Buddha for those seven days, in contemplation
lost, his heart at peace, beheld and pondered on the Bodhi tree, with
gaze unmoved and never wearying:--"Now resting here, in this condition,
I have obtained," he said, "my ever-shifting heart's desire, and now at
rest I stand, escaped from self." The eyes of Buddha then considered
"all that lives," and forthwith rose there in him deep compassion; much
he desired to bring about their welfare, but how to gain for them that
most excellent deliverance, from covetous desire, hatred, ignorance, and
false teaching, this was the question; how to suppress this sinful heart
by right direction; not by anxious use of outward means, but by resting
quietly in thoughtful silence. Now looking back and thinking of his
mighty vow, there rose once more within his mind a wish to preach the
law; and looking carefully throughout the world, he saw how pain and
sorrow ripened and increased everywhere. Then Brahma-deva knowing his
thoughts, and considering it right to request him to advance religion
for the wider spread of the Brahma-glory, in the deliverance of all
flesh from sorrow, coming, beheld upon the person of the reverend monk
all the distinguishing marks of a great preacher, visible in an
excellent degree; fixed and unmoved he sat in the possession of truth
and wisdom, free from all evil impediments, with a heart cleansed from
all insincerity or falsehood.
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