Note 11 — THE DIAMOND SUTRA
William Gemmell translation
“Various forms of pre-existence to the number of 500 or 550 are recorded, in the course of which he (Buddha) marked his way up through as many different stages of transmigration from the lowest spheres of life to the highest, practising all kinds of asceticism, and exhibiting in every form the utmost unselfishness and charity.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.
“I and thou, O Arjuna! have passed through many transmigrations. I know all these.... Even though I am unborn, of changeless essence, and the lord also of all which exist, yet, in presiding over nature (Prakrita), which is mine, I am born by my own mystic power (Maya). For whenever there is a relaxation of duty, ... and an increase of impiety, I then reproduce myself for the protection of the good.... I am produced in every age.”—Bhagavad-Gita. J. Cockburn Thomson.