This story [in Chapter 24] begins with an event not unlike that in the very first chapter of the Dharma Flower Sutra, in which the Buddha emits light of such power that it illumines very distant worlds. Since light is virtually always a symbol of wisdom, we can assume that here too we have a visual image indicating that the influence of Shakyamuni’s wisdom is not limited to his world, our world, but also goes to the far reaches of the universe. He is, in other words, the light of all the worlds. Though he is the Buddha of this world, he is also, in some way not clearly spelled out, the Buddha of all worlds. This has been indicated many times in the Dharma Flower Sutra, most dramatically perhaps in Chapter 11, where Shakyamuni Buddha assembles the buddhas and bodhisattvas from all over the universe.