A Dream, and a Vow Before Waking

At that time this night-deva answered with a verse:

"I recollect, in ages past, beyond eons as numerous as motes of dust in every land,
at that time there was a single eon, named Tranquil Sound.

There was a capital named Fragrant Water, whose king was named Wisdom,
ruling twelve hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of the four continents.

That sage, the wheel-turning king, his body pure and sublime,
endowed with the thirty-two marks, adorned with the eighty minor marks.

His sublime body, a pure treasury, the color of Jambū-river gold,
its light illumining everything, walking with measured steps through open space.

This king had a thousand sons, valiant and dignified in body,
a hundred million great ministers, their wisdom entirely worthy and bright.

Ten koṭis of women attendants, dignified as the queen of heaven,
their minds of great compassion soft and gentle, attending and serving the king.

That sage, the wheel-turning king, governed constantly through the true Dharma,
ruling over every mountain and land, all of the four continents entire.

I was, at that time, a jeweled maiden, endowed with a pure, Brahmā-like voice,
my body giving forth golden light, illumining forty thousand li round about.

Once the sun's own light had set, the midnight hour tranquil and still,
I was, at that very time, sent by a divine omen a virtuous dream.

I beheld a buddha arisen in the world, named Ocean of Merit,
manifesting his own sovereign power, filling the worlds of the ten directions.

Releasing a great ocean of light, equal to every mote of dust in every land,
his boundless, sovereign bodies filling the ten directions entire.

The great earth shook in six ways, of itself giving forth a sublime sound,
as the Tathāgata arose in the world, gods and humans all rejoicing.

From every single pore, an ocean of the buddha's own transformation-bodies emerged,
filling the worlds of the ten directions, expounding the Dharma according to what was fitting.

I beheld, in this very dream, the Tathāgata's own sovereign power,
and, hearing him expound the profound, sublime Dharma, my mind rejoiced greatly.

Ten thousand night-deva spirits filled the whole of space,
praising this tathāgata; having heard this, I awoke at once.

This deva spoke to me, saying: 'Wise and virtuous maiden, rise quickly —
a buddha has already arisen in your own land; an ocean of eons makes such an encounter rare.'
Hearing this voice, I rejoiced, and at once beheld a bright, pure light,
and, seeking whence it came, found the very tree-king of the bodhimaṇḍa.

At that time I beheld the Tathāgata's own body, like a very king of jeweled mountains,
from every single pore, releasing a great ocean of light.

Beholding the buddha's own sovereign power, my mind rejoiced greatly,
and I at once gave rise to the vast vow, that I might attain this very same virtue.

I then awakened the great king, and all of his own retinue together,
and, beholding that buddha's own light, our joy was boundless.

I then, together with this king, and countless nayutas
of retinue and the fourfold army, went before the Tathāgata.

For twenty thousand years I made offering to that tathāgata,
the seven treasures of the four continents, all of it offered up entirely.

At that time this tathāgata expounded the Sūtra of the Universal Cloud of Merit,
the adornment of the ocean of the great vow, delivering sentient beings according to what was fitting.

I gave rise to a vow such as this: that in a future life I would become a night-deva,
causing whoever was given to heedlessness to depart far from it entirely.

At that time I first raised the mind of unsurpassed bodhi,
and, amid birth and death and conditioned existence, never once forgot it.

From that time onward I made offering to ten koṭis of nayutas of buddhas,
receiving bliss amid the ocean of birth and death, bringing benefit to every being.

The first buddha, Ocean of Merit; the second, Lamp of Merit;
the third, the buddha Jewel Banner; the fourth, Space Wisdom;
the fifth, Lotus Treasury; the sixth, Unobstructed Sound, the Moon;
the seventh, King Moon of the Dharma; the eighth, Perfect, Full Lamp of Wisdom;
the ninth, the buddha Jeweled Flame, Unsurpassed among Gods and Humans;
the tenth, Transformed Sound — I have made offering to all of these entirely;
buddhas such as these, ten koṭis of nayutas in number,
and yet I had not yet attained the eye of wisdom, reaching the very end of the ocean of birth and death,"