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III.
A PARABLE.
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people, including ascetics and Brahmans, that thou, Sâriputra, hast been by me made ripe for supreme, perfect enlightenment, in presence of twenty hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Buddhas, and that thou, Sariputra, hast for a long time followed my commandments. Thou, Sâriputra, art, by the counsel of the Bodhisattva, by the decree of the Bodhisattva, reborn here under my rule. Owing to the mighty will of the Bodhisattva thou, Sâriputra, hast no recollection of thy former vow to observe the (religious) course; of the counsel of the Bodhisattva, the decree of the Bodhisattva. Thou thinkest that thou hast reached final rest. I, wishing to revive and renew in thee the knowledge of thy former vow to observe the (religious) course, will reveal to the disciples the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Lotus of the True Law,' this Satrânta, &c.
Again, Säriputra, at a future period, after innumerable, inconceivable, immeasurable Æons, when thou shalt have learnt the true law of hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Tathagatas, showed devotion in various ways, and achieved the present Bodhisattva-course, thou shalt become in the world a Tathagata, &c., named Padmaprabha', endowed with science and conduct, a Sugata, a knower of the world, an unsurpassed tamer of men, a master of gods and meno, a Lord Buddha.
Padma, Nelumbium Speciosum, having a rosy hue, we must infer that Sâriputra will be reborn at twilight.
* The supreme tamer of men is, in reality, Yama, personified Twilight, and as evening twilight the god of death and the ruler of the infernal regions. The word yama itself means both *twin' (cf. twi-light) and 'tamer.' Owing to the fact that in mythology many beings are denoted by the name of the twins,' e. g. morning and evening, the Asvins, Castor and Pollux, it is often [31]
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