འཕགས་པ་ལྷག་པའ་བསམ་པ་བསྐལ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.2

intro.2

Inspiring Determination appears in the Heap of Jewels (Skt. Ratnakūṭa; Tib. dkon brtsegs) section of the Kangyur. The sūtra opens with the bodhisattva Maitreya observing a group of sixty among the five hundred bodhisattvas who have gathered around the Buddha in the Deer Park on the outskirts of Vārāṇasī. These sixty bodhisattvas have strayed from the bodhisattva path. Rather than studying and practicing in solitude, they have become distracted by worldly concerns and have stopped applying themselves to the Dharma. Seeking to help them restore their commitments, Maitreya invites them to approach the Buddha, confess their faults, and request his guidance. The bodhisattvas then reveal and confess to the Buddha their failings and their doubts about being able to live up to the bodhisattva ideal.