In chapter 11, “The Sight of the Treasure Stupa,” a jeweled Stupa in which Abundant Treasures (Prabhūtaratna) Tathagata sits floats in midair. Shakyamuni Buddha goes from the ground to the Stupa in the air and sits beside Abundant Treasures Buddha. With that, the buddhas who are embodiments or representatives of Shakyamuni Buddha come from various directions to be united with him, while at the same time, various worlds are united into a single buddha-land. Abundant Treasures is a buddha who appeared prior to Shakyamuni. One can understand that the two of them sitting side-by-side symbolizes that Shakyamuni has been a buddha from the very remote past—that is, it suggests the universality of Shakyamuni Buddha. The gathering together of the buddhas embodying Shakyamuni from throughout the universe and the common buddha-land express the idea that Shakyamuni Buddha is a unifying buddha.

In this sense, chapter 11 should be taken as a kind of prelude to chapter 16, “Ihe Lifetime of the Tathagata.” As in chapter 16, this chapter also emphasizes bodhisattva practice, advocates actual bodhisattva practice in the heart of this Sahā world during the last days, and teaches entrusting the Dharma to bodhisattvas. Thus, we ought to reexamine ideas such as the jeweled Stupa rising up, the gathering together of buddha embodiments, and a common buddha-land from the perspective of promoting bodhisattva practice.