Vāseṭṭha, you have different births, names, clans, and families, yet have gone forth from the lay life to homelessness. When they ask you what you are, you claim to be ascetics who follow the Sakyan. But only when someone has faith in the Realized One—settled, rooted, and planted deep, strong, not to be shifted by any ascetic or brahmin or god or Māra or divinity or by anyone in the world—is it appropriate for them to say: ‘I am the Buddha’s bosom son, born from his mouth, born of principle, created by principle, heir to principle.’ Why is that? For these are terms for the Realized One: ‘the embodiment of principle’, and ‘the embodiment of divinity’, and ‘the manifestation of principle’, and ‘the manifestation of divinity’.

There comes a time when, Vāseṭṭha, after a very long period has passed, this cosmos contracts. As the cosmos contracts, sentient beings are mostly headed for the realm of sublime luminosity. There they are mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-radiant, wandering in midair, steadily glorious, and they remain like that for a very long time. There comes a time when, after a very long period has passed, this cosmos expands. As the cosmos expands, sentient beings mostly pass away from that host of luminous deities and come back to this realm. Here they are mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-radiant, wandering in midair, steadily glorious, and they remain like that for a very long time.

2. The Earth’s Nectar Appears