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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,
- The Influential assembly
- The Constantly Following assembly
- The Dharma-protecting assembly
- The Adorning assembly
- The assembly that Makes offerings
- The assembly that Brings Forth the arising of
Dharma
- The assembly of Current Potentials
- The assembly that Represents the Dharma
- The Assembly that is Certified to the Dharma
- The assembly that Reveals the Dharma
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
- Shaking
- Rising
- Surging
Referring to sound
- Banging
- Roaring
- Crackling
The quaking represents,
- The six organs - eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.
- The four levels - The Ten Dwellings, The Ten Practices, The
Ten Transferences, The Ten Grounds with, Equal Enlightenment and
Wonderful Enlightenment.
- The breaking up of your ignorance, because you pass through
six levels.
© 2000 Soo Hoong Liung. All Rights Reserved.
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