有休息，究竟無上一切種智；願一切眾生恒勤種植一切善根，到於無量功德彼岸；願一切眾生常蒙諸佛之所稱歎，普為世間作大施主，功德具足，充滿法界，遍照十方，施無上樂；願一切眾生設大施會，廣集善根，等攝眾生，到於彼岸；願一切眾生成最勝施，普令眾生住第一乘；願一切眾生為應時施，永離非時，大施究竟；願一切眾生成就善施，到佛丈夫大施彼岸；願一切眾生究竟常行大莊嚴施，盡以一切諸佛為師，悉皆親近，興大供養；願一切眾生住清淨施，集等法界無量福德，到於彼岸；願一切眾生於諸世間為大施主，誓度群品，住如來地。』是為菩薩摩訶薩設大施會善根迴向，為令眾生行無上施、究竟佛施、成就善施、不可壞施、供諸佛施、無恚恨施、救眾生施、成一切智施、常見諸佛施、善精進施、成就一切菩薩功德諸佛智慧廣大施故。
"Child of the Buddha! The bodhisattva mahāsattva holds hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas — immeasurable, innumerable — vast assemblies of giving, every one of them entirely pure, sanctioned by every buddha, never once causing harm to a single sentient being; he universally causes sentient beings to leave every evil behind, purifying the paths of the three types of karma, and accomplishing wisdom; he opens and establishes immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas of hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of pure realms, and gathers and accumulates immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas of hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of wondrous articles for sustaining life, giving rise to the mind of enlightenment so difficult to attain, practicing giving without limit, causing sentient beings to abide in the pure path — good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end — giving rise to pure faith and understanding; according to whatever hundreds of thousands of koṭis, immeasurable numbers of sentient beings delight in, he causes them all to rejoice, and with great kindness and compassion he rescues and protects them all, serving and making offerings to every buddha of the three times; wishing to accomplish every seed of buddhahood, he cultivates the practice of giving, his mind never regretting midway, increasing the root of faith, perfecting the finest of practices, advancing the perfection of giving thought after thought. The bodhisattva then, with these wholesome roots, dedicates them in this way, namely: 'May all sentient beings give rise to the mind of the Great Vehicle, and accomplish entirely the giving of the Great Vehicle; may all sentient beings be able to practice entirely the giving of great assemblies, giving that holds nothing back, wholesome giving, the most excellent giving, unsurpassed giving, the most unsurpassed giving, giving equaled by none, giving that transcends every world, and giving praised by every buddha; may all sentient beings become the foremost of donors, delivering sentient beings from every evil destiny, causing them all to enter the unobstructed path of wisdom, cultivating equal vows and wholesome roots that accord with reality, and attaining the undifferentiated realization of the wisdom of their own state; may all sentient beings abide securely in the tranquil wisdom of every meditative absorption, enter the deathless path, perfect every kind of spiritual power and wisdom, and with valorous vigor, fully possess every ground, adorning the Buddha's own Dharma, reaching the farther shore, forever without regressing; may all sentient beings hold vast assemblies of giving, never once wearying of it, providing for and delivering sentient beings without any rest, perfecting the unsurpassed wisdom of all modes; may all sentient beings forever diligently plant every wholesome root, reaching the farther shore of immeasurable merit; may all sentient beings be forever praised by every buddha, universally becoming great donors for the sake of the world, their merit entirely complete, filling the Dharma-realm, illuminating the ten directions everywhere, giving unsurpassed happiness; may all sentient beings hold vast assemblies of giving, broadly gathering wholesome roots, gathering in sentient beings equally, reaching the farther shore; may all sentient beings accomplish the most excellent giving, universally causing sentient beings to abide in the foremost vehicle; may all sentient beings practice giving that is timely, forever leaving behind what is untimely, their vast giving brought to completion; may all sentient beings accomplish wholesome giving, reaching the farther shore of the great giving of the Buddha, the great man; may all sentient beings forever and completely practice the vast, adorned giving, taking every buddha entirely as their teacher, drawing near to them all, and raising up great offerings; may all sentient beings abide in pure giving, gathering immeasurable merit equal to the Dharma-realm, reaching the farther shore; may all sentient beings become great donors within every world, vowing to deliver every kind of being, abiding in the ground of the Tathāgata.' This is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's dedication of wholesome roots when holding vast assemblies of giving; it is so that sentient beings may practice unsurpassed giving, the ultimate giving of a buddha, accomplished wholesome giving, indestructible giving, giving that makes offerings to every buddha, giving free of anger and resentment, giving that rescues sentient beings, giving that accomplishes all-wisdom, giving that forever beholds every buddha, giving of skillful diligence, and the vast giving that accomplishes every bodhisattva's merit and every buddha's wisdom.
"Advancing the perfection of giving thought after thought" — 念念增進檀波羅蜜 — marks the shift from giving as a series of discrete acts to giving as a continuous mental posture, sustained moment by moment; the elaborate catalogue of named types of giving that follows reads almost as an inventory of every way that posture can be honored in words.
Part 323 Complete
This closes the section on holding vast assemblies of giving (設大施會) within the sixth dedication. Chapter 25 continues in Part 324 as the bodhisattva mahāsattva gives away every article for sustaining life, his mind free of covetousness and seeking no reward in return.