DESCRIPTION
Similar to previous assembly, the Fourth Assembly begins with a description of the miracle of the ‘Adornment of Buddhas’ (Buddhāvataṃsaka) wherein, in all the worlds of the ten directions, in their four-continent lands, on their continent of Jambudvīpa, and also on the summit of their Mount Sumeru, everyone sees the Tathāgata abiding in the midst of a congregation in which, with the assistance of the Buddha’s spiritual powers, all those bodhisattvas expound on the Dharma, and there is no one there not under the impression that he was always in the direct presence of the Buddha.
Then, even without departing from any of those bodhi trees or the summits of those Mount Sumerus, the Bhagavat then proceeds toward the Hall of Jewel Adornments of the Suyāma Heaven Palace. The Suyāma Heaven king, seeing the Buddha coming transformationally creates a jeweled lotus flower dais lion throne within the palace.
Note: Yama, 'originally the Aryan god of the dead, living in a heaven where neither sunlight nor moonlight reaches. The beings in the Suyāmā Heaven radiate a light from their own bodies so they do not need sunlight or moonlight. Suyāmā means “fine divisions of time” because there is neither sunlight nor moonlight, they tell time by the blooming and closing of lotuses. It is day when the lotuses bloom and night when the lotuses shut.
The King of the Suyāmā Heaven recites verses in praise of ten past buddhas:
- Famous Name Tathāgata
- Jewel King Tathāgata
- Joyous Eyes Tathāgata
- Burning Lamp Tathāgata
- Beneficence Tathāgata
- Well Enlightened Tathāgata
- Celestial Supremacy Tathāgata
- Never Departing Tathāgata
- Unexcelled Tathāgata
- Austere Practices Tathāgata