誕生宣言=declaration at the time of birth; 世界尊上=the world‟s foremost achievement; 最後生菩薩=the last & final rebirth of a Bodhisattva; 解脫道=Buddhist Path to Liberation; 菩提道=Buddhist Path to Perfect Enlightenment
Employing several Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Pāli,this article explores the Buddha‟s declaration of the world‟s foremost achievement at the time of birth. This article is divided into six sections.Section one offers a broad outline of this article‟s argument and a breakdown of its individual sections. Based on related Chinese translations, section two provides background information on textual references to the declaration at the time of birth. Focusing on the 7th chapter (“janma-parivartaḥ saptamaḥ”) of the Lalita-vistara, section three interprets Sanskrit references to the declaration at the time of birth.Section four analyzes related references from the Pāli Mahâpadāna-sutta and Acchariyâbbhūta-dhamma-sutta. Based mainly on the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, section five inquiries into doctrinal reasoning behind the declaration at the time of birth. Section six concludes and summarizes the main points of this article.
