Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, asked him in gāthās:

Mañjuśrī!
Why is the Leading Teacher
Emitting a great ray of light
From the white curl between his eyebrows?

The composition of the gāthās is dictated generally by the following four aims: first, for the sake of those who will come later; second, for the sake of those who have not yet been enlightened (through the prose section); third, to expand in the gāthās what has been briefly touched on (or left out) in the long lines (of prose); fourth, to chant and dance in tune with intense emotion. Maitreya has asked only the essentials. Now he speaks about them in full detail. The appearance of Mañjuśrī’s name at the start is for the sake of drawing the congregation’s attention; they regarded him highly and when they were to hear him speak later their affection for him would be very intense.

Because what he has seen and heard is so vast, it will be difficult for him to tell them in complete detail.

Many lines that follow this chant are [the recounting of] what has appeared earlier [in prose], [including] “the various background causes and conditions [of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas], and their various degrees of belief and understanding (adhimukti). [The word] various can refer to morality (śīla) or almsgiving (dāna). What it refers to is not limited to one kind. Listed next are various practices of the six perfections (pāramitās). But there is no set order for them. [The sequential order] can be arranged high or low (or early or late) as [the Buddha] wishes. Why then are they put together here on this occasion and why are the good and the bad [practitioners] of them shown here? Because it is [the Buddha’s] wish that [beings] are led to discard evil and cultivate good. Also illustrated there is the fact that there is no place the light of knowledge does not illuminate.