I

“Once the Buddha (Śakyamuni) was staying at the City of Royal Palaces (Rajagriha), and on the Vulture Peak (Gridhrakuta) assembled a great host of his greater monks, in all twelve thousand... emancipated from every bond and free in mind.”

There follows a list of names of his well-known disciples, together with the names of his foster-mother and the mother of his son, with their train of disciples. Assembled also were eighty thousand Great Bodhisattvas who had attained to perfect enlightenment. A number of their names are given, including Manjuśri, Kwan-yin, the Lord of Healing and Maitreya. There were present also twenty thousand of the gods, including Brahma; also Dragon-kings, Kinnara-kings, Gandharva-kings, Asura-kings, Garuda-kings, all kings of the lower worlds and lower orders of being, each with hundreds of thousands of followers. The disciples, and the others, who might almost be described as angels, archangels, and all the hosts of the heavens and the hells, fall down in worship at the Buddha’s feet.

“At that time the World-honoured One, surrounded, worshipped, revered, honoured and extolled by the four groups of disciples, preached for all bodhisattvas, the Mahayana sutra called ‘The Meaning of Infinity’.”

60Immediately afterwards he entered into the trance, or contemplation, described as “The Station of the Meaning of Infinity”, the heavens raining down on him divine flowers and the whole universe being shaken.

While the vast assembly looked on the Buddha in amaze, he

“sent forth from the curl of white hair between his eyebrows a ray of light, which illuminated eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern quarter, so that there was nowhere it did not reach, downwards to the lowest hell and upward to the highest heaven of each world. Here, in this our own world, were then made visible in those vast domains their living beings in the six states of existence; likewise were seen the Buddhas at present existing in those lands. The doctrines those Buddhas were preaching could be clearly heard; and in those worlds were revealed the monks, nuns and disciples of both sexes”,

also their Bodhisattvas, their Buddhas who had attained Nirvana, and the Stupas for the relics of those Buddhas erected after their respective departures.

Maitreya is now presented inquiring of Manjuśri the meaning of this wonderful manifestation, while he describes to him, first in prose then in verse, the marvels they are beholding:

“The ray from between his brows Illumines the eastern quarter Of the eighteen thousand worlds, Colouring them all with gold. 61From their Avici-hells To the Summit of All-Existence, The living in those worlds, The destinies of unborn and dying, I behold them all from here. In those distant lands I see Bodhisattvas like sands of Ganges, Who in every varying degree Seek the Buddha-Way. Some there are who give alms, Gold, silver and coral, Pearls and felicitous gems, Moonstones and cornelian, Diamonds and precious things, Male and female slaves, Fine carriages and horses, Jewelled palanquins and litters, These alms they give with joy, Turning to the Buddha-way, Seeking to gain this Vehicle, The supreme in the Triple World. . . . . . Also I see bodhisattvas Give their flesh, hands and feet, And their wives and children, as alms, To find the Supreme Way. Again I see bodhisattvas Giving their heads, eyes, bodies, Cheerfully as alms, To find the Buddha-wisdom.”

62He sees also kings leaving their palaces, shaving their heads, and putting on the monk’s robe to seek the Buddha-way. He sees bodhisattvas who

“Enter the depths of the mountains To ponder the Buddha-way.”

And

“Dwellers in secluded wilds In profoundest concentration To obtain transcendent powers.”

Others

“Profoundly wise and resolute, Are able to question the Buddhas And apprehend all they hear. . . . . . I see, too, Buddha-sons Expounding the Truth to the multitude, Cheerfully preaching the Law, Converting bodhisattvas And, having defeated the army of Mara, Beating the drum of the Law.”

He sees other bodhisattvas, who

“Dwelling in forests, emit radiance That saves the sufferers in hell, Leading them into the Buddha-way.”

He sees also Buddha-sons who,

“Abiding in the strength of long-suffering, Though men of utmost arrogance Hate, abuse and beat them, Are able through all to endure, To find the Buddha-way.”

63Others are seen bestowing dainties, drink and food, medicines, and robes of priceless value, precious buildings of sandal-wood, flowers, fruits, and bathing-pools on the Buddhas while seeking the Supreme Way. Buddha-sons are seen building numberless stupas, adorned with precious jewels, bells, and streamers, in homage to the Buddhas, the light from such stupas illuminating their lands.

Though the Buddha has emitted but one solitary ray, and only in one of the six directions of space, yet all these worlds are revealed. Why, asks Maitreya, has he shed so wondrous a light? Is it that he is now about to reveal some mystic truth? The host of gods, men, and spirits of the underworld yearn for an answer.

Manjuśri replies that he believes the Buddha is now about to make his final revelation, “to preach the Great Law, to pour the rain of the Great Law, to blow the conch of the Great Law, to beat the drum of the Great Law, to expound the meaning of the Great Law”. He says that whenever in the past such a Buddha-ray has been emitted it has always preceded the declaration of the Wonderful Law to all creatures. He says he has seen this before, under a Buddha named Light-of-the-Sun-and-Moon, and under twenty thousand successive Buddhas of the same name. The last of these, before leaving home to become Buddha, had eight royal sons, whose names and story he gives; they all became Buddhas. Before the Buddha Sun-moon-light 64withdrew to Nirvana, he first entered into the trance-like meditation on the meaning of Infinity, whereupon flowers fell from heaven and the whole universe was shaken. On awaking from his trance he preached, through his disciple Mystic-light, “The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, by which bodhisattvas are instructed”, and which is under the special guardianship of the Buddhas themselves. Manjuśri thereupon reveals to the assembly that it was he himself who was Mystic-light in a previous incarnation. This is told, in both prose and verse, with a wealth of detail and in splendour of language.