punar aparaṃ mahāmatir āha - kiṃ punar bhagavaṃs tathāgatā arhantaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhā bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ samādhisamāpattyavasthānakāle viśeṣabhūmau ca abhiṣekādhiṣṭhānaṃ prakurvanti? (43,1) bhagavān āha - mārakarmakleśaviyuktārthaṃ śrāvakadhyānabhūmyaprapatanatayā ca tathāgatabhūmipratyātmādhigamanatayā ca prāptadharmādhigamavivṛddhaye ca |
etena mahāmate kāraṇena tathāgatā arhantaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhā bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāmadhiṣṭhānair adhitiṣṭhanti |
anadhiṣṭhitāś ca mahāmate (*103) bodhisattvā mahāsattvāḥ kutīrthyaśrāvakamārāśayapatitā nānuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim abhisaṃbudhyeran |
atastena kāraṇena bodhisattvā mahāsattvās tathāgatair arhadbhiḥ samyaksaṃbuddhair anugṛhyante ||
Further, Mahāmati said:
Why is it, Blessed One, that when the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas are established in the Samādhis and Samāpattis, and when they are baptised at the most exalted stage, the Tathagatas, Arhats, Fully-Enlightened Ones, bestow their sustaining power on them?
Replied the Blessed One:
It is in order to make them avoid the evil ones, karma, and passions, to keep them away from the Dhyāna and stage of the Śrāvakahood, to have them realise the stage of Tathagatahood, and to make them grow in the truth and experience already attained.
For this reason, Mahāmati, the Tathagatas, Arhats, Fully-Enlightened Ones sustain with their power the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas.
If they were not thus sustained, Mahāmati, (103) they would fall into the way of thinking and feeling as cherished by the wrong philosophers, Śrāvakas, or evil ones, and would not attain the highest enlightenment.
For this reason, the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas are upheld by the Tathagatas, Arhats, Fully-Enlightened Ones.