How, indeed, thus haunted by the illusion of form, was he to fulfil the
vow that he had made to pass a night and a day in perfect and unbroken
meditation? Already the night was beginning! Assuredly, for sickness of
the soul, for fever of the spirit, there was no physic save prayer. The
sunset was swiftly fading out. He strove to pray:--

"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_

"Even as the tortoise withdraweth its extremities into its shell, let
me, O Blessed One, withdraw my senses wholly into meditation!

"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_

"For even as rain penetrateth the broken roof of a dwelling long
uninhabited, so may passion enter the soul uninhabited by meditation.

"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_

"Even as still water that hath deposited all its slime, so let my soul,
O Tathâgata, be made pure! Give me strong power to rise above the
world, O Master, even as the wild bird rises from its marsh to follow
the pathway of the Sun!

"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_

"By day shineth the sun, by night shineth the moon; shineth also the
warrior in harness of war; shineth likewise in meditations the Çramana.
But the Buddha at all times, by night or by day, shineth ever the same,
illuminating the world.