(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.”

(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) At that time Buddha spoke to Maitreya and said: “O Maitreya I now give over to thee the Sutra leading to supreme enlightenment, which I have gathered during countless millions of Asamkhyeya kalpas of the past. In the generations that follow after the passing of Buddha, ye should all widely proclaim and propagate this scripture through your supernatural powers m this Jambudvipa and never permit it to become extinct. And why? If there be in the later generations, either sons or daughters of a noble family, or deities or serpent-gods, or goblins, or Gandharvas, or Rakshasas, who cherishing the thought of supreme enlightenment, find pleasure in the great law, but fail to hear such scripture as this, great benefits would be lost to them. Such men as these, hearing such scriptures, will surely entertain great faith in them, cherish the rare thought [or enlightenment] , and reverently preach them in detail to all beings so that they will derive benefits therefrom.

(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 —