དམ་པའ་ཆས་པད་མ་དཀར་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 7.21

7.21

“Excellent, noble ones, excellent! Noble ones, your praise of the Tathāgata is excellent, excellent!”

At that moment, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya and hundreds of thousands of quintillions of other bodhisattvas, as numerous as the grains of sand in eight Ganges Rivers, thought, “A great gathering of bodhisattvas, a great aggregation of bodhisattvas has emerged from the ground, and standing before the Bhagavān has honored, revered, and pleased the Bhagavān.⁴³¹ This is something we have never seen and never heard of before. Where did these bodhisattva mahāsattvas come from?”

The bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya was aware of his own doubt and uncertainty and knew in his own mind the thoughts that were in the minds of hundreds of thousands of quintillions of other bodhisattvas, as numerous as the grains of sand in eight Ganges Rivers. He placed his hands together in homage, and to the Bhagavān he expressed these thoughts in verses:

“Supreme human, tell us
About these many hundreds of thousands
Of quintillions of infinite bodhisattvas
Who have never appeared before. {5}

“They who have great miraculous powers,
From where did they come, and how?
They who have massive bodies,
Where did they come from? {6}

“All of these steadfast ones,
Great rishis who have mindfulness
And have extremely beautiful bodies,
Where did they come from? {7}

“Lord of the World, there have arrived
These wise bodhisattvas, each of whom
Has an incalculable following
As numerous as the sands of the Ganges. {8}

“The followers of the bodhisattvas,
Who are renowned and are as numerous
As the sands of sixty complete Ganges Rivers,
Have all become fixed upon enlightenment. {9}

“The number of such heroes as these,
These protectors and their followers,