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The World Honored One ascends to the Suyama Heaven. The Suyama heavenly King sees the Buddha approaching and creates an adorned jeweled lion throne, entreating the Buddha to stay.
The Heavenly King expounds verses revealing the Thus Come Ones who had entered his palace.
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The Heavenly King is so delighted with the Buddhas visiting his palace. He says in all his verses that his palace is made auspicious because the Thus Come Ones have passed through. When the Buddha was in the world, his disciples praised him delightfully as well. In the human realm, people are still lauding the Buddha hundreds of years after his Nirvana. I will quote a few of them here:
Sir Edwin Arnold described the Buddha in this way,
This is the blossom on our human tree
which opens in many a myriad years
But opened, fills the World with wisdom’s scent
And love’s dropped honey.
Swami Vivekananda lauded the Buddha saying,
Show me in history one character who has soared so high above all. The whole human race has produced but one such person, such high philosophy, such wide sympathy. The great philosopher, preaching the highest philosophy, yet has the deepest of sympathy for the lowest animals, and never puts forward a claim for himself. He is the ideal Karma Yogi, acting entirely without motive, and the history of humanity shows him to have been the greatest man ever born, beyond compare, the greatest combination of heart and brain that ever existed.
A Muslim Scholar says,
The Buddha is not a property of Buddhists only. He is the property of whole mankind. His teaching is common to everybody. Every religion, which came into existence after the Buddha, has borrowed many good ideas from the Buddha.
Dr. B. M. Barua praised the Buddha saying,
As Buddha, his nature was unperturbed, placid, and calm like a deep lake. His voice was clear, distinct, audible, deep and reverberating like the lion’s roar. The strength of his purpose made him steady like a rock unshaken by winds. His towering personality shone forth like the great Himalaya at the foot of which he was born. Non-harming and non-hurting was his mental attitude towards all. His heart was filled with unbounded love, sympathy, and compassion. His was a most balanced mind, a judicious temperament. All the immoral motives were completely destroyed within him. He preached what he practiced and practiced what he preached. Pin-drop silence reigned wherever he appeared, so magnetic and powerful was his personality. His greatness was acknowledged by all alike. He is not known to have either prayed or cursed. All persons he met with good grace, and had no grievance against any. Just as his thoughts were well coordinated, so fully coherent were his words. He was always mindful and wakeful. A most active and well-regulated life was his. He did his duty till he breathed his last. He calmly faced death when it came, without a sigh. He spoke only of the fundamentals of thought and of man’s virtue. He had the deepest insight into human and all nature.
The Suyama Heaven is in the Desire Realm. One day in that heaven is two hundred years in the human realm.
Vigorous Wisdom Bodhisattva inquires about the practices of Bodhisattvas, and requests Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva to illuminate the Path.
What is non-laxity? What can cause Buddhas to rejoice? How does one enter the Bodhisattva’s Grounds?
Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva expounds the Dharma.
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The requesting of Dharma occurs in many parts of the Sutra. The sixth vow of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva is ‘To Request the Turning of the Dharma Wheel.’ During the Buddha’s time, the disciples would go to the World Honored One with their doubts and questions. People would beseech the Buddha or his great disciples to speak Dharma for them. If this practice of seeking instructions from the Triple Jewel (that is, the Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, and Sangha Jewel) were a universal practice, there would be less confusion and suffering in this world. In certain countries in Asia, people often go to mediums, charlatans, fortune tellers or wizards with their problems. Hence, superstitious and confused beliefs are very prevalent in Asia.
In the western world, students and adults turn to gangs, drugs, and alcohol to solve their problems. Many go to the loan sharks or to the casinos to solve their financial difficulties. But, that is like pouring gasoline into the burning house to try to extinguish the fire.
Most people do not know that they should request the turning of the Dharma Wheel to solve their problems and resolve their doubts. They do not know that they should rely on the wisdom of the Triple Jewel to overcome their troubles and painful predicaments.
© 2000 Soo Hoong Liung. All Rights Reserved.
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