“Just as soon as the Bodhisattva took his seat upon the lion’s seat, Śāntamati, a ray of light issued from the tuft of hair between his eyebrows. This light is called challenging Māra, and it reached a billion māras throughout the cosmos of a billion worlds and touched each of them in their respective abodes, which immediately gave them goose bumps. When they realized that their abodes were being consumed by the light and made dim in comparison, they thought to themselves, ‘What is the cause of this? For what reason have these abodes seemingly been made dim? Could it not be that a bodhisattva is seated on the seat of awakening and is awakening to unsurpassable, perfect awakening?’ Looking down, they saw that the Bodhisattva was seated at the seat of awakening.

“At that point, each and every one of those evil māras vanished from their respective abodes. Each and every māra was surrounded by immeasurable, incalculable hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of yakṣas. The yakṣas had various complexions, various disguises, various appearances, various heights, various turbans, and various heads. The yakṣas were carrying various weapons and various victory banners. Uttering various expressions, and with the great majestic power of a māra and the great superhuman power of a māra, each and every māra approached the tree of awakening so that māras extended for twenty thousand leagues and the māras’ assembly extended for more than eighty-four thousand leagues.

“Just as soon as this assembly of māras arrived, Śāntamati, at that moment they raised a great din of unpleasant, offensive, and unsavory sounds, like ‘Ooduk!’ ‘Pijik!’ ‘Huluhulu!’—that is, ‘Seize him!’ ‘Beat him!’ ‘Bind him!’ If those beings who were not yet free from passion were to have heard that din, they would have vomited hot blood and died, or they would have experienced the suffering of simply dying right away—that is, Śāntamati, unless the Bodhisattva were to conceal that noise from them. Consequently, the Bodhisattva was seized by a feeling of great compassion at that moment, and so he concealed that sound, saying, ‘May this sound not harm beings! May it not kill them!’ This, Śāntamati, is the scope of a bodhisattva’s mastery of skill in means. Moreover, Śāntamati, even though he heard the noise, not even a single hair on the Bodhisattva’s body stood on end. Why was that? The reason is that he had completely understood that all sounds are just like echoes, including that noise too.

“Once the deities who attended upon the tree of awakening became aware of the arrival of the assembly of māras, Śāntamati, they sought to dissuade the evil māras with sixteen different forms of dissuasion. ‘Enough, evil ones,’ they said. ‘What is the use of your putting so much effort and difficulty into making trouble in this way? Why do we say this? Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to strike you down just like a great wrestler strikes down a much inferior wrestler. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to defeat you just like a great hero defeats an army of opponents. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to overpower you just like the full moon overpowers a firefly. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to blow you away like a strong wind blows away a bundle of straw. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to fell you as if you were a great sāla tree cut down at the roots. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to terrify you like only a great-maned lion can terrify a herd of deer. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to evaporate you like the heat of the sun evaporates water in the hoofprint of a cow. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to destroy you like a great king destroys a city of enemies. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to make you run away like a criminal trying to escape from an execution. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to confound you like a conflagration confounds a merchant loaded with provisions for the road. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to make you suffer like an unrighteous king who is exiled from his kingdom. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to make you hang your heads like an old curlew whose wings have been clipped. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to strike a blow upon you like a group of travelers in the wilderness who have just exhausted their provisions. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to make you flail about like passengers whose ship has wrecked in the middle of the ocean. Evil ones, today the bodhisattva is going to make you wither like the grass and forests during the conflagration at the end of an eon. Evil ones, today the Bodhisattva is going to pulverize you like stones being struck with a great vajra.’

“However, Śāntamati, even though the deities who attended upon the tree of awakening sought to dissuade those evil māras with the sixteen forms of dissuasion, the māras did not turn back. At that point, Śāntamati, the Bodhisattva raised his right arm, which was golden-colored, soft, youthful, full of vitality, and had made the preparations for liberation and the knowledges by practicing generosity, self-discipline, restraint, moral conduct, patience, heroic effort, meditation, wisdom, love, compassion, joy, equanimity, the applications of mindfulness, the right efforts, the foundations for superhuman power, the spiritual faculties, the powers, the constitutive factors of awakening, calm abiding, and deep insight for incalculable hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of eons, and he wiped his whole body clean, including the top of his head. Then, directed by great compassion and with the ambition to bring about the liberation of all beings, he brought down the blessed buddhas in all the worlds directly before him, and with attention and full awareness, he touched the great earth with his hand.

“Just as soon as the Bodhisattva touched the great earth, Śāntamati, at that very moment the great earth shook in six ways. It quaked, it quivered, it trembled; it wobbled, it wavered, it swayed; it teetered, it tottered, it tremored; it shook, it shivered, it shuddered; it rattled, it rolled, and it clattered. It boomed; it thundered; it rumbled. When the eastern side fell, the western side rose. When the western side fell, the eastern side rose. When the southern side fell, the northern side rose. When the northern side fell, the southern side rose. When the edges fell, the middle rose. When the middle fell, the edges rose. In this way, Śāntamati, a great earthquake occurred in the world at that moment in these six ways and with these eighteen indications of its magnitude.

“Still, the evil māras could be heard making a great noise, with sounds like ‘Phucchak!’ ‘Picik!’ ‘Seize him!’ ‘Strike him!’ ‘Bind him!’

“Then, through the majestic power of the Bodhisattva, the assembly of māras heard a voice calling out from the sky above them. It sounded like this:

“ ‘You should go for refuge to this seer Who maintains perfect moral conduct. For he is the giver of fearlessness; He is protector of all embodied beings.’

“When the assembly of māras heard this voice, Śāntamati, eight millions of billions upon billions of yakṣas fell down upon the surface of the earth, face-down on the ground, and they cried, ‘Protect us!’

“The remaining māras and their armed forces wanted to flee, but they were unable to flee. So, out of compassion for them, the Bodhisattva released a ray of light from his body that made all their fears disappear and returned them to their own abodes.

“While the Bodhisattva was showing the conquest of the māras to be child’s play for him, Śāntamati, the eight millions of billions upon billions of yakṣas who were in the assembly of māras conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening, a further ninety-nine thousand millions and billions of other beings conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening, and eighty-four thousand divine beings who had already completed the preparations for it attained acceptance of the fact that things do not arise.”