ng air. Thus all these countless sorts of creatures,
wishing to destroy the Bodhisattva, unable to remove him from the spot,
were with their own weapons wounded. Now Mara had an aunt-attendant
whose name was Ma-kia-ka-li, who held a skull-dish in her hands, and
stood in front of Bodhisattva, and with every kind of winsome gesture,
tempted to lust the Bodhisattva. So all these followers of Mara,
possessed of every demon-body form, united in discordant uproar, hoping
to terrify Bodhisattva; but not a hair of his was moved, and Mara's host
was filled with sorrow. Then in the air the crowd of angels, their forms
invisible, raised their voices, saying: "Behold the great Muni; his mind
unmoved by any feeling of resentment, whilst all that wicked Mara race,
besotted, are vainly bent on his destruction; let go your foul and
murderous thoughts against that silent Muni, calmly seated! You cannot
with a breath move the Sumeru mountain. Fire may freeze, water may burn,
the roughened earth may grow soft and pliant, but ye cannot hurt the
Bodhisattva! Through ages past disciplined by suffering. Bodhisattva
rightly trained in thought, ever advancing in the use of 'means,' pure
and illustrious for wisdom, loving and merciful to all. These four
conspicuous virtues cannot with him be rent asunder, so as to make it
hard or doubtful whether he gain the highest wisdom. For as the thousand
rays of yonder sun must drown the darkness of the world, or as the
boring wood must kindle fire, or as the earth deep-dug gives water, so
he who perseveres in the 'right means,' by seeking thus, will find. The
world without instruction, poisoned by lust and hate and ignorance;
because he pitied 'flesh,' so circumstanced, he sought on their account
the joy of wisdom. Why then would you molest and hinder one who seeks to
banish sorrow from the world? The ignorance that everywhere prevails is
due to false pernicious books, and therefore Bodhisattva, walking
uprightly, would lead and draw men after him. To obscure and blind the
great world-leader, this undertaking is impossible, for 'tis as though
in the Great Desert a man would purposely mislead the merchant-guide. So
'all flesh' having fallen into darkness, ignorant of where they are
going, for their sakes he would light the lamp of wisdom; say then! why
would you extinguish it? All flesh engulfed and overwhelmed in the great
sea of birth and death, this one prepares the boat of wisdom; say then!
why destroy a