52. When I heard the name of Buddha joy sprang up forthwith within me,
Repeating, a Buddha, a Buddha! I gave utterance to my joy.
53. Standing there I pondered, joyful and excited,
Here I will sow the seed, may the happy moment not pass away.
54. If you clear a path for the Buddha, assign to me a place,
I also will clear the road, the way, the path of his coming.
55. Then they gave me a piece of ground to clear the pathway;
Then repeating within me, a Buddha, a Buddha! I cleared the road.
56. But ere my portion was cleared, Dīpankara the great sage,
The Conqueror, entered the road with four hundred thousand saints like himself,
Possessed of the six supernatural attributes, pure from all taint of sin.
57. On every side men rise to receive him, many drums send forth their music.
Men and angels overjoyed, shout forth their applause.
58. Angels look upon men, men upon angels,
And both with clasped hands upraised approach the great Being.
59. Angels with celestial music, men with earthly music.
Both sending forth their strains approach the great Being.
60. Angels floating in the air sprinkle down in all directions
Celestial Erythrina flowers, lotuses and coral flowers.
61. Men standing on the ground throw upwards in all directions
Champac and Salala flowers, Cadamba and fragrant Mesua, Punnaga, and Ketaka.
62. Then I loosed my hair, and spreading in the mire
Bark robe and mantle of skin, lay prone upon my face.
63. Let the Buddha advance with his disciples, treading upon me;
Let him not tread in the mire, it will be for my blessing.
And as he lay in the mire, again beholding the Buddha-majesty of Dīpankara Buddha with his unblenching gaze, he thought as follows: "Were I willing, I could enter the city of Ramma as a novice in the priesthood, after having destroyed all human passions; but why should I disguise myself[1] to attain Nirvāna after the destruction
- ↑ The following is what I take to be the meaning of this passage: "If I chose I could at once enter the Buddhist priesthood, and by the practice of ecstatic meditation (Jhāna) free myself from human passion, and become an Arhat or saint. I should then at death at once attain Nirvāna and cease to exist. But this would be a selfish course to pursue, for thus I should benefit myself only. Why should I thus slip unobserved and in the humble garb of a monk into Nirvāna? Nay, let me rather qualify myself to become a Buddha, and so save others as well as myself." This is the great Act of Renunciation by which the Bodhisattva, when Nirvāna was within his grasp, preferred to endure ages of heroic trials in the exercise of the Pāramitās, that he might be enabled to become a Buddha, and so redeem mankind. See D'Alwis's Introduction to Kachchāyana's Grammar, p. vi.
