Eight statements illustrate the accomplishment of the conditions for the Buddha’s great intention. The meaning of these eight statements should be known. What are they?

1. [The Tathāgata] wanted to expound the great Dharma.
2. He wanted to rain down the rain of the great Dharma.
3. He wanted to beat the drum of the great Dharma.
4. He wanted to raise the banner of the great Dharma.
5. He wanted to light the torch of the great Dharma.
6. He wanted to blow the conch of the great Dharma.
7. He wanted the drum of the great Dharma to incessantly beat.
8. He wanted to teach the great Dharma.

These eight statements show that the Tathāgata wanted to teach the great Dharma. Why are these called the eight great intentions? It is because they eliminate the doubts of skeptics, and also because they cause those who have already eliminated their doubts to nourish and fully develop their knowledge body. The Buddha teaches two subtle realms to those with fully developed faculties: The subtle realm of the disciples and the subtle realm of the bodhisattvas.

The two statements referring to the drum of the great Dharma show that it can be heard even at a distance. To enter a subtle realm is to advance to a higher pure truth; to have already advanced to the unsurpassed pure truth is to advance to omniscience and attain direct perception; to have [already] advanced to omniscience and attained direct perception is to establish the meaning of the words and passages for all the Dharma. To have established the meaning of the words and passages is to enter the inexpressible knowledge of realization and to see the wheel of the Dharma in motion.