The ghost kings and nether soldiers around them heard Tathagata Buddha's words, and for a moment, their blood boiled with fervor. They straightened their backs, brimming with confidence.
They felt that even if they encountered King Yama now, they would no longer fear looking him in the eye or saying anything.
They were not trash. They had their own strengths, and as long as they were placed in the right positions and made good use of them, they would be treasures.
Tathagata Buddha paused, then said, "That is why all of you must discover your own strengths and bring them into play. Then place yourselves in the right positions, and you will be able to unleash your greatest potential.
"Let me tell you, long, long ago—so long ago that it is unimaginably distant from the present—I was merely an ordinary living being. Compared to all of you, my strength might even have been inferior. Back then, I did many things and joined many sects, but in the end, I failed every time. In those sects, I was just an ordinary person, the sort of trash everyone spoke of.
"Until later, when I encountered the Buddhist Sect and met my master, Dipankara Patriarch. The moment I first saw my master and heard the Buddhist teachings, my heart surged with passion. I knew that what I sought and what I wanted in this life was the Buddhist Dharma. So I did not hesitate or waver in the slightest. I immediately joined the Buddhist Sect and became one of its disciples. You all know what happened afterward. Step by step, I became the Buddha of the Buddhist Sect. It was precisely because I discovered my strengths and found the right place for myself."
As Tathagata Buddha spoke here about trash and treasures, more