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EXAMPLE OF THE STYLE OF EXPANDED SÓTRAS. 361
jewelled necklaces for their persons. A hundred men, each in turn, guarded the place by night. Before the several palaces were every kind of sweet fruit trees, and between the trees tanks of water, in which were every kind of aquatic flower, whilst an innumerable number (or a large number) of birds with shining plumage and of different species (sounded their joyful notes on every side). The king hoped thus to amuse and please the prince, so as to prevent the rising of any desire to awaken réason (to become Buddha). The palace windows were all well secured, and the gates on opening and shutting could be heard at a distance of forty lis.
And now Buddha addressed the Bhikshus: "When Bodhisattva was born, the great-spirit illustrious Deva (i.e. Mahesvara) addressed all the pure-abode (Devas) [i.e. the Suddhâvasakâyikas] (and said), “Bodhisattva Mahâsattva (ta-sse) through countless ages having heaped up merit and acquired (tied as in a string) virtuous conduct, by his purity which has been to him a sacred enclosure, by his charity which has been everywhere celebrated, by his moral conduct (sila) purifying himself throughout, diligently practising right conduct, his great love and pity leading him willingly to undertake the protection of all creatures and to lay a foundation of great rest (peace) in the world, Bodhisattva thus persevering with unflagging determination to fulfil the great vow he made in ages gone by before the Buddha then living (i.e. Dipankara) to plant the root of all virtues in himself, to be distinguished by possessing the glorious and holy substance of a hundred (sources) of merit, by which to cause peace and agreement amongst all creatures, and to cause them to rise above perverse thoughts (disagreements), and by perfect purity and rejection of all that is vile, in this way to lay the foundation
which is a phrase often used for a great number;' see Notices on Chinese Grammar (part i, by Philo-Sinensis, Batavia, 1842), p. 70; and compare Fă-hien, p. 161 (English edition), where M. Stanislas Julien has suggested another reading.
* Taou-kang, reason enclosure; this is the usual phrase for the Bodhi mandala, or enclosure round the Bodhi tree; it is difficult to translate in the text.
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