འཕགས་པ་སང་གས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5

5

Let alone while awake?”⁷¹ {37}⁷²

“In whatever region one dwells,
Whether a village or a city,
By correctly guiding others toward awakening,
The mind of awakening is not abandoned.” {38}

“Wherever one is born,⁷³
How can one acquire great strength
And always be elevated with power
So that even ten million māras can do no harm?”⁷⁴ {39}

“In this life, if one offers the five essences⁷⁵
And gives courage to those who are afraid,
Then wherever one is born⁷⁶
One will also have great strength,
Always be elevated with power,
And be unharmed even by ten million māras.”⁷⁷ {40}⁷⁸

Having heard this teaching
On the conduct of bodhisattvas⁷⁹
Directly from the Guardian of the World,
Siṃha⁸⁰ was overjoyed.⁸¹ {41}⁸²

He and his companions
Spoke the following words:⁸³
“We will train
In this teaching on conduct.”⁸⁴ {42}

Then the Buddha smiled,
And the trichiliocosm quaked.⁸⁵
Ajita then asked the Buddha
The following question:
“Why did you smile?
Great Sage,⁸⁶ please explain this!”⁸⁷ {43}⁸⁸

And so to Ajita
The Buddha replied,
“Ajita, please listen to the reason
That I smiled.⁸⁹ {44}

“Previously,⁹⁰ these boys⁹¹ assembled before
Eight hundred million buddhas and a quadrillion more.⁹²
For the purpose of awakening,
They made offerings to those guides of humans.⁹³ {45}

“Since the time of⁹⁴ Dīpaṅkara—
The perfect buddha,⁹⁵ supreme among people⁹⁶—
I have been ripening
These brahmin boys.⁹⁷ {46}

“When the splendid⁹⁸ eon called
Great Illumination⁹⁹ arises,
In that single eon
They will all become guides.¹⁰⁰ {47}¹⁰¹

“They will become guides for the world
Named Jñānaketudhvaja,¹⁰²
And their array will be
Just like that of Amitābha. {48}

“From the time of Maitreya
Through three hundred full eons,