Thus I have heard. At one time the Bhagavan was travelling through various lands to teach living beings. He arrived at Vaisali ["City of Extensive Adornments"] and stayed beneath a tree from which music resounded. With him were eight thousand great Bhikshus and thirty six thousand Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas; also kings, ministers, Brahmans, lay disciples; gods, dragons, and the rest of the eightfold division; beings both human and non-human.