Part 945 of the collection · Fascicle 64 of 80 · 入法界品第三十九之五 · T279

Ten Lotus-Thrones Inside the Hall

Inside the hall of Adornment-Banner, ten jeweled lotus-thrones are arranged, each bearing its own name — illumination, treasury, purity, universal gate — none of them repeating another's, as though even the seating in this grove had to be as distinct as everything surrounding it.

Translator: Ru-Yi Meditation Center Status: Part 945 — ten lotus-thrones inside the hall Source: Taishō T279 (Śikṣānanda, Tang, 695–699 CE)

Ten Names, No Two Alike

Every throne is a maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne, and yet every one carries its own distinct name — illuminating the ten directions, illuminating the world, the wondrous treasury, the lion treasury, the stainless treasury, the universal gate, light-adornment, the great ocean treasury, and the vajra lion.

Chinese Source

其宮殿中,復有無量寶蓮華座周迴布列,所謂:照耀十方摩尼寶蓮華座、毘盧遮那摩尼寶蓮華座、照耀世間摩尼寶蓮華座、妙藏摩尼寶蓮華座、師子藏摩尼寶蓮華座、離垢藏摩尼寶蓮華座、普門摩尼寶蓮華座、光嚴摩尼寶蓮華座、安住大海藏清淨摩尼王寶蓮華座、金剛師子摩尼寶蓮華座。

Ru-Yi Translation

Within that palace, there were also measureless jeweled lotus-thrones arranged all around, namely: the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of Illuminating the Ten Directions; the Vairocana maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of Illuminating the World; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of the Wondrous Treasury; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of the Lion Treasury; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of the Stainless Treasury; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of the Universal Gate; the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of Light-Adornment; the pure maṇi-king jeweled lotus-throne of Abiding Securely in the Great Ocean Treasury; and the maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne of the Vajra Lion.

Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center

毘盧遮那摩尼寶蓮華座 — the Vairocana maṇi-jeweled lotus-throne. Among ten thrones named for qualities and treasuries, this one alone carries a proper name — Vairocana, the same name this project has already met as a bodhisattva's own title elsewhere in this sūtra — set here among the other nine as though awaiting whoever might sit upon it.

Part 945 Complete

This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 946 turns to the hall's own canopies, nets, and lights, each counted in the hundreds of thousands, before Rest-and-Release herself is finally described.