གསར་མདག་ག་སྔན་གྱ་སྦྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ 6

6

as well as from the royal capital, have all been collected, counted, measured out, and stored in a storehouse for all the villages, cities, and market towns, as well as for the royal capital. What does Your Majesty deem fit now?’

“King Kanakavarṇa then summoned his counters, accountants, and scribes and ordered, ‘Sirs, go and count all the people of Jambudvīpa. Having properly⁴⁶ counted everyone starting with myself,⁴⁷ properly distribute an equal share of food to all the people of Jambudvīpa.’

“The counters, accountants, and scribes obeyed⁴⁸ and they properly counted all the people of Jambudvīpa. When they had properly counted everyone, starting with King Kanakavarṇa, they assigned an equal share of food to all the people of Jambudvīpa.

“For eleven years everyone survived, but during the first month of the twelfth year, many men, women, and children began to die from hunger and thirst. As the second, third, fourth, and fifth months passed, many more men, women, and children died.⁴⁹ This went on until the eleventh month, when all the food in Jambudvīpa had been exhausted,⁵⁰ apart from a single measure of food left for King Kanakavarṇa.

“Now, at that time, there was a bodhisattva who had been embarked upon the path for forty eons and who had reached this Sahā world. That bodhisattva saw, somewhere in a forest, a son having sexual intercourse with his mother. Seeing this, he thought, ‘Oh, how defiled,⁵¹ how defiled these beings are!