a, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a period
during which a physical universe is formed and destroyed.
Asankhyeya denotes the highest sum for which a conventional term
exists;--according to Chinese calculations equal to one followed by
seventeen ciphers; according to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one
followed by ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four
Asankhyeya-kalpas. Eitel, p. 15.

(10) See chapter ix.

(11) See chapter xi.

(12) He had been born in the Sakya house, to do for the world what the
character of all his past births required, and he had done it.

(13) They could no more see him, the World-honoured one. Compare the
Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, Buddhist Suttas, pp. 89, 121, and
note on p. 89.

(14) Sudana or Sudatta was the name of the Bodhisattva in the birth
which preceded his appearance as Sakyamuni or Gotama, when he became
the Supreme Buddha. This period is known as the Vessantara Jataka,
of which Hardy, M. B., pp. 116-124, gives a long account; see also
"Buddhist Birth Stories," the Nidana Katha, p. 158. In it, as Sudana,
he fulfilled "the Perfections," his distinguishing attribute being
entire self-renunciation and alms-giving, so that in the Nidana Katha
is made to say ("Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 159):--

"This earth, unconscious though she be, and ignorant of joy or grief,
Even she by my free-giving's mighty power was shaken seven times."

Then, when he passed away, he appeared in the Tushita heaven, to enter
in due time the womb of Maha-maya, and be born as Sakyamuni.

(15) I take the name Sama from Beal's revised version. He says in a
note that the Sama Jataka, as well as the Vessantara, is represented
in the Sanchi sculptures. But what the Sama Jataka was I do not yet
know. But adopting this name, the two Chinese characters in the text
should be translated "the change into Sama." Remusat gives for them,
"la transformation en eclair;" Beal, in his first version, "his
appearance as a bright flash of light;" Giles, "as a flash of
lightning." Julien's Methode does not give the phonetic value in
Sanskrit of {.}.

(16) In an analysis of the number of times and the different forms in
which Sakyamuni had appeared in his Jataka births, given by Hardy (M.
B., p. 100), it is said that he had appeared six times as an elephant;
ten times as a deer