འཕགས་པ་ཟ་མ་ཏག་བཀད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 3.21

3.21

As a comparison, the ocean is 84,000 yojanas deep, and it has an immeasurable expanse, extending as far as Vaḍavāmukha. I can count all its drops of water, which are the size of the tip of a hair, but, noble son, I cannot calculate the accumulation of merit that comes from repeating the six-syllable mahāvidyā once.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, I can count the number of leaves in a forest of agarwood trees, but, noble son, I cannot calculate the accumulation of merit that comes from repeating the six-syllable mahāvidyā once.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, even if all the men, women, boys, and girls who live in the four continents were to be on the seventh bodhisattva bhūmi,²⁵⁰ the accumulation of merit that comes from repeating the six-syllable mahāvidyā once would be far greater than the accumulation of merit of those bodhisattvas.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this. As a comparison, if for a year of twelve months, or with a leap-month to make a year of thirteen months,²⁵¹ it were to rain day and night, noble son, I could count each drop of rain, but, noble son, I cannot calculate the accumulation of merit that comes from repeating the six-syllable mahāvidyā once.

“ ‘Noble son, it is like this: There is no need to say much, but if, for example, a million tathāgatas like me were to be in one place for an eon, provided with all requirements, with robes, food, bowls,²⁵² bedding, seats,²⁵³ necessary medicine, and utensils, still those tathāgatas would not be able to calculate the accumulation of merit from the six-syllable mahāvidyā, so it is needless to say that I cannot do so all by myself in this world.

“ ‘Noble son, I have entered the yoga of meditation through an inconceivable dhyāna. This is a subtle Dharma, an imperceptible Dharma, an unknown Dharma; it is the attainment of the ultimate essence. It has been established through the qualities of Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s skillfulness in methods. In that way, noble son,