Overall Teaching

A bodhisattva’s true objects of perception are limitless—embracing sentient beings, Buddhas, and Dharma without fear of birth and death—while avoiding the limited aims of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. Through diligence, compassion, and unobstructed wisdom likened to emptiness and space, bodhisattvas tirelessly benefit beings and progress without regression, as exemplified by Vajrapāṇi’s past life as Śūrabala.

Summary

1. Ajātaśatru's Inquiry

   • After the Buddha returns to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa and teaches the Dharma in the afternoon, King Ajātaśatru learns of Buddha's return from his son. The King and his retainers bring offerings to the Buddha on the mountain. The King expresses his admiration for the Buddha's compassion and dedication to all sentient beings and Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva, and his powerful rhetorical skills. The King asks about Vajrapāṇi's past merits and from which Buddha he gained his skills. Buddha says that Vajrapāṇi had an immeasurable history of associations and practices with past Buddhas and that it is hard to understand Vajrapāṇi's vast connections and conditions.

2. Śūrabala Bodhisattva and a Bodhisattva's Objects of Perception

   • In the distant past, a Buddha named Vaiśramaṇa taught about the importance of a bodhisattva's diligence. In his assembly, Śūrabala Bodhisattva emphasised that diligent bodhisattvas don't tire in saṃsāra and work to benefit sentient beings, not just seeking nirvāṇa. A bodhisattva's focus should be on benefiting sentient beings, seeing countless Buddhas, hearing pure Dharma, and maturing endless beings. Bodhisattvas should be cautious of "improper objects of perception" which refer to the stages of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, fearing birth and death.

   • Vaiśramaṇa Tathāgata praised Śūrabala and highlighted the importance of understanding a bodhisattva’s specific objects of perception. Including undergoing countless births and deaths without fear, praising bodhisattva practices, not settling at lower levels, and skilfully benefiting all beings. Śūrabala, inspired by Vaiśramaṇa's teachings, compared a bodhisattva's wisdom to the illuminating nature of emptiness and space, emphasising their unobstructed perception of all dharmas. The wisdom of a bodhisattva illuminates all dharmas in a way that cannot be refuted, much like how everything burns brightly when set on fire, and cannot easily be exhausted. Other metaphors are used. Śūrabala was Vajrapāṇi at that time.