Welcome, World-Honored One
The prince's half-month of unrestrained giving comes to its final day, and the Buddha himself arrives to meet it — surrounded by the eight classes of divine beings, each attending him in its own distinct way, until the plain seat the assembly offers him transforms the instant he takes it.
A Great Assembly of Giving
The prince's final half-month is spent exactly as promised — a giving-ground thrown open to anyone, and, on its last day, a buddha arriving with an escort drawn from every order of being there is.
「時，都城北有一大園，名曰：日光，是昔施場。太子往彼，設大施會；飲食、衣服、華鬘、瓔珞、塗香、末香、幢幡、寶蓋，諸莊嚴具，隨有所求，靡不周給。經半月已，於最後日，國王、大臣、長者、居士、城邑人民及諸外道，悉來集會。「時，法輪音虛空燈王如來，知諸眾生調伏時至，與大眾俱，天王圍遶，龍王供養，夜叉王守護，乾闥婆王讚歎，阿脩羅王曲躬頂禮，迦樓羅王以清淨心散諸寶華，緊那羅王歡喜勸請，摩睺羅伽王一心瞻仰，來入彼會。
"At that time, to the north of the capital there was a great garden named Sunlight, which had long been a place for giving. The prince went there and held a great assembly of giving; food and drink, clothing, garlands, necklaces, fragrant unguents, powdered incense, banners, and jewelled canopies — every kind of adornment — whatever was asked for, none went unprovided. When half a month had passed, on the very last day, the king, the ministers, the elders, the householders, the people of the city, and every kind of non-Buddhist teacher all came together in assembly. At that time, the tathāgata King of the Lamp of Empty Space, the Sound of the Dharma-Wheel, knowing that the moment for taming these beings had arrived, came into that assembly together with the great multitude — surrounded by the kings of the gods, attended with offerings by the nāga kings, guarded by the yakṣa kings, praised by the gandharva kings, bowed to in reverence by the asura kings, showered with every kind of jewelled flower by the garuḍa kings with pure minds, joyfully entreated by the kiṃnara kings, and gazed upon single-mindedly by the mahoraga kings.
天王圍遶⋯⋯摩睺羅伽王一心瞻仰 — checked directly, all eight classes of divine and semi-divine beings appear here — deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kiṃnara, mahoraga — and no two are given the same verb. One surrounds, one offers, one guards, one praises, one bows, one scatters flowers, one entreats, one simply gazes. The buddha's arrival is not described once and applied to a crowd; it is described eight separate times, once for each kind of attention a being can pay.
Welcome, World-Honored One
The prince and the assembly see the Buddha approach from far off, and the plain seat they set out for him becomes something else entirely the moment he actually sits.
「爾時，太子及諸大眾，遙見佛來，端嚴殊特，諸根寂定如調順象，心無垢濁如清淨池，現大神通，示大自在，顯大威德，種種相好莊嚴其身，放大光明普照世界，一切毛孔出香焰雲，震動十方無量佛剎，隨所至處普雨一切諸莊嚴具；以佛威儀，以佛功德，眾生見者，心淨歡喜，煩惱銷滅。「爾時，太子及諸大眾五體投地，頂禮其足，安施床座，合掌白言：『善來世尊！善來善逝！唯願哀愍，攝受於我，處于此座！』以佛神力，淨居諸天即變此座為香摩尼蓮華之座。佛坐其上，諸菩薩眾亦皆就座周匝圍遶。時，彼會中一切眾生，因見如來，苦滅障除，堪受聖法。
"At that time, the prince and the whole great multitude, seeing the Buddha approach from afar, beheld him upright and of exceptional bearing, his faculties tranquil and stilled like a well-tamed elephant, his mind free of any stain like a clear pool; he manifested great spiritual power, displayed great sovereign freedom, revealed great majestic virtue, his body adorned with every kind of mark and excellent feature, emitting great light that universally illuminated the world; from every pore there came forth clouds of fragrant flame, shaking measureless buddha-lands in the ten directions, and wherever he went, every kind of adornment rained down universally. By the Buddha's own dignified bearing and by the Buddha's own merit, every being who saw him had their mind purified and rejoiced, and their afflictions were dissolved. At that time, the prince and the whole great multitude cast their five limbs to the ground, bowed at his feet, prepared and offered him a seat, and, joining their palms, said: 'Welcome, World-Honored One! Welcome, Well-Gone One! We beg only that, out of compassion, you receive us, and take this seat!' By the Buddha's own spiritual power, the gods of the Pure Abodes at once transformed this seat into a seat of fragrant maṇi lotus flowers. The Buddha sat upon it, and the whole assembly of bodhisattvas likewise took their seats, surrounding him on every side. At that time, every being in that assembly, because they had seen the tathāgata, had their suffering extinguished and their hindrances removed, and became fit to receive the noble dharma.
安施床座⋯⋯即變此座為香摩尼蓮華之座 — prepared and offered him a seat⋯⋯at once transformed this seat into a seat of fragrant maṇi lotus flowers. The assembly offers an ordinary seat — the text names no jewels, no special material, before the Buddha arrives. Only once he actually sits does it become a maṇi lotus throne, and the transformation is credited to his own spiritual power, not to any special preparation on the assembly's part. The welcome given is plain; what makes it extraordinary is who accepts it.
Part 1172 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-three. Part 1173 follows the Buddha's teaching to a mass awakening across countless beings, before the night-spirit reveals who the prince in this story actually was — and who his five hundred accusers turned out to be as well.