ments, reasons, and illustrations, by myriads of ko/is, then I lost all doubt about the law I heard.
17. And when thou hadst mentioned to me l the thousands of ko/is of Buddhas, the past £inas who have come to final rest, and how they preached this law by firmly establishing it through skilfulness ;
18. How the many future Buddhas and those who are now existing, as knowers of the real truth, shall expound or are expounding this law by hundreds of able devices ;
19. And when thou wert mentioning thine own course after leaving home, how the idea of the wheel of the law presented itself to thy mind and how thou decidedst upon preaching the law;
20. Then I was convinced: This is not Mira; it is the Lord of the world, who has shown the true course; no Miras can here abide. So then my mind (for a moment) was overcome with perplexity;
21. But when the sweet, deep, and lovely voice of Buddha gladdened me, all doubts were scattered, my perplexity vanished, and I stood firm in knowledge.
22. I shall become a Tathigata, undoubtedly, worshipped in the world including the gods; I shall manifest Buddha-wisdom, mysteriously 2 rousing many Bodhisattvas.
After this speech of the venerable .SSriputra, the Lord said to him : I declare to thee, .SSriputra, I announce to thee, in presence of this world including the gods, MAras, and Brahmas, in presence of this
Yadd ka, me Buddhasahasrako/ya£, kfrteshy (var. lect. ktrtishy) at! tin parinirvn't&fli Gin&n. Kirteshi is Sanskrit a^ikirtas.
Sandh&ya. Burnoufs rendering 'aux creatures' points to
satvSya, which is nothing but a misread s an dhfiy a. Cf. stanza 37, below.
