This book has been read but is in good condition. There is a stain on the first few pages.

PREFACE
The manuscript of this book was brought from Nepal by Mr. Cecil Bendall, and edited by him for the Russian Bibliotheca Buddhica (St. Petersburg, 1897). When Mr. Bendall returned to Cambridge as Teacher of Sanskrit, he began a translation of it, in which Mr. E. B. Cowell, then Professor of Sanskrit, seems to have helped, since a part of the MS. was in his handwriting. This portion, which was delivered to me as complete, proved to be in need of revision; indeed, a good deal of it has been re-written. On the death of Mr. Cowell, when Mr. Bendall succeeded him as Professor, I began to work with him upon the translation, and continued the work until his death. The part we did together was chapters III, IV, V, and part of VI, pp. 44-125 of the Sanskrit text.
On his deathbed, Mr. Bendall asked me to finish the work, and I undertook the task as a sacred duty, although I was well aware of my own insufficiency for the task unaided. Indeed, for me unaided it would have been impossible; but I have had the most generous and ungrudging aid of the chief living autho- rity on Buddhism, Buddhist Sanskrit, and Tibetan-Mr. L. de la Vallée Poussin, Professor of Sanskrit at Brussels. During his residence in Cambridge, from 1914 to 1918, M. de la Vallée has revised every passage in which I felt a difficulty. The acknow- ledgment which I make here to him is quite inadequate to express my gratitude for his kindness. If the work meet with the approval of scholars, the credit is his : any errors that remain will be mine. We have to thank Mr. F. W. Thomas, Librarian of the India Office, for the loan of the Tibetan translation of this work.
W. H. D. ROUSE.

Part of Chapter I:
SALUTATION TO ALL BUDDHAS AND BODHISATVAS!
[1] To hear that jewel of the Good Law through not hearing which you, mine honoured readers, have suffered the pain of consuming fire in the terrible flames of hell, agony awful, renewed, unending, this I say to hear bestow your most respect- ful care. When that one has given ear to it with mind not puffed up, one puts away all one's offence for the future and completely destroys the sin formerly accumulated, yea all, great though it be. Such men as hear gain delight that they never had before, and never come to lack true joy; they gain the highest deathless sweets of the Sambodhisatvas and the stage of Buddha, incomparable combination of blessings: this jewel of the Law, hard though it be to get, to-day gotten, yet now to this give respectful ear, now ye have gotten accept- able time and it is told to you.
And let there approach for to hear the word of him who alone is the Saviour of the Three Worlds, the beings of the Suras and Nagas all full of faith, the lords of the Gandharvas, Yakshas, Garudas and Suras and Kinnaras, yea, let the Manes come with joy when once the thirst for hearing is aroused. After humble reverences to the blessed Buddhas with their sons and the Law, and all the Worshipful ones, I will now set.