འཕགས་པ་མ་འམ་ཅའ་རྒྱལ་པ་སྡང་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 125

125

at dusk, during nighttime, and at dawn, all the worlds of the great trichiliocosm with the seven precious substances and offering this to all of them. Then, imagine that he or she practices generosity on that scale for a year, for a hundred years, for a thousand years, and for a hundred thousand years. What do you think Ānanda, would that noble son or daughter generate a lot of merit on that basis?”

“Blessed One, the amount of merit generated would be huge! It would be immeasurable! Well-Gone One, the merit generated would be boundless! Blessed One, the heap of merit generated from doing this for one day is immeasurable, to say nothing of the heap of merit generated by practicing such generosity for a hundred thousand years!”

“Ānanda, think about this and understand this point: if someone who strives to reach awakening, to turn the wheel of Dharma, and to liberate beings is devoted to this Dharma teaching upon hearing it, and then keeps it in mind, holds it, reads it, and comprehends it, such a noble son or daughter who follows the Great Vehicle will generate an amount of merit larger than that. That being so, what need is there to mention the merit generated by those who put it into practice in accordance with reality?! Why is that? Because, Ānanda, keeping in mind even a single verse of four lines from this Dharma teaching, holding it, reading it, comprehending it, and fully teaching it to others is known as generosity, and that generosity surpasses all other forms of generosity. Generosity with the Dharma is the supreme form of generosity, assistance with the Dharma is the supreme form of assistance, the act of spreading the Dharma is the supreme form of action,