Then he applied perfumed oil to his skin, put on a heavenly garment of treasures in the presence of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha, sprinkled various kinds of perfumed oil on the garment, and set fire to his body, making a vow by his supernatural powers.

Now, as it appears here, the burning of (his own) body in the past is referred to as the former affair. What does burning [one’s own] body signify? When it comes to what a man treasures and values, nothing exceeds bodily life, and when one burns it oneself, it is because there is something treasured as much as the body. If one is capable of grasping such meaning, even though one exists with the physical form, one is burning, as it were, all the time. [If] li is perverted in the attempt to understand it, even though one burns oneself all day long, [in reality] one is never burning. [The Buddha] hopes that they attain li free of its traces, and so be not stagnated in worldly facts (shih). The reason why the Sage thought of demanding is articulated here.

In the preceding it has been explicated that the li of cause and that of effect are one, that there is no difference in purport. As the ultimate within became manifest, their understanding and discernment came to have [a distinct] presence. [The theme of] the section following this chapter, concerning the men of three [vehicles] becoming the men of One [Vehicle], clarified that the children of two vehicles cannot help but become identical with those of the Greater [Vehicle]. Having finished preaching the sūtra, [the Buddha] now takes examples of those who propagated the sūtra. Earlier there were some examples of those who testimonially practiced [the teaching of] the sūtra. In the present chapter he marks out several people, showing the traces of their conduct in order to help verify [the effect of] the Dharma Blossom. These people were then in other realms, propagating this canon. Now again in this realm, they transmit and keep this sūtra, enabling the teaching of the Path (Tao) to benefit [beings] in the present time, and the fragrance of its virtues (te) to spread and be known for a thousand years to come, so that those who advance to the destination proper, when they are in compliance with it, may reach it.

Earlier when [the Buddha] preached about the cause, the entrustment [of the sūtra] was made as well. Because the theme has not yet been wound up, there has been no separate chapter [for entrustment]. Here [the Buddha] now enunciates that both cause (Chapters 1-13) and effect (Chapters 14-21) have come to an end and that the preaching of li has been completed. As such, the great wisdom of the Thus Come One. Here he entrusts them to keep this sūtra, while striking [incalculable bodhisattva-mahāsattvas] on the crown of the head, to show that li is so deep and the worldly facts (shih) [involved as descriptive tools] are so sublime. This chapter is established for this purpose.

Then they strewed various flowers, various kinds of incense, various necklaces, streamers, canopies, personal ornaments, treasures, and other wonderful things to the Sahā-World from afar.

Although these living beings are ignorant of the One yet they, thanks to favorable conditions, can have a glimpse of it “from afar.” That they made offerings from afar with various kinds of treasures stands for giving the ultimate. The purpose of showing this unreal appearance is to convey that the path [of the One] is not separate from [the path of the three].

At that time the worlds of the ten quarters became passable through each other without hindrance as if they had been a single Buddha-world.

As their feelings become congealed within and reach, their epitome, their sensing [of the endowment for enlightenment] appears without.

The strewn things came from the worlds of the ten quarters like gathering clouds and changed into a jeweled awning over the Sahā-World. The awning extended over the Buddhas staying in this world.

What this and the subsequent segment stating that [the world spheres] in all ten quarters become one [Buddha-land] indicates is this; unless they have not sincerely exerted themselves and sensed the ultimate no one can do it. What this implicitly signifies is that even though the causes are diverse in a myriad of ways, they finally return to the effect of the One.

Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers. These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways.

Earlier it is shown that their tongues emitted rays of light, with the implication that their speeches were not false; wisdom illuminates [all] without leaving anything [in the dark]. [The Buddha’s] Path (Tao) being such, it is clear therefrom that li spread down to the golden mean. That li spread down to the golden mean finds expression in cough. Yet the voice reaching down to the golden mean must have a reason when it is mentioned, again finding expression in snapping fingers. li has been propagated all over under the heaven; hence, the statement, “These two sounds reached throughout [the world-spheres of the Buddhas] in all ten quarters.” Living beings in ten quarters began to sense their [innate] endowment o! enlightenment: thus “[the earth] trembles in six different ways.”