(12) Buddha replied: ‘O noble youth, homage of the law is this: the profound scriptures preached by Buddha are so subtle and so difficult to understand that all the world is unwilling to accept and believe them; so they are pure without blemish; they are unobtainable by mere discrimination or thought; they are enclosed in the treasury of virtues of a Bodhisattva; they are sealed with the seal of Dharani; they lead to the state from which one never retreats; they perfect the six Paramitas; they rightly discriminate the meaning [of all things] ; they are in accordance with the law of Bodhi; they are superior to all other scriptures; they lead to great mercy and compassion; they are far above all the temptation of evils and heresies; they are in harmony with the law of causation; they transcend self, individuality, personality and durability; they are empty, formless, aimless and causeless; they are capable of elevating beings to a seat in the Bodhimandala and roll the wheel of the law; praised by all deities, serpent gods, and Gandharvas; they are capable of leading beings to the mine of virtues of Buddha ; they comprehend all wisdom of the wise and the holy; they preach the paths walked by Bodhisattvas; they are based on the doctrine that all things are real; they unmistakably proclaim the doctrine of transiency, sorrow, emptiness, selflessness, and annihilation; they are capable of saving all who are guilty of trespassing the precepts ; they are capable of causing fear to evil ones; heretics and those who are greedy; they are praised by all the Buddhas and saints; they turn against the sorrows of birth and death, and show the happiness of Nirvana; they are preached by all the Buddhas of the three worlds in the ten quarters —

(46) Through the perfectly pure intention of mine In the making of this, through the root of the merits thereof, [May] those protectorless sentient beings, Mothers, [Be] placed in the State of the Buddha: Let the radiant glory of auspiciousness come to illuminate the world; Let this Book be auspicious; Let virtue and goodness be perfected in every way.

(10) (Mine every wish and prayer is this), then therefore whatsoever I shall do, and whatsoever deeds (of ritual and truth I shall yet further do) on account of, (and to make full ) these (prior deeds of worship), yea, whatsoever (holy works) shine bright as having worth in (all) men's eyes through Thy Good Mind (whose character they share; these as) the stars, suns, and the Aurora which brings on the light of days, are all, through their Righteous Order, (the speakers) of Thy praise, O Thou Great Giver, Lord!

(45) Obtaining for myself the body of a male [which is] the better, Let it come that I liberate all who see or hear me; Allowing not the evil karma to follow me, Let it come that whatever merits [be mine] follow me and be multiplied. Wherever I be born, there and then, Let it come that I meet the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Deities; Being able to walk and to talk as soon as [I am] born, Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect and remember my past life [or lives]. In all the various lores, great, small, and intermediate, Let it come that I be able to obtain mastery merely upon hearing, reflecting, and seeing; In whatever place I be born, let it be auspicious; Let it come that all sentient beings be endowed with happiness. Ye Conquerors, Peaceful and Wrathful, in likeness to your bodies, [Number of your] followers, duration of your life-period, limit of your realms And [in likeness to the] goodness of your divine name, Let it come that I, and others, equal your very selves in all these. By the divine grace of the innumerable All-Good Peaceful and Wrathful [Ones}, And by the gift-waves of the wholly pure Reality, [And] by the gift-waves of the one-pointed devotion of the mystic devotees, Let it come that whatsoever be wished for be fulfilled here and now.

(4) (And therefore both in thankfulness and hope) will I give sacrifice to You with praises, O Ahura Mazda! together with Thine Order and Thy Best Mind (in Thy saints), and in accordance with Thy sacred Sovereign Power, by whose help the wisher (heaven-bound) may stand upon the (certain) pathway , and in Thine Home-of-song shall I (by means of these my Yasnas offered here) there hear the praises of Thine offering saints who see Thy face .

(16) Thrice he rolled the wheel of the law in the world, the wheel ever pure and testified by gods and men, who through it attain their goal. Thence The Three Treasures made their appearance in the world. He saves all beings from sorrow through this excellent doctrine, which when once given brings them to peace, from which they never fall. He is the Great Physician King who delivers us from old age, disease, and death. Adoration is due to him whose virtues are infinite as the ocean.

(20) To the assembled Deities, to the Tutelaries, to the Gurus, Humbly is obeisance paid: May Liberation in the Intermediate State be vouchsafed by Them.

(10) (And since these champions thus join in that reward), then therefore will I place as well in Thy protection (Thy) Good Mind (in the living) and the spirits (of the dead. Yea, I confide our very) self-humbling praises, (which we offer, unto Thee), by which (Thine) Âramaiti (who is our Piety, exists), and likewise sacrificing zeal. And this would we do to further Thy great Sovereign Power (among Thy folk), and with undying (?) strength.

(42) [Instructions to the Officiant]: The invoking of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for assistance, when [any one is] dying, is [thus]: Offer up to the Trinity whatever actual offerings can be offered [by the dying person, or by his family], together with mentally-created offerings: and, holding in the hand sweet-smelling incense, repeat, with great fervency, the following: O ye Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, abiding in the Ten Directions, endowed with great compassion, endowed with foreknowledge, endowed with the divine eye, endowed with love, affording protection to sentient beings, condescend through the power of your great compassion to come hither; condescend to accept these offerings actually laid out and mentally created.

(9) Yea, with these Yasnas of Your sacrifice would I approach You, praising back to You (in answer to Your mercies), O Ahura! and Thou, O Righteousness! in (the holy) actions of Your Good Mind, (as he moves within us), so long indeed as I shall have the power, commanding at my will o’er this my sacred (privilege) and gift. (And doing as) the wise man (thus), may I (like him) become a supplicant who gains his ends.

(195) He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, whether the awakened (Buddha) or their disciples, those who have overcome the host (of evils), and crossed the flood of sorrow, he who pays homage to such as have found deliverance and know no fear, his merit can never be measured by anybody.

(12) “Elephants and horses of the five supernatural powers yoked to the Mahayana vehicles, driven by intent mind, serve for the journey to the quarters of the eightfold righteousness. “ He is endowed with a form adorned with excellent things the best garment of penitence and the garlands of profound mind [are for him to -wear], “ There is the wealth of the sevenfold treasure; to teach beings is the interest brought forth therefrom; to make them practice according to the law and bring these merits to maturity are the great profit. “The fourfold meditation is the seat born of pure living; much learning and increase in wisdom serve as the awakening music. “The food of the immortal law he takes; the savour of emancipation is the sauce; the purity of mind is the bath, the anointing is the chapters of the law of discipline. “Destroying all the enemies of passion, there are none who surpass him in courage and strength; repressing the four evils he sets up the banner of victory in the Bodhimandala.

(8) (Come Ye) and show me the worthy aims of our faith, so that I may approach and fulfil them with (Thy) Good Mind, the offering, O Mazda! of the One like You , or the words of praises offered with Righteousness. And give Ye as Your offering (of grace to me) the abiding gifts of Your Immortality and Welfare!

(14) Again, to practise according to the teaching of all the law, to be in accordance with the twelve chains of causation, to be far above all heresies, to attain to the acquiescence in the eternal law, to be absolutely selfless, to be without personality, yet to be free from dissension, free from discord concerning the law of cause and effect, to be free from ideas of possession, not to depend on words but to depend on meaning, not to depend on knowledge but to depend on wisdom, not to depend on incomplete scriptures but to depend on complete scripture, not to depend on man but to depend on the law, to be in accordance with the nature of things, not to cherish any heretical views, to have no abode, and no refuge, to regard the twelve chains of causation as working in an endless circle thus as follows:—as ignorance is completely annihilated, all component things are completely annihilated, until we come to, as birth is completely annihilated, old age and death are also completely annihilated. This is paying homage to the law, which is superior to all other homages.’ ”

(1) Upon that occasion, the venerable Subhuti occupied a place in the midst of the assembly. Rising from his seat, with cloak arranged in such manner that his right shoulder was disclosed, Subhuti knelt upon his right knee, then pressing together the palms of his hands, he respectfully raised them towards Lord Buddha, saying: “Thou art of transcendent wisdom, Honoured of the Worlds! With wonderful solicitude, Thou dost preserve in the faith, and instruct in the Law, this illustrious assembly of enlightened disciples. Honoured of the Worlds! if a good disciple, whether man or woman, seeks to obtain supreme spiritual wisdom, what immutable Law shall sustain the mind of that disciple, and bring into subjection every inordinate desire?”

(3) And unto Thee, O Ahura! will we offer the (thankful) meat-offering with self-humbling praise, and to Thy Righteousness (like Thee a person), and for all the settlements in Thy kingdom which are guarded by Thy Good Mind. For in the perfect preparation of the justly acting (has that offering its power), O Mazda! together with all (others of its kind). Among those like You and worthy of Yourselves, it is a blessing .

(6) Whoever may wish, ( I would attain something great! — in the northern course of the sun, on an auspicious day of the 1 M % half month of the waxing moon, having performed the Upasad ceremony for twelve days, having collected in a dish of the wood of the sacied fig-tree (udambara\ or in a cup, all sorts of herbs including fruits, having swept around, having smeared around, having built up a fire, having strewn it around, having prepared the melted butter according to rule, having com- pounded the mixed potion under a male star, he makes an oblation, saying: — ' However many gods in thee, All-knower, Adversely slay desires of a person, To them participation I here offer! Let them, pleased, please me with all desires! Hail! Whoever lays herself adverse, And says, "I the deposer am!" To thee, O such appeasing one, With stream of ghee I sacrifice. Hail! ' a. ( To the chiefest, hail! To the best, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to breath (prana) \ ' To the most excellent, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to speech! £ To the firm basis, hail!' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the eye! 'To attainment, hail!'— he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the ear! ' To the abode, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the mind! -where some of the same directions occur. Another parallel passage is Chand.

(43) is [as follows]: O ye Conquerors and your Sons, abiding in the Ten Directions, O ye ocean-like Congregation of the All-Good Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful, O ye Gurus and Devas, and ye DakinTs, the Faithful Ones, Hearken now out of [your] great love and compassions: Obeisance, O ye assemblage of Gurus and DakinTs; Out of your great love, lead us along the Path.

(1) The Lord Buddha addressed Subhuti, saying: “If a disciple, having immeasurable spheres filled with the seven treasures, bestowed these in the exercise of charity; and if a disciple, whether man or woman, having aspired to supreme spiritual wisdom, selected from this Scripture a stanza comprising four lines, then rigorously observed it, studied it, and diligently explained it to others; the cumulative merit of such a disciple would be relatively greater than the other.”

(4) Therefore, O king of deities, he who holds, recites, and reveres the scripture is said to honour all the Buddhas of the past, the present, and the future. "O king of deities, if there be many Tathagatas so many in number even as the bushes, whether of sugar-cane, bamboo, reed, paddy, or hemp, and the three great Chiliocosms may be full of them, and a son or daughter of a noble family will honour, revere, praise, and pay homage to them and dedicate their dwellings to them for the space of one kalpa or thereabout, and after the passing of those Buddhas, he or she will elect a Stupa of seven jewels containing the perfect body of each of the Tathagatas as wide as the four worlds and as high as the heaven of Brahman, erecting a pole adorned with all magnificence and do homage to them with all the rarest flowers, all kinds of incense, garlands, banners and music, for the space of one kalpa or thereabout; what dost thou think, O king of deities, is the merit planted by this man much or little?”