Toh 557Kinh Ánh Sáng Hoàng Kim Vi Diệu (3)

Summary

The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light has held great importance in Buddhism for its
instructions on the purification of karma. In particular, much of the sūtra is specifically addressed to monarchs and thus has
been significant for rulers—not only in India but also in China, Japan, Mongolia, and elsewhere—who wished to ensure the
well-being of their nations through such purification. Reciting and internalizing this sūtra is understood to be efficacious for
personal purification and also for the welfare of a state and the world.

In this sūtra, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu has a dream in which a prayer of confession emanates from a shining golden drum.
He relates the prayer to the Buddha, and a number of deities then vow to protect it and its adherents. The ruler’s devotion to the
sūtra is emphasized as important if the nation is to benefit. Toward the end of the sūtra are two well-known narratives of the
Buddha’s previous lives: the account of the physician Jalavāhana, who saves and blesses numerous fish, and that of Prince
Mahāsattva, who gives his body to a hungry tigress and her cubs.

This is the shortest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises twenty-one
chapters, was translated into Tibetan primarily from Sanskrit, and is the only version for which a complete Sanskrit manuscript survives.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated by Peter Alan Roberts, who translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the
introduction. Ling Lung Chen and Wang Chipan were consultants for the Chinese versions of the sūtra. Emily Bower was the project
manager and editor. Tracy Davis was the initial copyeditor. Thanks to Michael Radich for sharing his research on the sūtra.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Rory
Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Xiaolong Diao, Ting Lee Ling, and H. S. Sum Cheuk Shing checked the
translation against the Chinese sources. Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text, and André Rodrigues was in charge of the digital
publication process.

The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of May Gu, George Gu, Likai Gu and
Tiffany Tai, Lillian Gu and Jerry Yen.

Introduction

The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light has held great importance in Buddhism for its
instructions on the purification of karma. In particular, much of the sūtra is specifically addressed to monarchs, and thus it
has been significant for rulers—not only in India but also in China, Japan, Mongolia, and elsewhere—who wished to ensure the
well-being of their nations. It is understood to be efficacious for personal purification and beneficial for the welfare of a
state and of the world.

The work translated here is the twenty-one-chapter version (hereafter referenced as Toh 557) of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. There is also the twenty-nine-chapter version (hereafter referenced as Toh
556) and the thirty-one-chapter version
(hereafter referenced as Toh 555). Toh 557 and Toh 556 were translated
into Tibetan from Sanskrit, so almost the entirety of Toh 557 is present in an identical translation in Toh 556.

This sūtra’s principal chapters are the third and fourth, which describe the lay bodhisattva Ruciraketu having a dream
in which he sees a brightly shining golden drum. When a brahmin beats the drum, Ruciraketu hears in the drumbeats a
hundred-verse prayer, and he subsequently recites that prayer to the Buddha.

Most of the following chapters are concerned with encouraging the recitation of this prayer and of the sūtra itself.
They describe how various divine beings in this world revere the sūtra and promise to protect it and its adherents. These
include the Four Mahārājas; Dṛḍhā, who is the goddess of the earth; Sarasvatī, the goddess of wisdom, learning, and music;
Śrī, the goddess of good fortune; and the yakṣa general Saṃjñeya.

This sūtra emphasizes its importance for kings. It states that if they honor the reciters of this sūtra and arrange
for its recitation and teaching, then their reign and their kingdom will prosper. They will avoid such calamities as invasion,
famine, and so on. The sūtra also warns that if they fail to show such devotion, there will be disastrous results for both
them and their kingdoms. Chapter 12 is dedicated to the subject of how to be a good king.

There are also chapters that deal with doctrine. Chapter 2 presents the view that a buddha never dies and so never
passes into nirvāṇa. Therefore, there is no body and no physical relics of his body after his cremation, and so the Dharma
never ceases to be taught. The passing of a buddha and the extinction of the Dharma are solely illusory manifestations,
skillful methods to inspire beings to practice and to provide them with relics as objects for their devotion. Chapter 6
teaches the view of emptiness. Toh 555 and Toh 556 also contain chapters describing the nature of the three bodies and the ten
bhūmis.

There are two narratives that describe previous lives of the Buddha. Chapter 16 describes the physician Jalavāhana,
who, as a result of performing Dharma recitations while standing in a lake, ensured the rebirth of ten thousand fish into the
paradise of Trāyastriṃśa. In the preceding chapter these same ten thousand devas receive the prophecy of their buddhahood.
When the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā objects that they have not accomplished the necessary bodhisattva conduct in past lives
to receive such a prophecy, the Buddha explains that this was unnecessary because they had devotion to this Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light.

The other past-life narrative, which is given in chapter 18, is one of the most famous in Buddhist literature—that of
the prince who gives his body to a hungry tigress and her cubs. An interesting feature of the story in this sūtra is that much
of the narrative is dedicated to an evocative description of the intense grief of parents who have lost their child,
emphasizing the sorrow that the prince’s action has brought them.

Tantric Rituals

As with other late Mahāyāna sūtras in which there is an emphasis on ritual, this text is classified in the Kangyur as
a tantra, specifically as a Kriyā tantra, a class of tantras in which there is an emphasis on external ritual. The sūtra
contains a description of how such rituals should be performed, and there are also passages that include lists of ingredients
to place in a bath, along with mantras to recite while bathing, in order to achieve purification.

One can also see that the seed of the later maṇḍalas of the five buddha families is in this sūtra, for in chapters 2
and 3, buddhas of the four directions appear to a layman who has a visionary dream. They include Akṣobhya from the east and
Amitābha from the west, both buddhas and their realms already established in the Buddhist tradition with specific sūtras
dedicated to them. There also appear the buddhas Ratnaketu from the south and Dundubhisvara from the north, who in later
tantras are usually named Ratnasaṃbhava and Amoghasiddhi. In this sūtra, the central buddha in terms of these directions would
be Śākyamuni himself. In the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra he is referred to as Vairocana, as the
Buddha Vairocana is the buddha who manifests as all the buddhas throughout this trichiliocosm.

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The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light in India

A version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light existed in India by the early fifth
century ᴄᴇ, when it was translated into Chinese by Dharmakṣema (385–433) in 420, in a form that corresponds to the fragments
of its translation into old Khotanese. The author of Precious Lamp of the Middle Way
mentions that The Sūtra of the
Sublime Golden Light contains profound teachings in the section on the absence of relics, this passage being
within the chapter on the lifespan of the Buddha. The sūtra’s significance in Indian Buddhism is evident from the three
tantras and ten commentaries that specify that it
should be the text recited in one of the four directions when performing a maṇḍala rite. There are also five other texts in
the Tengyur that emphasize the importance and status of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light and
its recitation, including Śāntideva’s eighth-century Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of Training) in which he provides two
extracts from the sūtra that should be recited. There are also two recitation texts composed of extracts from the sūtra.

In addition to its importance for rites and recitations, the text is quoted on doctrinal points in Indian
commentaries. Passages indicating that the Buddha never dies, leaves no relics, and that the Dharma never ceases are quoted in
six texts, two of which cite the delightful verse that describes the
impossibility of there being buddha relics, stating that there will be a buddha relic only when a ladder to the moon is built
from rabbit horns.

The descriptions of buddha nature and the nature of the bodies of a buddha, which are only in Toh 555 and Toh 556, are
quoted in two texts in the Tengyur, one written in Tibetan and one translated from Sanskrit by Rinchen Sangpo, although nothing is known about
the author.

In Newar Buddhism, this sūtra became and remains one of the nine principal sūtras called “the nine Dharmas,” which are considered to be the most important
lengthy sūtras to be recited and offered to.

Sanskrit manuscripts of this sūtra survived as fragments discovered in Chinese Central Asia (Xinjiang) and as entire
texts in Nepal, where the title is Suvarṇabhāsottama, with bhāsa being a synonym for prabhāsa, both meaning
“light.”

The Sanskrit text of the sūtra was first edited in 1898, in Calcutta, India, by S. C. Das and S. C. Shastri. That was
followed by the edition by B. Nanjio and H. Idzumi in Japan in 1931, and by the edition by Johannes Nobel (1887–1960) in 1937.
This translation refers to the 1967 S. Bagchi edition.

The Sūtra outside India

The widespread popularity of this sūtra outside India is also evident from its translation not only into Tibetan and
Chinese but also from Sanskrit into Khotanese; from Chinese into Tibetan, Sogdian, Uighur, Tangut, and Manchu; and from
Tibetan into Mongolian.

There are three surviving translations of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light in
Chinese. The earliest of these was translated by Dharmakṣema (385–433). He was an Indian who came to China in 414, living
first in Dunhuang. Then in 420 he went to Guzang, the capital of Northern Liang, one of the sixteen independent states of that
time, situated in what is now the Gansu region in China’s northwest. There he studied Chinese and engaged in translation under
the patronage of Juqu Mengxun (368–433), the ruler of Northern Liang. He also had the reputation of being “a master of
spells.” As a result of that reputation, Juqu Mengxun, toward the end of his reign, became afraid that Dharmakṣema might be
used against him by his adversaries and so he had him assassinated. Nobel believed that the Sanskrit in its
present form is not earlier than the mid-fifth century and that Dharmakṣema translated from an earlier version. This opinion
appears to be supported by the Sanskrit manuscript fragments discovered in Khotan.

The second surviving translation into Chinese is that by Bao Gui in 597. It is an amalgam of earlier translations that
no longer exist and four chapters that were translated by Paramārtha (499–569). As there is no surviving Sanskrit for the
additional chapters in the Chinese and Tibetan, Michael Radich has examined the evidence as to whether they are Indian or
Chinese in origin.

The third translation was by Yijing (635–713), which was published in 703. Because of its clarity and writing style,
this version became popular in China and was itself translated into Tibetan in the early ninth century. Yijing’s translation,
compared to the Sanskrit and the Tibetan translation from Sanskrit, is freer, to the extent that Emmerick has stated it could
not be used to reconstruct the original Sanskrit.
Yijing spent thirty years in India and Sumatra and returned to China in 695. He brought with him four hundred Sanskrit texts,
including The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light, and spent the first decade of the seventh
century translating them.

The Mogao caves of Dunhuang, which were sealed in the eleventh century, contained a great number of manuscripts of the
sūtra, particularly those of Yijing’s translation into Chinese. The sūtra became popular for its teachings on freeing oneself
from the effects of bad karma. For example, Yijing’s Chinese translation (and the Uighur and Tangut versions derived from it)
has a preface that states how the sūtra saved Zhang Judao, ruler of Tangut, from going to hell because he had slaughtered
cattle for a big feast. This narrative is illustrated in a twelfth-century Tangut woodcut that is preserved in St.
Petersburg.

The sūtra was of particular importance to monarchs, and starting in seventh-century Japan, the ritual of reciting this
sūtra was considered important to perform for the benefit of the state.

The Sūtra in Tibet

Toh 557 (the version translated here) does not list its translators in the colophon. Toh 556 was produced by
Jinamitra, Śilendrabodhi, and Yeshé Dé in the early ninth century. Almost the entirety of Toh 557 is present word for word in
Toh 556, so they either incorporated an earlier translation or extracted the shorter version from the longer.

By contrast, Toh 555 is a translation made by Gö Chödrup of Yijing’s Chinese version in the early ninth century. The
Tibetan is clearer and more readable than in the other two versions, perhaps because it is less constrained by conforming to
the Sanskrit, but also because the Chinese was a freer translation from the Sanskrit, which was done purposely to enhance its
readability.

There are some Tibetan texts included in the Tengyur that were authored by those Tibetan translators active in the
early ninth century. The translator Kawa Paltsek quotes from the passages describing the Dharma body and the Buddha not
leaving any relics because he has no body with bones and blood. Yeshé Dé wrote a text that has
a number of references to this sūtra’s teaching on the three bodies of a buddha, buddha nature, and the description of the
bhūmis.

Dīpaṁkaraśrījñāna, also known as Atiśa, whose pupils founded the influential Kadampa tradition in Tibet, is the author
of three of the texts in the Tengyur that refer to this sūtra, including his most famous work, A Lamp for
the Path to Enlightenment, which contains an encouragement to use the sūtra’s prayer both for purification and as
a dedication prayer.

The commentary in the Tengyur that quotes from the sūtra more than any other—twenty times in all—is the translation by
Gö Chödrup of An Extensive Commentary on the Sūtra that Elucidates the Profound Intention by the
Korean monk Wŏnch’ŭk (613–96),
who had migrated to China. This commentary by Wŏnch’ŭk in Tibetan translation became a particular influence on the thought of
Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa school. The sūtra has been quoted by great
masters in all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism and extracts from it were published in Tibet as numerous standalone texts—not
only the confession prayer but also other chapters, such as the treatise on kingship. Its continuing significance is indicated
by Pema Karpo (1527–92), the hierarch of the Drukpa Kagyü school, composing a confession prayer extracted from The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light at the request of Döndrup Dorjé, the ruler of Shigatsé.

An example of the way the sūtra was recited in Tibet is found in a version compiled by Ngawang Lobsang Chöden
(1642–1714), the second Changkya Rinpoché.

Comparing the Versions

Toh 556 and Toh 557 were both translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit. Only the Sanskrit that is equivalent to Toh 557
survives. It divides the equivalent of chapter 10 in the Tibetan into two, separating the homage to buddhas and bodhisattvas
into its own small chapter. However, its final chapter is divided into two in the Tibetan, resulting in both having twenty-one
chapters. Toh 556 appears to preserve passages that were lost from Toh 557. For example, chapter 12, “The King’s Treatise,”
begins abruptly: “At that time…,” having evidently lost the introductory narrative—present in the equivalent chapter (chapter
20) in the longer version—that sets the action in a distant past.

Toh 555 was translated into Tibetan from Chinese. The source text was
Yijing’s seventh-century translation from Sanskrit into Chinese, and therefore the translation differs throughout, even though
the content is essentially the same. There are many passages that are actually shorter versions of those in the translations
from Sanskrit. Its greater length compared to Toh 556 is primarily due to the addition of chapters 29 and 30.

Translations into Western Languages

In 1958, Nobel published a German translation based on Yijing’s Chinese text. In 1970, Ronald Emmerick produced an
English translation of the Sanskrit. In 2007, Zopa Rinpoche’s FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition)
produced an English translation of Toh 557.

Detailed Summary of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light

Chapter 1: The Introduction

The Buddha is on Vulture Peak Mountain at Rājaghṛa with a great assembly. He states that he will teach a sūtra
that will free beings from various worldly sufferings through its being recited and listened to.

Chapter 2: The Teaching on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata

In the town of Rājaghṛa, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu wonders why the Buddha has only an eighty-year lifespan if he
has no bad karma. His house miraculously transforms, and the buddhas of the four directions appear and tell him that the
Buddha’s lifespan is, in fact, inconceivably long. At that time on Vulture Peak, the Kauṇḍinya brahmin Vyākaraṇa asks the
Buddha that he be given a relic when the Buddha passes away so that he might make offerings to it.
Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, a young man from the town of Vaiśalī, tells the Kauṇḍinya brahmin that the Buddha does not pass
away and there will never be relics. The Kauṇḍinya brahmin states that he knew that but made his request so that the truth
will be revealed that the appearance of passing away and relics is simply a skillful method to benefit beings.

Chapter 3: The Dream

In his home in Rājaghṛa, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu dreams of a brahmin beating a golden drum from which come
verses that he is able to remember. He goes to the Buddha on Vulture Peak to repeat those verses to him.

Chapter 4: The Confession

This chapter comprises the hundred verses that Ruciraketu repeats to the Buddha. He describes hearing the verses
in the dream. They begin with a prayer that they will benefit all beings, and then there are a number of verses of the
confession of past bad actions followed by a praise of the Buddha, a prayer that beings be freed from suffering, and
finally the dedication of merit so that the reciter will attain enlightenment.

Chapter 5: The Source of Lotus Flowers: A Praise of All the Buddhas

The Buddha repeats to a goddess a praise of the buddhas in thirty-five verses made by a king in the distant
past.

Chapter 6: Emptiness

The Buddha recites verses that briefly describe emptiness, which, he states, he has taught extensively in other
sūtras. He describes that he has practiced the path for a long time and that it is impossible to calculate his wisdom.

Chapter 7: The Four Mahārājas

The Four Mahārājas, the protectors of the world, promise that they will protect whoever teaches and recites this
sūtra and will dispel problems for the king of that country and its population. They and the Buddha describe the
miraculous events that occur in the paradises when a king engages in the ritual of venerating the sūtra, and how all
buddhas will congratulate him and prophesy his buddhahood. The Mahārājas describe how a king who wishes his realm to
prosper and be happy should be devoted to the sūtra. Then they praise the Buddha in verse, and the Buddha praises the
sūtra in verse.

Chapter 8: Sarasvatī

The goddess Sarasvatī promises to aid those who recite the sūtra with wisdom and skills. She gives the recipe for
a cleansing liquid and a mantra that will prevent misfortune. Then the Buddha praises her and teaches beneficial mantras.
The Kauṇḍinya brahmin praises Sarasvatī in verse.

Chapter 9: The Great Goddess Śrī

The goddess Śrī promises to aid those who recite the sūtra and its preservation so that beings will have good
fortune. She states she had been a follower of the Buddha
Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī and that she brings good fortune to beings
wherever she goes and inspires them to make offerings to that buddha. She dwells in a palace in the paradise of Alakāvati
and states that offerings should be made to her and to that buddha. A mantra is taught for her invocation, and
instructions for making offerings to her are given.

Chapter 10: Dṛḍhā, the Goddess of the Earth

The chapter commences with a homage to a series of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Then Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth,
promises the Buddha that she will come to wherever The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light is
taught, and with her head she will support the feet of the dharmabhāṇaka. Having heard the sūtra, she will make the earth
fertile, and what is grown in it nutritious and life-enhancing, and the population will increase. She states that if
someone who has heard the sūtra returns home and repeats even one line of verse from it, that home will prosper. The
Buddha states that anyone who has listened to even one line of the sūtra or makes offerings to it will be reborn in a
paradise after death, enjoy happiness for countless eons, and eventually attain buddhahood.

Chapter 11: Saṃjñeya

The yakṣa general Saṃjñeya promises to protect and defend whoever recites the sūtra. He describes his realization
and wisdom and promises to endow the teachers of the sūtra with eloquence and physical health. He states that those who
hear it will enjoy happiness in paradises for countless eons and eventually attain buddhahood.

Chapter 12: The King’s Treatise: The Commitment of the Lord of Devas

After an homage to Buddha Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī, Śākyamuni,
Śrī, and Sarasvatī, the chapter begins abruptly and appears to omit the introduction that sets the narrative in the past,
which is in a complete form in the other versions of the sūtra. At his enthronement, King Ruciraketu is told
by his father, King Balendraketu, to learn the verse treatise on kingship called The Commitment of
the Lord of Devas, and he recites it to him. The treatise explains why a king is called a deva even though he
is a human: it is because a king is a deva sent to the human world to govern it. A king should therefore fulfill that
duty, particularly by punishing the wicked. If he does not do so, calamities of all kinds will befall him and his kingdom.
A righteous king will cause all kinds of good fortune to occur.

Chapter 13: Susaṃbhava

In this chapter, which is entirely in verse, the Buddha recounts a previous life as a cakravartin by the name of
Susaṃbhava, who lived while the teaching of a buddha named Ratnaśikhin was still present. In a dream, he saw the
dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya teaching The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. He then sought out
that dharmabhāṇaka and requested him to teach the sūtra, arranging a throne and many offerings to him. At the conclusion
of the teaching, Susaṃbhava, through his possession of a wish-fulfilling jewel, caused a rain of jewels and necessities to
fall on the four continents he ruled, and he made an offering of it all to the Three Jewels. Śākyamuni states that he was
Susaṃbhava at that time, and that Ratnoccaya became the Buddha Akṣobhya. He states that it is through the merit of hearing
the sūtra that he has been a cakravartin king and a lord of devas countless times and has finally attained
enlightenment.

Chapter 14: The Protection Given by Yakṣas

The Buddha instructs the goddess Śrī, first in prose and then in verse, on how someone should teach the sūtra and
how someone should listen to it, and the benefits that will accrue from such activities. He adds that the throne upon
which the sūtra has been recited will subsequently become the setting for various miraculous manifestations. The devas
will praise those who teach and listen to the Dharma. In particular, the yakṣas will give their protection, as will nāgas,
asuras, Hārītī and her sons, and the various goddesses, including Sarasvatī, Śrī, and the goddesses of the earth,
harvests, and trees. This will bring bountiful harvests and a plenitude of fruits and flowers. Sūrya, the sun god, will
also be pleased and will bring wonderful light to the world.

Chapter 15: The Prophecy to Ten Thousand Devas

The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā asks the Buddha about what merit had been accrued by the ten thousand devas from
Trāyastriṃśa who came to hear the teaching on hearing the prophecies given to three people.

She describes the prophecy of the bodhisattva Ruciraketu becoming the Buddha Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa in the
distant future and how his son Rūpyaketu will become the Buddha Suvarṇajambudhvajakāñcanābha. After him, the other son
Rūpyaprabha will be the Buddha Radiance of a Hundred Golden Lights. The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā then states that
Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the other ten thousand Trāyastriṃśa devas have not in their past lives had such great
bodhisattva conduct as those three, and yet the Buddha has prophesied their becoming buddhas. The Buddha explains that
they gained the necessary merit simply through hearing and believing in The Sūtra of the Sublime
Golden Light. In a future time, all ten thousand will attain buddhahood in the same world, and each one will
have the name Prasannavadanotpalagandhakūṭa.

Chapter 16: Ending Illness

The Buddha tells the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā that in a distant past, when the Dharma of a buddha named
Ratnaśikhin had disappeared, there was a virtuous king named Sureśvaraprabha. At that time, a head merchant by the name
of Jaṭiṃdhara had a son by the name of Jalavāhana, who learned medicine from him and was able to cure the many illnesses
prevalent in the kingdom.

Chapter 17: The Story of the Fish Guided by Jalavāhana

The Buddha tells the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā that Jalavāhana had a wife, Jalāmbujagarbhā, and two sons,
Jalāmbara and Jalagarbha. He and his sons went into the wilderness where they discovered a lake that was drying up so that
the ten thousand fish in it were in danger of dying. A tree goddess appeared who told Jalavāhana that he should save the
fish, so he constructed a shade made from branches for the fish. Then he went to King Sureśvaraprabha and obtained twenty
elephants from him. and he used them to carry water to replenish the lake. He then sent his son Jalāmbara home to obtain
as much food as possible, and he used that to feed the fish. Finally, he waded into the lake and recited the Dharma of
dependent origination and the name of the Buddha Ratnaśikhin. At another time, he became intoxicated from alcohol and fell
asleep. The ten thousand fish had died, and because of Jalavāhana’s recitation they had been reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa
paradise. They came to the sleeping Jalavāhana and made offerings of many pearls and caused flowers to rain on his home,
upon the lake, and other places in the kingdom. The king summoned Jalavāhana, who believed these omens occurred because of
the death of the fish. His son Jalāmbara went to the lake and saw that they had all died. The Buddha states that he was
Jalavāhana; his father, Śuddhodana, was Jaṭiṃdhara, Jalavāhana’s father; his sons Rāhula and Ānanda were Jalāmbara and
Jalagarbha, Jalavāhana’s sons; his wife Gopā was Jalāmbujagarbhā, Jalavāhana’s wife; his father-in-law, Daṇḍapāṇi, was
the king; the ten thousand devas from Trāyastriṃśa were the ten thousand fish; and the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā was
the tree goddess.

Chapter 18: The Gift of the Body to a Tigress

The Buddha gives the goddess an account of when he went to the land of Pañcala with a thousand bhikṣus. He asked
Ānanda to prepare a seat at a particular spot, and when he stamped the ground with his foot, a stūpa emerged. Inside were
golden caskets containing bones. The Buddha tells the bhikṣus to pay homage to them, because these bones are from one of
his previous lives, and it was through the sacrifice of his life that he was able to attain buddhahood. He relates that in
the past, King Mahāratha had three sons, Mahāpraṇāda, Mahādeva, and Mahāsattva. The three princes wandered
into a forest and saw a tigress that had given birth to five cubs but was starving and might soon eat her cubs.
Mahāsattva decided to give his body to the tigress, and therefore, as they were leaving the forest, he
told his brothers he would follow them later and turned back. He then cut his throat in front of the tigress and fell
before her. The other two princes searched for their younger brother and discovered he had been eaten. The queen had
nightmares and was distressed, thinking that something had happened to her sons. Therefore, the king and queen went in
search of their sons and found the two princes, who told them of Mahāsattva’s death. In great distress, they
went to his remains and placed them in the stūpa. The Buddha states that he was Mahāsattva. The story is then
retold in verse, in which it is also stated that the Buddha’s father, Śuddhodana, was the king; his mother, Māya, was the
queen; the two other princes were Maitreya and Mañjuśrī; the tigress was his stepmother, Mahāprajāpatī; and the tiger cubs
were his first five bhikṣus.

Chapter 19: Praise by All Bodhisattvas

Hundreds of thousands of bodhisattvas go to the Buddha Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa and praise him in verse.

Chapter 20: The Praise of All Tathāgatas

The bodhisattva Ruciraketu comes before the Buddha Śākyamuni and praises him in verse.

Chapter 21: The Conclusion

The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā praises the Buddha Śākyamuni in verse. The Buddha rises from his seat and says,
“Well done!” and the multitudes of beings rejoice and praise his words.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra

The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light

Chapter 1: The Introduction

I pay homage to all the buddhas, bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas,
and noble śrāvakas in the past, future, and present.

Thus did I hear at one time.

The Tathāgata was dwelling

On Vulture Peak, in the Dharma realm,

The profound buddha field of activity.

He taught this Sublime Golden Light—

Which is the lord king of sūtras—

To the supreme bodhisattvas,

Who are pure and immaculate.

It is profound to listen to

And profound to analyze.

It has received the blessings

Of the buddhas in the four directions:

The Buddha Akṣobhya in the east,

The Buddha Ratnaketu in the south,

The Buddha Amitābha in the west,

And the Buddha Dundubhisvara in the north.

“I will teach that which is blessed,

Which is a teaching of supreme auspiciousness,

In order to eliminate all bad actions.

“It will bestow every happiness;

It will eliminate all suffering.

It is the basis of omniscience,

And it is adorned by every splendor.

“Beings with impaired faculties,

Whose lives are in decline and ending;

Those who are beset by misfortune,

Who have been forsaken by the devas,

“Who are hated by their spouses and other people,

Who are tormented by family and servants,

Who are in conflict with others,

And who are oppressed by loss of wealth;

“Those who are miserable, tired, and ruined,

Who are frightened and in distress,

Who are oppressed by planets and lunar asterisms,

And who are afflicted by dreadful demons;

“And those who see evil in their dreams

Arising from misery and fatigue

Should wash themselves clean

And listen to this supreme sūtra.

“For those who listen to this sūtra,

This profound field of the buddhas,

With a lucid mind and good motivation,

And dressed in clean clothes—

“For all those beings

All those dreadful misfortunes

Will always come to an end

Through the brilliance of this sūtra.

“The guardians of the world themselves

And their ministers and army generals,

As well as a multitude of millions of yakṣas,

Will be their protectors.

“The great goddess Sarasvatī

And Nairañjanavasinī,

Hārītī, the mother of spirits,

And Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth;

“The lords of Brahmā devas, lords of the devas;

The greatly powerful lords of the nāgas;

And the lords of the kinnaras, the lords of the asuras,

And similarly the lords of the garuḍas

“Will come to the place where those people are,

Accompanied by troops and steeds,

And will be their protectors,

Attentive day and night.

“I will elucidate this sūtra,

Which is the profound field of the buddhas,

Which is the secret of all buddhas,

And which is difficult to obtain in a million eons.

“Those who hear this sūtra

And cause others to hear it,

And those who rejoice in this sūtra,

And those who make offerings to it,

“Throughout millions of eons

Will themselves receive offerings

From devas, nāgas, and humans,

And from kinnaras, asuras, and yakṣas.

“For beings who create this merit,

There will arise for them

An infinite, incalculable,

Inconceivable mass of merit.

“They will be taken into the care

Of the perfect buddhas in the ten directions,

And similarly by the bodhisattvas

Who have profound activity.

“Having put on clean clothes,

Wearing perfumed clothing,

And having a loving mind,

They should offer without distraction.

“They should make their

Own minds pure and vast,

And with minds filled with faith,

They should listen to this sublime sūtra.

“Those who listen to this sūtra

Will be welcomed among humans,

Will attain an excellent human existence,

And will live happy lives.

“Those in whose ears

This teaching sounds

Will plant good roots

And be praised by many buddhas.”

This concludes “The Introduction,” the first chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, The
Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 2: The Teaching on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata

Also, at that time, there dwelled in the great city of Rājagṛha a bodhisattva mahāsattva by the name of Ruciraketu. He had served past jinas, had
developed roots of merit, and had attended upon many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddhas. He thought, “Through
what causes and what conditions does the Bhagavat Śākyamuni have such a short lifespan of eighty years?”

Then he thought, “The Bhagavat has said, ‘There are two causes and two conditions for a long life. What are those
two? Forsaking killing and giving food.’ The Bhagavat Śākyamuni has forsaken killing and has correctly adopted the path of the
ten good actions for countless hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons. He has given external and internal substances as
food to beings, even to the extent of satisfying hungry beings with his own body, blood, bones, and limbs, to say nothing of
every other kind of food.”

When that sublime being’s mind had thought this, with his attention focused upon the Buddha, his house became
immense, vast, and made of blue beryl. It was adorned by many divine jewels, its color transformed by the Tathāgata, and it was pervaded by
a perfume that transcended the divine.

In the four directions of that house there appeared four thrones made of divine jewels. The thrones were overspread with layers of precious, divine cloth decorated with divine
jewels.

Upon those thrones appeared divine lotus flowers, their
colors transformed by the Tathāgata, and adorned by many jewels. Upon those lotuses there appeared the four buddha bhagavats. To the east
appeared the Tathāgata Akṣobhya. To the south appeared the Tathāgata Ratnaketu. To the west appeared the Tathāgata Amitāyus. To the north appeared the Tathāgata
Dundubhisvara. At the moment when those buddha bhagavats appeared upon those lion thrones, the great city of Rājagṛha was
filled by a great illuminating light that spread throughout the trichiliocosm world realm, throughout as many world realms in the ten directions as there are grains of sand in
the Ganges River. A rain of flowers fell. There came the sound of divine music. Through the power of the Buddha, all beings in
this trichiliocosm world realm gained divine happiness. The blind saw forms with their eyes; the deaf heard sounds with their
ears; the insane gained their sanity; those with distracted minds became undistracted; the naked became clothed; the hungry
had their stomachs filled; the thirsty had their thirst quenched; beings afflicted by illness were healed; and those with
impaired physical faculties became possessed of complete faculties. In those worlds there appeared vast, astonishing,
wonderful qualities.

The bodhisattva
Ruciraketu was amazed to see those buddha bhagavats, and, filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy, with his
palms together in homage, he bowed toward those buddha bhagavats. Mindful of those buddha bhagavats and mindful of the
qualities of the Buddha Bhagavat Śākyamuni, he had doubts concerning the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni. In his mind was the thought, “Why is it that the Bhagavat Śākyamuni has this
short lifespan of eighty years?”

Those buddha bhagavats were aware of and understood these thoughts and said to the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, “Noble
son, do not think, ‘The Bhagavat Śākyamuni has such a short lifespan.’ Why is that? Noble son, except for the tathāgata arhat
samyaksaṃbuddhas, we do not see anyone in the world with its devas, with its Māra, with its Brahmā, with its many beings who
are mendicants and brahmins, and with its devas, humans, and asuras who has the ability to know the length of the Bhagavat
Tathāgata Śākyamuni’s lifespan to its future limit.”

As soon as those buddha bhagavats described the Tathāgata’s lifespan, at that moment, through the power of the
buddhas, the devas in the desire realm, the devas in the form realm, the nāgas, the yakṣas, the gandharvas, the asuras, the
garuḍas, the kinnaras, the mahoragas, and the many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of assembled bodhisattvas arrived in
the house of the bodhisattva Ruciraketu.

Those tathāgatas then recited verses that taught in brief the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni to that complete
assembly:

“The drops of water in all

The oceans can be calculated,

But no one can calculate

The lifespan of Śākyamuni.

“The number of atoms in all

Sumerus can be calculated,

But no one can calculate

The lifespan of Śākyamuni.

“Someone might calculate

The number of atoms in the earth,

But no one can calculate

The entire lifespan of the Jina.

“Someone might calculate

The extent of space,

But no one can calculate

The lifespan of Śākyamuni.

“One cannot reach a number

By saying that the perfect Buddha

Will remain for this number of eons

Or for a hundred million eons.

“This is because of two causes

And because of two conditions:

He has forsaken violence toward others,

And he has given food numerous times.

“Therefore, the length of the great being’s

Lifespan cannot be calculated

By saying it is a certain number of eons,

Or likewise by saying it is countless eons.

“Therefore, do not doubt, do not have any doubt whatsoever.

No one can conceive of the final extent of a jina’s lifespan.”

At that time, in that assembly, there was the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, who, together with
countless thousands of brahmins, had made offerings to the Bhagavat. On hearing these words concerning the great nirvāṇa of the Tathāgata, he immediately wept, bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavat, and said to the Bhagavat, “If you have
love for all beings, if you have great compassion, if you wish to benefit all beings, if you are a mother and father for all
beings, if you are unequaled, if you are like the moon radiating light, if you are like a risen sun of great wisdom and
knowledge, and if you look upon all beings as you do upon Rāhula, then I pray that you grant me something sacred.”

The Bhagavat remained silent.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, there arose confident eloquence in a Licchavī youth in that assembly, whose
name was Sarvasattvapriyadarśana. He asked the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, “Great brahmin, why do you
ask the Bhagavat for something sacred? I will give you something sacred.”

“Licchavī youth,” said the brahmin, “I wish for a relic of the Bhagavat the size of a mustard seed in order to make
offerings to the Bhagavat. It is known that if one makes offerings to a relic the size of a mustard seed that one has received
as a share of the ashes that are the relics of the Bhagavat, one will become the sole lord of the devas of Trāyastriṃśa.

“O Licchavī youth, it is difficult for śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to know The Sūtra of the
Sublime Golden Light. It is difficult for them to comprehend it. The Sūtra of the Sublime
Golden Light, which has those characteristics and qualities, is going to be spoken, so listen!

“O Licchavī youth, The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light is thus difficult to know and
difficult to understand. Therefore, it is appropriate that we brahmins from an outlying island should keep a relic the size of
a mustard seed in a casket, for by possessing it, beings will soon become lords of Trāyastriṃśa.

“O Licchavī youth, don’t you want to request a relic the size of a mustard seed from the Tathāgata, place the relic
in a casket, and possess it so that beings will become lords of Trāyastriṃśa?

“O Licchavī youth, that is the sublime thing that I have requested.”

Then Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, the Licchavī youth, recited these verses to the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master
Vyākaraṇa:

“When flowers grow

On the Ganges River,

Crows become red,

And cuckoos become conch-colored;

“When palm-tree fruit grow on rose-apple trees;

And when bunches of mangoes grow on date trees,

That will be the time when a relic

The size of a mustard seed will appear.

“When clothes made from

The hair of turtles are worn,

And they dispel the cold of winter,

Then there will be a relic.

“When roofs are made

From the legs of flies

And are solid and stable,

Then there will be a relic.

“When all the leeches

Grow teeth that are

Long, white, and sharp,

Then there will be a relic.

“When a ladder is built

From the horns of hares

For climbing to the upper realms,

Then there will be a relic.

“When a mouse climbs that ladder

And then eats the moon

And attacks Rāhu,

Then there will be a relic.

“When a village-dwelling fly

Drinks a pitcher of beer

And lives in a house,

Then there will be a relic.

“When a happy donkey

Has lips as red as a bimba fruit

And is expert in song and dance,

Then there will be a relic.

“When owls and crows

Cavort together in private

And live together in harmony,

Then there will be a relic.

“When the leaves of the palash tree

Become a parasol of three kinds of jewels

And provide shelter from the falling rain,

Then there will be a relic.

“When a great oceangoing ship,

With its instruments and sails,

Comes onto and travels over dry land,

Then there will be a relic.

“When an owl picks up

Gandhamādana Mountain

In its beak and flies away,

Then there will be a relic.”

On hearing those verses, the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, replied to the Licchavī youth
Sarvasattvapriyadarśana with these verses:

“Good! Good! Best of youths,

Son of the jinas, with great words,

Skilled in methods, heroic,

Who has received the highest prophecy,

“Young man, listen to me describe,

In order, the inconceivable

Greatness of the world’s lord,

The protector, the Tathāgata.

“The scope of the buddhas is inconceivable.

The tathāgatas are without any equal.

All buddhas are always in peace.

All buddhas appear perfectly.

“All buddhas have the same color;

That is the intrinsic nature of the buddhas.

The Bhagavat is not fabricated,

And the Tathāgata is not produced.

“He has a body like a vajra.

He manifests an illusory body.

The great Ṛṣi does not have relics,

Not even of the size of a mustard seed.

“How could there be relics

From a body without bones or blood?

Relics are left through skillful methods

In order to bring benefit to beings.

“The perfect Buddha is a Dharma body.

The Tathāgata is a Dharma realm.

That is what the Bhagavat’s body is like.

That is what teaching the Dharma is like.

“I made that request for the sacred object,

Having already heard and understood that.

I spoke in
that way

In order to reveal the truth.”

Then thirty-two thousand devas, having heard that profound teaching on the lifespan of the Tathāgata, all developed
the aspiration for the highest, most complete enlightenment. With joyful mental thoughts and with one voice, they recited
these verses:

“The Buddha does not pass away.

The Dharma does not disappear.

Passing into nirvāṇa is manifested

In order to bring beings to maturity.

“The Bhagavat is inconceivable;

The Tathāgata’s body is eternal.

He demonstrates a variety of displays

In order to bring benefit to beings.”

Then the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, having heard the teaching on the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni from both those
buddha bhagavats and those excellent individuals, was filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy—he was pervaded
by great happiness and delight.

When this teaching on the lifespan of the tathāgatas was taught, innumerable, countless beings developed the
aspiration for the highest, most complete enlightenment, and those tathāgatas vanished.

This concludes “The Teaching on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata,” the second chapter of “The
Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 3: The Dream

The bodhisattva Ruciraketu then went to sleep and in a dream saw a golden drum that was shining
brightly like the disk of the sun. In all directions, there were countless, innumerable buddha bhagavats seated upon precious
beryl thrones at the foot of precious trees, encircled by assemblies of many hundreds of thousands. Looking straight ahead,
they were teaching the Dharma.

Then he saw a person who appeared to be a brahmin beating that drum, and he heard a teaching in verse come from the
drumbeats.

As soon as the bodhisattva Ruciraketu awoke from his sleep, he remembered the verses that were taught. Having
remembered them, when the night was over, he left the city of Rājagṛha, and together with many thousands of people he went to
Vulture Peak Mountain and into the presence of the Bhagavat. He bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavat and circumambulated the
Bhagavat three times, keeping him to his right, and then sat down to one side.

Seated to one side, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, with his palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and
recited the teaching in verse that he had heard from the sound of the drum in his dream.

This concludes “The Dream,” the third chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime
Golden Light.”

Chapter 4: The Confession

“One night, though I was not

Sleepy, I entered a
dream.

I saw a large, beautiful drum

Entirely of golden light.

“It was shining like the sun

And completely bright,

Illuminating the ten directions.

I saw buddhas everywhere,

“Seated beneath precious trees

On precious beryl thrones,

Looking straight ahead in the middle

Of many hundreds of thousands of followers.

“I saw someone resembling a brahmin

Who beat that big drum.

As he was beating it,

There came these verses:

“ ‘Through the sound of the great drum of sublime golden light,

May all the suffering of the lower existences,

The suffering in Yama’s realm, and the suffering of poverty

Cease in the three realms within this trichiliocosm.

“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,

May all the ignorance in the world cease;

Just as the lord of sages is without fear and his fear has ceased,

So may all beings be without fear and have their fears cease.

“ ‘Just like the omniscient lord of sages in saṃsāra

Possesses all the qualities of the āryas,

In that way, may beings become oceans of qualities,

Possessing the qualities of the aspects of enlightenment.

“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,

May all beings possess the voice of Brahmā

And reach the supreme enlightenment of

Sublime buddhahood and turn the good Dharma wheel.

“ ‘May they remain for countless eons.

May they teach the Dharma to benefit beings.

May they defeat the kleśas and dispel suffering.

May desire, anger, and ignorance cease.

“ ‘Those beings who are in the lower realms,

Whose skeleton bodies are burning in fire,

May they hear the sound of the great drum

And hear the words, “Homage to the buddhas!”

“ ‘May all beings remember hundreds of lifetimes—

Thousands of millions of
lifetimes.

May they always remember the Munīndra,

And may they hear his vast teaching.

“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,

May they always be together with buddhas

And completely forsake bad actions.

May they accomplish good actions.

“ ‘May the sound of the great drum

Completely bring to fulfillment

Whatever wishes and prayers are made

By humans, devas, and all beings.

“ ‘May the fires be extinguished

For the beings born in the terrible hells,

Where their bodies burn completely in fire,

And they wander in anguish without a savior.

“ ‘May the sound of the great drum

Bring an end to the sufferings of those beings

Who are experiencing intense, unendurable suffering

In the hells, among the pretas, and in the human world.

“ ‘For those who have no support,

No protection, and no refuge,

May there be protection and support,

And may there be the supreme refuge.

“ ‘The buddhas, the supreme among two-legged beings,

Who have minds of love and compassion,

Who are in the worlds in the ten directions,

I pray that you turn your regard upon me.

“ ‘The extremely dreadful bad actions

That I have carried out in the past,

I confess all of them in the presence

Of those who have the ten strengths.

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done,

Such as ignoring my mother and father,

Not acknowledging the buddhas,

And not acknowledging good actions;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done,

Such as being arrogant with pride in my wealth,

And arrogant with pride in my family,

My possessions, and my youth;

“ ‘Whatever bad thoughts, bad words,

And harmful actions I have produced;

Whatever bad actions I have done,

Not viewing them as being harmful;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done

Through foolishness of mind,

My mind being darkened by ignorance,

Or being under the influence of bad friends,

“ ‘Or through my mind being disturbed by kleśas,

Because of delighting in amusements,

Or through being in misery, being ill,

Or through the evil of dissatisfaction with wealth;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done

Because of associating with ignoble beings,

Or caused by my jealousy and miserliness,

Or by my dishonesty and neediness;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done

During the times when I was in misfortune,

Or through fears concerning my desires,

Or when I was parted from my wealth;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done

Under the power of a deceitful mind,

Under the power of desire and anger,

Or because of hunger and thirst;

“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done

For the sake of food and drink,

For the sake of women and clothes,

Or from being tormented by various kleśas—

“ ‘The bad actions of body, speech, and mind,

My accumulation of those three kinds of bad conduct,

Whatever I have done of that kind,

I make a confession of it all.

“ ‘I make a confession of all

Disrespect I have shown

To the buddhas, the Dharma,

And likewise to the śrāvakas.

“ ‘I make a confession of all

Disrespect I have shown

To pratyekabuddhas

And to bodhisattvas.

“ ‘I make a confession of all

Disrespect I have shown

To teachers of the Dharma and

Disrespect I have shown to the Dharma itself.

“ ‘I make a confession of all

My rejection of the Dharma

And disrespect to my parents

Through being in constant ignorance.

“ ‘I make a confession of all

Obscuration through stupidity and foolishness;

Through desire, anger, and ignorance;

And through pride and arrogance.

“ ‘I will make offerings to those with the ten strengths

In the worlds in the ten directions.

I will save from all suffering

The beings in the ten directions.

“ ‘I will bring all the

Countless beings onto the ten bhūmis.

When they have reached the ten bhūmis,

May they all become tathāgatas.

“ ‘Until I can free them all

From the ocean of suffering,

For millions of eons I will be active

For the sake of every single being.

“ ‘I will teach those beings

This profound teaching

That is called The Sublime Golden Light

And purifies one of all karma.

“ ‘Those who have committed dreadful evil acts

Throughout a thousand eons

Will purify themselves of them

Through one single confession.

“ ‘Those who are obscured by bad karma

Will quickly become purified of it

Through confessing with these confessions

Through the good Sublime Golden Light.

“ ‘I will dwell upon the ten bhūmis,

The supreme ten that are the source of jewels.

I will cause the qualities of a buddha to appear

And liberate others from the ocean of existence.

“ ‘Through the inconceivable qualities of a buddha,

The flow of the ocean of buddhahood,

And the deep ocean of buddha qualities,

I will have the perfection of omniscience.

“ ‘Through a hundred thousand samādhis,

Through countless powers of mental retention,

And through the strengths, powers, and aspects of enlightenment,

I will become a sublime one with the ten strengths.

“ ‘I pray that the buddhas look upon me

And regard me with their minds.

I pray that with their minds of great compassion

They apprehend the errors I have made.

“ ‘I am tormented by a sorrowful mind,

By wretchedness, by misery, and by terror

Concerning the bad actions I have done

In the past, throughout a hundred eons.

“ ‘I am terrified of my bad actions.

My mind is always low.

Whatever I do,

I find no happiness.

“ ‘All the compassionate buddhas

Dispel the fear of all beings.

I pray that you apprehend my faults

And free me from fear.

“ ‘May the tathāgatas remove

The stain of my kleśas and karma.

I pray that the buddhas wash me

With the water of their compassion.

“ ‘I confess all my bad actions;

Those that I have done in the past

And those that are my present bad actions,

I make a confession of them all.

“ ‘I make the commitment that I will not do again

All the wrong actions that I have done.

I will not conceal those bad actions,

Those wrong actions that I have done.

“ ‘There are three kinds of physical actions;

There are four kinds of verbal actions;

There are three kinds of mental actions—

I make a confession of them all.

“ ‘Those actions done physically, those done verbally,

And those done mentally—

The ten kinds of karma I have created—

I make a confession of them all.

“ ‘Having forsaken the ten bad actions,

I will practice the ten that are good.

I will dwell upon the ten bhūmis

And be endowed with the ten supreme strengths.

“ ‘Whatever bad karma I possess

Will bring undesirable results.

I make a confession of all of it

In the presence of the buddhas.

“ ‘Whatever good actions have been done,

Whether in this Jambudvīpa

Or in other world realms,

I rejoice in them all.

“ ‘Whatever merit I have created

Through my body, speech, and mind,

Through those meritorious roots

I will reach the highest enlightenment.

“ ‘Whatever dreadful bad actions have been made

By a foolish mind distressed within existences,

I confess each one of those bad actions

Before the unequaled one with the ten strengths.

“ ‘I confess whatever bad karma I have accumulated

In dangerous lives, in dangerous existences,

In dangerous worlds, with a dangerous and unstable mind,

Through various kinds of dangerous physical behavior.

“ ‘In the presence of the unequaled jinas,

I confess every single bad action I have done

Because of perilous, foolish stupidity and kleśas,

Because of perilous association with wicked friends,

“ ‘Because of perilous saṃsāra and perilous desire,

Because of perilous anger and perilous ignorance,

Because of perilous fatigue and perilous times,

And because of a perilous lack of producing merit.

“ ‘I praise the buddhas, who are like shining golden mountains,

Who are like Sumeru, and like oceans of qualities.

I go for refuge to those jinas

And bow my head to all those jinas.

“ ‘Golden in color, stainless gold, golden light,

With the feature of eyes of pure, stainless beryl—

A buddha sun, the source of glorious brilliance and blazing fame

Dispelling deep darkness with the light rays of compassion.

“ ‘With perfectly stainless, very beautiful, excellent limbs,

The buddha sun’s limbs are as if covered with stainless gold.

The light rays of the muni moon bring pleasure

To minds pained by the fires of the kleśas, which are like blazing fires.

“ ‘With faculties and limbs beautified by the thirty-two supreme signs,

Limbs beautified by the excellent features,

And with a net of light rays producing blazing, glorious, brilliant merit,

You are present like the sun in the darkness of the three worlds.

“ ‘Body aspects the color of vast, beautiful, stainless beryl;

The red of dawn, silver, crystal, and copper-red;

Adorned by a net of light rays of various colors,

You, great Muni, are beautiful like the sun.

“ ‘The multitude of light rays from the sun of the sugatas dry up

The intensely fierce and violent ocean of suffering.

Falling into the river of distress, the great river of saṃsāra,

Waters of death and waves of aging
churn with misery.

“ ‘I praise the buddhas, who have golden bodies,

The source of wisdom, supreme within the three worlds.

Their limbs shine with the color of gold;

Their limbs are adorned by beautiful signs.

“ ‘Just as the water of the ocean is immeasurable,

Just as the particles in the earth are infinite,

Just as there is no end of stones in Meru,

And just as there is an endless extent to space,

“ ‘The qualities of a buddha are similarly infinite.

There is no one among all beings who can know them.

Even if they examined and contemplated for many eons,

They still would not know the end of those qualities.

“ ‘By counting for eons one may know how many measures,

Each the size of a drop of water on the tip of a hair,

There are in the earth, with its stones, mountains, and oceans.

But one could never perceive a limit to the qualities of a buddha.

“ ‘May all beings become like that,

With those qualities, colors, fame, and renown,

With bodies adorned by the signs of goodness

And beautified by the eighty features.

“ ‘May I, through this good karma,

Become before long a buddha in the world.

May I teach the Dharma for the benefit of beings,

And may I free beings afflicted by many sufferings.

“ ‘May I be victorious over powerful Māra and his army.

May I turn the good wheel of the Dharma.

May I remain for countless eons,

And may I satisfy beings with the water of amṛta.

“ ‘May I bring to completion the supreme six perfections,

Just as the jinas of the past have completed them.

May I destroy the kleśas and clear away suffering,

And bring desire, anger, and ignorance to an end.

“ ‘May I always remember lifetimes—

A hundred lifetimes, ten billion lifetimes.

May I constantly recollect the lords of munis,

And may I listen to their vast speech.

“ ‘May I through these good actions

Always succeed in meeting with buddhas.

May I completely forsake bad actions

And may I practice good actions, the source of merit.

“ ‘May all the bad karma of all beings

In every realm come to an end in their worlds.

May those beings with impaired faculties and defective limbs

All possess complete faculties on this day.

“ ‘May those in the ten directions who have no protector,

And are sick, weak, and feeble in body,

All be quickly freed from illness

And gain health, strength, and their faculties.

“ ‘May those whose lives are endangered by attacks from kings and robbers

And are in distress from hundreds of various kinds of suffering—

All those beings in misfortune and who are suffering—

Become freed from hundreds of the greatest, most dreadful terrors.

“ ‘Those who are beaten, who are in painful bondage,

Who remain in various kinds of distress,

Who are disturbed by thousands of tribulations

And meet various kinds of dreadful terrors and miseries,

“ ‘May they all become free from their bonds.

May those who are beaten be freed from beatings.

May those who are to be killed gain their lives,

And may they be free from all distress and fear.

“ ‘May the beings who are pained by hunger and thirst

Obtain various kinds of food and drink.

May the blind see the variety of forms.

May the deaf hear pleasant sounds.

“ ‘May the naked find a variety of clothes.

May poor beings discover treasures.

May all beings become happily possessed

Of many kinds of wealth, grain, and jewels.

“ ‘May no one be afflicted with the experience of suffering.

May all beings become beautiful,

With excellent, attractive, pleasant bodies,

And always fully possess many kinds of happiness.

“ ‘May beings, completely endowed with merit, have food and drink

As soon as they think of them.

May they have melodious vīnas, mṛdaṅga drums, and paṭaha drums;

Springs, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs,

“ ‘With golden lotuses, and blue and red lotuses;

Food and drink, clothes, wealth, pearls, jewels, and other treasures;

And jewelry of gold and various other jewels and beryls—

May they have them all as soon as they are thought of.

“ ‘May the word suffering not exist in any world.

May not a single inimical being be seen.

May they all have an illustrious color

And may they illuminate each other.

“ ‘May that which is perfect in the human world,

And arises in the minds of beings,

Be complete as the result of their merit

As soon as they have wished for it.

“ ‘May various perfumes, garlands, ointments,

Clothes,
powders, and flowers

Rain down from trees throughout the three times,

And may beings obtain them and be made happy.

“ ‘May they make offerings in the ten directions

To all the countless tathāgatas,

Perfect bodhisattvas, śrāvakas,

And the eternal, spotless, stainless Dharma.

“ ‘May they always avoid lower existences,

May they transcend the eight unfortunates states,

May they attain the king of fortunate states,

And may they always reach the presence of the buddhas.

“ ‘May they always be born into a high family.

May they possess a treasure of wealth and grain.

May they be perfectly adorned throughout many eons

By fame, renown, and excellent bodies and color.

“ ‘May all women always be males

Who are heroic, courageous, and wise.

May they all practice for the sake of enlightenment,

And may they practice the six perfections.

“ ‘May they see the buddhas in the ten directions

Seated blissfully on thrones of beryl jewels

Beneath supreme, precious trees,

And may they hear their teaching of the Dharma.

“ ‘The bad karma that I have created

In perilous lifetimes I previously obtained,

And the undesirable results accrued by bad karma,

May all of that vanish without any remainder.

“ ‘Those beings who are in the bondage of existence,

Tightly bound by the noose of saṃsāra,

May the hands of wisdom untie their bonds,

And may they quickly be freed from suffering.

“ ‘I rejoice in the entirety

Of the various profound merits

Accomplished by beings in this Jambudvīpa

And by those who are in other world realms.

“ ‘Through the merit that is created

By my rejoicing in body, speech, and mind,

May I reach the spotless, highest enlightenment,

The result and fulfillment of my prayers.

“ ‘Someone who pays homage and praises

With a mind that is always clear, pure, and unstained

Will through this recitation of a dedication

Avoid the lower realms for sixty eons.

“ ‘The men, women, brahmins, and kṣatriyas

Who praise the jinas, with palms together in homage,

Through the recitation of these verses

Will remember their lifetimes in all their lives.

“ ‘Their limbs will be adorned by all aspects and attributes.

They will be endowed with various merits and qualities.

They will be continually offered to by kings, the lords of men.

That is what they will be like wherever they are.

“ ‘Those into whose ears the sound of this confession has entered

Have not accomplished goodness in the presence of only one buddha,

Nor in the presence of only two, or four, or five, or ten,

But rather have accomplished goodness in the presence of a thousand buddhas.’ ”

This concludes “The Confession,” the fourth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, The
Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 5: The Source of Lotus Flowers: A Praise of All the Buddhas

Then the Bhagavat said to the noble goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā, “Noble goddess, at
that time, in that time, there was a king by the name of Suvarṇabhujendra. Through this praise of all the tathāgatas, The Source of Lotus Flowers, he praised the buddha bhagavats of the past, future, and present.

“ ‘The jinas who have appeared in the past

And the jinas present in worlds in the ten directions,

I pay homage to those jinas

And I praise all those jinas.

“ ‘A lord of munis is peaceful, totally peaceful, and pure.

His body is a perfect golden color.

A buddha’s speech is pleasant with every utterance,

A speech that resounds like the voice of Brahmā.

“ ‘He has hair like a bee, a peacock, and a blue lotus,

With dark blue curls like the blue
jaybird.

His teeth are pure white like snow or a conch,

And he is always beautiful like gold.

“ ‘His eyes are long, dark blue, and stainless;

They are like blossomed blue lotuses.

His broad, excellent tongue is the color of a red lotus,

Glowing like a red lotus, like red-lotus anthers.

“ ‘The ūrṇā hair on his face is the color of a conch or lotus root;

It curls to the right and is the color of white beryl.

It is like a sliver of moon, the last of the moon.

The Muni’s body has a navel as vivid as a carpenter bee.

“ ‘He has a prominent nose that is always gleaming

And is soft and an excellent color, like bright gold.

He always, continuously, has the perfect nose
of all the jinas,

Which is soft, sublime, supreme, and noble.

“ ‘From each and every pore there

Rises a hair that curls to the right,

A dark blue, shining, gleaming curl,

Blue and beautiful like a peacock’s neck.

“ ‘As soon as he was born, his body shone,

Filling all worlds in the ten directions with light,

Ending the endless sufferings in the three worlds,

And satisfying beings with every happiness.

“ ‘He satisfied with happiness

The beings in the hells, animals,

Pretas, devas, and human beings,

And brought to an end all lower existences.

“ ‘His light was the excellent color of gold;

His body shone like purified gold.

His perfectly stainless face is a sugata moon,

His stainless mouth smiling beautifully.

“ ‘His body and limbs are soft like a young boy’s.

He has a perfect, powerful stride like a lion’s.

He has long hands and very long arms

Like vines on a sal tree moved by the breeze.

“ ‘He has a fathom-wide aura that radiates light;

He is as bright as a thousand suns.

The stainless, supreme body of the lord of munis

Illuminates all of the infinite realms.

“ ‘A multitude of night-bringing moons and suns,

In endless hundreds of thousands of realms,

All become eclipsed by

The brilliant light of the Buddha.

“ ‘In endless hundreds of thousands of realms,

May beings see the tathāgata suns—

The suns of the buddhas, the lamps of worlds—

As a hundred thousand buddha suns.

“ ‘His body is endowed with a hundred thousand merits.

His body is adorned by all good qualities.

The Jina’s arms are like the trunk of the king of elephants.

His hands and feet are beautiful with stainless light.

“ ‘The buddhas who have been, who are as numerous as atoms;

Who are as numerous as the dust on the surface of the earth;

Those who are appearing, who are as numerous as atoms;

Those who are present, who are as numerous as atoms—

“ ‘To those jinas I pay homage

In pure faith, with body and speech,

Offering flowers and offering perfumes,

And with a hundred praises and a virtuous mind.

“ ‘The good qualities that the jinas have

Are a manifold multitude of the very best.

I could not describe those qualities of the jinas

In a thousand eons with a hundred tongues.

“ ‘With a thousand tongues I could not describe

Even a fraction of the qualities of a single jina,

So how could I describe with a thousand tongues

The qualities of all the jinas?

“ ‘If the world and its paradises became an ocean,

And up to the summit of existence became filled with water,

It would be possible to measure it with the tip of a hair.

But one cannot measure a single quality of the sugatas.

“ ‘With faith and with body, speech, and mind

I praise and eulogize all the jinas.

Through my accumulated perfect results of merit,

May beings reach the state of buddhahood.’

“When the king had praised the Buddha in that way,

The king prayed in this way:

‘Wherever I am born,

In endless future eons,

“ ‘May I see such a drum in a dream.

There, may I hear this kind of confession.

May I encounter in every lifetime

A praise such as this Source of Lotuses.

“ ‘May I hear in a dream of those

Infinite, unequaled qualities of the buddhas,

Which are difficult to acquire even in a thousand eons,

And may I teach them when I am awake.

“ ‘May I free beings from the ocean of suffering.

May I complete the six perfections

And afterward attain the highest enlightenment,

And may my realm be without an equal.

“ ‘Through the ripened result of offering a drum,

And through the cause that is praising the buddhas,

May I directly see the Śākya lord of munis,

And may I attain there the prophecy of my buddhahood.

“ ‘May these two youths, my two sons,

Kanakabhujendra and Kanakaprabhāsvara,

Attain there the prophecy

Of attaining the highest enlightenment.

“ ‘May those beings who have no protector or savior,

Who are without a refuge and are in distress,

May they all in the future

Have saviors, protectors, and refuges.

“ ‘May the source of all suffering come to an end.

May there be the source of all happiness.

May I have the conduct of enlightenment in future eons,

Which are as numerous as the eons of the past.

“ ‘Through the confession of The Sublime Golden Light,

May my ocean of bad actions dry up,

May my ocean of karma come to an end,

And may my ocean of kleśas cease to exist.

“ ‘May my ocean of merit become complete.

Through the power of the light of stainless wisdom,

May the ocean of my wisdom become complete,

And may there be an ocean of all qualities.

“ ‘May the precious qualities of enlightenment be complete.

Through the power of The Sublime Golden Light confession.

May my merit become radiant.

May the light of my enlightenment be purified.

“ ‘Through the sublime light of stainless
wisdom,

May my body shine with light.

In order that the light of merit be bright,

May I become preeminent within the three worlds.

“ ‘May I always have the power of merit.

May I be liberated from the ocean of suffering

And practice enlightened conduct in future eons

With every happiness that is like an ocean.

“ ‘In future times, may my realm

Have the same infinite qualities

As the superior, infinite qualities

Of all the jinas in the realms

That have been in the three worlds in the past.’ ”

This concludes “The Source of Lotus Flowers: A Praise of All the Buddhas,” the fifth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 6: Emptiness

Then the Bhagavat recited these verses:

“I have taught the Dharmas of emptiness

Very extensively in countless other sūtras.

Therefore, in this supreme sūtra

I will teach the Dharmas of emptiness briefly.

“Unknowing beings with little intelligence

Are not able to know all the Dharmas.

Therefore, in this supreme sūtra

I will teach the Dharmas of emptiness briefly.

“I teach this lord of supreme sūtras

Through other methods, ways, and causes,

And through compassion, so that all beings will understand

And so that it will arise in beings.

“This body is like an empty village.

The senses are like six village thieves,

Who, although they are in the same village,

Are not aware of one another.

“The sense of sight runs toward forms;

The sense of hearing moves after sounds;

The sense of smell steals various aromas;

The sense of taste runs after flavors;

“The sense of touch pursues tactility;

The mental sense investigates phenomena.

These six senses in relation to one another

Are each engaging with their own objects of perception.

“The mind is unstable, like an illusion.

The six senses experience their fields of perception.

The six village
thieves present there,

Are like a man running around in an empty village.

“Just as the mind and the six present senses

Know the range of sensory perception—

Forms, sounds, and likewise smells,

Flavors, tactility, and the range of mental phenomena—

“The mind enters the senses, moving like a bird

Throughout all six of them.

In whatever sense it is present,

It has the nature of that sense’s perception.

“The body is unmoving and has no activity.

It has no essence and arises from conditions.

It has no real existence but arises from concepts.

It is an empty village; it is like a working machine.

“Earth, fire, water, and air

Dwell here and there outside the village.

They are like poisonous snakes in one location

That are always in conflict with one another.

“Of those four snakes of the elements,

Two move upward and two go downward;

They go in twos to the main and intermediate directions,

And all those element snakes are destroyed.

“The earth snake and the water snake—

These two come to an end below.

The fire snake and the air snake—

They go upward into the sky.

“The mind and the consciousnesses remain,

And they go according to previous karma.

According to the karma created in the past, they are reborn

Into an existence among devas, humans, or the three lower realms.

“When the phlegm, air, and bile come to an end,

The body becomes covered with urine and vomit.

It becomes a disgusting mass of worms

And is cast into the charnel ground as if it were wood.

“Goddess, look at these phenomena,

At whatever being or individual is here;

All of these phenomena are empty,

But they occur through the factor of ignorance.

“All these great elements are not ‘great occurrences.’

They occur through nonoccurrence and so do not occur.

Because the occurring elements are nonoccurring,

For that reason I call them ‘great elements.’

“They are not existent and never were
existent.

They come to be because of ignorance.

This ignorance, too, is not existent.

Therefore, I teach that this is ignorance.

“Formations, consciousness, and name and form;

The six āyatanas, contact, and sensation;

Craving, grasping, and likewise becoming;

And the misfortunes of birth, aging and death, and misery—

“Those inconceivable sufferings in saṃsāra

That are present in the wheel of saṃsāra

Have happened without happening and have no origination.

The distinctions made by an erroneous mind,

“And the view that there is a self, should be cut through.

Cut through the net of the kleśas with the sword of wisdom.

See that the basis of the skandhas is empty.

Reach the vast qualities of the buddhas.

“I have opened the gate of the city of amṛta.

I have shown everyone the vessel of amṛta liquid.

I have entered the place that is the city of amṛta,

And I have been satiated by the amṛta liquid.

“I have beaten the sublime great drum of the Dharma.

I have blown the sublime conch of the Dharma.

I have lit the sublime lamp of the Dharma,

And I have sent down a sublime rain of Dharma.

“I have defeated the supreme enemy, the kleśas.

I have raised the sublime banner of the Dharma.

I have brought beings across the ocean of existence.

I have blocked the road to the three lower existences.

“There are beings who are tormented by the fire of the kleśas,

Who have no support or protector.

I have extinguished the fire of the kleśas in those beings

And brought them relief with the cooling liquid of amṛta.

“For that reason, through many past eons

I made offerings to innumerable guides,

And in seeking for the Dharma body

I practiced resolute discipline for the sake of enlightenment.

“I gave away my arms, eyes, and legs;

My head, beloved sons and
daughters,

Wealth, treasures, ornamentations of jewels and pearls,

Gold, beryl, and various kinds of jewels.

“If all the trees in the trichiliocosm,

And all the grasses, the plants,

And the forests—everything that

Grows from the ground—were to be cut down,

“And they were all ground down

And made into the smallest atoms

And were formed into a heap of powder

That reached the domain of the sky,

“It would not be possible to divide that into portions.

There are the particles that exist in the earth—

The countless elemental particles

In all the trichiliocosm worlds—

“And if the knowledge of all beings

Could become that of a single being,

Such that with that knowledge

All those particles could be counted,

“Then the humans with that perfect wisdom,

Who would be superior to all other beings,

Could possibly count all those particles,

But still they would not be able to calculate a jina’s wisdom.

“If they were to engage with a single instant

Of the wisdom of the great Muni,

For many millions of eons,

They would still be unable to calculate it.”

This concludes “Emptiness,” the sixth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime
Golden Light.”

Chapter 7: The Four Mahārājas

Then Mahārāja Vaiśravaṇa, Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Mahārāja Virūḍhaka, and Mahārāja Virūpākṣa rose from their seats, and
with their upper robe over one shoulder, knelt on their right knee and, with palms together in homage, bowed toward the
Bhagavat and said, “Venerable Bhagavat, this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, is taught by
all the tathāgatas; it is viewed by all the tathāgatas; it is thought of by all the tathāgatas; it is possessed by
all the assemblies of bodhisattvas; it is paid homage to by all the hosts of devas; it is offered to by all the hosts of
devas; it is praised by all the hosts of the lords of devas; it is offered to, praised, and honored by all the protectors of
the world; it illuminates all the divine mansions; it brings supreme happiness to all beings; it extinguishes all the
suffering in the hells, in the lives of animals, and in the realm of Yama; it brings fears to an end; it repels all the armies
of enemies; it brings the calamity of famines to an end; it brings the calamity of disease to an end; it dispels all planetary influences; it brings perfect peace; it ends misery and
troubles; and it brings to an end various kinds of calamities—it overcomes a hundred thousand calamities.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if you extensively elucidate this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden
Light, through hearing the Dharma, through the
liquid of the amṛta of the Dharma, then the divine bodies of we Four Mahārājas and our armies and attendants will increase in
their great magnificence; diligence, strength, and power will arise in our bodies; and magnificence, splendor, and good
fortune will enter our bodies.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas possess the Dharma, teach the Dharma, and are Dharma kings.

“Venerable Bhagavat, through the Dharma we are the kings of devas, nāgas, asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kinnaras, and
mahoragas. We repel the terrible hosts of cruel bhūtas who steal the vitality of others.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas, and the twenty-eight great generals of the yakṣas and many hundreds of
thousands of yakṣas, are continually looking at all of Jambudvīpa with our pure divine vision, which transcends that of
humans, and we defend it and protect it.

“Venerable Bhagavat, for that reason we Four Mahārājas are given the name world protectors.

“Venerable Bhagavat, wherever in this Jambudvīpa a country is defeated by an enemy army—or is stricken by the
calamity of famine, or the calamity of disease, or a hundred various calamities, a thousand calamities, or a hundred thousand
calamities—then, venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas will inspire the bhikṣus who possess this Lord
King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light.

“Venerable Bhagavat, when we Four Mahārājas inspire dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus through miracles and blessings, they will
teach this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, in whatever land they are in, and all
the various calamities—a hundred calamities, a thousand calamities—that have appeared in that land will cease.

“Venerable Bhagavat, in whatever lands there are dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus who possess this Lord
King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light then in those lands The Lord King of Sūtras, The
Sublime Golden Light will be heard.

“Venerable Bhagavat, when a human king listens to and hears this Lord King of Sūtras, The
Sublime Golden Light, he will guard those bhikṣus who possess this lord of sūtras from all adversaries; he will
defend them, keep them in his care, and protect them.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas will guard all the beings who dwell in the domain of that human king; we will
guard them, defend them, keep them in our care, protect them, and bring them peace and well-being.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if a human king were to make happy, through whatever brings happiness, the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who
possess this lord of sūtras, then, venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas will, through the
requisites for happiness, bring the perfection of happiness and requisites to the beings who dwell in all the dominions of
those human kings.

“Venerable Bhagavat, when human kings honor, revere, attend upon, and make offerings to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs,
upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this lord of sūtras, then, venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas will cause all kings to
greatly honor, revere, attend upon, and make offerings to those human kings, and they will be praised in all their
dominions.”

Then the Bhagavat congratulated the Four Mahārājas, saying, “Excellent, excellent, Mahārājas! Excellent, excellent,
you Mahārājas!

“It is thus: you have served past jinas, have generated roots of merit, have honored many hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of buddhas, have possessed the Dharma, have taught the Dharma, and have been kings of devas and humans through
the Dharma.

“It is thus: for a long time, you have had the motivation to benefit all beings; you have had the motivation of
happiness and love; you have had the superior motivation of wishing to bring benefit and happiness to all beings; you have
prevented that which is not beneficial; and you have been dedicated to accomplishing every happiness for all beings.

“You Four Mahārājas have guarded the kings who have been dedicated to honoring and making offerings to The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, and defended them, kept them in your care,
protected them, saved them from attack, and brought them peace and well-being.

“Therefore, you Four Mahārājas, with your army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, will guard the
way of the Dharma of the buddha bhagavats of the past, future, and present. You will protect it and keep it in your care.

“Therefore, you Four Mahārājas, with your army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, will be
victorious in the battle between the devas and asuras. You will defeat the asuras. In this way, The Lord
King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light subjugates all opposing armies. For that reason, you should guard the
bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this lord of sūtras. You should defend them, keep them in your care,
protect them, and bring them peace and well-being.”

Then Mahārāja Vaiśravaṇa, Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Mahārāja Virūḍhaka, and Mahārāja Virūpākṣa rose from their seats,
and with their upper robes over one shoulder, they knelt
on their right knee and, with palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and said, “Venerable Bhagavat, in the
future, when this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light is performed in any village,
town, market town, district, kingdom, or royal capital; when it is performed in the domain of any human king; and when,
venerable Bhagavat, any human king who acts as a king in accordance with the commitment of the lord of devas and with this
treatise on kingship, and always listens to, worships, and makes offerings to this Lord King of Sūtras,
The Sublime Golden Light, and honors, venerates, worships, and makes offerings to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs,
upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this Lord King of Sūtras, and always listens to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, then at that time, through the liquid amṛta of this
Dharma, through the water of the river of listening to the Dharma, the divine bodies of we Four Mahārājas and our army,
attendants, and many hundred thousands of yakṣas will increase in their great magnificence, and we will have great diligence,
power, and strength. Our magnificence, splendor, and good fortune will also increase.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas, with our army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, will now
and in future times be present in these very bodies in any village, town, market town, district, kingdom, or royal capital
where this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light is performed.

“We will guard the human kings who listen to, worship, and make offerings to this Lord King of
Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light. We will defend them, keep them in our care, protect them, save them from
attack, and bring them peace and well-being.

“We will guard the royal courts, the kingdoms, and their dominions. We will defend
them, keep them in our care, protect them, save them from attack, and bring them peace and well-being. We will free those
dominions from all fear, harm, and disturbances, and we will repel the armies of enemies.

“If a human king who listens to, worships, and makes offerings to this Lord King of Sūtras, The
Sublime Golden Light has a neighboring enemy king, and if, venerable Bhagavat, that king thinks, ‘I will go with
my fourfold army to that domain to destroy it,’ then, venerable Bhagavat, at that time, in that time, through the power of the
magnificence of this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, that neighboring enemy king
will enter into battle with other kings, who will enter his domain and bring ruin to his domain. They will bring dreadful ruin
to that king. Bad planetary influences and diseases will also appear in his domain. There will be hundreds of various kinds of
difficulties in his domain.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if a neighboring enemy king goes to that king’s domain, there will be hundreds of various kinds
of calamities and hundreds of various kinds of tribulations.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if a neighboring enemy king gathers together his fourfold army and leaves his domain as an
invading army and with those four divisions of his army enters another domain in order to destroy a domain where this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, is present, then, venerable Bhagavat, we Four Mahārājas, with our army, attendants, and countless
hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, in these very bodies, will go there, and we will drive back the enemy army that is en
route. We will cause them hundreds of various calamities and create obstacles for them. In that way,
the army of the enemy will not even be able to enter that domain, let alone cause its destruction.”

Then the Bhagavat congratulated the Four Mahārājas, saying, “Excellent, excellent, Mahārājas! Excellent, excellent,
you Mahārājas! You have accomplished this for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of asaṃkhyeya eons, and for the sake
of the highest, most complete enlightenment you should guard, defend, keep in your care, protect, save from attack, and bring
peace and well-being to a human king who listens to, worships, and makes offerings to this Lord King of Sūtras,
The Sublime Golden Light.

“You should also guard, defend, keep in your care, protect, save from attack, and bring peace and well-being to their
royal courts, cities, kingdoms, and dominions. You should also free those
dominions from all fear, harm, and disturbances. You should repel the armies of enemies.

“You should be eager for there to be no fighting, no quarreling, no contention, and no disputes among the human kings
who dwell throughout all of Jambudvīpa.

“In this Jambudvīpa of yours, you Four Mahārājas and your army and attendants, may the eighty-four thousand kings in
the eighty-four thousand cities each delight in their own domains. May they each delight in their own sovereignty. May they not be harmful to each other’s aggregation of wealth.
May they not attack each other. May the kings be happy with the sovereignty that they have obtained through their own
accumulation of karma in the past. May they not destroy each other’s dominion. May they not cause harm to each other in order
to destroy each other’s dominion.

“When the eighty-four thousand kings in the eighty-four thousand cities in this Jambudvīpa are loving toward each
other; when they have loving and altruistic minds; when they have no fighting, no quarreling, no contention, and no disputes
among them and are each happy with their own domains, because of that, you Four Mahārājas, your army and attendants, and this
Jambudvīpa will flourish. It will have good harvests. It will be delightful. It will be filled with many people. It will have
fertile earth. The cycles of periods of time, months, fortnights, and years will be fortuitous. Both day and night, the
planets, the lunar asterisms, the moon, and the sun will move harmoniously. The rain will fall on the earth at the appropriate
times. The beings who dwell in Jambudvīpa will have all wealth and grain. They will have numerous possessions, without
miserliness. They will be generous. They will follow the path of the ten good actions. Most will be reborn in the higher
blissful realms. The mansions of the devas will be filled with devas and their children.

“Mahārājas, where there is a human king who listens to, worships, and makes offerings to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light; and honors, venerates, worships, and makes offerings to the
bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden
Light; and who, out of kindness to you Four Mahārājas, your army and attendants, and your many hundred thousands
of yakṣas, always listens to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, then through the water of the river of listening to the Dharma,
the liquid amṛta of this Dharma, your divine bodies will be refreshed, and your divine bodies will increase in their great
magnificence, and you will develop diligence, power, and strength. Your magnificence, splendor, and good fortune will also
increase.

“Those human kings will have also made inconceivably vast offerings to me, the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha
Śākyamuni. Those human kings will also have made offerings of all inconceivably vast, immense requisites to many hundreds of
thousands of quintillions of past, future, and present tathāgatas. Therefore, a great guardianship will be created for those
human kings. Those human kings will be guarded, defended, cared for, protected, saved from attacks, and endowed with peace and
well-being. There will be a great guardianship created for all their queens, their princes, their harems, and their entire
court. They will be guarded, defended, cared for, protected, saved
from attacks, and endowed with peace and well-being. All the deities who dwell in the royal court will have greater
magnificence, greater strength, and inconceivable bliss and happiness. They will experience various kinds of pleasure. The
cities and the kingdom will also be guarded, defended, unharmed, without enemies, and not oppressed, harmed, or disturbed by
enemy armies.”

Then Mahārāja Vaiśravaṇa, Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Mahārāja Virūḍhaka, and Mahārāja Virūpākṣa said to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, the human king who wishes to listen to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden
Light, and who wishes to have a great guardianship for himself; who wishes for a great guardianship for all his
queens, their princes and princesses, and the harem; who wishes to bring the highest, superior, inconceivable great peace and
well-being to his entire court; who wishes to increase his great sovereignty inconceivably in
his lifetime; who wishes to possess inconceivable kingship; who wishes to possess an incalculable accumulation of merit; who
wishes for his entire domain to be completely guarded; who wishes for it to be protected; who wishes for there to be no harm
to his domain; and who wishes for there to be no enemies, no oppression from enemy armies, no disease, and no
disturbances—venerable Bhagavat, that human king, with an undistracted mind, with veneration and service, should listen
respectfully to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light.

“In order to listen to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, that human
king should enter a superior royal palace. Having entered, he should sprinkle perfume and scatter a variety of flower petals
in the royal palace. Where the perfume has been sprinkled, he should set up a high Dharma throne, well adorned with a variety
of adornments. He should adorn that place well with a variety of parasols, banners, and flags. That human king should wash his
body. He should put on new, perfectly clean clothes and adorn himself with various kinds of jewelry. He should set out for himself a low seat, and seated on that he should not
have the arrogant conceit of a king.

“He should have no attachment to the power of kingship. With a mind devoid of all arrogance, pride, and conceit, he
should listen to this Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light. He should also perceive the
dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu as a teacher.

“That human king, at that time, in that time, should regard his principal queen, princes, princesses, and harem in a
pleasing and beneficial way. He should speak to his principal queen, princes, princesses, and harem with pleasant words. He
should have various offerings assembled for listening to the Dharma. He should be delighted by inconceivable, unequaled joy.
He should be blissful with inconceivable joy and happiness. He should have delighted senses. He should think he will attain a
great benefit. He should be delighted with a great delight. He should welcome the
dharmabhāṇaka with great pleasure.”

After they had spoken, the Bhagavat said to the Four Mahārājas, “Mahārājas, at that time, in that time, that human
king should wear clothes that are all white, beautiful, and new. He should adorn himself well with various adornments and
jewelry. He should hold a white parasol. With great royal power and a great royal display, he should hold various auspicious
articles and leave the royal palace to go to welcome the dharmabhāṇaka.

“Why is that? It is because however many steps the human king takes, that number of hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of eons in saṃsāra is eliminated, and he will become a cakravartin king that number of hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of times. However many steps he takes, in that
lifetime his great sovereignty will increase inconceivably that number of times. He will attain as his abode for many hundreds
of thousands of quintillions of eons a vast and immense divine aerial palace made of the seven precious materials. He will
obtain hundreds of thousands of divinely human royal families with a vastness that is a divine vastness. In all his lifetimes,
he will have great sovereignty; he will have a long life; he will live for a long time; he will have eloquence; he will be an
excellent speaker; he will be famous; he will be widely renowned; he will be worthy of praise; he will benefit the world and
its devas and asuras; he will attain the vast, vast happiness of devas and humans; he will have great might; he will possess
the power of the strength of a great champion; he will be handsome and attractive; he will possess a perfectly developed,
excellent color; in all his lifetimes he will meet a tathāgata; he will obtain a kalyāṇamitra; and he will possess an
incalculable aggregation of merit.

“Mahārājas, seeing the benefit of such qualities, the human king should go a yojana to greet the dharmabhāṇaka—he
should go a hundred yojanas, a thousand yojanas, to greet him. He should conceive of that dharmabhāṇaka as the Teacher. He
should think, ‘Today the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Śākyamuni will enter this my royal palace. Today the tathāgata arhat
samyaksaṃbuddha Śākyamuni will take his meal in this my royal palace. Today I will hear the Dharma of the tathāgata arhat
samyaksaṃbuddha Śākyamuni, which is contrary to all worlds. Today, through hearing the Dharma, I will progress irreversibly
toward the highest, most complete enlightenment. Today I have pleased many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of
tathāgatas. Today I have made an immense, vast, inconceivably
great offering to the buddha bhagavats of the past, the future, and the present. Today I have brought to an end all the
suffering in the hells, in rebirth as animals, and in the land of Yama. Today I have planted the roots of merit that are the
seed for attaining many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of the bodies of a king and a lord of the Brahmā devas. Today I
have planted the roots of merit that are the seed for attaining many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of the bodies of a
Śakra. Today I have planted the roots of merit that are the seed for attaining many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of
the bodies of a cakravartin king. Today I have attained liberation from saṃsāra for many hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of eons. Today I have obtained an immense, vast, unsurpassable, inconceivable aggregation of merit. Today I have
created a great guardianship for all in my harem. Today I have brought the highest, superior, perfect, inconceivable peace and
well-being to this royal palace. Today I have guarded this entire domain. It will be defended, unharmed, without enemies, and
without the oppression of invading armies, disease, and disturbances.’

“Mahārājas, if the king who with this reverence for the Dharma honors, venerates, worships, and makes offerings to
the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden
Light, and dedicates the best part to you Four Mahārājas, your army, your attendants, the host of devas, and the many hundred thousands of yakṣas,
then he will manifest the merit, he will manifest the good karma, and in that life his great sovereignty will increase
incalculably. In that life he will possess the incalculable great magnificence of a king, and he will be adorned by splendor,
good fortune, and magnificence. All his opponents will be eliminated, in accord with the Dharma, together with all his
enemies.”

When the Bhagavat had said that, the Four Mahārājas said to him, “Venerable Bhagavat, if there is a human king with
such a reverence for the Dharma as that—one who honors, venerates, worships, and makes offerings to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs,
upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, and who,
for our sake, purifies and cleans the royal palace, and sprinkles it well with various perfumes—then he will be listening to
the Dharma together with us, the Four Mahārājas. If he gives a little share of his roots of merit to us and all devas, then,
venerable Bhagavat, as soon as the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu comes to his seat, that king, for the sake of us, the Four Mahārājas,
should spread the aroma of various scents.

“Venerable Bhagavat, as soon as he perfumes with various scents, in order to make an offering to The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, there will appear from the various aromas vines of various
perfumes and incenses. In that instant, that moment, that fraction of a second, in the sky above each of our palaces, the
palaces of the Four Mahārājas, there will be present a parasol composed of the vines of various perfumes and incenses, and there will spread a vast aroma. There will appear a golden
light that will illuminate our palaces.

“Venerable Bhagavat, the vines of various perfumes and incenses, in that instant, that moment, that fraction of a
second, will appear as parasols composed of vines of various perfumes and incenses present in the sky above the palaces of
Brahmā, the lord of Sahā; of Śakra, the lord of the devas; of the great goddess Sarasvatī; of the great goddess Dṛḍhā; of the
great yakṣa general Saṃjñeya and the other twenty-eight great yakṣa generals; of the great deity
Maheśvara; of the great yakṣa general Vajrapāṇi; of the great yakṣa general Māṇibhadra; of Hārītī with her entourage of five
hundred children; of the nāga king Anavatapta; and of the nāga king Sāgara. A vast aroma will spread and a
golden light will appear inside those palaces, and that light will illuminate everything.”

When the Four Mahārājas had said that, the Bhagavat said to them, “Mahārājas, parasols comprised of vines of various
perfumes and incenses will be present not only in the sky above the palaces of each of you Four Mahārājas. Why is that? As
soon as the human king perfumes with those aromas as an offering to The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime
Golden Light, there will arise from the censer in his hands vines of perfumes and incense. In that instant, in
that moment, in that fraction of a second, throughout all the world realms in the trichiliocosm, where there are a billion
moons, a billion suns, a billion great oceans, a billion Sumeru kings of mountains, a billion Cakravāḍa and Mahācakravāḍa kings of mountains, a billion four-continent world
realms, a billion Mahārājakāyikas, a billion Trāyastriṃśas, and so on, up to a billion paradises of the state of neither
perception nor nonperception; throughout all those world realms in the billion world realms, there will be parasols composed
of those vines of incenses and perfumes in the sky above the palaces of the hosts of devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras,
garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. A vast aroma will spread, and a golden light will appear inside those divine palaces, and
that light will illuminate everything.

“Mahārājas, just as parasols composed of vines of incenses and perfumes are present above all the divine palaces in
the world realms in these billion world realms, in the same way, as soon as the king makes an offering of perfuming with scent
The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, then through the power of the magnificence
of this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light there will appear vines of perfume and
incense. In that instant, in that moment, in that fraction of a second, parasols composed of vines of incenses and perfumes
will be present in the sky above the many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of tathāgatas, as numerous as the sand grains
of the Ganges River, who are in the many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddha realms, as numerous as the sand
grains of the Ganges River, that are in the many world realms in the ten directions. They will perfume many hundreds of
thousands of quintillions of buddhas with an extremely vast variety of perfumes and incenses. They will shine with a golden
light that will illuminate many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddha realms as numerous as the sand grains of the
Ganges River.

“Mahārājas, as soon as those miracles occur, many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of tathāgatas, as numerous as the sand grains of the Ganges River will regard that
dharmabhāṇaka, and they will congratulate him, saying, ‘Well done, well done, good man! It is excellent, excellent, that you,
good man, wish to teach extensively the way of this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden
Light, which has such a profound meaning, which has such a profound illumination, and which possesses inconceivable
qualities. Any being who merely listens to this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light
will have merit that is not insignificant, not to mention someone who obtains it, possesses it, explains it, reads it, learns it, and teaches it extensively to an assembly. Why is that? Good man, it is
because on hearing this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, many hundreds of thousands
of quintillions of bodhisattvas, as soon as they hear it, become irreversible in their progress toward the highest, most
complete enlightenment.’

“Then, at that time, in that time, the many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of tathāgatas in many hundreds of
thousands of quintillions of buddha realms, as numerous as the sand grains of the Ganges River, in the same words, in one
voice, as one speech, will say to the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu who is seated on the Dharma throne, ‘Good man, in a future time you
will go to the Bodhimaṇḍa.

“ ‘Good man, when you have gone to the supreme, sublime Bodhimaṇḍa, you will sit at the foot of the king of trees,
and you will manifest performing with determination many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of
disciplines and ascetic practices that are superior to all the three worlds and transcend all beings.

“ ‘Good man, you will perfectly adorn the Bodhimaṇḍa.

“ ‘Good man, you will protect all the world realms of a billion worlds.

“ ‘Good man, at the foot of the king of trees, you will be victorious over the innumerable armies of Māra, who have
terrifying forms, terrifying presence, hideous manifestations, and various hideous forms.

“ ‘Good man, having gone to the supreme, sublime Bodhimaṇḍa, you will attain the highest, most complete enlightenment
of complete buddhahood that is beyond analogy and is complete peace, spotless, and profound.

“ ‘Good man, you will be seated upon the central, eternal vajra seat. You will turn the Dharma wheel that is praised
by all the jinas, is supremely profound, and has
the twelve forms.

“ ‘Good man, you will beat the unsurpassable great drum of the Dharma.

“ ‘Good man, you will blow the unsurpassable conch of the Dharma.

“ ‘Good man, you will raise the great banner of the Dharma.

“ ‘Good man, you will light the unsurpassable lamp of the Dharma.

“ ‘Good man, you will send down the unsurpassable rain of the Dharma.

“ ‘Good man, you will be victorious over many thousands of kleśa enemies.

“ ‘Good man, you will free many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of beings from the terrifying ocean of great
terrors.

“ ‘Good man, you will free many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of beings from the wheel of saṃsāra.

“ ‘Good man, you will please many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddhas.’ ”

When the Bhagavat had said that, the Four Mahārājas said to him, “Venerable Bhagavat, when we see a human king who has developed roots of merit with a
hundred thousand buddhas, who possesses an incalculable aggregation of merit, and who sees these qualities that arise in this
life and the future from this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, then, venerable
Bhagavat, out of kindness for him, when we, the Four Mahārājas, and our army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of
yakṣas, are invoked by the vines of various perfumes and incenses at each of our dwellings, we will immediately, in order to
listen to the Dharma, make our bodies invisible and will go to the king’s palace, which has been well
swept, excellently sprinkled with various perfumes, and excellently adorned with various decorations. Brahmā, the lord of
Sahā; Śakra, the lord of the devas; the great goddess Sarasvatī; the great goddess Śrī; the great goddess Dṛḍhā; the great
yakṣa general Saṃjñeya; the twenty-eight great yakṣa generals; the deity Maheśvara; the great yakṣa general Vajrapāṇi; the
great yakṣa general Māṇibhadra; Hārītī with her entourage of five hundred children; the nāga king Anavatapta; the nāga king
Sāgara; and many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of devas, with their bodies invisible, will come to the human king’s
palace, which has been adorned with various decorations. In order to listen to the Dharma, they will come to the
dharmabhāṇaka’s high Dharma throne, which has been perfectly adorned with various adornments and set up on a floor that has
been scattered with flowers.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we, the Four Mahārājas, and our army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, all
in unison, as soon as we have been satiated by the liquid amṛta of the Dharma, will become guardians of that human king, the
human king who is aided by a kalyāṇamitra, who has accomplished goodness, and who makes
the vast gift of the unsurpassable Dharma. We will defend him,
keep him in our care, protect him, and bring him peace and well-being. We will guard, defend, keep in our care, protect, and
bring peace and well-being to that royal palace, that city, and that domain. We will save
them from attack. We will free those in that domain from all fear, harm, disease, and disturbances.

“Venerable Bhagavat, when someone is a human king and in that human king’s domain there appears The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, then, venerable Bhagavat, if that human king does not honor,
venerate, worship, and make offerings to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess The
Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, and we, the Four Mahārājas, and our army, attendants, and many
hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, are not satiated by hearing this Dharma and by the liquid amṛta of the Dharma, and are not
worshiped, then the brilliance of our bodies will not increase. Our diligence, power, and might will not develop, and
magnificence, splendor, and good fortune will not increase within our bodies.

“Venerable Bhagavat, we, the Four Mahārājas, and our army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas, will
abandon that domain.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if we abandon that domain, all the devas who dwell in that domain will also abandon it.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if the devas abandon that domain, there will various kinds of troubles in that domain. There
will be terrible troubles for the king. All the beings who
dwell in that domain will become belligerent, quarrelsome, contentious, and disputatious. Various malign planetary influences and
illnesses will occur. Shooting stars will fall from every direction. The planets and lunar asterisms will be in disharmony.
The moon will pass through the sky as if it is the sun. Though the moon and sun will be in the sky, eclipses will continually
obscure them. From time to time there will be swirling rainbow colors in the sky. The ground will shake. Cavities in the ground
will emit sounds. A fierce wind will arise in the domain. A fierce rain will fall. There will be the calamity of famine. The
country will be defeated by an enemy army and ruined. The beings there will suffer many troubles. That domain will experience
unhappiness.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if we, the Four Mahārājas, and our army, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of yakṣas,
along with that domain’s devas and nāgas, abandon that domain, there will be hundreds of such calamities, thousands of such
various calamities.

“Venerable Bhagavat, if there is a human king who wishes to be well guarded; who wishes to experience the various
joys of a king for a long time; who wishes to enjoy for a long time the pleasures of being a king; who wishes to make all the
beings who dwell in his domain happy; who wishes to defeat all the armies of his adversaries; who wishes to protect his entire
domain for a long time; who wishes to be a Dharma king; and who wishes to free his domain from all fear, harm, disease, and
disturbances, then, venerable Bhagavat, that human king should
listen with conviction to this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light. He should honor,
venerate, worship, and make offerings to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess The
Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light. We, the Four Mahārājas, and our army and attendants should become
satisfied by this accumulation of the roots of merit through listening to the Dharma and by this liquid amṛta of the Dharma.
The great brilliance of these divine bodies of ours should be increased.

“Why is that? Venerable Bhagavat, the human king should listen with conviction to this Lord King
of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.

“Venerable Bhagavat, this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light is much greater
than, far superior to, all the various worldly and nonworldly treatises taught by the lord of Brahmās; all the various
treatises taught by Śakra, the lord of the devas; and all the various worldly and nonworldly treatises taught for the benefit
of beings by ṛṣis who possessed the five higher cognitions.

“Venerable Bhagavat, a tathāgata is much greater than, far superior to, a hundred thousand lords of the Brahmās, the
many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of Śakras, and all the hundreds of thousands of quintillions of ṛṣis endowed with
the five higher cognitions, and he teaches extensively this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden
Light in order to benefit beings.

“The bhagavat arhat samyaksaṃbuddha has the blessing of the power of great compassion, which is far superior to that
of a hundred thousand quintillion lords of the Brahmās; he has a tathāgata’s unsurpassable wisdom, which is far superior to
the divine knowledge of a hundred thousand quintillion Śakras; and he has a blessing that is far superior to that of all the
many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of ṛṣis who have the various forms of the five higher cognitions. The bhagavat
arhat samyaksaṃbuddha teaches this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light extensively in
this Jambudvīpa for the sake of all beings so that the kings of humans who dwell throughout Jambudvīpa will have sovereignty;
so that all beings will become happy; so that all domains will be guarded and defended; so that there will be no harm or enemies in all dominions; so that the armies of
adversaries will be defeated and will retreat; so that there will be no disease or disturbances; so that human kings will
light the great lamp of the Dharma and illuminate their own domains; so that the mansions of the devas will be filled with
devas and their children; so that we, the Four Mahārājas, and our armies, attendants, and many hundreds of thousands of
yakṣas, and all the hosts of devas that dwell in Jambudvīpa, will be satiated and worshiped; so that our divine bodies will
increase in great magnificence; so that diligence, might, and great strength develop in our bodies; so that there will be good
harvests; so that there will be happiness throughout all Jambudvīpa, which will become filled with beings and people; so that
all beings who dwell in Jambudvīpa will be happy, experiencing various kinds of happiness; so that all beings will experience
the vast, vast happiness of devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons; and so that they will be
in the company of buddha bhagavats and in a future time will all attain the highest, most complete enlightenment.

“Venerable Bhagavat, because of that cause and condition, a human king should reverently listen with conviction to
this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, reverently worship it, and reverently make
offerings to it.”

When the Four Mahārājas had said that, the Bhagavat said to them, “Therefore, you Four Mahārājas, with your army and
attendants, should with great enthusiasm guard the kings who with conviction listen to, worship, and make offerings to this
Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.

“Mahārājas, you should cause the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this lord king of sūtras to
possess buddha activity. They will perform buddha activity in this world with its devas, humans, and asuras.
They will extensively and correctly teach this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.

“You, the Four Mahārājas, should ensure that the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess this lord of
sūtras are guarded, are unharmed, have no illness, have no disturbances, and are happy.

“Guard, defend, take in your care, protect, and bring peace and well-being to the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and
upāsikās who will teach this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”

Then Mahārāja Vaiśravaṇa, Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Mahārāja Virūḍhaka, and Mahārāja Virūpākṣa rose from their seats, and
with their upper robes over one shoulder, knelt on their right knee, and with palms together in homage, bowed toward the
Bhagavat.

At that time, they directly praised the Bhagavat with these appropriate verses:

“To the stainless moon of the Jina’s body,

To the light of the thousand rays of the Jina’s sun,

To the stainless lotuses of the Jina’s eyes,

And to the spotless lotus roots of the Jina’s teeth;

“To the sea of the Jina’s qualities

That is the source of many jewels;

To the Jina’s ocean filled with the water of wisdom

That is pervaded by hundreds of thousands of samādhis;

“To the Jina’s feet with the design of wheels,

With hubs, rims, and a thousand spokes;

To the hands and feet beautified by webs,

The webs of the feet like those of the lord of geese;

“And to the mountain of the Jina that is stainless gold

And that is shining like a golden mountain,

Who, like Meru, possesses all qualities—

To the Jina, the lord of mountains, we pay homage.

“To the Tathāgata who is like the sun and moon,

To the one who is similar to and equal to space,

Who has no impediment like a mirage or illusion,

To the stainless Jina we pay homage.”

The Bhagavat then spoke these verses to the Four Mahārājas:

“You who are guardians of the world

Should protect with unwavering diligence

The Golden Light, the Supreme King andLord of Sūtras of those with the ten strengths,

“So that this profound, precious sūtra

That bestows happiness on all beings

Will remain long in this Jambudvīpa

For the sake of the happiness and benefit of beings.

“It will bring an end to all the suffering

Of the beings that are in the hells

And the suffering of the lower existences

In the worlds of this trichiliocosm.

“Within this Jambudvīpa,

May all the kings in Jambudvīpa

With great, perfect joy

Protect their domains through the Dharma.

“May those who make Jambudvīpa happy

With excellent harvests and joy

Make all beings become happy

Throughout the whole of Jambudvīpa.

“Those who are lords of humans here,

Who delight in their domain and who are happy and joyful,

Who delight in the wealth of sovereignty,

Should listen to this lord of the sūtras.

“The opposing hordes of enemies will come to an end;

This source of goodness will repel enemy armies.

Ruination through the greatest fear will be averted.

This lord of sūtras is the source of goodness.

“A king who wishes for good qualities

Should view this supreme lord of sūtras

As being like a beautiful, precious tree

That is in the home, and the source of all qualities.

“Just as cool water dispels thirst

When found by someone fatigued by heat,

That is what this supreme king of sūtras is like

For a king who is thirsty for good qualities.

“Like a precious casket in the hands,

Which is a source of every jewel,

That is what this supreme king of sūtras,

The Golden Light, is for the multitudes of kings.

“The devas make offerings to this lord of sūtras.

The lords of the devas pay homage to it.

The four protectors of the world,

With great miracles, guard it well.

“The buddhas in the ten directions

Always think of this lord of
sūtras.

Whenever this sūtra is taught,

The buddhas express their approval.

“The million million yakṣas that guard

The domains in the ten directions

Listen to this lord of sūtras

With joyful minds and with delight.

“The hosts of devas that dwell

In Jambudvīpa are beyond number.

Those hosts of devas, with complete joy,

Listen to this lord of sūtras.

“Through the act of listening to this sūtra,

They gain magnificence, strength, and diligence,

And the magnificence of their divine bodies

Vastly increases and expands.”

The Four Maharajas, on hearing these verses from the Bhagavat, were astonished, amazed, and overjoyed. Through the
power of the Dharma, they briefly wept and shed tears. Their bodies shook and their limbs trembled, and they felt joy, bliss,
and happiness. They scattered divine coral tree flowers toward the Bhagavat.

When they had scattered them, they rose from their seats, and with their upper robes over one shoulder, knelt on
their right knee, and with palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and said, “Venerable Bhagavat, we, the Four
Mahārājas, each with five hundred yakṣas, will always follow behind the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu in order to guard and protect
that dharmabhāṇaka.”

This concludes “The Four Mahārājas,” the seventh chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the
Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 8: Sarasvatī

Then the great goddess Sarasvatī, with her robe over
one shoulder, kneeling with her right knee on the ground and her palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and said
to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, I, the great goddess Sarasvatī, will bring eloquence to the words of those
dharmabhāṇakas so that their words will be beautified. I will also bestow on them the power of mental retention. I will
establish them in giving definitions. I will illuminate those dharmabhāṇakas with the great light of wisdom. If any line of
verse or syllables of this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light is left out or
forgotten, I will bring all definitions, lines of verse, and syllables to those dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus.

“So that this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime
Golden Light may remain for a long time in Jambudvīpa and not quickly vanish; so that beings can accomplish roots
of merit with a hundred thousand buddha bhagavats; so that many beings on hearing this Lord King of
Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, may develop inconceivably sharp wisdom; so that they may gain an inconceivable
aggregation of wisdom; so that they may attain good fortune in this life; so that
they may have benefit in life and possess an immeasurable aggregation of merit; so that they may seek a variety of
methods; so that they may
become learned in all treatises;
and so that they may attain perfection in a variety of arts, I will bestow the power of
retention so that they will not forget.

“I will teach the rite of cleansing with mantras and medicines for the benefit of the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus and the
beings who listen to the Dharma, so that harm from the planets, lunar asterisms, birth, and death; all the harms from
fighting, pollution, riots, chaos, nightmares, and misleaders;
and the harms from all evil spirits and vetālas will cease.

“These are the herbs and medicines through which the wise can cleanse themselves:

“Sweet flag, cow bezoar, and fenugreek,

Canafistula, acacia, and shami,

Orris root and musk,

Crepe ginger, cinnamon, and agarwood;

“Chir pine rosin and dammar gum,

Bdellium and frankincense,

Valerian and black stone flower,

Sandalwood and realgar;

“Bezoar and costus root,

Saffron, nut grass, and mustard seed,

Linseed, cardamom, and spikenard,

And ironwood flowers and vetiver:

“Combine equal amounts of each

During the Puṣya lunar house.

Recite these mantra words

A hundred times over the powder:

tadyathā | sukṛte kṛtakamalanīlajinakarate haṃkarāte indrajali śakaddre vaśaddre avartakasike
nakutra kukavilakavimalamati śīlamati sandhidhudhumamavati śiśiri satyasthite svāhā |

“Make a circle of cow dung

And scatter flower petals.

Pour sweetened water

Into a gold bowl and a silver bowl.

“You should also place there

Four men dressed in armor,

And place there four maidens

Who are adorned and holding pots.

“Perfume the air with bdellium

And play the five kinds of musical instruments.

Adorn the goddess with

Banners, parasols, and flags.

“In between, place mirrors

And arrange arrows and spears.

Then, after closing the boundary,

Commence on what is to be done.

syād yathedaṃ arake nayane hile mile gile khikhile svāhā |

“Engage in the peaceful activity of cleansing by reciting this mantra while washing the body of the Bhagavat:

tadyathā | sugaṭe vigaṭe vigatāvati svāhā |

“May the lunar asterisms, wherever they are

In the four directions, protect lives.

May they bring to an end the dreadful terrors

Of the harms from the stars of one’s birth,

The fears that arise from a multitude of actions,

And the disturbances of the elements.

tadyathā | śame
viṣame svāhā | sagaṭe vigaṭe svāhā | sukhatinate svāhā | sāgarasaṃbhūtāya svāhā | skandhamatāya svāhā | nīlakaṇṭhāya
svāhā | aparājitavīryāya svāhā | himavatsaṃbhūtāya svāhā | animilavaktrāya svāhā | namo bhagavate brāhmaṇe | namaḥ
sarasvatyai devyai | sidhyantu mantrapadā daṃ brahma anumanyatu svāhā |

“I will be there, because of this washing ritual, in order to guard the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu and those who listen to
the Dharma and those who write it out.

“Together with a host of devas, I will end all illness in those villages, towns, marketplaces, and
monasteries.

“I will end harm from planetary afflictions, fighting, and pollution; harm from the stars of one’s birth; and all
harm from nightmares, troublesome demons, and all evil spirits and vetālas for the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās
who possess this lord of sūtras, so that their lifespan will be benefited and they will abandon saṃsāra, will progress
irreversibly to the highest, most complete enlightenment, and will quickly attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of
buddhahood.”

Then the Bhagavat congratulated the great goddess Sarasvatī, saying, “Well done, well done, great goddess Sarasvatī!
You act to bring benefit to many beings and happiness to many beings. It is excellent, excellent, that you have given this
teaching of mantras and medicines.”

The great goddess Sarasvatī bowed down to the Bhagavat’s feet and sat to one side.

Then the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, called upon the goddess Sarasvatī:

“Great goddess Sarasvatī,

You are worthy of offering, a great ascetic;

You are renowned in all worlds;

You give the best and have great qualities;

“You have the highest attainment, are beautiful,

And have put on a darbha grass robe—

You are wearing darbha grass clothing,

And you stand on one leg.

“All the devas have gathered,

And they all speak in one voice:

‘Loosen your tongue and speak

The words that will benefit beings.’

syād yathedaṃ | mure cire | avaje avajavate | higule migule | pigalavati maguśe marici samati daśamati agrimagri tara citara capati cicirī śirimiri marici praṇaye lokajyeṣṭhe lokapriye siddhiprite vimamukhiśucikharī apratihate apratehata buddhe namuci namuci mahādevī pratigṛhnanamaskaraṃ
|

“May I have unimpeded understanding. May I accomplish the knowledge of treatises, verses, tantras, piṭakas,
poetry, and so on.

tadyathā | mahāprabhavā hili hili mili mili |

“May I be victorious through the power of the Bhagavatī, the goddess Sarasvatī.

karaṭe keyūre keyūravati hili mili hili mili hili hili |

“I summon the great goddess through the truth of the Buddha, the truth of the Dharma, the truth of the Saṅgha, the
truth of Indra, and the truth of Varuṇa. I invoke the great goddess through the truth and true words of all who speak truth in
the world.

Then the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, praised the goddess Sarasvatī with these verses:

“All hosts of spirits, listen to me!

I praise the perfectly beautiful face of the sublime goddess,

The sublime female, the highest of perfect goddesses

In the world with its devas, gandharvas, and lords of devas.

“The one named Sarasvatī is endowed with vast eyes.

Her limbs are adorned by an accumulation of various qualities.

She shines with merit, a vastness of stainless wisdom and qualities.

She is like a vision of an accumulation of different jewels.

“I praise her, who has the exceptional qualities of supreme speech.

She produces the supreme, sublime accomplishments.

She produces true praises and good qualities.

She is stainlessly supreme, a shining lotus.

“She has supreme eyes, sublime eyes.

She is the basis for goodness, a vision of goodness.

She is adorned with inconceivable qualities.

She is like the moon shining with pure light.

“She is the source of wisdom and has sublime memory.

She is a supreme lion, the divine steed of humans.

She is adorned by eight arms

And she shines like the full moon.

“She has a beautiful voice and lovely speech.

She is endowed with profound wisdom.

She is a sublime being who provides the highest needs.

Her abode is praised by all the hosts of deva and asura lords,

And she is continually offered to by the hosts of spirits: svāhā.

“I
pay homage to this goddess.

May she bestow special qualities on me.

May she grant me the accomplishment of all that is needed.

May she constantly protect me in the midst of enemies.

“In the morning on arising, recite purely

These complete syllables, the full words,

And all wishes, wealth, and grain will be attained,

And vast accomplishment and goodness will also be obtained.”

This concludes “Sarasvatī,” the eighth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime
Golden Light.”

Chapter 9: The Great Goddess Śrī

Then the great goddess Śrī said to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, I, the great goddess Śrī, will also, in
whatever way, bring a perfection of requisites to those dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus so that they will gain freedom from deprivation;
will have a resolute mind;
will day and night have happiness of mind; will learn, understand, and correctly recite all the different words and letters in
this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, so that, for the sake of those beings who have planted good roots with hundreds of
thousands of buddhas, this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light will remain for a long
time in Jambudvīpa and will not disappear, and so that beings will hear this Lord King of Sūtras, the
Sublime Golden Light and will experience the happiness of devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of eons, and so that there will be no famine and instead excellent harvests. Beings will become happy through
being endowed with every kind of happiness. They will be in the company of tathāgatas, and in a future time will attain the
highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood. This will end all the suffering in the hells, in the lives of animals, and
in the world of Yama. Robes, food, bedding, medicine while ill, requisites, and other necessities will be brought to those
dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus.

“I, the great goddess Śrī, developed
good roots with the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha
Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī. In the present, wherever I direct my mind,
wherever I look, wherever I go, many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of beings become happy; they become endowed with
every kind of happiness. They do not lack food, drink, wealth, grain, cowries, gold, jewels, pearls, beryl, conchs, crystals,
coral, silver, unwrought gold, or other requisites. Those beings are endowed with all requisites.
Through the power of the great goddess Śrī, they make
offerings to that tathāgata. They make offerings of perfumes, flowers, and incense. They recite
the name ‘the great goddess Śrī’ three times
and offer him perfume, incense, and flowers. They also offer him a variety of flavors, and then their great accumulations of grain increase. It is said
concerning this:

“The fertility of the earth increases in the earth.

The devas will be constantly, perfectly happy.

The deities of fruits, harvests, plants, and trees

Cause a great variety of harvests to arise.

“I, the great goddess Śrī, will direct my mind toward those beings who say the name of The Lord
King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light and I will create a great splendor for them.

“The great goddess Śrī dwells in a palace called Suvarṇadhvaja that is made of the seven precious materials in the sublime park
called Puṇyakusumaprabha in the environs of the palace of Alakāvati. Any person who wishes to increase their accumulation of
grain should clean their house well, wash well, wear clean white clothes, wear clothes that have been perfumed, bow down to
the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī, and say his
name three times. Then the great goddess Śrī will make an offering with her own hands. Flowers, incense, and
perfume should also be offered. Various kinds of flavors should also be offered. The name of The Lord
King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light should be recited three times and words of truth recited. Also, offerings
should be made to the great goddess Śrī. When flowers and incense are offered, and various kinds of flavors are offered, at
that time, through the power of this lord king of sūtras, the great goddess Śrī will turn her mind toward that house and its
great accumulation of grain will increase.

“Those who wish to invoke the great goddess Śrī should remember these mantras:

“ ‘I pay homage to all the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present.

“ ‘I pay homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

“ ‘I pay homage to the bodhisattvas such as Maitreya.

“ ‘Having paid homage to them, I will practice this mantra.

“ ‘This vidyāmantra will bring me wealth:

syād yathedam pratipūrṇavare samantavedanagate mahākāryapratiprāpaṇe
sattvārthasamatānuprapūre ayāna dharmatā mahābhogine mahāmaitre upasaṃhihe saṃgṛhīte samarthānupālane |

“These are words with an infallible meaning. That single-sentence mantra has the nature of an empowerment bestowed
upon the crown of the head and bestows the valid accomplishment of the true nature.

“The practice for beings of middling capacity is to possess and recite this while keeping the eight vows for seven
years without transgressions
but only roots of merit. In order for themselves and others to perfect omniscient wisdom, morning and afternoon make offerings
of flowers and incense to all buddhas, and pray, ‘May I fulfill this wish of mine, may I fulfill it quickly.’

“In a temple or in a solitary place, clean the building and make a circle of dung. Offer perfume and incense. Arrange
a clean seat, scatter flower petals on the ground, and then sit on it.

“Then, in that instant, the great goddess Śrī will come and reside there. From then on, that
house, village, town, market town, temple, or place of solitude will never be disturbed and never be in need. Everyone will
obtain cowries, gold, jewels, wealth, grain, and all utensils; they will become happy through all that brings happiness.

“Whatever good actions have been done, give the supreme part to the great goddess Śrī, and because of that she will
remain with you for as long as you live and will never abandon you. All your aspirations will be completely fulfilled.”

This concludes “The Great Goddess Śrī,” the ninth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the
Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 10: Dṛḍhā, the Goddess of the Earth

“I pay homage to the Bhagavat Tathāgata Ratnaśikhin.

“I pay homage to the Bhagavat Tathāgata Vimalajvalaratnasuvarṇaraśmiprabhāśikhin

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Jambu Golden Victory Banner Golden Appearance.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Suvarṇaprabhagarbha.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Radiance of a Hundred Suns’ Illuminating Essence.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Suvarṇapuṣpajvalaraśmiketu.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Mahāpradīpa.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Ratnaketu.

“I pay homage to the bodhisattva Ruciraketu.

“I pay homage to the bodhisattva Suvarṇaprabhāsottama.

“I pay homage to the bodhisattva Golden Essence.

“I pay homage to the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita.

“I pay homage to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Akṣobhya in the east.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Ratnaketu in the south.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Amitāyus in the west.

“I pay homage to the Tathāgata Dundubhisvara in the north.

“Whoever possesses, reads, or learns these names of the tathāgatas and the names of the bodhisattvas from this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light will remember their past lives.”

Then Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, said to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, wherever this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light is taught, in the present or in future times, whether in a village,
town, market town, region, wilderness, mountain cave, or royal residence—wherever, Bhagavat, this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light is taught at length —I,
Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, will come to that place.

“Wherever a Dharma throne is arranged for the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu, and wherever the dharmabhāṇaka, upon that throne,
extensively teaches this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, venerable Bhagavat, I,
Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, will come to that place. With my body invisible, I will go beneath that Dharma throne, and
with my highest limb, my head, I will support that dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu under the soles of his feet.

“I also will listen to the Dharma and be satiated by this distilled nectar of the Dharma. I will honor him; I will
make offerings to him. Having been satiated, having honored him, and being delighted, I will increase the fertility of this
sixty-eight-thousand-yojana-wide aggregation of the earth down to its vajra foundation. I will honor it and perfect it. On its
surface I will saturate it, this disk of the earth, as far as the ocean, with the oil of the earth’s fertility. I will cause
this great earth to be resplendent. Then, in this Jambudvīpa, the grass, bushes, herbs, and forests will grow with perfect
resplendence. All parks, forests, trees, leaves, flowers,
fruits, and harvests of various kinds will be resplendent, aromatic, lustrous, delicious, beautiful, and huge.

“When beings consume them as various kinds of drink and food, their lifespan, strength, complexion, and faculties
will increase. Being endowed with such majesty, strength, complexion, and form, they will accomplish many hundreds of
thousands of the various different things necessary on this earth. They will be dedicated to that and make an effort in that.
They will accomplish actions that create strength.

“Venerable Bhagavat, this will cause all of Jambudvīpa to have peace, good harvests, increase, and joy. It will
become filled with human beings. All beings in Jambudvīpa will become happy and experience various kinds of joy. Those beings
will possess majesty, strength, and excellent color and form.

“For the sake of this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs,
upāsakas, and upāsikās should approach the Dharma seat of those who possess this lord king of the sūtras. Having approached it
with a perfectly trusting mind, for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of all beings, they should supplicate the
dharmabhāṇaka so that this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light will be taught
extensively.

“Why should they do that? Venerable Bhagavat, if this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden
Light is taught, I, the earth goddess Dṛḍhā, with my servants, will have supreme resplendence and supreme
strength. Our bodies will develop strength, diligence, and great power. Our bodies will gain magnificence, glory, and splendor.

Venerable Bhagavat, I, the earth goddess Dṛḍhā, will be satiated by this distilled nectar of the Dharma. I will
attain great magnificence, strength, diligence, power, and speed. The great fertility of earth will increase in this Jambudvīpa’s
seven thousand yojanas. The great earth will become magnificent.

“Venerable Bhagavat, the beings who dwell upon the earth will increase, expand, and become vast. They will also
become widespread, and just as the beings who are upon the earth will become widespread, they will also experience a variety
of enjoyments. They will experience happiness. They will all enjoy various kinds of food and drink, remain in various kinds of
happiness with the entire variety of pleasurable requisites that are present upon the earth, appear from the earth, and are
dependent upon the earth, such as clothes, beds, seats, dwellings, houses, divine palaces, parks,
rivers, pools, springs, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs.

“Venerable Bhagavat, because of this, all those beings will be repaying my kindness. There is no doubt that this
Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light should be respected, listened to, honored,
venerated, revered, and offered to.

“Venerable Bhagavat, when those beings leave their individual families and individual homes in order to go to the
dharmabhāṇaka; and having gone there have listened to this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden
Light; and having heard it returned to their own individual families, homes, villages, and market towns, they will
say to those who live in their own home, ‘We have heard a profound Dharma today. We have obtained an inconceivable
accumulation of merit today. By listening to that Dharma, we
have pleased many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of tathāgatas. By listening to that Dharma today, we have been
completely freed from rebirth in the hells, as animals, in the world of Yama, and in the realm of the pretas. By listening to
this Dharma today, we have obtained rebirth in the future as devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of
lifetimes.’

“When they are in their own homes, if they tell even one example from this Lord King of Sūtras,
the Sublime Golden Light to those other beings, or just one chapter from this Lord King of
Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light or one history, or even the name of one bodhisattva or the name of one tathāgata,
or just one four-line verse or even a single line of verse, and those other beings hear it—or even if they teach others only
the name of this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light—then, venerable Bhagavat, wherever
those different beings in different places speak about, or listen to, or talk to one another about these various kinds of
causes from the sūtra, then, venerable Bhagavat, all those places will become very resplendent. They will become very
lustrous. In those various places, for all those beings, the various fertilities of the earth and all requisites will
increase, augment, and expand, and all those beings will be happy. They will have great wealth and great enjoyments. They will
aspire to generosity, and they will have true faith in the Three Jewels.”

When she had spoken, the Bhagavat said to Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, “Goddess of the earth, if any being
listens to even one line from this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light then when they
pass away from this human world, they will be reborn as a deva in the Trāyastriṃśa paradise or among another class of
devas.

“Goddess of the earth, anyone who, in order to make offerings to this Lord King of Sūtras, the
Sublime Golden Light, beautifully adorns those places, even with just one parasol or one flag or by draping one
cloth, then, goddess of the earth, they will dwell in those constantly adorned places, divine aerial palaces made of the seven
jewels in the seven paradises of the desire realm that are perfectly adorned by all adornments. When those beings pass away from this
human realm, they will be reborn in those aerial palaces made of the seven jewels, and at that time, goddess of the earth,
they will be reborn seven times in each of those aerial palaces made of the seven jewels. They will experience the
inconceivable bliss of the devas.”

When the Bhagavat had spoken, the earth goddess Dṛḍhā said to the Bhagavat, “Therefore, venerable Bhagavat, I, the
earth goddess Dṛḍhā, will be present in the ground below the Dharma seat that is the Dharma seat upon which the dharmabhāṇaka
bhikṣu is seated. For the sake of those beings who have planted good roots with hundreds of thousands of buddhas, I will make
my body invisible and will support that dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu’s feet with my highest limb, my head, so that this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light will remain for a long time in Jambudvīpa and will not
disappear soon; so that beings will hear this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light and
will experience the happiness of devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons; and so that they
will be in the company of tathāgatas and will in a future time
attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood and become completely free of the suffering of the hells, the
lives of animals, and the world of Yama.”

This concludes “Dṛḍhā, the Goddess of the Earth,” the tenth chapter of “The Lord King of
Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 11: Saṃjñeya

Then the great yakṣa general Saṃjñeya, accompanied by twenty-eight yakṣa generals, rose from his seat and, with his
robe over one shoulder, kneeling with his right knee on the ground and with palms together, bowed toward the Bhagavat and said
to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, wherever this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light
appears, in the present or in future times, whether in a village, town, market town, region, wilderness, mountain cave, or royal residence, Bhagavat, I, the great yakṣa general Saṃjñeya, accompanied by twenty-eight
yakṣa generals, will come to that village, town, market town, region, wilderness, mountain cave, or royal
residence.

“I will make my body invisible and will guard that dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu. I will defend him, take care of him, protect
him, save him from punishment, and bring him peace and well-being.

“All men, women, boys, or girls who listen to the Dharma, whoever hears and retains even one four-line verse from
this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light or even one line, or even the name of one
bodhisattva from this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, or the name of one
tathāgata, or even just hears and retains the name of this
Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, I will defend them all, take care of them,
protect them, save them from punishment, and bring them peace and well-being. I will defend, take care of, protect, save from
punishment, and bring peace and well-being to all those families, those homes, those villages, those towns, those market
towns, those wildernesses, and those royal residences.

“Venerable Bhagavat, why am I named the great yakṣa general Saṃjñeya? Venerable
Bhagavat, it is because I know all Dharmas, I understand all Dharmas, I comprehend all Dharmas. Whatever the number of
Dharmas, the nature of the Dharmas, or the classes of Dharmas, venerable Bhagavat, I have direct knowledge of all Dharmas.

“Venerable Bhagavat, in all Dharmas my illumination by wisdom is inconceivable, my clarity of
wisdom is inconceivable, my activity of wisdom is inconceivable, and my accumulation of wisdom is inconceivable.

“Venerable Bhagavat, in all Dharmas my engagement in the field of wisdom is inconceivable.

“Venerable Bhagavat, it is because of my correct knowledge, my correct examination, my correct view, and my correct
comprehension of all Dharmas that I am named the great yakṣa general Saṃjñeya.

“Venerable Bhagavat, I will bring eloquence to the dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu in order to beautify his words. I will bring
brilliance to his pores and develop in his body great power, strength, and diligence; I will make the illumination of his
wisdom inconceivable; and I will make his memory comprehensive and make him greatly enthusiastic, so that the dharmabhāṇaka’s
body will not become fatigued, his body’s faculties will be blissful, he will feel great joy, and so that for the sake of
those beings who have planted good roots with hundreds of thousands of buddhas, this Lord King of Sūtras,
the Sublime Golden Light will remain for a long time in Jambudvīpa and will not soon vanish, and so that beings
will hear this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light and will attain an inconceivable
accumulation of wisdom, will possess an accumulation of merit, and in the future will experience inconceivable happiness among
devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons, will be in the company of tathāgatas, will in a
future time attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood, and will cease to experience the suffering of the
hells, of birth as animals, or of the world of Yama.”

This concludes “Saṃjñeya,” the eleventh chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime
Golden Light.”

Chapter 12: The King’s Treatise: The Commitment of the Lord of Devas

I pay homage to the bhagavat tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha
Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī.

I pay homage to Śākyamuni, who lights the lamp of the Dharma, the bhagavat tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha whose
body is adorned by many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of qualities.

I pay homage to the great goddess Śrī, who has a perfection of immeasurable grains and a fortune of qualities.

I pay homage to the great goddess Sarasvatī, in whom is the unity of measureless qualities of wisdom.

“Then, at that time, King Balendraketu said to his son, King Ruciraketu, soon after he was enthroned and when he was the new sovereign, ‘Soon after I was
enthroned, I received from my father, King Varendraketu, the treatise on
kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas. For twenty thousand years I ruled in
accordance with this treatise on kingship, The Commitment of the Lord of Devas. Up until now, I
have not been known to follow any ways that are not the Dharma for even an instant. So, son, what is this treatise on
kingship, The Commitment of the Lord of Devas?’

“Then, at that time, in that time, noble goddess, King Balendraketu taught extensively, through these
verses, the treatise on kingship, The Commitment of the Lord of Devas, to his son King
Ruciraketu:

“ ‘I will teach the treatise on kingship

Which benefits all beings,

Cuts through all doubts,

And destroys all wrongdoing.

“ ‘Each and every king,

Have a joyful mind!

And with palms together, listen to

All the commitments of the lord of devas.

“ ‘On this lord of mountains, Vajraprākara,

The lords of the devas assembled,

And the protectors of the world stood up

In order to question the lord of Brahmās:

“ ‘ “You, Brahmā, the principal deity,

The one who is the lord over all devas,

We pray that you cut through our doubts

And cut through our concerns.

“ ‘ “Why is a king, who has been born

In the human world, called a deva?

For what reason is a king

Given the title of ‘son of the devas’?

“ ‘ “If he is a deva, then why is it that

He is born into this world of humans,

Becomes a lord of humans,

And acts as a king for humans?”

“ ‘The protectors of the world asked

Those questions of the lord of Brahmās,

And that principal deity, Brahmā,

Said these words to the protectors of the world:

“ ‘ “The world protectors have thus

Asked me such kinds of questions,

So I will teach an excellent treatise

In order to bring benefit to beings.

“ ‘ “I will describe the births

Of kings within human existences

And the causes through which

They become the kings of their domains.

“ ‘ “Blessed by the lords of devas,

He will enter the mother’s uterus,

First, he is blessed by the devas,

And afterward, he comes into the womb.

“ ‘ “Although born in the human world,

He becomes a lord of humans.

As he is born from the devas,

He is called ‘a son of the devas.’

“ ‘ “The deva lords of Trāyastriṃśa state,

‘You are the child of all the devas.’

They bestow upon him the right to be king

And he emanates to become a lord of humans.

“ ‘ “He brings to an end all evil acts

And destroys that which is not Dharma.

He establishes beings in good works

In order to direct them to the paradises.

“ ‘ “The lord of men, whether

A human or a gandharva,

A caṇḍāla or a rākṣasa,

Prevents wickedness.

“ ‘ “The lord of men is a father and mother

For those who engage in good actions.

He has been blessed by the kings of devas

To teach them the ripening of results.

“ ‘ “He has been blessed by the kings of devas

In order to teach the ripened results

Of the karma of performing good actions

And performing bad actions in this life.

“ ‘ “Whenever a king does nothing about

The wicked inhabitants in his realm

And does not appropriately punish

The people who are guilty of bad acts,

“ ‘ “And ignores the evils that are done,

Then unrighteousness will increase greatly,

Conflicts and dishonesty

Will subsequently arise in the land,

“ ‘ “And the lords of devas will be disturbed

Within their Trāyastriṃśa palace.

Whenever a king does nothing about

The wicked inhabitants in his realm,

“ ‘ “Then there will be terrible dishonesty,

And dreadful people will vanquish his land.

The armies of adversaries will invade

And will completely destroy that land,

“ ‘ “And they will destroy property and families.

People will steal from one another,

Using many forms of dishonesty,

Whatever wealth has been accumulated.

“ ‘ “There are the duties of kingship,

And if those activities are not carried out,

Then he will destroy his own kingdom

Like a king of elephants destroys a pond.

“ ‘ “Disastrous winds will blow,

Disastrous rains will fall,

And the sun, the moon, the planets,

And lunar asterisms will bring disaster.

“ ‘ “In the land where the king is impassive,

Seeds, harvests, flowers, and fruit

Will fail to ripen properly

And famines will occur.

“ ‘ “Whenever a king does nothing about

The wicked inhabitants in his realm,

Then the devas in their palaces

Will at that time become displeased.

“ ‘ “All of those lords of devas

Will be saying to one another,

‘This king has no
righteousness;

He is on the side of unrighteousness.’

“ ‘ “Such a king will before long

Cause the devas to be disturbed,

And because the devas are disturbed,

His kingdom will be completely destroyed.

“ ‘ “Unrighteousness will arise in that land,

And it will also be destroyed by weapons.

Dishonesty and conflicts

And also illness will arise.

“ ‘ “The lords of devas will be enraged

And the devas will abandon him.

The kingdom will be destroyed

And the king will encounter misery.

“ ‘ “He will be separated from those he loves

Whether they be brothers or sons.

He will even be separated from his beloved wife

Or it will be that his daughter will die.

“ ‘ “There will be shooting stars that will fall,

And similarly there will appear comets,

And the armies of invading enemies

And famines will drastically take place.

“ ‘ “His cherished minister and

Cherished elephant will die.

Afterward, his cherished

Camels will also die.

“ ‘ “People will steal from one another

Homes, possessions, and wealth.

In this and that region, they will

Strike one another with
weapons.

“ ‘ “There will arise in those regions

Fighting, quarreling, and dishonesty.

A demon will enter the kingdom

And there will be dreadful illnesses.

“ ‘ “After that, even the recipients of

Offerings will become unrighteous.

His court and his ministers

Will also become unrighteous.

“ ‘ “Those individuals who are righteous

Will constantly be punished.

If unrighteous individuals are honored

And the righteous are punished,

“ ‘ “Because the malevolent are loved and honored,

And because the good are punished,

In that place water, lunar asterisms,

And wind, those three, will become agitated.

“ ‘ “If unrighteous beings are favored,

There are three things that will be destroyed:

The vital essence of the flavor of the Dharmas,

The vitality of beings, and the fecundity of the earth.

“ ‘ “Through honoring evil people

And dishonoring good people,

There are three things that will occur:

Death, lightning, and famine.

“ ‘ “Afterward, the vitality and flavor

Of fruits and harvests will vanish,

And in those regions there will be

A multitude of people with illnesses.

“ ‘ “Although that land had fruits

That were large and sweet,

They will become bitter and hot,

And they will become small.

“ ‘ “Games, amusements, and pleasures,

Those things that previously had been enjoyed,

Will be disliked and no longer pleasurable,

And instead there will be dismay from hundreds of troubles.

“ ‘ “The luster and the vitality

Of the harvests and fruits will perish,

And they will not bring satisfaction

To the body, the elements, or the senses.

“ ‘ “Beings will have bad complexions,

Little strength, and will be emaciated.

Even though they eat a lot of food,

They will not become satiated.

“ ‘ “They will afterward cease to have

Strength, power, and diligence.

In that land, there will be

Beings with weak diligence.

“ ‘ “There will be many sick beings

Afflicted by various diseases.

There will planets and lunar asterisms

That arise from various rākṣasas.

“ ‘ “The king who is not righteous,

Who is on the side of unrighteousness,

Will in the circle of the three worlds

Be destructive for the three realms.

“ ‘ “When those on the side of the king

Who perform evil acts are left alone,

Then many of such evil actions

Will arise within those lands.

“ ‘ “If the king ignores evil actions,

He does not fulfill the purpose

For which the lords of devas

Blessed him to become a king.

“ ‘ “Through having done good actions,

Beings are reborn in the paradises.

Through doing bad actions, they are

Reborn as pretas, in hells, and as animals.

“ ‘ “Whenever a king does nothing about

The wicked inhabitants in his realm,

Then through those evil acts being done,

Beings will fall from the Trāyastriṃśa paradise.

“ ‘ “If he is not acting as a king,

Then he will also not be a son,

And in the realm of his fathers, the deva kings,

He will have become guilty of a crime.

“ ‘ “When a kingdom is being destroyed

By extremely terrible dishonesty,

It is for that reason that the lords of devas

Blessed him to become a king in the human realm.

“ ‘ “A king is someone who manifests

For beings the results of karma in that life.

He is someone who initiates good actions

In order to cause evil acts to cease.

“ ‘ “Someone is called a king because their actions

Are in order to teach the difference between

The results that ripen from the karma

Of having done good or having done bad.

“ ‘ “He was blessed by the multitudes of devas

For the benefit of himself and the benefit of others,

And for the benefit of the Dharma in that land,

And all those devas
are gladdened by him.

“ ‘ “To subdue the deceitful, evil people

Who are inhabitants in his domains,

And to benefit the Dharma in his kingdom,

He will give away his life and his kingship.

“ ‘ “To accept unrighteousness

And to knowingly pay it no attention

Is a dreadful danger for the realm

With which nothing else can compare.

“ ‘ “When there is the appearance of dishonesty,

If those who are dishonest are not punished,

Then afterward there will be in the land

Extremely dreadful dishonest people.

“ ‘ “They will destroy that kingdom

Like elephants do a great pond.

The lords of devas will also become angry,

And it will bring ruin to the paradises.

“ ‘ “Everything in the land

Will become pernicious.

Therefore, the evil actions of those who

Are wicked should be successively subdued.

“ ‘ “He should protect the kingdom with righteousness,

And he should never practice unrighteousness.

He should not become a sinful lord,

Even if he has to give up his life.

“ ‘ “Toward his family and other people,

Toward all the people in his kingdom,

The king should not show favoritism

Through which he will fall into bias.

“ ‘ “The renown of a king who is

Righteous will fill the three worlds,

And he will bring joy to the lords of devas

Who are in the Trāyastriṃśa paradise.

“ ‘ “They will think, ‘Our son in Jambudvīpa

Is in this way a righteous king.

He displays a Dharma kingdom,

And establishes beings in good actions.’

“ ‘ “The king, through his good actions,

Inspires beings in this world to think

That the paradises are being filled

With devas and the children of devas.

“ ‘ “Displaying there a Dharma kingdom

Will cause the kings to rejoice.

The lords of devas will favor him,

And they will protect that human king.

“ ‘ “The sun, the moon, and similarly

The lunar asterisms will move perfectly.

The winds will arise at the proper times,

And the rains will also come at the right time.

“ ‘ “There will be excellent harvests in the kingdom

And likewise in the realms of the devas.

The devas and the children of devas

Will fill the abodes of the devas.

“ ‘ “In that way, the monarch will

Give up his own dear life

In order to make the world happy

And not give up the precious Dharma.

“ ‘ “The one who is adorned by good qualities

Relies on being in possession of righteousness.

He constantly makes beings happy,

And he constantly rejects bad actions.

“ ‘ “He protects the realm with righteousness,

And he correctly teaches righteousness.

He establishes beings in good actions

And turns them away from bad actions.

“ ‘ “When he correctly subjugates

Those who commit bad actions,

There will be good harvests in the kingdom

And the king will have majesty.

“ ‘ “The king will be renowned

And will protect the happiness of beings.” ’ ”

This concludes “The King’s Treatise: The Commitment of the Lord of Devas,” the twelfth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 13: Susaṃbhava

“Whenever I was a cakravartin king,

I gave away the earth with its oceans.

I offered the four continents

Filled with jewels to the past jinas.

“Because I sought the Dharma body,

There was nothing in the past that was pleasant

And cherished that I did not give away,

And in many eons, I even gave up my cherished life.

“Many countless eons ago,

I was King Susaṃbhava

Within the teaching of the sugata Ratnaśikhin,

A sugata who had passed into nirvāṇa.

“He was a cakravartin who ruled the four continents,

And he reigned over the land as far as the oceans.

At that time, the excellent king went to sleep

In the royal palace for the teaching of the lord of jinas.

“In a dream, he heard the qualities of a buddha,

And in the middle of his sleep, he clearly saw

The dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya

Teaching this lord of the sūtras.

“That king awoke from his sleep,

His entire body filled with joy.

He reverently left the royal capital

And approached the excellent śrāvaka saṅgha.

“He made offerings to the Jina’s śrāvakas,

And he questioned this ārya saṅgha

About the dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya:

‘Where is Ratnoccaya, the bhikṣu with qualities?’

“At that time, Ratnoccaya

Was dwelling in another cave

In a state of happiness, contemplating

And reciting this king of sūtras.

“Just then they showed the king

The dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya,

Shining with perfect, glorious magnificence

And residing in another cave.

“There the dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya,

Who possessed the profound range of the jinas,

Was constantly teaching the lord king of sūtras

That is called The Sublime Golden Light.

“King Susaṃbhava bowed down

To the feet of Ratnoccaya and said,

‘I pray to you, who has a face like the full moon, to teach

The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.’

“When Ratnoccaya promised that king,

Susaṃbhava, that he would do so,

All the devas throughout all the worlds

In the trichiliocosm became overjoyed.

“At that time, the lord of men sprinkled

Precious water and scented water

In a pure and superior place,

Scattered flower petals, and arranged a throne.

“The king adorned that throne with many thousands

Of parasols, banners, and rolls of silk.

The king scattered upon that throne

Various kinds of excellent sandalwood.

“Devas, nāgas, asuras, kinnaras,

Yakṣa lords, yakṣas, and mahoragas

Rained down upon that throne

A shower of divine coral tree flowers.

“Countless thousands of quintillions of devas

Who longed for the Dharma arrived,

And they scattered sal
flowers

When Ratnoccaya was brought forth.

“The dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya

Washed his body and wore clean robes,

And when he approached that throne

With his palms together, he bowed to it.

“The deva lords, the devas and devīs

Residing in the sky, sent down a rain

Of coral tree flowers and played

Countless thousands of musical instruments.

“The dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu Ratnoccaya,

Remembering countless thousands of millions

Of buddhas in the ten directions,

Mounted the throne and sat upon it.

“Thinking of all beings with kindness

And developing a compassionate mind,

At that time he taught this sūtra

To that king, Susaṃbhava.

“The king bowed with palms together

And rejoiced in each single word.

Through the Dharma’s power he shed tears,

And his body was permeated with joy.

“In order to make an offering to this sūtra,

At that time King Susaṃbhava held up

A king of precious wish-fulfilling jewels

And made a prayer for the benefit of all beings:

“ ‘May there rain down on this Jambudvīpa

Jewelry that contains the seven jewels

And whatever great wealth that will bring

Happiness to the beings in this Jambudvīpa.’

“Just then a rain of the seven jewels,

Of armlets, necklaces, and excellent earrings,

And similarly, food, drink, and clothing

Rained down upon the four continents.

“When King Susaṃbhava saw

That precious rain fall on Jambudvīpa,

He offered the four continents that were

Filled with jewels to the teaching of Ratnaśikhin.

“I, the Tathāgata Śākyamuni, was

The king named Susaṃbhava,

And at that time I offered up this earth

With its four continents filled with jewels.

“The dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣu Ratnoccaya,

Who was the one at that time who taught

This sūtra to King Susaṃbhava,

Became the Tathāgata Akṣobhya.

“Because of the good karma from

Listening at that time to this sūtra

And rejoicing in each single word,

Because of rejoicing and hearing the Dharma,

“I always have a body that is golden in color,

Has the signs of a hundred merits,

Is beautiful to behold and a pleasure for the eyes,

And when seen gladdens ten billion devas and gladdens beings.

“For ninety-nine trillion eons

I became a cakravartin king,

And for many hundreds of thousands of eons

I have experienced being the king of a realm.

“For countless eons I have been Śakras, and likewise

I have been lords of Brahmās with peaceful minds,

And I have attained the unquantifiable ten strengths,

The extent of which can never be known.

“Through the immeasurable accumulation of abundant merit

From my hearing and rejoicing in this sūtra,

I attained the enlightenment that I had aspired to,

And I also attained the sublime Dharma body.”

This concludes “Susaṃbhava,” the thirteenth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the
Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 14: The Protection Given by Yakṣas

“Great goddess Śrī, any noble man or noble woman who has faith and wishes to make an inconceivably, extremely vast
and great offering of requisites to the past, future, and present buddha bhagavats, and wishes to know the profound field of
activity of the past, future, and present buddhas, whether in a temple or in a wilderness, in whatever place The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light is being correctly taught, in that place they
should, with an undoubting and undistracted mind, pay attention and listen to this Lord King of Sūtras,
the Sublime Golden Light.”

Then the Bhagavat, in order to describe this extensively to the assembly, recited these verses:

“Someone who wishes to make an

Inconceivable offering to all the buddhas,

And wishes to know the profound

Field of activity of all the buddhas,

“Should go to the place, whether

It is a temple or a dwelling,

Where is taught this sūtra of

The Sublime Golden Light.

“This sūtra is inconceivable;

Its ocean of qualities is endless,

And it liberates all beings

From the oceans of many sufferings.

“I see the beginning of this sūtra

And also its middle and its conclusion.

This lord of sūtras is extremely profound.

There is no analogy that exists for it.

“All of the particles that exist

In the Ganges and on the earth,

In the oceans and in the sky,

Cannot serve as an analogy for it.

“The entrance to the Dharma realm

Should be entered at that time.

Jina Śākyamuni should be seen

In the center of a stūpa,

“Which is the profound, enduring stūpa

That is the embodiment of the Dharma,

Teaching this sūtra perfectly

With a voice that is beautiful.

“May the happiness of
devas

And of humans be experienced

For as many countless, innumerable

Millions of eons as there are.

“Whoever listens to this sūtra

Should think they will accomplish

My inconceivable accumulation of merit;

At that time they should know this to be so.

“Someone should, in order to listen to this sūtra,

Be able to endure the intense pain

Of crossing over a hundred-yojana-wide

Moat filled with a blazing inferno.

“Then as soon as they enter into

The temple or the dwelling,

Their bad karma will be eliminated

And all the qualities of nightmares,

“Harm from planets and lunar asterisms,

And terrible evil spirits and demons

Will be entirely driven away

The moment that they enter there.

“There the dharmabhāṇaka should make a seat

That is in the form of a lotus

Exactly as has been revealed

By nāga kings in a dream.

“Having sat upon that seat,

They should teach this sūtra,

Write it out, and read it out loud,

And similarly, they should learn it.

“After they have risen from that seat,

Even if they go to another land,

Miraculous manifestations

Will appear on that seat.

“Sometimes the form of the

Dharmabhāṇaka will appear there,

And sometimes the form of a buddha,

Sometimes that of a bodhisattva,

“Sometimes that of Samantabhadra,

Sometimes that of Mañjuśrī,

And sometimes that of Maitreya

Will appear upon that seat.

“Sometimes only light will appear.

Sometimes devas will appear—

They will appear there briefly,

And then they will disappear.

“If a buddha is seen, there will be praise.

Everything will be accomplished.

There will be perfect grain and good fortune.

This is an omen emanated by the Buddha.

“There will be victory and glory and fame.

Those who are adversaries will be repulsed.

The opposing armies of enemies will defeated.

Enemies will be vanquished in battle.

“All nightmares will come to an end.

All bad actions will be eliminated;

All bad actions will be brought to an end,

There will be victory in battle.

“One will have fame that will spread

Throughout the entirety of this Jambudvīpa.

All the enemies that he has

Will be completely defeated.

“Enemies will constantly be vanquished.

All bad actions will be abandoned.

There will be victory in battle,

Freedom from enemies, and perfect joy.

“The Lord of Brahmās, the Lord of Trāyastriṃśa,

And similarly the guardians of the world;

Vajrapāṇi who is the lord of yakṣas;

Saṃjñeya, the supreme victorious leader;

“The lord of nāgas, Anavatapta;

And likewise Sāgara,

The lord of kinnaras and lord of asuras;

And also the lord of the garuḍas—

“Those and also all such others,

Every one of all of the devas—

Will constantly make offerings to

The inconceivable stūpa of the Dharma,

And they will feel great joy on seeing

Beings who have reverence.

“The supreme lords of the devas

Will all in their minds be thinking,

And every one of the devas

Will be saying to one another,

“ ‘Look at them, they who have

Accumulated merit, glory, and majesty!

Those humans who have developed

Good roots have arrived here.

“ ‘They have come here

To listen to this profound sūtra.

They have reverence for the stūpa of the Dharma,

With their faith that is inconceivable.

“ ‘They have compassion for the world

And they bring benefit to beings.

They are vessels for the flavor of the sublime Dharma

That comes from the profound Dharmas.

“ ‘They have entered through

The entrance to the Dharma realm.

They who listen to this sublime goodness,

The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light,

“ ‘Have in the past made offerings

To a hundred thousand buddhas;

It is because of those good roots

That they are listening to the sūtra.’

“All the lords and kings of devas—

Sarasvatī, and similarly

Śrī and Vaiśravaṇa,

And similarly the Four Mahārājas,

“And the hundred thousand yakṣas

Who have great might and miraculous powers—

All of them in the four directions

Will give them perfect protection.

“Indra, Soma, and Yama,

Vāyu and Varuṇa,

Skanda, Viṣṇu, Sarasvatī,

Consumer of Burnt Offerings, and Prajāpati,

“Those who with great power subjugate adversaries,

All those protectors of the world,

Day and night, never inattentive,

Will give them their protection.

“The yakṣa lords that have great might —

Nārāyaṇa and Maheśvara,

Saṃjñeya, and also the rest of

The other twenty-eight yakṣas,

“And the hundred thousand yakṣas

With their great might and miraculous powers—

Will give them their protection

From all terror and fears.

“Vajrapāṇi, the lord of yakṣas,

With five hundred yakṣas

And all the bodhisattvas,

Will give them his protection.

“Maṇibhadra, the lord of yakṣas,

And similarly, Pūrṇabhadra,

Kumbhīra and Aṭāvika,

Piṅgala and Kapila—

“Each of those lords of yakṣas,

Accompanied by five hundred yakṣas—

Will give their protection to

Those who listen to this sūtra.

“Gandharva and Citrasena,

Jinarāja and Jinarṣabha,

Maṇikaṇṭha and Nikaṇṭha,

And similarly Varṣādhipati;

“Mahāgrāsa and Mahākāla,

And similarly also Svarṇakeśin,

Pāñcika and Chagalapāda,

And similarly Mahābhāga;

“Praṇālin and Dharma Protector,

Markaṭa and also Vāli,

Sūciroma and Sūryamitra,

And similarly Ratnakeśa;

“Mahāpraṇālin and Nakula,

Kāmaśreṣṭha and Candana,

Nāgāyana and
Haimavata,

And similarly Sātāgirista—

“All of them, who have great might,

Subjugate adversaries, and have miraculous power—

Will give their protection to

Those who listen to this sūtra.

“The nāga lord Anavatapta,

And similarly Sāgara,

Both Elapatra and Mucilinda,

And Nanda and Upananda,

“With a hundred thousand nāgas

With great might and miraculous powers,

Will give them their protection

From all terrors and fears.

“Bali, Rāhu, and Namuci,

Vemacitra and Saṃvara,

Prahrāda and Kharaskandha,

And similarly the other lords of asuras,

“With a hundred thousand asuras

With great might and miraculous powers,

Will give them their protection

From all terrors and fears.

“Hārītī, the mother of spirits,

With her five hundred children,

Will give them their protection

While they sit, sleep, or are intoxicated.

“Caṇḍā and Caṇḍālikā,

And similarly the yakṣiṇīs Caṇḍikā,

Armed with Spear and
Kūṭadantī,

And also Seeing All Sentient Beings —

“All of them, who have great might,

Subjugate adversaries, and have miraculous power—

Will give their protection to them

Everywhere in the four directions.

“Sarasvatī and all the other

Countless numbers of goddesses,

And similarly Śrī and

All of the other goddesses—

“The goddess of the earth and

The goddesses of harvests, fruits, and forests;

Those who dwell in parks, trees, and caityas;

And the goddesses of the wind—

“Every one of those goddesses,

With their minds filled with joy,

Will here give their protection

To those who delight in this sūtra.

“They will bestow on those beings

Life and color and strength,

And will constantly adorn them with perfect

Glory and merit and magnificence.

“They will end all harm from

The planets and the lunar asterisms.

They will bring to an end all troubles,

Bad actions, and nightmares.

“The goddess of the earth herself,

Who has depth and great strength,

Will be satiated by the flavor of

The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.

“For sixty-eight thousand

Times a hundred yojanas,

As far down as the vajra foundation,

The fertility of the earth will increase.

“The fertility of the earth that has sunk

A whole hundred yojanas below

Will rise back upward

And enrich the surfaces.

“Every one of all those devas, through

The power of listening to the sūtra,

Will be satiated by the flavor of
The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.

“They will become perfectly brilliant,

And similarly they will have strength.

They will be happy and satisfied.

Throughout the entirety of Jambudvīpa,

“The devas of fruits, harvests, and forests

Will be satisfied by various flavors,

And they will be completely delighted,

Satisfied by the flavor of the sūtra.

“Then the fruits and the harvests,

And the various kinds of flowers

And the various kinds of fruit trees,

Will all develop perfectly.

“All the fruit trees,

The parks, and the forests

Will blossom with flowers

Emitting their various aromas.

“All the plants and trees

That have various kinds of flowers

And various kinds of fruits

Will grow upon the earth.

“Throughout the entirety of this Jambudvīpa,

There will be innumerable nāga maidens

Whose minds will become filled with joy,

And they will come to where the ponds are.

“And there will grow in all the ponds

A variety of night lotuses,

Red lotuses, and similarly

Blue lotuses and white lotuses.

“In the sky there will be no smoke,

And it will not be covered by clouds.

There will be no darkness and no dust,

And everywhere will be completely bright.

“A bright and beautiful net of light rays

That has a thousand rays of sunlight

Brings the most perfect joy

With its profound brightness.

“Even that lord, the deva Sūrya,

Dwelling in his divine palace

Made of Jambū River
gold,

Will gain satisfaction through this sūtra.

“When Lord Sūrya is gladdened,

He will shine onto Jambudvīpa,

And he will completely illuminate it

With an infinite net of light rays.

“Simply through his rising,

He will shine a net of light rays,

And the lotuses that fill

A variety of ponds will open.

“Throughout the entirety of this Jambudvīpa,

The various flowers, fruits, and herbs

Will perfectly, completely ripen,

And the entire earth will be satisfied.

“The moon and the sun also

Will at that time be brighter.

The lunar asterisms will move perfectly,

And similarly so will the winds.

“Throughout all of Jambudvīpa

There will be excellent harvests.

Wherever this sūtra is present,

That kingdom will be preeminent.”

This concludes “The Protection Given by Yakṣas,” the fourteenth chapter of “The Lord King
of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 15: The Prophecy to Ten Thousand Devas

When the Bhagavat had said that, the noble goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā asked him, “Venerable Bhagavat, through what
cause and what condition, and through what accomplishment and accumulation of planting good roots, have Jvalanāntaratejorāja
and these other ten thousand devas now come from the Trāyastriṃśa paradise, having heard the prophecy to these three sublime
beings?

“It was thus: this excellent being, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, in a future time, after many hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of asaṃkhyeyas of eons have passed, will attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood in the
world realm Suvarṇaprabhā. He will appear in that world as the
tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha, the one with wisdom and virtuous conduct, the sugata, the one who knows the world’s beings, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of
devas and humans, the buddha, the bhagavat by the name of Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa.

“When the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa has passed into nirvāṇa and his Dharma has
come to an end and his teachings have completely come to an end, at that time, this boy by the name of Rūpyaketu will appear as the
tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha by the name of Suvarṇajambudhvajakāñcanābha in the world realm called Virajadhvajā.

“When the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Suvarṇajambudhvajakāñcanābha has passed into nirvāṇa and his Dharma has
come to an end and his teachings have completely come to an end, then this boy by the name of Rūpyaprabha will be the
successor of that tathāgata, attaining the highest enlightenment of complete buddhahood in the world realm called Immaculate
Banner, appearing as the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha, the one with wisdom and virtuous conduct, the sugata, the one who
knows the world’s beings, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the buddha, the bhagavat
by the name of Radiance of a Hundred Golden Lights.

“All of that was the Bhagavat’s prophecy of their attainment of the highest, most complete enlightenment.

“Venerable Bhagavat, Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the rest of those ten thousand devas have not had such a great,
extensive bodhisattva conduct as that.

“It is not said that they have previously practiced the six perfections.

“It is not said that they have previously given away their arms, legs, eyes, the supreme limb of the head, or their
beloved sons, wives, and daughters.

“It is not said that they have previously given away wealth, grain, cowries, gold, silver, jewels, pearls, beryl,
conchs, crystals, coral, silver, or gold nuggets.

“It is not said that they have previously given away food, drink, steeds, clothes, beds, seats, houses,
divine palaces, parks, ponds, or pools.

“It is not said that they have previously given away elephants, oxen, stallions, male servants, or female
servants.

“Countless hundreds of thousands of quintillions of bodhisattvas have, before they received from buddha bhagavats
their names as tathāgatas, made countless hundreds of thousands of various offerings to countless hundreds of thousands of
quintillions of tathāgatas for countless hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons. They had given away all the things
that could be given away. They had given away their arms, legs, eyes, the supreme limb of the head, and their beloved sons,
wives, and daughters. They had given away wealth, grain, cowries, gold, silver, jewels, pearls, beryl, conchs, crystals,
coral, silver, and gold nuggets. They had given away food,
drink, steeds, clothes, beds, seats, houses, divine palaces, parks, pleasure groves, ponds, pools, elephants, oxen,
stallions, male servants, and female servants. They had successively completed all the six perfections and, having
successively completed all the six perfections, they experienced many hundreds of thousands of kinds of happiness.

“Venerable Bhagavat, through what cause and what condition, through what manner of developing good roots, have
Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the rest of these ten thousand devas who have come here to hear the Dharma from the Bhagavat been
prophesied to successively appear, Bhagavat, in a future time, after many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of asaṃkhyeya
eons, in a world realm called Śālendradhvajāgravatī, in the same family, in the same clan, and with the same name, to attain
the highest, most complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood as ten thousand buddhas by the name of
Prasannavadanotpalagandhakūṭa, becoming tathāgatas, arhats, samyaksaṃbuddhas, with wisdom and virtuous conduct, sugatas,
knowers of the world’s beings, unsurpassable guides who tame beings, teachers of devas and humans, buddhas, and
bhagavats?”

When she had asked that, the Bhagavat said, “Noble goddess, Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the rest of these ten thousand
devas do have a development of good roots, do have a cause, and do have deeds that they have accomplished and accumulated,
through which they have come here from the paradise of Trāyastriṃśa in order to hear the Dharma.

“Noble goddess, when they heard the prophecy of the enlightenment of these three excellent beings, as soon as they
heard it, they gained reverence for, delight in, and trust in this Lord King of
Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, and just through that they had minds that were as completely pure as stainless
beryl. They had profound, completely clear minds like pure, extremely vast, and expansive space. They possessed an
immeasurable accumulation of merit.

“Noble goddess, Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the rest of these ten thousand devas, in just that way, as soon as they
heard this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light, gained reverence for and trust in it.
In just that way, they had minds that were as completely pure as stainless beryl, and therefore they attained the level of
prophecy.

“Noble goddess, it is through this accumulation of good roots and through the power of previous prayers that
Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the rest of these ten thousand devas have now obtained the prophecy of their highest, most complete
enlightenment.”

This concludes “The Prophecy to Ten Thousand Devas,” the fifteenth chapter of “The Lord
King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”

Chapter 16: Ending Illness

“Noble goddess, in the past, in a time gone by—an inconceivable, vast number, more innumerable than an asaṃkhyeya of
eons ago—at that time, in that time, the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha, the one with wisdom and virtuous conduct, the
sugata, the one who knows the world’s beings, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the
buddha, the bhagavat by the name of Ratnaśikhin appeared in the world.

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, after the Tathāgata Arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Ratnaśikhin had passed into
nirvāṇa and the Dharma had vanished and there was just the
outer appearance of the Dharma, there was King Sureśvaraprabha, who followed the Dharma, who was a Dharma king, who ruled the
kingdom through the Dharma and not through that which was not the Dharma, and who was like a father and mother to the beings
who dwelled there.

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, in the kingdom of King Sureśvaraprabha, there was a head merchant by the
name of Jaṭiṃdhara. He was a doctor, a physician, perfectly skilled in the humors, and was endowed with all eight branches of
the Āyurveda tradition.

“O noble goddess, at that time, in that time, the head merchant Jaṭiṃdhara had a son named Jalavāhana, who had an
excellent body; was attractive and handsome; had a perfect, well-developed, excellent complexion; was learned in various
treatises; had the understanding of all treatises; and was perfectly trained in letters, numbers, finger-counting, and
calculations.

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, many hundreds of thousands of beings living in the kingdom of King
Sureśvaraprabha were afflicted by various illnesses, tormented by various illnesses, and were experiencing severe, terrible,
unendurable, unpleasant sensations of suffering.

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, there arose in Jalavāhana, the head merchant’s son, great compassion for
those many hundreds of thousands of beings who were afflicted by various illnesses and tormented by various illnesses. He
thought, ‘Those beings are experiencing severe, terrible, unendurable, unpleasant sensations of suffering, and my father, this
head merchant Jaṭiṃdhara, who is a doctor, a physician, perfectly skilled in the humors, and endowed with all eight branches
of the Āyurveda tradition, has become old, decrepit, and feeble. He has reached an advanced age, walks leaning on a stick, and
is unable to go to the villages, the towns, the market towns, the countryside, the realm, or the royal capital. Therefore, in order to free those many hundreds of thousands of
beings from the afflictions of various illnesses and the torments of various illnesses, I will go to my father, Jaṭiṃdhara,
and question him so as to become skilled in the humors in order to heal illness. Having questioned him so as to become skilled
in the humors, I will go to the villages, towns, market towns, countryside, realm, and royal capital. When I go there, I will
free the many hundreds of thousands of beings from illness.’

“Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, Jalavāhana, the head merchant’s son, went to his father, Jaṭiṃdhara, and
having come to him, he bowed down his head in homage at his father’s feet, and with his palms together he sat to one side.
When he had seated himself to one side, Jalavāhana, the head merchant’s son, recited these verses to his father, Jaṭiṃdhara,
questioning him about skill in the humors:

“ ‘How are physical powers destroyed

And how do the humors change?

At what times do illnesses

Arise within physical beings?

“ ‘What foods should be eaten or not

At different times for health,

So that within someone’s body

The body’s heat will not be harmed?

“ ‘What are the medical practices

For healing the illnesses

That arise from air, from bile,

From phlegm, and from their combination?

“ ‘During which times does the air move,

During which times does the bile move,

And during which times does the phlegm move,

Through which there will be harm to humans?’

“Then the head merchant, Jaṭiṃdhara, taught his son Jalavāhana skill in the humors by reciting these verses:

“ ‘Know three months to be summer and three months the autumn,

And there are three that are winter and three that are spring.

Similarly, there are said to be six seasons,

And there are twelve months in one year.

“ ‘Know that the months are divided into threes,

And that pairs of months are taught.

Food and drink are digested accordingly.

Thus the physicians teach humors and time.

“ ‘The faculties and the humors

Are in groups within each year.

It is when the faculties transform

That various illnesses arise in beings.

“ ‘Know that the physician must be skilled