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CHAPTER IV
PADMAPRABHACARITRA
Om! We praise the Lord Jina, Padmaprabha, the color of the red lotus, the pleasure-house of Padma like a heap of lotuses to which she has resorted. By his unequaled power, I, though of little wit, shall narrate the life destructive of evil of the Jinendra Padmaprabha.
Incarnation as Aparajita (3-17)
In the province Vatsa, the sole ornament of East Videha in Dhatakikhaṇḍadvipa, there is an excellent city, Susīmā. Its king was Aparajita, unconquered by his enemies, (but) with his senses conquered, like dharma embodied. Justice was his friend, dharma his relation, virtues his wealth. Friends, relations, wealth were only externals. The important qualities, sincerity, good conduct, truthfulness adorned each other mutually like shoots of a tree. Free from anger he ruled his enemies; free from attachment he enjoyed pleasure; free from greed he, the crest-jewel of the discriminating, supported wealth.
One day, when he, like a god, was drinking the nectar of the Arhat's teaching, his mind concentrated on the Tattvas,81 he reflected : "Wealth, youth, beauty, the body, doe-eyed women, sons, friends, palaces, are difficult for people to give up. Yet a person, who has experienced misfortune while living or who has died, is abandoned by them, like a broken egg by birds. A stupid man, alas! who bestows one-sided affection on them, like jumping with one foot, is separated from his possessions. Before they abandon me because of the consumption of matured
481 8. The Fundamental Principles. See I, App. IV.
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