Chapter 27: Former Affairs of King Wonderful Adornment

The Buddha recounts the story of King Wonderful Adornment, who in a past age was devoted to non-Buddhist Brahmanical practices. His wife, Queen Pure Virtue, and their two sons, Pure Treasury and Pure Eye, were devoted followers of the Buddha Cloud Thunder Sound Constellation King Flower Wisdom. The queen urged her sons to display their supernatural powers before their father to awaken his faith. The two princes rose into the air, walked on water, manifested bodies large enough to fill the sky, and performed other wonders that astonished the king and his court.

Deeply moved by these displays, the king asked his sons who their teacher was. They told him of the Buddha and urged him to go and hear the Lotus Sutra. The king, setting aside his attachment to non-Buddhist teachings, departed with his family, his court, and a retinue of eighty-four thousand people to visit the Buddha. Upon hearing the Dharma, King Wonderful Adornment was transformed. He abdicated his throne to his brother, and together with his wife and sons renounced the world to practice under the Buddha. Through his sincere practice, he attained profound levels of samadhi.

The Buddha reveals that King Wonderful Adornment is now the Bodhisattva Flower Virtue present in the assembly, Queen Pure Virtue is the Bodhisattva Light Shining Adornment Marks, and the two princes are the Bodhisattva Medicine King and the Bodhisattva Medicine Superior. This family narrative demonstrates the power of the Lotus Sutra to transform even those who begin in opposition to the Dharma. It also highlights the role that family members -- especially wives, mothers, and sons -- can play in guiding one another toward the truth, showing that the work of spiritual conversion operates within the most intimate human relationships.