Book 35, The Qualities of the Buddha's Embellishments and Lights. Then the world-honored one said to the enlightening being Jewel Hand, offspring of Buddha, the perfectly enlightened one has an embellishment called the foremost sphere from which emanates a great light called effulgence with seven million infinities of light rays. When I was an enlightening being in the palace of Tushita Heaven, I emanated a great light called Light Banner Sovereign, illuminating as many worlds as atoms in ten Buddha lands. The sentient beings in the hells of those worlds who were touched by this light gained respite from their torments, and they obtained ten kinds of pure eyes, ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and minds, and all danced for joy. When their lives ended, they were reborn into Shida heaven.

[01:05]

In Tushita heaven is a drum called Most Delightful. When they had been born in heaven, this drum sounded, declaring to them, O godlings, because your minds were not indulgent and you planted roots of goodness in the presence of Buddhas, and because in the past you associated with the wise, and by the great spiritual power of Virochana, You have been born in this heaven after the end of your life elsewhere. The thousand-spoked wheels on the soles of my feet as an enlightening being were called sovereign of universal light. They had an embellishment called the foremost sphere, always emanating 40 kinds of light, among them a light called pure virtue, illumining as many worlds as atoms in a hundred trillion Buddha lands, causing all sentient beings to develop maturity according to their various actions and inclinations.

[02:12]

sentient beings in excruciating pain in uninterrupted hell encountering this light were born into Siddha heaven after their lives ended. When they were born in heaven, they heard the sound of the celestial drum declare to them, Very good, godlings, the enlightening being Vairuchana has entered undefiled concentration You should pay respects. Then the godlings, hearing this exhortation from the sound of the celestial drum, thought, How wonderful! What is the cause of this subtle sound? Then the drum answered, The sound I make is produced by the power of roots of goodness. Godlings, just as I speak of myself without attachment to self or to what is mine, so too do the Buddhas say they are Buddhas, yet have no attachment to I or mine.

[03:14]

Just as my sound does not come from the east or from the west, the south, the north, or the intermediate directions, or the zenith or nadir, in the same way, the achievement of Buddhahood as a consequence of actions does not come from any of the ten directions. It is as when you were in hell before. The hell in your bodies did not come from any of the ten directions. It was only due to your deluded evil deeds and bondage by folly that you were incarnated in hell. This has no basis. It does not come from anywhere. The enlightening being Vairocana by spiritual power emanated great light, yet this light did not come from any of the ten directions. In the same way, my sound does not come from any of the ten directions. It is just the power of good roots of concentration and by the spiritual power of transcendent wisdom that produces this pure sound and manifests these various abilities.

[04:25]

Just as Sumeru, the polar mountain, has 33 celestial palaces of exalted splendor with various appurtenances that do not come from any of the ten directions, likewise my sound does not come from any of the ten directions. Just as I teach as many sentient beings as there are atoms in a trillion worlds, each in accord with their inclinations, causing them great joy, yet do not get tired of them or shrink from them, and I do not become proud or heedless, so also does the enlightening being Vairuchana do the same, while abiding in undefiled concentration. From one embellishment on her right palm, she emanates one ray of light that manifests innumerable magical powers such as even individually liberated ones cannot know, much less sentient beings.

[05:28]

You should go to that enlightening being and attend and serve her. Do not indulge in the pleasures of the senses anymore. Attachment to sensual desires obstructs roots of goodness. Just as the world-ending Holocaust completely burns away the polar mountain, so also does craving bind up the mind and prevent it from developing the will to remember Buddha. You should be grateful for your blessings and requite the favor you have received. Many ingrates meet untimely deaths and are reborn in hell. You were formerly in hell when your bodies were illumined with light and you left there and were reborn here. You should now quickly rededicate and increase your roots of goodness. Just as I, the heavenly drum, are not male or female, yet can produce measureless, boundless, inconceivable things, so too you gods and goddesses are not male or female, yet are able to enjoy all kinds of sublime palaces and groves.

[06:43]

Just as my heavenly drum is not born and does not perish, The same is true of material form, sensation, perception, action, and consciousness. If you can understand this, know that you will then enter the concentration defined by independence. The godlings, having heard this message, realized unprecedented wonder. Then they all magically produced myriad clouds of flowers, fragrances, music, banners, parasols, and eulogies, and went together to the palace where the enlightening being Vairoshana was staying. Joining their palms in respect, they stood to one side and wished to behold her, but they could not see her. The godlings then said, The enlightening being Virochana has already passed away from here and been born in the human world in the house of sovereign Suddhodana.

[07:48]

She has mounted the sandalwood bower and is in the womb of Lady Maya. Then the godlings, by means of the celestial eye, saw the body of the enlightening being in the family of the sovereign Suddhodana in the human realm being attended by gods of the Brahma heavens and heavens of desire. The godlings then thought, if we do not go to the enlightening being and pay our respects, and should give rise to even a single thought of attachment to these celestial palaces, that would not be right. Then each of the godlings, with a retinue of a hundred million, was going to go down to Earth, At that point, the celestial drum produced a voice telling them, the great enlightening being has not ended her life here and been reborn there. It is just that she has, by spiritual power,

[08:51]

cause sentient beings to perceive her according to their psychological needs. Just as I now am not visible to the eye, yet can produce a voice, so also the great enlightening being in undefiled concentration is not visible to the eye, yet can appear to be born anywhere without vain discrimination, free from conceit, without attachments. You should arouse the determination for unexcelled, complete, perfect enlightenment, purify your minds, lead well-behaved lives, and repent of and get rid of all obstructions due to past actions, obstructions due to afflictions, obstructions due to retribution, and obstructions due to views." with bodies as many as beings in the cosmos with tongues as many as beings in the cosmos with good deeds of body speech and mind as many as beings in the cosmos repent of and get rid of all obstructions and faults

[10:04]

The godlings, hearing this, attained unprecedented wonder and were very joyful. They asked, How does the great enlightening being repent of and get rid of all faults? The celestial drum, by the power of roots of goodness of concentration of the enlightening being, said, the enlightening being knows that conditioning acts do not come from any particular location yet they accumulate and dwell in the mind they come only from delusion and have no abode The Enlightening Being clearly sees this with certainty and has no doubt or confusion. Just as I, the Celestial Drum, speak of actions and consequences, of practice and discipline, of joy and peace, and of various concentrations, So do Buddhas and enlightening beings speak of I and mine, speak of sentient beings, of covetousness, wrath and delusion and their various actions.

[11:15]

Yet there really is no self or possession. All actions performed, the resulting consequences of the six paths of transmigration, cannot be found wherever you may seek. Just as my voice is not born and does not perish, while the celestials who do evil do not hear my voice, but the voice waking them up by means of hell, so also are all actions neither born nor perishing, while according to their practice and accumulation their consequences are experienced. My drum sound is eternally inexhaustible and uninterrupted, and neither coming nor going can be apprehended in it. If there were coming or going, there would be extinction and permanence. The Buddhas never say there is extinction or permanence, except as an expedient to develop sentient beings. Just as my sound makes itself available to beings in infinite worlds according to their mentalities, so do all Buddhas make themselves visible according to the mentalities of beings.

[12:31]

Suppose there is a glass mirror called reflector, clearly reflecting, equal in size to ten worlds, with the images of all the mountains and rivers and all the sentient beings, including in the hells, the animals and ghosts, all reflected therein. What do you think? Can you say those images enter and exit the mirror? The godlings answered, no. All actions are also like this. Though they can produce resulting consequences, there is no place they come or go. Just as a magician deceives people's eyes by illusion, so do actions also do the same. If you know this, this is true repentance of all evils so that all are cleared. When this teaching was spoken, the Tushita godlings in worlds as numerous as Adam's and ten quintillion Buddha lands attained acceptance of the non-origination of all things.

[13:39]

Immeasurable, inconceivable infinities of godlings of the six heavens of the realm of desire were inspired to seek unexcelled, complete, perfect enlightenment. All the goddesses of the heavens of the desire realm relinquished the female body and became determined to attain supreme enlightenment. Then the godlings... Because of attaining the ten stages on hearing the tremendous dedication of universal good told, because of attaining concentration adorned by various powers, and because of repenting of and clearing away all serious hindrances by means of pure physical, verbal, and mental actions equal in number to living beings, thereupon saw lotus blossoms made of all precious substances as many blossoms as atoms in ten quintillion buddha lands with an enlightening being sitting on each blossom emanating great beams of light

[14:47]

In those beams of light were as many Buddhas as there are living beings, sitting in the lotus posture, expounding the teaching in accordance with the mentalities of sentient beings. Yet still not even a little of the power of undefiled concentration was as yet manifested. Then the godlings, by means of the flowers and other things they had produced before, again magically produced in each pore of their bodies as many clouds of fine flowers and so on as there are living beings, to offer to the realized one Virochana, and took them and scattered them on the Buddha." All of them hovered over the Buddha's body, while the fragrant clouds reigned over worlds as many as atoms in countless Buddha lands. Any sentient beings who were enveloped in that fragrance became physically peaceful and blissful, like a mendicant who has entered the fourth stage of meditation, in whom all obstructions due to past actions vanish.

[16:02]

Sentient beings have 500 internal afflictions and 500 external afflictions relating to form, sound, smell, flavor, and tactile feeling. Those rife with covetousness have 21,000. Those rife with anger have 21,000. Those rife with delusion have 21,000. And those equally habituated to all three also have 21,000. But if they smell this fragrance, they realize that all these are unreal. Once they realize this, they develop pure roots of goodness with the light of mystic power like clouds of fragrant banners. Those who see the canopies produced by the enlightening beings plant the innumerable roots of goodness of universal monarchs of the pure gold net of the tenth stage of enlightening.

[17:07]

When enlightening beings are in this status of universal monarch, they edify beings in worlds as numerous as atoms and ten quintillion Buddha lands. In the case of the Buddha called Knowledge Like the Moon, of the world called Clear Mirror, there are always monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, and others from countless worlds who project their bodies to come listen to the teaching. That Buddha, without a moment's pause, relates to them the events of former lives. Any sentient beings who hear the name of the Buddha will surely be reborn in the land of the Buddha. That case of enlightening beings in the rank of universal monarch with a pure golden net is also like this. Any who encounter their light will surely attain the tenth stage of enlightening beings because of the power of roots of goodness previously cultivated.

[18:12]

When one has attained the first meditation, though one's life has not yet ended, one can see the palaces in the Brahma heaven and can experience the bliss of the Brahma world. Likewise, those who attain the other stages of meditation. The great enlightening beings in the rank of universal monarch with the pure golden net radiate pure light such that any beings who are touched by it all gain the tenth stage of enlightening and attain immeasurable light of knowledge, acquire ten kinds of pure eyes, ten kinds of pure ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and ten kinds of pure intellects, They accomplish immeasurable profound concentrations and achieve such a pure physical eye. Suppose someone took ten trillion Buddha lands and reduced them to atoms, and then reduced to atoms as many Buddha lands as those atoms, then put all those atoms in her left hand and carried them past an equal number of worlds to the east.

[19:28]

and then put down one atom and continued this way to the east until all the atoms were exhausted and did the same in the other nine directions. If all the worlds in the ten directions, both those in which she had deposited an atom and those in which she had not, were all assembled to form a single Buddha-land, Do you think that the immeasurable vastness of this Buddha land would be conceivable or not? Jewel Hand said, it would not be conceivable. The enormous size of such a land would be immeasurable, extraordinary, inconceivable. If any sentient beings heard this comparison and believed and understood it, that would be even more extraordinary. The Buddha said, This is so, Jewel Hand. It is as you say. If any good woman or man should hear this example and believe in it, I would give them the prediction that they will certainly attain unexcelled, complete, perfect enlightenment and will acquire the unsurpassed knowledge of Buddhas.

[20:45]

Suppose again, Jewel Hand, that someone reduced two atoms as many enormous Buddha-lands of the magnitude described above as atoms in a hundred billion Buddha-lands, and deposited each of these atoms as in the foregoing example. And all of these worlds, those on which an atom was deposited, as well as those in between, were united in a single Buddha-land. Then again, suppose this Buddha-land were reduced to atoms, and so on, repeating this process eighty times. The enlightening being's pure physical eye, a consequence of action, can clearly see in a single instant every particle in all those immense Buddha-lands, and also see Buddhas as numerous as atoms in ten billion immense Buddha-lands, just as the pure light of the crystal mirror reflects as many worlds as atoms in ten Buddha-lands.

[21:55]

jewel hand, all this is accomplished by the virtues of the most profound concentration of the universal monarch of the pure gold net.

[22:06]

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