འཕགས་པ་སྙང་རྗ་པད་མ་དཀར་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 317

317

Therefore the Tathāgata’s compassion and the entry into his teaching are vast.

“Noble sons, one time, not long after the Tathāgata Śākyamuni attained complete buddhahood, while contemplating the beings who were to be guided, he stayed in the hollow of a Sal tree that was the home of a yakṣa named Indrākṣa in the middle of a rugged, rocky mountain. For seven days he remained cross-legged, experiencing the joy and bliss of liberation. The Tathāgata’s body filled the tree hollow; there wasn’t even a four-finger-width space that was not filled by the Tathāgata’s body.

“When seven days had passed, twelve hundred million bodhisattva mahāsattvas came from the ten directions to the Sahā realm and sat on the side of the mountain in order to pay homage to the Tathāgata Śākyamuni, attend upon him, and listen to his Dharma teaching.

“Noble sons, the Tathāgata Śākyamuni performed a miraculous transformation for that assembly. The tree hollow became vast and wide. When the twelve hundred million⁴⁴⁹ bodhisattvas entered the tree hollow, they saw it as vastly spacious.⁴⁵⁰ Each bodhisattva manifested a variety of bodhisattva miracles so as to make offerings to the Tathāgata. Then each bodhisattva manifested a seat made of seven jewels and sat upon it to listen to the Dharma.

“Noble sons, when those bodhisattvas had heard the Dharma from the Tathāgata Śākyamuni,