འཕགས་པ་ཁྱའ་བཞའ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.20

1.20

in the world called Joy, the buddha field of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha Lord of Joy, a bodhisattva great being called Without Reference passed away and was reborn here in this buddha field of Jambudvīpa, in the great city of Vārāṇasī, in the household of the eminent merchant called Excellent Flower. As soon as the child was born, he spoke up, and he spoke with purpose:

“The Buddha, our guide,
The teacher of the Dharma of unwavering selflessness,
Will pass into nirvāṇa today
Amidst a grove of śāla trees.

“If all phenomena are beyond reference points,⁴¹
The unlearned who make reference points
Will not be freed from suffering—
Their suffering will only increase.

“All phenomena are ephemeral;
There is no place where they abide.
Neither that which is already exhausted nor that which is yet to be exhausted
Is to be found.

“Emptiness is never destroyed;
Emptiness does not disintegrate.
It neither has conditions,
Nor is it without conditions.

“He who revealed peace, so hard to see,
Through this profound doctrine—
The lion of the Śākyas, the best of men,
The perfect Buddha—is he still here?

“The great lion, the elephant
Who has become pure,
Whose vision has become flawless,
Will today pass away between the śāla trees.

“He who, like a full moon,
Gave teachings for so long
Before the community of monks
Henceforth shall be seen no more.

“He who glorified the monastic assembly
Like a wealth deity atop a mountain peak,⁴²
The protector, the eloquent teacher,
Henceforth shall visit the city no more.

“Before gods and humans,
The roar of the protector’s unsurpassed doctrine,
The melodious speech that brings delight,
Henceforth shall be heard no more.”

As soon as the bodhisattva great being Without Reference had uttered these verses, a hundred thousand people in the great city Vārāṇasī exclaimed, “How is it that this child can remember his past lives as soon as he is born?