It is situated between
the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities of devas,
eight on each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra's capital of
Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a thousand heads
and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra, with his wife and
119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly reports of the four
Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and evil in the world," etc.,
etc.]
[Footnote 2: Buddha's mother, Maya and Maha-maya, died seven days after
his birth.]
[Footnote 3: Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sakyamuni, being the son of
his uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of
Buddha's last moments. His special gift was the "heavenly eye," the
first of the six "supernatural talents," the faculty of comprehending in
one instantaneous view, or by intuition, all beings in all worlds.]
[Footnote 4: This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical
Trimurti, adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and
surpassed by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi.]
[Footnote 5: A note of Mr. Beal says on this:--"General Cunningham, who
visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of Asoka,
with a well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was minus trunk
and tail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by Fa-hien, who mistook
the top of it for a lion.
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