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

28. [15] ' It is the rule, brethren, that, when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb, two showers of

1 The Cy. holds that these disjunctives may be understood to include a term of from seven to twelve months. Seven months' embryos, it adds, live, but cannot endure heat or cold ; eight months' babes do not live — a midwife tradition that, we fancy, is still current here and now.

2 Cf. the account of the birth of Gotama, ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 66, and of the /bur, not three, adoring kings in some early Christian bas-reliefs, Neumann, op. cit.

p. 12

water appear from the sky, one of cold, the other of warm water, wherewith they do the needful bathing of the Bodhisat and of his mother. That, in such a case, is the rule.

29. 'It is the rule, brethren, that, when a Bodhisat has come to birth, he stands firm on both feet and, with his face to the north, takes seven strides, the while a white canopy is held over him \ and, looking around on every side, he utters as with the voice of a bull : — " Chief am I in the world, Eldest am I in the world, Foremost am I in the world ! This is the last birth ! There is now no more coming to be 2 ! " That, in such a case, is the rule.

30. 'It is the rule, brethren, that, when a Bodhisat issues from his 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 manifest this infinite and splendid radiance, passing the glory of the gods. And those beings who happen to be existing there, 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 this infinite and splendid

1 As an emblem of sovereignty, says the Cy., in which case the emblem is usually named, not its bearers. But these were devata, angels or fairies or gods.

2 Each action of the babe had for the later Buddhists its symbolical meaning. Standing on the earth meant obtaining the Four Iddhipadas. Facing the north meant the spiritual conquest of multitudes. The seven strides were the Seven Bojjhangas. The canopy was the umbrella of emancipation. Looking around meant unveiled knowledge. The bull-cry meant the irrevocable turning of the wheel of the Truth or Law. The ' lion-roar ' of ' the last birth ' meant the arahantship he would attain in this life.

D. ii. 16. THE SUBLIME STORY. 1 3

radiance is made manifest in the world, passing the glory of the gods. This, in such a case, is the rule.'