Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chapters 15 The sūtra is not for lesser vehicle practitioners

"Subhūti, suppose there were a good son or good daughter who made dedications of his or her life to charity in a quantity equal to the number of grains of sand in the Ganges, and in the middle of the day made dedications of his or her life to charity in a quantity equal to the number of grains of sand in the Ganges, and at the end of the day also made dedications of his or her life to charity in a quantity equal to the number of grains of sand in the Ganges, and made these dedications of his or her life to charity in this way for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of billions of eons. If, on the other hand, there were a person who heard the teaching of this scripture with the mental attitude of faith, and did not doubt it, the merit of this person would exceed that of the prior. How much more so in the case of the person who copies it, memorizes it, chants it, and explains it to others."


"Subhūti, it can be summarized like this: this scripture carries inconceivable, immeasurable, limitless merit, and the Tathāgata teaches it to those who have entered into the great vehicle, and to those who have entered into the supreme vehicle. Any person who is able to memorize, recite, and teach this scripture to others is perceived by the Tathāgata, and is seen by the Tathāgata, and all attain innumerable, immeasurable, limitless, inconceivable merit. These people are the carriers of the Tathāgata's peerless perfect enlightenment. And why? Subhūti, those who are contented with inferior teachings are attached to the view of self, the view of person, the view of sentient being, and the view of life span. Such a person is not able to hear, understand, recite, and teach this scripture to others. Subhūti, any place where this scripture is present, all the gods, humans, and titans in all the worlds will come and make offerings. You should know that such a place is equivalent to a shrine, where all should venerate, pay obeisance, and circumambulate while scattering flowers and incense around the place."

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