Fetching
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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
15. So immense is the number of ko/¢is of AZons past since that extinct Sugata; the whole of (existing) atoms is no (adequate) expression of it; so many are the AZons which have expired since. 6. That Leader who has expired so long ago, those disciples and Bodhisattvas, I remember all of them as if it were to-day or yesterday. Such is the knowledge of the Tath4gatas. 7. So endless, monks, is the knowledge of the Tathagata; I know what has taken place many hundreds of AZons ago, by my precise and faultless memory. To proceed, monks, the measure of the lifetime of the Tathagata Mahabhig#4g#4n4bhibhd, the Arhat, &c. was fifty-four hundred thousand myriads of koZ¢is of AZons. In the beginning when the Lord had not yet reached supreme, perfect enlightenment and had just occupied the summit of the terrace of enlightenment?, he discomfited and defeated the whole host of Mara, after which he thought: I am to reach 1 Bodhimandavarfgragata eva; var. lect. bodhimandavar4gata eva, i.e. just having come to the terrace of enlightenment, Vara here is v4ra, circuit; it adds little to the notion of the simple bodhimanda, this also being a round terrace. 156 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. perfect enlightenment}. But those laws (of perfect enlightenment) had not yet dawned upon him. He stayed on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment during one intermediate kalpa. He stayed there a second, a third intermediate kalpa, but did not yet attain supreme, perfect enlightenment. He remained a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth, a tenth intermediate kalpa on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment, continuing sitting cross-legged without in the meanwhile rising. He stayed, the mind motionless, the body unstirring and untrembling, but those laws had not yet dawned upon him. Now, monks, while the Lord was just on the summit of the terrace of enlightenment, the gods of Paradise (TrAyastrimsas) prepared him a magnificent royal throne, a hundred yoganas high, on occupying which the Lord attained supreme, perfect enlightenment; and no sooner had the Lord occupied the seat of enlightenment than the Brahmakéyika gods scattered a rain of flowers all around the seat of enlightenment over a distance of a hundred yoganas ; in the sky they let loose storms by which the flowers, withered, were swept away. From the beginning of the rain of flowers, while the Lord was sitting on the seat of enlightenment, it poured without interruption during fully ten intermediate kalpas, 1 It is difficult not to see that we have here, as well as in the opening of the Mah4vagga and in Lalita-vistara, chap. 21, a description of the rising of the sun, the beginning of a kalpa, a myth of the creation of the visible world. ? The so-called Bo-tree. ® An intermediate kalpa is the twentieth part of an incalculable kalpa, which in reality is equal to one day of twenty-four hours, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 157
2? The so-called Bo-tree. ® An intermediate kalpa is the twentieth part of an incalculable kalpa, which in reality is equal to one day of twenty-four hours, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 157 covering the Lord. That rain of flowers having once begun falling continued to the moment of the Lord’s complete Nirvava. The angels belonging to the division of the four guardians of the cardinal points made the celestial drums of the gods resound!; they made them resound without interruption in honour of the Lord who had attained the summit of the terrace of enlightenment. Thereafter, during fully ten intermediate kalpas, they made uninterruptedly resound those celestial musical instruments up to the moment of the complete extinction of the Lord. Again, monks, after the lapse of ten intermediate kalpas the Lord Mahabhig#ag#4nabhibhd, the Tathagata, &c., reached supreme, perfect enlightenment% Immediately on knowing his having become enlightened the sixteen* sons born to that Lord when a prince royal, the eldest of whom was named G7#anadkara—which sixteen young princes, monks, had severally toys to play with, variegated and pretty—those sixteen princes, I repeat, monks, left their toys, their amusements, and since they knew that the Lord Mahabhig#ag#4nabhibha, the Tathagata, &c., had attained supreme, perfect knowledge, went, surrounded and attended by their weep:ng mothers and nurses, along with the noble, rich king Xakravartin, many ministers, and hundred thousands of myriads of koéis of living beings, to the place where the Lord Mahabhigzag#4n4bhibhd, the consequently ten intermediate kalpas are equal to one day (half daynight) of twelve hours, from sunrise until sunset at the equinox. 1 It must have been a stormy day, far from rare about the time of the equinoxes. 3 Just at sunset. ® Sixteen is the number of the kalas (digits) of the moon. 158 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. Tath4gata, &c., was seated on the summit of the terrace of enlightenment. They went up to the Lord in order to honour, respect, worship, revere, and venerate him, saluted his feet with their heads, made three turns round him keeping him to the right!!lifted up their joined hands, and praised the Lord, face to face, with the following stanzas: 8. Thou art the great physician’, having no superior, rendered perfect in endless /Eons*. Thy benign wish of saving all mortals (from darkness) has to-day been fulfilled. 9. Most difficult things hast thou achieved‘ during the ten intermediate kalpas now past; thou hast been sitting all that time without once moving thy body, hand, foot, or any other part 5. to. Thy mind also was tranquil and steady, motionless, never to be shaken; thou knewest no distraction®; thou art completely quiet and faultless. 11. Joy with thee”! that thou so happily and safely, 1 And, moving from east to south, and so forth.
3to. Thy mind also was tranquil and steady, motionless, never to be shaken; thou knewest no distraction®; thou art completely quiet and faultless. 11. Joy with thee”! that thou so happily and safely, 1 And, moving from east to south, and so forth. * Like Apollo. Therefore the Buddha immediately after his bodhi, i.e. awakening, pronounces the four Aryasaty&ni, which are nothing else but the well-known four chief points in the medical art,—the disease, the cause of the disease, necessity to remove that cause, and the remedy. ® And, of infinite body; and, whose pharmacology is boundless ; anantakalpa is the term used. 4 Out of a figure similar and akin to Hercules, the active N4rayaza has become a sage tranquil, peaceful, and refraining from action. ® Desa. This immovability must be taken cum grano salis, in so far as the sun is represented to continue in the same portion of the ecliptic for one day. * Vikshepa as an astronomical term means celestial latitude ; the sun knows no deviation from the ecliptic, of course. 7 Dishfy asi, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 159 without any hurt, hast reached supreme enlightenment. How great a fortune is ours! we congratulate ourselves, O Lion amongst kings! 12, These unhappy! creatures, vexed in all ways, deprived of eyes, as it were, and joyless, do not find the road leading to the end of toils, nor develop energy for the sake of deliverance. 13. Dangers are for a long time on the increase, and the laws (or phenomena, things) are deprived of the (possession of a) celestial body; the word of the Gina is not being heard; the whole world is plunged in thick darkness. 14. But to-day (or now) hast thou, Majesty of the world, reached this hallowed, high, and faultless spot; we as well as the world are obliged to thee, and approach to seek our refuge with thee, O Protector ! When, O monks, those sixteen princes in the condition of boys, childlike and young, had with such stanzas celebrated the Lord Mahébhig#4g74n4bhibhd, the Tathagata, &c., they urged the Lord to move on the wheel of the law?: Preach the law, O Lord; preach the law, O Sugata, for the weal of the public, the happiness of the public, out of compassion for the world; for the benefit, weal, and happiness of the people generally, both of gods and men. And on that occasion they uttered the following stanzas: 15. Preach the law, O thou who art marked with a hundred auspicious signs, O Leader, O incomparable great Seer! thou hast attained exalted, 1 Andyika, derived from an and Aya. * T.e. to rise a second day, to awaken from his Nirvana. 160 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. sublime knowledge; let it shine in the world, including the gods. 16. Release us as well as these creatures; display the knowledge of the Tathagatas, that we also and, further, these beings may obtain this supreme? enlightenment.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
15. So immense is the number of ko/¢is of AZons past since that extinct Sugata; the whole of (existing) atoms is no (adequate) expression of it; so many are the AZons which have expired since. 6. That Leader who has expired so long ago, those disciples and Bodhisattvas, I remember all of them as if it were to-day or yesterday. Such is the knowledge of the Tath4gatas. 7. So endless, monks, is the knowledge of the Tathagata; I know what has taken place many hundreds of AZons ago, by my precise and faultless memory. To proceed, monks, the measure of the lifetime of the Tathagata Mahabhig#4g#4n4bhibhd, the Arhat, &c. was fifty-four hundred thousand myriads of koZ¢is of AZons. In the beginning when the Lord had not yet reached supreme, perfect enlightenment and had just occupied the summit of the terrace of enlightenment?, he discomfited and defeated the whole host of Mara, after which he thought: I am to reach 1 Bodhimandavarfgragata eva; var. lect. bodhimandavar4gata eva, i.e. just having come to the terrace of enlightenment, Vara here is v4ra, circuit; it adds little to the notion of the simple bodhimanda, this also being a round terrace. 156 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. perfect enlightenment}. But those laws (of perfect enlightenment) had not yet dawned upon him. He stayed on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment during one intermediate kalpa. He stayed there a second, a third intermediate kalpa, but did not yet attain supreme, perfect enlightenment. He remained a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth, a tenth intermediate kalpa on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment, continuing sitting cross-legged without in the meanwhile rising. He stayed, the mind motionless, the body unstirring and untrembling, but those laws had not yet dawned upon him. Now, monks, while the Lord was just on the summit of the terrace of enlightenment, the gods of Paradise (TrAyastrimsas) prepared him a magnificent royal throne, a hundred yoganas high, on occupying which the Lord attained supreme, perfect enlightenment; and no sooner had the Lord occupied the seat of enlightenment than the Brahmakéyika gods scattered a rain of flowers all around the seat of enlightenment over a distance of a hundred yoganas ; in the sky they let loose storms by which the flowers, withered, were swept away. From the beginning of the rain of flowers, while the Lord was sitting on the seat of enlightenment, it poured without interruption during fully ten intermediate kalpas, 1 It is difficult not to see that we have here, as well as in the opening of the Mah4vagga and in Lalita-vistara, chap. 21, a description of the rising of the sun, the beginning of a kalpa, a myth of the creation of the visible world. ? The so-called Bo-tree. ® An intermediate kalpa is the twentieth part of an incalculable kalpa, which in reality is equal to one day of twenty-four hours, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 157
2? The so-called Bo-tree. ® An intermediate kalpa is the twentieth part of an incalculable kalpa, which in reality is equal to one day of twenty-four hours, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 157 covering the Lord. That rain of flowers having once begun falling continued to the moment of the Lord’s complete Nirvava. The angels belonging to the division of the four guardians of the cardinal points made the celestial drums of the gods resound!; they made them resound without interruption in honour of the Lord who had attained the summit of the terrace of enlightenment. Thereafter, during fully ten intermediate kalpas, they made uninterruptedly resound those celestial musical instruments up to the moment of the complete extinction of the Lord. Again, monks, after the lapse of ten intermediate kalpas the Lord Mahabhig#ag#4nabhibhd, the Tathagata, &c., reached supreme, perfect enlightenment% Immediately on knowing his having become enlightened the sixteen* sons born to that Lord when a prince royal, the eldest of whom was named G7#anadkara—which sixteen young princes, monks, had severally toys to play with, variegated and pretty—those sixteen princes, I repeat, monks, left their toys, their amusements, and since they knew that the Lord Mahabhig#ag#4nabhibha, the Tathagata, &c., had attained supreme, perfect knowledge, went, surrounded and attended by their weep:ng mothers and nurses, along with the noble, rich king Xakravartin, many ministers, and hundred thousands of myriads of koéis of living beings, to the place where the Lord Mahabhigzag#4n4bhibhd, the consequently ten intermediate kalpas are equal to one day (half daynight) of twelve hours, from sunrise until sunset at the equinox. 1 It must have been a stormy day, far from rare about the time of the equinoxes. 3 Just at sunset. ® Sixteen is the number of the kalas (digits) of the moon. 158 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. Tath4gata, &c., was seated on the summit of the terrace of enlightenment. They went up to the Lord in order to honour, respect, worship, revere, and venerate him, saluted his feet with their heads, made three turns round him keeping him to the right!!lifted up their joined hands, and praised the Lord, face to face, with the following stanzas: 8. Thou art the great physician’, having no superior, rendered perfect in endless /Eons*. Thy benign wish of saving all mortals (from darkness) has to-day been fulfilled. 9. Most difficult things hast thou achieved‘ during the ten intermediate kalpas now past; thou hast been sitting all that time without once moving thy body, hand, foot, or any other part 5. to. Thy mind also was tranquil and steady, motionless, never to be shaken; thou knewest no distraction®; thou art completely quiet and faultless. 11. Joy with thee”! that thou so happily and safely, 1 And, moving from east to south, and so forth.
3to. Thy mind also was tranquil and steady, motionless, never to be shaken; thou knewest no distraction®; thou art completely quiet and faultless. 11. Joy with thee”! that thou so happily and safely, 1 And, moving from east to south, and so forth. * Like Apollo. Therefore the Buddha immediately after his bodhi, i.e. awakening, pronounces the four Aryasaty&ni, which are nothing else but the well-known four chief points in the medical art,—the disease, the cause of the disease, necessity to remove that cause, and the remedy. ® And, of infinite body; and, whose pharmacology is boundless ; anantakalpa is the term used. 4 Out of a figure similar and akin to Hercules, the active N4rayaza has become a sage tranquil, peaceful, and refraining from action. ® Desa. This immovability must be taken cum grano salis, in so far as the sun is represented to continue in the same portion of the ecliptic for one day. * Vikshepa as an astronomical term means celestial latitude ; the sun knows no deviation from the ecliptic, of course. 7 Dishfy asi, VII. ANCIENT DEVOTION. 159 without any hurt, hast reached supreme enlightenment. How great a fortune is ours! we congratulate ourselves, O Lion amongst kings! 12, These unhappy! creatures, vexed in all ways, deprived of eyes, as it were, and joyless, do not find the road leading to the end of toils, nor develop energy for the sake of deliverance. 13. Dangers are for a long time on the increase, and the laws (or phenomena, things) are deprived of the (possession of a) celestial body; the word of the Gina is not being heard; the whole world is plunged in thick darkness. 14. But to-day (or now) hast thou, Majesty of the world, reached this hallowed, high, and faultless spot; we as well as the world are obliged to thee, and approach to seek our refuge with thee, O Protector ! When, O monks, those sixteen princes in the condition of boys, childlike and young, had with such stanzas celebrated the Lord Mahébhig#4g74n4bhibhd, the Tathagata, &c., they urged the Lord to move on the wheel of the law?: Preach the law, O Lord; preach the law, O Sugata, for the weal of the public, the happiness of the public, out of compassion for the world; for the benefit, weal, and happiness of the people generally, both of gods and men. And on that occasion they uttered the following stanzas: 15. Preach the law, O thou who art marked with a hundred auspicious signs, O Leader, O incomparable great Seer! thou hast attained exalted, 1 Andyika, derived from an and Aya. * T.e. to rise a second day, to awaken from his Nirvana. 160 SADDHARMA-PUNDARIKA. VII. sublime knowledge; let it shine in the world, including the gods. 16. Release us as well as these creatures; display the knowledge of the Tathagatas, that we also and, further, these beings may obtain this supreme? enlightenment.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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