འཕགས་པ་སྙང་རྗ་པད་མ་དཀར་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 182

182

those who have been cast aside by all scholars, those who have entered the dungeon of existence, those who are swept away by the current, those who have sunk into hell’s caustic river, those who have sunk into the swamp of saṃsāra, those who are not free from the darkness of ignorance, those who have not rejected bad actions, those who are discarded within empty buddha realms, those who are accompanied by all bad roots, those who have been defeated by a bad path, and those beings who are in great despair.

“ ‘At that time, in the Bhadraka eon, in the Sahā buddha realm, humans will have a lifespan of ten years. All of these humans have been cast aside and abandoned by wise, worthy beings. Therefore, at that time they have no savior, no refuge, and no resort in the whirlpool³⁰¹ of existence and the wheel³⁰² of saṃsāra. They have abandoned those beings who are containers of suffering, and they have chosen for themselves excellent buddha realms where they will have as disciples those who are well-trained, have pure motivations, have planted roots of virtue, are diligent, and have served many buddhas. Is that not so, Bhadanta Bhagavat?’

“ ‘Brahmin, it is so,’ replied the Tathāgata Ratnagarbha. ‘Beings make prayers according to their dispositions and they have chosen the arrays of qualities of their buddha realm, and I have prophesied them therein.’

“The brahmin said, ‘Bhadanta Bhagavat, my heart is shaking like the leaves of the Flame of the Forest tree, my mind is anguished, and my entire body becomes weary, if, Bhadanta Bhagavat, beings, who are the object of my compassion, were to be abandoned by bodhisattvas at that time, having been hurled into the darkness of the great kaliyuga, forsaken by all.