THE NIDĀNAKATHĀ OR THE THREE EPOCHS. · 11

After him the Teacher named Kassapa appeared in the world. Of his disciples too there was one assembly, at which twenty thousand monks were present. At that time the Bodisat, as the Brahman youth Jotipāla, accomplished in the three Vedas, was well known on earth and in heaven as the friend of the potter Ghaṭīkāra. Going with him to the Teacher and hearing the Law, he took the vows; and zealously learning the three Piṭakas, he glorified, by faithfulness in duty and in works of supererogation, the religion of the Buddhas. And to him too the Buddha prophesied. The birthplace of the Blessed One was called Benāres, Brahma-datta the brahman was his father, Dhanavatī of the brahman caste his mother, Tissa and Bhāradvāja his chief disciples, Sabbamitta his servitor, Anuḷā and Uruveḷā his chief female disciples, and the Nigrodha-tree his Bo-tree. His body was twenty cubits high, and his age was twenty thousand years.

246. After Koṇāgamana came the Perfect Buddha, best of men, Kassapa by name, that Conqueror, king of Righteousness, and giver of Light.

Again, in the kalpa in which Dīpaŋkara the Buddha52 appeared, three other Buddhas appeared also. On their part no prophecy was made to the Bodisat, they are therefore not mentioned here; but in the commentary, in order to mention all the Buddhas from this kalpa, it is said,

247. Taṇhaŋkara and Medhaŋkara, and Saranaŋkara, And the perfect Buddha Dīpaŋkara, and Kondañña best of men,

248. And Maŋgala, and Sumana, and Revata, and Sobhita the sage, Anomadassin, Paduma, Nārada, Padumuttara,

249. And Sumedha, and Sujāta, Piyadassin the famous one, Atthadassin, Dhammadassin, Siddhattha guide of the world,

250. Tissa, and Phussa the perfect Buddha, Vipassin, Sikhin, Vessabhū, Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, and Kassapa too the Guide,—

251. These were the perfect Buddhas, the sinless ones, the well-controlled; Appearing like suns, dispelling the thick darkness; They, and their disciples too, blazed up like flames of fire and went out.

Thus our Bodisat has come down to us through four asaŋkheyyas plus one hundred thousand kalpas, making resolve in the presence of the twenty-four Buddhas, beginning with Dīpaŋkara. Now after Kassapa there is no other Buddha beside the present supreme Buddha. So the Bodisat received a prophecy from each of the twenty-four Buddhas, beginning at Dīpaŋkara.

And furthermore in accordance with the saying,

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“The resolve (to become a Buddha) only succeeds by the combination of eight qualifications: being a man, and of the male sex, and capable of attaining arahatship, association with the Teachers, renunciation of the world, perfection in virtue, acts of self-sacrifice, and earnest determination,”

he combined in himself these eight qualifications. And exerting himself according to the resolve he had made at the feet of Dīpaŋkara, in the words,

“Come, I will search for the Buddha-making conditions, this way and that;”166

and beholding the Perfections of Almsgiving and the rest to be the qualities necessary for the making of a Buddha, according to the words,

“Then, as I made my search, I beheld the first Perfection of Almsgiving;”167

he came down through many births, fulfilling these Perfections, even up to his last appearance as Vessantara. And the rewards which fell to him on his way, as they fall to all the Bodisats who have resolved to become Buddhas, are lauded thus:

252. So the men, perfect in every part, and destined to Buddhahood, Traverse the long road through thousands of millions of ages.

253. They are not born in hell, nor in the space between the worlds; They do not become ghosts consumed by hunger, thirst, and want, And they do not become small animals, even though born to sorrow.

254. When born among men they are not blind by birth,54 They are not hard of hearing, they are not classed among the dumb.

255. They do not become women; among hermaphrodites and eunuchs They are not found,—these men destined to Buddhahood.

256. Free from the deadly sins, everywhere pure-living, They follow not after vain philosophy, they perceive the working of Karma.

257. Though they dwell in heaven, they are not born into the Unconscious state, Nor are they destined to rebirth among the angels in the Pure Abodes.168

258. Bent upon renunciation, holy in the world and not of it, They walk as acting for the world’s welfare, fulfilling all perfection.

While he was thus fulfilling the Perfections, there was no limit to the existences in which he fulfilled the Perfection of Almsgiving. As, for instance, in the times when he was the brahman Akitti, and the brahmin Saŋkha, and the king Dhanañjaya, and Mahā-sudassana, and Maha-govinda, and the king Nimi, and the prince Canda, and the merchant Visayha, and the king Sivi, and Vessantara. So, certainly, in the Birth as the Wise Hare, according to the words,169

259. When I saw one coming for food, I offered my own self, There is no one like me in giving, such is my Perfection of Almsgiving,

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he, offering up his own life, acquired the Supreme Perfection called the Perfection of Almsgiving.

In like manner there is no limit to the existences—as, for instance, in the times when he was the snake king Sīlava, and the snake king Campeyya, the snake king Bhūridatta, the snake king Chad-danta, and the prince Alīnasattu, son of king Jayaddisa—in which he fulfilled the Perfection of Goodness. So, certainly, in the Saŋkhapāla Birth, according to the words,

260. Even when piercing me with stakes, and striking me with javelins, I was not angry with the sons of Bhoja, such is my Perfection of Goodness,