The History of Buddhist Thought c25.66

c25.66

The rest consists of chapters all very instructive to the laity, but without any inner connection. The four Great Kings come and tell how the sūtra has given them heroism and strength. The goddess Sarasvatī gives a spell against evil planets and dreams, and other gods and goddesses appear. Then follows a discourse on the duties of kings and stories of the former deeds of bodhisattvas. Some of them are formal jātakas with identification of the characters at the end. Chapter 6 is called The Void, and it undertakes to give in summary what other sūtras have given at length. It consists simply of thirty mixed triṣṭubh verses, which might have been inserted from anywhere. The body is described as an empty village, in which the senses run about like six thieves (the same simile as used by Nāgārjuna, p. 224). The elements are like four snakes, and the conclusion is that all things are void and have arisen through conditions from ignorance.