Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/75

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i.
SADDHARMA-PUNDARÎKA. INTRODUCTORY.
27

seers, are but rarely met with in the lapse of myriads of ko/is of Æons!

81. The many sons of Buddha were struck with grief and filled with extreme sorrow when they heard the voice of the highest of men announcing that his Nirv&tfa was near at hand.

82. To comfort so inconceivably many ko/is of living beings the king of kings said : ' Be not afraid, O monks; after my Nirvdwa there shall be another Buddha.

83. ' The wise Bodhisattva *Srigarbha, after finishing his course in faultless knowledge, shall reach highest, supreme enlightenment, and become a G^na under the name of Vimal&granetra.'

84. That very night, in the middle watch, he met complete extinction, like a lamp when the cause (of its burning) is exhausted. His relics were distributed, and of his Sttipas there was an infinite number of myriads of ko/is.

85. The monks and nuns at the time being, who strove after supreme, highest enlightenment, numerous as sand of the Ganges, applied themselves to the commandment of the Sugata.

86. And the monk who then was the preacher of the law and the keeper of the law, Varaprabha, - expounded for fully eighty intermediate kalpas the highest laws according to the commandment (of the Sugata).

87. He had eight hundred pupils, who all of them were by him brought to full development. They saw many ko/is of Buddhas, great sages, whom they worshipped.

88. By following the regular course they became Buddhas in several spheres, and as they followed