Sankasaya ,Buddha’s ascent to and descent from the trayastrimsas heaven and other legends .

From the this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas,and found themselves in a kingdom called Sankasya(The name is still remaining Sankassa a village forty -five of Canouge ) at the place where Buddha came down ,after ascending to the trayastrimsas heaven, (it is situated between the four peaks of the Meru ,and consists of thirty two of of devas ,eight one each of the four corners of the mountain .Indra’s capital of Bellevue is in the center .There he is enthroned,with a thousand heads and a thousand eyes ,and four arms grasping the vajra ,with his wife and 119,000concubines .There he receives the monthly reports of the four Maharajas ,concerning the progress of good and evil in the world .)and there preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.(Buddha’s mother Maya and Mahamaya ,the mater immaculate of the Buddhist ,died seven days after his birth “reborn in Tushita ,She was visited there be her son and converted “The Tushita was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas ; but was the former a part of the latter hardly gives a long account of Buddha’s visit to Trayastrimasa,which he calls Taustisa ,and speak his mother in it ,who had now become a deva by the changing of her sex .)Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power ,(Compare the acount of the arahath’s conveyance of the artist to the Tushita heaven .The first expression here is more comprehensive) Compare the acount of the arahath’s conveyance of the artist to the Tushita heaven .The first expression here is more comprehensive without letting his disciples know ;but seven days before the completion (of the three months )he laid aside his invisibility , and Anuruddha,
(Anuuruddha was a first cousin of Sakyamuni ,being the son of his uncle Amritodana .He is often mentioned in the account we have of Buddha’s last moments His special gift was the divyachakshus or “heavenly eye” the first of the six abhijnas or supernatural talents ,the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view ,or by intuition ,all being in all worlds he could see with his heavenly eyes ) saw the world -honored one,and immediately said to the honored one ,the Great Mugalan ,”Do you go and salute the world -honored one” Mugalan forthwith went ,and with head and face did homage at Buddha’s feet .They then saluted and questioned each other ,and when this was over ,Buddha said to Mugalan “seven days after this I will go down to Jambudvipa “and thereupon Mugalan returned .At this time the great kings of eights countries with their ministers and people ,not having seen Buddha for a long time ,were all thirstily looking up for him .and had collected in clouds in this kingdom to wait for the world -honored one .

Then the bhikshuni Uthpala (uppalawanna )thought in her heart ,”To -day the kings with their ministers and people ,will all be meeting (and welcoming)Buddha .I am (but ) a woman ; how shall I succeed in being the first to see him? “(Perhaps we should read here “to see Buddha “,and then ascribe the transformation to the nun herself .It depends on the puntuation which view we adopt ;and in the structure of the passage ,there after “Buddha “and the one view is as reasonable ,or rather as unreasonable as the other .)Buddha immediatly ,by his spirit -like power ,changed her into the appearance of a Chakravartti (“A holy king who turns the wheel “that is ,the military conqueror and monarch of the whole or part of a universe .)king ,and she was the foremost of all in doing reverence to him .

As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimasas heaven ,when he was coming down ,there were made to appear three flights of precious steps of which were composed of the seven precious substances .The king of Brahma -loka (This was brahma ,the first person of the brahmanical trimurti ,adopted by Buddhism ,but placed in an inferior position ,and surpassed by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi .)also made a flight of siver steps apper on the right side ,where he was seen )attending with a white chowry in his hand ,Sakra Ruler of Devas ,made (a flight of )steps of purple gold on the left side ,(where he was seen ) attending and holding an umbrella of the seven precious substances .An innumerable multitude of the devas followed Buddhas in hid descent .When he was come down ,the three flights all disappeared in the ground ,excepting seven steps ,which continued to be visible .Afterwords King Ashoka ,wishing to know where their ends rested ,sent men to dig and see . They went down to the yellow springs (A commen name for the earth below ,where ,on digging water is found .)without reaching the bottom of the steps ,and from this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith ,and buit a vihara over the steps ,with a standing image ,sixteen cubits in height,right over the middle flight .Behind the vihara he erected a stone pillar ,about fifty cubits high ,(the height is given as thirty chow ,the being the distance from the elbow to the finger tip which is variously estimated .)with a LION on the top of it .Let in to the pillar ,on each on the top its four sides ,........