維摩經略疏 2.10

2.10

From "There were also" to "approached the assembly": second, clarifying the Śakra deva assembly. The lord of the ground-dwelling devas is Śakra Devānām Indra, translated as "Able to Act". As for this realm's Lord Śakra, in the past, after the parinirvāṇa of Kāśyapa Buddha, a woman resolved to repair a stūpa, and thirty-two other people resolved to assist in the repair. Through the merit of repairing the stūpa she became the lord of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, and those who assisted became ministers; sovereign and ministers together are called the Thirty-Three Heavens. Because they were strict in the vehicle, they came together to hear the Dharma. If taking them as responding manifestations, sovereign and ministers were all born in that heaven through the perfuming power of the Hard to Subdue Samādhi, in order to guide those who cling to pleasure to come hear the Dharma together. The word "from other" means that in a single four-continent world there is only one heavenly lord. Since there were twelve thousand, it says they came from other four-continent worlds.