འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བདན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1

1

¹⁹ Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the summit of Kailāsa in the abode of the gods close to where the sages live. He was accompanied by a great monastic saṅgha of around five hundred monks and five hundred bodhisattvas, including the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, the bodhisattva great being Ākāśagarbha, Samantabhadra, Infinite Flowers, Samantakusuma, and others, all of whom were bodhisattvas who were just one birth away from awakening.

The Blessed One saw that a monk in that alpine forest had been possessed by a spirit, had collapsed, and was lying there naked and wailing with his arms raised up.

The bodhisattva great being Ākāśagarbha draped his upper robe over one shoulder, knelt on his right knee, bowed to the Blessed One with his hands joined, and addressed him. “Blessed One, what is this great lamenting that fills the sky, and who is this naked monk raising his arms in distress?”²⁰

The Blessed One told the bodhisattva great being Ākāśagarbha, “Ākāśagarbha, this monk is ill. He has contracted an illness.”

The bodhisattva great being Ākāśagarbha then asked the Blessed One,