Page:The Mahāvaṃsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon.djvu/71

 THE MAHAVAMSA

CHAPTER I

THE VISIT OF THE TATHAGATA

HAVING made obeisance to the Sambuddha the pure, sprung 1 of a pure race, I will recite the Mahavamsa, of varied content and lacking nothing. That (Mahavamsa) which was compiled 2 by the ancient (sages) was here too long drawn out and there too closely knit ; and contained many repetitions. Attend ye 3 now to this (Mahavamsa) that is free from such faults, easy to understand and remember, arousing serene joy and emotion and handed down (to us) by tradition, (attend ye to 4 it) while that ye call up serene joy and emotion (in you) l at passages that awaken serene joy and emotion.

On seeing the Sambuddha Dipamkara, in olden times, our 5 Conqueror resolved to become a Buddha, that he might release the world from evil. When he had offered homage to that 6 Sambuddha and likewise to Kondanna and to the sage Mangala, to Sumana, to the Buddha Kevata and likewise to the great sage Sobhita, to the Sambuddha Anomadassi, to 7 Paduma and to the Conqueror Narada, to the Sambuddha Padumuttara and to the Tathagata Sumedha, and to Sujata, 8 to Piyadassi and to the Master Atthadassi, to Dham- madassi and Siddhattha, to Tissa and the Conqueror Phussa, 9 to Vipassi and the Sambuddha Sikhi, and the Sam- buddha Vessabhu, the mighty one, to the Sambuddha

1 Read janayanta, referring the participle to the subject implied in sunotha. The terms pasada * serene joy' and samvega 'emotion' occur also in the postscripts of the single chapters of the Mah. Pasada signifies the feeling of blissfulness, joy and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Buddha, sam vega the feeling of horror and recoil from the world and its misery. See also 23. 62 with note.