The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

290
Book XXX
[Noble Truths and the Twelve Conditions]
Maṇimēkhalai who had already learnt all that had happened in her
previous birth, after having taken upon herself the duty of giving
gifts and walking in the path of right conduct, worshipped three
several times the triple jewel of Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, and
placed herself exclusively under the protection of Buddha Dharma.
Aṟavaṇa Aḍigaḷ who was to expound to her the righteous path of the
Dharma said:
‘At the time when the world was full of beings poor in understanding,
the Buddha, at the earnest entreaty of all the celestial beings of the
Tuṣitalōka, 116 each in his turn, appeared leaving that heaven of joy
empty; then he sat at the foot of the Bodhi-tree, and, conquering the
enemy Māra, became a hero.
The good teaching of the ‘Four Truths’ which the beautiful hero
imparted, after having pulled up by the root the three faults, were
taught with ineffable beneficence in the past by innumerable other
Buddhas. These [222] truths provide the means of crossing the ocean
of existence by destroying the twelve Nidānas. These latter appear
one from the other in order as cause and effect, and being capable of
reappearance as consequent upon that which is before it, assume the
form of a never-ending circle.
When in this order of cause and consequence the first ceases to exist,
the next follows in cessation; when it comes into existence, that which
follows it does so inevitably. So these are properly described as a
116 The Heaven of unalloyed bliss.