འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5.11

5.11

“ ‘Open all these seven caskets!”³⁷⁸ said the Bhagavat.

“He thus opened them all, and he saw in them bones that were the color of snow and water lilies. Having seen them, he told the Bhagavat, ‘Bhagavat, there are bones.’

“ ‘Ānanda, bring the bones of the great being!’ said the Bhagavat.

“Venerable Ānanda picked up those bones and gave them to the Buddha Bhagavat. The Bhagavat took the bones, held them in front of the saṅgha, and said:

“ ‘These are the bones of someone who possessed the accumulation of supreme qualities, had supreme understanding,³⁷⁹
And had sublime, supreme self-control, meditative stability, patience,³⁸⁰ enthusiasm, and renown.
Moreover, they created in those with understanding a constant enthusiasm and aspiration for this enlightenment,
And they have created a delight for giving in those with perfect understanding.’³⁸¹

“The Bhagavat then said to the bhikṣus, ‘Bhikṣus, pay homage to the bones of a bodhisattva that are suffused with good conduct and good qualities, that are supremely difficult to see, and that are a field of merit.’

“Those bhikṣus placed their palms together and with aspiration paid homage to the bones.

“Then Venerable Ānanda, with palms together, said to the Bhagavat, ‘The Bhagavat Tathāgata is higher than all worlds and is to be paid homage by all beings, so why does the Tathāgata pay homage to these bones?’

“The Bhagavat replied to Venerable Ānanda, ‘Ānanda, it is through these bones that I quickly attained the highest, most complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood. Ānanda, in the past, in a time gone by, there was a king by the name of Mahāratha, who had many troops and vehicles and unimpeded power, and who had subjugated his adversaries. He had three sons who were like young gods: Mahāpraṇāda, Mahādeva, and Mahāsattva.