The Flower Adornment Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra) is known as the 'King of Kings' of all Buddhist sutras because of its profundity and great length. This sutra contains the most complete explanation of the Buddha's state of realization and the Bodhisattva's quest for awakening. It is said: Unless you read the Avatamsaka Sutra, you will not know of the Buddha's true blessings and honor. The Avatamsaka Sutra is the Buddha's greatest store of treasures. In forty chapters the sutra conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings. It presents, in detailed description, the stages of Awakening that a Bodhisattva or 'Awakened Being must progress through on the path towards Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. The sutra depicts the events that immediately unfolded upon the Buddha's Awakening under the Bodhi tree. It describes a cosmos that has infinite realms within realms, boundless and interpenetrating. The third and fourth chapters of the monumental translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra (also known as the Flower Ornament Scripture) with full commentary by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, on this epic sacred Mahayana Buddhist text. The English translation is based on the Tang Dynasty Chinese by Tripitaka Master Siksananda of Khotan. Summary of this volume: (Chapter 3): Universal Worthy Bodhisattva enters samadhi and receives verbal, mental, and physical blessings from the Buddhas. As he rises from samadhi, the bodhisattvas gain benefit and auspicious portents manifest. Light streams from the pores of the Buddhas of the ten directions, and verses are spoken praising Universal Wothy Bodhisattva. The assembly speaks praises and requests the Dharma. Chapter 4: After engaging in pervasive contemplation, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva acknowledges the assembly's questions and promises to speak. He then explains ten aspects of the seas of worlds, including how they originate, conditions for their existence, their appearances, their substances, their adornments, their purities, the manifestations of Buddhas in them, their durations, and their evolutionary stages, and the ways in which they are undifferentiated. From Master Hsuan Hua's commentary: "All of you should contemplate the variations in the seas of lands: their myriad adornments and environments, their distinct, beautiful forms in the ten directions. They may be round or square, triangular or octagonal, or shaped like lotuses or wheels of mani. Karma produces these distinct forms."
