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Manjusri
Seventy myriad aeons ago and seventy-two hundred billion
Buddha-fields to the east of this world, Manjusri was a pious king
who offered worship to a Tathagata and aroused the bodhicitta. He
resolved to pursue an endless but unhurried career toward
Awakening, staying in samsara as long as there remained even one
being to be saved. Although he has now fulfilled all the virtues of
a Buddha, he has not yet considered becoming one, although
eventually he will. This implies that there will come a time when
the last living being has been saved, a rare eschatological
statement in the Buddhist tradition.
Merely hearing his name subtracts many aeons from ones time in
samsara. Whoever worships him is born time and again in the
Buddha-family and is protected by his power. Those who meditate on
his statue will be similarly fortunate and will reach Awakening. If
a devotee recites the Suramgama-samadhi Sutra and chants Manjusris
name, then within seven days Manjusri will come to the worshiper,
appearing in a dream if bad karma hinders the supplicant from
receiving direct vision. Manjusri also takes on the form of a poor
man or an orphan to test the kindness of his devotees. [BR,
107]
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