Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/267

Rh 15. If such a one, by his paying that worship to the objects of veneration during eighteen thousand ko/is of vEons, happens to hear this Stitra, were it only once, he shall obtain an amazingly great advantage.

I announce to thee, Bhaisha^yar^a, I declare to thee, that many are the Dharmapary&yas which I have propounded, am propounding, and shall propound. And among all those Dharmaparyâyas, Bhaishafya- râa, it is this which is apt to meet with no acceptance with everybody, to find no belief with everybody. This, indeed, Bhaisha^yarâa, is the transcendent spiritual esoteric lore of the law, preserved by the power of the Tathâgatas, but never divulged; it is an article (of creed) not yet made known. By the majority of people, Bhaishafyari^a, this Dharmaparyâya is rejected during the lifetime of the TathAgata ; in far higher degree such will be the case after his complete extinction.

Nevertheless, Bhaishagyarâga, one has to consider those young men or young ladies of good family to be invested with the robes of the Tathâgata; to be regarded and blessed by the Tathâgatas living in other worlds, that they shall have the force of individual persuasion, the force that is rooted in virtue,