1. Then the venerable Sâriputra, pleased, glad, charmed, cheerful, thrilling with delight and joy, stretched his joined hands towards the Lord, and, looking up to the Lord with a steady gaze, addressed him in this strain: I am astonished, amazed, O Lord! I am in ecstasy to hear such a call from the Lord. For when, before I had heard of this law from the Lord, I saw other Bodhisattvas, and heard that the Bodhisattvas would in future get the name of Buddhas, I felt extremely sorry, extremely vexed to be,deprived from so grand a sight as the Tathâgata-knowledge. And whenever, O Lord, for my daily recreation I was visiting the caves of rocks or mountains, wood thickets, lovely gardens, rivers, and roots of trees, I always was occupied with the same and ever-reeurring thought: 'Whereas the entrance into the fixed points Or, elements of the law is nominally equal, we have been dismissed by the Lord with the inferior vehicle.' Instantly, however, O Lord, I felt that it was our own fault, not the Lord's. For had we regarded the Lord at the time of his giving the allsurpassing demonstration of the law, that is, the exposition of supreme, perfect enlightenment, then, O Lord, we should have become adepts in those laws. But because, without understanding the mystery of the Lord, we, at the moment of the Bodhisattvas not being assembled, heard only in a hurry, caught, meditated, minded, took to heart the first lessons pronounced ori the law, therefore, O Lord, I used to pass day and night in self-reproach. But to-day, O Lord, I have reached complete extinction; to-day, O Lord, I have become calm; to-day, O Lord, I am wholly come to rest; to-day, O Lord, I have reached Arhatship; to-day, O Lord, I am the Lord's eldest son, born from his law, sprung into existence by the law, made by the law, inheriting from the law, accomplished by the law. My burning has left me, O Lord, now that I have heard this wonderful law, which I had not leant before, announced by the voice from the mouth of the Lord. And on that occasion the venerable Sâriputra addressed the Lord in the following stanzas:

2. I am astonished, great Leader, I am charmed to hear this voice; I feel no doubt any more; now am I fully ripe for the superior vehicle.

3. Wonderful is the voice Rather, call of the Sugatas; it dispels the doubt and pain of living beings; my pain also is all gone now that I, freed from imperfections, have heard that voice or, call.

4. When I was taking my daily recreation or was walking in woody thickets, when betaking myself to the roots of trees or to mountain caves, I indulged in no other thought but this:

5. 'O how am I deluded by vain thoughts! whereas the faultless laws are, nominally, equal, shall I in future not preach the superior law in the world?

6. 'The thirty-two characteristic signs have failed me, and the gold colour of the skin has vanished; all the ten powers and emancipations have likewise been lost. O how have I gone astray at the equal laws!

7. 'The secondary signs also of the great Seers, the eighty excellent specific signs, and the eighteen uncommon properties have failed me. O how am I deluded!'

8. And when I had perceived thee, so benigh and merciful to the world, and was lonely walking to take my daily recreation, I thought: 'I am excluded from that inconceivable, unbounded knowledge!'

9. Days and nights, O Lord, I passed always thinking of the same subject; I would ask the Lord whether I had lost my rank or not.

10. In such reflections, O Chief of Ginas, I constantly passed my days and nights; and on seeing many other Bodhisattvas praised by the Leader of the world,

11. And on hearing this Buddha-law, I thought: 'To be sure, this is expounded mysteriously'; it is an inscrutable, subtle, and faultless science, which is announced by the Ginas on the terrace of enlightenment.'

12. Formerly I was attached to heretical theories, being a wandering monk and in high honour or, of the same opinions with the heretics; afterwards has the Lord, regarding my disposition, taught me Nirvâna, to detach me from perverted views.

13. After having completely freed myself from all heretical views and reached the laws of void, I conceive that I have become extinct; yet this is not deemed to be extinction.

14. But when one becomes Buddha, a superior being, honoured by men, gods, goblins, Titans, and adorned with the thirty-two characteristic signs, then one will be completely extinct.

15. All those former cares have now been dispelled, since I have heard the voice. Now am I extinct, as thou announcest my destination to Nirvâna before the world including the gods.

16. When I first heard the voice of the Lord, I had a great terror lest it might be Mâra, the evil one, who on this occasion had adopted the disguise of Buddha.

17. But when the unsurpassed Buddha-wisdom had been displayed in and established with arguments, reasons, and illustrations, by myriads of kotis, then I lost all doubt about the law I heard.

18. And when thou hadst mentioned to me the thousands of kotis of Buddhas, the past Ginas who have come to final rest, and how they preached this law by firmly establishing it through skilfulness;

19. How the many future Buddhas and those who are now existing, as knowers of the real truth, shall expound or are expounding this law by hundreds of able devices;

20. And when thou wert mentioning thine own course after leaving home, how the idea of the wheel of the law presented itself to thy mind and how thou decidedst upon preaching the law;

21. Then I was convinced: This is not Mâra; it is the Lord of the world, who has shown the true course; no Mâras can here abide. So then my mind for a moment was overcome with perplexity;

22. But when the sweet, deep, and lovely voice of Buddha gladdened me, all doubts were scattered, my perplexity vanished, and I stood firm in knowledge.

23. I shall become a Tathâgata, undoubtedly, worshipped in the world including the gods; I shall manifest Buddha-wisdom, mysteriously rousing many Bodhisattvas. After this speech of the venerable Sâriputra, the Lord said to him: I declare to thee, Sâriputra, I announce to thee, in presence of this world including the gods, Mâras, and Brahmas, in presence of this 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, Sâriputra, 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 Sûrânta, &c. Again, Sâriputra, at a future period, after innumerable, inconceivable, immeasurable Æons, when thou shalt have learnt the true law of hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Tathâgatas, showed devotion in various ways, and achieved the present Bodhisattva-course, thou shalt become in the world a Tathâgata, &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 men, a Lord Buddha. At that time then, Sâriputra, the Buddha-field of that Lord, the Tathâgata Padmaprabha, to be called Viraga, will be level, pleasant, delightful, extremely beautiful to see, pure, prosperous, rich, quiet, abounding with food, replete with many races of men; it will consist of lapis lazuli, and contain a checker-board of eight compartments distinguished by gold threads, each compartment having its jewel tree always and perpetually filled with blossoms and fruits of seven precious substances. Now that Tathâgata Padmaprabha, &c., Sâriputra, will preach the law by the instrumentality of three vehicles . Further, Sâriputra, that Tathâgata will not appear at the decay of the Æon, but preach the law by virtue of a vow. That Æon, Sâriputra, will be named Mahâratnapratimandita i. e. ornamented with magnificent jewels. Knowest thou, Sâriputra, why that Æon is named Mahâratnapratimandita? The Bodhisattvas of a Buddha-field, Sâriputra, are called ratnas jewels, and at that time there will be many Bodhisattvas in that sphere called Viraga; innumerable, incalculable, beyond computation, abstraction made from their being computed by the Tathâgatas. On that account is that Æon called Maharatnapratimandita. Now, to proceed, Sâriputra, at that period the Bodhisattvas of that field will in walking step on jewel lotuses. And these Bodhisattvas will not be plying their work for the first time, they having accumulated roots of goodness and observed the course of duty under many hundred thousand Buddhas; they are praised by the Tathâgatas for their zealous application to Buddha-knowledge; are perfectioned in the rites preparatory to transcendent knowledge; accomplished in the direction of all true laws; mild, thoughtful. Generally, Sâriputra, will that Buddha-region teem with such Bodhisattvas. As to the lifetime, Sâriputra, of that Tathâgata Padmaprabha, it will last twelve intermediate kalpas, if we leave out of account the time of his being a young prince. And the lifetime of the creatures then living will measure eight intermediate kalpas. At the expiration of twelve intermediate kalpas, Sâriputra, the Tathâgata Padmaprabha, after announcing the future destiny of the Bodhisattva called Dhritiparipûrnan Dhriti, perserverence, endurance. Dhritiparipûrna is, full of perserverance or endurance to superior perfect enlightenment, is to enter complete Nirvâna. 'This Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Dhritiparipûrna, O monks, shall immediately after me come to supreme, perfect enlightenment. He shall become in the world a Tathâgata named Padmavrishabhavikrâmin, an Arhat, &c., endowed with science and conduct, &c. &c.' Now the Tathigata Padmavrishabhavikrâmin, Sâriputra, will have a Buddha-field of quite the same description. The true law, Sâriputra, of that Tathâgata Padmavrishabhavikrâmin will, after his extinction, last thirty-two intermediate kalpas, and the counterfeit of his true law will last as many intermediate kalpas. And on that occasion the Lord uttered the following stanzas:

24. Thou also, son of Sari, shalt in future be a Gina, a Tathâgata named Padmaprabha, of illimited sight; thou shalt educate thousands of kotis of living beings.

25. After paying honour to many kotis of Buddhas, making strenuous efforts in the course of duty, and after having produced in thyself the ten powers, thou shalt reach supreme, perfect enlightenment.

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