When an ordinary person does meritorious deeds he becomes attached to subject and object. “I did that meritorious deed. He is the recipient of my good deed.” That is the way a common person thinks.

Bodhisattvas should adorn Buddhalands without the thought of adornment. That is not to say they should not adorn Buddhalands. It means they should adorn them as if they had done nothing.

To adorn a Buddhaland is to cause the country of a Buddha to be especially beautiful. Our offerings of flowers, fruit, and incense to the Triple Jewel are adornments of Buddhalands. That is not to say you should not adorn Buddhalands. It means you should adorn them, and yet not adorn them. Offerings to the Triple Jewel of flowers, fruit, and incense also serve as adornments for Buddhalands.

From the point of view of common truth there is adornment of Buddhalands. From the point of view of actual truth there is no adornment. If viewed from the doctrine which is perfectly fused without obstruction, adornment is merely a name and nothing more.

When Śākyamuni Buddha first resolved to cultivate the Way, he was a master potter named Expansive Splendor. At that time there was a Buddha in the world named Sakya Tathagata who saw that conditions were ripe to take across the master potter. When the potter Expansive Splendor saw that Sakya Tathagata had come, he welcomed him eagerly. It was with extreme pleasure that he said, “Ahh, I too see the Buddha.” He gazed at the Buddha and then asked him to speak dharma. Upon hearing the dharma the potter immediately made the vow: “Buddha, you are truly superb. In the future when I realize Buddhahood, I will be a Buddha just like you. My name will also be Śākyamuni.” He made the vow to cultivate the Way before that Buddha. Seventy-five thousand Buddhas appeared in the world after that Sakya Buddha, the last of whom was Accumulation of Jewels Tathagata. The period of these 75,000 Buddhas is called the first asaṃkhyeya kalpa. The actual length of time in that first asaṃkhyeya kalpa is certainly incalculable. From Accumulation of Jewels Tathagata to Burning Lamp Buddha is a period in which 76,000 Buddhas appeared in the world, and is called the second asaṃkhyeya kalpa. From Burning Lamp Buddha to Victorious Contemplation Buddha is a period in which 77,000 Buddhas appeared in the world and is called the third great asaṃkhyeya kalpa. It was during those three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas that Śākyamuni Buddha cultivated the Way to the realization of Buddhahood.

Therefore the Buddha said, “Prior to Burning Lamp Buddha, I encountered eighty-four thousands of millions of billions of nayutas of Buddhas, and made offerings to them all, and served them all without exception.” Throughout his long period of cultivation Śākyamuni Buddha never failed to serve the Buddhas who appeared in the world. He made offerings to them all.

However the Buddha further pointed out that “If there is someone in the Dharma Ending Age who can receive the sūtra with his mind and hold it with his body, and who can read or recite it, his merit and virtue is greater than mine for having made offerings for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas to all eighty-four thousands of millions of nayutas of Buddhas, by several hundred, thousand, million, billion times. Neither calculation, nor analogy, nor comparison can adequately express it.

Sakyamuni Buddha spoke of himself saying “I.” After Sakyamuni Buddha realized Buddhahood, he certified to the Eight Great Independent Aspects of “I”:

1. He could manifest one body as many bodies.
2. He could display one body the size of a mote of dust which filled three thousand great thousand world systems.
3. He had a great body which could float and travel long distances.
4. He could manifest in limitless ways while constantly residing in one land. “Limitless ways” include in the body of a Buddha, of a Bodhisattva, a Sound-Hearer, One Enlightened to Conditions, a god, a man, an asura, a ghost, an animal, and so forth.
5. He had the mutual functioning of all sense faculties. It may sound strange to people who have never heard sutras before that the eyes can eat, the ears can see, the nose can speak, and the mouth can hear and see as well as eat. However, it is possible for the six faculties of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind to function mutually so that each has the abilities of all the others.
6. He fathomed the dharma without the thought of dharma.
7. He could speak the meaning of one gāthā for limitless kalpas.
8. He had a body which could pervade all places like empty space.