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CHAPTER FOUR assembly? By his death, not otherwise, his meditation will be destroyed.” With these reflections the basest of gods made a wheel of time. At once the god lifted it which was made of a thousand bhāras 108 of iron, like Rāvaņa lifting Mount Kailāsa. Picking up the wheel of time which, I think, had been made as another cover for the earth, he threw it on the Lord. Making all the directions terrifying by the mass of flames shooting up, it fell on the Lord of the World like submarine fire on the ocean. From the blow of the wheel which was able to destroy mountain-ranges, the Blessed One sank into the ground up to his knees.
When this happened, the Blessed One regretted this: “We wish to help every one cross (saṁsāra), (but) we are the cause of his samsāra.”
"Since he did not die even when struck by the wheel of time, he is outside the sphere of weapons. What other device is there in this matter? Perhaps he would be disturbed some by favorable attacks.” With this idea the god made them quickly on the Teacher of the World. The villain at once made dawn appear unseasonably by which the sky was made light, filled with flocks of twittering birds. The Lord, highminded, considering this a celestial illusion, did not relax his meditation, persisting in his vow. The god, after removing that, appeared before him in a heavenly car, lighting up the sky with his earrings, necklace, armlets and diadem, and said:
“Great sage, I am pleased by your strength of character, by the vigor of your penance, by your indifference to life and by the completion of what was undertaken. Enough of that penance torturing the body. Speak ! Ask ! Do not hesitate. What can I give you? Shall I convey you with this same body to that heaven where wishes are constantly fulfilled by mere wishing? Or shall I lead you to emancipation characterized by liberation from karma rooted in existence without
108 239. Bhāra might be translated 'ton,' as used for an indefinite large amount.
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