Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/219

 55. Hail! thou hast safely arrived at supreme Buddha-knowledge; we feel thankful before thee, and so does the world, including the gods.

56. By thy power, O mighty Lord, our aerial cars are glittering; to thee we present them, great Hero; deign to accept them, great Solitary.

57. Out of grace to us, O Leader, make use of them, so that we, as well as all (other) beings, may attain supreme enlightenment.

After the great Brahma-angels, O monks, had celebrated the Lord Mahâbhigñâgñânâbhibhû, the Tathâgata, &c., face to face, with seasonable stanzas, they besought him: May the Lord move forward the wheel of the law! [ both gods and men.]

Thereupon, monks, those fifty hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Brahma-angels addressed the Lord, with one voice, in common chorus, with the following two stanzas:

58. Move forward the exalted, unsurpassed wheel! beat the drum of immortality! release all beings from hundreds of evils, and show the path of Nirvâna.

59. Expound the law we pray for; show thy favour to us and this world. Let us hear thy sweet and lovely voice which thou hast exercised during thousands of kotis of Æons.

Now, monks, the Lord Mahâbhigñâgñânâbhibhû, the Tathâgata, &c., being acquainted with the prayer of the hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Brahma-angels and of the sixteen princes, his sons, commenced at that juncture to turn the wheel that has three turns and twelve parts, the wheel never moved by any ascetic, Brahman, god, demon, nor