When the Lord finished his recitation of the Great Crown Dharani, he resumed his instruction to Ananda, saying:
This mysterious Agadha Dharani of Siddhartha Pdara which is the quintessence of the Brightness and Power raying out from the Lord Buddha’s Crown is One with the Brightness and Power emanating from all the Buddhas in all the ten quarters of all the universes. It is the Sambhogakaya, the Bliss-body of Buddhahood, radiantly Wise and Potential and ceaselessly Compassionate drawing all sentient life into its All-embracing Wholeness and Unity and Peacefulness. It was by means of this Transcendental Power, the quintessence of The Lord Buddha’s Perfect Samadhi and Boundless Samapatti, that all the Tathagatas, past, present and future, of all the universes had attained Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, had been able to subdue all the Maras and heretics, were sitting on their thrones in the Glorious Lotus Blossoms and forever giving response to the needs of all sentient life in all the kingdoms of existence, past, present and future.
By means of it all the Tathagatas were ceaselessly turning the Wheel of the Intrinsic Dharma; by means of it all the Tathagatas were in close fellowship with each individual disciple, comforting, encouraging, guiding, strengthening; no matter how immature disciples may be, they would be given assurance of their ultimate attainment of Buddhahood. By means of it, all the Tathagatas of the ten quarters have been able to give deliverance to those unfortunate disciples whose karma has brought them into suffering, even into the suffering of the lowest hells where are the hungry demons. Much more have been able by means of it to support and comfort the disciples in the midst of their common suffering of blindness, deafness and dumbness, the cruelty of enemies, separation from beloved ones, unfulfilled wishes, and the suffering arising from the ungratified desires of the five sense-ingredients. By means of it all the Tathagatas have been able to protect the disciples from harm by natural calamities, from war and robbery and famine and imprisonment; from violent storms, conflagrations, floods, drought, poverty. Whenever this Great Dharani is recited in faith, every suffering must give way and come to an end.
By means of it all the Tathagatas have supported the great Masters, to give their lectures with spontaneity and correctness, to supply their money necessities, to protect them from harm whether walking sitting or lying down, and to bring them to places of honor among the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas as Princes of the Lord’s Dharma. By means of it all the Tathagatas have been able to encourage beginners among the disciples, and those who have become frightened by the difficulties of the profound teachings of the Dharma.
By means of it all the Tathagatas have been able to attain their own Supreme Enlightenment, each under his own Spiritual Bodhi-tree, and finally to attain their Great Nirvana. And by means of this Great Dharani, after the passing of the Tathagatas, to consign to all disciples the duty and privilege of the practices of the Dharma so that it shall continue permanently in existence and the Precepts strictly observed and the disciples living in purity.
Should any disciple from morning until evening recite this Great Dharani without any omissions or additions, his merit will be unlimited even after innumerable kalpas. Should any of the practicing disciples who have not yet cut off their concern with deaths and rebirths, seriously attempt to attain Arhatship and to practice dhyana, without first relying on the power of this Great Dharani, it would be hopeless for him to avoid the deceptions and machinations of the Maras.
Ananda, should any sentient beings in any of the kingdoms of existence, copy down this Dharani on birch-bark or palm-leaves or paper made of papyrus or of white felt, and keep it safely in some scented wrapping, this man no matter how faint-hearted or unable to remember the words for reciting it, but who copies it in his room and keeps it by him, this man in all his life will remain unharmed by any poison of the Maras.
(Editor’s NOTE: From now on the literary style changes from the convincing rational character it has had and becomes more or less superstitious, irrational, unconvincing, and, to us of a more scientific age, is useless for our present purpose of winning, by its spiritual power, followers for the Lord Buddha. It is an example that is frequent in the Buddhist literature of the same apparent age, of “extending” or amplifying the text by including or interpolating additional matter that some less capable scribe thinks to be worth adding.
At this point we are about two-thirds through the Text, in the midst of the Second Chapter, the balance of which is omitted. Chapter III is also omitted. Chapter IV is very short and is given entirely. It is devoted to the title of the Sutra and might well have been the end. Chapter V is devoted to a mythical description of the Seven Realms of Existence and is omitted. Chapter VI, while being more appropriate, also gives one the impression that it is something added. All but the closing paragraph is omitted.)
