ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 2.22

2.22

After hearing the Dharma from the Blessed One, he always made a point of going to offer his respectful service to Venerable Piṇḍola­bhāradvāja. When the monks saw him, they became suspicious.

“Why should this king make a point of going to offer such respectful service to Venerable Piṇḍola­bhāradvāja?” they wondered.

Then they heard the story in detail. After they heard it, they asked the Blessed One, “Lord, tell us why King Udayin of Vatsa approached Venerable Piṇḍola­bhāradvāja with spiteful thoughts, which caused his air of splendor to disappear, and just as he was about to fall into a narrow fissure, his mind again became filled with joy and his splendor returned, and the narrow fissure closed up as well.”

“Not only now, monks,” the Blessed One explained, “but this happened in times past as well, and in the same way, during King Meru’s reign in the city called Flourishing Rice. The kingdom was prosperous, flourishing, happy, and well populated. The harvest was good. Quarreling and arguments had ceased, there was no fighting or infighting, and there were no robbers, thieves, illness, or famine. Rice, sugarcane, cattle, and buffalo were plentiful. His was a reign in accord with the Dharma, and he treated the kingdom like a beloved only child.

“When the time came for the king’s family priest to marry, he took a wife, and they enjoyed themselves and coupled. As they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.

“They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṁ and bho,