2. He who is firm in the belief 'surely, there is a world hereafter where good and evil karma produce their fruit of happiness and mishap,' such a one will avoid evil actions and exert himself to cultivate pious ones. But by absence of faith a man follows his desires.
Now that king, whose disastrous attachment to a false lore must have mischievous consequences and become a source of calamities to his people, roused the compassion of that High-minded Devarshi. One time, when that king, always directed by his indulgence in sensual pleasures, was staying in a beautiful and lonely arbour, he descended in his flaming brilliancy from the Brahma-world before his eyes. On beholding that luminous being who blazed like a mass of fire, shone like an agglomeration of lightnings, and spread about a great brilliancy of intense light like a collection of sun-rays, the king, overwhelmed by that lustre, was alarmed and rose from his seat to meet him reverently with folded hands. Respectfully he looked up to him (who stood in the air) and said:
3. 'The sky makes thee a resting-place for thy feet, as if it were the earth, O thou being with lotus-like feet; thou shinest far and wide, bearing the lustre of the sun, so to speak. Who art thou, whose form is a delight to the eyes?'
The Bodhisattva replied:
4. 'Know me, O king, one of those Devarshis who attained Brahma's world, having by the power of their mind's strong and assiduous attachment to religion vanquished love and hatred[202], those two proud foes, like two haughty chiefs of a hostile army in battle.'
After these words the king offered him the hospitable reception due to a worthy guest, water to wash his feet and the arghya-water[203], accompanying this act (of homage) with kind words of welcome and the like. Then, casting admiring looks at his face, he said: 'Very wonderful, O Great Rishi, is thy figure. Indeed, thy power is supernatural.
5. 'Without clinging to the walls of a building, thou walkest in the sky as easily as on earth. Tell me, O thou whose brightness has the lustre of a flash of lightning, how didst thou obtain this supernatural power?'
The Bodhisattva spoke:
6. 'Such superhuman power is the result, O king, of meditation (dhyâna), spotless good conduct (sîla), and an excellent restraint of the senses, which I have so practised in other existences that they became essential elements of my nature.'