3.  The Lalita-vistara[133] is a life of Sakyamuni up to the commencement of his mission.  Though the setting of the story is miraculous and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas innumerable are freely spoken of, yet the work does not enunciate the characteristic Mahayanist doctrines so definitely as the other treatises here enumerated.  It is said to have originally belonged to the school of the Sarvastivadins and to have been subsequently accepted by the Mahayanists, and though it is not an epic but a collection of ballads and legends, yet it often reads as if it were a preliminary study for Asvaghosha’s Buddhacarita.  It contains Sanskrit versions of old legends, which are almost verbal renderings of the Pali text, but also new material and seems to be conscious of relating novelties which may arouse scepticism for it interrupts the narrative to anathematize those who do not believe in the miracles of the Nativity and to extol the merits of faith (sraddha not bhakti).  It is probably coeval with the earlier Gandharan art but there are no facts to fix its date.[134]

4.  The Lankavatara[135] gives an account of the revelation of the good Law by Sakyamuni when visiting Lanka.  It is presumably subsequent to the period when Ceylon had become a centre of Buddhism, but the story is pure fancy and unconnected with history or with older legends.  It relates how the Buddha alighted on Mt.  Malaya in Lanka.  Ravana came to pay his respects and asked for definitions of virtue and vice which were given.  The Bodhisattva Mahamati (apparently Manjusri) proceeded to propound a series of more abstruse questions which are answered at considerable length.  The Lankavatara represents a mature phase of speculation and not only criticizes the Sankhya, Pasupata and other Hindu schools, but is conscious of the growing resemblance of Mahayanism to Brahmanic philosophy and tries to explain it.  It contains a prophecy about Nagarjuna and another which mentions the Guptas, and it appears to allude to the domination of the Huns.  This allusion would make its date as late as the sixth century but a translation into Chinese which is said to correspond with the Sanskrit text was made in 513.  If so the barbarians referred to cannot be the Huns.  An earlier translation made in 443 does not agree with our Sanskrit text and perhaps the work existed in several recensions.

5.  The Suvarna-prabhasa or Glitter of Gold[136] is a Vaipulya sutra in many ways resembling the Lotus.  It insists on the supernatural character of the Buddha.  He was never really born nor entered into Nirvana but is the Dharma-kaya.  The scene is laid at Rajagriha and many Brahmanic deities are among the interlocutors.  It was translated into Chinese about 420 A.D. and fragments of a translation into Uigur have been discovered in Turkestan.[137] The contents comprise philosophy, legends and spells.