Born on a Thousand-Petalled Lotus
The hymn turns from the king's reign to his birth — a garden of five hundred pools, an earthquake that shakes the earth six ways in the middle of the night, and a lotus of vajra and gold that opens to hold him, before every harmful thing in the world hides itself away.
A Garden of Five Hundred Pools
Before the birth itself, the hymn sets its stage — the king's parents, a vast garden, and a drought that had to break before anything else could happen.
王父淨光明，
王母蓮華光，
五濁出現時，
處位治天下。
時有廣大園，
園有五百池，
一一千樹遶，
各各華彌覆。
於其池岸上，
建立千柱堂，
欄楯等莊嚴，
一切無不備。
末世惡法起，
積年不降雨，
池流悉乾竭，
草樹皆枯槁。
王生七日前，
先現靈瑞相；
見者咸心念：
救世今當出。
The king's father was Pure Light,
and the king's mother was Lotus-Flower Light;
at the time when the five turbidities had arisen,
they held their place and governed the world.
At that time there was a vast and great garden,
and the garden held five hundred pools;
each and every one was ringed by a thousand trees,
and each was covered over entirely with flowers.
Upon the banks of those pools
there stood a hall of a thousand pillars,
adorned with balustrades and every ornament;
nothing whatsoever was lacking.
When the evils of a degenerate age arose,
no rain fell for years on end;
every pool and stream ran entirely dry,
and every plant and tree withered.
Seven days before the king was born,
wondrous and auspicious signs first appeared;
and all who saw them thought to themselves:
"The saviour of the world is now about to come forth."
五百池⋯⋯一一千樹遶 — five hundred pools, each and every one ringed by a thousand trees. The birth narrative opens on the same scale of ornament this fascicle has used for buddha-lands and world-oceans, now applied to a single royal garden. The drought that follows belongs to this garden specifically, not to the kingdom described earlier in the hymn — it is a second, more localised failure of rain, arriving only in this garden's own account of events, just before the omens of a birth appear.
The Night the Earth Shook Six Ways
The signs arrive all at once — an earthquake, a pool that glows like the sun, water restored everywhere, and the very ground made level and pure.
爾時於中夜，
大地六種動；
有一寶華池，
光明猶日現。
五百諸池內，
功德水充滿，
枯樹悉生枝，
華葉皆榮茂。
池水既盈滿，
流演一切處，
普及閻浮地，
靡不皆霑洽。
藥草及諸樹，
百穀苗稼等，
枝葉華果實，
一切皆繁盛。
溝坑及堆阜，
種種高下處，
如是一切地，
莫不皆平坦。
荊棘沙礫等，
所有諸雜穢，
皆於一念中，
變成眾寶玉。
眾生見是已，
歡喜而讚歎，
咸言得善利，
如渴飲美水。
時彼光明王，
眷屬無量眾，
僉然備法駕，
遊觀諸園苑。
五百諸池內，
有池名慶喜，
池上有法堂，
父王於此住。
At that time, in the middle of the night,
the great earth shook in six ways;
and there was a jewelled lotus-pool
whose brightness appeared like the very sun.
Within all five hundred pools,
water of merit filled them entirely;
every withered tree put forth branches again,
and every flower and leaf flourished.
Once the water of the pools had become full,
it flowed out everywhere,
reaching universally throughout the land of Jambudvīpa,
so that nothing at all was left unmoistened.
Medicinal herbs and every tree,
the sprouting grain of every crop —
their branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit
all flourished abundantly.
Every ditch and pit, every mound,
every kind of high and low place —
every such piece of ground
became, without exception, entirely level.
Every thorn-bush and grain of gravel,
every kind of impurity there was,
all transformed, within a single thought,
into every kind of jewel and gem.
Beings, having seen this,
rejoiced and praised it,
all saying they had gained good benefit,
like one thirsting who drinks sweet water.
At that time, that King of Light,
together with his measureless retinue,
all together prepared the dharma-carriage,
and went to view the gardens and groves.
Among all five hundred pools,
there was a pool named Rejoicing,
and above that pool there stood a dharma-hall,
where the father-king dwelt.
大地六種動⋯⋯荊棘沙礫等⋯⋯變成眾寶玉 — the great earth shook in six ways⋯⋯every thorn-bush and grain of gravel⋯⋯transformed into every kind of jewel and gem. Both signs are stock markers this literature uses for the birth of an exceptional being — the sixfold earthquake and the transformation of ordinary ground into something jewelled. What is worth noticing here is the order: the earthquake happens at night, unseen by anyone named in the poem, and only afterward do the pools, the plants, and the land itself register that something has changed. The birth is confirmed by its landscape before it is confirmed by any person.
Born on a Thousand-Petalled Lotus
The father-king recalls the omen aloud, and the flower it pointed to finally opens to reveal what has been growing inside it.
先王語夫人：
我念七夜前，
中宵地震動，
此中有光現。
時彼華池內，
千葉蓮華出，
光如千日照，
上徹須彌頂。
金剛以為莖，
閻浮金為臺，
眾寶為華葉，
妙香作鬚蘂。
王生彼華上，
端身結跏坐，
相好以莊嚴，
天神所恭敬。
先王大歡喜，
入池自撫掬，
持以授夫人：
汝子應欣慶。
寶藏皆涌出，
寶樹生妙衣，
天樂奏美聲，
充滿虛空中。
The former king said to his consort:
"I recall that seven nights ago,
in the middle of the night, the earth shook,
and a light appeared within this place."
At that time, from within that lotus-pool,
a thousand-petalled lotus flower emerged,
its light like a thousand suns shining,
reaching upward to the very summit of Sumeru.
Its stem was made of vajra,
its calyx of Jambu-river gold;
every jewel formed its petals,
and wondrous fragrance formed its stamens and pistil.
The king was born upon that flower,
his body upright, seated cross-legged,
adorned with every excellent mark,
and revered by the spirits of the heavens.
The former king rejoiced greatly,
entered the pool himself, and cupped him in his own hands;
carrying him, he gave him to his consort, saying:
"You should rejoice over this, your son."
Every treasury of jewels welled up of itself,
jewelled trees put forth wondrous garments,
and heavenly music played its beautiful sounds,
filling the whole of space.
金剛以為莖，閻浮金為臺，眾寶為華葉，妙香作鬚蘂 — its stem was made of vajra, its calyx of Jambu-river gold, every jewel formed its petals, and wondrous fragrance formed its stamens and pistil. The flower is built from exactly the same materials this fascicle has already used to build thrones, canopies, and pavilions — vajra, Jambu gold, every kind of jewel. A single lotus is described with the identical vocabulary of ornament that Part 1154 spent on an entire assembly-ground; scale changes throughout this fascicle, but the palette of what counts as splendid does not.
Even the Yakṣas Hid Themselves Away
The hymn closes on what the birth alone accomplished — light that reaches every corner of the world, and every harmful thing in it choosing to disappear.
一切諸眾生，
皆生大歡喜，
合掌稱希有：
善哉救護世！
王時放身光，
普照於一切，
能令四天下，
闇盡病除滅。
夜叉毘舍闍，
毒蟲諸惡獸，
所欲害人者，
一切自藏匿。
惡名失善利，
橫事病所持，
如是眾苦滅，
一切皆歡喜。
凡是眾生類，
相視如父母，
離惡起慈心，
專求一切智。
關閉諸惡趣，
開示人天路，
宣揚薩婆若，
度脫諸群生。
我等見大王，
普獲於善利，
無歸無導者，
一切悉安樂。』
All beings everywhere
gave rise to great joy,
joined their palms, and proclaimed it a wonder:
"How excellent — a saviour and protector of the world!"
At that time the king sent forth light from his own body,
universally illuminating everything,
able to cause every darkness throughout the four continents
to be entirely dispelled, and every sickness to be removed.
Yakṣas and piśācas,
venomous insects and every evil beast,
whatever wished to harm any person,
all of them hid themselves away of their own accord.
Ill repute, the loss of good fortune,
sudden calamity, and the grip of sickness —
every such suffering was extinguished,
and all beings rejoiced entirely.
Every kind of being, whatever its class,
looked upon every other as a parent looks upon a child;
they left behind evil and gave rise to a mind of loving-kindness,
and single-mindedly sought all-knowing wisdom.
He closed off every evil destiny,
and opened and revealed the path of humans and gods;
he proclaimed all-knowing wisdom,
and delivered and liberated every multitude of beings.
We, having seen this great king,
have universally gained good benefit;
those without refuge and without guide
have all, every one, found peace and happiness.'
無歸無導者，一切悉安樂 — those without refuge and without guide have all, every one, found peace and happiness. This is the same complaint the starving crowd brought to the king in Part 1151, in almost the same words — 無依無救，無所控告, with nothing to rely upon and no one to save us, nowhere to bring our complaint. Here the hymn credits the infant's birth alone with having already answered it, before any drum was struck and before a single storehouse was opened. The giving described earlier in this fascicle turns out, in the order this hymn tells it, to be the second time this king has rescued the same kind of person.
Part 1158 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-two. Part 1159 closes the story with the king's own response to Jewel Light's hymn — and a revelation that names exactly who each figure in this ancient tale really was.