Part 10 Vimalavāhana’s sermon

“A human birth is attained with difficulty in this boundless ocean of human existence, like a conch with whorls to the right in the ocean. Even when a human birth has been attained, the seed of enlightenment is very difficult to obtain; and in it mendicancy is undertaken as a result of merit. The earth suffers from the heat of the sun so long as there is no rain-cloud. The forest is broken by elephants so long as there is no lion. The world is blind from darkness so long as there is no sun. People are afraid of snakes so long as there is no Garnḍa. There is poverty of people so long as there is no wishing-tree. People are terrified of existence so long as the vow is not taken. Good health, beauty and grace, long life, great wealth, authority, power, splendor, sovereignty, the rank of a Cakravartin, the state of a god, the rank of a Sāmānika-god, of an Indra, of an Ahamindra, the state of an emancipated soul, or of a Tīrthaṅkara—all these are the fruit of the vow. If any one, free from delusion, observes mendicancy even for one day, if he does not attain emancipation, nevertheless will reach heaven. How much more fortunate is he who undertakes mendicancy and observes it for a long time, after abandoning worldly glory like straw.”