འཕགས་པ་གསར་གྱ་བྱ་མ་ལྟ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy—referenced in the sūtra’s title—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find a world system in which bodhisattvas engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such things, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.