The Buddha said to Ānanda:

“When followers of Buddha undertake to amend themselves of unwholesome and harmful karmic acts after the Buddha has passed away, they must resolutely internalize and recite the Great Vehicle sutras. This comprehensive teaching is the buddha eye of the buddhas, it is the means by which buddhas perfect the five kinds of vision, and, from it, the Buddha’s three manifestations arise.

The five kinds of eyes are (1) the eye of those who have a material body; (2) the divine eye of celestial beings in the realm of form; (3) the eye of wisdom, by which the followers of the two vehicles perceive the nonsubstantiality of things; (4) the eye of the Law, by which the bodhisattvas perceive all teachings in order to lead human beings to enlightenment; and (5) the Buddha’s eye, the four kinds of eyes enumerated above existing in the Buddha’s body.

An ethereal voice will again fill the air, intoning thus:

“You must now amend both body and mind! The body, by killing, stealing, and behaving licentiously, and the mind, by conceiving various unwholesome things, produce the ten harmful karmic actions as well as the five grievous acts. Moreover, their monkey-like and glue-like attachments to things everywhere thoroughly permeate all of the six sense faculties. All of the karmic actions of these six faculties – their branches, twigs, flowers, and leaves – extend fully throughout the three realms, the twenty-five states of existence, and all places where beings take birth, and they function to facilitate ignorance, aging, death, and others of the twelve factors that cause suffering. You cannot but be immersed in the eight improper practices and the eight conditions in which it is difficult to see a buddha. You must now amend yourself of unwholesome and harmful karmic acts such as these!”

The five deadly sins are killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, injuring the body of a buddha, and causing disunity in the community of monks. Those who commit these five sins will fall into the Avici hell. The twenty-five abodes of living beings are the four evil worlds (the hells, animals, hungry spirits, and asuras), the four continents of the world of men, the six heavens of the world of desire, the seven heavens of the world of form, and the four heavens of the formless world. The eight circumstances indicate the eight conditions in which one is unable to see the Buddha or hear the Law. These are hell, animals, hungry spirits, the heaven of long life, remote places, the state of being blind or deaf, secular prejudice, and the period of the Buddha’s absence.

“At this time the buddhas will send forth rays of bright light that illuminate the practitioner’s body, causing the practitioner to become spontaneously joyful in body and mind and to bring forth great mercy and compassion pervasively in thoughts of all things. The buddhas will then extensively expound ways of great compassion and benevolence for the practitioner’s benefit. Furthermore, they will teach the practitioner to use kind words and to follow the six ways of harmony and respect. Hearing these teachings and commands, the practitioner’s heart will overflow with joy, and he or she will then fully internalize and master them without laziness or pause.”

Joy and indifference are two of the four infinite virtues. The infinite virtue of joy means enjoying the sight of those who have obtained happiness. That of indifference signifies abandoning attachment to the benefits one gives to others and even to the harm he receives from his enemies. Taken together, the words “joy and indifference” indicate a mental attitude in which one abandons attachment to himself and thinks only of the benefit of others.

The expression “kind words” means affectionate words, one of the four virtues of the bodhisattva. The six ways of harmony and reverence are the six kinds of practices through which believers harmonize with and respect each other in the course of seeking enlightenment.

“You must now face the buddhas of the ten directions and praise and give voice to the Great Vehicle! Before the buddhas, relate your faults yourself! The buddha tathāgatas are your compassionate fathers.

The words “the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are your merciful fathers” are very important. Because the follower has repeatedly practiced repentance to the point of being extremely severe with himself, some people, taking a superficial view of such repentance, may feel oppressed. Other people may regard the repenting follower as a pitiable person who trembles with fear and prostrates himself before a ruler sternly scrutinizing his sins, confesses them, and begs the ruler’s pardon. However, such an idea is greatly mistaken. The buddhas are our merciful fathers, who think only of the salvation of all living beings. Therefore the buddhas praise us because through our repentance we remove defilements from our mind little by little. We do not practice repentance because we fear the buddhas but rather with the hope of being extolled by the buddhas, for whom we cherish a longing desire and a thirsting heart. The expression “the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are your merciful fathers” has this profound significance.

“After saying these words, the practitioner will perceive Mount Vulture Peak composed of the seven precious metals and gems, monks and śrāvakas with countless others together in a great assembly, rows of jewel trees lining level jewel ground on which a magnificent jeweled lion seat has been arranged, and Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits from between his eyebrows a beam of light that passes through the innumerable worlds of the ten directions and illuminates worlds everywhere in the universe. From everywhere this light reaches in the ten directions