Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/134

18 And the Bodhisatta, having heard the words of Dīpankara Buddha, and of the angels in ten thousand worlds, filled with immeasurable resolution, thought thus within himself, "The Buddhas are beings whose word cannot fail; there is no deviation from truth in their speech. For as the fall of a clod thrown into the air, as the death of a mortal, as the sunrise at dawn, as a lion's roaring when he leaves his lair, as the delivery of a woman with child, as all these things are sure and certain, — even so the word of the Buddhas is sure and cannot fail, verily I shall become a Buddha." Therefore it is said,

118. Having heard the words of Buddha and of the angels of ten thousand worlds, Glad, joyous, delighted, I then thought thus within myself:

119. The Buddhas speak not doubtful words, the Conquerors speak not vain words, There is no falsehood in the Buddhas, — verily I shall become a Buddha.

120. As a clod cast into the air doth surely fall to the ground, So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting.

121. As the death of all mortals is sure and constant. So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting.

122. As the rising of the sun is certain when night has faded. So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting.

123. As the roaring of a lion who has left his den is certain, So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting.

124. As the delivery of women with child is certain, So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and everlasting.

And having thus made the resolution, "I shall surely become Buddha," with a view to investigating the conditions that constitute a Buddha, exclaiming, "Where are the conditions that make the Buddha, are they found above or below, in the principal or the minor directions?" investigating successively the principles of all things, and beholding the first Perfection of Almsgiving, practised and followed by former Bodhisattas, he thus admonished his own soul: "Wise Sumedha, from this time forth