181. "Oh, tell us what these signs portend. 182. The Great Sage, then, Dipaṁkara, Allayed and pacified their fears: "Be comforted; and fear ye not 183. 184. 185. For that the world doth quake and shake. "Of whom to-day I made proclaim - He now conditions pondereth, ""Tis while on these he is intent, The ground in worlds ten thousand shakes, When thus they'd heard The Buddha speak, Their anxious minds received relief; And all then drawing near to me, 186. Thus on the road to Buddhaship, 187. Then as I raised me from my seat, 188. 189. Both gods and men in unison Sweet flowers of heaven and flowers of earth Profusely sprinkled on my head. And gods and men in unison Their great delight proclaimed aloud: - "From all misfortunes be thou free, 190. 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. Mayst thou no hindrance ever know, "As, when the time of spring has come, "As all they who have Buddhas been, "As all they who have Buddhas been, "As all they who have Buddhas been, Make Doctrine's Wheel to roll once more. "As on the mid-day of the month "As when the sun, by Rahu freed, "Just as the rivers of all lands May gods and men from every world 197. Thus praised they me with glad acclaim; The ten conditions of my quest, Re-entered then into the wood. END OF THE STORY OF SUMEDHA. § 2. A LIST OF FORMER BUDDHAS. Translated from the Introduction to the Jātaka (i.4328). Now in the same world-cycle that saw Dīpaṁkara, The One Possessing the Ten Forces, there were also three other Buddhas; but as none of them prophesied concerning the Future Buddha, I have not mentioned them. In the Commentary, however, all the Buddhas are mentioned from the beginning of that world-cycle on, as follows: 247. "Tanhamkara, Medhamkara, Vipassi, Sikhi, Vessabhū, Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, Kassapa also, guide for men,— 251. "All these aforetime Buddhas were, Our Future Buddha, in his passage through four immensities and a hundred thousand world-cycles to the present time, has made his wish under twenty-four of these Buddhas, beginning with Dīpamkara. But since Kassapa, The Blessed One, there has been no Supreme Buddha excepting our present one. Accordingly, our Future Buddha has received recognition at the hands of twenty-four Buddhas, beginning with Dīpaṁkara. § 3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A FUTURE BUDDHA. Translated from the Introduction to the Jātaka (i.4420). "A human being, male of sex, Who saintship gains, a Teacher meets, Make his most earnest wish succeed." These eight conditions were all united in him when he made his earnest wish at the feet of Dīpaṁkara, saying, "Come now! I'll search that I may find Thereupon, putting forth a strenuous effort, as it is said, "And then I searched, and found the First Perfection, which consists in alms," he discovered, not only the perfection which is called alms, but also all the others that go to make a Buddha. And in fulfilling them he reached his Vessantara existence.1 In so doing, all the blessings celebrated in the following stanzas as belonging to Future Buddhas who make the earnest wish were attained by him: 1 The Vessantara Birth-Story is the last of the five hundred and fifty. and is not yet published. 254. When they appear among mankind, Nor dumbness have they to endure. 66 255. They're never of the female sex, 256. As eunuchs are they never classed, "From all the five great crimes exempt, They follow not vain heresy, For well they know how karma works. 257. "Though in the heavens they may be born, 258. Mongst dwellers in the Pure Abodes.2 "These pleasure-abnegating men Live unattached in every birth, And ever toil to help the world, While all perfections they fulfil." 1 I despair of giving in metre more than the general drift of these two lines. See Hardy, "Manual of Budhism," chap. ii. § 11. • See page 289. |