Beginning with these, there were five thousand great enlightening beings, all of whom had undertaken the acts and vows of universally good enlightening beings and were unhindered in their sphere of action, pervading all buddha-lands. They manifested boundless bodies, going to all buddhas. The sphere of their unobstructed eye was pure, seeing the miracles of all buddhas. They had attained to infinity in revelations, ceaselessly approaching the entries into enlightenment of all buddhas. Their illumination was measureless, having attained the light of knowledge of principles and didactic devices of the ocean of teachings of all buddhas. They could explain virtues forever, through purity of intellectual powers. They were unfettered in the purity of the realm of knowledge vaster than space, being able to appear in the world in any physical form they wished. They were clear-sighted, knowing the realm of beings to be void of beings or souls. They had spacelike knowledge, pervading all universes with a net of lights.
There were also five hundred hearers with great spiritual powers, all of them perfectly aware of the essence of true reason and the principles of truth. They had arrived at direct witness of the limit of reality, had penetrated the nature of phenomena, had gotten out of the ocean of existence and into the realm of space of those who have arrived at suchness, had stopped their propensities and habits and were beyond regression, dwelled in the abode of nonattachment and nonobstruction, were in a state as tranquil as space, had cut off all doubt in Buddha, and had entered the path intent on the ocean of buddha-knowledge.
There were also world rulers, who had served past buddhas, who had accomplished the welfare and happiness of all beings, who were unsolicited benefactors, who had accomplished the protection of others, who had entered into the bliss of the highest knowledge in the world, who were never indifferent toward sentient beings, who issued from the realm of the buddha-teaching, who had accomplished the preservation of the buddha-teaching, who vowed to sustain the lineage of buddhas, who were oriented toward birth in the family of buddhas, who sought omniscient knowledge.
At that time it occurred to those enlightening beings and their companions, to those hearers of great spiritual powers, and to those world rulers and their companions, “It is not possible for celestials or humans to understand or enter into or focus on or know or cognize or think about or perceive clearly or distinguish or elucidate or establish in the body and mind of other beings the sphere of the enlightened, the realm of knowledge of the enlightened, the basis, the power, the fearlessness, the concentration, the state, the mastery, the body, or the knowledge of the enlightened, except by the support, the magic, the empowerment, and the past vows of the enlightened, by having the qualities of roots of goodness perfected by past buddhas, by being in the charge of spiritual benefactors, by purification of faith, liberative means, and knowledge, by attainment of illumination of higher devotion, by purification of the higher will of enlightening beings, and by the proceeding of the higher will on the undertaking of realizing omniscience. May the Buddha show us, enlightening beings and sentient beings—according to our dispositions, different mental capacities, different orientations, different perceptions, different languages, different attainments, different masteries, different stages, different purity of faculties, different mental efforts, different realms of thought, focus on different qualities of buddhahood, and orientation toward various teachings—his past procedure toward omniscience, and show us his past undertaking of the vows of enlightening beings, his past purification of the spheres of the transcendent ways of enlightening beings, the wonder of his past accession to the stages of enlightening beings, his past fulfillment of the undertakings of the spheres of practices of enlightening beings, the appearance of his past accomplishment of the vehicle of enlightening beings, his past purification of the embellishment of the path of enlightening beings, the arrays of his past accomplishments of the ocean of ways of emancipation of enlightening beings, the splendors of the ocean of spiritual transformations he experienced in the past as an enlightening being, the oceans of his past efforts as an enlightening being, the oceans of his spiritual transformations on the threshold of perfect enlightenment, the power of his spiritual manifestations in turning the wheel of truth as a buddha, the oceans of spiritual transformations involved in buddha-land purification, the Buddha’s methods of guiding sentient beings to liberation, the Buddha’s lordship of the city of principles of omniscience, the Buddha’s revelations of the paths of all sentient beings, the Buddha’s transfigurations entering into the states of all beings, the Buddha’s receiving of gifts from beings, the Buddha’s presentations of teachings on right giving to all sentient beings, the Buddha’s projection of the image of Buddha into the mental states of all beings, the Buddha’s displays of miracles to sentient beings, the Buddha’s miracles of teaching and admonishing sentient beings, and the Buddha’s inconceivable manifestations of the realms of concentration of Buddha to all beings—may the Buddha show us these things.”
Then the Buddha, knowing what the enlightening beings were thinking, entered the concentration known as “the coming forth of the lion,” a world-illumining manifestation, of which the body is great compassion, the entryway is great compassion, the guide is great compassion, the means of access to the sky of truth is great compassion. As soon as the Buddha had entered this concentration, the magnificent pavilion became boundlessly vast: the surface of the earth appeared to be made of indestructible diamond, the surface of the ground covered with a net of all the finest jewels, strewn with flowers of many jewels, with enormous gems strewn all over; it was adorned with sapphire pillars, with well-proportioned decorations of world-illumining pearls of the finest water, with all kinds of gems, combined in pairs, adorned with heaps of gold and jewels, with a dazzling array of turrets, arches, chambers, windows, and balconies, made of all kinds of precious stones, arrayed with jewels in the forms of all world rulers, and embellished with oceans of worlds of jewels, covered with all kinds of jewels, with flags, banners, and pennants flying in front of all the portals, the adornments pervading the cosmos with a network of light. Outside the grounds where the inexpressibly vast circle of the assembly was, there was a magnificent array of balustrades, and in each direction was a stairway consisting of a mass of jewels, adorned superbly in a well-ordered fashion.
Also the Jeta grove and buddha-fields as numerous as atoms in untold buddha-fields all became coextensive, vastly expanded, by the power of Buddha. There appeared varied arrays of all kinds of jewels, plains variously set with untold jewels, fences of uncountable jewels set around, and palm trees of various jewels arrayed in rows. Also in those lands were innumerable rivers of fragrant water, winding endlessly, filled with perfumed water, with turbulent rapids of flowers of all jewels, whirling to the right, producing the sounds of the sayings of all buddhas. There were also inconceivable rows of jewel white lotuses, trees adorned with arrays of lotus blossoms made of jewels, as well as inconceivable numbers of rows of towers of various gems, enveloped in nets of all kinds of jewels, arrays of countless jewels radiating webs of light, countless arrays of all kinds of jewels, of celestial chariots of jewels, and arrays of chests of all kinds of incense releasing banks of all fragrances. There also stood innumerable emblems of jewels, emblems of cloth, emblems surfaced with jewels, emblems of flowers, emblems of ornaments, emblems of garlands, emblems of nets of small bells made of all kinds of jewels, emblems of parasols of the finest gems, emblems of jewels pervading everywhere with their radiance, emblems of the finest jewels resounding with the names of all buddhas, emblems of the finest jewels of leonine splendor, emblems of the finest jewels bespeaking the past efforts of all buddhas, emblems of reflections of all objects, arrays of emblems of the finest jewels, well-distributed arrays of ornaments of all kinds of emblems, standing in all quarters.
The entire sky of the Jeta grove was also adorned with inconceivable celestial cloud-palaces, countless clouds of trees of all fragrances, untold mountains of all kinds of magnificent arrays, untold sweet sounds of
clouds of music and songs of praise of all buddhas, untold clouds of jewel lotuses, untold jewel lion thrones spread with celestial jeweled cloth with enlightening beings sitting on them singing beautiful eulogies of buddhas, individual pearly clouds in the forms of celestial lords facing the earth, untold clouds of webs of brilliant white pearls, untold clouds of towers of ruddy pearls, and untold clouds of diamond-raining ornaments.
What was the reason for that? So inconceivable is the virtue of the Buddha, the mass of pure qualities of Buddha, the mighty power of Buddha, the miracle of Buddha’s pervasion of all worlds with one body, the display by all buddhas of the array of all buddha-lands in one body, the buddhas’ display of the reflections of all phenomena in a single atom, the buddhas’ display of the succession of all buddhas of past ages in one pore, the buddhas’ illumination of the stream of atoms in all worlds with a single beam of light, the buddhas’ pervasion of all buddha-lands with clouds as numerous as atoms in all worlds emitted from one pore, and the buddhas’ display of the ages of becoming and decay of all worlds in a single pore: as the Jeta grove was in this way purified as a buddha-field, so were all worlds in the ten directions, throughout the space of the cosmos, likewise purified, appearing adorned, decorated, with the body of the Buddha clearly manifest therein, all together in the Jeta grove, filled with enlightening beings, with the ocean of Buddha’s audience standing in orderly ranks, clouds raining all kinds of adornments, lights of energy of all jewels, decorations raining from clouds of all jewels, decorations covered with clouds of arrays of all lands, ornaments raining from clouds of all celestial bodies, ornaments raining from clouds of all flowers, flowery ornaments pervading space, clouds of all kinds of cloth raining robes of various colors, ornaments continuously showering densely from clouds of all kinds of garlands and wreaths, ornaments showering in the forms of all beings from clouds of various incenses hovering everywhere, ornaments of fine powders, dense webs of jewels, raining from clouds of webs of flowers made of all jewels, ornaments of clouds of all kinds of precious banners and pennants held by celestial maidens and carried around the sky, ornaments of lotuses of all jewels with circles of leaves of various gems set atop poles with filaments hanging down, their rustling producing sweet sounds, and ornaments of garlands of various jewels on the body of Buddha, a network of images of all jewels—all of these appeared there.
As soon as the Buddha had entered this “coming forth of the lion” concentration of buddhas, from the buddha-land of a buddha named King of Splendorous Illuminating Radiance, in the world Golden Cloud Lamp Emblem, which was to the east, beyond as many oceans of worlds as atoms in untold buddha-lands, a great enlightening being named Light from the Origin of the Vows of the Illuminator, given leave by that buddha, left that vast assembly and came to this world Endurance along with as many enlightening beings as atoms in untold buddha-lands, adorning the sky with clouds of various magnificent arrays, showering a rain of clouds of celestial flowers, celestial perfumes, celestial jewel lotuses, celestial garlands, celestial gems, celestial ornaments, celestial jewel parasols, and fine celestial robes of various colors, setting up clouds of celestial jewel banners and pennants in the sky, filling the sky with beautiful arrays of clouds of all jewels; having come to the buddha with these, the great enlightening being and the company of enlightening beings paid respects to the Buddha, then, going to the east, magically produced towers covered with nets of jewels arranged all around, and lion thrones inside of lotuses made of the finest radiant gems, and sat on them, after having covered their bodies with ornamental webs of wish-fulfilling jewels.
From the south, beyond as many oceans of worlds as atoms in untold buddha-lands, from the land of the buddha King of the Treasury of All-Illumining Radiance, in the world of Diamond Ocean Womb, a great enlightening being named King of Invincible Energy, together with a company of as many enlightening beings as atoms in untold buddha-lands, given leave by that buddha and having disappeared from that assembly, came to this world Endurance, causing all oceans of worlds to appear decked with webs of all fragrances, causing every place in all buddha-lands to appear decked with webs of garlands of all jewels, causing all groups of lands to appear decked with webs of garlands of all flowers, causing the locations of all buddha-lands to appear decked with webs of braids of all kinds of garlands, causing the congregations in all buddha-lands to be supported by a diamond ground, causing the structures of all buddha-lands to be joined with webs of all kinds of jewels, causing all worlds to appear swathed in all kinds of cloth, conjuring up images of all buddha-lands decked with webs of bundles of garlands bearing images of all jewels, causing all lands to appear decked with webs of strings of the finest radiant jewels illumining all their adornments, and causing all worlds to appear held by a foundation of webs of strings of the most excellent jewels. The great enlightening being and company came and presented all this to the Buddha, then went to the south, magically produced towers of world-illumining jewels with lion thrones inside radiant jewel lotuses, and sat thereon, covering the enlightening beings’ bodies with ornamental webs of flowers made of all kinds of jewels.
From the west, beyond as many oceans of worlds as atoms in untold buddha-lands, from the land of the buddha Lamp of Knowledge of the Realms of the World and the Realm of Reality, in the world Lamp Representing the Radiance of a Polar Mountain of Jewels, a great enlightening being named King of Fiery Energy of Universal Splendor, together with a company of as many enlightening beings as atoms in untold oceans of worlds, given leave by that buddha and having disappeared from that assembly, came to this world Endurance, filling all universes with clouds of mountains of fragrant banners of various colors, as many as atoms in untold buddha-lands, filling all universes with clouds of flowers of various scents, mountainous clouds of aromatic smoke of many kinds of incense, clouds of fragrances of various kinds, mountainous clouds of the finest jewels formed by lights from every hair in the shapes of all utensils, mountainous clouds of jewels like stars adorned with various spheres of light, mountainous clouds of spheres of various arrays of diamonds, mountainous clouds of jewels illumining all worlds, mountainous clouds of the finest jewels reflecting the elements of all mountains covering the sky, mountainous clouds of the finest jewels reflecting the appearances of all buddhas, mountainous clouds of jewels resounding with the practices of enlightening beings showing the images of the past efforts of all buddhas, and mountainous clouds of the finest jewels reflecting the summits of enlightenment of all buddhas, all these clouds as numerous as atoms in untold buddha-lands, filling all universes. These the great enlightening being and company brought and presented to the Buddha; they then went to the west and magically produced towers of the finest fragrances covered with nets of pearls, and lion thrones in lotuses made of jewels presenting the appearances of the lord of gods, and sat thereon, having covered their bodies with gold and jewels and put on crowns of wish-fulfilling gems.
From the north, beyond as many oceans of worlds as atoms in untold buddha-lands, from the land of the buddha Glorious Illuminator of the Space of the Cosmos, in the world Luminous Banner of Jewel Cloth, a great enlightening being named King of Unobstructed Splendor, together with a company of as many enlightening beings as atoms in untold oceans of worlds, given leave by that buddha and having disappeared from that assembly, came to this world Endurance, producing in the sky ornamental clouds of diadems of all jewels, ornamental clouds of jeweled robes of yellow color, with a yellow glow, ornamental showers from clouds of jeweled robes emitting various fragrances, ornamental clouds of robes of the finest sunlike jewels, ornamental clouds of robes of jewels blazing with golden splendor, ornamental clouds of robes of fiery jewels, ornamental clouds of robes of various jewels reflecting all the stars, clouds of robes of jewels of pale radiance bursting into view everywhere, clouds of robes of the finest jewels blazing with radiant splendor bursting into view everywhere, and clouds of robes of the finest jewels illumining everywhere with a radiant glow bursting into view everywhere, cau
sing the sky to appear veiled in clouds of robes of jewels in oceanic arrays. These the great enlightening being and company offered to the Buddha; they then went to the north and magically produced towers made of the finest pearls from the sea, as well as lion thrones inside jewel lotuses, and sat thereon, having covered their bodies with nets of majestic jewels and tied starlike pearls in their topknots.
From the northeast, beyond as many oceans of worlds as atoms in untold buddha-lands, from the land of the buddha Independent Eye, in the world Emanating Webs of Light Beams from All the Finest Jewels of the Earth, a great enlightening being named Supreme Moon of Vows Emanated through the Cosmos, together with a company of as many enlightening beings as atoms in untold oceans of worlds, given leave by that buddha and having disappeared from that assembly, came to this world Endurance, causing all worlds to be completely covered with clouds of sandalwood towers, clouds of flower towers, clouds of pearl towers, clouds of diamond towers, clouds of gold towers, clouds of towers of robes, and clouds of lotus towers. The great enlightening being and company presented these to the Buddha, then went to the northeast and magically produced towers of enormous jewels, with turrets with doors looking on all things, and lion thrones in jewel lotuses of incomparable fragrance, and sat thereon, having covered their bodies with nets of the finest flowers and put on crowns of various interlaced jewels.
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 152