Sutra on the Illusory Samadhi and the Seal of Immeasurable Dharma, Volume 1 (Middle)

Translated by the Third-Tripitaka Master of the Western Heaven, Court-Faithful Grand Master, Acting Minister of Glorious Happiness, Master

Furthermore, all around those pavilions, there were celestial maidens. Some held various musical instruments—such as pipas, flageolets, harps, mouth organs, reed pipes, conch shells, drums, small drums, and clappers—producing wonderful music. Others held powdered red sandalwood; some held powdered dragon’s blood sandalwood; some held powdered aloeswood sandalwood; some held powdered black aloeswood sandalwood; some held powdered fine sandalwood. Some held blue lotus flowers, white lotuses, and red lotuses; some held coral tree flowers and great coral tree flowers; some held flower blossoms and great blossoms; some held pearl flowers and great pearl flowers; some held jasmine flowers, great jasmine flowers, white jasmine flowers, and sweet-scented jasmine flowers; some held campaka flowers, great campaka flowers, and sweet-scented campaka flowers; some held *satara* flowers, great *satara* flowers, and sweet-scented *satara* flowers. Others held divine robes, exquisite flowers, fine incense, fragrant ointments, and powdered incense, each standing in their place.

Within each of those tower chambers appeared magnificent lion thrones adorned with great jewels, with an illusory Tathāgata image seated upon each, fully adorned with thirty-two marks of greatness. Furthermore, within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand true pearl garlands, their pearls coming in three colors: blue, white, and red. Moreover, within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand exquisite jeweled banners, covered with networks of golden bells, with celestial garments hanging down as adornments. Additionally, within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand jeweled vases filled with exquisite fragrances. Also, within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand supreme jeweled canopies, finely decorated with hundreds of thousands of brilliant colors. And within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand rows of palm trees and eighty-four thousand rows of trees made of the seven jewels, each tied together with jeweled cords. Then again, within each tower chamber appeared eighty-four thousand jeweled networks hung with bells, stirred by a gentle breeze to produce harmonious sounds, like those of hundreds of thousands of beautiful musical instruments. Moreover, within each tower chamber appeared a jeweled pond, its bottom entirely covered with golden sand, bordered with paths of the seven jewels, and surrounded by lapis lazuli and crystal. It was filled with water of eight virtues, and from the pond grew utpala flowers, padma flowers, kumuda flowers, and puṇḍarīka flowers. The pond was also home to ducks, geese, and mandarin ducks chirping in harmony. Eighty-four thousand rows of jeweled trees surrounded it completely, all bound and adorned with eighty-four thousand jeweled cords above. Furthermore, from each tower chamber emitted a great light, shining widely over eighty-four thousand leagues.

At that time, the great beings Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva and Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva, together with the assembly of bodhisattvas who had accompanied them, placed all those remarkably adorned pavilions—each one exquisitely decorated—into a single pavilion, and the various adornments did not interfere with one another. In the time it takes a strong person to flex and extend their arm, they arrived in this sahā world. Through their supernatural powers, each bodhisattva brought forth the eighty-four billion marvelously adorned pavilions they had manifested and placed them in the Buddha’s assembly. By the power of their spiritual mastery, they made this sahā world as level as the palm of a hand, and yet the Buddha’s assembly was not crowded. Those pavilions emitted a great light that illuminated this entire trichiliocosm.

Then those two bodhisattvas approached the Buddha, prostrated themselves at his feet, circumambulated him three times to the right, and withdrew to one side. Together they said to the Buddha: “The Tathāgata of Infinite Light—the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One—sends his greetings to the World-Honored One, Śākyamuni Tathāgata. He asks: ‘Are you free from illness and affliction? Are your movements light and easy? Do you abide in peace and happiness?’” The two bodhisattvas then said to the Buddha: “We bodhisattvas and śrāvakas have seen the Buddha, the World-Honored One, in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and so we have come to pay our respects.”