not for those who dwell in family connection;
nor is it, on that account, not to be said, for religion concerns a man
individually. Burned up with sorrow, by entering the cool stream, all
may obtain relief and ease; the light of a lamp in a dark coom lights up
equally objects of all colors, so is it with those who devote themselves
to religion--there is no distinction between the professed disciple and
the unlearned. Sometimes the mountain-dweller falls into ruin, sometimes
the humble householder mounts up to be a Rishi; the want of faith is the
engulfing sea, the presence of disorderly belief is the rolling flood.
The tide of lust carries away the world; involved in its eddies there is
no escape; wisdom is the handy boat, reflection is the hold-fast. The
drum-call of religion, the barrier of thought, these alone can rescue
from the sea of ignorance."

At this time the king, sincerely attentive to the words of the All-wise,
conceived a distaste for the world's glitter and was dissatisfied with
the pleasures of royalty, even as one avoids a drunken elephant, or
returns to right reason after a debauch. Then all the heretical
teachers, seeing that the king was well affected to Buddha, besought the
king, with one voice, to call on Buddha to exhibit his miraculous gifts.
Then the king addressed the lord of the world: "I pray you, grant their
request!" Then Buddha silently acquiesced. And now all the different
professors of religion, the doctors who boasted of their spiritual
power, came together in a body to where Buddha was; then he manifested
before them his power of miracle: ascending up into the air, he remained
seated, diffusing his glory as the light of the sun he shed abroad the
brightness of his presence. The heretical teachers were all abashed, the
people all were filled with faith. Then for the sake of preaching to his
mother, he forthwith ascended to the heaven of the thirty-three gods,
and for three months dwelt in heavenly mansions. There he converted the
occupants of that abode, and having concluded his pious mission to his
mother, the time of his sojourn in heaven finished, he forthwith
returned, the angels accompanying him on wing; he travelled down a
seven-gemmed ladder, and again arrived at Gambudvipa. Stepping down he
alighted on the spot where all the Buddhas return, countless hosts of
angels accompanied him, conveying with them their palace abodes as a
gift.

The people of Gambudvipa, with closed hands