Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Samanta Assembly Hall in Śrāvastī together with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks, innumerable bodhisattva mahāsattvas, and many hundreds of thousands of beings to be tamed, and other bodhisattva mahāsattvas headed by Avalokiteśvara.

The Blessed One sat unwavering upon a jeweled lion throne. Through the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, and knelt on his right knee. Joining his palms toward the Blessed One, he said, “Blessed One, how extensive is the great merit of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch, the great merit by which the wishes of the many hundred sextillions of beings to be tamed are completely fulfilled?”

The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, the great merit of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch, the great merit by which the wishes of a hundred sextillion beings to be tamed are completely fulfilled, arises from insight and is imbued with great compassion. It is inconceivable.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the world were to engage in the path of the ten virtuous actions, and if that collection of merit, which is the collection of merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred, it would equal that of a cakravartin king who has dominion over the four continents and possesses the seven treasures. The seven treasures are as follows: the precious wheel, the precious elephant, the precious horse, the precious jewel, the precious woman, the precious steward, and the precious minister. He has a thousand heroic sons who are courageous, have excellent well-built bodies, and utterly defeat opposing armies. Mañjuśrī, such is the cakravartin king’s great miraculous powers and might.

“Mañjuśrī, if all beings in the world with its four continents were to possess the cakravartin king’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred, it would equal that of Śakra, lord of the gods. Such is the lord of the gods’ great miraculous powers and great might.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the realm of the world with its four continents were to possess Śakra’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it would equal that of Māra, lord of the desire realm, who understands the teachings within the desire realm. Such is Māra of the desire realm’s great miraculous powers and great might.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the realm of the world with its four continents were to possess Māra’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it would equal that of a brahmā, sovereign of a chiliocosm, whose love pervades the domain of a chiliocosm.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this chiliocosm were to possess the merit of a brahmā god, sovereign of a chiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it equal that of a brahmā god, sovereign of a dichiliocosm, whose love pervades the domain of a dichiliocosm.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this dichiliocosm were to possess the merit of a brahmā god, sovereign of a dichiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it would equal that of a supremely great almighty brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm, whose love pervades the domain of a great trichiliocosm.

“Mañjuśrī, consider a supremely great almighty brahmā. In a single intermediate eon following the rise of the waters after the eon of destruction, the trichiliocosm fills up with rainfall with its droplets of water. A supremely great almighty brahmā knows all the drops of water that have amassed in his world. Therefore, he is endowed with great wisdom and has great miraculous powers and great might. The root of virtue of a great almighty one is no trifling thing.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this trichiliocosm were to possess the merit of a great brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a pratyekabuddha who had obtained great might.

“Mañjuśrī, put aside this great trichiliocosm. Mañjuśrī, if all the beings in the domain of the buddhas, the realm of the worlds of the ten directions, were to possess the merit obtained by a pratyekabuddha who had obtained great might, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a single bodhisattva in their final existence.

“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the realm of the worlds of the ten directions of space—beings born from an egg, born from a womb, born from heat and moisture, and born miraculously; those with form and those without; and those with perception, those without perception, and those with neither perception nor nonperception —were to possess the merit of a bodhisattva in their final existence, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a single hair pore on the body of the Tathāgata. Each of the nine million nine hundred thousand hair pores on the body of the Tathāgata are established in the same way.

“Mañjuśrī, if the merit that is equal to the merit contained in all those hair pores were multiplied many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of one of the eighty excellent signs on the body of the Tathāgata. Each of the eighty excellent signs is established on the body of the Tathāgata in the same way.

“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in the eighty excellent signs, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would be like that of one of the designs marking the Tathāgata’s hands and feet.

“The eighty designs are as follows: (1) a parasol, (2) a victory banner, (3) a śrīvatsa, (4) a garland, (5) a hook, (6) a diadem, (7) a staff, (8) a vase, (9) an elephant, (10) a horse, (11) a tiger, (12) a makara, (13) a fish, (14) a turtle, (15) a peacock, (16) a kalaviṅka bird, (17) a partridge, (18) a cāṣa bird, (19) a cakravāka shelduck, (20) a parrot, (21) a goose, (22) a dove, (23) barley, (24) the great medicine, (25) bamboo, (26) a gayal, (27) a nāga, (28) a goat, (29) a bull, (30) a mountain, (31) a bilva fruit tree, (32) a black antelope, (33) a precious jewel, (34) a supreme sword, (35) a vajra, (36) a bow, (37) an arrow, (38) a lance, (39) a trident, (40) a plow, (41) a mace, (42) an axe, (43) a lasso, (44) a boat, (45) a pearl ornament, (46) a cloud, (47) Brahmā, (48) Indra, (49) Dhṛtarāṣṭra, (50) Varuṇa, (51) Virūḍhaka, (52) Virūpākṣa, (53) Dhanada, (54) a great sage, (55) Śrī, (56) a sun, (57) a moon, (58) a fire, (59) wind, (60) a lotus, (61) a nandyāvarta, (62) a triangle, (63) an excellent throne, (64) a mirror, (65) a tail whisk, (66) dūrvā grass, (67) puroḍāśa cake, (68) a boy, (69) a girl, (70) a drum, (71) a conch, (72) a mṛdaṅga drum, (73) a bracelet, (74) an armband, (75) an earring, (76) a ring, (77) a dangling earring, (78) an excellent flower, (79) a wish-granting tree, and (80) a lion at the center of a wheel. These are the eighty designs. They appear on the palms of the Tathāgata’s hands and the soles of his feet.

“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in those eighty designs, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would be like one of the signs of a great being on the Tathāgata’s body; each of the thirty-two signs of a great being are established in the same way. They are as follows: (1) the uṣṇīṣa on the head, (2) right-curling dark blue hair on the head, (3) an even forehead, (4) being adorned with a beautiful complexion, (5) an ūrṇā hair between the eyebrows, (6) dark blue eyes with bovine eyelashes, (7) forty close-fitting teeth, (8) white canine teeth, (9) cheeks like a lion, (10) a large and slender tongue, (11) a torso like a lion, (12) an arm span and height that are identical like the banyan tree, (13) a hair growing from every pore, (14) a concealed male organ, (15) full and rounded thighs, (16) calves like those of Eṇeya, king of antelopes, (17) broad heels, (18) palms and soles that are soft and supple, (19) webbed fingers and toes, (20) long fingers and toes, (21) feet with high arches, (22) a supreme organ of taste, (23) round shoulders, (24) the seven prominent parts, (25) fine skin the color of gold, (26) the ability to reach the hands to the knees without bending, (27) well-positioned feet, (28) palms and soles with the mark of the wheel, and (29) the voice of Brahmā. These are the thirty-two signs of a great being. They appear on the body of the Tathāgata.

“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in the thirty-two signs of a great being, were multiplied innumerable times, multiplied inconceivably, multiplied incalculably, and multiplied beyond expression, it would be like that of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch. By the power of taming with the Dharma conch, with his voice the Tathāgata engenders understanding throughout limitless and countless world realms. Just as with his voice, so it is with his light and his body.

“In this way, Mañjuśrī, this great merit, arisen from great insight, imbued with compassion, generated through skill-in-means and aspirations, completely pure in moral discipline, and authentically born from the distinctions of practice, is inconceivable to all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

“Mañjuśrī, the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted for two reasons. What are these two reasons? They are the power of aspiration and the power of the complete ripening of the virtue of sentient beings to be tamed. Mañjuśrī, for these two reasons the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted.

“Mañjuśrī, just as the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted, the Dharma taught is also especially exalted.

“Mañjuśrī, just as the Dharma taught by the Tathāgata, his light is also especially exalted.

“Mañjuśrī, just as the light of the Tathāgata is especially exalted, his conduct is also especially exalted.

“Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata pervades the entire world with his body.

“Mañjuśrī, whatever particular color, shape, or conduct will tame sentient beings, sentient beings will see the Tathāgata accordingly as having that particular color, shape, and conduct.

“Mañjuśrī, whatever particular signs will tame sentient beings, sentient beings will see the Tathāgata accordingly as having those particular signs.

“Mañjuśrī, whatever Dharma teachings will fully ripen sentient beings, sentient beings will understand the particular Dharma teachings of the Tathāgata to be Dharma teachings of that kind.

“Mañjuśrī, whatever conduct tames sentient beings and causes them to engage with the teachings of the Tathāgata, sentient beings will see the Tathāgata abiding by that conduct.

“Mañjuśrī, in this way the tathāgata, arhat, perfect Buddha comes into the world, benefits and brings happiness to many beings, has love and affection for the world, and takes birth in order to help, benefit, and bring happiness to gods, humans, and the host of beings.”

Then the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rose from his seat and, approaching the Blessed One, pressed his palms together and said, “Blessed One—my unparalleled, matchless teacher, supreme protector in the three realms and benefactor for all sentient beings, unperturbed by worldly phenomena, unblemished like the sky, inconceivable, a worthy inspiration, desirable to behold, and beautiful to behold—I have truly found a great treasure! Sugata, I have truly found a great treasure!”

Youthful Mañjuśrī was overjoyed at what the Tathāgata had said. The bodhisattva great beings and the monks praised the words of the Blessed One.