Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/118

Rh whirled celestial clothes and struck hundred thousands of celestial musical instruments and cymbals, high in the sky; and after pouring a great rain of flowers they uttered these words: The wheel of the law has been put in motion by the Lord, the first time at Benares at Rishipatana in the Deer-park; to-day has the Lord again put in motion the supreme wheel of the law.

And on that occasion those divine beings uttered the following stanzas:

33. The wheel of the law was put in motion by thee, O thou that art unrivalled in the world, at Benares, O great hero! (that wheel which is the rotation of) the rise and decay of all aggregates.

34. There it was put in motion for the first time; now, a second time, is it turned here, O Lord. To-day, O Master, thou hast preached this law, which is hard to be received with faith.

35. Many laws have we heard near the Lord of the world, but never before did we hear a law like this.

36. We receive with gratitude, O great hero, the mysterious speech of the great Sages, such as this prediction regarding the self-possessed Ârya Sâriputra.

37. May we also become such incomparable Buddhas in the world, who by mysterious speech announce supreme Buddha-enlightenment

38. May we also, by the good we have done in this world and in the next, and by our having