attached beautiful triumphal streamers at the top of the banner staffs 1 in honour of the Leaders whom they celebrate in thousands of stanzas.
15. Such a marvellous, extraordinary, prodigious, splendid 2 phenomenon, O Leader, is being displayed by all those beings who are gladdened by the expo- sition of the duration of life (of the Tathigata).
16. Grand is the matter now (occurring) in the ten points of space, and (great) the sound raised by the Leaders ; thousands of ko/is of living beings are refreshed and gifted with virtue for enlightenment.
Thereupon the Lord addressed the Bodhisattva Mah&sattva Maitreya : Those beings, A^ita, who during the exposition of this Dharmapary&ya in which the duration of the Tathigatas life is revealed have entertained, were it but a single thought of trust, or have put belief in it, how great a merit are they to produce, be they young men and young ladies of good family ? Listen then, and mind it well, how great the merit is they shall produce. Let us sup- pose the case, A^ita, that some young man or young lady of good family, desirous of supreme, perfect enlightenment, for eight hundred thousand myriads of ko/is of iEons practises the five perfections of virtue (Piramitis), to wit, perfect charity in alms, perfect morality, perfect forbearance, perfect energy, perfect meditation — perfect wisdom being excepted 3 ;
Dhva^dgre; a marginal reading has dhva^d/w ka. (sic).
EtddmlrJarya virish/am adbhutSA (r. adbhutajw), viiitra dar- sent' ima(m) adya Ndyaka.
Virahita^ pra^ftap&ramitdya^). The five specified virtues are identical with those enumerated in Lalita-vistara, p. 38, and slightly different from those as found in the P&li scriptures. ( ut of the
five virtues, four, viz. jlla, kshdnti, virya, dhydna, answer to
