Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/411

 CHAPTER XX.

CONCEPTION OF THE TRANSCENDENT POWER OF THE TATHÂGATAS.

Thereupon those hundred thousands of myriads of kotis of Bodhisattvas equal to the dust-atoms of a macrocosm, who had issued from the gaps of the earth, all stretched their joined hands towards the Lord, and said unto him: We, O Lord, will, after the complete extinction of the Tathâgata, promulgate this Dharmaparyâya everywhere (or on every occasion) in all Buddha-fields of the Lord, wherever (or whenever) the Lord shall be completely extinct. We are anxious to obtain this sublime Dharmaparyâya, O Lord, in order to keep, read, publish, and write it.

Thereupon the hundred thousands of myriads of kotis of Bodhisattvas, headed by Magusrî; the monks, nuns, male and female lay devotees living in this world; the gods, Nâgas, goblins, Gandharvas, demons, Garudas, Kinnaras, great serpents, men, and beings not human, and the many Bodhisattvas Mahâsattvas equal to the sands of the river Ganges, said unto the Lord: We also, O Lord, will promulgate this Dharmaparyâya after the complete extinction of the Tathâgata. While standing with an invisible body in the sky, O Lord, we will send