What the Cloud Actually Rains Down
Having appeared in fourteen colors and sounded in fourteen voices, the dragon king's cloud now completes its work: maṇi jewels and fragrant flowers over the heavens, weapons to defeat the asuras' own enemies, and, over the human world, plain clear water that ripens every crop. The dragon king does all of this while his own body remains entirely unmoving, without a trace of discrimination.
Jewels, Flowers, and Fine Food Over the Heavens
The cloud rains fragrance and flowers over the highest heaven of the desire realm, maṇi jewels over Tuṣita, banners and music over Yāma, wish-fulfilling jewels and sandalwood over Trāyastriṃśa, and fine food over the realm of the World-Protectors — each gift suited to what that heaven's own inhabitants delight in.
「他化自在雨妙香，種種雜華為莊嚴；
化樂天雨多羅華，曼陀羅華及澤香；
兜率天上雨摩尼，具足種種寶莊嚴，
髻中寶珠如月光，上妙衣服真金色；
夜摩中雨幢幡蓋，華鬘塗香妙嚴具，
赤真珠色上好衣，及以種種眾妓樂；
三十三天如意珠，堅黑沈水栴檀香，
欝金雞羅多摩等，妙華香水相雜雨；
護世城中雨美膳，色香味具增長力，
亦雨難思眾妙寶，悉是龍王之所作。」
"Over Paranirmita-vaśavartin, it rains wondrous fragrance, and every kind of manifold flower as adornment; over the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, it rains tāla flowers, mandārava flowers, and fragrant oils; over the Tuṣita Heaven, it rains maṇi jewels, fully adorned with every kind of treasure, a jewel like moonlight set within a topknot, and the finest garments of true golden color;
over the Yāma Heaven, it rains banners, pennants, and canopies, flower garlands, anointing incense, and every wondrous adornment, garments the color of red pearls of the finest quality, and every kind of music besides; over the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, it rains wish-fulfilling jewels, firm black aloeswood, and sandalwood incense, saffron, kaleyaka, tamāla, and the like, wondrous flowers and fragrant water raining down mixed together; over the cities of the World-Protectors, it rains fine food, its color, fragrance, and flavor all complete, increasing one's own strength, and it also rains inconceivable, wondrous treasures — all of this is what the dragon king himself does."
Over the Sea, the Asuras, and the Human World
The rain continues over the ocean itself as an inexhaustible treasury, weapons over the asuras to defeat their enemies, necklaces and wondrous flowers over Uttarakuru — and, over the human world of Jambudvīpa, nothing more than clear, gentle water, falling in its proper season to ripen every crop.
「又復於彼大海中，注雨不斷如車軸，
復雨無盡大寶藏，亦雨種種莊嚴寶。
緊那羅界雨瓔珞，眾色蓮華衣及寶，
婆利師迦末利香，種種樂音皆具足；
諸龍城中雨赤珠；夜叉城內光摩尼；
阿脩羅中雨兵仗，摧伏一切諸怨敵；
欝單越中雨瓔珞，亦雨無量上妙華；
弗婆瞿耶二天下，悉雨種種莊嚴具；
閻浮提雨清淨水，微細悅澤常應時，
長養眾華及果藥，成熟一切諸苗稼。」
"And further, over that great sea, it pours down rain unceasingly, thick as a cart's own axle, and it also rains an inexhaustible great treasury of jewels, and likewise rains every kind of adorning treasure. Over the realm of the kinnaras, it rains necklaces, lotus flowers of every color, garments and treasures, vārṣika and mallikā fragrances, and every kind of musical sound, fully complete;
within the cities of the nāgas, it rains red pearls; within the cities of the yakṣas, it rains radiant maṇi jewels; within the realm of the asuras, it rains weapons, crushing and subduing every hostile enemy; within Uttarakuru, it rains necklaces, and also rains immeasurable, supremely wondrous flowers; over the two continents of Pūrvavideha and Godānīya, it rains every kind of adorning implement entirely; over Jambudvīpa, it rains clear and pure water, fine, gentle, and moistening, forever falling in its proper season, nourishing and growing every flower, fruit, and medicinal plant, ripening every crop and seedling there is."
An Unmoving Body, Without Discrimination
「如是無量妙莊嚴，種種雲電及雷雨，
龍王自在悉能作，而身不動無分別。
彼於世界海中住，尚能現此難思力，
況入法海具功德，而不能為大神變！」
"Such is this immeasurable and wondrous adornment — every kind of cloud, lightning, thunder, and rain — the dragon king, sovereign and unhindered, is entirely able to produce it all, and yet his own body remains unmoving, without any discrimination at all.
He, dwelling within the very ocean of the world, is nonetheless able to manifest such inconceivable power as this — how much more so, then, one who has entered the ocean of the Dharma, fully endowed with merit, unable to perform such great spiritual transformations!"
The closing couplet of this whole extended cloud sequence supplies the detail that reframes everything before it: through fourteen colors, fourteen flashes of lightning, fourteen peals of thunder, and now fourteen different kinds of rain, "his own body remains unmoving, without any discrimination at all." The dragon king performs no fourteen separate acts of will, tailoring one gift for the gods and another for the nāgas; the entire, staggeringly particular abundance simply arises from a single undivided source. It is the same lesson chapter fourteen's flower-adornment samādhi taught through a mote of dust, now taught through weather: astonishing particularity is not evidence of effortful multiplication, but exactly what an undivided source looks like when it meets the manifold needs of the world.
Part 66 Complete
This closes Part 66. Foremost in Virtue's hymn moves toward its own conclusion in Part 67, which will carry fascicle fifteen to its close.