ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 27.5

27.5

whereupon they practiced pure conduct all their lives. Listen well!

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa put on a great display of miracles. Out of compassion for people in times to come, and so that he might lead the five hundred sages, he performed a miracle that caused them to take the appearance of the Buddha’s footprints as a sign.

“At that time in the south, there were some five hundred sages living in a certain forest for practicing austerities. As they traveled through the heavens above the footprints of the Blessed Buddha to Gandhamādana Mountain, they were amazed to find themselves unable to go any farther, as if obstructed by Mount Sumeru itself. ‘Our miraculous powers have not waned,’ they thought. ‘How can it be we are obstructed in the sky?’

“A god who was fond of them explained, ‘Though your miraculous powers have not waned, far below you are footprints of the Buddha. Beyond them even Śakra and Brahmā cannot pass.’ The sages took great delight in the footprints. In their joy they descended to the earth and began to venerate the footprints. To lead them, the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa performed a miracle that caused the footprints to float up one by one to where the sages were hovering, and the sages thought, ‘These footprints belong to Mahā­deva. He went this way!’ Thinking this, the sages began following the footprints, and then all five hundred sages saw the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa from a distance.