Clouds of Every Flower Raining Down
The description turns from the throne itself to the hall around it: a hundred million clouds each of kusuma, padma, utpala, kumuda, puṇḍarīka, and mandārava flowers rain down in turn, followed by jeweled banners, balustrades, tāla trees, pavilions, windows, and finally garments of blue, yellow, red, and every wondrous color, spread out so that whoever beholds them simply rejoices.
Named Flower by Named Flower
Where the throne itself was built from a hundred million of every kind of treasure, the hall around it now fills with a hundred million of every kind of falling offering — flowers named one by one rather than gestured at collectively, followed by architecture, ornament, and finally garments of every color, each catalog closing the same way: whoever sees it rejoices.
復有百萬億無比香王香，種種莊嚴。雨百萬億天華雲，雨百萬億天香雲，雨百萬億天末香雲，雨百萬億天拘蘇摩華雲，雨百萬億天波頭摩華雲，雨百萬億天優鉢羅華雲，雨百萬億天拘物頭華雲，雨百萬億天芬陀利華雲，雨百萬億天曼陀羅華雲，雨百萬億一切天華雲，雨百萬億天衣雲，雨百萬億摩尼寶雲，雨百萬億天蓋雲，雨百萬億天幡雲，雨百萬億天冠雲，雨百萬億天莊嚴具雲，雨百萬億天寶鬘雲，雨百萬億天寶瓔珞雲，雨百萬億天栴檀香雲，雨百萬億天沈水香雲。建百萬億寶幢，懸百萬億寶幡，垂百萬億寶繒帶，然百萬億香爐，布百萬億寶鬘，持百萬億寶扇，執百萬億寶拂。
There were, furthermore, a hundred million incomparable king-of-fragrance scents, adorning it in every kind of way. It rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly fragrance, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly powdered incense, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly kusuma flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly padma flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly utpala flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly kumuda flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly puṇḍarīka flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly mandārava flowers, rained a hundred million clouds of every heavenly flower, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly garments, rained a hundred million clouds of maṇi jewels, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly canopies, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly banners, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly crowns, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly adorning implements, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly jeweled garlands, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly jeweled necklaces, rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly sandalwood fragrance, and rained a hundred million clouds of heavenly aloeswood fragrance. It raised a hundred million jeweled banner-poles, hung a hundred million jeweled banners, hung down a hundred million jeweled silk ribbons, burned a hundred million incense braziers, spread out a hundred million jeweled garlands, held a hundred million jeweled fans, and grasped a hundred million jeweled whisks.
懸百萬億寶鈴網，微風吹動，出妙音聲；百萬億寶欄楯，周匝圍遶；百萬億寶多羅樹，次第行列；百萬億妙寶窓牖，綺麗莊嚴；百萬億寶樹，周匝垂陰；百萬億寶樓閣，延袤綺飾；百萬億寶門，垂布瓔珞；百萬億金鈴，出妙音聲；百萬億吉祥相瓔珞，嚴淨垂下；百萬億寶悉底迦，能除眾惡；百萬億金藏，金縷織成；百萬億寶蓋，眾寶為竿，執持行列；百萬億一切寶莊嚴具網，間錯莊嚴；百萬億光明寶，放種種光；百萬億光明，周遍照耀；百萬億日藏輪，百萬億月藏輪，並無量色寶之所集成；百萬億香焰，光明映徹；百萬億蓮華藏，開敷鮮榮；百萬億寶網，百萬億華網，百萬億香網，彌覆其上；百萬億天寶衣，百萬億天青色衣，百萬億天黃色衣，百萬億天赤色衣，百萬億天奇妙色衣，百萬億天種種寶奇妙衣，百萬億種種香熏衣，百萬億一切寶所成衣，百萬億鮮白衣，悉善敷布，見者歡喜。
It hung a hundred million nets of jeweled bells, which, stirred by a gentle breeze, sent forth a wondrous sound; a hundred million jeweled balustrades, encircling it all around; a hundred million jeweled tāla trees, arrayed in ordered rows; a hundred million wondrous jeweled windows, resplendently adorned; a hundred million jeweled trees, casting their shade all around; a hundred million jeweled pavilions, extending far and wide, ornately adorned; a hundred million jeweled gates, draped with hanging necklaces; a hundred million golden bells, sending forth a wondrous sound; a hundred million necklaces of auspicious marks, pure and adorned, hanging down; a hundred million jeweled svastikas, able to dispel every evil; a hundred million treasuries of gold, woven entirely from threads of gold; a hundred million jeweled canopies, their poles made of every kind of treasure, held aloft in rows; a hundred million nets of every kind of jeweled adorning implement, interspersed in adornment; a hundred million jewels of light, emitting every kind of radiance; a hundred million lights, shining forth and illuminating everywhere; a hundred million wheels, treasuries of the sun, and a hundred million wheels, treasuries of the moon, both formed entirely from immeasurable colored jewels gathered together; a hundred million fragrant flames, their light shining through with utter clarity; a hundred million lotus-treasuries, blossoming forth fresh and glorious; a hundred million jeweled nets, a hundred million flower-nets, and a hundred million fragrance-nets, covering it entirely; a hundred million heavenly jeweled garments, a hundred million heavenly garments of blue, a hundred million heavenly garments of yellow, a hundred million heavenly garments of red, a hundred million heavenly garments of every wondrous color, a hundred million heavenly garments of every wondrous jewel, a hundred million garments perfumed with every kind of fragrance, a hundred million garments made entirely of every treasure, and a hundred million garments of fresh white — all skillfully spread out, so that whoever beheld them rejoiced.
Where an ordinary description might simply say "every kind of flower," the sūtra insists on naming six kinds one after another — kusuma, padma, utpala, kumuda, puṇḍarīka, and mandārava — before finally adding "every heavenly flower" as if to close a list that could not otherwise be closed. This refusal to compress the particular into the general is the same habit of mind that built the throne item by item in the previous two Parts: totality, in this sūtra, is not a category substituted for its members but the sum of every member actually named.
Part 176 Complete
This closes Part 176. Chapter 23 continues in Part 177 with banner-poles, heavenly music, and the sounds of praise.