1 The Wondrous Adornments of the World Ruler
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The World Honored One, seated on his Throne, had realized utmost
proper enlightenment. The Bodhi Wayplace is exquisitely adorned.
Banners with wondrous sounds emitted light. Fragrant flowers and
endless raining of treasures. Inconceivable manifestations within
the bright light around the Bodhi tree.
Countless Bodhisattvas with their retinues arrived. All Buddhas
of the ten directions made kings of pearls transformationally
appear. The Tathagata emitted awesome, magnificent light, like the
sun illumining the world. Universal Worthy
Bodhisattva, countless Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas,
innumerable kinds of Spirits and Heavenly Beings draw near to the
Buddha. The celestial kings, gods, beings of the Eightfold
Division, and various spirits, receive the Buddha’s awesome
spiritual might and speak verses lauding the Thus Come One and
describing their liberation doors. The worlds shook in six ways.
The same manifestation occurred in other worlds.
Annotation
The World Honored One is surrounded by countless Great
Bodhisattvas. Universal Worthy Bodhisattva is among them. There are
also an incalculable number of Vajra-Wielding Spirits, Multi-Bodied
Spirits, Spirits of Foot Travel, Wayplace Spirits, City-Ruling
Spirits, Earth-Ruling Spirits, River-Ruling Spirits, Ocean-Ruling
Spirits, Water-Ruling Spirits, Fire-Ruling Spirits, Wind-Ruling
Spirits, Emptiness-Ruling Spirits, Direction-Ruling Spirits,
Night-Ruling Spirits, Day-Ruling Spirits, Asura Kings, Garuda
Kings, Kinnara Kings, Mahoraga Kings, Yaksha Kings, Dragon Kings,
Kumbhanda Kings, Gandharva Kings, Moon Heavenly Princes, Sun
Heavenly Princes, Kings from the Heaven of Thirty-three, Kings from
the Suyama heaven, Kings from the Tushita Heaven, Kings from the
Transformation of Bliss Heaven, Kings from the Great Brahma Heaven,
Kings from the Light-Sound Heaven, Kings from the Heaven of
Pervasive Purity, Kings from the Heaven of Vast Fruition, and Kings
from the Heaven of Great Sovereignty.
To behold such an awe-inspiring and inconceivable scene can cause
one to bring forth the resolve for Bodhi. The countless
Bodhisattvas, Heavenly Kings, gods, and spirits who came attested
to the Buddha’s inconceivably supreme success as a Great
Teacher.
Bhikshu Bodhi says,
‘Just as the sun is valued not only for its own intrinsic radiance
but also for its ability to illuminate the world, so the brilliance
of the Buddha as a spiritual Master is determined not only by the
clarity of his Teaching but by his ability to illuminate those who
came to him for refuge and to make them luminaries in their own
right.’
When the World Honored One sat beneath the King of trees, at the
moment he accomplished utmost enlightenment, his wisdom became
boundless, his Dharma Body pervaded the entire Dharma Realm and his
mind entered the three periods of time. Countless eons of bitter
cultivation and stern asceticism, and a sea of infinite vows and
practices were all perfected in a single thought!
According to the Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua,there are ten kinds of
assemblies present when the Buddha speaks Dharma. They are,
It is mentioned many times in the Sutra that the world shakes in
six ways. That kind of shaking is different from natural disasters,
violent sudden faulting of rocks or the destructive movement of the
earth’s surface during an earthquake.
The Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua explains the meaning of the six
kinds of earthquakes which occur during the Dharma assembly. In
brief, they are,
Referring to movement
Referring to sound
