Continuing with the fifth and sixth stages of the Ten Blessings in the Sutra of Innumerable Blessings, we move from all “living beings” to the “good sons or daughters” who have progressed this far.
First the dragon’s newborn child:
[E]ven though they still have attachments and afflictions and have not distanced themselves from affairs of ordinary men, they will reveal the way of great bodhisattvas. Extending a day to a hundred eons or shortening a hundred eons to a day, bringing joy to other living beings, they will convince them. Good sons, these good sons or good daughters are just like the son of a dragon who can make clouds appear and cause rain to fall seven days after he is born. Good sons, this is called the fifth amazing power of blessing of this sutra.
Then the king’s heir:
[E]ven though they still have afflictions, they will teach the Dharma to living beings, separating them from afflictions of life and death and enabling them to cut off all suffering. After hearing it, living beings will put it into practice, and become no different from the Buddha-Tathagata with respect to the blessings of the Dharma, the blessings of the fruit, and the blessings of the Way.
Suppose a king, due to travel or being ill, leaves the management of the affairs of the country to a prince, though the prince is only a child. Then the prince, by order of the great king, will lead all the government officials according to the Dharma and propagate good policies, so that every citizen of the country follows his orders exactly, as if the king himself were governing.
It is the same with good sons or good daughters embracing this sutra. During the Buddha’s lifetime or after his extinction, even though they themselves cannot yet live in the first stage of immobility, these good sons will teach and promulgate the Dharma as the Buddha did, and if living beings, hearing them, practice it wholeheartedly, they will cut off afflictions and attain the blessings of the Dharma, the blessings of the fruit, and the blessings of the Way. Good sons, this is called the sixth amazing power of blessing of this sutra.