Having last month concluded the first chapter of the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, we begin Chapter 2, Dharma Discourse, and consider the question put forth by Fully Composed Bodhisattva.
Having recited these verses in praise of the Buddha, the great-being bodhisattva Fully Composed and the eighty thousand great-being bodhisattvas then addressed the Buddha as one, saying: “World-honored One! We, the assembled eighty thousand bodhisattvas, now wish to put forth a question concerning the teachings of the Tathāgata. We wonder if the World-honored One would be kind enough to hear us.”
The Buddha addressed the bodhisattva Fully Composed and the eighty thousand bodhisattvas, saying: “Well done, you of good intent! Well done! You have correctly read this moment. Ask freely whatever you wish! The Tathāgata will be in the state of parinirvāṇa before long, and all should be made to have no remaining doubts after that. I am ready to respond to any question you wish to ask.”
With that, the bodhisattva Fully Composed and the eighty thousand bodhisattvas then addressed the Buddha with one voice, saying: “World-honored One! What approaches to Dharma should great-being bodhisattvas practice if they wish to realize—and quickly achieve—the full dynamic of ultimate enlightenment? What approaches to Dharma can enable great-being bodhisattvas to achieve the full dynamic of ulti- mate enlightenment quickly?”
In answer to the bodhisattva Fully Composed and the eighty thousand bodhisattvas, the Buddha said: “O you of good intent! There is one approach to Dharma that can let a bodhisattva quickly realize the full dynamic of ultimate enlightenment. If any bodhisattva masters this approach to the Dharma, he or she will then be able to realize the full dynamic of ultimate enlightenment quickly.”