The bodhisattva under the bodhi tree will illuminate the entire region around him with a golden halo emanating from his body. All the gods, having followed him during his renunciation and paying tributes by music and dance, will continue to sing his praises. The sky will be filled with showers of heavenly fragrant flowers. Then he will sit in the hall of the universe illuminated by the golden light of the moon and surrounded by the Cakravate mountains like a curtain. Multitudes of gods and men will wait in hopeful fashion. The great bodhisattva will then develop the special power of remembering past births during the first watch of the night; during the second watch, he will cultivate the power of seeing distant things; and in the last watch of the night while in meditation, he will gain omniscience and attain buddhahood just as the first rays of the morning sun appear. Having attained all-perceiving wisdom and making the entire world filled with celebration, the omniscient Maitreya will begin to express his exultation in words after spending seven weeks in meditation on the dharma under the bodhi tree.

Pondering the depth of his dharma during the eighth week, Maitreya will go into a grove of Na trees called Isipatana, where he will turn the wheel of dharma or falun (法輪) which consists of the four noble truths. The first of them is the Noble Truth of Suffering: birth is suffering, decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; presence of objects one hates is suffering; separation from objects one loves is suffering; not to obtain what one desires is suffering. Another is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering: thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence and thirst for prosperity. Still another is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: complete cessation of the three thirsts. The fourth is the Noble Truth of Path which leads to the cessation of suffering. It is the holy eightfold Path; that is to say, Right Belief, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Endeavor, Right Mindfulness, and Right Mediation.

Then Maitreya will preach his dharma to save the world. All the gods and men in attendance will ask him questions about the Four Noble Truths. He will respond in order to help them attain nirvana. As a result, 84,000 men and gods will be saved from the ocean of samsara. The ocean of samsara is filled with the water of suffering with its waves of birth, old age and sickness. It has whirlpools of desirous forms and sounds and is full of fish in shapes of the various passions. It is the residence of the female water demons. It is also fed by the river waters of desire. Its length, width and depth can never be fully measured. Maitreya saves all beings sunk into the ocean of samsara who are about to fall into the furnace of hell under the sea which is shaped like the head of a mare.

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