Water from the Four Great Oceans
The consecration completes itself. Light returns into the buddhas' feet so they know who has arrived; the other consecrated bodhisattvas send light into this one's breast; and then light from the brows of every buddha enters the crown of his head — after which the sūtra explains what it has just described, by way of a coronation.
Light into the Breast
The offering-light goes home, and its arrival is how the news travels: the buddhas and bodhisattvas learn from it which bodhisattva, in which world, has come this far.
「佛子！此大光明作於如是供養事畢，復遶十方一切世界一一諸佛道場眾會，經十匝已，從諸如來足下而入。爾時，諸佛及諸菩薩，知某世界中，某菩薩摩訶薩能行如是廣大之行到受職位。佛子！是時，十方無量無邊乃至九地諸菩薩眾皆來圍遶，恭敬供養，一心觀察。正觀察時，其諸菩薩即各獲得十千三昧。當爾之時，十方所有受職菩薩，皆於金剛莊嚴臆德相中出大光明，名：能壞魔怨，百萬阿僧祇光明以為眷屬，普照十方，現於無量神通變化；作是事已，而來入此菩薩摩訶薩金剛莊嚴臆德相中；其光入已，令此菩薩所有智慧、勢力增長過百千倍。
"Child of the Buddha! When this great radiance has finished performing such offerings, it circles again the assembly at the awakening-site of every buddha throughout all the worlds of the ten directions, and having passed around ten times, it enters in beneath the feet of those Tathāgatas. Then the buddhas and the bodhisattvas know that in such-and-such a world such-and-such a bodhisattva mahāsattva has been able to practice so vast a practice and has come to the station of consecration. Child of the Buddha! At that time the measureless, boundless bodhisattva hosts of the ten directions, up to those of the ninth ground, all come and surround them, making reverent offerings and contemplating them single-mindedly; and while they contemplate, those bodhisattvas each obtain ten thousand samādhis. At that moment all the consecrated bodhisattvas of the ten directions send forth from the vajra-adorned mark of virtue upon their breasts a great radiance named Destroyer of Māra's Enmity, with a million asaṃkhyeyas of lights as its retinue, illumining the ten directions everywhere and displaying measureless spiritual penetrations and transformations; and having done so, it comes and enters into the vajra-adorned mark of virtue upon this bodhisattva mahāsattva's breast. When that light has entered, it causes all this bodhisattva's wisdom and strength to increase more than a hundred thousandfold.
從諸如來足下而入 — it enters in beneath the feet of those Tathāgatas. The light left this bodhisattva's own soles in Part 475 and returns into the buddhas' soles here, which closes a circuit rather than completing a delivery. Notice how the news is carried: no one is told anything, and yet 諸佛及諸菩薩知 — the buddhas and bodhisattvas know.
金剛莊嚴臆德相 — the vajra-adorned mark of virtue upon the breast. The senior bodhisattvas do not congratulate or instruct; light goes from their breast to his, and his capacity multiplies. Whatever consecration is in this chapter, it is transmitted between equals before it descends from the buddhas.
The Crown Prince Anointed
Then the buddhas' own light, and the explanation. The rite described is an actual one — the abhiṣeka of an Indian king — and the sūtra spends as many words on the elephant-throne, the banners and the golden vase as on what they mean.
「爾時，十方一切諸佛從眉間出清淨光明，名：增益一切智神通，無數光明以為眷屬，普照十方一切世界，右遶十匝，示現如來廣大自在，開悟無量百千億那由他諸菩薩眾，周遍震動一切佛剎，滅除一切諸惡道苦，隱蔽一切諸魔宮殿，示一切佛得菩提處道場眾會莊嚴威德；如是普照盡虛空遍法界一切世界已，而來至此菩薩會上周匝右遶，示現種種莊嚴之事；現是事已，從大菩薩頂上而入，其眷屬光明亦各入彼諸菩薩頂。當爾之時，此菩薩得先所未得百萬三昧，名為：已得受職之位，入佛境界，具足十力，墮在佛數。
"Then all the buddhas of the ten directions send forth from between their brows a pure radiance named Increasing All-Knowing Wisdom and Spiritual Penetration, with countless lights as its retinue, illumining everywhere all the worlds of the ten directions and circling them ten times to the right; displaying the Tathāgatas' vast sovereign freedom; awakening measureless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of bodhisattva hosts; shaking all the buddha-lands throughout; removing all the sufferings of the evil destinies; concealing all Māra's palaces; and showing the adornment and awesome virtue of the assemblies at the awakening-sites where all the buddhas attained bodhi. Having thus illumined all worlds to the ends of space and throughout the dharma-realm, it comes to this bodhisattva's assembly, circles it to the right, and displays every kind of adornment; and having displayed these things, it enters in from the crown of that great bodhisattva's head, while its retinue of lights each enter the crowns of the other bodhisattvas' heads. At that moment this bodhisattva obtains a million samādhis never obtained before, and is said to have obtained the station of consecration, to have entered the domain of the buddhas, to be complete in the ten powers, and to be counted among the buddhas.
佛子！如轉輪聖王所生太子，母是正后，身相具足。其轉輪王令此太子坐白象寶妙金之座，張大網幔，建大幢幡，然香散花，奏諸音樂，取四大海水置金瓶內，王執此瓶灌太子頂，是時即名：受王職位，墮在灌頂剎利王數，即能具足行十善道，亦得名為：轉輪聖王。
Child of the Buddha! It is like a crown prince born to a wheel-turning sage king, whose mother is the chief queen and whose bodily marks are complete. The wheel-turning king has this prince take his seat upon a fine golden throne borne by the jewel of a white elephant; great net-curtains are spread and great banners and pennants raised; incense is burned and flowers scattered and every kind of music performed; water is taken from the four great oceans and placed within a golden vase; and the king takes up this vase and anoints the crown of the prince's head. At that moment he is said to have received the station of kingship and to be counted among the consecrated kṣatriya kings; he becomes able to practice the ten wholesome paths of action in full, and he too may be called a wheel-turning sage king.
墮在佛數 — counted among the buddhas. 墮 usually means to fall, and to fall into a number is an odd way to say it; the phrase means to belong to that class as a matter of enumeration. The sūtra is careful: he is not said to be a buddha, but to be reckoned among them, exactly as the prince below is reckoned among consecrated kings while his father still reigns.
取四大海水置金瓶內 — water taken from the four great oceans and placed within a golden vase. The whole world's waters are brought into one vessel and poured on one head. It is worth reading the detail slowly, because this is the ceremony the word 灌頂 comes from, and everything the chapter has said about consecration since the first ground has been borrowing its authority.
Part 476 Complete
This continues Dharmameghā, the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud, the tenth and last of the Ten Grounds, in fascicle thirty-nine. Part 477 applies the simile — the buddhas' water of wisdom poured on the head, so that the ground is named as abiding in the Dharma-Cloud — and begins what this bodhisattva then knows exactly as it is: the gathering of the three realms, of the dharma-realm, of the conditioned and unconditioned, of beings and consciousness and space and nirvāṇa itself.