འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 8

8

“Those who hear this sūtra
And cause others to hear it,
And those who rejoice in this sūtra,
And those who make offerings to it,

“Throughout millions of eons
Will themselves receive offerings
From devas, nāgas, and humans,
And from kinnaras, asuras, and yakṣas.⁴⁰

“For beings who create this merit,
There will arise for them
An infinite, incalculable,
Inconceivable mass of merit.

“They will be taken into the care
Of the perfect⁴¹ buddhas in the ten directions,
And similarly by the bodhisattvas
Who have profound activity.

“Having put on clean clothes,
Wearing perfumed clothing,⁴²
And having a loving mind,
They should offer without distraction.⁴³

“They should make their
Own minds pure and vast,
And with minds filled with faith,
They should listen to this sublime sūtra.

“Those who listen to this sūtra
Will be welcomed among humans,⁴⁴
Will attain an excellent human existence,⁴⁵
And will live happy lives.

“Those in whose ears
This teaching sounds⁴⁶
Will plant good roots
And be praised by many buddhas.”

Chapter 2: The Teaching of the Lifespan of the Tathāgata

Also, at that time, there dwelled in the great city of Rājagṛha a bodhisattva mahāsattva by the name of Ruciraketu. He had served past jinas, had developed roots of merit, and had attended⁴⁷ upon many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddhas. He thought, “Through what causes and what conditions does the Bhagavat Śākyamuni have such a short lifespan of eighty years?”

Then he thought, “The Bhagavat has said, ‘There are two causes and two conditions for a long life.