I
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Soothill, William Edward and Kumārajīva
Cheerfully as alms,
To find the Buddha-wisdom.”
He 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.”
Others 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 withdrew 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.