འཕགས་པ་ཟ་མ་ཏག་བཀད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.19

1.19

“Bhagavat Śikhin replied, ‘If someone were for a deva’s eon to serve tathāgatas, arhats, and samyaksaṃbuddhas as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges with robes, food, bowls, bedding, seats,⁹⁸ necessary medicine, and utensils, the merit that would be produced through those tathāgatas would be the same as that of the tip of one hair on the body of Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, if it were to rain day and night on the four great continents for a twelve-month year, I could count each drop, but, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, the ocean is 84,000 yojanas deep and has an immeasurable expanse, but I can count each drop all the way down to Vaḍavāmukha. However, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, I can count every hair on all the four-legged creatures in the four great continents, such as lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, deer, camels, jackals,⁹⁹ and so on, and oxen, donkeys, cattle, elephants, horses, buffalo, and cats, but, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, if stūpas¹⁰⁰ for tathāgatas, arhats, and samyaksaṃbuddhas as numerous as atoms were made in divine gold and precious stones,