Further, Mahakasyapa, countless Bodhisattvas in the ten directions appear as beggars asking for hands, feet, ears, noses, heads, brains, blood, flesh, skin and bones, towns and hamlets, wives and (female) slaves, elephants, horses, carts, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, agate, cornelian, coral, amber, pearl, jade shell, clothing, food and drink; most of these beggars are Bodhisattvas who have realized this inconceivable liberation and use expedient devices to test believers in order to cement their faith (in the Dharma). Because the Bodhisattvas who have realized inconceivable liberation possess the awe-inspiring power to bring pressure to bear upon (believers) and ask for inalienable things (to test them), but worldly men whose spirituality is low have no such (transcendental) powers and cannot do all this. These Bodhisattvas are like dragons and elephants which can trample (with tremendous force), which donkeys cannot do. This is called the wisdom and expedient methods (upaya) of the Bodhisattvas who have won inconceivable liberation.”

“Subhuti, five hundred incarnations ago, I recollect that as a recluse practising the ordinances of the Kshanti-Paramita, even then I had no such...

The Lord Buddha thereupon addressed Subhuti, saying: “I have a truth to declare unto you! If a good disciple, whether man or woman, were to bestow in...

The Lord Buddha addressed Subhuti, saying: “If an enlightened disciple, in the exercise of charity, bestowed as considerable an amount of the seven...

By thus being set face to face, however weak the mental faculties may be, there is no doubt of one's gaining Liberation. Yet, though so often set...