Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 49.djvu/367

 THE

VAGRAKKHEDIKÂ

OR

DIAMOND-CUTTER.

Adoration to the blessed Ârya-pragñâ-pâramitâ (perfection of wisdom).

I.

Thus it was heard by me : At one time Bhagavat (the blessed Buddha) dwelt in Srâvastî, in the grove of Geta in the garden of Anâthapindada 2, together with a large company of Bhikshus (mendicants), viz. with 1250 Bhikshus 8, with many noble-minded Bodhi- sattvas 4.

1 Geta, son of king Prasengit, to whom the park belonged before it was sold to Anâthapindada.

8 Another name of Sudatta, meaning, literally, he who gives food to the poor.

8 The number of 1250 is explained by a Chinese priest Lun-hin, in his commentary on the Amitâyur-dhyâna-sûtra. According to the Dharmagupta-vinaya, which he quotes, the number consisted of 500 disciples of Uruvilva-kâsyapa, 300 of Gayâ-kâsyapa, 200 of Nadî-kâsyapa, 150 of «Sâriputra, and 100 of Maudgalyâyana. The Chinese translators often mistook the Sanskrit expression 'half- thirteen hundred,' i. e. 1250. See Bunyiu Nanjio, Catalogue of Tripitaka, p. 6.

4 Higher beings on the road to Bodhi or perfect knowledge. They are destined hereafter to become Buddhas themselves.

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