Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

1 6. ' I have told you, brethren, when Vipassi, the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme, arose in the world, into what rank and family he was born, how long he lived, where he became a Buddha, the names of his leading disciples, the number of his disciples, the name of his ministering bhikkhu, of his father, his mother, and of their place of residence1.

1 7. [12] ' Now Vipassi, brethren, when, as Bodhisat, he ceased to belong to the hosts of the heaven of Delight, descended into his mother's womb mindful and self-possessed2. That, in such a case, is the rule ?'.

1 The text repeats verbatim all that was said above of Vipassi.

2 This and following paragraphs (to § 30 inclusive) recur in the Acchariyabbhutadhamma Sutta (M. Ill, pp. 119-24). The notes appended by Dr. Neumann to his translation of that Sutta, giving parallels from Christian archaeology, are of great interest. [Reden Gotamo Buddho's Majjhimanikayo, III, pp. 253 ft.) How the Birthlegend had developed in the fifth century a. d. may be seen in the Nidanakatha, translated in Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 62 ff.

This state of mind in Rule the first, according to a voluminous comment by Buddhaghosa, refers more to the termination of the Bodhisat's life in the Tusita heaven, than to any miraculous embryonic commencement. He is depicted as being fully aware, with his angelic neighbours, of the imminent culminating career awaiting him, and to have selected country, region, town, father and mother, on the eve of his 'fall' from heaven. He is further said to be conscious that he was qua god deceased : — ' Thus fallen (or deceased) he knows ' I fall.' But he is not aware of his cuti-cittarh, or dying thought. As to when there is awareness of re-conception, the Buddhist fathers were not agreed. But they admit that, in its content, the dawning idea was either the first, or the fifth of the eight types of 'good thought' enumerated in Dhamma-Sangam (pp. 1, 39 of the translation). But we learn, under § 21, that there was no consciousness by way of the five senses before birth.

3 Dhammata, i.e. says the Cy. in the nature, or order of things.
The five old-world order of things is the Order of Karma, of the

p. 9

' It is the rule, brethren, that, when the Bodhisat ceases to belong to the hosts of the heaven of Delight, and enters a mother's womb, there is made manifest throughout the universe — including the worlds above of the gods, the Maras and the Brahmas, and the world below with its recluses and brahmins, its princes and peoples — an infinite and splendid radiance, passing the glory of the gods. Even in those spaces which are between the worlds, baseless \ murky and dark, and where even moon and sun, so wondrous and mighty, cannot prevail to give light, even there is made manifest this infinite and splendid radiance, passing the glory of the gods. And those beings who happen to be existing there 2, perceiving each other by that radiance, say : — " Verily there be other beings living here ! " And the ten thousand worlds of the universe tremble and shudder and quake. And that this infinite splendid radiance is made manifest in the world, passing the glory of the gods — that, in such a case, is the rule.

1 7a. ' It is the rule, brethren, that, when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb, four sons of the gods go toward the four quarters to protect him, saying : — " Let no one, be he human, or non-human, or whatsoever he be, work harm to the Bodhisat or to the mother of the Bodhisat ! " That, in such a case, is the rule.