Excerpts from The Flower Ornament Scripture, Book 9 – Awakening by Light, Part 1 of 2

The Avatamsaka Sutra or Flower Garland Sutra or Flower Adornment Sutra or Flower Ornament Scripture or Huáyán Jīng is one of the most sacred Buddhist books. It was written in stages, starting from about 500 years after the passing on of the Buddha. This Sutra is a compilation of a number of originally independent scriptures that were combined probably in Central Asia during the late third or the fourth century. In total, there are thirty-nine books in this single volume. This Sutra is seen as the doorway into the Realm of Reality, in which enlightened beings witness reality once their vision is free of egocentric addictions. A cosmos of infinite realms upon realms, mutually containing one another is described in the Sutra manifesting the vision that The World Honored One first obtained under the tree of enlightenment. In today’s show, we will share excerpts from book nine of The Flower Ornament Scripture entitled Awakening by Light, which is an expanding vision unfolding within the light from Buddha's feet. “THEN THE BUDDHA, from beneath the wheel-marks on his feet, emitted a hundred billion light beams, illuminating this billion-world universe, with its four hundred billion continents, a hundred billion oceans, a hundred billion surrounding mountain ranges, a hundred billion enlightening beings being born, a hundred billion enlightening beings leaving home, a hundred billion Buddhas realizing true enlightenment, a hundred billion Buddhas teaching, a hundred billion Buddhas passing away,” “As in this place, the Buddha, the World Honored One, was seen sitting on a lotus bank lion throne, surrounded by as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten Buddha-lands, so also sat the hundred billion Buddhas in a hundred billion continents. In each case, because of the spiritual force of the Buddhas, in each of the ten directions was a great enlightening being, each with a company of as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten Buddha-lands, who came to the Buddha.” “Then the light beams passed a million worlds and illuminated a billion worlds in each of the ten directions. In all of those worlds were a hundred billion continents called Jambudvipa, and so on, including a hundred billion Heavens of the ultimate of form - everything in all those realms was clearly revealed. In each of the Jambudvipa continents the Buddha was seen sitting on a lotus bank lion throne surrounded by as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten Buddha-lands; and in each one, due to the spiritual force of the Buddha, a great enlightening being from each of the ten directions, each accompanied by as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten Buddha-lands, came to the Buddha; those great enlightening beings were called Manjushri, etc., the lands they came from were called Golden, etc., and the Buddhas they served were called Immutable Knowledge, etc.”