In the fourth bam po (volume) of the Brahmapaṛiprcchā, several new characters appear. They are Mañjuśrī, the kumārabhūta, and the brāhmaṇa Samatāvihārin. The former was mentioned as seated ¯ in the assembly from the first bam po but he has kept silent in the first three bam pos. Jalinīprabha, the kumārabhūta, who has been taking the role of answerer, disappears in the last three bam pos. Samatāvihārin asks the Buddha: “Who is a bodhisattva?” The Buddha answers: the bodhisattva is the one who makes a vow to save the sentient beings who are determined to follow the wrong path (mithyātvaniyata), but not for the sake of those who are determined to follow the correct path (samyaktvaniyata), nor for those who are indeterminate (aniyata). This definition is very important in the history of interpretation of the bodhisattva vow. Hearing this definition, thirty-two bodhisattvas, through inspired eloquence (pratibhāna), one after another describe who a bodhisattva is in connection with their respective names. In the dialogue between Mañjuśrī and Samatāvihārin, there are important passages such as “the ¯ essence of the self (ātman) is the essence of the buddha” and “ to see the self (ātman) is to see dharma, and by seeing dharma one sees the tathāgata ”. It seems that these passages mean to identify the self with the buddha / tathāgata. But we understand that the Sutra emphasizes the ¯ importance of cultivating wisdom to find out the true self, judging from the following explanation: as those who are skillful at classifying genuine gold have obtained the skill to discern the good from the bad by observing the bad carefully, just so one purifies one’s eyes to see wisdom by seeing the self. Referring to the Buddha’s sermon: “When sitting in the meeting, monks have two things to do. One is exposition of teachings (dhārmīkathā) and the other is holy silence (āryatūṣṇībhāva)”, Samatāvihārin asks Mañjuśrī what these two things really are. The resulting dialogue between the two bodhisattvas makes clear the difference between Traditional Buddhism and Mahayāna Buddhism. The Buddha in this connection reveals that a long time ago the former Buddha named Samantaprabha also gave a similar sermon. The fourth bam po suddenly stops narrating that episode at its introduction and the further description of the episode will reappear in the next (fifth) bam po, where the Buddha declares that two bodhisattvas who at that time were Akṣayamati and Viśeṣamati are now Mañjuśrī and Samataviharin, respectively.
