Overall Teaching

The Buddha enters a samādhi which inspires the devas. They come and request the Buddha for the teaching of the Lalitavistara at night, he consents. The monks then request the same, and the Buddha again consents.

Summary

1. The Buddha was staying at Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī with 1200 monks and 32000 bodhisattvas who had completed all of the levels. They, and people of the city, honoured and made offerings to him.

2. With a number of great names and the five eyes the Buddha taught them the Dharma of how to live a life of purity.

3. At midnight the Buddha entered a deep samādhi called “array of the Buddha’s adornments” and a light of “wisdom free from attachment that arouses the memory of buddhas of times past” shone from his topknot and attracted the devas, and it spoke verses of encouragement:

a. Commune with the Buddha who is wise and peaceful.

b. Take him as your master.

c. Go before him, who is free from Māra’s snares, peerless, and king of doctors.

4. Then the devas arose from samādhi, and through the Buddha’s power recalled past buddhas, their qualities, retinues, and teachings. They then illuminated Jeta’s Grove with a divine light and supplicated the Buddha:

a. There is a collection of discourses called the Lalitavistara which shows the various qualities of the Bodhisattva and the stages of his life.

b. It explains how he attained the result of all bodhisattva activities, destroyed māra, attained the ten powers and four fearlessenesses and the same teaches taught by past tathāgatas, up to the last ones of this realm: Vipaśyin, Śikhin, Viśvabhū, Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kāśyapa.

c. Teach the Lalitavistara now to benefit beings now, propagate the Mahāyāna, instruct bodhisattvas, and illuminate the activities of the Buddha.

5. The Buddha consented to this request with silence, after which the devas honoured him and vanished.

6. The Buddha revealed what had happened that night to the monks. The monks then requested the Buddha to teach the Lalitavistara also. To which the Buddha also consented with silence.

7. The Buddha then repeats what had happened in verse form.