The Jewel in Śakra's Topknot
Śakra puts a maṇi in his hair and everything about him — his colour, his voice, his retinue, his wit — passes beyond the other gods of his heaven. The comparison is for what happens the moment this samādhi is first obtained.
Ten Ways He Surpasses Them
The ten items given of Śakra are a portrait rather than a doctrine — appearance, build, bearing, company, possessions, voice, powers, freedom, understanding, and the use he makes of his wits.
佛子！譬如帝釋，於頂髻中置摩尼寶，以寶力故，威光轉盛。其釋天王初獲此寶則得十法，出過一切三十三天。何等為十？一者色相，二者形體，三者示現，四者眷屬，五者資具，六者音聲，七者神通，八者自在，九者慧解，十者智用。如是十種，悉過一切三十三天。
Child of the Buddha! It is like Śakra, who sets a maṇi jewel in the topknot of his hair, and by the power of that jewel his awesome radiance grows brighter still. When that lord of the gods first obtains this jewel he gains ten things, and in them passes beyond all the gods of the Thirty-Three. What are the ten? First, his colour and appearance. Second, his form and build. Third, his bearing. Fourth, his retinue. Fifth, his possessions. Sixth, his voice. Seventh, his spiritual powers. Eighth, his sovereign freedom. Ninth, his understanding. Tenth, the use he makes of his wits. In these ten he passes beyond all the gods of the Thirty-Three.
菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是，初始獲得此三昧時，則得十種廣大智藏。何等為十？一者照耀一切佛剎智，二者知一切眾生受生智，三者普作三世變化智，四者普入一切佛身智，五者通達一切佛法智，六者普攝一切淨法智，七者普令一切眾生入法身智，八者現見一切法普眼清淨智，九者一切自在到於彼岸智，十者安住一切廣大法普盡無餘智。
A bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise: when they first obtain this samādhi, they gain ten vast treasuries of wisdom. What are the ten? First, the wisdom that illumines all buddha-lands. Second, the wisdom that knows the taking of birth by all beings. Third, the wisdom that universally performs the transformations of the three times. Fourth, the wisdom that enters universally into the bodies of all buddhas. Fifth, the wisdom that penetrates all the buddhas' Dharma. Sixth, the wisdom that gathers in universally all pure dharmas. Seventh, the wisdom that causes all beings universally to enter the Dharma-body. Eighth, the wisdom of the universal eye, pure, which sees all dharmas manifest. Ninth, the wisdom of every sovereign freedom, gone to the far shore. Tenth, the wisdom that abides in all vast dharmas and exhausts them universally, leaving nothing over.
一者色相，二者形體…十者智用 — the ten in which Śakra surpasses his fellow gods are listed without any explanation, and half of them are physical. The jewel changes how he looks before it changes anything else, which is exactly the comparison the sūtra wants: the samādhi is not first of all an insight but a change in what a person is like.
Ten Bodies, and What They Are For
Each of the ten is given as a purpose followed by an act, and one of them is arresting: a body so radiant that its crown cannot be seen.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩住此三昧，復得十種最清淨威德身。何等為十？一者為照耀不可說不可說世界故，放不可說不可說光明輪；二者為令世界咸清淨故，放不可說不可說無量色相光明輪；三者為調伏眾生故，放不可說不可說光明輪；四者為親近一切諸佛故，化作不可說不可說身；五者為承事供養一切諸佛故，雨不可說不可說種種殊妙香華雲。
"Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding in this samādhi further obtains ten bodies of the purest awesome virtue. What are the ten? First, in order to illumine ineffably many worlds, they send forth ineffably many wheels of radiance. Second, in order that the worlds may all be made pure, they send forth ineffably many wheels of radiance of measureless colour and form. Third, in order to tame beings, they send forth ineffably many wheels of radiance. Fourth, in order to draw near to all the buddhas, they conjure ineffably many bodies. Fifth, in order to serve and make offerings to all the buddhas, they rain down ineffably many clouds of every kind of exquisite incense and flowers.
六者為承事供養一切佛，及調伏一切眾生故，於一一毛孔中化作不可說不可說種種音樂；七者為成熟眾生故，現不可說不可說種種無量自在神變；八者為於十方種種名號一切佛所請問法故，一步超過不可說不可說世界；九者為令一切眾生見聞之者皆不空故，現不可說不可說種種無量清淨色相身，無能見頂；十者為與眾生開示無量祕密法故，發不可說不可說音聲語言。
Sixth, in order to serve and make offerings to all the buddhas and to tame all beings, from each single pore they conjure ineffably many kinds of music. Seventh, in order to ripen beings, they display ineffably many kinds of measureless sovereign transformations. Eighth, in order to ask about the Dharma in the presence of all the buddhas of every name in the ten directions, in a single step they pass beyond ineffably many worlds. Ninth, in order that all beings who see or hear them may find it not in vain, they display ineffably many kinds of measureless pure bodies of colour and form, whose crown none can see. Tenth, in order to reveal measureless secret dharmas to beings, they send forth ineffably many sounds and words.
一步超過不可說不可說世界 — in a single step they pass beyond ineffably many worlds. And the purpose given is 請問法, to ask about the Dharma. Of all the reasons for crossing the universe in one stride, the sūtra chooses going somewhere to ask a question.
無能見頂 — whose crown none can see. The unseeable crown is one of the marks of a buddha, and the story behind it is that no one, however high they climb, ever gets above it. Here it is given as the appearance of a body made for the sake of those who see it, so that seeing is 不空, not in vain.
Part 512 Complete
This continues chapter twenty-seven, 十定品, The Ten Concentrations, in fascicle forty-one. Part 513 closes the seventh samādhi and the fascicle — ten fulfilments such a bodhisattva brings about in beings, from seeing a buddha to rousing the mind of awakening, and then the buddha-work they do by voice, by form, by shaking worlds, by appearing in dreams, and at last by displaying a parinirvāṇa for those who have grown weary.