"Thus have I heard. On a time Buddha was residing at the city 'Rajagriha' (Wang-she), on the mountain Gridhrakuta, with two thousand Bikshus, all of them Arhans." Here follow the names of many of Buddha's disciples. "There were also two thousand more, some having knowledge and some having none. Ma-ha-pa-ja-pa-ti (Mahaprajapati) came with female disciples and their followers, in all six thousand." "Of Bodhisattwas, eighty thousand also came." "Their names are Manjusiri, Kwan-shi-yin, &c." There came also Shak-de-wan-yin (Shakra, the Indra of the Devas), with a retinue of twenty thousand sons of Devas. There were also the sons of the Devas Chandra, Samantagandha, and Ratnaprabha. Besides these there were the four "Great kings" of the Devas (Maharaja), with a suite of ten thousand sons of Devas. Then there were the sons of the 'Deva Ishwara' (Tsi-tsai-t'ien) and of the 'Deva Maheshwara' (Ta-tsi-tsai-t'ien), and their retinue of thirty thousand sons of Devas. The lord of the universe "Saba" (Saha), the 'King of the Brahma

heaven' (Fan-t'ien-wang) also came, with the two great Brahmas, Shikhin and Jyotishprabha, and their retinue of twenty thousand. There were also eight 'Dragon kings' (Nagaraja), with their retinues, four kings of the Kinnaras, four of the Gandharvas, four of the Asuras, and four of the Garudas. The son of Waidehi, Ajatashatru king of Magadha (Bahar) and father of Ashoka, with a suite of many thousands, was also there."

These constitute Buddha's audience while he delivers the instructions contained in this Sutra. Most of the names, the descriptive passages, and many notices of the retinues of the kings, are omitted for brevity. The whole account, however, in the Chinese version is one-third shorter than in that of the French translator, who has followed the Sanscrit text. Kumarajiva did not scruple to pare off the redundancies of this and other works that he translated, which is perhaps one reason of their permanent popularity.