Vv 39Crimson Mansion

– STORIES OF HEAVENLY MANSIONS

– A. THE HEAVENLY MANSIONS OF FEMALE DEVAS

– THE MAÑJEṬṬHAKA CHAPTER

4.1

BJT 690"In the crimson heavenly mansion, strewn with golden sand, you delight in the skillful performance of five kinds of musical instruments.

BJT 691From that heavenly mansion, which has appeared by transformation, made of jewels, you have descended, and have gone deep into the forest of sālā trees that blossom at every season.

BJT 692O celestial lady, at each sālā tree where you pause — that most noble of trees, one by one — bends down and lets fall its flowers.

BJT 693Stirred by the wind, blown by the breeze, the sālā forest is frequented by birds; like the mañjūsaka tree, its fragrance drifts in all directions.

BJT 694You inhale that pure fragrance, you behold sights that are not of the human world. O celestial lady, being asked, may you recount: this fruit is the result of what karma?"

BJT 695"I, when I was a human being in the human realm, was a maidservant in the household of a husband. Having seen the Buddha seated, I scattered sālā flowers before him.

BJT 696With a heart of faith, I offered with my own hands to the Buddha a garland to be worn on the head, made of sālā flowers and skillfully fashioned.

BJT 697Having performed that deed — a good deed praised by the Buddha — with sorrow abandoned, at ease and joyful, I gave rise to gladness, free from affliction."

The Crimson Heavenly Mansion.