The History of Buddhist Thought c22.12

c22.12

But here the list of hearers continues for several pages. There is Buddha’s foster-mother at the head of six thousand nuns, among whom is his wife Yaśodharā. Then follows what is the most important item in these sūtras, a group of 80,000 bodhisattvas, twenty-five of whom are named, and among them the two famous ones, Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara. Enormous numbers of gods appear, those led by Śakra and Brahmā, hundreds of thousands of myriads of ten millions of nāgas, kinnaras, gandharvas, asuras, and garuḍas. The Lord is said to have just given a great exposition, and he enters a state of concentration. A ray of light bursts from the circle of hair between his eyes ¹ and illuminates 18,000 other Buddha-fields, and there is an earthquake. Mañjuśrī at great length explains to Maitreya (the future Buddha, who is here as a bodhisattva) that the Lord is going to begin a discourse (ch. 1).