Subhūti addressed the Buddha, saying: "World Honored One, will there be sentient beings who are able, upon hearing these words and sentences, to give rise to true faith?"
The Buddha said to Subhūti, "Do not even say such a thing. Five hundred lifetimes after my passing away, there will be those who observe moral discipline and cultivate merit, who will be able to give rise to the mental state of faith and take these words to be the truth. You should know that these people have not merely cultivated virtuous roots with one buddha, two buddhas, three, four, or five buddhas. They have cultivated all kinds of virtuous roots with countless hundreds of thousands of buddhas. Hearing these passages, in a single moment they give rise to pure faith. Subhūti, the Tathāgata fully knows and fully sees these sentient beings as they attain these countless merits."
Why is this? It is because these sentient beings do not again [abide in] the notions of self, person, sentient being, or life span. Nor do they abide in the notions of the dharma, or the notions of non-dharma. Why? If these sentient beings their minds grasp to these notions, then they will cling to self, person, sentient being, and life-span. If they grasp to the notions of phenomena, they will attach to self, person, sentient being, and life span. Why? If they grasp to the denial of phenomena, then they will attach to self, person, sentient being, and life span. Therefore one should not grasp to phenomena, and one should not deny phenomena. Expressing this, the Tathāgata always teaches: 'Monks, understand my correct teachings to be like a raft.' If even my correct teachings are to be abandoned, how much more incorrect teachings?
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