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narrow or exclusive form of the Law,' he 2 cannot receive with gratification the instruc- tion of this Scripture, or delight in its study, or fervently explain it to others. it to others. Subhuti, in whatever place there is a repository for this Scripture, the whole realm of spiritual beings ought to adore it; and reverencing it as a sacred shrine, ceremoniously surround 1

¹ Those disciples associated with the Siao-Fah (little Law, the Hinayana school of Buddhist thought), are rather ungraciously referred to by a Chinese commentator as "rootless stems"; by which we are reminded of the Hindoo aphorism, "from the absence of a root within the root, all things are rootless."

2 When the Lord Buddha delivered the Sutra known as the Lotus of the Good Law, it is recorded that five thousand followers forsook him, owing to what they regarded as a grave difficulty in complying with its intensely abstruse doctrines.

• • • In these two places also Topes (where relics

of Buddha are deposited and safeguarded) have been built, both adorned with layers of all the previous substances (gold, silver, pearls, coral, cornelian, glass, and crystal). The kings, ministers, and peoples of the kingdoms vie with one another in making offerings at them. The trains of those who come to scatter flowers