The Bodhisattvas and leaders of the world beseech the World Honored One to expound upon the states and powers of Buddhas. Clouds of offerings emit sounds which reiterate the questions. The World Honored One emits a great multitude of lights between his teeth which shines throughout the ten directions. Countless Great Bodhisattvas with their retinues from all directions arrive to make obeisance and offerings to the Buddha. The World Honored One emits light from between his brows. Supreme Sound of All Dharmas Bodhisattva Mahasattva appears..
The Bodhisattvas, empowered by the Buddha, utter verses revealing the Thus Come One’s state. The same thing occurs in all the seas of world systems.

At one time, the Venerable Shariputra was wondering why Shakyamuni Buddha’s Buddhaland here is not pure but filled with impurities. The World Honored One, knowing what the Venerable Shariputra was thinking about said to him,

“Shariputra, it is the fault of living beings that prevent them from seeing the marvelous purity of the land of the Buddha…. The Thus Come One is not to blame. Shariputra, this land of mine is pure, but you fail to see it .”

Later, the Buddha pressed his toe against the earth, and immediately the thousand-millionfold world was adorned with hundreds and thousands of rare jewels, till it resembled ‘the Jeweled Adornment Buddha’s Jeweled Adornment Land of Immeasurable Blessings.’ The Buddha again said to the Venerable Shariputra,

“My Buddhaland has always been pure like this. But because I wish to save those persons who are lowly and inferior, I make it seem an impure land full of defilements…. It is like the case of heavenly beings. All take their food from the same precious vessel, but the food looks different for each one, depending upon the merits and virtues that each possesses. It is the same in this case, Shariputra. If a person’s mind is pure, then he will see the wonderful blessings that adorn this land.”

The Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua says,
“The Spirit called ‘Ever-Dwelling in Waves’ is later called ‘Palace of Universal Waters.’ He can have a palace in the water. People see it as a wave, but he sees it as a palace. The eyes of ordinary people see things differently from the way spirits view them, the very same things. For example, this bowing bench contains the Dharma Realms of the ten directions, but we ordinary beings just see it as a bowing bench.”

There are innumerable things which ordinary beings are unable to perceive. But the Sages who have opened their Five Eyes are able to see other worlds without the aid of a telescope. They can see the germs and minute organisms without using a microscope. They can also see the heavenly beings, the Buddhas, all the ghosts and hell beings. An ordinary person is not able to see all that because he/she does not yet have access to these Five Eyes, he/she has not developed this spiritual ability to see other levels of perception.

In the final chapter on ‘Entering the Dharma Realm,’ the Good Knowing Advisor named Raja Great Light describes how different living beings will see the city Wondrous Light differently based on the measure of purity of heart and mind.
Some will perceive that city to be pure and adorned with jewels while others will see defilement. If one wishes to see the Buddha, one must purify one’s mind. In ‘The Thus Come Ones’ Appearances’ chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra this is explained,

The Buddha appears
in the clean mind-vessels
 of all living beings.
If the mind-vessel
 is always clean,
 the embodiment
 of the Buddha
is always seen.

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