Now, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind at having received the prediction of the fulfillment of his intention. So he said to the Blessed One, “Would you please show compassion for me, Blessed One, and come with these bodhisattvas and great disciples to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in my abode of guhyakas and stay there for seven days? The reason, Blessed One, is that there are many different types of beings, such as yakṣas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, piśācas, gandharvas, and mahoragas, dwelling in the capital city of Aḍagavatī. Seeing the Blessed One and hearing the Dharma will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time, and from then on they will abstain from thoughts that are sullied by wickedness and anger. For the Four Great Kings and their assemblies, too, it will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time.”

By remaining silent, the Blessed One gave his consent that he would go to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in the abode of the Lord of the Guhyakas, together with the bodhisattvas and great disciples, and stay there for seven days. He did so out of compassion for Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, and with the aim to cultivate further the roots of virtue of immeasurable beings and to fulfill the wishes of Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas. Knowing that the Blessed One had given his consent by remaining silent, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind. He bowed his head at the Blessed One’s feet and walked around him seven times, keeping him on the right. He then took leave of the Blessed One, and having left his presence, he went to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in his own abode.

At that point, it occurred to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “I ought to make my courtyard into such an array of adornments that, when I perform the worship of the Realized One, all the gods from the desire and form realms will be awestruck, and the bodhisattvas who gather from the ten directions will feel delighted, and so that the worship I perform for the Realized One will be something grand.”

Then it occurred to him, “I remember one time the Blessed One, while he was resting for the night, entered a state of meditative concentration known as the endowment of inconceivable activity. He then went in the eastern direction, going past as many buddha domains as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River, to a world named Anantaguṇaratnavyūha, the buddha domain of the blessed realized one Vyūharāja, in order to make predictions for ten thousand bodhisattvas there. In that buddha domain, I saw an inconceivable array that surpassed the arrays made by gods and human beings. For the worship of the Blessed One, I should make my courtyard into an array just like the array in Anantaguṇaratnavyūha.”

At that very moment, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, entered into the state of meditative concentration known as the king of great arrays and just as soon as Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, had entered into the meditative concentration the king of great arrays, at that very moment the courtyard situated the middle of the capital city of Aḍagavatī appeared as an array that was exactly like the array in Anantaguṇaratnavyūha. It was grand and expansive. It spanned sixty-four leagues from east to west, and from north to south it spanned thirty-two leagues. The surface of the floor was made of the bluest lapis lazuli. The surrounding walls were made of sapphire, and the twin enclosures were set with all manner of gems, inlaid with lotuses of gold from the Jambu River. It was decorated with colorful strands, arranged with many heavenly linens, draped with many strands of pearl, and adorned with numerous garlands of silken fillets. It was covered with many garlands of flowers, perfumed by many bowls of burning incense, and many heavenly flowers of different colors and blossoms of jewels were scattered throughout it. It was colorful, beautiful to behold, gratifying to the mind, stimulating to the body, and something that brought excitement to one’s thoughts. It was truly an accumulation of endless virtues, a description in praise of which would have no measure.

In the courtyard, many hundreds of thousands of lion’s seats spontaneously appeared. They were studded with jewels, raised upon jeweled daises, arrayed with jeweled lotuses, covered with nets of pearls, divided into squares like a chessboard, arranged upon many heavenly linens, and above them were coverings of nets of jewels. They were arrayed in ways previously unseen and unheard of, in ways that do not appear in many worlds, but the arrangement was set forth in such a way as to be appreciated by hundreds of different tastes. The hundreds of thousands of lion’s seats were set up so that they were not fixed upon the ground, and in the sky above them each and every lion’s seat was covered by a jeweled parasol endowed with the finest of all qualities.

Now, when he had created the array in the courtyard and the array of lion’s seats in that fashion, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, mindful and alert, arose from that meditative concentration. That night, he laid out an abundant and excellent meal, arrayed with many different flavors, made pure by the motivation of a bodhisattva, and worthy of being offered in worship to the Realized One. At the end of the night, he said to the Four Great Kings, “Friends, know this! I have invited the Blessed One to stay in my abode of the guhyakas along with the bodhisattvas of great courage and the great disciples, and he has accepted out of compassion for me. Therefore, you and your armies and assemblies, worship and serve the Blessed One with enthusiasm for seven days and do not become distracted by any other task.” To the yakṣas, rākṣasas, pretas, piśācas, gandharvas, kumbhāṇḍas, guhyakas, mahoragas, and the other kinds of beings who were residing in the capital city of Aḍagavatī, he said, “Friends, know this! I invited the Blessed One to come to the capital city of Aḍagavatī and he has agreed to come. Therefore, do not be malicious, do not be hostile, but worship the Blessed One with a great deal of joy, faith, and the utmost delight, and listen to the Dharma, too.”

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then spoke to his eldest son, Vajrasena: “Handsome Face, use your superhuman powers and go to the heavenly realms from the Heaven of Brahmā’s Assembly up to the Supreme Heaven and inform the gods of those realms that the Blessed One has been invited to receive his midday meal in the capital city of Aḍagavatī in the abode of Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, and that whoever among them wishes to see him should come quickly. Do as your father says!” The son of the lord of the guhyakas then did as he was told.

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then spoke to his second son, Subāhu: “Use your superhuman powers and go to the heavenly realms from the realms of the earth-dwelling deities and the sky-dwelling deities up to the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the Yāma Heaven, the Heaven of the Contented, the Heaven of Those Whose Delight Comes from Magical Creations, and the Heaven of Those Who Possess the Power to Transform Others’ Delight into Their Own, and inform the gods of those realms that the Blessed One has been invited to receive his midday meal in the capital city of Aḍagavatī in the abode of Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, and that whoever among them wishes to see him should come quickly. Do as your father says!” The young Subāhu then did as he was told.

Then, in an instant, in a fraction of an instant, many hundreds of thousands of gods from the desire and form realms appeared there and pervaded the surrounding area for ten thousand leagues. Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then arranged the offerings for the Blessed One, and in the morning he knelt down on his right knee, and, bowing down to the Blessed One with his palms joined together in a gesture of salutation, he informed the Blessed One that the midday meal was ready by reciting the following verses:

“Great sage, the time has come. Best of men, please come! True man, please come! Most noble man, please come!

“Great sage, the midday meal is ready. Best of bipeds, please come! True biped, please come! Most noble biped, please come!

“Like a lotus born in the pond of moral conduct, You flourished in the water of heroic effort, And now students buzz around you like bees. Lotus-like sage, please come!

“You dwell among the truths of the noble ones, You have the eyes of love and compassion, And you utter the roar of no self. Victorious lion, please come!

“The core of your conduct has mindfulness as its roots. Your flowering branches are the limbs of awakening. Your fruits of liberation are your attainments. Victorious tree, please come!

“Your depths have the vastness of wisdom. Your waters have the coolness of concentration. Sea traders speak of you as one immersed in yoga. Ocean of virtues, please come!

“Glorious sphere of compassion, Radiating light rays of wisdom, Making students bloom like flowers, You are the sun, sage—please come!

“You are unmoved by proponents of other doctrines. You bear the medicines of freedom and the like. Students and those beyond schooling are said to be deer. You are a mountain, sage—please come!”

Knowing that Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, had set out the midday meal, the Blessed One then spoke to the monks: “Since the Lord of the Guhyakas has set out the midday meal, monks, you should wear your monastic robes and take your alms bowls. Appoint a caretaker of the monastery and empower him with authority for seven days.” Those disciples and bodhisattvas who had superhuman powers then rose into the air by the power of their own superhuman powers, while those who did not have superhuman powers stood within the sphere of the Realized One’s aura of light and traveled through the vault of the sky with the Blessed One. Then, surrounded by a host of bodhisattvas and at the head of a host of disciples, the Blessed One vanished from the hill, Vulture Peak, while a host of gods lauded him and a host of goddesses sung his praise, all of them radiating light, showering a rain of flowers, and playing millions upon billions of musical instruments as they made domains tremble.

By means of the great majestic power of the Buddha, the great superhuman power of the Buddha, the great transformative power of the Buddha, the great miraculous display of the Buddha, the great glory of the Buddha, the great vital energy of the Buddha, the great demeanor of the Buddha, and the great child’s play of the Buddha, they flew freely through the vault of the sky like the king of swans, toward the capital city of Aḍagavatī. The gods of the realms of desire and form saw the Blessed One coming from afar. As he flew freely through the vault of the sky, he looked like the sphere of the rising sun. He looked as if he were the full moon being encircled by a constellation of stars. He was surrounded by a host of gods as if he were Śakra, King of the Gods. He was surrounded by brahmās as if he were Great Brahmā.

Those gods who saw him coming were satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. They felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind, and then as an act of worship of the Blessed One, they strewed the Blessed One with heavenly blossoms of blue lotus, white water lily, red lotus, white lotus, māndārava, great māndārava, flowers of the divine Pārijāta tree, red spider lily, great red spider lily, sthāla, great sthāla, rocaka, and great rocaka—flowers the size of great wheels, flowers with intoxicating fragrance, flowers with hundreds and thousands of petals, flowers colored like the red breast of a goose, star flowers that shone with the radiance of a star, flowers whose every part had an everlasting fragrance, and flowers that were ever blooming and pleasing to the eye. These and other flowers were strewn upon the Blessed One while the gods held aloft parasols, flags, and banners, and played hundreds of thousands of musical instruments.

With an array such as this one, with showers of flowers raining down, with a heavy downpour of powders, scented oils, garlands, and fragrances, and with cymbals and other musical instruments being played and songs being sung by hundreds of divine maidens, the Blessed One reached the capital city of Aḍagavatī in an instant—in a fraction of an instant. He alighted at the assembly hall of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa, together with the bodhisattvas and great disciples, and just as soon as the Blessed One was standing firmly on the surface of the earth, at that precise moment in time the great earth shook, gently and slightly, so that no one was harmed by it.

When the Four Great Kings knew that the Blessed One had arrived at the capital city of Aḍagavatī, they hastened to his side with the utmost speed, together with the women from their inner chambers, their relatives, and their assemblies, carrying powders, scented oils, garlands, fragrances, incense, and flowers. When they arrived, first the Four Great Kings bowed their heads at the feet of the Blessed One, and worshiped him with the scented oils, garlands, incense, and flowers that they had brought, and they stood to one side with their arms outstretched, palms together in a gesture of salutation. Then, the women from the Four Great Kings’ inner chambers, their assembled armies, and everyone else who had gathered there all bowed their heads at the feet of the Blessed One, and stretched out their arms, palms together in a gesture of salutation.

The Blessed One then gave a talk on the Dharma that was oriented toward those who had gathered there, beginning with the Four Great Kings, which led twelve thousand living creatures among the assemblies of nāgas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas, and kumbhāṇḍas gathered there to conceive the aspiration for awakening, and at the same time ten thousand maidens from the Four Great Kings’ inner chambers also conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening.

At that point, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, along with the women from his inner chambers, surrounded by his relatives and their assemblies, and with the entire population of Anantaguṇaratnavyūha in his train, came to the assembly hall of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa, bearing all manner of flowers, fragrances, garlands, scented oils, incense, powders, linens, parasols, flags, and banners, and making music by singing and playing cymbals and other musical instruments. He approached the Blessed One, bowed his head at the Blessed One’s feet, walked around him seven times, keeping him on the right, and worshiped the Blessed One with the flowers, incense, fragrances, garlands, scented oils, powders, linens, parasols, flags, and banners of various kinds that had been brought, and with music being made by singing and playing musical instruments. Then he paid homage to the Blessed One and brought him into his courtyard, along with the monastic community.

The Blessed One then sat down upon his own lion’s seat that had been prepared for him in the courtyard, which was hovering above the ground’s surface and was endowed with the finest of all qualities, while the bodhisattvas and the great disciples took their own seats, and so did the whole assembly.

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then said this to the assembly of gods: “Come and assist the worship of the Realized One. For, as the Realized One has said,

“ ‘Those who give their approval in such a case, And do the business with which they have been tasked, Their reward will not be the lesser for it. They, too, will receive their share of merit.’

“Therefore, friends, may you provide the accompanying approval and receive the merit that is the effect of such activity.”

Indeed, when the gods beheld the array in the courtyard and the array of lion’s seats, they were astounded, and thus inspired they uttered this inspired utterance: “Whose majestic power is this? Is it the Realized One’s, or is it that of the Lord of the Guhyakas?”

Then, a voice was heard from the sky, which said, “It is the empowering authority of the Lord of the Guhyakas. In the eastern direction from here, friends, beyond buddha domains equal to the number of grains of sand in the Ganges River, there is a world called Anantaguṇaratnavyūha, where the realized one Vyūharāja teaches the Dharma. With the Lord of the Guhyaka’s empowering authority, he has transformed the courtyard here into an array with an appearance similar to the array that the Lord of the Guhyakas saw there.”

As soon as the Blessed One sat upon the lion seat, at that very moment, the yakṣas, rākṣasas, pretas, piśācas, gandharvas, guhyakas, and mahoragas that were dwelling in the capital city of Aḍagavatī drew near to the Blessed One. Once they had drawn near, they bowed their heads at the feet of the Blessed One, and then stood to the side, while raising their arms, palms together, in a gesture of salutation to the Blessed One.

Now, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, invited the Four Great Kings and the whole assembly, saying, “Come, all of you who have gathered here, join together while we present the Blessed One with the meal that has been set out accordingly.”

Then, along with the women from his inner chambers, his relatives, his sons, his soldiers, and his attendants, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, with his own hands and with the deepest respect, served the Realized One, the bodhisattvas, and the community of monks with an abundant and excellent meal of hard and soft foods, arrayed with many different flavors, a meal that was made pure by the motivation of a bodhisattva and worthy of being offered in worship to the Realized One, which satiated and entertained them. After he had entertained and satiated the Blessed One, and he knew that the Blessed One had washed his hands and put away his alms bowl, he sat down in front of the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma. When all the yakṣas and rākṣasas who were living in the capital city of Aḍagavatī had gathered there, too, they stood looking up at the face of the Blessed One with their arms outstretched, palms together in a gesture of salutation.