The Devas Also Felt Apprehensive

Time to let the light shine in directly.

Radiant Buddha Within The Limitless Sky
Radiant Buddha Within The Limitless Sky

On The Foundations of Training.
At the time when Shakyamuni Buddha, whilst in the Fourth Region of the Meditational Heavens, was residing in the palace of the deva king Maheshvara along with the immeasurably great deva king Brahma and millions upon millions of Bodhisttvas, He spoke of the various aspects of the Dharma regarding the Foundations of Training which Vairochana proclaims whilst enthroned upon His lotus pedestal which contains all worlds within it.

On this occasion, Shakyamuni’s whole being glowed with the light from His discerning wisdom. This light shone forth from the palace of the deva king, reaching all the worlds contained within the lotus pedestal. All sentient beings living in all those worlds looked at each other with delight and joy, but as they could not yet grasp what the cause of this radiance was or what brought it about, they all gave rise to misgivings, and the innumerable devas also felt apprehensive.

With great gratitude to Michael in Canada for this image sent a few hours ago via email. He said, This is my work Buddha sitting on a window ledge. He seems particularly luminous today. It’s the perfect image to accompany the above text which comes at the start of The Scripture of Brahma’s Net Wherein Vairochana Buddha Explains for Bodhisattvas the Foundations of Training and the Precepts. Buddhist Writings, Shasta Abbey Press.

Most often the Buddha Dharma is approached via a bottom or side door and then the truth of it emerges in a less direct fashion. [Jade Mountains is an example.] Today the light of Buddha is shining directly in through the skylight, brilliant and awe inspiring. With all this awesome radiance even the innumerable devas felt apprehensive and all had misgivings [about grasping it’s profundity?]. With compassion for those present Shakyamuni Buddha asks Vairochana Buddha (Dharma Itself), on behalf of everybody present, to please explain in detail. Which is what happens.

Vairochana Buddha has the title – One Who Is the Source of the Luminosity

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8 thoughts on “The Devas Also Felt Apprehensive”

  1. Such a beautiful image! Presumably engraved glass. The quote from the “Scripture of Brahmah’s Net” sums it up nicely.

    It reminded me of my own “work Buddha” at the studio, not so glorious as the above image but speaks in its own way. Making sculpture can be a dusty business and my 4 inch high brass statue gets its fair share of the stuff settling on it. Despite this, the Bhudda-ness of it always shines through each time I stop to look at it or even when it is glimpsed while I’m working.

    Thank you, Rev. Mugo for this posting. It has struck a chord.
    __/\__
    Norman

    1. Thank you Norman. Glad it struck a chord, did for me. The whole scripture is coming to life for me at the moment so no doubt there will be more of it to come.

  2. I find illuminated Blue has an amazing quality – it’s like I’ve steeped through into the blue when I see it. It seems to illuminate the event of seeing in a way other colours seem not quite to manifest. The glass and Blue in the picture have this.

    1. I know what you mean. Blue, lapis lazuli blue, has a particular place in Buddhist teaching/iconography. Talk about that another time.

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