འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 41

41

Chapter 4: The Confession in a Dream

The bodhisattva Ruciraketu then went to sleep and in a dream saw a golden drum⁸⁴ that was shining like the disk of the sun. In all directions there were countless, innumerable buddha bhagavats seated upon precious beryl thrones at the foot of precious wish-fulfilling trees, encircled by assemblies of many hundreds of thousands. Looking straight ahead, they were teaching the Dharma.

Then he saw a person who appeared to be a brahmin beating that drum, and he heard a teaching in verse come from the drumbeats.

As soon as the bodhisattva Ruciraketu awoke from his sleep, he remembered the verses that were taught. Having remembered them, when the night was over, he left the city of Rājagṛha, and together with many thousands of people he went to Vulture Peak Mountain and into the presence of the Bhagavat. He bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavat and circumambulated the Bhagavat three times, keeping him to his right, and then sat down to one side.

Seated to one side, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, with his palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and recited the teaching in verse that he had heard from the sound of the drum in his dream.

“One night, though I was not
Sleepy,⁸⁵ I entered a dream.
I saw a large, beautiful drum
Entirely of golden light.

“It was shining like the sun
And completely bright,
Illuminating the ten directions.
I saw buddhas everywhere,

“Seated beneath precious trees
On precious beryl thrones,
Looking straight ahead in the middle
Of many hundreds of thousands of followers.

“I saw someone resembling a brahmin
Who beat that big drum.
As he was beating it,