འཕགས་པ་སྙང་རྗ་པད་མ་དཀར་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 71

71

and listen to the Dharma from the Bhagavat.” ’

“Then the five deva kings each returned to his own particular realm. Śakra, lord of devas, assembled the Trāyastriṃśa devas and said to them, ‘Honorable ones, know this! In Jambudvīpa there is the brahmin Samudrareṇu, the chief court priest of King Araṇemin, who for seven years is honoring and serving with all offerings the Tathāgata Ratnagarbha and his saṅgha of bhikṣus. At the brahmin Samudrareṇu’s instruction, we have adorned the entire parkland for the Bhagavat and his saṅgha of bhikṣus. You, too, should rejoice in that root of merit and develop the aspiration for the highest, most complete enlightenment.’

“At that time, many hundreds of thousands of millions of trillions of Trāyastriṃśa devas placed their palms together and said, ‘Friends, we rejoice in that accumulation of merit, and we dedicate the merit that comes from that rejoicing to the highest, most complete enlightenment.’

“The deva Suyāma summoned the Yāma devas to assemble and said the same to them. The devas Saṃtuṣita and Sunirmita also summoned their devas to assemble, and so on, up to and including Para­nirmitavaśavartin summoning the Para­nirmitavaśavartin devas, and many hundreds of thousands of millions of trillions of devas placed their palms together and said, ‘Honorable ones, we rejoice in that accumulation of merit, and we dedicate it all to the highest, most complete enlightenment. Honorable ones, we will therefore descend to Jambudvīpa and go to see the Bhagavat and his saṅgha of bhikṣus to pay homage to them, honor them,