Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/455

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xxiv.
THE ALL-SIDED ONE.
407

should see their bullion, gold, gems, pearls, lapis lazuli, conch shells, stones (?), corals, emeralds, Musâragalvas, read pearls (?), and other goods lost, and the ship by a vehement, untimely gale cast on the island of Giantesses[1], and if in that ship a single being implores Avalokitesvara, all will be saved from that island of Giantesses. For that reason, young man of good family, the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Avalokitesvara is named Avalokitesvara[2].

If a man given up to capital punishment 3 implores Avalokitesvara, young man of good family, the swords of the executioners shall snap asunder 4 . Further, young man of good family, if the whole triple chiliocosm were teeming with goblins and giants, they would by virtue of the name of the Bodhisattva Mahisattva Avalokitesvara being pronounced lose the faculty of sight in their wicked designs[3]. If some creature, young man of good


Vadhyotsish/a; I do not feel certain of the rendering of u£Mish/a; perhaps we should translate it by ' a reprobate condemned to capital punishment.'

Vadhyagh&takSna'JW tani sastrdni (sic) vijiryeyu^.


  1. In the Kâranda-vyuha, a work entirely devoted to the glorification of Avalokitesvara and his sublime achievements, the isle of the Giantesses is identified with Ceylon; see pp. 45 and 53 of that work (Calcutta edition), and the extract given by Burnouf, Introduction, pp. 221-227.
  2. Avalokita means 'beheld;' it is as such synonymous with dr/'sh/a, seen, visible, and pratyaksha, visible, manifest, present. The Bodhisattva is everywhere present, and therefore implored in need and danger. If we take avalokita as a substantive in the neuter gender, the compound will mean 'the Lord of view, of regard/ with which one may compare .Siva's epithet Dr/'sh/iguru, the Master of view.
  3. It is well known that those children of darkness are unable to stand the sun's light.