One Cloud, Fourteen Colors, Fourteen Sounds
The great sea's own dragon king, at play, raises a single rain cloud over the four continents — and yet that one cloud, its lightning, and its thunder each appear differently over each of fourteen realms, from the highest heaven of the desire realm down through kinnaras, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, and the human world, so that every kind of being sees and hears exactly what most delights it.
One Cloud, Colored Fourteen Ways
The cloud the dragon king raises fills the four continents entirely, and yet appears in a distinct color over each of fourteen realms — true gold over one heaven, lapis lazuli over another, the color of a lotus flower where the nāgas dwell, of mountain rock where the asuras dwell — each realm seeing the very color it takes delight in.
「大海龍王遊戲時，普於諸處得自在，
興雲充遍四天下，其雲種種莊嚴色：
第六他化自在天，於彼雲色如真金，
化樂天上赤珠色；兜率陀天霜雪色；
夜摩天上瑠璃色；三十三天碼碯色；
四王天上玻瓈色；大海水上金剛色；
緊那羅中妙香色；諸龍住處蓮華色；
夜叉住處白鵝色；阿脩羅中山石色；
欝單越處金焰色；閻浮提中青寶色；
餘二天下雜莊嚴，隨眾所樂而應之。」
"When the great sea's own dragon king is at play, he attains sovereignty universally throughout every place, raising up clouds that fill the four continents entirely, those clouds each adorned with their own distinct color: over the sixth heaven, Paranirmita-vaśavartin, that cloud's own color is like true gold; over the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, it is the color of a red pearl; over the Tuṣita Heaven, it is the color of frost and snow; over the Yāma Heaven, it is the color of lapis lazuli; over the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, it is the color of agate; over the Cāturmahārājika Heaven, it is the color of crystal; over the great sea's own water, it is the color of diamond; within the realm of the kinnaras, it is the color of wondrous fragrance; within the dwelling-places of the nāgas, it is the color of the lotus flower; within the dwelling-places of the yakṣas, it is the color of a white goose; within the realm of the asuras, it is the color of mountain rock; within Uttarakuru, it is the color of a golden flame; within Jambudvīpa, it is the color of a blue-green jewel; and over the remaining two continents, it takes on manifold adornment, responding according to whatever each multitude delights in."
Its Lightning, Colored Fourteen Ways
The same cloud's own lightning flashes differently again over each of the same fourteen realms — sunlight over one heaven, moonlight over another, the color of a fire-pearl over Uttarakuru — matching, realm for realm, the very sequence the cloud's own color just traced.
「又復他化自在天，雲中電耀如日光；
化樂天上如月光；兜率天上閻浮金；
夜摩天上珂雪色；三十三天金焰色；
四王天上眾寶色；大海之中赤珠色；
緊那羅界瑠璃色；龍王住處寶藏色；
夜叉所住玻瓈色；阿脩羅中碼碯色；
欝單越境火珠色；閻浮提中帝青色；
餘二天下雜莊嚴，如雲色相電亦然。」
"And further, over the Paranirmita-vaśavartin Heaven, the lightning within that cloud gleams like the light of the sun; over the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, it is like moonlight; over the Tuṣita Heaven, it is the color of Jambū river gold; over the Yāma Heaven, it is the color of conch-shell snow; over the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, it is the color of a golden flame; over the Cāturmahārājika Heaven, it is of every jeweled color; over the great sea, it is the color of a red pearl; within the realm of the kinnaras, it is the color of lapis lazuli; within the dwelling-places of the dragon kings, it is the color of a treasury of jewels; within the dwellings of the yakṣas, it is the color of crystal; within the realm of the asuras, it is the color of agate; within the region of Uttarakuru, it is the color of a fire-pearl; within Jambudvīpa, it is the color of indranīla; and over the remaining two continents, it takes on manifold adornment — just as with the color of the cloud itself, so too is it with the lightning."
Its Thunder, Sounded Fourteen Ways
And the thunder that peals from within this same cloud sounds differently again over the same fourteen realms — Brahmā's own voice over one heaven, a great drum over another, the tide of the sea for the human realm — completing the third parallel movement of this single cloud's manifold appearing.
「他化雷震如梵音；化樂天中大鼓音；
兜率天上歌唱音；夜摩天上天女音；
於彼三十三天上，如緊那羅種種音；
護世四王諸天所，如乾闥婆所出音；
海中兩山相擊聲；緊那羅中簫笛聲；
諸龍城中頻伽聲；夜叉住處龍女聲；
阿脩羅中天鼓聲；於人道中海潮聲。」
"Over the Paranirmita-vaśavartin Heaven, the thunder's own peal is like the voice of Brahmā; within the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, it is the sound of a great drum; over the Tuṣita Heaven, it is the sound of singing; over the Yāma Heaven, it is the sound of celestial maidens; over the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, it is like every kind of sound the kinnaras make; at the place of the Four Guardian Kings of the World, it is like the sound that the gandharvas give forth; within the sea, it is the sound of two mountains striking against each other; within the realm of the kinnaras, it is the sound of flutes and pipes; within the cities of the nāgas, it is the sound of the kalaviṅka bird; within the dwelling-places of the yakṣas, it is the sound of nāga maidens; within the realm of the asuras, it is the sound of a heavenly drum; and within the human realm, it is the sound of the tide upon the sea."
The dragon king's cloud is this hymn's most elaborate demonstration yet of a principle it has been building toward across many Parts: one and the same phenomenon, entirely undivided in itself, appearing differently to each perceiver according to what that perceiver is able to receive. The cloud does not become fourteen clouds to be fourteen colors; the same rain does not multiply itself to sound fourteen different notes of thunder. This is the chapter's own recurring answer, given here at its most sensuous and specific, to the very first question Mañjuśrī posed two chapters ago — how one nature can appear as such different things without ever actually dividing.
Part 65 Complete
This closes Part 65. Foremost in Virtue's hymn continues in Part 66 with what the same cloud actually rains down upon each realm — fragrant blossoms, jeweled adornments, and fine food, each again suited to what that realm most desires.