འཕགས་པ་ཀླའ་རྒྱལ་པ་རྒྱ་མཚས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

Like many Great Vehicle sūtras, this work contains prophecies about how various beings who are present during this teaching will attain perfect awakening in a future lifetime. When the Nāga King Sāgara receives the prophecy of his own awakening, he takes that opportunity to question the existence of any phenomena that might provide a basis for that prophecy as well as the existence of any being who might function as that prophecy's subject. He points out that it is only by giving up such notions that one can receive the buddhas’ prophecy. This theme runs throughout the text: advancement on the path of the Great Vehicle is made through the ultimate insight that all phenomena are without intrinsic essence and thus beyond subject and object, yet this realization of emptiness in no way runs counter to engagement with dependently arisen relative phenomena.