DESCRIPTION

In response to questions on the minds of the bodhisattvas and the sound of verses produced from their clouds of offerings, the Buddha emits light rays from his teeth (or smile) which intone verses. The Buddha smiling or emitting light from the face is often a sign that a bodhisattva has attained patient tolerance and will receive the prediction of future enlightenment.

Awakened by this light, bodhisattvas arrive from the ten directions beyond this ‘Flower Bank Array Ocean of Worlds’ (mentioned at the end of Chapter One). They all come to ‘Vairocana Buddha’s Place,’ produce clouds of offerings, create magical thrones, and sit lotus posture in their direction.

The Buddha then emits a light from the white tuft of hair between his eyebrows, after which a giant lotus flower appears. Then, from the light coming from the Buddhas tuft of hair, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva named Supreme Sound of All Dharmas appears and sits on the lotus flower, and then recites a verse. Then other bodhisattvas in the assembly recite verses pertaining to the ‘manifest appearances of the Tathāgata’ - the body/bodies of the buddha, characteristics, and the appearances of buddhas according to the minds of beings.