Forever My Son

"Good son! What do you think — could that spirit of the awakening-site have been someone else? It was myself. And that wheel-turning king was the present World-Honored Vairocana. Ever since I made that vow, this buddha, the World-Honored One, throughout every destiny in every land of the ten directions, has taken birth place after place, planted every kind of wholesome root, cultivated the bodhisattva's own practice, and taught and brought every being to accomplishment, all the way to manifesting his dwelling in his final existence; in thought after thought, universally throughout every world, manifesting the spiritual transformation of a bodhisattva's own birth — he has forever been my son, and I have forever been his mother. Good son! Whenever measureless buddhas throughout the worlds of the ten directions, past and present, are about to become buddhas, every one of them releases a great light from within their own navel, and that light comes and illumines my own body, together with the palace and dwelling I abide within; and of that final birth of theirs, I am the mother to every one of them. Good son! I know only this bodhisattva's own liberation-gate of great vows and illusion-like wisdom. As for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who are endowed with the treasury of great compassion, who teach and transform beings forever without weariness, and who, through their own sovereign power, manifest the spiritual transformations of measureless buddhas within every single pore — how could I possibly know, or possibly speak, of their own virtuous practice?

"Good son! Within this very world, in Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, there is a king named Right Mindfulness, and that king has a daughter named Sovereign Light. Go to her, and ask: how does a bodhisattva study the bodhisattva's own practice, and cultivate the bodhisattva's own path?" At that time, Good-Wealth reverently received her teaching, bowed his head to her feet, circled her countless times, gazing upon her with longing and devotion, and then withdrew, walking backward. He then went to that heavenly palace, and having seen that heavenly maiden, bowed at her feet, circled around her, and stood before her with his palms joined, saying: "Noble one! I have already given rise to the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, yet I do not yet know how a bodhisattva studies the bodhisattva's own practice, or how one cultivates the bodhisattva's own path. I have heard that you, noble one, are skillfully able to guide and instruct — I beg you, teach me!" The heavenly maiden answered, saying: "