Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/110

62 walking in woody thickets, when betaking myself to the roots of trees or to mountain caves, I indulged in no other thought but this: 4. '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? 5. '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 !

6. '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!'

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

8. 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.

9. In such reflections, O Chief of (^inas, I con- stantly passed my days and nights ; and on seeing many other Bodhisattvas praised by the Leader of the world,

10. And on hearing this Buddha-law, I thought: 'To be sure, this is expounded mysteriously 1 ; it is an inscrutable, subtle, and faultless science, which is announced by the £inas on the terrace of enlightenment.'

Sandhiya; the Chinese translation by Kumdrd-giva, according to Stan. Julien's version, has 'suivant la convenance.'