one another in immediate succession they successively foretold each others future destiny to Buddhaship.
89. The last of these Buddhas following one another was Dîpaṅkara. He, the supreme god of gods, honoured by crowds of sages, educated thousands of kotis of living beings.
90. Among the pupils of Varaprabha, the son of Gina, at the time of his teaching the law, was one slothful, covetous, greedy of gain and cleverness.
91. He was also excessively desirous of glory, but very fickle, so that the lessons dictated to him and his own reading faded from his memory as soon as learnt.
92. His name was Yasaskâma, by which he was known everywhere. By the accumulated merit[1] of that good action, spotted as it was,
93. He propitiated thousands of kotis of Buddhas, whom he rendered ample honour. He went through the regular course of duties and saw the present Buddha Sâkyasimha.
94. He shall be the last to reach superior enlightenment and become a Lord known by the family name of Maitreya, who shall educate thousands of kotis of creatures.
- ↑ The MSS. have tenâkusalena karmanâ, tenokusalena karmanâ. As teno and tenâ in the stanzas are occasionally used instead of tena, it is uncertain whether tenâk. is to be separated into tena and akusala. This much is clear, that the author of the foregoing prose text has taken the words as tenâ (Vedic the same) or teno, and kusala. The good in Yasaskâma was his love of renown, of good fame. Maitreya, by his very nature, holds a middle position between black night and bright daylight; Mithra also is represented as a μεσίτης.
