There is a story from the Vietnamese tradition about Master Phap Tang, of the Duong era, who was teaching the Avatamsaka Sutra to Queen Vu Tac Thien. He had an octagonal tower built, and instructed that the interior walls of the tower be covered with large mirrors. When the tower was completed he invited the queen to enter it with him, holding a candle he had lit for her. When the queen stepped inside she saw the image of the flame reflected in the mirror in front of her. When she turned around she saw the flame reflected in the mirror behind her. Not only was the image of the candle reflected in each of the eight mirror walls, but each reflection was again reflected in all of the other mirrors, and then reflected back again and again. There were countless reflections of the flame. This was a very skillful way for Master Phap Tang to illustrate to the queen the image in the Avatamsaka Sutra of Indra's Net, in which each jewel suspended in the great cosmic net reflects the image of all the other jewels, creating infinite reflections of light.
---Thich Nhat Hanh---
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