The Kiṃnara Kings' Singing Trees
The kiṃnara kings' own testimony is unlike anything heard so far — their tāla trees, jeweled nets, and instruments began sounding on their own, broadcasting news of bodhisattvas giving rise to bodhicitta and buddhas entering parinirvāṇa in lands and directions the kiṃnaras themselves have never seen.
A Palace That Broadcasts the Ten Directions
Rather than describing their own fear or attachment broken, the kiṃnara kings describe an object lesson happening inside their own homes — every tree, net, and instrument spontaneously sounding out real-time news of bodhisattvas and buddhas scattered across the entire dharma-realm.
復有十千緊那羅王，於虛空中，唱如是言：「善男子！此婆羅門五熱炙身時，我等所住宮殿諸多羅樹、諸寶鈴網、諸寶繒帶、諸音樂樹、諸妙寶樹及諸樂器，自然而出佛聲、法聲及不退轉菩薩僧聲、願求無上菩提之聲，云：『某方、某國，有某菩薩，發菩提心；某方、某國，有某菩薩，修行苦行，難捨能捨，乃至清淨一切智行；某方、某國，有某菩薩，往詣道場；乃至某方、某國，有某如來，作佛事已，而般涅槃。』
There were further ten thousand kiṃnara kings, in the sky above, proclaiming these words: "Good son, when this brahmin was scorching his own body with the five fires, the tāla trees, jeweled-bell nets, jeweled silk ribbons, music-trees, wondrous jewel-trees, and musical instruments within the palaces where we dwell spontaneously gave forth the sound of a buddha's voice, the sound of the dharma, the sound of the assembly of non-retrogressing bodhisattvas, and the sound of vows seeking unsurpassed bodhi, saying: 'In such-and-such a direction, in such-and-such a land, there is such-and-such a bodhisattva who has given rise to the mind of bodhi; in such-and-such a direction, in such-and-such a land, there is such-and-such a bodhisattva practicing austerities, able to give up what is hard to give up, even purifying every practice of omniscience; in such-and-such a direction, in such-and-such a land, there is such-and-such a bodhisattva going to the very platform of awakening; and even, in such-and-such a direction, in such-and-such a land, there is such-and-such a tathāgata who, having completed his buddha-work, has entered parinirvāṇa.'
某方、某國，有某菩薩 — in such-and-such a direction, in such-and-such a land, there is such-and-such a bodhisattva. The sūtra deliberately leaves every direction, land, and name unspecified here, using a placeholder formula rather than naming any actual bodhisattva or buddha — as though the point were the sheer fact of constant, simultaneous news arriving from everywhere, not any single report among them.
Part 973 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 974 turns to the kiṃnara kings' own comparison for how much their palace trees actually proclaim — measured against every grain of dust in Jambudvīpa ground to powder — before they too give the same testimony of joy and non-retrogression.