Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/299

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xi.
APPARITION OF A STÛPA.
251

does not swerve from the idea of enlightenment, has great aspirations, applies to other beings the same measure as to herself; she is apt to display all virtues and is never deficient in them. With a bland smile on the face and in the bloom of an extremely handsome appearance she speaks words of kindliness and compassion[1]. She is fit to arrive at supreme, perfect enlightenment. The Bodhisattva Pragñâkûte. said: I have seen how the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, when he was striving after enlightenment, in the state of a Bodhisattva, performed innumerable good works[2], and during many Æons never slackened in his arduous task. In the whole universe there is not a single spot so small as a mustard-seed where he has not surrendered his body for the sake of creatures[3]. Afterwards he arrived at enlightenment. Who then would believe that she should have been able to arrive at supreme, perfect knowledge in one moment?

At that very moment appeared the daughter of Sdgara, the N&ga-king, standing before their face. After reverentially saluting the feet of the Lord she stationed herself at some distance and uttered on that occasion the following stanzas:


    dhisahasraikakshawapratildbhinf. A marginal correction by a later hand adds sarva between dharma and satva.

  1. The daughter of Sâgara, the Ocean, is Lakshmi, the smiling goddess of Beauty and Fortune, but from some traits in the sequel it would seem that she is identified with Tdrd, the wife of Bnhaspati and the Moon.
  2. As Hercules performed his ἄθλα.
  3. As the sun shoots his rays everywhere, it is quite natural that his dh&tus, i.e. particles, relics, have been spread all over the surface of the earth, and it is no untruth that the footprints (the pad as, rays) of the Lord Sakyamuni are to be found in Laos, in Ceylon, &c.