Saddharma Pundarika

SR No.: 007677
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: H Kern
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1884
Total Pages: 2546
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 46 MB

Page 222

178
SADDHARMA-PUNDARÍKA.
VII.
the Arhat, &c., and the Tathagata Merukata, the Arhat, &c. In the south-east, monks, is the Tathagata Simhaghosha, &c., and the Tathagata Simhadhvaga, &c.2 In the south, monks, is the Tathagata named Âkâsapratishthita, &c., and the Tathagata named Nityaparinirvrita', &c. In the southwest, monks, is the Tathagata named Indradhvaga, &c., and the Tathagata named Brahmadhvaga, &c. In the west, monks, is the Tathagata named Amitâyus , &c., and the Tathagata named Sarvalokadhatāpadravodvegapratyuttirna, &c. In the north-west, monks, is the Tathagata named Tamala patrakandanagandhâbhigña', &c., and the Tathagata Merukalpa, &c. In the north, monks, is the Tathagata named Meghasvarapradipa, &c., and the Tathagata
* I am at a loss to explain by what trick the S. E. E. point is called summit of the Meru.'
: The names of these two Tathầgatas mean severally, having a lion's voice, and having a lion for ensign. Lion' is one of the constant veiled expressions for hari, yellow, ruddy, Vishnu, lion, &c., because hari possesses all these different meanings. The Buddhas here intended may be Agni and Anila or Antariksha (=vâyu, air), both of them known by the name of hari. Cf. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, VI (new series), p. 287 seq.
8 So have my MSS.; Nityaparinivrita, 'always extinct or quiet,' is Yama, Death.
Identical with Amitabha; he is the ruler of the blessed dead in the city of Bliss (Sukhâvatî), and therefore a variety of Yama. His being placed in the west is explainable, because Yama and Varuna in a certain function coincide, and the latter otherwise appears as the ruler of the west. The following worthy with endless name, 'Having past all worldly calamities and emotions,' is another designation of Amitâyus, i. e. he whose life is of unlimited duration.
o According to the Camb. MSS.; the name 'cognizant of the scent of Xanthochymus and sandal' denotes the Wind, the ruler of the north-west.
• Var. lect. Meghásvaradîpa; Burnouf has a third form, Megha
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