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one by intense meditation of the finite idea of earth or the infinite idea of water (has succeeded in realising the comparative value of things 1) he can make this earth move and tremble and be shaken violently. These are the second causes, proximate or remote, of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.
15. ‘Again, Ânanda, when a Bodhisatta consciously and deliberately leaves his temporary form in the heaven of delight and descends into his mother's womb, then is this earth made to quake and tremble and is shaken violently. These are the third causes, proximate or remote, of the appearance of a mighty earthquake 2.
THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
CH.
more particularly referred to in the passage of the text. Here all kinds of devatâs being referred to, and there being no word in English for them all, I have ventured to put the word devatâ into my version, and to trouble the reader with this note.
1 Yassa parittâ pathavi-saññâ bhâvitâ hoti appamânâ âposaññâ, on which Buddhaghosa says simply, Parittâ ti dubbalâ: appamânâ ti balavâ, and then goes on, as a note to kampeti, to tell a long story how Sangharakkhita Sâmanera, the nephew of Nâga Thera, attained Arahatship on the day of his admission to the order; and at once proceeded to heaven, and standing on the pinnacle of the palace of the king of the gods, shook the whole place with his big toe; to the great consternation and annoyance of the exalted dwellers therein! There is no doubt a real truth in the idea that deep thought can shake the universe, and make the palaces of the gods to tremble, just as faith is said in Matthew xxi. 21 to be able to remove mountains, and cause them to be cast into the sea. But these figurative expressions have, in Buddhism, become a fruitful soil for the outgrowth of superstitions and misunderstandings; and the train of early Buddhist speculation in this field has yet to be elucidated. There is much about it in the Mahâ Padhâna Sutta of the Dîgha Nikâya, where Chap. III, §§ 11-20 recur.
2 The Bodhisatta's voluntary incarnation is looked upon by the Buddhists as a great act of renunciation, and curious legends have
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |