མན་གྱ་ནགས་ཚལ་གྱ་སྒ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད 11

11

“What action did the honorable and venerable Pradarśa previously perform so that now, as this action ripens, he is rich, wealthy, and born in a prosperous lineage, so that he is handsome and the one most highly revered by gods and humans, and so that he is endowed with a great amount of merit? Please make this known to us!”

The Blessed One responded, “O monks, ninety-one eons ago, the perfect Buddha Vipaśyin appeared in the world. He was perfect in terms of wisdom and conduct, a well-gone one, a knower of the world, a charioteer for beings, an unsurpassed being, a teacher of gods and humans, and a blessed buddha. He resided in King Bandhumat’s palace. At that time, a certain rich man from the caste of plasterers built a monastery for Vipaśyin. Landscaping it beautifully with flowers and fruit-bearing trees, the man offered the monastery, which was enveloped by pleasing scents, to Vipaśyin. He also went forth under the teaching of that very Teacher. After the perfect Buddha Vipaśyin had passed into nirvāṇa, this monk erected a precious pillar at the foundation of the reliquary that held the Buddha’s relics. The people in the retinue of this monk, who had gone forth from the caste of plasterers, rejoiced and felt admiration. Then they made the following aspiration: ‘Just as you admire the Teacher, may we too have faith and admiration. May we act according to the words of the Teacher and please him. May we not displease him.’

“O monks, what do you think? At that time, on that occasion, the person who was the plasterer is none other than the venerable great Pradarśa. Similarly, those other beings are these gods and humans present here, and now too he is guiding them.

“Moreover, he went forth under the teaching of the Blessed Kāśyapa, and his preceptor was the one who was the one most highly revered by gods and humans. He made the following aspiration: ‘Just as my preceptor is the one most highly revered by gods and humans, may I too, under the teaching of the perfect Buddha Śākyamuni,