Toh 126 — Like Gold Dust

F.293.a Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. F.293.b

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, along with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks and many thousands of bodhisattvas.

Venerable Ānanda rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, and bowing toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas limitless? Blessed One, do thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities?”

The Blessed One replied to Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas are limitless. Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities.”

Venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One a second time, “Blessed One, are thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas limitless? Blessed One, do thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities?”

The Blessed One replied to Venerable Ānanda a second, and also a third time, “Yes, Ānanda, F.294.a thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas are limitless. Yes, Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities.

“Ānanda, do you wish to hear of the limitlessness of thus-gone ones, to know about the range of thus-gone ones,^[1] and to know of the good qualities of thus-gone ones?”

“Yes, Blessed One, please teach the monks,” Venerable Ānanda replied. “Please teach us, Well-Gone One. If the monks hear it from you directly, they will retain it well.”

The Blessed One then asked Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, do you know the miraculous powers with which Mahāmaudgalyāyana can travel in the cardinal and intermediate directions?”

Ānanda replied, “Please tell us, Blessed One. With what miraculous powers does Mahāmaudgalyāyana travel in the cardinal and intermediate directions? Well-Gone One, please teach us.”

“Ānanda, I will illustrate it for you by means of an analogy,” said the Blessed One. “Why? Because, Ānanda, learned people reach understanding through analogies. Ānanda, take the analogy of a pool measuring eight thousand leagues. It is so filled with water that a crow can drink from it, it is of equal depth on all sides, and it is covered with lotus leaves. Over this pool someone then rides an iron chariot pulled by fine horses that are stronger than the wind. They race with such power, force, and speed that the wooden rims of the wheels do not even touch the water, nor do the horses’ hooves touch the water, and the lotus leaves are not crushed by the horses’ hooves, not even slightly.F.294.b Ānanda, if a poisonous snake were to appear from that pool and coil itself around the chariot eight times before the chariot had left the lake, well, Ānanda, in the time it took to coil itself just once around that chariot, you can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. But in the time it takes you, Ānanda, to utter one word, Mahāmaudgalyāyana can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. However, Ānanda, in the time it takes Mahāmaudgalyāyana to utter one word, the elder Śāradvatīputra can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. Similarly, in the time it takes the elder Śāradvatīputra to utter one word, a pratyekabuddha can give innumerable kinds of Dharma teaching. And in the time it takes a pratyekabuddha to utter one word, a bodhisattva can give unutterably and inconceivably innumerable kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood.^[2] Well, Ānanda, in the time it takes a bodhisattva to utter just one word, the elder Mahāmaudgalyāyana can traverse eighty thousand world systems.

“Ānanda, imagine if one who has developed such a miraculous ability traveled in this way in the eastern direction for seven days and nights without rest, through however many world systems there may be; and then, in the same way, traveled to the south, to the west, and to the north; and likewise for seven days and nights without rest to the southeast, to the southwest, to the northwest, the northeast, and likewise in the upward and downward directions. Then, imagine someone enclosed all of those world systems in the ten directions within a fence, and, having leveled the ground and cleared it of rocks, stones, gravel, and debris,F.295.a made it into a single city, and filled it right to the top with mustard seeds. Well, Ānanda, I see beings embarked upon awakening in world systems even more numerous than the number of mustard seeds in that city. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas engaging in bodhisattva conduct. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas taking birth among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas dying among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas entering their mothers’ wombs. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas emerging from their mothers’ wombs. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas engaged in child’s play. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas abandoning their kingdoms and going forth as renunciants. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas demonstrating the practice of austerities. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas proceeding towards the seat of awakening.

In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas gazing upon the seat of awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that,F.295.b I see bodhisattvas circumambulating the seat of awakening three times with the utmost devotion and respect. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated at the seat of awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated before the Bodhi tree. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas who will completely realize unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas who have completely realized unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see blessed buddhas turning the wheel of Dharma. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see blessed buddhas displaying the great parinirvāṇa.

“All of these are merely those bodhisattvas with fitting names and fitting family lineages, which is not to mention those great bodhisattvas, in whichever world systems, with different names and different family lineages, who are renouncing, who are proceeding toward the seat of awakening, who are gazing upon the seat of awakening, who are circumambulating the seat of awakening, who are seated at the seat of awakening, who are seated before the Bodhi tree, who are completely awakened and have turned the wheel of Dharma, and who are displaying the great parinirvāṇa.”

Venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are there any world systems in which blessed buddhas do not appear? F.296.a Are there any world systems in which bodhisattvas do not engage in bodhisattva conduct?”

The Blessed One replied, “To draw an analogy Ānanda, in those world systems that I have spoken of, the appearance of blessed buddhas, and bodhisattvas who engage in bodhisattva conduct, is as rare, Ānanda, as gold dust among the sands of the great ocean or the sands of the river Gaṅgā. Ānanda, the appearance of blessed buddhas in any world system, and world systems in which bodhisattvas engage in bodhisattva conduct, are as rare as this. Ānanda, world systems in which blessed buddhas appear, and in which bodhisattvas engage in bodhisattva conduct, are as uncommon as someone finding a single grain of gold among all the sands of the great ocean or the sands of the river Gaṅgā.”

Thus spoke the Blessed One, and Venerable Ānanda, together with the monks and bodhisattvas, as well as the world of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas, rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.