Chapter 7 - Avalokiteśvara-puṇyaskandha-kathana

Avalokiteśvarapuṇyaskandhakathanaṃ Saptamaṃ Prakaraṇam
(Chapter Seven named Avalokiteśvarapuṇyaskandhakathanam)

Then Bodhisattva Ratnapāṇi asked Bhagavat,

‘Bhagavat, if I may ask for an answer to a question, how much merit has Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara accumulated?’

Bhagavat replied,

‘If someone were for a deva’s eon to serve Tathāgatas, arhats, and samyaksaṃbuddhas as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges with robes, food, bowls, bedding, seats, necessary medicine, and utensils—the merit that would be produced through those Tathāgatas would be the same as that of the tip of one hair on the body of Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara.

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, suppose the four great continents are always raining, the rain continues for days and nights in all the twelve months in a year, I can count the number of the drops of the rain water one by one, but, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mathāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.’

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, suppose there are four great oceans, each is 84 thousand yojana in depth, in width and in length, I can count the number of the water drops of those four oceans one by one all the way down to Vaḍavāmukha. However, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.’

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, I can count every hair on all the four-legged creatures in the four great continents, such as lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, deer, camels, jackals, and so on, and oxen, donkeys, cattle, elephants, horses, buffalo, and cats, but, noble son, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit’.

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, if stūpas for Tathāgatas, arhats, and samyaksaṃbuddhas as numerous as atoms were made in divine gold and precious stones, and in one day the relics were placed in them all, I can calculate the accumulation of that merit, but, I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.’

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, I can count the number of leaves in a forest of agarwood trees, but I cannot calculate Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit.’

‘Noble son, it is like this: For example, if all the women, men, boys, and girls in the four great continents were to gain the result of becoming stream entrants, once returners, nonreturners, arhats, and pratyekabuddhas, their merit would only be, as said before, equal to the merit of the tip of one hair on the body of Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara.’

End of the Chapter Seven named Avalokiteśvarapuṇyaskandhakathan