72

THE B U D D H I S T T R A D I T I O N

For gods and men, far and wide, he has opened the gate
of immortality. Of the true wheel of dharma the spokes are
pure precepts, the axle is well-controlled meditation, the fell,
indestructible wisdom, and the hub, wedged with a sense of
shame, is right mindfulness. . .
Then the gods of the various heavens, up to the highest
Brahma heaven, all joined in the eulogy. . . .
A Buddha has arisen in the world! Far and near we hear
that he has turned the wheel of doctrine that gives peace to
the world for the sake of all sentient beings.
[From the Buddhacarita, Sanskrit text as edited by
E. H. Johnson, Calcutta, Baptist Mission Press, 1935,
pp. i-i8 , 20-29,4^48,49-57* 140-^2* *57]