The Sūtra on the the Buddha’s Deliberations

In this sutra, the Buddha decides to enter a strict three-month retreat to remedy a suddenly worsening degeneration in the world, which has caused sentient beings to lose interest in hearing and practicing the Dharma. They have even lost all reverence and respect for the Buddha himself. While the Buddha is in retreat, he uses his clairvoyant powers to convene with countless other buddhas whose realms are facing similar troubles. Together, they decide to recite in unison the profound Dharma of the Great Vehicle, and after the three months have passed the situation in the world has been restored through their recital. Once again, beings have faith and interest in the Dharma. The teaching that was delivered together by all the many buddhas is finally entrusted by the Buddha to his disciples for future generations to study and draw inspiration from. One interesting historical fact about this sutra is that the earliest existing Chinese Buddhist manuscript is a copy of this text, dated to the end of the 3rd century and discovered in the early 20th century in excavations at Turfan.