Born From a Lotus, the Same Day as the Prince
The girl's mother answers the prince in verse, telling the full story of her daughter's own birth: on the very same day the prince himself was born, a thousand-petaled lotus flower arose in a garden pool, its light illumining all of Jambudvīpa like the sun just risen, and this girl was found seated within it.
Eight Stanzas: A Thousand-Petaled Lotus, and a Girl Within It
「時，彼女母說偈白言：
「『唯願太子聽， 此女從生來，
乃至今長成， 一切諸因緣。
太子所生日， 女從蓮華生，
其目淨修廣， 肢節悉具足。
我曾於春月， 遊觀娑羅園，
覩見諸卉木， 種種華榮茂。
同遊八百女， 容儀悉端嚴，
皆已具足知， 諸巧技能法。
彼園有浴池， 名曰眾莊嚴，
我於池岸坐， 采女眾圍遶。
時彼浴池中， 千葉蓮華生，
寶葉瑠璃莖， 閻浮檀金臺。
眾妙寶香鬚， 普放淨光明，
遍照閻浮提， 猶若日初出。
時見此玉女， 從彼蓮華生，
覩者皆念言， 此則善業報。』」
At that time, that girl's mother spoke in verse, saying:
"I beg the prince to listen: this girl, from the very day of her birth, up until her growing to maturity now, every cause and condition of it all.
On the very day the prince himself was born, this girl was born from a lotus flower, her eyes pure, broad, well-formed, every one of her limbs and joints complete.
Once, in the month of spring, I went wandering to view the Sāla Garden, and beheld every kind of plant and tree, every kind of flower flourishing and lush.
Eight hundred women wandered there together with me, their bearing and countenance all upright and dignified, every one of them already fully accomplished in every skillful art and craft.
Within that garden there was a bathing pool, named Adorned by All; I sat upon the bank of that pool, surrounded by a throng of attendant women.
At that time, within that bathing pool, a thousand-petaled lotus flower arose, its petals of jewel, its stem of lapis lazuli, its calyx of Jambu-river gold.
Its sublime, jeweled, fragrant stamens universally sent forth a pure light, illumining the whole of Jambudvīpa, as though the sun had just risen.
At that time, this jeweled maiden was seen, born from that very lotus flower; all who beheld her thought to themselves: this must be the fruit of wholesome karma."
The mother's own account answers, in effect, everything the prince's question left open: not merely whose daughter this girl is, but that she was never conceived and born in the ordinary way at all — she arose from a lotus flower on the very same day the prince himself was born, its light said to illumine "the whole of Jambudvīpa, as though the sun had just risen." Lotus-birth is a device this collection has used before for figures of unusual spiritual standing; paired here with the exact coincidence of the prince's own birthday, it signals that whatever connects these two figures runs far deeper than an arranged marriage.
Part 162 In Progress
The lotus-birth is now told. Part 163 continues the mother's verse with a catalogue of the girl's own accomplishments — every skill, every language, and a wisdom that turns sentient beings' own minds.
Continue to Part 163 →