A Child from a Thousand-Petaled Lotus
The father-king wanders with his household to a pond named Joy and declares, to his own queen, that every one of his wishes has now been fulfilled. Within that same pond, a thousand-petaled jeweled lotus opens to reveal a child adorned with excellent marks, and the king lifts him from the water into the queen's own lap, as jeweled treasuries well up from the earth and heavenly music fills the sky.
Three Stanzas: A King Wanders to a Pond
「時彼淨光王， 與內眷屬俱，
一切大臣等， 歡喜遊園觀。
五百浴池中， 有池名歡喜，
池上妙法堂， 王眷屬遊止。
時王語夫人， 我願悉成滿，
國土還豐樂， 人民普安隱。」
"At that time, King Pure Light, together with his own household retinue,
and every one of his great ministers, joyfully wandered through the gardens and parks.
Among the five hundred bathing pools, there was one pond named Joy;
above this pond there was a sublime hall of the Dharma, where the king and his retinue wandered and rested.
At that time the king said to his queen: 'My every wish has now been fulfilled entirely —
the land has returned to abundance and joy, and the people are universally at peace.'"
Fazang names this brief third movement: 三有三頌父王遊池 — "third, three stanzas reveal the father-king wandering to the ponds." A small, almost domestic scene sits at the center of this whole account: a king and queen out walking their own gardens, the king remarking simply that things have turned out well — immediately before the single most consequential moment of the entire hymn.
Five Stanzas: A Child Emerges from the Lotus
「時彼浴池中， 千葉寶華生，
普放清淨光， 明耀須彌頂。
明淨金剛莖， 眾寶為華葉，
閻浮檀金臺， 諸妙香為鬚。
於彼蓮華中， 出生一童子，
相好莊嚴身， 諸天悉敬禮。
王見大歡喜， 入池撫掬之，
安置后膝上， 汝子應欣慶。
寶藏普涌出， 寶樹生妙衣，
天樂奏妙聲， 充滿虛空中。」
"At that time, within this bathing pool, a jeweled flower of a thousand petals grew,
universally releasing a pure light, its brilliance shining even upon the summit of Mount Sumeru.
Its stem bright, pure vajra, its petals formed of every jewel,
its calyx of Jambū-river gold, its stamens of every sublime fragrance.
From within this lotus flower, there emerged a young child,
his body adorned with excellent marks, and every deva reverently bowed to him.
The king, beholding him, rejoiced greatly, entered the pool and gathered him up in his own hands,
placing him upon the queen's own lap: 'This is your own son — you should rejoice.'
Every jeweled treasury spontaneously welled up from the earth, jeweled trees put forth sublime garments,
and heavenly music played its sublime sound, filling the whole of space."
Fazang names this the hymn's fourth movement: 四有五頌明童子出生益 — "fourth, five stanzas reveal the benefit of the child's own birth." The lotus itself is described with the same jewel-by-jewel precision this project has seen given to entire worlds — vajra stem, jeweled petals, a calyx of Jambū-river gold, stamens of pure fragrance — before the child within it is named only in the barest terms: "adorned with excellent marks." The scene closes not on the child's own appearance but on the father's single line to the mother, "this is your own son," and the whole earth answering with treasuries welling up and music filling the sky — abundance responding to a birth exactly as it had already begun responding, seven days early, to the omens that preceded it.
Part 101 In Progress
A child has been drawn from a thousand-petaled lotus and placed in his mother's own lap, as the whole realm answers with treasuries and music. Part 102 turns to the final seven stanzas of the girl's hymn — the benefit this child's own presence brings to everyone who beholds him — before the girl's bow, the king's praise, and the identification that reveals who everyone in this story has actually been.
Continue to Part 102 →