(22) but all beings who even hear this scripture in the present age or after passing of Buddha will also obtain excellent profit. How much more meritorious would it be for them who having heard it, would comprehend, hold, recite, preach, and practise it according to the law. If there be one who has held this scripture in his hand he is said to obtain the mine of the law-treasure. When he recites or explains the meaning of it and practises it according to the doctrine, he will be protected by all the Buddhas. If there be one who honours such a man, he is said to honour the Buddha. If there be one who copies and holds this scripture, his room will be inhabited by the Tathagata. If there be one who rejoices in heating this scripture, he will attain omniscience. If he comprehends even one Gatha of four lines of this scripture and preach it to others, he will receive from Buddha the assurance of attaining supreme enlightenment.”

(6) Buddha spoke to the king of deities: "It should be known that the merits of a son or daughter of a noble family who hearing this scripture of Inconceivable Emancipation comprehends, holds, recites and practises it would obtain greater merits than those. And why? The Bodhi of all the Buddhas springs forth from it; and the essence of the Bodhi is infinite. For this reason the merits are immeasurable.”

(12) Buddha replied: ‘O noble youth, homage of the law is this: the profound scriptures preached by Buddha are so subtle and so difficult to understand that all the world is unwilling to accept and believe them; so they are pure without blemish; they are unobtainable by mere discrimination or thought; they are enclosed in the treasury of virtues of a Bodhisattva; they are sealed with the seal of Dharani; they lead to the state from which one never retreats; they perfect the six Paramitas; they rightly discriminate the meaning [of all things] ; they are in accordance with the law of Bodhi; they are superior to all other scriptures; they lead to great mercy and compassion; they are far above all the temptation of evils and heresies; they are in harmony with the law of causation; they transcend self, individuality, personality and durability; they are empty, formless, aimless and causeless; they are capable of elevating beings to a seat in the Bodhimandala and roll the wheel of the law; praised by all deities, serpent gods, and Gandharvas; they are capable of leading beings to the mine of virtues of Buddha ; they comprehend all wisdom of the wise and the holy; they preach the paths walked by Bodhisattvas; they are based on the doctrine that all things are real; they unmistakably proclaim the doctrine of transiency, sorrow, emptiness, selflessness, and annihilation; they are capable of saving all who are guilty of trespassing the precepts ; they are capable of causing fear to evil ones; heretics and those who are greedy; they are praised by all the Buddhas and saints; they turn against the sorrows of birth and death, and show the happiness of Nirvana; they are preached by all the Buddhas of the three worlds in the ten quarters —

(4) Therefore, O king of deities, he who holds, recites, and reveres the scripture is said to honour all the Buddhas of the past, the present, and the future. "O king of deities, if there be many Tathagatas so many in number even as the bushes, whether of sugar-cane, bamboo, reed, paddy, or hemp, and the three great Chiliocosms may be full of them, and a son or daughter of a noble family will honour, revere, praise, and pay homage to them and dedicate their dwellings to them for the space of one kalpa or thereabout, and after the passing of those Buddhas, he or she will elect a Stupa of seven jewels containing the perfect body of each of the Tathagatas as wide as the four worlds and as high as the heaven of Brahman, erecting a pole adorned with all magnificence and do homage to them with all the rarest flowers, all kinds of incense, garlands, banners and music, for the space of one kalpa or thereabout; what dost thou think, O king of deities, is the merit planted by this man much or little?”

(1) Then Sakra, the king of deities, who was among the assembly spoke to Buddha and said: “Though I have heard several hundred thousands of scriptures while I was waiting on Buddha and Manjusri, yet have I never heard such a scripture as this— the Sutra of ultimate reality ascertained by the supernatural faculty of Inconceivable Self-Existence. If I understand the meaning proclaimed by Buddha rightly, he who hears, comprehends, holds, and recites this scripture will obtain the law without fail; how much more would it be to practise according to the doctrine! He can close [the gate of] the unhappy existences; he is protected by all the Buddhas; he can repress all the heresies, conquer the enmity of evil, realise the Bodhi, abide in the Bodhi-mandala, and walk in the path along which Tathagata has walked.

(19) Those who meet with this [doctrine] are indeed fortunate. Save for them who have accumulated much merit and absolved many obscurations, difficult is it to meet with it. Even when met with, difficult is it to comprehend it. Liberation will be won through simply not disbelieving it upon hearing it. Therefore treat this [doctrine] very dearly: it is the essence of all doctrines.

(5) Maitreya Bodhisattva having heard these words spoke to Buddha and said.- “O Blessed One, I have never heard the like before. It is indeed as Buddha has spoken. I will remove with my utmost effort such false conceptions as these and hold fast on the works of supreme enlightenment, which were accumulated by Tathagata during these countless Asamkhyeya kalpas of the past. If there be in the future a son or daughter of a noble family who shall seek the Mahayana I will enable them to put even in their own hands this scripture, so that they can hold it, recite it, and fully explain it for the sake of others.

(19) “ Who but the foolish, ignorant, and unintelligent, hearing such excellent teachings as these, cherish not the thought of supreme enlightenment?”

(14) Again, to practise according to the teaching of all the law, to be in accordance with the twelve chains of causation, to be far above all heresies, to attain to the acquiescence in the eternal law, to be absolutely selfless, to be without personality, yet to be free from dissension, free from discord concerning the law of cause and effect, to be free from ideas of possession, not to depend on words but to depend on meaning, not to depend on knowledge but to depend on wisdom, not to depend on incomplete scriptures but to depend on complete scripture, not to depend on man but to depend on the law, to be in accordance with the nature of things, not to cherish any heretical views, to have no abode, and no refuge, to regard the twelve chains of causation as working in an endless circle thus as follows:—as ignorance is completely annihilated, all component things are completely annihilated, until we come to, as birth is completely annihilated, old age and death are also completely annihilated. This is paying homage to the law, which is superior to all other homages.’ ”

(2) “O Maitreya, it should be known that there are two kinds of Bodhisattvas. Who are they? The one is those who are fond of phrase and rhetoric, the other is those who can really and unflinchingly attain to the truth with all its deep meaning. Those who delight in phrase and rhetoric should be known as but novices among Bodhisattvas. Those who can understand [the knowledge of] such a profound scripture as this, stainless and free from attachment, and who are ever fearless, able io enter it, by hearing become pure in mind, hold it, recite it, and practise it according to its teaching, should be regarded as having been long in discipline in the ways of Bodhisattvahood.

(21) Those Bodhisattvas having heard these words praised him saying: “We have never heard the like before; Sakyamuni, the world-honoured one, concealing his infinite power of independence which is never restricted, and manifesting only those things desired by the poor delivers them [from suffering], and also these Bodhisattvas of this world who are never wearied and always ready to condescend to become poor, are born in this land of Buddha cherishing infinite great compassion.”

(6) O Blessed One, if there be in the future any one who can hold it, recite it, and fully explain it for the sake of others, it should be known that he is established by the supernatural power of Maitreya.”

(11) The least of the least of mantraydnic [devotees] — who may seem to be of very unrefined manners, unindustrious, untactful, and who may not live in accordance with his vows, and who in every way may be inelegant in his habits, and even unable, perhaps, to carry the practices of his teachings to a successful issue — let no one feel disrespect for nor doubt him, but pay reverence to the esoteric [or mystic] doctrines [which he holdeth]. By that, alone, one obtaineth liberation at this stage.