Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/158

This page needs to be proofread.
42
THE NIDĀNAKATHĀ.

tree was his Bo-tree; his body was eighty-eight cubits high, and his age was ninety thousand years.


231. After Paduma came the perfect Buddha, the best of men, Nārada by name, unequalled, and without a rival.

After Nārada the Buddha a hundred thousand world-cycles ago there appeared in one kalpa only one Buddha called Padumuttara. He also had three assemblies of saints; at the first a million million monks were present, at the second, on the Vebhāra Mountain, nine hundred thousand million, at the third eight hundred thousand million. At that time the Bodisat, born as the Mahratta of the name of Jaṭila, gave an offering of robes to the Order, with the Buddha at their head. And to him also he announced, "Hereafter thou shalt be a Buddha." And at the time of Padumuttara the Blessed One there were no infidels, but all, men and angels, took refuge in the Buddha. His city was called Haŋsavatī, his father was Ānanda the warrior, his mother Sujātā, Devala and Sujāta his chief disciples, Sumana his servitor, Amitā and Asamā his chief female disciples, the Sāla-tree his Bo-tree; his body was eighty-eight cubits high, the light from his body extended twelve leagues, and his age was a hundred thousand years.


232. After Nārada came the perfect Buddha, the best of men, Padumuttara by name, the Conqueror unshaken, like the sea.


After him, when thirty thousand world-cycles had elapsed, two Buddhas, Sumedha and Sujāta, were born in one kalpa. Sumedha also had three assemblies of his saints; at the first assembly, in the city Sudassana, a thousand million sinless ones were present, at the second