268. I lay me down in the cemetery, making a pillow of dead bones: The village children mocked and praised: to all I was indifferent, he was unshaken in equanimity, even when the villagers tried to vex or please him by spitting or by offering garlands and perfumes, and thus he acquired the Perfection of Equanimity. This is a summary only, the account will be found at length in the Cariyā Piṭaka. Having thus fulfilled the Perfections, in his birth as Vessantara, according to the words, 269. This earth, unconscious though she be and ignorant of joy or grief, E’en she by my free-giving’s mighty power was shaken seven times, he performed such mighty acts of virtue as made the earth to shake. And when, in the fullness of time, he had passed away, he reassumed existence in the Tusita heaven. Thus should be understood the period, called Dūrenidāna, from the Resolution at the feet of Dīpaŋkara down to this birth in the City of Delight. II.--AVIDŪRE NIDĀNA. It was when the Bodisat was thus dwelling in the City of Delight, that the so-called “Buddha proclamation” took place. For three such “Proclamations” take place on earth. These are the three. When they realize that at the end of a hundred thousand years a new dispensation will begin, the angels called Loka-byūhā, with their hair flying and dishevelled, with weeping faces, wiping away their tears with their hands, clad in red garments, and with their clothes all in disorder, wander among men, and make proclamation, saying, “Friends, one hundred thousand years from now there will be a new dispensation; this system of worlds will be destroyed; even the mighty ocean will dry up; this great earth, with Sineru the monarch of mountains, will be burned up and destroyed; and the whole world, up to the realms of the immaterial angels, will pass away. Therefore, O friends, do mercy, live in kindness, and sympathy, and peace, cherish your mothers, support your fathers, honour the elders in your tribes.” This is called the proclamation of a new Age [Kappahalāhalaŋ]. Again, when they realize that at the end of a thousand years an omniscient Buddha will appear on earth, the angel-guardians of the world go from place to place and make proclamation, saying, “Friends, at the end of a thousand years from this time a Buddha will appear on earth.” This is called the proclamation of a Buddha [Buddha-halāhalaŋ]. Again, when the angels realize that at the end of a hundred years a universal monarch will appear, they go from place to place and make proclamation, saying, “Friends, at the end of a hundred years from this time a universal monarch will appear on earth.” This is called the proclamation of a Universal monarch [Cakka-vatti-halāhalaŋ]. These are the three great proclamations.