Page:Sacred Books of the Buddhists Vol 1.djvu/279

 men concerning the Law, but thou possessest the certainty about the Law. Deign, therefore, to preach it to us.'

Upon which the Bodhisattva raised his voice and preached the Law to the king and his royal assembly in words distinctly spoken in a soft tone and elegantly composed.

38. 'Of the Law with the manifold performances depending on it and with its subdivisions : abstaining from injuring others, from theft, &c., this, I believe, is the brief summary “Mercy to the creatures."

Look here, illustrious prince.

39. If mercy to all creatures should make men hold them like themselves or their own family, whose heart would ever cherish the baleful desire for wickedness?

40. 'But the lack of mercy is to men the cause of the greatest disturbance, as it corrupts the action of their minds and words and bodies no less with respect to their family than to strangers.

41. 'For this reason he who strives for Righteousness ought to keep to mercy, which will yield rich profit. Mercy, indeed, engenders virtues, as a fructifying rain makes the crops grow.

42. 'Mercy, possessing a man's mind, destroys in it the passion for injuring one's neighbour; and his mind being pure, neither his speech nor his body will be perverted. So the love of one's neighbour's good always increases and becomes the source of many other virtues : charity, forbearance, and so on, which are followed by gladness of mind and are conducive to reputation.

43. 'The merciful one does not arouse apprehension in the mind of others because of his tranquillity. Owing to his mercy, everybody will hold him a person to be trusted, as if he were their kinsman. No agitation of passion will seize him whose heart has been made firm by mercy, nor does the fire of anger blaze within his mind which enjoys the coolness of water, thanks to mercy.