འཕགས་པ་ཕ་རལ་ཏ་ཕྱན་པ་ལྔ་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.9

1.9

Nor would it measure a thousandth, a hundred thousandth, a millionth, or a trillionth of that. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice. And why? Because the bodhisattva’s thought to rejoice in that manner surpasses anything else.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, when the full moon rises, all the many stars lose their luster. And, Venerable Pūrṇa, when the sun’s disc rises, it outshines all the fireflies in the world and makes them lose their luster. Venerable Pūrṇa, you may have a hundred, or a thousand, or ten million, or a billion semiprecious stones. However, if you placed a single beryl among them, the color and shine of that single beryl gem would surpass all the semiprecious stones and their luster would fade and disappear. Venerable Pūrṇa, in the same way, the mass of merit that arose from the generosity of all those beings, who practiced generosity for as many limitless eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, would not constitute even one percent of the merit created by the bodhisattva’s thought to rejoice. Nor would it measure a thousandth, a hundred thousandth, a millionth, or a trillionth of that. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, if you placed the precious horse among a thousand common horses, none of those horses would seem special or stunning. They would not show any of the wild moods of a horse either, because the precious horse would surpass all of them. Venerable Pūrṇa, in the same way, the mass of merit that arose from the generosity of all those beings, who practiced generosity for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, would not constitute even one percent of the merit created by the bodhisattva’s thought to rejoice. Nor would it measure a thousandth, a hundred thousandth, a millionth, or a trillionth of that. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice. The bodhisattva’s thought to rejoice would surpass it all.