“With one great loving heart The thirsty desires of all beings he quencheth with coolness refreshing; With compassion, of all doth he think, Which like space knows no bounds; Over the world’s all creation With no thought of particularity he revieweth. “With a great heart compassionate and loving, All sentient beings by him are embraced; With means (_upâya_) which are pure, free from stain, and all excellent, He doth save and deliver all creatures innumerable. {234} “With unfathomable love and with compassion All creations caressed by him universally; Yet free from attachment his heart is. “As his compassion is great and is infinite, Bliss unearthly on every being he confereth, And himself showeth all over the universe; He’ll not rest till all Buddhahood truly attains.” _Later Mahâyânists’ view of the Dharmakâya._ The above has been quoted almost exclusively from the so-called sûtra literature of Mahâyâna Buddhism, which is distinguished from the other religio-philosophical treatises of the school, because the sûtras are considered to be the accounts of Buddha himself as recorded by his immediate disciples.[100] Let us now see by way of further elucidation what views were held concerning the Dharmakâya by such writers as Asanga, Vasubandhu, etc. We read in the _General Treatise on Mahâyânism_ by Asanga and Vasubandhu the following statement: “When the Bodhisattvas think of the Dharmakâya, how have they to picture it to themselves? “Briefly stated, they will think of the Dharmakâya by picturing to themselves its seven characteristics, which constitute the faultless virtues and essential {235} functions of the Kâya. (1) Think of the free, unrivaled, unimpeded activity of the Dharmakâya, which is manifested in all beings; (2) Think of the eternality of all perfect virtues in the Dharmakâya; (3) Think of its absolute freedom from all prejudice, intellectual and affective; (4) Think of those spontaneous activities that uninterruptedly emanate from the will of the Dharmakâya; (5) Think of the inexhaustible wealth, spiritual and physical, stored in the Body of the Dharma; (6) Think of its intellectual purity which has no stain of onesidedness; (7) Think of the earthly works achieved for the salvation of all beings by the Tathâgatas who are reflexes of the Dharmakâya.”