Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/346

 CHAPTER XV.

DURATION OF LIFE OF THE TATHAGATA.

Thereupon the Lord addressed the entire host of Bodhisattvas: Trust me, young men of good family, believe in the Tathigata speaking a veracious word. A second time the Lord addressed the Bodhisattvas: Trust me, young gentlemen of good family, believe in the Tathigata speaking a veracious word. A third and last time the Lord addressed the Bodhisattvas: Trust me, young men of good family, believe in the Tathdgata speaking a veracious word. Then the entire host of Bodhisattvas with Maitreya, the Bodhisattva Mahdsattva at their head, stretched out the joined hands and said to the Lord: Expound this matter, O Lord; expound it, O Sugata; we will believe in the word of the Tathigata. A second time the entire host, &c. &c. A third time the entire host, &c. &c.

The Lord, considering that the Bodhisattvas repeated their prayer up to three times, addressed them thus: Listen then, young men of good family. The force of a strong resolve which I assumed 1 is such, young men of good family, that this world, including gods, men, and demons, acknowledges: Now has the Lord kyamuni, after going out from the home of the 6$kyas, arrived at supreme, perfect enlightenment, on the summit of the terrace of Or, the power of supremacy which forms my attribute, mamadhishthnabaladh£nam.