Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/285

 Lord Sâkyamuni, to the (four) classes of the assembly. I myself, Lord, have come hither to hear the Dharmaparyâya of the Lotus of the True Law.

Now the four classes of the assembly, on perceiving the Lord Prabhûtaratna, the Tathâgata, &c., who had been extinct for many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Æons, speaking in this way, were filled with wonder and amazement. Instantly they covered the Lord Prabhûtaratna, the Tathâgata, &c., and the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, &c., with heaps of divine and human flowers. And then the Lord Prabhûtaratna, the Tathâgata, &c., ceded to the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, &c., the half of the seat on that very throne within that same great Stûpa of jewels and said: Let the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, &c., sit down here. Whereon the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, &c., sat down upon that half-seat together with the other Tathâgata, so that both Tathâgatas were seen as meteors in the sky, sitting on the throne in the middle of the great Stûpa of jewels.

And in the minds of those four classes of the assembly rose this thought: We are far off from the two Tathâgatas; therefore let us also, through the power of the Tathâgata, rise up to the sky. As the Lord apprehended in his mind what was going on in the minds of those four classes of the assembly, he instantly, by magic power, established the four classes as meteors in the sky. Thereupon the Lord Sâkyamuni, the Tathâgata, addressed the four classes: Who amongst you, monks, will endeavour to expound this Dharmaparyâya of the Lotus of the True Law in this Saha-world? The