Chapter 24
a gesture of gratitude. It was during these intervals that He looked into the dispositions of
each and every member of the audience, who formed a sea of beings. To this end, He
observed the mental process of each one of them by the exercise of
cittanupassanÈ
, noting
the sixteen different mental attitudes of each individual. One may imagine the speed of
mind of the Fully Self-Enlightened Buddhas.
As stated above, the Buddha performed miracles and preached the Dhamma in harmony
with the disposition and inclinations of the people (beings), only after He had looked into
and considered their mind process, with the result that numerous beings were emancipated
from the sentient existence through realization of the Four Noble Truths.
Indeed, it was the occasion of a great triumph of the Dhamma, ‚
DhammÈbhisamaya
.‛
Creation of Buddha's Own Double
The Buddha looked into the minds of individual persons, amongst a great company of
beings, to find out if there were any who were capable of raising questions according to
His own desire (so that He might furnish the right answer, in return) but He could not find
anyone. So, He created His own double, that gradually grew into two, then into three into
four, into hundreds, by multiplication.
There was an exchange of series of questions and answers between himself and the
created Buddhas, alternately taking turns to raise questions and to answer. The created
Buddhas took up different postures, some were standing, some lying down, some walking
and some sitting, while engaging in the dialogue.
The glow and splendour of the six hues of radiations, together with flames of fire and
streams of water of the twin miracles of the Buddha, and brilliancy of the created Buddhas,
combined to light up the whole stretch of the sky, producing a confused array of
gorgeousness to an extent that lay beyond the capability of the
sÈvakas
.
A great number of devas and BrahmÈs spoke eulogies in praise of the glory, greatness
and grace of the Buddha. The whole sky rang with the songs of the celestial beings. They
poured showers of celestial flowers, the music from the thousands of musical instruments
of the celestial beings combined with those of the human beings rent the air. It was indeed,
as if a single grand festival of all beings was being celebrated.
Twenty Crores of Humans, Devas and BrahmÈs gained Emancipation
Such an uncommon feat of Twin Miracles was demonstrated by the Buddha by virtue of
asÈdhÈrana-ÒÈÓa
, wisdom peculiar to the Fully Self-Enlightened Buddhas and not shared
with Paccekabuddhas and
sÈvakas
. Having had the opportunity to witness the miracles as
well as listen to the preaching delivered at intervals, twenty crores of human beings,
celestial BrahmÈs and other beings were emancipated at this great gathering of the Feat of
Miracles.
An opportunity will be taken here for the reproduction of a relevant Stanza composed in
adoration of the attributes of the Fully Self-Enlightened Buddha, in PÈli and vernacular, to
promote the sense of devotional faith in the Buddha.
(N.B. Here the author reproduced a verse ‚
YamakapatihÈriya VandanÈ
‛ of
veneration in praise of the display of Twin Miracle. Being a repetition in PÈli and
Burmese of the performance of the Twin Miracle described above, we left this
portion untranslated.)
Buddha's Ascension to TÈvatiÑsa
The Buddha looked into the past, while still in the act of demonstrating the miracles, as to
where His predecessors usually observed
vassa
after demonstrating the miracles, and
eventually perceived that ‚they ascended to TÈvatiÑsa to observe
vassa
and to preach the
Abhidhamma to the celestial being who were their respective mother in their respective
previous existence.‛ Whereupon, He decided to ascend to TÈvatiÑsa, and as soon as He
raised His right leg, the peak of Mount Yugando, with a height of forty-two thousand