How long back the former age was we
cannot tell. I suppose the tope of the two fathers who became Pratyeka
Buddhas had been built like the one commemorating the laying down of
weapons after Buddha had told his disciples of the strange events in the
past.]
[Footnote 3: Bhadra-kalpa, "the Kalpa of worthies or sages." "This,"
says Eitel, "is a designation for a Kalpa of stability, so-called
because one thousand Buddhas appear in the course of it. Our present
period is a Bhadra-kalpa, and four Buddhas have already appeared. It is
to last two hundred and thirty-six millions of years, but over one
hundred and fifty-one millions have already elapsed."]
[Footnote 4: "The king of demons." The name Mara is explained by "the
murderer," "the destroyer of virtue," and similar appellations. "He is,"
says Eitel, "the personification of lust, the god of love, sin, and
death, the arch-enemy of goodness, residing in the heaven Paranirmita
Vasavartin on the top of the Kamadhatu. He assumes different forms,
especially monstrous ones, to tempt or frighten the saints, or sends his
daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta or the Nirgranthas to
do his work. He is often represented with 100 arms, and riding on an
elephant."]
[Footnote 5: Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an
important one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of
the Buddhist Church.
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