Chapter 11–The Celestial Gathering and the Divine Request

At that moment, the entire realm was filled with Tathāgatas, each representing a unique embodiment of enlightenment. Yet the special manifestations of Lord Sākyamuni had not arrived from any horizon. Preparing for their arrival, Sākyamuni began to expand the space, creating room for more Buddhas who were coming one after the other.

In every direction, an astonishing number of Buddha-lands emerged, each made of lapis lazuli and adorned with a web of seven precious substances and gold. These fields were decorated with celestial bells and scattered with heavenly Mandārava flowers, covered with divine canopies, and filled with the sweet fragrance of heavenly incense. These divine landscapes were void of ordinary earthly structures, mountains, oceans, and beings of various realms. Everything was transformed into one Buddha-lands, a harmonious and beautiful soil, filled with towering trees made of precious gems.

These jewel trees, five hundred yojanas tall and wide, were surrounded by equally grand thrones, each one sparkling and magnificent. The arriving Buddhas took their places, sitting cross-legged at the base of each tree. Sākyamuni continued this act, creating more worlds in every direction, each one without ordinary earthly features and filled with the splendor of lapis lazuli and resplendent jewel trees.

The Tathāgatas continued to arrive, each taking a seat on the grand thrones by the sparkling jewel trees, filling the space with a breathtaking assembly of enlightened beings.

At that moment, the countless Tathāgatas created by Lord Sākyamuni arrived from the east, where they had been preaching wisdom in an immeasurable number of Buddha-lands, as numerous as the sands of the river Ganges. They came from every direction and filled thirty worlds in each quarter of space, sitting down in all eight directions.

These Tathāgatas took their thrones, and then they sent their closest followers on an extraordinary mission. They provided them with bags filled with radiant jewel flowers and said to them: “Go, noble seekers, to the mountain known as Gridhraktila, where Lord Sākyamuni, the enlightened one, resides. Pay homage to him and inquire about his health, well-being, and the welfare of his followers, the Bodhisattvas, and disciples. Shower him with these jewels and request of him: ‘Would the Lord Tathāgata please unveil this great Stūpa of jewels?’”

In this way, each of the Tathāgatas sent their followers, all echoing the same heartfelt request.

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