སྟང་ཆན་མ་རབ་ཏ་འཇམས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད 2

2

No longer gleaming and luminous, they ceased to shine.

With his pristine, divine vision, superior to that of humans, the Blessed One saw those frightening things occur in the city of Vaiśālī. He saw that villages belonging to certain Licchavi people of Vaiśālī were afflicted with elemental spirits. He saw that some of the village youth, astrologers, councilors, prime ministers, court members, servant men and women, laborers, messengers, and attendants were also afflicted with elemental spirits. He saw that the monks and nuns and the men and women with lay vows throughout the entire land of Vaiśālī were all frightened, looking up to the sky, and crying out in horror. They paid homage to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. He saw that from among the brahmins and householders without particular devotion toward the Buddha’s teachings, some paid homage to Brahmā; some paid homage to Śakra; some paid homage to the guardians of the world; and still others paid homage to Maheśvara, Māṇibhadra, Pūrṇabhadra, Hārītī, the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, or those spirits that dwell in mountains, forests, thickets, trees, rivers, fountains, ponds, pools, wells, and reliquaries. He saw that everyone was sitting and wondering, “How can we be freed from the peril of such a calamity?”

The Blessed One then manifested a miraculous feat by which a sound was heard throughout all realms of the trichiliocosm, causing the world of gods, humans, and demigods to have faith and assemble.