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BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.
and other creations of the Brahmanical mythology. To rise to the elevation of a perfect Buddha one existence more on earth was necessary, and he, therefore, becomes incarnate as the son of the Sakya prince Suddhodana, king of Kapilavastu, and Máyá his wife: he is born miraculously from his mother's side, who died seven days after his birth: as soon as born he took seven steps to each of the four quarters, announcing aloud his supremacy in language, which the Lalita Vistara and the Buddhist writings of Ava and Ceylon similarly repeat, at least substantially. The Lalita Vistara, for instance, makes him say in the east, “I shall proceed, the first of all existences, springing from the root of virtue:” in the south, "I shall be worthy of the offerings of gods and men:" in the west, “This is my last birth; I shall put an end to birth, old age, disease, and death:” in the north, “I shall have no superior amongst beings *." So Mr. Hardy **, translating from various Buddhist works in Páli, says: “at his birth he was received by Mahá Brahımá in a golden net, from which he was transferred to the guardians of the four quarters, who received him on a tiger's skin, from the dewas he was received by the nobles, who wrapped him in folds of the finest and softest cloth, but at once Bodhisat
* [1. l., p. 96 f.]
** [Manual of Buddhism, p. 145 f. See also Bigandet's "Legend of the Burmese Budha", in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. VI (1852), p. 500; and Bennett's “Life of Gaudama", in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. III (1853), p. 11.]
