A Forest Filled From a Single Body
Three more forms of sovereign mastery emerge directly from Lady Māyā's own body: the adornments of every past buddha's final rebirth as a bodhisattva, the palaces of every class of deva and nonhuman being come to make offerings, and countless bodhisattvas — every one of them identical to the buddha Vairocana himself — emerging to sing his praises.
Every Past Buddha's Adornment, and Every Palace
「復次，佛子！摩耶夫人身中普出過去諸佛，本為菩薩最後生時，莊嚴佛剎眾生，樹林華鬘諸香、塗香、末香、摩尼寶王娛樂讚歎如是等事，充滿此林，皆悉聞見，是為菩薩第七受生自在。
「復次，佛子！摩耶夫人身中，又出諸天宮殿、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、及人宮殿，眾寶莊嚴，妙香普熏，無能壞者，出過諸天，為欲供養彼菩薩故，充滿此林，是為菩薩第八受生自在。」
"Furthermore, Child of the Buddha, from within Lady Māyā's own body, there will universally emerge every event of every past buddha's own final rebirth as a bodhisattva — the adornment of the buddha-land, of sentient beings, of forest trees, flower-garlands, every kind of fragrance, scented unguents, incense powder, maṇi-jewel kings, entertainment, and praise, and every matter such as this — filling this entire forest, and all of it will be heard and seen. This is the bodhisattva's own seventh form of sovereign mastery in taking rebirth.
"Furthermore, Child of the Buddha, from within Lady Māyā's own body, there will further emerge the palaces of every deva, and the palaces of nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and of humans as well, adorned with every jewel, their sublime fragrance universally perfuming everything, indestructible by anyone, surpassing every deva; wishing to make offerings to that bodhisattva, they will fill this entire forest. This is the bodhisattva's own eighth form of sovereign mastery in taking rebirth."
Where the fourth through sixth forms of mastery revealed the bodhisattva's own past rebirths, form, and giving from within Māyā's own pores, the seventh and eighth shift the same device to what emerges from her body as a whole. The eighth form is worth noting for scale alone: every eightfold-assembly palace this collection has repeatedly listed — deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kinnara, mahoraga — together with human palaces besides, emerges bodily from a single figure to fill one forest, each palace "indestructible by anyone," a superlative this project has met before only applied to a buddha's own qualities.
Countless Bodhisattvas, Every One Identical to Vairocana
「復次，佛子！摩耶夫人身中，又出十不可說億那由他世界微塵等菩薩，其身色像相好莊嚴，光明自在，及其眷屬皆悉同彼盧舍那佛是諸大士，從彼出已，讚歎菩薩，是為菩薩第九受生自在。」
"Furthermore, Child of the Buddha, from within Lady Māyā's own body, there will further emerge bodhisattvas as numerous as motes of dust in ten times an inconceivable number of koṭis of nayutas of worlds, their bodies, forms, and auspicious marks adorned, their light sovereign and unimpeded; and these great beings, together with their own retinues, will all be identical to that very buddha Vairocana himself. Having emerged from her, they will praise the bodhisattva. This is the bodhisattva's own ninth form of sovereign mastery in taking rebirth."
The ninth form of mastery names Vairocana directly — the same buddha this collection has already identified, at an earlier teacher, with the king at the root of teacher 37's own account. Here the identification runs the other direction: it is not one figure revealed as Vairocana in disguise, but a number of beings past ordinary counting, every one of them already identical to him, emerging from Māyā's own body to praise the bodhisattva about to be born from it — a single figure momentarily multiplied into an assembly that is, in substance, Vairocana himself many times over.
Part 130 In Progress
Nine of Māyā's ten forms of sovereign mastery are now complete. Part 131 carries the tenth and final form — a great lotus arising from a vajra earth-wheel to receive the bodhisattva, with the eightfold assembly's own kings gathering around it — followed by five similes closing the whole account of the birth itself.
Continue to Part 131 →