the Nirvana, and themselves died first. At the same time 79,000 Lohans also entered the state of extinction. Buddha, seeing that his disciples of all four classes were also exceedingly disturbed in mind, made use of his magical power, and changed the two proficient ones into the form of two attendant disciples, one on his right and the other on his left. All living beings rejoiced when they saw this, and were at once liberated from every anxiety and vexation.

On the fifteenth day of the second month, Buddha was at the city Kushinagara. He went to a spot between two Sala trees, and here in a short time entered Nirvana. A great voice was heard proclaiming to all the assembly, "To-day the World's Honoured One is about to enter the Nirvana. Whoever has any doubts, now let him come forward and ask for a solution of them. It is the last opportunity of asking Buddha for instruction."

At this time the great Bodhisattwas, the various kings of the Jambudvipa continent, the kings of the Devas, the kings of the mountains and rivers, and of the birds and beasts, with the personal disciples of Buddha, all arrived with offerings, wishing to administer to the wants of the World's Honoured One. In silence he firmly declined to receive anything. Chunda, a "lay disciple" (Upasaka), addressed him in the words, "We look to Julai for food in the future. Now we desire to receive sorrowfully the vows of the obedient, and to make our small offering." Buddha replied, "I accept your offering, for it is the last offering you will present to me."

Chunda said in reply, "Though I know the benefit that is derived to mankind from Buddha entering the Nirvana in a public manner, yet I cannot but grieve." For this Buddha commended him.

At this time the kings of the Devas and Nagas urged Shakyamuni, but in vain, not to enter the Nirvana at present. In reply, the World's Honoured One discoursed on the symbol "I," written with three dots ( Q.E.D.), arranged as a triangle resting on its base. This he used as a symbol

of the embodied form of Tathagata when released from the three methods of the Prajna. All the assembly of Bikshus then invited him to discourse on the cessation of permanence, on misery, on emptiness, and on the negation of self. Buddha, in consequence, gave them instruction in the four antitheses, viz., the permanence which is not permanent, the joy that involves sorrow, the I that is not I, and the purity that contains impurity.

The vast audience of Bikshus said, "Julai being without these four contradictions, why will he not remain with us for a kalpa or half a kalpa, that we may be informed how to escape from the four contradictions?"