The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Religion
The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese (Volume I)
Bigandet, Paul Ambroise
Buddhism -- Burma; Burma -- Religion; Gautama Buddha
It was only after having mastered the contents of the last division,
named Pathan, divided into twenty-four parts, that the six glories
appeared. Like the great fishes that delight to sport only in the great
ocean, the mind of Buddha expanded itself with indescribable eagerness,
and delighted to run unrestrained through the unbounded field opened
before him by the contents of that volume. Brown rays issued from his
hairs, beard, and eyelids. Gold-like rays shot forth from his eyes and
skin; from his flesh and blood dashed out purple beams, and from his
teeth and bones escaped rays, white like the leaves of the lily; from
his hands and feet emanated rays of a deep-red colour, which, falling on
the surrounding objects, made them appear like so many rubies of the
purest water. His forehead sent forth undulating rays, resembling those
reflected by cut crystal. The objects which received those rays appeared
as mirrors, reflecting the rays of the sun. Those six rays of various
hues caused the earth to resemble a globe of the finest gold. Those
beams at first penetrated through our globe, which is eighty-two
thousand youdzanas thick, and thence illuminated the mass of water which
supports our planet. It resembled a sea of gold. That body of water,
though four hundred and eighty thousand youdzanas thick, could not stop
the elastic projection of those rays, which went forth through a stratum
of air nine hundred and sixty thousand youdzanas thick, and were lost in
the vacuum. Some beams, following a vertical direction, rushed through
the six seats of Nats, the sixteen of Brahmas, and the four superior
ones, and thence were lost in vacuum. Other rays, following a horizontal
direction, penetrated through an infinite series of worlds. The sun, the
moon, the stars appeared like opaque bodies, deprived of light. The
famous garden of Nats, their splendid palace, the ornaments hanging from
the tree Padetha were all cast into the shade and appeared obscure, as
if wrapped up in complete darkness. The body of the chief Brahma, which
sends forth light through one million of systems, emitted then but the
feeble and uncertain light of the glowworm at sunrise. This marvellous
light, emanating from the person of Buddha, was not the result of vowing
or praying; but all the constituent parts of his body became purified to
such an extent by the sublime meditation of the most excellent law that
they shone with a matchless brightness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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