3. They, having mutually asked after each other’s health as was fitting, sat down in a clean place on two pure wooden seats.
4. The best of sages, having seen the prince seated, and as it were drinking in the sight of him with eyes opened wide in reverence, thus addressed him: 5. ‘I know, gentle youth, how thou hast come forth from thy home, having severed the bond of affection, as a wild elephant its cord.
6. ‘In every way thy mind is stedfast and wise, who hast come here after abandoning royal luxury like a creeper-plant with poisonous fruit.
7. ‘ It is no marvel that kings have retired to the forest who have grown old in years, having given up their glory to their children, like a garland left behind after being used.
8. ‘But this is to me indeed a marvel that thou art come hither in life’s fresh prime, set in the open field Arida holds an early form of the Sawkhya doctrine.
124 THE BUDDHA-X-ARITA of asvaghosha.
of the world’s enjoyments, ere thou hast as yet tasted of their happiness.
9. ‘ Verily thou art a worthy vessel to receive this highest religion; having mastered it with full know¬ ledge, cross at once over the sea of misery.
10. ‘ Though the doctrine is generally efficient only after a time, when the student has been thoroughly tested, thou art easy for me to examine from thy depth of character and determination.’
11. The prince, having heard these words of Ari^fa, was filled with great pleasure and thus made reply: 12. ‘This extreme kindliness which thou showest to me, calmly passionless as thou art, makes me, im¬ perfect as I am, seem even already to have attained perfection.
13. ‘I feel at the sight of thee like one longing to see who finds a light, — like one wishing to journey, a guide, — or like one wishing to cross, a boat.
14. ‘Wilt thou therefore deign to tell me that secret, if thou thinkest it should be told, whereby thy servant may be delivered from old age, death, and disease.’
15. ArcUfa, thus impelled by the noble nature of the prince, declared in a concise form the tenets of his doctrine: 16. ‘ O best of hearers, hear this our firmly-settled theory, how our mortal existence arises and how it revolves.
17. ‘ “ The evolvent ” and “ the evolute,” birth, old age, and death, — know that this has been called the reality by us; do thou receive our words, O thou who art stedfast in thy nature.
18. ‘ But know, O thou who art deep in the search BOOK XII, 9-26.
into the nature of things, that the five elements1, egoism, intellect, and “ the unmanifested ” are the “ evolvents; ” 19. ‘But know that the “evolutes” consist of in¬ tellect, external objects2, the senses, and the hands, feet, voice, anus, and generative organ, and also the mind.
20. ‘ There is also a something which bears the name kshetra^wa, from its. knowledge of this “field” (kshetra or the body); and those who investigate the soul call the soul kshetra^za.
21. 1 Kapila with his disciple became the illu¬ minated, — such is the tradition; and he, as the illu¬ minated, with his son is now called here Pra^apati.
22. ‘That which is born and grows old and is bound and dies, — is to be known as “the manifested,” and “ the unmanifested” is to be distinguished by its contrariety.
23. ‘ Ignorance, the merit or demerit of former actions, and desire are to be known as the causes of mundane existence; he who abides in the midst of this triad does not attain to the truth of things, — 24. ‘ From mistake 3, egoism, confusion, fluctua¬ tion, indiscrimination, false means, inordinate attach¬ ment, and gravitation.
25. ‘Now “mistake” acts in a contrary manner, it does wrongly what it should do, and what it should think it thinks wrongly.
1 These are the tanmatrawi or subtile elements.
3 Vishayan, corresponding to the gross elements. The in¬ tellect, buddhi, is both an evolver and an e volute.
3 Should we read viparyayad? Cf. Sawkhya, aphor. Ill, 37.
126 THE BUDDHA-^ARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
fixed,” it is thus that “ egoism ” shows itself here, O thou who art free from all egoism.
27. ‘That state of mind is called “confusion,” O thou who art all unconfused, which views under one nature, massed like a lump of clay, objects that thus become confused in their nature.
28. ‘ That state of mind which says that this mind, intellect, and these actions are the same as “ I,” and that which says that all this aggregate is the same as “ I,” — is called “fluctuation.”
29. ‘That state of mind is called “indiscrimination,” O thou who art discriminating, which thinks there is no difference between the illuminated and the un¬ wise, and between the different evolvents.
30. ‘ Uttering “ namas ” and “ vasha/,” sprinkling water upon sacrifices, &c. with or without the recital of Vedic hymns, and such like rites, — these are de¬ clared by the wise to be “ false means,” O thou who art well skilled in true means.
31. ‘That is called “inordinate attachment,” by which the fool is entangled in external objects through his mind, speech, actions, and thoughts, O thou who hast shaken thyself free from all attachments.
32. ‘ The misery which a man imagines by the ideas “ This is mine,” “ I am connected with this,” is to be recognised as “ gravitation,” — by this a man is borne downwards into new births.
33. ‘ Thus Ignorance, O ye wise, being fivefold in its character, energises towards torpor, delusion, the great delusion, and the two kinds of darkness 1.
34. ‘ Know, that among these indolence is “ tor¬ por,” death and birth are “ delusion,” and be it clearly 1 Cf. Sawkhyakarika, 48.
understood, O undeluded one, that desire is the “ great delusion.”
35. ‘ Since by it even the higher beings are de¬ luded, therefore, O hero, is this called the “ great delusion.”
36. ‘ They define anger, O thou angerless one, as “ darkness; ” and despondency, O undesponding, they pronounce to be the “ blind darkness.”
37. ‘ The child, entangled in this fivefold ignorance, is effused in his different births in a world abounding with misery.
38. ‘He wanders about in the world of embodied existence, thinking that I am the seer, and the hearer, and the thinker, — the effect and the cause.
39. ‘ Through these causes1, O wise prince, the stream of “ torpor ” is set in motion; be pleased to consider that in the absence of the cause there is the absence of the effect.
40. ‘ Let the wise man who has right views know these four things, O thou who desirest liberation, — the illuminated and the unilluminated, the manifested and the unmanifested.
41. ‘The soul, having once learned to distinguish these four properly, having abandoned all (ideas of) straightness or quickness2, attains to the immortal sphere.
42. ‘ For this reason the Brahmans in the world, discoursing on the supreme Brahman, practise here a rigorous course of sacred study and let other Brahmans live with them to follow it also.’
43. The prince, having heard this discourse from the seer, asked concerning the means and the final state.
2 It rises above all relative ideas? The text may be corrupt.
128 THE BUDDHA-iTARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
44. ‘ Wilt thou please to explain to me how, how far, and where this life of sacred study is to be led, and the limit of this course of life 1? ’ 45. Then Araa?a, according to his doctrine, de¬ clared to him in another way that course of life clearly and succinctly.
46. ‘ The devotee, in the beginning, having left his house, and assumed the signs of the mendicant, goes on, following a rule of conduct which extends to the whole life.
47. ‘ Cultivating absolute content with any alms from any person, he carries out his lonely life, indif¬ ferent to all feelings, meditating on the holy books, and satisfied in himself.
48. ‘ Then having seen how fear arises from passion and the highest happiness from the absence of passion, he strives, by restraining all the senses, to attain to tranquillity of mind.
49. ‘ Then he reaches the first stage of contempla¬ tion, which is separated from desires, evil intentions and the like, and arises from discrimination and which involves reasoning 2.
50. ‘ And having obtained this ecstatic contempla¬ tion, and reasoning on various objects, the childish mind is carried away by the possession of the new unknown ecstasy.
51. ' With a tranquillity of this kind, which disdains desire or dislike, he reaches the world of Brahman, deceived by the delight.
52. ‘ But the wise man, knowing that these reason¬ ings bewilder the mind, reaches a (second) stage of contemplation separate from this, which has its own pleasure and ecstasy.
1 Dharma.
I2g 53. ‘And he who, carried away by this pleasure, sees no further distinction, obtains a dwelling full of light, even amongst the Abhasura deities.
54. ‘ But he who separates his mind from this pleasure and ecstasy, reaches the third stage of con¬ templation ecstatic but without pleasure.
55. ‘Upon this stage some teachers make their stand, thinking that it is indeed liberation, since pleasure and pain have been left behind and there is no exercise of the intellect.
56. ‘ But he who, immersed in this ecstasy, strives not for a further distinction, obtains an ecstasy in common with the Aubhakr/tsna deities.
57. ‘ But he who, having attained such a bliss desires it not but despises it, obtains the fourth stage of contemplation which is separate from all pleasure or pain.
58. ‘ The fruit of this contemplation which is on an equality with the Vrzhatphala deities, those who investigate the great wisdom call the VWhatphala1.
59. ‘ But rising beyond this contemplation, having seen the imperfections of all embodied souls, the wise man climbs to a yet higher wisdom in order to abolish all body.
60. ‘ Then, having abandoned this contemplation, being resolved to find a further distinction, he be¬ comes as disgusted with form itself as he who knows the real is with pleasures.
6 r. ‘ First he makes use of all the apertures of his body; and next he exerts his will to experience a feeling of void space even in the solid parts 2.
62. ‘ But another wise man, having contracted his soul which is by nature extended everywhere like 1 The great fruit. 2 An obscure verse; cf. Pdli Diet.
K 130 THE BUDDHA-iTARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
the ether,1 — as he gazes ever further on, detects a yet higher distinction.
63. ‘ Another one of those who are profoundly versed in the supreme Self, having abolished himself by himself, sees that nothing exists and is called a Nihilist 2.
64. ‘ Then like the Mu^ra-reed’s stalk 3 from its sheath or the bird from its cage, the soul, escaped from the body, is declared to be “ liberated.”
65. ‘ This is that supreme Brahman, constant, eternal, and without distinctive signs; which the wise who know reality declare to be liberation.
66. ‘ Thus have I shown to thee the means and liberation; if thou hast understood and approved it, then act accordingly.
67. ‘ Gaiglshavya 4 and (7anaka, and the aged Parasara, by following this path, were liberated, and so were others who sought liberation.’
68. The prince having not accepted his words but having pondered them, filled with the force of his former arguments, thus made answer: 69. ‘ I have heard this thy doctrine, subtil and pre-eminently auspicious, but I hold that it cannot be final, because it does not teach us how to abandon this soul itself in the various bodies.
70. ‘For I consider that the embodied soul, though freed from the evolutes and the evolvents, is still subject to the condition of birth and has the condition of a seed 6.
71. ‘ Even though the pure soul is declared to be 6 This is expanded in the Chinese, vv. 984, 985.
“liberated,” yet as long as the soul remains there can be no absolute abandonment of it.
72. ‘If we abandon successively all this triad, yet “distinction” is still perceived; as long as the soul itself continues, there this triad continues in a subtil form.
73. ‘ It is held (by some) that this is liberation, because the “ imperfections ” are so attenuated, and the thinking power is inactive, and the term of existence is so prolonged; 74. ‘ But as for this supposed abandonment of the principle of egoism, — as long as the soul continues, there is no real abandonment of egoism.
75. ‘ The soul does not become free from qualities as long as it is not released from number and the rest; therefore, as long as there is no freedom from qualities, there is no liberation declared for it.
76. ‘ There is no real separation of the qualities and their subject; for fire cannot be conceived, apart from its form and heat.
77. ‘Before the body there will be nothing em¬ bodied, so before the qualities there will be no subject; how, if it was originally free, could the soul ever become bound 1?
78. ‘ The body-knower (the soul) which is un¬ embodied, must be either knowing or unknowing; if it is knowing, there must be some object to be known, and if there is this object, it is not liberated.
79. ‘ Or if the soul is declared to be unknowing, then of what use to you is this imagined soul? Even without such a soul, the existence of the absence of knowledge is notorious as, for instance, in a log of wood or a wall.
1 I read kasmSt for tasmat.
THE BUDDHA-XARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
80. ‘ And since each successive abandonment is held to be still accompanied by qualities, I maintain that the absolute attainment of our end can only be found in the abandonment of everything.’
8 1. Thus did he remain unsatisfied after he had heard the doctrine of Arai/a; then having decided it to be incomplete, he turned away.
82. Seeking to know the true distinction, he went to the hermitage of U draka \ but he gained no clear understanding from his treatment of the soul.
83. For the sage Udraka, having learned the inherent imperfections of the name and the thing named, took refuge in a theory beyond Nihilism, which maintained a name and a non-name.
84. And since even a name and a non-name were substrata, however subtil, he went even further still and found his restlessness set at rest in the idea that there is no named and no un-named; 85. And because the intellect rested there, not proceeding any further, — it became very subtil, and there was no such thing as un-named nor as named.
86. But because, even when it has reached this goal it yet returns again to the world, therefore the Bodhisattva, seeking something beyond, left Udraka.
87. Having quitted his hermitage, fully resolved in his purpose, and seeking final bliss, he next visited the hermitage, called a city, of the royal sage Gaya.
88. Then on the pure bank of the Naira^ana the saint whose every effort was pure fixed his dwelling, bent as he was on a lonely habitation.
89. Five mendicants, desiring liberation, came 1 Cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 386 n. It is written Rudraka in XV, 89.
up to him when they beheld him there, just as the objects of the senses come up to a percipient who has gained wealth and health by his previous merit.
90. Being honoured by these disciples who were dwelling in that family, as they bowed reverently with their bodies bent low in humility, as the mind is honoured by the restless senses, 91. And thinking, ‘this may be the means of abolishing birth and death,’ he at once commenced a series of difficult austerities by fasting.
92. For six years, vainly trying to attain merit1, he practised self- mortification, performing many rules of abstinence, hard for a man to carry out.
93. At the hours for eating, he, longing to cross the world whose farther shore is so difficult to reach, broke his vow with single jujube fruits, sesame seeds, and rice.
94. But the emaciation which was produced in his body by that asceticism, became positive fatness through the splendour which invested him.
95. Though thin, yet with his glory and his beauty unimpaired, he caused gladness to other eyes, as the autumnal moon in the beginning of her bright fortnight gladdens the lotuses.
96. Having only skin and bone remaining, with his fat, flesh and blood entirely wasted, yet, though diminished, he still shone with undiminished grandeur like the ocean.
97. Then the seer, having his body evidently emaciated to no purpose in a cruel self-mortifica- 1 This is the Tibetan reading [las-ni thob-bzhed lo drug-tu, ‘wishing to obtain (the fruits of good) works, during six years.’ H.W.]
134 THE BUDDHA-K-ARITA of asvaghosha.
tion, — dreading continued existence, thus reflected in his longing to become a Buddha: 98. ‘ This is not the way to passionlessness, nor to perfect knowledge, nor to liberation; that was certainly the true way which I found at the root of the Gambu 1 tree.
99. ‘ But that cannot be attained by one who has lost his strength,’ — so resuming his care for his body, he next pondered thus, how best to increase his bodily vigour: 100. ‘Wearied with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, with his mind no longer self-possessed through fatigue, how should one who is not absolutely calm reach the end which is to be attained by his mind?
101. ‘True calm is properly obtained by the constant satisfaction of the senses; the mind’s self- possession is only obtained by the senses being perfectly satisfied.
102. ‘ True meditation is produced in him whose mind is self-possessed and at rest, — to him whose thoughts are engaged in meditation the exercise of perfect contemplation begins at once.
103. ‘ By contemplation are obtained those con¬ ditions 2 through which is eventually gained that supreme calm, undecaying, immortal state, which is so hard to be reached.’
104. Having thus resolved, ‘this means is based upon eating food,’ the wise seer of unbounded wis¬ dom, having made up his mind to accept the con¬ tinuance of life, 105. And having bathed, thin as he was, slowly 1 The rose apple, see V, 8.
2 DharmO.
BOOK XII, 98-II3.
came up the bank of the Nairaw^an^, supported as by a hand by the trees on the shore, which bent down the ends of their branches in adoration.
106. Now at that time Nandabala, the daughter of the leader of the herdsmen, impelled by the gods, with a sudden joy risen in her heart, had just come near, 107. Her arm gay with a white shell, and wear¬ ing a dark blue woollen cloth, like the river Yamuni, with its dark blue water and its wreath of foam.
108. She, having her joy increased by her faith, with her lotus-like eyes opened wide, bowed down before him and persuaded him to take some milk.
109. By partaking that food having made her obtain the full reward of her birth, he himself be¬ came capable of gaining the highest knowledge, all his six senses being now satisfied, no. The seer, having his body now fully robust, together with his glorious fame, one beauty and one majesty being equally spread in both, shone like the ocean and the moon1.
in. Thinking that he had returned to the world the five mendicants left him, as the five elements leave the wise soul when it is liberated.
1 1 2. Accompanied only by his own resolve, having fixed his mind on the attainment of per¬ fect knowledge, he went to the root of an As- vattha tree 2, where the surface of the ground was covered with young grass.
1 1 3. Then Kila3, the best of serpents, whose 1 Fame is often compared for its brightness to the moon.
2 Ficus religiosa or pipul tree.
8 He is the Naga king, Crataka I, 72.
136 THE BUDDHA-A'ARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
majesty was like the lord of elephants, having been awakened by the unparalleled sound of his feet, uttered this praise of the great sage, being sure that he was on the point of attaining perfect knowledge: X14. ‘ Inasmuch as the earth, pressed down by thy feet, O sage, resounds repeatedly, and inas¬ much as thy splendour shines forth like the sun, thou shalt assuredly to-day enjoy the desired fruit.
1 15. 1 Inasmuch as lines of birds fluttering in the sky offer thee reverential salutation, O lotus-eyed one, and inasmuch as gentle breezes blow in the sky, thou shalt certainly to-day become the Buddha.’
1 16. Being thus praised by the best of serpents, and having taken some pure grass from a grass- cutter, he, having made his resolution, sat down to obtain perfect knowledge at the foot of the great holy tree.
1 1 7. Then he sat down on his hams in a posture, immovably firm and with his limbs gathered into a mass like a sleeping serpent’s hood, exclaiming, ‘ I will not rise from this position on the earth 1 until I have obtained my utmost aim.’
1 1 8. Then the dwellers in heaven burst into unequalled joy; the herds of beasts and the birds uttered no cry; the trees moved by the wind made no sound, when the holy one took his seat firm in his resolve.
1 For t&vat read ydvat.
BOOK XIII.
1. When the great sage, sprung from a line of royal sages, sat down there with his soul fully re¬ solved to obtain the highest knowledge, the whole world rejoiced; but Mira, the enemy of the good law, was afraid.
2. He whom they call in the world Kimadeva, the owner of the various weapons, the flower- arrowed, the lord of the course of desire, — it is he whom they also style Mira the enemy of liberation.
3. His three sons, Confusion, Gaiety, and Pride, and his three daughters, Lust, Delight, and Thirst1, asked of him the reason of his despondency, and he thus made answer unto them: 4. ‘ This sage, wearing the armour of resolution, and having drawn the arrow of wisdom with the barb of truth, sits yonder intending to conquer my realms, — hence is this despondency of my mind.
5. ‘ If he succeeds in overcoming me and pro¬ claims to the world the path of final bliss, all this my realm will to-day become empty, as did that of the disembodied lord when he violated the rules of his station 2.
6. ‘ While, therefore, he stands within my reach 1 For these cf. also ver. 14, and XV, 13.
2 This probably refers to the legend of Nimi-videha, see Vish«u Pur. IV, 5; it might be ‘the king of the Videhas.’ There may be also a secondary allusion to the legend of Ananga and ■Siva.
X38 THE BUDDHA-ITARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
and while his spiritual eyesight is not yet attained, I will assail him to break his vow as the swollen might of a river assails a dam.’
7. Then having seized his flower-made bow and his five infatuating arrows, he drew near to the root of the A^vattha tree with his children, he the great disturber of the minds of living beings.
8. Having fixed his left hand on the end of the barb and playing with the arrow, Mara thus ad¬ dressed the calm seer as he sat on his seat, pre¬ paring to cross to the further side of the ocean of existence: 9. ‘Up, up, O thou Kshatriya, afraid of death! follow thine own duty and abandon this law of liberation! and having conquered the lower worlds by thy arrows, proceed to gain the higher worlds of Indra.
10. ‘ That is a glorious path to travel, which has been followed by former leaders of men; this men¬ dicant life is ill-suited for one born in the noble family of a royal sage to follow.
ix. ‘ But if thou wilt not rise, strong in thy pur¬ pose, — then be firm if thou wilt and quit not thy resolve, — this arrow is uplifted by me, — it is the very one which was shot against Suryaka \ the enemy of the fish.
12. ‘So too, I think, when somewhat probed by this weapon, even the son of Id&1 2, the grandson of the moon, became mad; and.Samtanu 3 also lost 1 The sun, alluding to his amour with Varava. (The lake is called vipannaminam in.ffz'tusawzh&ra I, 20.)
2 Pururavas. (Professor Biihler suggests sprz'sh/a^.)
3 Does this mean Vi&travirya the grandson of Vawtanu, see Vishwu Pur. IV, 20?
BOOK XIII, 7-19.
his self-control, — how much more then one of feebler powers now that the age has grown de¬ generate?
1 3. ‘ Therefore quickly rise up and come to thy¬ self, — for this arrow is ready, darting out its tongue, which I do not launch even against the ^akravdka birds, tenderly attached as they are and well de¬ serving the name of lovers.’
14. But when, even though thus addressed, the .Sikya saint unheeding did not change his posture, then Mira discharged his arrow at him, setting in front of him his daughters and his sons h 15. But even when that arrow was shot he gave no heed and swerved not from his firmness; and Mira, beholding him thus, sank down, and slowly thus spoke, full of thought: 16. ‘ He does not even notice that arrow by which the god 6ambhu was pierced with love for the daughter of the mountain 2 and shaken in his vow; can he be destitute of all feeling? is not this that very arrow?
17. ‘ He is not worthy of my flower-shaft, nor my arrow “ gladdener,” nor the sending of my daughter Rati (to tempt him); he deserves the alarms and rebukes and blows from all the gathered hosts of the demons.’
18. Then Mira called to mind his own army, wishing to work the overthrow of the.Sikya saint; and his followers swarmed round, wearing different forms and carrying arrows, trees, darts, clubs, and swords in their hands; 19. Having the faces of boars, fishes, horses, asses, 2 Umd.
140 THE BUDDHA-JsTARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
and camels, of tigers, bears, lions, and elephants, — one-eyed, many-faced, three-headed, — with protu¬ berant bellies and speckled bellies; 20. Blended with goats, with knees swollen like pots, armed with tusks and with claws, carrying headless trunks in their hands, and assuming many forms, with half-mutilated faces, and with monstrous mouths; 21. Copper-red, covered with red spots, bearing clubs in their hands, with yellow or smoke-coloured hair, with wreaths dangling down, with long pendulous ears like elephants, clothed in leather or wearing no clothes at all; 22. Having half their faces white or half their bodies green, — red and smoke-coloured, yellow and black, — with arms reaching out longer than a serpent, and with girdles jingling with rattling bells.
23. Some were as tall as palm-trees, carrying spears, — others were of the size of children with projecting teeth, others birds with the faces of rams, others with men’s bodies and cats’ faces; 24. With dishevelled hair, or with topknots, or half-bald, with rope-garments or with head-dress all in confusion, — with triumphant faces or frowning faces, — wasting the strength or fascinating the mind.
25. Some as they went leaped about wildly, others danced upon one another, some sported about in the sky, others went along on the tops of the trees.
26. One danced, shaking a trident, another made a crash, dragging a club, another bounded for joy like a bull, another blazed out flames from every hair.
27. Such were the troops of demons who encircled the root of the Bodhi tree on every side, eager to BOOK XIII, 20-33.
seize it and to destroy it, awaiting the command of their lord.
28. Beholding in the first half of the night that battle of Mara and the bull of the vSakya race, the heavens did not shine and the earth shook and the (ten) regions of space flashed flames and roared.
29. A wind of intense violence blew in all direc¬ tions1, the stars did not shine, the moon gave no light, and a deeper darkness of night spread around, and all the oceans were agitated.
30. The mountain deities2 and the Nigas who honoured the Law, indignant at the attack on the saint, rolling their eyes in anger against Mira, heaved deep sighs and opened their mouths wide.
31. But the god-sages, the.Suddhidhivisas 3, being as it were absorbed in the perfect accomplish¬ ment of the good Law, felt only a pity for Mira in their minds and through their absolute passionless¬ ness were unruffled by anger.
32. When they saw the foot of the Bodhi tree crowded with that host of Mira, intent on doing harm, — the sky was filled with the cry raised by all the virtuous beings who desired the world’s liberation.
33. But the great sage4 having beheld that army of Mira thus engaged in an attack on the knower of the Law 5, remained untroubled and suffered no per¬ turbation, like a lion seated in the midst of oxen.
1 VLrvak should be corrected vishvak.
2 Mahibhrfta/4. This might mean simply ‘the rulers of the earth.’
5 In Pali Suddhavasl Cf. Ill, 26.
* Buddha himself, viewing all this ab extra.
5 The Tibetan seems to read dharmavidheA for dharmavida/2, as it has chos-kyi cho-ga de-ni, ‘ (injurer) of that law of dharma.’
142 THE BUDDHA-iTARITA OF ASVAGHOSHA.
34. Then M&ra commanded his excited army of demons to terrify him; and forthwith that host resolved to break down his determination with their various powers.
35. Some with many tongues hanging out and shaking, with sharp-pointed savage teeth and eyes like the disk of the sun, with wide-yawning mouths and upright ears like spikes, — they stood round trying to frighten him.
36. Before these monsters standing there, so dread¬ ful in form and disposition, the great sage remained unalarmed and untroubled, sporting with them as if they had been only rude children 1.
37. Then one of them, with his eyes rolling wildly, lifted up a club against him; but his arm with the club was instantly paralysed, as was Indra’s of old with its thunderbolt2.
38. Some, having lifted up stones and trees, found themselves unable to throw them against the sage; down they fell, with their trees and their stones, like the roots of the Vindhya shattered by the thunderbolt.
39. Others, leaping up into the sky, flung rocks, trees, and axes; these remained in the sky and did not fall down, like the many-coloured rays of the evening clouds.
40. Another hurled upon him a mass of blazing straw as big as a mountain-peak, which, as soon as it was thrown, while it hung poised in the sky, was shat¬ tered into a hundred fragments by the sage’s power.
41. One, rising up like the sun in full splendour, rained down from the sky a great shower of live 1 Prof. Biihler suggests svabalebhya^, ‘ as with his own tossed hair.’
2 Cf. Satap. Br. XII, 7, 3; Vishwu Pur. V, 30; Kum. Sambh.II, 20.
BOOK XIII, 34-48.
H3 embers, as at the end of an aeon blazing Meru showers down the pulverised scoriae of the golden valleys.
42. But that shower of embers full of sparks, when scattered at the foot of the Bodhi tree, became a shower of red lotus-petals through the operation of the great saint’s boundless charity.
43. But with all these various scorching assaults on his body and his mind, and all these missiles showered down upon him, the.Sakya saint did not in the least degree move from his posture, clasping firmly his resolution as a kinsman.
44. Then others spat out serpents from their mouths as from old decayed trunks of trees; but, as if held fast by a charm, near him they neither breathed nor discharged venom nor moved.
45. Others, having become great clouds, emitting lightning and uttering the fierce roar of thunderbolts, poured a shower of stones upon that tree,— but it turned to a pleasant shower of flowers.
46. Another set an arrow in his bow, — there it gleamed but it did not issue forth, like the anger which falls slack 1 in the soul of an ill-tempered impotent man.