Venerable Śāradvatīputra continued, “Venerable Pūrṇa, moreover, bodhisattvas should think in the following way: ‘I will remain in existence, taking rebirth for endless eons, in order to develop the mind of omniscience and attain the state of omniscience.’ ”

Venerable Pūrṇa asked Venerable Śāradvatīputra, “Venerable Śāradvatīputra, why would it be wrong if bodhisattvas were to decide, ‘I wish to attain omniscience after such-and-such many eons’?”

Venerable Śāradvatīputra replied, “Venerable Pūrṇa, if bodhisattvas are afraid or anxious about cyclic existence, their eagerness to leave saṃsāra will limit the ripening of their roots of virtue. In that way this practice becomes like the practice of the hearers and solitary buddhas. Limited in that way, they will be unable to benefit limitless beings. Venerable Pūrṇa, the perfection of generosity is limitless and boundless. Therefore, the perfection of generosity is only mastered with the attainment of omniscience. Even if one were to train in the perfection of generosity for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, the perfection of generosity would not be perfected. Since the perfection of generosity is boundless, it is accomplished with the attainment of omniscience. Venerable Pūrṇa, therefore, the longer bodhisattvas who wish to awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood take rebirth in existence, the more proficient they will become in the perfection of generosity.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, the longer you set aside a fresh clay container filled with a medicinal elixir, the more the elixir will infuse and fortify the container. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, the longer bodhisattva great beings remain taking rebirth in existence, the more proficient they will become in the perfection of generosity and the more they will gain stability and fortitude. Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, the longer you leave a fresh clay jar filled with ghee or sesame oil, the more the oil will permeate the jar until finally it pervades the entire jar. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, the longer bodhisattva great beings remain taking rebirth in existence, the more they will be able to encounter the buddhas and the noble hearers. The more buddhas and noble hearers they meet, the more teachings on the perfections they will hear. The more teachings on the perfections they hear, the more proficient they will become in the perfections. The more proficient they become in the perfections, the closer they will be to omniscience.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, no matter what state of mind that bodhisattva great beings experience, they will always experience omniscience. In fact, no other state of mind could possibly occur to them. When no other state of mind can occur, the minds of the bodhisattva great beings have become suffused with the six perfections. Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, wherever you smell a jar filled with ghee, the smell of the ghee will be present. Likewise, no matter what state of mind that bodhisattva great beings experience, they will always experience omniscience. Even if the evil Māra himself should try to harm such bodhisattva great beings, he would be unsuccessful. The reason is that no matter which angle the bodhisattvas are being attacked from, they will take any opportunity to meditate on omniscience. In that way no type of demon will be able to harm them.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, the longer bodhisattva great beings remain taking rebirth in existence, the more they will be able to encounter the buddhas and the noble hearers. The more buddhas and noble hearers they meet, the more teachings on the perfections they will hear. The more teachings on the perfections they hear, the more they will strive for suchness and acquaint themselves with that state. The more they strive for suchness and acquaint themselves with that state, the closer they will be to omniscience.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, moreover, when bodhisattvas encourage another person to observe discipline, at first the discipline of the other person will be based merely on mind and mental events. Only later will the other person engage genuinely in discipline. When that happens, bodhisattvas will dedicate all the mind states involved in encouraging that person toward the attainment of omniscience and thereby surpass the son or daughter of noble family who is actually observing discipline. If a person who belongs to the vehicle of the hearers introduces a person from the bodhisattva vehicle to the perfection of discipline, bodhisattvas will dedicate those pure intentions toward the state of omniscience. In that case bodhisattvas will surpass the person of the vehicle of the hearers who gave the instruction. Why is that? Because bodhisattvas dedicate the merit toward omniscience.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, if someone carries with them a golden statue, that statue will surpass anything else that they may be carrying in terms of color, shape, and luster. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, even if as many hearers as there are grains of sand in the Ganges introduce bodhisattvas to the perfection of discipline, all of those hearers will be surpassed by those bodhisattvas. Why is that? Because they will dedicate the six perfections toward the state of omniscience. Venerable Pūrṇa, as a further analogy, if someone walks while holding aloft a crystal statue, any other object that that person may be carrying will be outshone by that crystal statue in terms of color, shape, and luster. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, even if as many hearers as there are grains of sand in all the Ganges rivers in all the worlds in the great trichiliocosm were to instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, all of them would be surpassed by those bodhisattvas because they dedicate the perfection of discipline toward attaining the state of omniscience. The more the hearers instruct them, the more those bodhisattvas will surpass them. Even if those hearers were to instruct and teach those bodhisattvas for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, the bodhisattvas would just excel that much more through their practice of the perfection of discipline. By dedicating the merit toward omniscience, they would surpass the hearers.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, the more gold is smelted and treated, the more it shines and the more refined its color. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, the more people from the vehicle of the hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the purer the bodhisattvas’ discipline becomes. The purer their discipline becomes, the more they dedicate the perfection of discipline toward attaining omniscience, thus surpassing those from the vehicle of the hearers. Venerable Pūrṇa, as a further analogy, the more a jeweler polishes a beryl gemstone, the purer it gets and the more it shines. Likewise, the more people from the vehicle of the hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the purer the bodhisattvas’ perfection of discipline becomes. The purer their discipline, the more the bodhisattvas dedicate the perfection of discipline toward attaining omniscience. In this way they surpass all the hearers.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, the more a master painter, or a very experienced apprentice, makes use of the five colors to draw and paint various hues and shapes in exquisite and colorful ways, that much more beautiful and captivating the painting becomes. In this way, in terms of color and shape, the painting surpasses anyone else’s. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, when countless hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the bodhisattvas’ perfection of discipline becomes purer and purer as the bodhisattvas surpass and outshine the hearers more and more. By dedicating the entire perfection of discipline toward omniscience, they surpass all of them. The perfection of discipline of the bodhisattvas will increase day by day while the hearers, on the other hand, will only possess a little discipline.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, if a man plants a tree, he should clear the area around it and water the tree. The more he does so, the more the tree will grow in both width and height. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, when limitless hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the bodhisattvas’ perfection of discipline only increases the more they instruct and teach them. The more their discipline increases, the more the bodhisattvas dedicate the perfection of discipline toward attaining omniscience. In this way they surpass and outshine all the hearers and assimilate the perfection of discipline. Because they dedicate the perfection of discipline toward the state of omniscience, they even surpass those who instruct and teach them.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, if a person throws grass, wood, and cow dung on a fire, the more of these he throws on the fire, the more they cause the fire to blaze up. The more the fire blazes, the more the mass of fire will expand, gradually setting alight and incinerating several leagues, or even hundreds or thousands of leagues. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, when countless hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the more these countless hearers instruct and teach the perfection of discipline to bodhisattvas, the more boundless their experience of the perfection of discipline becomes as they dedicate the merit toward the state of omniscience. The more boundless their experience of the perfection of discipline becomes, the less any hearers who teach them the perfection of discipline will be able to surpass them, since they dedicate the merit toward the state of omniscience.

“Venerable Pūrṇa, as an analogy, suppose certain people extract gold from a gold mine and proceed to sell the gold as well as their services. In that case the value of the gold will be very high, but the value of those who excavated the gold will not. Venerable Pūrṇa, likewise, when countless hearers instruct and offer teachings on the bodhisattvas’ perfection of discipline, it only makes this perfection of discipline become more boundless and priceless. In this way, since the bodhisattvas dedicate the merit toward the state of omniscience, the hearers are unable to surpass their discipline. The bodhisattvas, on the other hand, will surpass the hearers through their discipline.”

Venerable Pūrṇa said, “Venerable Śāradvatīputra, the fact that bodhisattva great beings are able to surpass people from the vehicles of the hearers and the solitary buddhas who teach and instruct them shows that bodhisattva great beings possess vast qualities, derived from dedicating the perfection of discipline to the state of omniscience.”

Venerable Śāradvatīputra rejoiced in Venerable Pūrṇa’s remarks and said, “Venerable One, that is correct. Bodhisattva great beings do indeed possess vast qualities.”