ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 16.4

16.4

“Lord, what was this? Last night, did Sahāṃpati Brahmā, or Śakra, King of the Gods—or perhaps the four great kings—come to offer respect to the Blessed One?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One replied, “it was neither Sahāṃpati Brahmā, nor Śakra, King of the Gods, nor the four great kings who came to see me. Did you see the elephant bull who held the banyan branches as the Tathāgata was walking on the road?”

“Yes, Lord, we saw him.”

“Monks, on the way back he was killed by a lion. Having felt such joy toward me, he took rebirth among the gods and came here to see me. I taught the Dharma to that young god, and, having seen the truths, he returned to where he belongs.”

“Lord,” the monks inquired of the Blessed Buddha, “what action did he take that ripened into his birth among the gods, and that he pleased the Blessed One, and did not displease him?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One replied, “it was partly due to his past actions, and it is partly due to his present actions as well.

“As for his past actions, monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, he went forth in his teaching.

“As a monk, he had no respect for his training and became caught up in distractions. He did much that violated the fundamental precepts, both lesser and greater. Still, he maintained some of the fundamental precepts, and at the time of his death