合部金光明經

CHAPTER TEN: THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS

At that time, the heavenly king Vaisravana, the heavenly king Dhrtarastra, the heavenly king Virudhaka, and the heavenly king Virupaksa all rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, placed their right knees upon the ground, knelt upright with palms joined, and addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! This wondrous scripture, the Golden Light Sutra, king of all sutras, is kept in mind and protected by all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones; it is adorned with the profound and wondrous merit of bodhisattvas and is ever revered by the devas. It can cause heavenly kings to rejoice and is also praised by the guardians of the world.

This sutra can illuminate the palaces of the devas. This sutra can bring happiness to sentient beings. This sutra can cause the rivers of the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals to dry up and be exhausted.

This sutra can dispel every fear. This sutra can drive back hostile invaders coming from other regions. This sutra can eliminate the calamities of scarcity and famine.

This sutra can cure every epidemic. This sutra can avert inauspicious and anomalous celestial signs. This sutra can remove all sorrow and affliction.

In brief, this sutra can extinguish the immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of sufferings of all sentient beings.

“World-Honored One! Whenever this wondrous Golden Light Sutra is extensively proclaimed before a great assembly, we Four Heavenly Kings and our other retinues, upon hearing this unsurpassed ambrosial flavor of the Dharma, gain increased bodily strength, diligence, courage, vigor, and every majestic virtue.

“World-Honored One! We Four Kings can proclaim the true Dharma, practice the true Dharma, and, as kings governing by worldly law, rule the world through the Dharma.

“World-Honored One! We Four Kings, together with devas, nagas, spirits, gandharvas, asuras, kimnaras, garudas, and mahoragas, govern the world through the Dharma and restrain evil spirits that devour vital essence.

“World-Honored One! We Four Kings, the twenty-eight divisions of spirits and others, and immeasurable hundreds of thousands of spirits constantly observe and protect this continent of Jambudvipa with divine eyes purer than human eyes.

“World-Honored One! For this reason, we are called kings who guard the world. If a country suffers decline, is invaded by enemies, or endures famine, epidemics, and manifold hardships, and if there is a bhiksu who upholds this sutra, we Four Kings shall together exhort and entreat him so that, through our power, he may quickly travel to the villages, districts, and counties of that afflicted country and extensively proclaim and circulate this wondrous Golden Light Sutra.

Through this, the hundreds of thousands of such forms of decline and adversity will all be utterly extinguished. World-Honored One! If someone who upholds this sutra comes to a kingdom ruled by a sovereign, the king of that country should go to that place to hear and receive this wondrous scripture.

Having heard it, he should rejoice and should protect, revere, and honor that person.

“World-Honored One! We Four Kings shall also diligently and wholeheartedly protect that king and the people of his country, removing their calamities and decline and causing them to dwell in peace.

“World-Honored One! If bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, or upasikas uphold this sutra, and human kings are able to provide them with security, we Four Kings shall cause those kings and all the people of their countries to be peaceful and free from illness.

“World-Honored One! If members of the fourfold assembly uphold and recite this wondrous scripture, and human kings make offerings to them, revere, honor, and praise them, we Four Kings shall likewise cause those human kings always to receive the foremost offerings, reverence, honor, and praise among all kings. We shall also cause other kings to admire, esteem, and praise their excellence.”

The World-Honored One then praised the Four Heavenly Kings who guard the world:

“Excellent! Excellent! You Four Kings, in past lives, made offerings to, revered, honored, and praised immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of Buddhas.

In the presence of those Buddhas, you planted roots of goodness, proclaimed the true Dharma, practiced the true Dharma, governed the world through the Dharma, and became kings among humans and devas. Today you bring enduring benefit to sentient beings, showing them great loving-kindness and compassion, bestowing every happiness upon them, restraining evil, and diligently encouraging goodness. For this reason, if a human king makes offerings to and reveres this wondrous Golden Light Sutra, you should protect him accordingly, extinguish his sufferings, and grant him peace and happiness.

If you Four Kings, your retinues, and immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of spirits can protect such a scripture, you thereby uphold the true Dharma of all Buddhas of the past, future, and present. Whenever you Four Kings, the other devas, and hundreds of thousands of spirits wage battle against the asuras, you devas shall always be victorious. If you can protect this sutra, you will be able to eliminate and subdue every suffering, including hostile invaders, famine, and epidemics.

If members of the fourfold assembly uphold and recite this sutra, you should also protect them with vigilant minds, remove decline and affliction from them, and grant them peace and happiness.”

The Four Heavenly Kings again addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! In the future, wherever this wondrous Golden Light Sutra is circulated—whether in a country, city, town, district, county, or village—if the sovereigns there govern the world according to divine law, sincerely revere, hear, and receive this wondrous scripture, and also honor and make offerings to the fourfold assembly who uphold it and provide for them, then through these causes and conditions we shall hear this wondrous scripture time and again.

Upon hearing it, our bodily strength, diligence, courage, vigor, and every majestic virtue will immediately increase. Therefore, we and immeasurable spirits shall constantly conceal our forms and follow wherever this scripture is circulated, protecting that place so that no calamity remains. We shall also protect the sovereigns and others who hear this sutra and the people of their countries, freeing them from every calamity and causing them all to dwell in peace.

We shall also cause hostile invaders to retreat and disperse. If, while a human king is hearing this sutra, an enemy in a neighboring country forms this thought, ‘I shall lead the four divisions of my army and destroy that country,’ then, World-Honored One, through the spiritual power of this scripture, other enemies will arise against that neighboring foe and create difficulties for him. Calamities, decline, affliction, and epidemics will arise in his country.

If that hostile ruler, after initiating such evil plans, fully prepares his fourfold army and sets out to attack that country, we shall then conceal our forms and, together with our retinues and immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of spirits, protect and assist that country. We shall cause the enemy naturally to retreat and disintegrate, beset by fears and manifold difficulties. His army will not even be able to reach that country, much less destroy it!”

The Buddha then praised the Four Heavenly Kings:

“Excellent! Excellent! You Four Kings can protect the unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment that I cultivated for hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of kalpas, and you can revere and make offerings to human kings who uphold this sutra, eliminating their decline and calamities and causing those kings to enjoy peace and happiness.

You can also protect their palaces, homes, cities, towns, villages, and national frontiers, even causing hostile invaders to retreat and disperse, extinguishing all decline and affliction and bringing peace. You should also cause the kings throughout Jambudvipa to be free from danger, decline, conflict, and litigation. You Four Kings should know that the eighty-four thousand cities and settlements of Jambudvipa and their eighty-four thousand human kings should all enjoy happiness in their own countries.

Each should exercise sovereignty within his own realm and be content with his own wealth and treasures, without invading or plundering one another. In accordance with the karma they cultivated in past lives, each should receive the corresponding result without giving rise to evil thoughts or coveting another’s country. Each should develop a mind of benefit, loving-kindness, peace, noncontention, noninjury, freedom from bondage, and freedom from suffering.

All should naturally rejoice within their own countries. Rulers and subjects should live in harmony like water blended with milk, cherish one another, and increase their roots of goodness.

“Through these causes and conditions, Jambudvipa will be peaceful, prosperous, and joyful; its population will be abundant and its soil fertile. Yin and yang will be harmonious, the seasons will follow their proper order, the sun, moon, and stars will not depart from their regular courses, and wind and rain will come at the proper times. There will be no untimely disasters.

The people will be wealthy and content with their possessions, without greed, stinginess, jealousy, or the like, and they will practice the ten wholesome deeds. When the people there die, most will be reborn in the heavens; the celestial palaces will be filled, and the hosts of devas will increase. If, in the future, human kings hear this scripture and make offerings to the fourfold assembly who uphold it, those kings will gain peace, happiness, and benefit.

You Four Kings, your retinues, and immeasurable hundreds of thousands of spirits will also gain benefit.

“Why is this? Because whenever you Four Kings hear this scripture, you receive the water of the true Dharma and drink its ambrosial flavor; your bodily strength, diligence, courage, vigor, and every majestic virtue increase. If these human kings sincerely request and receive this scripture, the scripture itself makes offerings to me.

To make offerings to me is to make offerings to all Buddhas of the past, future, and present. To make offerings to all Buddhas of the past, future, and present is to acquire an immeasurable and inconceivable accumulation of merit. For this reason, these human kings deserve protection.

Their queens, consorts, palace women, relatives, princes, and others also deserve protection. Decline and affliction will be eliminated, happiness and prosperity will flourish, and their palaces and homes will be peaceful and pure, without calamity or misfortune. The spirits guarding their homes will increase in majestic virtue, and they too will experience immeasurable happiness and joy.

In those lands, the people will all enjoy the pleasures of the five desires, and every evil deed will be extinguished.”

The Four Heavenly Kings then addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! In the future, if a human king wishes to obtain protection for himself, his queens, palace women, princes, palaces, and homes; wishes to obtain supreme protection for his person; wishes his realm to be preeminent and endowed with inconceivable royal merit; wishes to gather immeasurable stores of merit; and wishes his country to be free from hostile invaders, sorrow, and suffering, then, World-Honored One, such a human king should not be heedless or allow his mind to become distracted.

He should develop reverence and humility and adorn the finest and most wondrous palace hall. He should sprinkle the ground with various scented waters, scatter many kinds of flowers, set up a great lion throne for the Dharma, adorn it with immeasurable rare and precious objects, and suspend innumerable banners, pennants, and wondrous jeweled canopies.

“The king should then bathe and purify himself, anoint his body with fragrance, put on clean and beautiful robes, adorn himself with jeweled necklaces, and sit upon a small, low seat. He should not be haughty or self-important but should relinquish arbitrary authority, abandon every form of heedlessness, humble himself, remove arrogance, and mindfully hear and receive this scripture. Toward the preacher of the Dharma, he should form the perception that the preacher is the World-Honored One.

Toward his queens, princes, palace women, and relatives within the inner palace, the king should develop loving-kindness and compassion. With a gentle countenance, he should speak with them and encourage them to make offerings of various kinds to the Dharma teacher. Having thus exhorted and transformed them, the king will then experience immeasurable joy and happiness.

His heart will rejoice all the more, and he will encourage himself without weariness, perform many beneficial deeds, and develop even greater reverence for the preacher of the Dharma.”

The Buddha then continued, saying to the Four Heavenly Kings:

“At that time, the human king should put on clean, pure white robes, adorn himself properly with various jeweled necklaces, and hold a supremely wondrous silken canopy. His attire, bearing, and deportment should not transgress worldly propriety. He should personally go forth to welcome the preacher of the Dharma.

“Why is this? With every step that such a king takes, he thereby makes offerings to and encounters hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, and transcends the hardships of birth and death for an equal number of kalpas. In future lives, for that same number of kalpas, he will constantly receive the rank of a Wheel-Turning King.

With every step, he will also obtain such merit in the present life: inconceivable mastery and power; the constant enjoyment of supremely wondrous celestial and human palaces made of the seven treasures; increased longevity wherever he is born; speech and eloquence trusted by all and free from fear; great renown; constant reverence from humans and devas; the enjoyment of supreme celestial pleasures; sovereign power among humans; complete majestic bearing; a wondrous body of foremost dignity and beauty; constant encounters with Buddhas and good spiritual friends; and the complete fulfillment of immeasurable stores of merit.

“You Four Kings! Seeing that a human king obtains immeasurable and manifold merits and benefits such as these, he should personally go forth to welcome the Dharma teacher, whether from one yojana away or even from a hundred thousand yojanas away. He should form the perception that the Dharma teacher is the Buddha and should think: ‘Today the true wisdom of Sakyamuni Tathagata is entering my palace, accepting my offerings, and teaching the Dharma for my sake.

Upon hearing this Dharma, I shall become irreversible from unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. I have thereby encountered hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of Buddhas and made offerings to all Buddhas of the past, future, and present. I have brought the sufferings of the three evil destinies to a final end.

I have now planted hundreds of thousands of immeasurable causes for becoming a holy Wheel-Turning King, Sakra, or Brahma King. I have planted boundless seeds of roots of goodness. I have enabled immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of sentient beings to cross beyond birth and death.

I have gathered immeasurable and boundless stores of merit. My inner palace and relatives have obtained protection; the decline and damage affecting my palaces and homes have been extinguished; my country is free from hostile invaders and obstructions; and enemies from other regions cannot invade it.’

“You Four Kings! A human king should thus make offerings to the true Dharma, purely request and receive this wondrous scripture, and revere, honor, make offerings to, and praise the fourfold assembly who uphold it. He should also dedicate a share of the supreme merit he has acquired to you, your retinues, the other devas, spirits, and so forth. By accumulating such wholesome merit, in this very life he will constantly gain immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable benefit and mastery, fully accomplish majestic virtue and power, and be able through the true Dharma to eliminate and subdue all evils.”

The Four Heavenly Kings then addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! If, in the future, human kings show such reverence for the true Dharma, sincerely request and receive this wondrous scripture, revere, honor, make offerings to, and praise the fourfold assembly who uphold it, prepare a hall, sprinkle the ground with scented water, and listen to the Dharma with single-minded, right mindfulness, then we Four Kings shall also be present there and listen to this Dharma together. May those human kings, while benefiting themselves, bestow upon us a small portion of the merit they acquire!

“World-Honored One! At the seat of the preacher of the Dharma, these human kings should burn various fragrances for our sake as offerings to this sutra. In the space of a single thought, this wondrous fragrance will reach our celestial palaces.

It will immediately transform into a canopy of incense. That wondrous canopy of incense, golden in color and radiantly bright, will illuminate our palaces; the palace of Sakra; the palace of Brahma King; the palaces of the goddess Mahasarasvati, the goddess of Merit, the earth deity Drdha, the great spirit-general Samjnaya, the spirit-generals of the Twenty-Eight Divisions, Mahesvara Vajrapani the Esoteric Yaksa, the great spirit-general Manibhadra, the Mother of Demon Children surrounded by her five hundred children, the naga king Anavatapta, the naga king Sagara, and others.

All such assemblies, each dwelling in their own palaces, will smell this wondrous fragrance and see the radiance of the incense canopy shining everywhere. The light of this incense canopy will also illuminate all the palaces of the devas.”

The Buddha said to the Four Heavenly Kings:

“The light of this incense canopy will not reach only the palaces of you Four Kings. Why is this? When these human kings hold censers in their hands and make offerings to this sutra, the fragrance will spread everywhere and, in the space of a single thought, reach throughout the great trichiliocosm: its hundred kotis of suns and moons, hundred kotis of great oceans, hundred kotis of Mount Sumerus, hundred kotis of Great Iron Encircling Mountains, Lesser Iron Encircling Mountains, and other kings of mountains; its hundred kotis of four continents, hundred kotis of Four Heavenly Kings, hundred kotis of Heavens of the Thirty-Three, and onward to its hundred kotis of Heavens of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception.

Throughout this great trichiliocosm, the palaces of all nagas, spirits, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, and mahoragas will be filled with clouds and canopies of various fragrant smoke suspended in the sky, and the radiance of those fragrant cloud-canopies will illuminate their palaces.

“All the various clouds and canopies of fragrant smoke throughout the great trichiliocosm are manifestations of the majestic spiritual power of this sutra. When these human kings hold censers in their hands and make offerings to this sutra, the various fragrances will not spread merely throughout this great trichiliocosm. In the space of a single thought, they will also spread throughout the immeasurable, boundless, Ganges-sands-like hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of Buddha worlds in the ten directions. In the sky above each Buddha, the fragrance will likewise form a golden incense canopy radiating light everywhere. The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, will smell this wondrous fragrance and see the incense canopy and its golden light.

“After the Ganges-sands-like number of Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, in the worlds of the ten directions see such transformations produced by spiritual power, they will speak with different mouths but one voice, praising the preacher of the Dharma: ‘Excellent! Excellent, O Great Being! By proclaiming and circulating such a profound and wondrous scripture, you have accomplished an immeasurable, boundless, and inconceivable accumulation of merit.

If someone merely hears this profound scripture, the merit acquired is not slight; how much more so if one upholds and recites it and, for other sentient beings, reveals, distinguishes, and explains its meaning! Why is this, good man? Because when immeasurable and boundless kotis of nayutas of bodhisattvas and others hear this wondrous Golden Light Sutra, they become irreversible from unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.’

“At that time, the present Buddhas in the immeasurable, boundless, Ganges-sands-like Buddha worlds of the ten directions will speak with different mouths but one voice: ‘Good man! In a future life you will certainly sit beneath the bodhi tree at the place of enlightenment, supreme and most honored within the three realms, surpassing all sentient beings. Through the power of diligent cultivation, you will undertake austerities, skillfully adorn the place of enlightenment, refute the false doctrines of non-Buddhist paths throughout the great trichiliocosm, and eliminate and subdue the strange forms assumed by Mara, the hostile foe. You will clearly awaken to the supremely profound path of unsurpassed bodhi, the foremost, quiescent, pure, and stainless Dharma.

“‘Good man! You will sit upon the Vajra Seat and turn the wheel of Dharma with its twelve profound aspects, praised by all Buddhas as unsurpassed. You will beat the greatest unsurpassed Dharma drum, blow the supremely wondrous and unsurpassed Dharma conch, raise the foremost unsurpassed Dharma banner, kindle the supremely brilliant and unsurpassed Dharma torch, and rain down the unsurpassed ambrosial rain of Dharma. You will sever immeasurable hostile bonds of affliction and enable immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of beings to cross the frightening and shoreless great ocean, escape the boundless turning of birth and death, and again encounter immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of Buddhas.’”

The Four Heavenly Kings again addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! This wondrous Golden Light Sutra can produce manifold merits in the present and future. Therefore, if a human king is able to hear this wondrous scripture, he has planted roots of goodness in the presence of hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of Buddhas. Because we respectfully remember this human king, we also perceive his immeasurable merit. When we Four Kings, our other retinues, and hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of spirits see from our palaces the auspicious signs of various clouds and canopies of fragrant smoke, we shall conceal ourselves without manifesting our bodies and, for the sake of hearing the Dharma, go to that king and remain in the palace where the Dharma is taught.

“The Great Brahma King, Sakra Devanam Indra, the goddess Mahasarasvati, the goddess of Merit, the earth deity Drdha, the great spirit-general Samjnaya, the spirit-generals of the Twenty-Eight Divisions, Mahesvara, Vajrapani the Esoteric Yaksa, the great spirit-general Manibhadra, the Mother of Demon Children surrounded by her five hundred demon children, the naga king Anavatapta, the naga king Sagara, and immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of spirits and devas—all such assemblies, for the sake of hearing the Dharma, will conceal themselves without manifesting their bodies, go to that human king, and remain in the palace where the Dharma is taught.

“World-Honored One! We Four Heavenly Kings and our immeasurable retinues of spirits shall all unite in regarding this human king as a good spiritual friend. Sharing one practice and corresponding in goodness, he will serve as a great and unsurpassed Dharma donor and fill us with the ambrosial flavor. We must protect that king, remove calamity and decline from him, cause him to dwell in peace, and eliminate every disaster and calamity affecting his palaces, homes, country, cities, and towns.

“World-Honored One! If a human king develops aversion toward this scripture, does not delight in hearing it, and has no wish to revere, honor, make offerings to, or praise it; or if members of the fourfold assembly uphold, recite, and praise it, yet that king is still unable to revere, honor, make offerings to, or praise them, then we Four Kings and our immeasurable retinues of spirits will be unable to hear this true Dharma. We will turn away from its ambrosial flavor, lose the great benefit of the Dharma, be deprived of power and majestic virtue, diminish the hosts of devas, and cause the evil destinies to increase.

“World-Honored One! We Four Kings and immeasurable spirits will abandon that human king’s country. Not only shall we depart; immeasurable guardians of the country and the benevolent deities who have long dwelt there will also leave.

After we devas and spirits have departed, manifold extraordinary calamities will befall that country. All the people will lose their wholesome intentions and will know only bondage, anger, contention, and mutual destruction. Many epidemics will arise.

Comets and evil stars will appear, strange meteors will shatter and fall, the five planets and constellations will depart from their regular courses, and two suns will appear together. The sun and moon will be eclipsed, ominous white and black rainbows will repeatedly appear, the great earth will quake with loud sounds, and violent winds and rains will occur day after day. Grain will become scarce; there will be famine, hunger, and cold.

Many hostile invaders from other regions will come and attack. The people of that country will undergo much suffering, and nowhere in that land will be delightful.

“World-Honored One! When we Four Kings, those immeasurable hundreds of thousands of spirits, and the benevolent deities who have long guarded the country depart far away, immeasurable evils such as these will arise there. World-Honored One! If a human king wishes to protect himself and cause his kingdom to enjoy abundant peace and happiness; wishes all sentient beings in his country to attain complete happiness; wishes to eliminate and subdue every foreign enemy; wishes his entire country to receive protection; wishes to govern his country through the true Dharma; and wishes to eliminate the fears of sentient beings, then, World-Honored One, that human king must certainly hear this scripture and revere and make offerings to those who recite and uphold it!

“Through the wholesome roots and conditions of partaking of this Dharma and drinking its unsurpassed ambrosial flavor, we Four Kings and immeasurable spirits will increase our bodily strength, diligence, courage, and vigor and augment the hosts of devas. Why is this? Because that human king sincerely hears and receives this scripture. Brahma devas expound treatises on desire; Sakra Devanam Indra expounds various wholesome treatises; and sages possessing the five superknowledges expound treatises of the sages.

“World-Honored One! Although Brahma, Sakra Devanam Indra, and those possessing the five superknowledges have immeasurable hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of excellent treatises, the Golden Light Sutra is supreme among them. Why is this so?

Because the Tathagata expounded this Golden Light Sutra for sentient beings: to enable human kings throughout Jambudvipa to govern through the true Dharma; to bring peace and happiness to all sentient beings; to cherish and protect all sentient beings; to cause sentient beings to be free from suffering and from hostile invaders and obstructions coming from other regions; to cause all harmful evils to turn away and not approach; and to cause countries to be free from sorrow, transformed through the true Dharma, and without contention or litigation.

“Therefore, the human king of each country should kindle the brilliant torch of the true Dharma so that the hosts of devas may increase. Through these causes and conditions, we Four Heavenly Kings and the immeasurable spirits, devas, and benevolent deities dwelling throughout Jambudvipa will drink their fill of the ambrosial flavor of the Dharma and obtain great majestic virtue and complete power of diligence. Jambudvipa will be peaceful, prosperous, and joyful, and its abundant population will dwell in peace and happiness.

Moreover, throughout immeasurable hundreds of thousands of inconceivable nayutas of kalpas in future lives, the people there will constantly enjoy the foremost and most wondrous happiness, again encounter immeasurable Buddhas, plant roots of goodness, and thereafter realize unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

“All such immeasurable merits were proclaimed by the Tathagata, the Perfectly and Completely Awakened One. Through the power of great compassion, the Tathagata surpasses hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of Brahma devas; through the power of austerities, he also surpasses boundless hundreds of thousands of kotis of nayutas of Sakras. Therefore, for the sake of sentient beings, the Tathagata expounded this Golden Light Sutra. Whatever affairs of state, worldly or supramundane, and whatever worldly treatises the sentient beings of Jambudvipa and human kings compose in order to bring happiness to sentient beings, Sakyamuni Tathagata has revealed in this sutra, proclaiming it extensively and circulating it everywhere.

“World-Honored One! For these causes and conditions, human kings must certainly hear, receive, make offerings to, revere, honor, and praise this sutra.”

The Buddha again said to the Four Heavenly Kings:

“You Four Kings, your retinues, and immeasurable hundreds of thousands of nayutas of other spirits: if these human kings can sincerely hear this scripture and sentient beings revere, honor, and praise it, you Four Kings should protect them, eliminate their calamity and decline, and grant them peace and happiness. If someone can extensively proclaim and universally circulate such a wondrous scripture, performing a great work of the Buddha among devas and humans and bringing great benefit to immeasurable sentient beings, then you Four Kings must certainly protect that person. Do not allow other circumstances to disturb him. Cause his mind to remain tranquil and enjoy happiness so that he may continue to proclaim this sutra extensively.”

The Four Heavenly Kings then rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, placed their right knees upon the ground, knelt upright with palms joined, and praised the World-Honored One in verse:

Therefore, I now
Bow before the Buddha-moon.

The World-Honored One then replied in verse:

The hosts of devas increase,
As do their vital essence and bodily strength.

After hearing these verses, the Four Heavenly Kings addressed the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Never before have we heard such a wondrous Dharma of quiescence. Having heard it, our hearts are filled with mingled sorrow and joy, our tears stream down, our entire bodies tremble, and our limbs grow weak; yet we are also fully endowed with immeasurable and inconceivable wondrous bliss.”

They then scattered celestial mandara flowers and great mandara flowers over the Tathagata as an offering. After thus making offerings to the Buddha, the Four Heavenly Kings again addressed him:

“World-Honored One! Each of us Four Kings has five hundred spirits who will constantly follow and protect the preacher of the Dharma.”