འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གནས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1

1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was staying at Rājagṛha, on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain, together with a large community of a full five hundred monks and a great congregation of bodhisattvas. At that time, the Bhagavān, after emerging in the late afternoon from secluded meditation,²⁷ surrounded and honored by a great assembly, taught the Dharma.

Subsequently, the youthful Mañjuśrī was walking about, going from residence to residence among all five hundred monks. When he went to the residence where the elder Śāriputra lived, Mañjuśrī saw him sitting alone in solitude, practicing concentration while in meditative seclusion.

When he saw him, he said the following words to the elder Śāriputra: “Honorable Śāriputra, are you practicing concentration?”

“Yes,” replied Śāriputra, “it is so, Mañjuśrī.”

“Honorable Śāriputra,” said Mañjuśrī, “are you concentrating in order to abandon afflictions that have already been abandoned? Or are you concentrating in order to abandon those that have not yet been abandoned?

“Honorable Śāriputra, are you concentrating while dwelling on the past? Are you concentrating while dwelling on the future? Or are you concentrating while dwelling on the present?²⁸ Honorable Śāriputra, are you concentrating while dwelling on bodily form? Are you concentrating while dwelling on feelings, perceptions, volitional formations, or consciousness? Honorable Śāriputra, are you concentrating while dwelling on the eye? Or are you concentrating while dwelling on the nose, ear, tongue, body, or mind? Honorable Śāriputra,