As Though Standing Right Before Their Eyes
Through the Buddha's own spiritual power, every god and goddess in the Tuṣita palace beholds him from afar as though he already stood right before their eyes, and gives voice together to the same single thought: how rare it is to encounter a Tathāgata's appearance in the world at all. They then gather up flowers, fragrances, and jewels in their own heavenly garments and scatter them as offerings.
Seeing from Afar as Though Already Present
This short passage turns on a single paradox the sūtra states outright: the gods behold the Buddha "from afar," and yet see him "as though standing right before their very eyes" — distance and presence collapsing into each other through the Buddha's own spiritual power. Their shared response is not awe alone but a specific thought, spoken together, before they act on it by gathering offerings in their own garments.
爾時，如來威神力故，往昔善根之所流故，不可思議自在力故，兜率宮中一切諸天及諸天女，皆遙見佛，如對目前，同興念言：「如來出世難可值遇，我今得見具一切智於法無礙正等覺者。」如是思惟，如是觀察，與諸眾會悉共同時奉迎如來；各以天衣，盛一切華，盛一切香，盛一切寶，盛一切莊嚴具，盛一切天栴檀末香，盛一切天沈水末香，盛一切天妙寶末香，盛一切天香華，盛一切天曼陀羅華，悉以奉散，供養於佛。
At that time, because of the Tathāgata's own awesome spiritual power, because of the flowing forth of wholesome roots cultivated in ages past, and because of his inconceivable, sovereign power, every god and goddess within the Tuṣita palace, beholding the Buddha from afar, saw him as though standing right before their very eyes, and together gave rise to this thought, saying: "It is difficult indeed to encounter the Tathāgata's appearance in the world, and we ourselves now are able to behold him, the one fully endowed with all-knowing wisdom, the truly and rightly awakened one unobstructed with regard to the Dharma." Having so reflected, having so observed, they went forth together with the entire assembly, all at the very same time, to welcome the Tathāgata; each of them, with their own heavenly garments, gathered up every kind of flower, gathered up every kind of fragrance, gathered up every kind of jewel, gathered up every kind of adorning implement, gathered up every kind of heavenly sandalwood powder, gathered up every kind of heavenly aloeswood powder, gathered up every kind of heavenly wondrous jeweled powder, gathered up every kind of heavenly fragrant flower, and gathered up every kind of heavenly mandārava flower, and scattered all of it entirely, making offerings to the Buddha.
The passage attributes what the gods experience to three distinct causes at once — the Buddha's own spiritual power, wholesome roots the gods themselves cultivated in ages past, and the Buddha's inconceivable sovereign mastery — rather than treating the vision as a simple miracle worked upon passive recipients. Seeing "as though standing right before their very eyes" while still technically "from afar" is the same collapsing of distance the sūtra has used before to describe how the Buddha's presence in one place does not diminish his presence anywhere else.
Part 182 Complete
This closes Part 182. Chapter 23 continues in Part 183.