Upholding the Roots of Virtue
Praising the Merits of Engendering the Mind of Awakening and Pursuing the Sacred Dharma

Present in the gathering was a certain Dṛḍhamati­kumāra­bhūta, who now rose from his seat, draped his shawl over one shoulder, and knelt on his right knee. Joining his palms, he bowed toward the Blessed One and said, “Blessed One, with this gateway of the Dharma I have discovered something very precious. Blessed One, I shall henceforth practice this gateway of the Dharma in order to accomplish the Dharma. How so? From today on, Blessed One, I shall don a suitable armor to pursue and accomplish these Dharma teachings. In the future, in times to come, I shall never let my diligence wane until I have listened to the Dharma treasure of the Thus-Gone One’s domain.”

“Dṛḍhamati,” replied the Thus-Gone One, “this is excellent. It is excellent that throughout innumerable millions of eons you will continue to exert yourself in the pursuit of the practice of my great wisdom. Well done, Dṛḍhamati. Now, Dṛḍhamati, imagine that all at once, in one moment, in one instant, all beings in this trichiliocosm without exception‍—whether they are those with form, or those who are formless, and whether they are those with perception, or those without perception, [F.43.a] or those with neither perception nor non-perception‍—were to attain a human body. Then imagine that a man appears who provides all those beings with enjoyable things. He is able to lift them up and hold them by his hand for an eon or more, faithfully providing them with whatever forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures they might wish for. Meanwhile, he uses his other hand to collect all the feces and urine of all those beings, depositing it all in a different universe. And why does he do that? Because he does not want any of them to experience any unpleasant odor. Dṛḍhamati, what do you think? Does that man render proper service to all those beings, providing them with desirable things?”

“Indeed, Blessed One,” replied Dṛḍhamati, “he serves them with an extremely vast amount of enjoyable things.”

“Dṛḍhamati,” continued the Blessed One, “that man serves each of those beings, providing them with pleasant things.

“Now think of a noble son or daughter who, regardless of whether the Thus-Gone One is present or has passed beyond suffering, develops the mind of unexcelled and perfect awakening for the sake of all beings. This person wishes to hear the teachings of the Bodhisattva Collection. He or she is intent on accomplishing the wisdom of the buddhas, the great wisdom, thus eliminating desire, anger, and delusion. So that all beings may go beyond birth, aging, sickness, death, lamentation, suffering, mental pain, [F.43.b] and disturbance, this person pledges to teach the Dharma to sentient beings. When thus involved in the process of maturing a bodhisattva’s roots of virtue, that person may search for the Dharma and find just one single verse. Dṛḍhamati, as that person provides delightful service to sentient beings, he or she creates merit that is much larger than the former person’s merit. The former merit would not even match one hundredth, or one thousandth of that. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice. [B4]

“Dṛḍhamati, the Thus-Gone One is clearly aware of the different ways in which bodhisattva great beings provide delightful service to sentient beings. But who can trust this, Dṛḍhamati, apart from my hearers who have seen the truths, or the bodhisattva great beings with their superior intent?

“Dṛḍhamati, bodhisattva great beings feel, ‘We shall be the support of those who have no support, the savior of those who have no savior, the refuge of those who have no refuge, the protector of those who have no protector. We shall accomplish the wisdom of the buddhas, the great wisdom, and lead sentient beings beyond all limits and numbers to the undefiled qualities.’ Such is the armor that they wear.

“It may then be that in the morning they must provide sentient beings with a heap of jewels as large as Mount Meru, and it may be that they have to do the same at noon, [F.44.a] and in the afternoon, or throughout the day and night. However, beings may still not be satisfied and the gifts may thus become a circumstance for their depravation. In that case bodhisattvas will think, ‘We shall pursue the Dharma whereby sentient beings will consider the entire trichiliocosm filled with precious substances to be like a glob of spit.’ Needless then to mention what their perception of vile substances will be like.

“Wise bodhisattva great beings will think, ‘This heap of jewels is the root of desire, anger, and delusion; the root of the sufferings of hell, animals, and hungry spirits; and the root of numerous karmic manifestations.’ Starting out in this way, they attain the mind of transcendence of suffering and have no concern for any heap of jewels. In fact, wise beings do not consider heaps of jewels to be just that. Instead, they see them as heaps of beings in hell, because they understand that anyone who develops attachment to such things will fall into misery.

“Now, Dṛḍhamati, let us no longer consider just all the beings within a single trichiliocosm. Imagine instead the following. Think of all the universes that extend toward the east, as abundant as the grains of sand in the river Ganges. And then think of all the universes that in the same way extend in each of the ten directions. Within all these universes are beings with bodies, beings without bodies, beings who are involved in perception, beings who are not involved in perception, and beings neither involved [F.44.b] nor not involved in perception. Think of all that we in this way call ‘the realms of sentient beings.’ Then imagine that, all at once, each one gains a human body. Imagine also that a man appears who always immediately provides them with whatever they might wish for in terms of enjoyable forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. For an eon or more, that man takes care of all these beings, carrying them on his shoulders and head. Whatever they wish him to do, he does. And, with one hand he sweeps away all these beings’ excrement and urine, disposing of it all in a different universe. Well, Dṛḍhamati, what do you think? Does that man render proper service to those beings, providing them with numerous desirable things?”

“Indeed, Blessed One, he serves them with a vast amount of enjoyable things.” replied Dṛḍhamati.

“Dṛḍhamati,” continued the Blessed One, “pay attention and understand what I say. That man serves all those beings, providing them with pleasant things. But think now of a noble son or daughter who wishes to provide all beings with refuge, and so sets his or her mind on unexcelled and perfect awakening. This person wishes to listen to the teachings of the Bodhisattva Collection, the teachings whereby bodhisattvas’ roots of virtue ripen into unexcelled and perfect awakening, and may therefore diligently pursue the Dharma of the bodhisattvas. If, Dṛḍhamati, that person takes even just a single step toward the pursuit and diligent practice of the bodhisattva Dharma, then the ensuing roots of virtue [F.45.a] will not wear out or come to an end before the attainment of unexcelled and perfect awakening. And why? Dṛḍhamati, the former person’s way of providing delightful service cannot match even one hundredth, or a thousandth, one hundred thousandth, or a millionth part of what is rendered by the latter. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice. And why? Because, Dṛḍhamati, all of the former type of service is based on substance, and hence is limited and imperfect.

“Dṛḍhamati, diligent pursuit of the Dharma causes an increase in discipline, absorption, and insight. It ripens the qualities of buddhahood. It ripens inconceivable skillful means and purifies buddha realms. Hence, the Thus-Gone One has taught that unexcelled and perfect awakening depends on abundant learning.

“Dṛḍhamati, imagine that this trichiliocosm is full of thus-gone ones‍—as full as a grove of reeds, a paddy field, a sesame field, or a bamboo grove. Imagine then that someone spends his or her entire life paying respect to, honoring, venerating, and worshiping all those thus-gone ones, worthy ones, perfect buddhas, offering them garments, foods, bedding, mattresses, medicines, and other material things. Moreover, if any one of those thus-gone ones passes completely beyond suffering that person will construct a memorial for them [F.45.b] that measures a league in circumference, is made of the seven precious substances, is sheltered below parasols, is adorned with altars, shines for an eon with the blazing light of oil lamps, and is adorned with beautiful offerings. Dṛḍhamati, what do you think? Will such a noble son or daughter engender abundant merit?”

“Blessed One, that person will produce merit beyond number and measure,” replied Dṛḍhamati.

“Dṛḍhamati,” said the Blessed One, “try to imagine and understand this. That person indeed accumulates such merit. However, a noble son or daughter may develop the mind set on unexcelled and perfect awakening, and so diligently seek to listen to, teach, read, and master the sūtra teachings of the Bodhisattva Collection, the teachings that ripen the factors of awakening. In this regard, Dṛḍhamati, the heaps of merit that are acquired by the former person cannot match even one hundredth, or a thousandth, a hundred thousandth, or a billionth part of the mass of merit that is achieved by this latter person. In fact, no number, fraction, enumeration, analogy, or comparison would suffice.

“Therefore, Dṛḍhamati, if you intend to don your armor for the sake of listening to, recollecting, reading, and mastering such sūtras in the future, during the final five hundred years, then, Dṛḍhamati, I shall not state any measure regarding the amount of merit that you will obtain. I shall mention neither limits nor an end to it.

“Dṛḍhamati, if you wish to hear an analogy for the amount of merit that is obtained by developing the awakened mind, or if you wish to gain just a sense of what it is like, then let me ask you whether you have heard of the thus-gone ones’ supernatural powers, and if you are capable of believing in them.”

“Blessed One,” replied Dṛḍhamati, [F.46.a] “I can accept the powers of the Blessed One.”

“Dṛḍhamati,” asked the Blessed One, “what do you think? Is the trichiliocosm large?”

“Blessed One, yes it is,” replied Dṛḍhamati.

“Dṛḍhamati,” asked the Blessed One, “what do you think? What if the trichiliocosm were full of sesame seeds, and each of those sesame seeds itself became a container the size of a trichiliocosm, all filled up with sand? Dṛḍhamati, what do you think? Would all that amount to a large pile of sand?”

“Yes, Blessed One,” replied Dṛḍhamati, “it would.”

“Dṛḍhamati,” continued the Blessed One, “what then if a man appeared who would grab handfuls of this sand and toss it in the four directions, and if, whenever he did so, a wind would catch each individual grain of sand and carry it into its own distinct universe? Dṛḍhamati, what do you think? How many worlds would there be in the east, and how many would there be in the other directions?”

“Blessed One, this would be beyond measure,” replied Dṛḍhamati. “Well-Gone One, it would be beyond measure.”

“Dṛḍhamati, try to imagine. Dṛḍhamati, try to understand,” continued the Blessed One. “Dṛḍhamati, in the case of the thus-gone ones, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas, their conduct, path, transcendent discipline, transcendent miraculous abilities, and transcendent insight are all beyond measure. Dṛḍhamati, if he so wishes, a thus-gone one [F.46.b] may traverse all those universes in a single step, and yet neither will his conduct be rushed, nor will he have displayed the full extent of his transcendent, supernatural powers. Within the time of a finger-snap and with just one single step a thus-gone one can walk across all those universes‍—one universe for each grain of sand. He can do so in the east, as well as in all the rest of the ten directions, and he can do so for a day, a fortnight, a month, a year, a hundred years, a thousand years, or a hundred thousand years. He can walk throughout each direction for a hundred billion years. Well, Dṛḍhamati, would you say that the worlds that can thus be crossed by a thus-gone one are many?”

“Yes, Blessed One, they are many,” replied Dṛḍhamati.

“Dṛḍhamati,” continued the Blessed One, “if such merit had form it could not even be contained within all those universes. It would be even larger. Dṛḍhamati, the thus-gone ones, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas know all these heaps of merit completely. Such merits are beyond measure, innumerable, limitless, ineffable, and beyond count, and yet the thus-gone one knows them completely. Dṛḍhamati, I am not aware of any number of syllables, or any number of letters, or any number of digits that can convey the knowledge of such heaps of merit. In the end there would be nothing but innumerable numbers, numbers beyond measure.”