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.

There are ten kinds of offerings:

1. Incense. The finest, most expensive incense should be offered to the Buddhas. If you were to buy old incense which shopkeepers were about to discard and bring it as an offering to the Buddha, your heart would be lacking in sincerity. On the other hand, if you were to offer Gosirsa-candana, “Ox-head Sandalwood” incense, your gift, involving considerable sacrifice on your part, could be considered sincere. “Ox-head” incense is often mentioned in the Buddha’s teachings. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra explains that this incense was so fragrant that it could be detected within a radius of thirteen miles when it was being burned in the city of Sravasti during the Buddha’s dharma assemblies. The Brahman woman in the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra sold her house and sacrificed her wealth in order to make a great offering to Enlightenment Flower Samadhi Self-Existent King Tathagata. Her sincerity was so great that she sold the very roof over her head in order to make the very best offerings to the Buddha. The reward for offering incense to the Buddha is that in the future your body will be fragrant. A rare scent constantly issued from Śākyamuni Buddha’s mouth and from every pore on his body. An ordinary person’s body has such a foul odor it can be detected for miles. If you don’t believe that, just consider how a police dog is able to trace a human scent at a distance of three to five miles. However if you make offerings of incense to the Buddha with the hope of gaining a fragrant body, then you have missed the point. You should not seek for it. When your merit and virtue are sufficient your body will quite naturally be fragrant. The gods, for example, have fragrant bodies because they made offerings of incense to the Buddha in former lives. Until your merits and virtues are sufficient, you will continue to have a common stinking body no matter how much you strive to attain a fragrant odor.
2. Flowers. The finer the flowers that you offer to the Buddha, the greater the merit and virtue you receive from the offering. Do not spend all your money for good things to eat, save a little for an offering to the Buddha. The reward for offerings of flowers is that you will have perfect features and be very beautiful or extremely handsome in your next life. People will fall in love with you at first sight. Women will be strongly attracted to you if you are a man, and men will be unable to resist your beauty if you are a woman. “That is too much trouble,” you may say. “I don’t want to get involved with that.” If you don’t want that kind of trouble, so much the better. Śākyamuni Buddha had perfect features as a result of offering incense and flowers to Buddhas in former lives. If you fear the trouble a perfect appearance might bring, you can imitate Patriarch Bodhidharma who had a ragged beard and ugly features! It is up to you. However you like it, you can have it that way.
3. Lamps. If you light lamps before the Buddha, next life your eyes will be bright. You will be able to see the things other people cannot see and know the things other people cannot know. You will be able to attain the penetration of the Five Eyes, the Heavenly eye, the Buddha eye, the Dharma eye, the Wisdom eye, and the Flesh eye. “So-and-so has the Buddha eye,” you may complain. “Why don’t I have one?” Of course you do not have the five eyes; in the past you never bought one lamp to offer to the Buddha. If you want the five eyes you should quickly bring in the very finest incense and oil and light lamps before the Buddha as an offering. The merit and virtue of this kind of offering is so wonderful that as a result you can obtain the five eyes and six spiritual penetrations.
4. Necklaces. Rare jewels and gems may be placed before the Buddha as offerings.
5. Jeweled parasols. Items used in adornment of the Buddha hall are also an acceptable offering.
6. Banners and canopies. Banners made of cloth which has been painted or stitched with adornments, or wooden plaques which have been carved with inscriptions, are offerings appropriate to place before the Buddha. You may also hang canopies like the Great Brahma Heaven King’s net canopy which is circular and adorned with jewels.
7. Clothes. When you make or buy fine clothes you may place them on the altar before the Buddha prior to wearing them. Only upper garments should be offered. Although the Buddha cannot wear the clothes, the offering is a gesture to express the sincerity of your heart.
8. Fruit and food. Food should be placed before the Buddha prior to being eaten. This offering as well is a gesture of respect.
9. Music. Making temple music includes beating the wooden fish, playing the drum and bell, ringing the small bells, striking the gong, and singing praises. Music such as this is an offering to the Buddha.
10. Joined Palms. The tenth kind of offering is simple and does not expend any energy. This is merely placing your palms together as an offering.

“World Honored One, at present, I, Subhūti, hear the Vajra Prajña Pāramita Sūtra and with pure faith I understand the wonderful dharma of prajña, can receive it with my mind, hold it with my body, and not forget it. I do so without difficulty.” Why was it so easy for Subhūti? Because he had planted good roots for many kalpas. If he had lacked good roots, then upon hearing the wonderful dharma of prajña his faith would have been defiled by doubts and skepticism. However, in the past he had made offerings to limitless Buddhas and had planted all good roots of which there are eleven kinds:

1. Faith;
2. Shame;
3. Remorse. You would do well to produce a mind of shame and remorse, recognizing your own wrongdoings and changing the bad to good. In that way you plant good roots. Lack of shame and remorse indicates a lack of good roots;
4. Absence of greed;
5. Absence of hostility;
6. Absence of stupidity;
7. Vigor;
8. Tranquility, which refers to the light ease of sitting in Dhyana;
9. Non-laxity, which means not being careless or lazy, not running wild and being too casual. It also means not disobeying rules. If you are not lax then you follow rules;
10. Non-harming, which means not hurting other creatures; and
11. Renunciation, which means practicing giving without attachment to the mark of giving.

These are the eleven good phenomena of the fifty-one that belong to the mind.