Then the Bhagavat said to Venerable Śāradvatīputra, “Śāradvatīputra, it is thus: this Dharma teaching called The Dhāraṇī of Nonattachment is the mother of the bodhisattvas who meditate on all phenomena. It is the past practice of bodhisattvas and it is held by the bodhisattvas.”

Venerable Śāradvatīputra asked the Bhagavat, “Bhagavat, if a dhāraṇī is not located in an object and not located in a direction, then, Bhagavat, what is the meaning of the word dhāraṇī?”

The Bhagavat replied to Venerable Śāradvatīputra, “Śāradvatīputra, you are within the Mahāyāna, have faith in the Mahāyāna, and are adept in the Mahāyāna. Śāradvatīputra, it is just you who have taught that a dhāraṇī is not located in an object and not located in a direction. It is not a phenomenon. It is not a nonphenomenon. It is not past, it is not future, and it is not present. It is not a thing, and it is not nothing. It does not originate from a condition, and it does not originate from the absence of a condition. It does not originate from a being, and it does not originate from the absence of a being. It is not the production of any phenomenon, and it is not their cessation.

“Nevertheless, it is excellent, excellent, that, for the benefit of bodhisattvas, there is the teaching on the topic of the knowledge and power of the path of practicing the Dharma teaching of The Dhāraṇī of Nonattachment, which is composed of the qualities of the buddhas, the correct conduct of the buddhas, the training of the buddhas, the intention of the buddhas, and the occurrence of the buddhas.”

Then Venerable Śāradvatīputra said to the Bhagavat, “Bhagavat, I pray that you give the Dharma teaching of the dhāraṇī. A bodhisattva who has obtained the dhāraṇī, wherever they dwell, will be irreversible from the highest, most complete enlightenment; their commitments will be genuine, they will be ācāryas with an eloquence that has the nature of being a nondependent phenomenon, and they will remain perfectly upon the path. I pray for the Sugata to teach it.”

The Bhagavat said to Śāradvatīputra, “Excellent, excellent, Śāradvatīputra! It is so. The bodhisattva who has obtained this dhāraṇī should be called a buddha. Śāradvatīputra, whoever honors, venerates, serves, and makes offerings to a bodhisattva who has obtained this dhāraṇī will be someone who has honored a buddha.

“Śāradvatīputra, anyone who hears this dhāraṇī, anyone who possesses this dhāraṇī, and anyone who aspires to this dhāraṇī will become inseparable from the enlightenment mind, the same as if they had made offerings to a buddha.

“Śāradvatīputra, this is the dhāraṇī:

tadyathā | sandhāraṇi utdhāraṇi susaṃpratiṣṭhite sunāma supratiṣṭhite vijayabala, sattyapratijñā suāroha jñānapratiutpādani avanāvani abhiṣiñcani abhivyāhāra śubhavati suniḥśrita bahuguṃbha abhivadā svāhā |

“Śāradvatīputra, any bodhisattva who is firmly established in the words of this dhāraṇī of nonattachment perfectly retains them and possesses them, and so their prayer will not be exhausted for an eon, for longer than an eon, for a thousand eons, or for a hundred thousand eons. Their body will not be harmed by weapons or poisons, and they will not be bitten by snakes.

“Why is that? Śāradvatīputra, it is because this unbounded dhāraṇī is the mother of the buddhas of the past, the mother of the buddhas of the future, and the mother of the buddhas of the present, and that is this Dharma teaching called The Dhāraṇī of Nonattachment.

“Śāradvatīputra, if someone were to fill ten asaṃkhyeya trichiliocosm world realms with the seven jewels and make an offering of them to the buddha bhagavats, and if they were to provide the requisites of clothing and food of various kinds for asaṃkhyeya eons, the merit that comes from someone who possesses just one word of this dhāraṇī would still be far greater.

“Why is that? Śāradvatīputra, it is because this Dharma teaching of the unbounded dhāraṇī is the mother of the tathāgatas.”