Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1§3. MEDITATION ON BUDDHA AMITAYUS. 163 of the gate whether his father was yet aHve. On this, the warder answered him : * O Exalted king, the chief consort (of thy father) brought (food) and presented it to him by anointing her body with honey and flour and filHng her garlands with the juice (of grapes), and the vSrama^zas, Mahamaudgalyayana and Pur/^a, approached the king through the sky in order to preach the Law to him. It is, O king, impossible to prevent them coming. When the prince heard this answer his indignation arose against his mother : ' My mother,' he cried, ' is, indeed, a rebel, for she was found in company with that rebel. Wicked people are those ^'rama^zas, and it is their art of spells causing illusion and delusion that delayed the death of that wicked king for so many days. Instantly he brandished his sharp sword, intending to slay his mother. At that moment, there intervened a minister named A'andraprabha, who was possessed of great wisdom and intelligence, and 6^iva (a famous physician). They saluted the prince and remonstrated with him, saying : ' We, ministers, O Great king, heard that since the beginning of the kalpas there had been several wicked kings, even to the number of eighteen thousand, who killed their own fathers, coveting the throne of (their respective) kingdoms, as mentioned in the Sutra of the discourse of the Veda \ Yet never have we heard of a man killing his mother, though he be void of virtue. Now, if thou, O king, shouldst dare to commit such a deadly sin, thou wouldst bring a stain upon the blood of the Kshatriyas (the kingly race). We cannot even ^ This is non-Buddhistic, according to ShSn-tao. * M 2
2l64 AMITAVUR-DHYANA-S^TRA, §4. bear to hear of it. Thou art indeed a A'a7^r/ala (the lowest race) ; we shall not stay here w ith thee.* After this speech, the two great ministers retired stepping backward, each with his hand placed on his sword. A^ata^atru M-as then frightened, and greatly afraid of them, and asked Civa, saying: 'Wilt thou not be friendly to me? In reply 6"iva said to him : ' Do not then, O Great king, by any means think of injuring thy mother. On hearing this, the prince repented and sought for mercy, and at once laid down his sword and did his mother no hurt. He finally ordered the officers of the inner chambers to put the queen in a hidden palace and not to allow her to come out again, § 4. When Vaidehi was thus shut up in retirement she became afflicted by sorrow and distress. She began to do homage to Buddha from afar, looking towards the Mount G;Vdhraku/a. She uttered the following words : ' O Tath^gata ! World- Honoured One! In former times thou hast constantly sent Ananda to me for enquiry and consolation. I am now in sorrow and grief Thou, 0 World-Honoured One, art majestic and exalted ; in no way shall I be able to see thee. Wilt thou, 1 pray thee, command Mahimaudgalyayana and thy honoured disciple, Ananda, to come and have an interview with me ? ' After this speech, she grieved and wept, shedding tears like a shower of rain. Before she raised her head from doing homage to the distant Buddha, the World-Honoured One knew what Vaidehi was wishing in her mind, though he was on the Mount Gr/dhrakiVa. Therefore, he instantly ordered Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda to go to her through the sky. Buddha
3§5. MEDITATION ON BUDDHA AMITAYUS. 1 65 himself disappeared from that mountain and appeared in the royal palace. When the queen raised her head as she fmishcd homage to Buddha, she saw before her the World- Honoured Buddha 6'akyamuni, whose body was purple gold in colour, sitting on a lotus-flower which consists of a hundred jewels, with Mahamaudgalyayana attending on his left, and with Ananda on his right. .Sakra (Indra), Brahman, and other gods that protect the world were seen in the midst of the sky, everywhere showering heavenly flowers with which they made offerings to Buddha in their worship. Vaidehi, at the sight of Buddha the World-Honoured One, took off her garlands and prostrated herself on the ground, crying, sobbing, and speaking to Buddha : ' O World-Honoured One ! what former sin of mine has produced such a wicked son ? And again, O Exalted One, from what cause and circumstances hast thou such an affinity (by blood and religion) with Devadatta (Buddha's wicked cousin and once his disciple)?' § 5. ' My only prayer,' she continued, ' is this : O World-Honoured One, mayst thou preach to me in detail of all the places where there is no sorrow or trouble, and where I ought to go to be born anew. I am not satisfied with this world of depravities \ with 6^ambudvipa (India) -, which is full of hells, full of hungry spirits (pretas), and of the brute creation. In this world of depravities, there is many an assemblage of the wicked. May I not ' For five depravities vide Smaller Sukhavati, § 18; Saddharmapu«</ar5ka by Kern, p. 58, § 140 note. 2 But Japanese Buddhists take this in a wider sense.
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.
1§3. MEDITATION ON BUDDHA AMITAYUS. 163 of the gate whether his father was yet aHve. On this, the warder answered him : * O Exalted king, the chief consort (of thy father) brought (food) and presented it to him by anointing her body with honey and flour and filHng her garlands with the juice (of grapes), and the vSrama^zas, Mahamaudgalyayana and Pur/^a, approached the king through the sky in order to preach the Law to him. It is, O king, impossible to prevent them coming. When the prince heard this answer his indignation arose against his mother : ' My mother,' he cried, ' is, indeed, a rebel, for she was found in company with that rebel. Wicked people are those ^'rama^zas, and it is their art of spells causing illusion and delusion that delayed the death of that wicked king for so many days. Instantly he brandished his sharp sword, intending to slay his mother. At that moment, there intervened a minister named A'andraprabha, who was possessed of great wisdom and intelligence, and 6^iva (a famous physician). They saluted the prince and remonstrated with him, saying : ' We, ministers, O Great king, heard that since the beginning of the kalpas there had been several wicked kings, even to the number of eighteen thousand, who killed their own fathers, coveting the throne of (their respective) kingdoms, as mentioned in the Sutra of the discourse of the Veda \ Yet never have we heard of a man killing his mother, though he be void of virtue. Now, if thou, O king, shouldst dare to commit such a deadly sin, thou wouldst bring a stain upon the blood of the Kshatriyas (the kingly race). We cannot even ^ This is non-Buddhistic, according to ShSn-tao. * M 2
2l64 AMITAVUR-DHYANA-S^TRA, §4. bear to hear of it. Thou art indeed a A'a7^r/ala (the lowest race) ; we shall not stay here w ith thee.* After this speech, the two great ministers retired stepping backward, each with his hand placed on his sword. A^ata^atru M-as then frightened, and greatly afraid of them, and asked Civa, saying: 'Wilt thou not be friendly to me? In reply 6"iva said to him : ' Do not then, O Great king, by any means think of injuring thy mother. On hearing this, the prince repented and sought for mercy, and at once laid down his sword and did his mother no hurt. He finally ordered the officers of the inner chambers to put the queen in a hidden palace and not to allow her to come out again, § 4. When Vaidehi was thus shut up in retirement she became afflicted by sorrow and distress. She began to do homage to Buddha from afar, looking towards the Mount G;Vdhraku/a. She uttered the following words : ' O Tath^gata ! World- Honoured One! In former times thou hast constantly sent Ananda to me for enquiry and consolation. I am now in sorrow and grief Thou, 0 World-Honoured One, art majestic and exalted ; in no way shall I be able to see thee. Wilt thou, 1 pray thee, command Mahimaudgalyayana and thy honoured disciple, Ananda, to come and have an interview with me ? ' After this speech, she grieved and wept, shedding tears like a shower of rain. Before she raised her head from doing homage to the distant Buddha, the World-Honoured One knew what Vaidehi was wishing in her mind, though he was on the Mount Gr/dhrakiVa. Therefore, he instantly ordered Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda to go to her through the sky. Buddha
3§5. MEDITATION ON BUDDHA AMITAYUS. 1 65 himself disappeared from that mountain and appeared in the royal palace. When the queen raised her head as she fmishcd homage to Buddha, she saw before her the World- Honoured Buddha 6'akyamuni, whose body was purple gold in colour, sitting on a lotus-flower which consists of a hundred jewels, with Mahamaudgalyayana attending on his left, and with Ananda on his right. .Sakra (Indra), Brahman, and other gods that protect the world were seen in the midst of the sky, everywhere showering heavenly flowers with which they made offerings to Buddha in their worship. Vaidehi, at the sight of Buddha the World-Honoured One, took off her garlands and prostrated herself on the ground, crying, sobbing, and speaking to Buddha : ' O World-Honoured One ! what former sin of mine has produced such a wicked son ? And again, O Exalted One, from what cause and circumstances hast thou such an affinity (by blood and religion) with Devadatta (Buddha's wicked cousin and once his disciple)?' § 5. ' My only prayer,' she continued, ' is this : O World-Honoured One, mayst thou preach to me in detail of all the places where there is no sorrow or trouble, and where I ought to go to be born anew. I am not satisfied with this world of depravities \ with 6^ambudvipa (India) -, which is full of hells, full of hungry spirits (pretas), and of the brute creation. In this world of depravities, there is many an assemblage of the wicked. May I not ' For five depravities vide Smaller Sukhavati, § 18; Saddharmapu«</ar5ka by Kern, p. 58, § 140 note. 2 But Japanese Buddhists take this in a wider sense.
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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