འཕགས་པ་བསད་ནམས་ཐམས་ཅད་བསྡས་པའ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་ཅས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

The setting of the narrative then changes from Āmrapālī’s grove to a nearby place in the town of Vaiśālī, where the sūtra’s chief protagonist, Vimalatejā, is dwelling. Through the omnipresent narrator, we zoom in on this strongman as he is indulging in a bout of self-aggrandizement concerning his stature as a strong and powerful human being. He almost comes to the conclusion that there could be no one mightier than him in the world, before he remembers having heard of a special person named Gautama. Gautama is of course said to possess the ten strengths of an awakened being, which, if true, would certainly eclipse the merely physical and worldly might that Vimalatejā possesses. So he resolves to visit the Buddha to clear away his doubts. This sets up another major theme of the text, a playful inquiry into what it really means to be “strong.”