Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/456

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
408
SADDHARMA-PUNDARÎKA GADGADASVARA.
408

family, shall be bound in wooden or iron manacles, chains or fetters, be he guilty or innocent, then those manacles, chains or fetters shall give way as soon as the name of the Bodhisattva Mahdsattva Avalokitesvara is pronounced. Such, young man of good family, is the power of the Bodhisattva Mahdsattva Avalokite^vara. If this whole triple chiliocosm, young man of good family, were teeming with knaves, enemies, and robbers armed with swords, and if a merchant leader of a caravan marched with a caravan rich in jewels; if then they perceived, those robbers, knaves, and enemies armed with swords, and in their anxiety and fright thought themselves helpless; if, further, that leading merchant spoke to the caravan in this strain : Be not afraid, young gentlemen, be not frightened; invoke, all of you, with one voice the Bodhisattva Mahdsattva Avalokiteivara, the giver of safety; then you shall be delivered from this danger by which you are threatened at the hands of robbers and enemies ; if then the whole caravan with one voice invoked Avalokitesvara with the words : Adoration, adoration be to the giver of safety, to A valokitervara Bodhisattva Mah&sattva ! then, by the mere act of pronouncing that name, the caravan would be released from all danger. Such, young man of good family, is the power of the Bodhisattva MahAsattva Avalokitesvara. In case creatures act under the impulse of impure passion, young man of good family, they will, after adoring the Bodhisattva Mahisattva Avalokitesvara, be freed from passion. Those who act under the impulse of hatred will, after adoring the Bodhisattva Mah&sattva Avalokitervara, be freed from hatred. Those who act under the impulse of