Purna in the Twenty-Five Holy Perfect Penetration Methods, Volume Five of the Shurangama Sutra

Original text:富楼那弥多罗尼子即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我旷劫来。辩才无碍。宣说苦空。深达实相。如是乃至恒沙如来。秘密法门。我于众中。微妙开示。得无所畏。世尊知我有大辩才。以音声轮。教我发扬。我于佛前。助佛转轮。因狮子吼。成阿罗汉。世尊印我。说法无上。佛问圆通。我以法音。降伏魔怨。销灭诸漏。斯为第一。

Explanation: Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: "Since beginningless kalpas, my wisdom has been outstanding and my eloquence unobstructed. I have proclaimed the suffering and emptiness of the world, and deeply penetrated the true reality of all dharmas. Indeed, even the secret dharma gates of as many Tathāgatas as sands of the Ganges I have been able to expound wondrously before assemblies, without fear of such profound dharma. The World-Honored One knew that I possessed great eloquence, and taught me to develop it fully, using the wheel of the voice to proclaim the Dharma and teach sentient beings. Thus, before the Buddha, I was able to help the Buddha turn the Dharma wheel and deliver sentient beings. Because I was skilled at the lion's roar, I attained the state of an arhat of the fourth fruit. The World-Honored One certified that among the Buddha's disciples I was supreme in expounding the Dharma, with none surpassing me. Now the Buddha asks about the dharma gate of perfect penetration that I cultivated and realized: it was through the sound of my expounding the Dharma that I subdued the hostile māras and extinguished all afflictions. This is the foremost dharma gate of perfect penetration that I cultivated and realized."

Pūrṇa not only possessed profound wisdom but also exceptional ability in verbal expression, and therefore had been helping the Buddha turn the Dharma wheel since beginningless kalpas. He eradicated afflictions and realized the state of an arhat of the fourth fruit, and could also expound the secret dharma gates of the Tathāgatas; therefore, his level of realization was equivalent to that of bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi or above. These great disciples of the Buddha all had distinguished backgrounds—they were all buddhas and bodhisattvas who had turned back their ship of compassion, manifesting as śrāvakas to help the Buddha propagate the Dharma. These great disciples all possessed great supernatural powers but did not display them casually, appearing much the same as ordinary people; even during famines when they could not obtain food through alms, Pūrṇa would rather eat cow dung than use supernatural powers to conjure food, and the Buddha also did not permit Maudgalyāyana and the others to use the supernormal power of travel to fly to Uttarakuru to beg for food. In fact, these great arhats were fully capable of going without food, but in order to demonstrate the Dharma, they manifested as the same as ordinary monastics in order to deliver those bhikṣus, so none of them could use supernatural powers. This was also out of consideration for the monastics of later generations, so that the monastics of later generations, lacking supernatural powers, would not be ridiculed by sentient beings, causing sentient beings to create unwholesome karma.