"The text opens with a group of monks who circumambulate the living Buddha three times and then sit down to listen to his teachings… He warns of a future period called the “Latter Days of the Law” when the oral transmission will have decayed. He prophesies that there will be at least some enlightened beings who will understand and teach his true doctrine. He then promises that the country that preserves and teaches this sutra will have to be honored and worshiped by the worlds of gods, men, and evil spirits. It will become like a chaitya, or temple. It is apparent that this promise was the motivation for Korean Buddhists to inscribe the sutra on gold plates and preserve it under a pagoda." 8th c.
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