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CHAPTER THREE
Initiation (53-68)
When thirty lacs of years had passed in the ruling of the earth, he considered the time of initiation to be a boat for crossing the ocean of existence. The Lokantika-gods, Sarasvatas, et cetera, came and said to the Teacher of the World, "Found a congregation." For a year he gave beggars gifts according to their wishes with money brought by Jṛmbhaka, like a wish-granting tree on earth. At the end of the giving the Indras made Lord Vimala's initiationconsecration with water pure as his own mind. After putting on divine ornaments and garments and divine ointment, the Lord got into the palanquin Devadattā. Surrounded on all sides by gods, asuras, and kings, the Master went to the garden Sahasrāmra in the palanquin.
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The Blessed Lord Vimala entered the garden whose rows of arbors of vines were occupied by the girl-gardeners afraid of the cold with the same joy as if they were houses; which had a mass of snow borne by the trees-mango, bakula, et cetera, as if practicing penance that would have wonderful beauty in the future; which had the pain from the cold warded off from the wanton couples from the city by fresh well-water and the shade of the banyan trees; 197 which had waves of moonlight in the form of smiles of the women from the city at the sight of the guñjā berries 198 heaped up by the monkeys suffering from cold; which was smiling, as it were, with blossoming lavali and jasmine-buds. After descending from the palanquin and removing his ornaments, wearing a garment of devaduṣya placed on his shoulder, in the afternoon on the fourth
137 61. This is in accordance with an Indian proverb: kūpodakam vaṭacchāyā śyāmā stri ceṣṭakālayam
śītakāle bhaveduṣṇam uṣṇakāle ca sitalam # IS 1850 Well-water, the shade of a banyan tree, a brunette woman, a brick house are warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather.
138 62. The guñjā, the Abrus precatorius, has red berries. I am told there is a tradition that monkeys will heap these up with the idea that they give off heat.
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