(lIlustration by Gail Atkins posted at http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/indras_net3.html)
Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions.... A single glittering jewel [is suspended] at the net’s every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number.... If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite.
--
Avatamsaka-sutra
(c. 300s CE), trans. Francis H. Cook
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