7: The Attainment of Buddhahood – 399
Superbly skilled in the use of words, they give Dhamma discourses with four
profundities: the profundity of the deep and subtle text, the profundity of
meaning, the profundity of the teaching, and the profundity of penetrating
wisdom. They do so in many ways to suit the inherent dispositions of sentient
beings. They are able to convey all teachable beings (
veneyya
) to the paths,
fruitions and Nibbāna and thus become their refuge. They are designated
Perfectly Self-Awakened Ones, omniscient Buddhas, lords of the three worlds.
Since our noble Bodhisatta was also of such a nature, he too is a Perfectly Self-
Awakened One, Lord of the Three Worlds, and an incomparable Buddha.
Many Miracles
When the Bodhisatta attained omniscience and became a Buddha in the three
worlds of beings at daybreak, he thereby caused all the 10,000 world-element to
vibrate and resound, and reached the height of beauty with such decorations as
follow: The colours of cylindrical streamers set up on the edge of the universe in
the east reached the edge of the universe in the west; and the coloured
cylindrical streamers set up on the edge of the universe in the west also reached
the edge of the universe in the east. Similarly, the coloured cylindrical streamers
set up on the edge of the universe in the south reached the edge of the universe
in the north; and the coloured cylindrical streamers set up on the edge of the
universe in the north reached the edge of the universe in the south. The coloured
cylindrical streamers set up on the surface of the earth reached the Brahma
world; and the coloured cylindrical streamers set up in the Brahma world
reached the surface of the earth.
All kinds of flowering trees in the 10,000 world-element blossomed
simultaneously, irrespective of the season. All kinds of fruit-bearing trees also
bore fruit in bunches and clusters simultaneously, irrespective of the season.
Flowers also blossomed strangely on the trunks, branches and creepers. Flowers
dangled from invisible plants in the sky. Lotus flowers on leafless stems
bloomed strangely, each in seven layers, coming out and breaking through big
slabs of rock which formed the lower stratum of the earth. This being the case,
the 10,000 world-element of the realm of birth of a Bodhisatta (
jāti-khetta
),
quaked gently at that moment and looked like huge spheres of flowers flown up
or like well-arranged flower-beds. Besides these miracles, the 32 great omens,
described in the chapter on the birth of the Bodhisatta, also made themselves
manifest.