Cause and effect entail each other. Faith is [related to the process] like shadow [is to the object] and echo [is to sound]. In the preceding they heard [the Buddha] preaching [his unlimited] life-span and so they have been doing their utmost in seeking advantages; by availing themselves of this [opportunity] to obtain the effect, they will reap the reward bountifully. Now [the Buddha] is going to distinguish its difference. Accordingly the chapter is entitled “Discrimination of Merits.”

Ajita

In the Chinese language, it means “[the one] not conquered” Maitreya is his style.

When I said that the duration of my life was so long, six hundred and eighty billion nayuta living beings, that is, the living beings as many as there are sands in the River Ganges, obtained the truth of birthlessness {unborn dharmas}.

Why is there any need for talking about those who have been really enlightened? The purpose of citing broadly those who obtained enlightenment is to glorify this sūtra, [helping] to generate and accumulate the various [stages of] understanding, so that by catering to the [need and situations of] beings in endlessly varied ways [the Buddha] may secretly exhort those seekers [of enlightenment] to keep this Dharma Blossom. When one has not yet seen li, there is a need for the ferry of words; for one who has witnessed li, what is the use of words? They are like the fish trap and snare for catching fish and rabbits: when fish and rabbits have been already caught, what use do they have? [It is said here that] once hearing the sūtra [preached], they immediately reach the one-birth-bound [stage] or [the state of] the forbearance of dharmas. Yet, li certainly should not be so. If originally there is no understanding, what can words add? The view that there are progress and regress [in the realization of li] is groundless. Yet, this is said in the writings to be so. [Why?] Because li, as enunciated by the sūtra, espouses the ten stages. Even though it is not something to resort to, it yet is put in the position of something to resort to; knowledge of the sūtra has no use, and yet it is said to possess the capacity for use. Through this demonstration [the Buddha] is able to make [past] facts of [attainment] manifest the meaning of the sūtra. If one follows and knows it, how can one be finished [as a practitioner]!