Offerings Without End From a Single Hand
The hymn turns now to one continuous act of offering. From a single hand and a single ray of light, the bodhisattva pours out flowers, incense, robes, music, jeweled canopies, and hymns of praise without limit — each kind of offering given its own full verse in turn, reaching every buddha throughout the ten directions at once.
From a Single Hand, Every Offering
The bodhisattva enters samādhi and, with a single hand reaching across the three-thousandfold world, causes flowers, incense, robes, jeweled banners, and music to rain down without end, offered before the bodhi tree to every buddha at once.
「此大名稱諸聖人，三昧解脫神通力，
若欲供養一切佛，入于三昧起神變，
能以一手遍三千，普供一切諸如來。
十方所有勝妙華，塗香末香無價寶，
如是皆從手中出，供養道樹諸最勝。
無價寶衣雜妙香，寶幢幡蓋皆嚴好，
真金為華寶為帳，莫不皆從掌中雨。
十方所有諸妙物，應可奉獻無上尊，
掌中悉雨無不備，菩提樹前持供佛。
十方一切諸妓樂，鐘鼓琴瑟非一類，
悉奏和雅妙音聲，靡不從於掌中出。
十方所有諸讚頌，稱歎如來實功德，
如是種種妙言辭，皆從掌內而開演。」
"These greatly renowned sages, by the power of samādhi, liberation, and spiritual powers, when wishing to make offering to every buddha, enter into samādhi and give rise to spiritual transformation, able with a single hand to reach throughout the three-thousandfold world, universally making offering to every single Tathāgata.
Every supremely wondrous flower throughout the ten directions, every anointing incense, every powdered incense, every priceless treasure — all of these emerge from that very hand, making offering before the bodhi tree to every most supreme one.
Priceless jeweled robes and manifold wondrous incenses, jeweled banners, pennants, and canopies, all finely adorned, flowers of true gold and canopies of treasure — there is none of these that does not rain down from that very palm.
Every wondrous thing throughout the ten directions that is fit to be offered up to the unsurpassed and honored one — from that palm it all rains down, with nothing left unprepared, held and offered to the Buddha before the bodhi tree.
Every musical instrument throughout the ten directions — bells, drums, zithers, lutes, of more than a single kind — all of them play their harmonious, elegant, and wondrous sounds, and there is none of them that does not emerge from that very palm.
Every hymn of praise throughout the ten directions, extolling and praising the Tathāgata's own true merit — every kind of such wondrous words is opened and expounded from within that very palm."
Light Upon Light: Seven Canopies of Adornment
The offering now shifts from the hand to a ray of light from the bodhisattva's own right hand, which in turn gives rise to a sequence of further lights — each one adorned with its own kind of offering, gathered into a canopy, and scattered throughout every land of the ten directions. The source repeats this formula seven times in full, once for each kind of adornment, without shortening it, and this translation preserves that same repetition.
「菩薩右手放淨光，光中香水從空雨，
普灑十方諸佛土，供養一切照世燈。
又放光明妙莊嚴，出生無量寶蓮華，
其華色相皆殊妙，以此供養於諸佛。
又放光明華莊嚴，種種妙華集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明香莊嚴，種種妙香集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明末香嚴，種種末香聚為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明衣莊嚴，種種名衣集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明寶莊嚴，種種妙寶集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明蓮莊嚴，種種蓮華集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明瓔莊嚴，種種妙瓔集為帳，
普散十方諸國土，供養一切大德尊。
又放光明幢莊嚴，其幢絢煥備眾色，
種種無量皆殊好，以此莊嚴諸佛土。
種種雜寶莊嚴蓋，眾妙繒幡共垂飾，
摩尼寶鐸演佛音，執持供養諸如來。
手出供具難思議，如是供養一導師，
一切佛所皆如是，大士三昧神通力。」
"The bodhisattva's right hand emits a pure light, and within that light, fragrant water rains down from the sky, universally sprinkling every buddha-land throughout the ten directions, making offering to every lamp that illumines the world.
He further emits a light of wondrous adornment, giving rise to immeasurable jeweled lotus flowers, every one of those flowers' own colors and forms supremely wondrous, and with these he makes offering to every buddha.
He further emits a light adorned with flowers, every kind of wondrous flower gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with incense, every kind of wondrous incense gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with powdered incense, every kind of powdered incense gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with robes, every kind of fine robe gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with treasures, every kind of wondrous treasure gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with lotuses, every kind of lotus flower gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with jeweled garlands, every kind of wondrous garland gathered into a canopy, universally scattered throughout every land of the ten directions, making offering to every being of great virtue and honor.
He further emits a light adorned with banners, those banners brilliant and radiant, complete with every color, every kind of them immeasurable and each supremely fine — and with these he adorns every buddha-land.
Canopies adorned with every kind of manifold treasure, a multitude of wondrous silken pennants hanging together as ornament, maṇi-jeweled bells sounding forth the Buddha's own voice — holding all of these, he makes offering to every Tathāgata.
The offerings that emerge from that hand are inconceivable; thus does he make offering to a single guide, and it is likewise so at the place of every single buddha — such is the great being's own power of samādhi and spiritual powers."
The sevenfold repetition here — flowers, incense, powdered incense, robes, treasures, lotuses, garlands, each given the identical four-line formula in full — is the sūtra's own choice, not a stylistic tic this translation could smooth away without altering the text's actual shape. Read at speed, the repetition can feel like padding; read as intended, each restatement is itself an act of the very generosity it describes, refusing to let any single kind of offering stand as a mere placeholder for "and so on." The passage closes by naming its source directly: not the bodhisattva's own wealth, but the power of samādhi itself — offerings without end are what naturally accompanies a mind that has, as the chapter's opening chain established, already arrived at the buddhas' own consecration.
Part 52 Complete
This closes Part 52. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 53 with a turn toward the many gates of samādhi and skillful means by which the bodhisattva meets living beings exactly where they are, matching the remedy to each affliction.