འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པའ་སང་གའ་སྒྲ་ཆན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 2.2

2.2

“Maitreya, if a bodhisattva should, without any regard, give all their own pleasing possessions to others, consider how far these monks will go astray! Because, Maitreya, a bodhisattva first develops an attitude of great compassion, thinking, ‘I must make all beings happy!’

“Maitreya, as an analogy, if a merchant or householder had an only son who was dear, beloved, and handsome, and whom a king imprisoned because of certain transgressions,²⁶ what do you think, Maitreya—with what intention would the merchant or householder enter the king’s prison?”

The bodhisattva great being Maitreya replied to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, resolved to free their only son, they would think, ‘I shall quickly free my only son from this prison!’ They would enter the prison focused solely on their only son. They would enter the prison and, focused on freeing him, bring about his release.”

The Blessed One replied, “Maitreya, I have used this analogy so that the meaning²⁷ will be understood. What is that meaning? It is as follows. You should consider the king’s prison to be just like the prison of saṃsāra. By analogy, Maitreya, you should consider the merchant or householder to be just like a bodhisattva. Maitreya, as for the analogy of the only son, consider that a bodhisattva should think of every being as like their only son.

“It is like this, Maitreya—just as the merchant or householder would not enter the prison for any other reason or purpose than to benefit their only son, in the same way, Maitreya, a bodhisattva